Chapter Three:
Sugar Babies
Refusing to let anyone find him and drag him into the party, Vin Tanner took himself to the roof of the museum, convinced neither Buck nor Nathan would be determined enough to find him up there. It was bad enough he started to get heart palpitations when he and Chris were walking up the red carpeted steps leading into the museum, surrounded by the fancy folk in their tuxedos and gowns, looking resplendent. He could imagine nothing worse than trying to make conversation with them. Though he barely had an education and was by no means stupid, Vin recognised his limitations.
As it was, he was near close to madness when Chris released him to his own devices, probably exasperated by the complaining Chris had been forced to endure on the trip there. Vin wanted to free himself of the neck band threatening to strangle him. The tuxedo he was wearing was one he was forced to buy for the last one of these things Chris made him attend, and he briefly entertained the notion of setting fire to the ensemble to avoid them in future.
Besides, Chris had Buck and Ezra to keep him company during these events, they didn't need him.
Reaching the top of the grey walled staircase leading to the roof, Vin opened the door and stepped outside into the darkness. Above him, the glitter of stars in the night sky, as well as the balmy breeze moving across his skin, immediately relaxed him. He had no sooner crossed the threshold, when he saw a lone figure seated on the brick edging, taking in the view of the city surrounding the museum. With his excellent night vision and the presence of enough light from the full moon and the floors beneath the roof, his breath simply caught at what he saw.
With wavy black hair swaying slightly in the breeze across her bare shoulders of golden skin. Her lips were so full and luscious, they were almost ripe. Vin yearned to taste them until he was utterly sated. She had the loveliest face he had ever seen and the white halter neck gown she wore, clung to her body, accentuating every sensuous curve he wanted to chart. She was almost ethereal in her beauty, wearing such profound sorrow in her face, Vin thought it was just plain wrong for her to feel that way without someone holding her in their arms.
She jumped slightly at the sight of him, startled by the realisation she was no longer alone and stared in his direction.
"I'm sorry," he stammered an apology. "I didn't mean to scare you. I just came up for some air. I can leave if you want." Still, Vin made no attempt to retreat, because he really hoped she might let him stay.
Disarmed by his explanation, she relaxed a little and replied. "It's alright. I needed some fresh air myself. You can stay."
Secretly cheering in triumph at this, Vin replied with a smile. "Thanks."
She gave him one in return and despite the sadness he could see in her face, his pulse still quickened at her smile. Vin approached her cautiously, wondering what she was doing up here all alone. A woman like this was too pretty to be hiding away but then again, there was real sorrow on her face and it reflected at him in her warm, brown eyes.
"Tell the truth, I was trying to hide out up here," Vin volunteered as he sat on the edging next to her and was pleased when she did not move away. "I hate parties with people I don't know. Only here because my boss is a mean ol' cuss that likes to make me suffer."
"Really?" She smiled wider at that. "I'm not a fan of them either. I'm only here because I have to meet someone in the museum and I didn't care much for the crowds. There's nothing worse than trying to make conversation with blue bloods."
"Yeah, they're a little too fancy for me," he admitted and hoped whomever she was meeting here, wasn't a date. "You meeting your fella or something?"
Inwardly, he groaned. Subtle Tanner, real subtle .
Fortunately, she didn't seem to notice. "I'm meeting an old friend of my father's." When she spoke that last word, her bottom lip quivered, and Vin knew immediately, the reason for her sadness. The man was gone and by the intensity of pain he saw in her eyes, he guessed not too long ago.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly.
She raised her eyes to him, surprised at his ability to guess by that one word, the source of her anguish. Studying him for the first time, she was drawn immediately to the cobalt coloured eyes drinking her in. He was handsome, almost bordering on beautiful but there was enough ruggedness in him to leave no doubt of his masculinity. He appeared very dapper in his tuxedo even if he seemed terribly unassuming and she suspected, a little shy.
"Thank you," she replied, almost as quietly, blinking away the moisture in her eyes. "I'm still trying to get used to it."
For once, Vin thought the stupid handkerchief poking out of the top pocket of this monkey suit had some use and he fished it out and offered it to her. She accepted it without a word, lifting it to her lovely face before dabbing away at the tears that formed in her eyes.
When she composed herself, she handed it back to him. "Thank you. Is your boss going to be angry you've sneaked away like this?"
"Nah," Vin shrugged. "Once he got a look at the free booze, he forgot all about me. Prohibition was real tough on him, he still hasn't gotten over it."
She managed a laugh at that and Vin thought she was radiant when she did so and wanted to listen to that sound all day. "I'm Vin," he introduced himself. "Vin Tanner."
"Alexandra Styles," she offered him her hand, "but you can call me Alex."
Vin took her hand and immediately felt electricity in her touch. Her eyes shifted to his for a moment and Vin knew instantly she felt it too. A lightning bolt passed through his skin, riding the currents in his veins to pierce his heart in an instant. For a second, they just stared at each other and the walls between them became soft and translucent, as if some cosmic mechanism knew the barrier was not needed.
She withdrew her hand and Vin could see she was affected by the slight shift of colour in her skin, unnoticeable to most but he had spent enough time in the company of Indians to recognise the signs of a blush. The thought made him smile, glad he wasn't the only one who felt his world had just suddenly turned upside down.
"I suppose if we're not going to go down there," Alex said turning away from him and revealing a previously unnoticed clutch purse lying against the brick. "We should at least eat something." Snapping it open, she reached inside and produced a small box of Sugar Babies. I call this hideout food."
Vin laughed, liking the absurdity of it as he watched her pull the tabs on the box open, before tilting it in his direction. "Finally, some real food."
"Oh yeah, I should have brought a Cola but there was nowhere to stash it in this dress."
Thank Christ for that, he thought because she looked perfect in that gown. "I wish I have known coming up here. I would have hidden a couple of beers away for us."
"Now I could use one of those," she admitted as she popped a sugar baby into her mouth.
"Really?" Vin stared at her a moment before clearing his throat, never being able to do this well and wishing he'd paid more attention to Buck Wilmington when the man was on the make. "We could leave here and go get a drink?"
His nervousness while making the invitation was so endearing, Alex could not help but smile. In fact, she was rather, surprised by how much his presence receded the despair she felt. "Well I need to go see Professor Travis but after..."
"You know Professor Travis..." Vin started to say when suddenly, he caught sight of a group of people crossing the street, heading towards the front door of the museum. Even from five floors up, Vin knew they weren't the rich folk or faculty types attending the party this evening. They were all dressed in the same red robes, with a decidedly Oriental cut to them. The closest comparison he could make was a resemblance to some of the traditional clothes he'd seen worn by the Turks during the war.
"Who are they?" Alex asked, observing the odd cadre of red robed figures heading towards the museum, uncertain what she was seeing but judging by the suddenly serious expression on his face, they were anyone she would wish to meet. Suddenly, the shy and unassuming demeanour he projected earlier, vanished and he was someone different. He was someone who surveyed the scene like a hunter, supremely confident.
"I don't know," Vin said quickly. "But they're armed." They were carrying and assortment of blades, not just knives but scimitars and were heading straight for the museum. Worse than that, there was at least a dozen of them and Vin had a sneaking suspicion, they would make short work of the security guards in the building.
"What do we do?" She asked worriedly, guessing by the tone of his voice, he might be someone who knew what he was doing.
"Come on," he took her hand without thinking twice and scanned the top of the roof, sighting the fire escape almost immediately at the edge of it. "We're getting down to the street," he said as he started leading her there. "If we go through the building we might get caught in whatever's about to happen. You call the law and I'm going in there."
"What?" She halted in her high heels. "You could get hurt."
"It's okay," he gave her a little smile trying to assuage the fear he saw in her lovely face. "I won't be alone."
"I'm so glad you too finally met," Professor Orin Travis, who once commanded a regiment in the Great War, but now presided over the New Mexico Museum of Antiquities, said with a smile as he saw Chris Larabee eyeing his daughter Mary with suspicion. Considering what Mary had said privately about the treasure hunters he employed to collect artefacts from around the world, he imagined the conversation preceding his arrival would not have been a pleasant one.
"I've been looking forward to it," Mary said to Chris with a smile, finding the man quite intriguing, even if his reputation in archaeological circles bordered between grave robber and heroic.
"You have?" Chris eyed her suspiciously, uncertain if that was a compliment or not.
"Yes, dad has been talking so much about you, I was frankly quite curious," she offered her father a little smile, while the Professor eyed her with knowing smirk. He knew when she was baiting her hook.
"Nothing to know Mary," Chris said smoothly, curious as to what Orin said about him and is team. They had been friends since the war and Chris would always feel kindly to the man who gave his life purpose when it could have so easily gone bad, following Sarah and Adam's death. Travis had given not just him, but the rest of his friends from K Troop a new lease on life.
"I beg to differ. I find your adventures very exciting," She looked at him and Chris swore she was batting her lashes at him in preparation for some terrible thing he could not see until it was too late. "Actually, I was wondering if I could accompany you on your next expedition."
Chris who had chosen that moment to take a sip of champagne, choked.
While Mary stiffened in annoyance at the reaction, the Professor only stifled a smirk and wondered if he ought to take a step back to escape the tidal wave of feminist outrage about to come down on Mr Larabee.
"No," was all Chris could manage when he composed himself. "Not a chance in hell."
"Any why not?" Mary demanded, her cheeks reddening in indignation. "I've travelled to war zones Mr Larabee, I am certain I can hold my own during one of your little expeditions."
"Little?" Chris stared at her. "Where exactly do you think we go? This isn't a trip to Bloomingdales you know..."
"Mr Larabee that is sex..."
"Mary, Chris," Orin decided to intervene because there were too many sharp objects in this wing to allow this conversation to progress any further. "I did ask Chris here for a business matter, so perhaps we should discuss this subject at another time."
"Dad you are deflecting." Mary declared.
"No, he's saving your ass," Chris deadpanned and then winced because it was not appropriate to speak to a woman that way in front of her father.
Whatever Orin might have thought was interrupted by the sudden eruption of screams of women from the other side of the room. Chris immediately followed the sound of the commotion and saw the arrival of a dozen or so strangers in crimson robes, carrying cruel looking eastern blades. The screams had come because the first thing they had done upon entering the room, was to kill the security guard on watch. Kill might have been too light a word. Behead was probably more accurate Chris thought as he saw the headless corpse lying against the marble floor and God only knew where the head had gone.
Chris immediately searched the place for his men. Buck, Ezra, JD, Josiah and Nathan came into view, scattered across the room. None of them were armed, save maybe Ezra, but it appeared their intruders were only carrying blades and that was something a bunch of ex-cavalry men could deal with. And they had better do it fast because judging by the way these robed intruders were behaving, slashing and hacking away with absolutely no impunity, Chris guessed quickly they intended on killing everyone here.
"Mary, Professor," Chris turned to them. "Is there another exit out of this place?"
"Yes," Orin nodded quickly.
"Get everyone you can through that exit," Chris ordered. "I'm guessing if they haven't sealed off the doors yet, they will."
With that Chris left them just in time to see Buck entering the fray, using a chair to fend off an attacker coming at him with a vicious curved blade. The big man who towered over his opponent, had no difficulty driving the robed assailant backwards with the chair he was carrying, hindering the sword by the steel frame. Seeing their companion was encountering resistance, another robed figure closed in on Buck, intending to get around him. Fortunately, JD was there at the pilot's side, tossing a stone bust from its pedestal that landed on the attacker's side sending him sprawling.
Chris wondered as the thing shattered on the floor, if JD had any idea he just destroyed a three-thousand-year-old statue.
A sharp scream caught his attention, making Chris turn away from Buck and JD only to see a man staggering backwards after one of the intruders had run him through with a scimitar. As he crashed into the floor, the intruder advanced on the woman beside him, whose face was contorted in anguish implying a personal connection, a wife perhaps. Fury bubbling inside of him, Chris picked up a bottle on the table he passed by and came up behind the son of a bitch, smashing the bottle hard against the intruder's skull. He went down without any sound except glass shattering. Chris picked up the weapon in the murderer's hand and turned back to the fray.
Elsewhere, Ezra Standish was armed. He didn't go anywhere without his derringer and while the weapon contained only two bullets, it would serve. He looked across the room and saw Nathan who himself, was handy with blades, flip one of the robed assailants over his shoulder, the sudden impact against its legs, collapsing the table he landed on. Ezra's eyes widened seeing one of the brigands closing in on the medic from behind and without thinking twice, the gambler unleashed the derringer and promptly blew a hole in the man's head. Blood splattered across the column and the sound of the gunshot, the equalizer in any sword fight, brought the entire room to a halt.
All eyes turned to him, including those belonging to a behemoth that stood almost a head taller than Buck, armed with a scimitar, making a beeline for him. For some reason, Ezra had the feeling that the bullet was going to have all the effect of tossing a baked bean at a charging rhinoceros.
He took aim again, hoping that a well-placed bullet would put down the man but as he fired, the enemy moved with lightning fast reflexes, despite his size. The bullet smashed into a column, sending chips of mortar in all directions before the man, whose dress reminded Ezra of an Arabian genie, loomed over the gambler with nothing less than menace in his obsidian sculpted face
"I do not suppose we can discuss this matter," Ezra asked, trying not to gulp at the size of him.
"It would be a short conversation," Krestos replied, his voice gravelly.
"I feared that might be your response," Ezra remarked and threw a punch which the man caught easily in his meaty fist and began to squeeze, crushing fingers whose dexterity the gambler would miss. While the derringer did not hold any bullets, the weapon was still solid enough to be useful. Smashing the thing against the behemoth's jaw, the steel was enough to make him feel it, and Ezra wrestled his hands free, just in time to see Josiah barrelling into the enemy.
The one time seminary student who found it hard to turn the other cheek, slammed into Ezra's attacker, using his considerable bulk to drive both of them into the buffet table, upending everything on it with a loud crash. Ezra moved to intervene, certain Josiah was going to need help. He searched for a weapon and found a tall, light stand and prepared to use it when suddenly, another robed assailant came rushing out at him. Bracing himself to fend of the business end of a scimitar, suddenly a drink card rolled unexpectedly in front of him and toppled the man over.
Turning towards the direction of where the untimely assistance had come, Ezra saw a petite redhead, with copper coloured locks and the most astonishing emerald coloured eyes, giving him a wink before he heard movement behind him and turned his head, anticipating of an attack. As it turned out, it was Mr Larabee going blade to blade with one of their intruders. Unfortunately, when he turned back to the woman, she was gone.
Reaching the street, Vin and Alex could hear the commotion emanating from inside the museum, in particular the screams. Unfortunately, there was no comforting sound of sirens whining in the night which meant, no one had yet to raise the alarm or were able to do so. Wasting no time, the sharpshooter made his way to Chris's parked car. Even as they made their way to the parking lot, Vin was searching for a phonebooth and could not see one in sight.
"What are we doing here?" Alex asked as she followed Vin to the rear of the car, struggling to keep up on her heels.
Vin did not answer until he opened the trunk and what was in it was self-evident. Helping himself to the shotgun and ammo, one of the small selection of weapons Chris kept in his car, he straightened up to see Alex staring at him in suspicion.
"What exactly do you do for a living?"
"We're treasure hunters," Vin said hastily, going to the front of the car and pulling the door open.
"That's a real job?" She stared at him as Vin popped open the glove box and found Chris's revolver and spare shells.
"Real enough," Vin replied and straightened up to face her. "Here." He took off his coat and covered her shoulders. "Go see if you can find a telephone and get the cops here. I'm going back in there."
Her earlier suspicion now gave way to concern. "But..."
"I'll be fine," he assured her. "We still gotta get that drink."
Vin started to draw away when he suddenly felt her tug at his arm. He had no sooner turned back to her when he found himself on the receiving end of a soft, tender kiss of farewell. For a few seconds, the world was forgotten and all he could feel was the silk of her lips and her scent threatening to cloud whatever sense he had. Fortunately, before it could make him completely useless to Chris and the others, she pulled away.
"Be safe" she said softly.
Grinning as he pulled away, Vin felt like he could take on the world after that kiss. "I gotta, we still have to finish those sugar babies."
