Favoured Friends
Part 40/51
Summary: An invitation to the National Egyptology Conference quickly becomes deadly race for the mythic Ichriem against an old rival of Sydney's - the assassin known only as 'the Viper'.
Note: This is a round robin originally posted at the Relic Hunter Yahoo Group. Although I'm posting it, I did not write the entire thing. This part was written by Cari Loran ( carilorus@yahoo.com )
Also, I have Support Services. That means that, if you want, you can put me on Author Alert and receive notice when other stories of mine are posted, even if you haven't paid yourself.
Posted: Saturday, August 30, 2003
*What's the plan?*
The Viper grinned in reply. "Good boy." His dark eyes flicked to Davis Campbell and tightened into a critical glare. *A rank amateur.*
He'd seen dozens of Davis Campbells in his time… and they were all the same: arrogant young punks who thought they were the cleverest things to ever walk God's green earth. They had no style, no view of the larger picture. They focused narrowly on one goal, too conceited to see the forest for the trees.
"Stay close to me," he whispered lowly to Nigel. "Do what I tell you, when I tell you, and if I start something, you play along... understand?"
Nigel nodded almost imperceptibly. "Yes."
The mercenary nodded once, satisfied. He tilted his head back slightly to look past Nigel and stare Sydney in the eye. "And you relic hunter?"
"Just tell us the plan." Sydney muttered in a low growl, letting the world know what she thought about working with
The Viper. She'd follow his lead and defer to his judgment
for the moment, but it was a blatantly temporary truce. As
the song went, *`There'll be time enough for counting when the
deal is done.'* This wasn't the time to count... not
the time to remember who and what The Viper was. There'd be
plenty of time for that later, when the deal was done and
they were safely away from the table.
Easily sensing her animosity, The Viper grunted, not really caring how much she hated him. He didn't do what he did in life to make friends. "Not now... Timing is everything. Just pay attention and be ready to move."
"Swell," she grumbled sarcastically. If The Viper were any more cryptic he could get a job staring into a crystal ball at the state fair.
For his part, the mercenary ignored Sydney and stared at Campbell again, letting his mind click through years of experience in the search for a solution.
Assessment: Their young captor would be a tricky problem, he was cocky and hotheaded and would gladly shoot first and ask questions later. A proverbial loose cannon. At the moment he was still walking ahead of them, his little girlfriend bringing up the rear, herding them across the tarmac like errant sheep. She was armed with a compact .32 caliber pistol, but held it awkwardly, likely unfamiliar with it and probably lacking the arm strength to even pull back the slide and load the chamber. Even if there was already a bullet in the chamber, the woman's body language gave her away: she'd hesitate before shooting, probably look to her boy toy for some sort of "should I do it?" confirmation.
A wicked smile flashed across the mercenary's face.
They were approaching the edge of the hard packed airstrip. Being the pilot, Davis Campbell had carefully circumvented the city's main airport, apparently not wanting a run-in with customs while holding (or at the time of landing, hoped to be holding) his hostages at gunpoint. One could only guess how many loads of illegal drugs, weapons, and contraband had entered the country via the weather worn landing field.
The smell of sea salt wafted along the evening breeze, signaling they were within a few miles of the coast. Darkness curtained the area, the only light coming from the moon and a few strategically placed, yet decidedly dim floodlights. Swarms of moths and mosquitoes fluttered against the lamps, entranced by the light no matter how dim it was to human eyes.
Never a better time to escape.
"Alright Fox," The Viper muttered. "Get ready." He saw the woman nod and caught an almost predatory gleam in her eye, but he knew for once it wasn't directed at him. It was the glittering herald to an adrenaline rush, a precursor spurred on by the thought of action. He just hoped she made good use of it.
Raising his voice, the mercenary made his move. "You, Campbell!" he shouted, simultaneously slowing his pace and holding out his hand to slow Nigel alongside him. "We need to talk, boy!"
Campbell swirled around, gun at the ready and eyes narrowed in a mixture of anger, annoyance, and suspicion. "Talk?" he echoed, tasting the word and weighing it as though being faced with an experimental snack food. "Unless you want to tell me where Ichriem is, I have nothing to say. And you have nothing I want to hear."
"Oh, I think I do." The older man continued. "You said you wanted the name of my buyer... What's in it for me?"
"Your worthless life," Campbell sneered. "Because if you don't set me up with him, I'll..."
"You'll what?" The Viper interrupted, looking bored with the conversation. "Shoot me? How original. Shoot me and I'll be dead, you still won't find my buyer... and he'll be very disappointed not to get his relic."
Campbell shrugged, but tried to appear nonchalant. "If you don't tell me I can always find another buyer... using yours just would have been easiest since it's already set up. There's plenty of people out there who'd pay millions for a find like this."
The Viper laughed sardonically. "I'm afraid you don't understand. I said my buyer will be very disappointed, and people who cause his disappointment have the nasty habit of dying. If he hears Ichriem is on the market and not being offered directly to him --and he will hear about it-- he'll hire someone better than me to find you, kill you, and take Ichriem home as a free prize."
This was something that obviously hadn't occurred to Davis Campbell: the idea his plan might have a flaw. He adjusted his grip on the gun in a gesture of uncertainty, but his aim scarcely wavered. "Nice try," he smirked.
"Oh, it wasn't a try," The Viper corrected, lowering his voice to a menacing decibel he'd perfected over the years. "It was a fact."
"You're bluffing," Campbell challenged, but uncertainty wavered in his voice as the seeds of doubt took root. "You're The Viper... You wouldn't work for anyone who'd kill you."
The mercenary shrugged indifferently. "True, but then again... I didn't say they'd kill me did I?" And at that, he could see he'd pecked a crack in Campbell's shell and something was about to hatch. He wasn't disappointed.
Amarja stepped forward, looking back and forth between the two men. "He's lying isn't he Davis?" She glared at The Viper disdainfully, either unaware of or uninterested in his reputation. "It's a trick. We can sell Ichriem to anyone, we don't need him."
"Quiet!" Davis snapped, clearly annoyed and beginning to lose his focus. "I'm thinking."
"Good," The Viper praised, "because I have something else for you to think about." And before anyone could say `what?', his hand struck out, grabbing Amarja's wrist and twisting her arm behind her back. She screamed in a mingling of fear and surprise, but was helpless against his grip. In one smooth motion he took the gun from her hand and pinned her in front of him as a human shield. He leveled the pistol at Davis Campbell. "Time to think about this."
Blinking from the speed of The Viper's move, and realizing how quickly his plan disintegrated right before his eyes, Campbell immediately tightened his aim on the mercenary.
"Davis!" Amarja screeched, going wide-eyed as she saw the weapon pointed her way. "What are you doing?!?"
"Let her go," Davis threatened. "Don't be stupid."
"I don't have to worry about being stupid." The Viper answered. "Because I wasn't the one who threatened to kill me."
Off to the side, Sydney remained poised for action, keeping her eyes locked on the interaction between Campbell and The Viper. "You'd better drop the gun Davis," she advised in her calmest voice. "You don't want to make him mad. Just put it down and we can all walk away, no one needs to get hurt."
But the advice fell on deaf ears. "Shut up Fox!" Campbell barked. "What do you want Viper? A piece of the deal? Fine. I'll cut you in, we're both after the same thing. Let her go and we'll forget this ever happened."
"Very generous of you to offer me a piece of my own deal," the mercenary scoffed. "But now I'm going to tell you what's going to happen. You're going to give me the gun and let us all go or I'm going to shoot you right between the eyes."
Davis swallowed hard, looking more and more like a caged animal desperately searching for a way out. He moved his gun slightly to right, sighting it in on Nigel. "I'll shoot him! And I'll shoot Fox, and you'll never find Ichriem!"
Nigel sucked in a deep breath as the gun turned on him, and beside him he sensed Sydney do the same. But The Viper was on top of it, taking a quick step to the side and placing himself in front of the young Englishman. His aim never faltered. "And you'll never see another sunrise," he countered. "You have until the count of five. One…"
"You won't." Campbell protested in disbelief. "We want the same thing!"
"… Two…"
"Just give it to him Davis!" Amarja yelled, her voice quivering with fear.
"…Three…"
"We can be partners!" Campbell tried desperately, not wanting to surrender after all the scheming he'd done to get where they now were. "An even share, you can have half, Ama and I will split the other half."
"…Four…"
The gun began to tremble in Campbell's hand and he shook his head slightly. "You're making a mistake Viper!"
"…Five." The mercenary grinned.
And seconds later a shot echoed through the desert wilderness.
End Part Forty
Note: In case you didn't catch the song lyric, it's from "The
Gambler" by Kenny Rogers. I'm not sure why I wrote that in... but it
seemed apt... plus it's been stuck in my head for days so I thought
I'd pass it on :-)