Chapter Three


"Then why am I not dead?" Indy asked.


"Eh, such a brave man you are Dr. Jones. Most men don't want to die quicker than they have to."


"Well, this conversation is boring, I'm tired of it." In his mind Indy silently cursed himself for leaving his whip in his bag. He had his gun but so did Shannon.


"Okay, lets start if you are tired of talking."


"Start what?"


"The Hunt. I will give you ten minutes to find a place and a way to protect your self and then I will find you and kill you."


"You're sick."


"No, Dr., no. I just enjoy a good game. If you want to know, your time starts..... now." Indy stood there a moment, all kinds of thoughts swirling in his head. He started toward Shannon but Shannon raised his gun.

"I won't let you kill me. So if you come at me now and try I will kill you and you won't even have a chance." Indy looked Shannon right in the eye.


"I hope you're use to disappointment because this is one game you aren't gonna win." With that he spun around and ran down the hall. He looked around and chose a door that said "Employs Only". It lead down a flight of stairs then into a hall that had a least twenty doors leading from it. He quickly picked a door and rushed into a pitch dark room. There wasn't a switch or anything by the door and since Indy was pressed for time he didn't stay to find one.


He ducked into the hall again and chose another door. This one opened onto the deck of the ship. In front of him was twenty feet and a railing, to the left was a hatch.


He went to the hatch and after sticking his gun into his belt he pulled up the top. Inside was another set of steps. These looked like they went all the way to the bottom of the ship.


He took a quick look around then ducked in and closed the top behind him. There wasn't a latch on he inside so he just hurried on. He followed the stairs for a long time. Time must almost be up. He thought. Soon after a bit he came to a huge door that was made of iron. He pulled it open and went inside.


Here was the middle of the ship. The engine room. There were dozens, if not hundreds of places to hide and wait for Shannon, then shoot him when he wasn't looking.


Indy closed the iron door behind himself and set about looking for an advantage point. He found a good spot when he looked up. Steam pipes, water pipes and who-knew-what-else-pipes were everywhere, crisscrossing the ceiling.


He looked around and found a piece of rope then threw it up over a sturdy looking pipe and shimmied his way up. He pulled the rope up after him and set in on a network of pipes nearby.


Now that he was out of sight he started to make his plan.


When Shannon walked in he would wait until he was under him then he would drop the rope over his head, tighten it and pull it up, therefore hanging him. Indy didn't really want to hang anyone but hey, this guy was after him with a gun, it was only self-defense.


Suddenly the door started creaking open. Indy started tying the slip knot in his rope. Shannon came through the door and looked around warily. He jerked his gun in several directions when he thought he heard a noise, Indy could tell the man was nervous.


Shannon started circling the room looking for Indy. As he passed right under Indy, Indy let the rope down and it went neatly over Shannon's head and landed around his neck. Just before Indy pulled Shannon dropped his gun, reached up and grabbed the rope and gave it a yank. Indy came flying from the ceiling and landed in a pile of old bags.


He quickly jumped to his feet and ducked as Shannon threw a punch at him. The rope wasn't around his neck anymore and he quickly grabbed his gun from the floor and leveled at Indy's head.


"Don't move Jones!" He shouted. Indy wasn't about to listen. He rushed up to the stunned man and kicked the gun out of his hand. While Shannon was holding his hurt fingers that had just been kicked backward Indy punched him in the gut and he tumbled over.


He was up again quickly and this time he had a knife. Indy jumped backward and sucked in his stomach as a reflex when Shannon tried to slice the knife right through him.


While Shannon was still off balance from the missed swing Indy punched him again then wrestled the knife out of his grasp.


As both men fell to the floor trying to get the knife Shannon kicked over a barrel and its liquid contents spilled to the floor and started creeping about the room.


Suddenly there was a jolt as if the ship had hit something. The engine made a earsplitting noise then started erupting sparks like a volcano. The liquid on the floor seeped right under the engine and started catching the falling sparks. Soon almost the whole floor was on fire.


Both men leapt up from the floor and ran to a spot empty of fire. "Great!" Indy yelled. "That was gasoline you spilled, you jerk!"


"If I must die while eliminating you, then so be it." Shannon said standing tall and proud.


"You can stick around if you want but I don't plan on staying." With that Indy ran to the iron door and swung it open.