Chapter 4: Dr. Schneider
Indy led Marion and Marcus off the plane. Marcus had spent most of the trip sleeping but neither Indy nor Marion could. Indy had spent most of it with his nose in his father's diary. Marion had alternated between looking out the window and curling up against him, needing the silent reassurance.
'So how are we supposed to recognise this Dr. Schneider?' Marcus asked.
'I don't know,' Indy said. 'Maybe he'll recognise us.'
That was what happened next. Except, to Indy's surprise, Dr. Schneider wasn't a he. But, rather, a young blonde woman. And that was Dr. Elsa Schneider. As they introduced themselves, she gave Marion an irritated look and, Indy felt under his arm, that Marion tensed.
Oh, this was going to go as nicely as one cat invading another's turf.
Elsa tried to keep her face passive and casual as she led Dr. Brody, Dr. Jones and Mrs. Jones to the library but inside she was fuming. Her methods were very simple. Get the strongest man alone, paint herself as vulnerable, have sex with him and make him form an emotional attachment to her.
Elsa hadn't been bothered when she heard that Dr. Indiana Jones had a wife. Every man was easy to seduce, but not if he brought the woman in question along with him. It would be twice as hard, if not impossible, to seduce a man who brought his wife with him.
Once in the library, Dr. Jones found the spot in question very quickly. He was even better at this than his father. He then made a hole in the floor and he went down first. Elsa followed. This may have been her chance. That was quickly dashed when Mrs. Jones came down as well.
Elsa wasn't too worried. She knew the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword would be there to knock Dr. Brody out and then they'd come down after them. If Jones wasn't going to comply, which she wouldn't put her money on, then he and his wife would be killed.
That would make things easier.
Despite the fact that Indy and Marion both knew that the stone would be gone from here, they entered the catacombs. That was because they knew Andor Dalen would be watching and they wanted to get his attention. If there was any progress on the search for their son, he would know.
Indy got a lighter from Marion and they made their way through. There were several pictures on the walls that they stopped to examine. Elsa looked at one that made Indy and Marion smile at each other.
'And what's this one?' she asked.
'Ark of the Covenant,' Indy said.
Elsa leaned in closer. 'Are you sure?'
Marion barked out a laugh. 'I'm the daughter of Abner Ravenwood and Indy was his favourite student. The old man is obsessed with the damn thing.' She shook her head as she and Indy moved on ahead of Elsa.
The Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword followed the three of them. They noticed, when they came to the rats, that the Joneses had no problem just walking through them. Mrs. Jones just had a curled lip as she did so. This clearly intimidated Dr. Schneider and she forced herself to walk through them. When they found the casket, they found it empty except for a skeleton.
'What?' Dr. Schneider gasped. 'It looks at though the tablet's been ripped from the hands.'
'Well, there's little else to do now,' Dr. Jones said.
They'd heard enough. What they were looking for was not down here. At some point, it had been removed. These three had outlived their usefulness. The Brotherhood lit the gas at their feet on fire.
They still managed to escape.
Marion yanked the guy off of Indy and he jumped to his feet. The guy in question somehow managed to stay on the boat and scrambled back at them, gun in hand. Marion and Indy both side-stepped, being careful with their balance, and he went flying off. But they still had more jumping at the boat.
Elsa could see it. This was not going to go as she'd hoped. These two were completely mad. There was no other way to describe them. They wouldn't fall as easily as others would. They'd do everything to get done what they set out to do.
And they wouldn't stop until they had their son back.
Elsa spun the boat in a wide ark, changing strategy. She had to find ways to kill them, but without letting them know that was what she was doing. Because Dr. Jones would have the diary on him and, once he was dead, they could just take it from him.
The boat spun. Indy and Marion looked at each other. Both on the same wavelength, they didn't need to say it. Elsa was in on the scheme too. Her little stunt, designed to kill one or both of them, had knocked the other guys in the fezzes off the boat, them having less balance than the Joneses.
Indy and Marion scrambled forward.
'Move!' Indy barked, shoving Elsa out of the way and taking the wheel from her.
The guys had vanished by this time, though, so Indy just pulled the boat into the nearest shore. He paused to catch his breath. Marion started rubbing his shoulders. Elsa watched them for a few minutes until someone came and stood on the sidewalk by the boat.
They all looked up and Indy easily recognised the guy standing there. It was Andor Dalen, the one that he and Marion had been hoping to run into. Andor smiled, his face creasing with the dimples, and spoke. His Norwegian accent was still thick despite the years.
'Indiana Jones, I presume?'