Chapter Eight
"From Where I'm Standing"
Indy awoke to a sharp kick in the gut.
"You son of a bitch! How dare you crawl back into my place, stinking drunk and after luring that smelly cockroach straight to my safe-house?"
Audrey. He let out a small chuckle as the dull pain blossomed in his stomach, a headache rising behind the eyes. "Good morning to you, too, sweetheart."
"How dare you!" she snarled, kneeling down and landing a fist on his cheek. "For one, I'm not your sweetheart! And two, I want you out of here an hour ago!"
He could feel an unexpected rage rising in him, and before Indy knew it he'd gotten up, slammed her down to the floor and pinioned her arms behind her.
"I'm under a time limit now, Audrey," he growled as she struggled beneath him. "You know where it is. I need the ruby."
She turned her head to the side so she could seem him out of one eye. "You don't need to die!"
"What do you care if I do? I thought you said I didn't mean anything to you."
At this, she bit her lip and scowled, unwilling to respond. Frustrated, he shook her and applied more pressure to her taxed joints. "Tick-tock, Audrey!"
She let out a small cry of pain and winced. "Why are you doing this?" she moaned. "What happened to you since graduation? The Indiana I used to know wouldn't ever hurt anyone!"
To both their surprise, Indiana found himself intimidating her with the dull side of one of her knives pressed against her shoulder. "The Indiana you used to know was still a kid. I'm under pressure now, Audrey. Tell me where it is!"
She narrowed her eyes at the blade. "You wouldn't…" she whispered.
In response, he sliced a thin line below her collarbone and she hissed, clenching her teeth against the thin, fiery pain. A line of blood rose on the harmless wound. "Stop wasting my time!" he snarled.
Audrey sighed and tried to rub away the tiny tears that had formed at the corners of her eyes on the rug. "Some collector owns it. He loaned it to that museum I told you about. Guy's name is Thomas Enjari, the place is the Museum of Acquired Foreign Artifacts in Cairo, Egypt."
He eased off and stood to collect his things. She sat up and rubbed the fresh wound, smearing blood all over her chest. "Bastard," she cursed.
"No wonder you and me would never work out," he commented as he finished up. "We're too much alike."
"Damned right. Except I'm not a sadomasochist," she sneered back.
"From where I'm standing, you used to be just a masochist."
He never even saw her move. Suddenly three small blades were embedded in his hat and a fourth was quivering in the table, dangerously close to his crotch.
He glanced up, and Audrey was a vision from Hell. Two knives clutched in her hands and her eyes glowering, her mouth turned down in a scowl. Blood still dripped from the cut, falling to the floor below.
"Go to Hell, Jones."
"Been there and back, babe. Or didn't you hear about my little encounter with the Black Sleep of Kali Ma?"
He had to duck and run for his life as the knives soared past in quick succession.