Thank you guys so much for your reviews as well as your picks for the countries they'll go too :) the first country is introduced in this chapter but the others are still a mystery so if you haven't suggested a place feel free to do so :) Also I'd like to apologize about posting WAY late. My computer died on me so I had to wait until I got my new one :( so I had a lot of backup considering this chapter which is probably why it's so long! Lol.
In this chapter you'll basically find out about Sully and Abbie's relationship and also, of course, about the main storyline and what they'll be hunting for!
This is a long one so grab some popcorn, soda or water, get comfy and ENJOY! :)
Where in the hell are they
Taking another look out through the large cabin windows, Sully's eyes strained against the darkness outside as he tried to spot any movement on the docks, and of course there was none. Just like there hadn't been for over two hours now. He placed the cigar he'd been fondling for the same amount of time back between his lips and instantly he bit down on the worn down end; grinding his teeth into the thick and wet tobacco drenched paper.
Sully had started to pace the cabin once more his hands changing position as his eyes darted up at the window. Sully's eyes deceiving him with false movement every time.
She was with Nate; he was a good kid. Nate would keep her safe.
When Sully had looked out the window for what felt like the hundredth goddamn time he decided he needed to distract himself.
Nate would keep her safe.
He brought his attention back down to the scattered contents of Golomya's file he'd taken. Without even thinking he took the cigar from his mouth and held it back tightly between his fingers. Leaning against the table he tried to focus on everything that was in front of him but he couldn't make out a goddamn thing. He didn't know who the hell this Vishnu was (only that there was a very large jewel involved) or what the four, thick, leather bound journals and papers had to do with it.
Nate was always the brains behind this sort of crap. To this day Sully was always amazed at how easily the kid could put two and a thousand together and come out with a million odds. The kid was probably the smartest person Sully knew who also had the worst luck he'd ever seen.
Opening up one of the thick leather bound journals he let out an amused snort as he read aloud the owners' name:
"Sir Francis Drake. You always pop up somewhere you old bastard," he mumbled to himself.
It seemed that Golomya hadn't been lying; Nate would definitely get a kick out of this.
As he began to try and make some sense of the journal, that was looking more like a log book, he heard the sliding glass door open behind him. Sully dropped the book and spun himself around quickly, right hand going for his Wes 44, knowing damn well if whoever came in had a gun on him he was as good as dead already.
Instead he was greeted by the sight of Abbie and Nate, who was sliding the door shut behind him.
"Easy Sully," Nate spoke.
He seemed to be happy about something and from the pouting look on Abbie's face, and the good awful t-shirt she was wearing; he was willing to bet that had something to do with it.
"Next time you think you two could be more vocal with your entrance? Would give a guy some peace of mind."
Letting out a heavy sigh and placing his hands loosely on his hips Sully gave them a quick glance over. They both looked worse for wear; equally sharing in what looked like some minor cuts and bruises that were settling in on their arms. What he couldn't understand was why Abbie was wearing such a hideous t-shirt. It was two sizes too big, hanging just a little past her knees, and had a picture of a very tan large woman in a very tiny bikini on the front of it.
"This your idea?" Sully asked him pointing at the shirt.
"He refused to pick out a different one," Abbie growled.
A sly grin spread across Nate's face as he held up his hands in mock surrender.
"Hey, hey now that shop keeper was pushing this one on me."
"He was not you overgrown man child!"
Chuckling he shook his head. For a brief second he thought he was going to have to break them up like earlier when he realized with a start, as he watched them continue on, that they were flirting. Sully would've preferred them to go back to trying to rip each others' heads off. Annoyance coursed through him as he went to interrupt them when his eyes finally spotted Abbie's shirt she'd been wearing earlier, now dirty, clenched tight in her hand with the unmistakable spots of old blood. The minute his brain registered what his eyes had seen his pulse quickened as he rushed forward, not caring that he had interrupted their banter, as he lightly grabbed her by her shoulders and began to examine her.
A sickening combination of worry and rage flew through him as he looked at her more closely; noticing now the light swelling of the left side of her face and the blue hew of a bruise starting at the corner of her eye.
"Goddamn it Nate what happened?" he snapped at the kid his tone filled with venom.
Under different circumstances Sully would've immediately apologized; knowing that he had no right to take it out on the kid. But he couldn't find the words as a wounded look crossed Nate's face as the rage still lingered underneath.
"We had to deal with a couple of Golomya's guys head on. I made sure she was okay Sully-"
"And this is what you call okay?" he snarled as he motioned to her face.
"Jesus Christ Sully I'm okay!" Abbie pushed his hand away from her as she took a step back towards Nate; defending him. "Nate saved my ass twice today and risked his own one of those times to do so. So show a little more gratitude and be less insulting."
Nate had never seen Sully so shocked before in his life. Sure there was that one time in Sri Lanka with the barmaid but this was different. He'd never seen Sully act more like a father figure then he had just been a few seconds ago and even though the verbal attack had been sudden, Nate had understood it.
The small cabin filled with silence as they all stared at each other.
"Does this thing have a shower?" she asked him startling Sully from his thoughts.
"Ugh yeah it's just down the small hallway and the only door to your right."
"Mind if I use it?"
"You don't even have to ask Abbie."
Giving his shoulder a light squeeze she unexpectedly hugged him. It only took Sully a brief moment before he wrapped his arms around her and gently patted her back before they pulled apart.
"Thanks Sully."
Moving past him towards where he had directed her she turned back midway and asked, "We probably won't be able to go back to Nate's will we?"
"With Golomya's goons no doubt looking for us, yeah I'd say that'd probably be a stupid idea on our part," Nate answered. "Why you ask?"
"Oh I don't know just that…I have no clothes to change into."
"You have that shirt."
Scolding him she shot back, "I meant the ones I actually like."
"No worries Abbie. I keep spare clothes for Nate and myself just in case situations like this happen."
"You guys must be super popular."
Shooing her towards the bathroom Sully replied, "I'll bring you some clothes in a minute."
She looked back one last time at the two men standing in the cabin, just wanting to make sure that they were there, before she headed into the bathroom and shut the door behind her.
It had been a little over an hour now since Abbie had gone in the shower and Nate was already on his second beer. Placing the now empty Deus Equis bottle by the sink he moved down to the mini fridge and pulled out another; twisting the cap off and taking a sip from the bottle in one smooth motion.
He couldn't stand the taste of Sully's beer but he knew better then to complain about it. The last time he had Sully had snatched it from his hands and barked about how if he didn't like it he didn't have to drink it. This was all well and true, which was why Nate took another sip and fought not to shiver at the taste. This stuff really made him miss the Red Stripe Sully had become obsessed with on their last trip to Jamaica. He didn't give a damn really what he was drinking as long as it was alcoholic and would make the dull ache in his throat fade.
Earlier he'd raided Sully's cabinets for the usual whiskey he kept behind the Crisco but found nothing but a tiny bit in the bottle not even enough to fill a shot glass. He'd lifted it out of the cabinet and held it up to Sully as evidence, his eyebrow cocked, as he asked, "Seriously? You were too lazy to finish off the rest of the bottle?"
"That's my best stuff. You don't just down that kind of stuff kid; you savor it."
He sat the bottle down on the counter.
"Yeah well not even a mouse could get drunk off of what's left in here."
Taking a longer sip he grimaced as a light hum of pain went through his neck as he swallowed the liquid down. Involuntarily his hand shot up to his throat, rubbing it, annoyance filled him as he realized the pain would no doubt get worse.
"Hey Nate, would you mind grabbing me one of those?"
"Yeah sure."
Leaning down Nate opened up the mini fridge again, grabbed a beer, and set it down in front of him.
"Thanks."
He took his seat down across from him at what was the cabins kitchen table and began to make himself comfortable. He tried to go back to the copied pages of what was no doubt an important piece of this puzzle but Nate only knew a few words in Hindu. Certainly not enough to be anywhere close to transcribing what was in front of him. Nate let out a sigh of frustration as he pushed the papers aside and aimed to focus on some that he could read; not even touching the maps that were in front of him. As he shuffled some of the papers he noticed the wet rag he had used earlier to clean himself with had been set down on of the other Hindu copied journal entries.
"Damn it," he muttered.
Grabbing the rag he threw it back into the sink.
Sully eyed the kid warily as Nate took another long pull from the beer and went back to trying to sort out whatever was on the pages. They hadn't spoken since Abbie had gone to take a shower and was no doubt using all of his hot water.
For awhile he hadn't known what to say to the kid, which between them had been a first, but when he'd noticed the slight bruising of fingerprints beginning to blossom on Nate's neck…he'd never felt more like an asshole in his entire life.
Of course Nate had protected her and in return she had obviously protected him.
Shaking his head in disappoint at himself Sully twisted off the cap of his beer and took a swig before he spoke.
"I'm sorry kid."
Nate looked up at him, a mixture of amusement and confusion on his face.
"For what?"
"For yelling at you earlier. You didn't deserve that Nate. I was just so riled up when I saw her face and the dried blood-"
Nate waved him off.
"Don't worry about it Sully I understand. You were worried about her."
"I am gonna worry about it kid." Sully leaned forward and set his beer back down on the table. "I was so caught up in thinking she was hurt that I hadn't stopped to think about if you were alright."
"Quite it Sully your gonna make me blush."
That got Sully to chuckle.
"But I know what you mean and I'm alright."
Leaning back into the booth's cushioned seats Sully finally felt like he could take an easy breath.
"So," Nate began, "How do you know Abbie exactly?"
He knew at some point this was going to come up but damn did it take him by surprise when Nate asked. Sully had thought he'd be ready to talk about it but looking at Nate he suddenly grew tired at the idea of walking down memory lane; especially a walk down that lane.
"I knew her mother and father. I was more a friend of her mother's. Natalie and I had worked on a couple jobs together previously before Michael had ever come along."
Nate took a drink from his beer as he made himself comfortable; listening intently to him.
"But obviously you kept in touch?"
"Well for a couple years I didn't. After she had met Michael I felt like it was better for all of us if I gave them some privacy. I didn't hear from them for almost three years until one day I answered the phone and it was Natalie on the other end. I don't know how she had gotten my number but she always was one crafty woman." Sully smiled to himself at the memory. "Before I even got a word in she'd cussed me out for disappearing on her like that and in the same breath asked me to come over for lunch."
"Sounds like she was quite a woman."
"Oh she was Nate. She could hold her own with the best of them and was incredibly smart, not to mention she was downright beautiful. Anyways, when I got over to their new place I found out that her and Michael had gotten married and the biggest surprise-"
"Was Abbie," Nate guessed.
Sully gave him a nod of approval.
"Yup. Natalie came down the stairs with her and for a second I wanted to hightail it out of there. I'm not in to that whole mushy family stuff. Then Natalie placed her in my arms and introduced me to her; I'll always remember her eyes, sizing me up, and after a couple minutes I guess she thought I was alright because she smiled at me." He chuckled as he ran his thumb over his beer. "Abbie's got eyes just like her mother."
For a brief moment Sully lost himself in that memory; standing there in that living room with Natalie smiling over at him as he held Abbie for the first time. It had been a strange feeling, feeling so much joy for a kid, but in the back of his mind lingered that dark feeling that tried to ruin every good moment he had; making him feel he wasn't good enough. But he'd taken one look at Natalie, at her reassuring smile, and pushed it away.
"I'd hate to ask this but where are her parents?"
Nate's voice cut through the memory like a knife jarring Sully back into the present. He didn't want to talk about that night he'd lost her; Michael and Natalie had been good people. Clearing his throat he attempted to rush through it as fast as possible.
"Someone who had held a grudge had finally caught up with her. She and Michael were murdered and luckily Abbie had been staying the night over at a friend's house."
"Oh Jesus Sully I'm sorry for the both of you. After all of that though I would've thought you'd try to keep her out of this sort of life."
"Don't worry about it Nate. It was a long time ago and believe me I did try but when her mind is made up it's made up. She's just as stubborn as her mother," Sully grumbled.
A cheerless smile curled his lips as he stared absently down at the table with all the memories of Natalie flooding his mind. For some reason he thought of the job they'd done together back in Guatemala. It'd been unbearably hot and they'd been running low on water and somehow gotten lost but damn, getting lost in a forest had never been so much fun.
Sully tried to remind himself that it was just a memory, a damn good one, but it was in the past. But that cold ache he'd felt so long ago began to creep in and he struggled to bury it.
"Yeah no kidding," Nate snickered.
Taking his gaze from the table he focused on Nate. He'd said it with a humorous tone but the look on Nate's face was a dead giveaway. He was interested and not in the historical documents in front of him. Shaking his head Sully waved his hand wildly in front of him as if that would be enough to erase the idea from the kids mind.
"Oh no," Sully started.
"Oh no what?"
"I know what you're thinking Nate and don't even think about it."
Letting out an exasperated laugh Nate threw up his hands.
"Sully I really have no idea what you're talking about. You do remember to use your words, yeah?" Nate teased.
Nate was amused but completely lost by what Sully was trying to get across, and by his last comment had Sully's eyes squinting so tightly together in distaste they he could barely see them. Sully opened his mouth to respond when he was interrupted as Abbie came, almost skipping, into the room.
"Hi ya'll!"
Relaxing back into the cushion of the booth Sully wished he had gotten out what he wanted to say. Abbie looked between the two of them briefly before she made her way over to his cabinets and began to raid them.
"Got anything to eat in this floating bachelor pad?"
"Chips."
"Just chips?"
Bending down she opened up the mini fridge and instantly regretted it. She was able to make out the few cartons of Chinese food before a sickening smell hit her nose. Immediately she slammed the door shut as she stood up straight coughing back bile.
"Oh yeah sorry about that. Forgot that was still in there."
"Nice," she grumbled.
Nate of course was laughing. She sent a cold look his way as she shooed Sully to move down a little so she could sit.
Nate noticed then as she scooted herself comfortably into the booth that Sully had given her his spare t-shirt and sweats he'd left here a few months back when he'd stay over last time. To be honest he'd been hoping Sully would've given her one of his guayaberas to wear; so a small part of him was disappointed to see instead she was wearing one of his t-shirts. That all but lasted a few, very brief, milliseconds before he'd come to the conclusion that she looked good in his t-shirt.
"You guys find anything interesting while I was away?" Abbie asked as she lifted up some of the papers, looking at them briefly.
"I can't even tell you which way is up with some of these damn pages so hopefully you made some sense out of all this."
Sully directed the last at Nate as he took a quick swig from his beer.
"I was able to find out a few things. So far everything that I've been able to figure out keeps leading me back to the log books of the four explorers."
"That's good right? Means that there's something that we could use in one of these damn things."
Nate watched her closely as Abbie took a page Sully had tossed in his very large "reject" pile and began to look over its contents. Her face scrunched in concentration as she tried to make sense of what she saw.
"The better question here is what do these books have in common?"
"That's what I was trying to figure out and since you're finally out of your ridiculously long shower," Nate grabbed one of the books in question off of the table and handed it to her, "You can help us narrow it down."
He could've sworn she was already pouting.
"You mean you weren't done with the whole research thing yet?"
"Not even close. Why?"
Nate's eyes narrowed on her and a certain question popped into mind and immediately it had to be asked.
"You didn't take that long in the shower on purpose did you?"
"Maybe."
Sully let out a low chuckle beside her as Nate's face became somber.
Abbie rolled her eyes as she took the book he had handed to her earlier and carelessly flipped through its old pages.
"You gonna tell me what I'm even supposed to be looking for in here?"
She waved the log book at him before she placed it back on the table.
Setting his beer down Nate scooted forward making sure that he was facing both Sully and Abbie equally.
"First off, what all do you know about Vishnu exactly?"
"You mean besides the fact that he is a mythological god?"
"From what I've gathered so far that may not be exactly true."
A skeptical smile came across her face as she looked from him to Sully. She expected Sully to be looking at Nate like he was a nut job but instead, with his elbows on the table, he leaned in closer waiting for Nate to go on.
"You can't be taking this seriously, Sully?"
"You wouldn't even have to ask if you've seen some of the weird shit I've experienced."
Abbie shook her head lightly as she moved closer to the edge of the seat; any farther and she would have slid right off. She tapped her fingers just a little too frantically on top of some papers as she looked between them.
"Look this is cute and all but this stuff can't be real; the Kaustubha can't be real. The damn thing was created by the god's who churned the ocean creating fourteen treasures and Kaustubha was the fourth."
"And do you know who has it?" Nate asked amused.
"Vishnu does where he lives in the Ksheer Sagar, otherwise known as, 'the ocean of milk.' Because there are so many of those just lying around."
"Kid I hate to bring up a madman's words for advice but you can't take things so damn literally," Sully cut in.
Nate put a hand up to stop her next attempt at rationalizing and surprisingly she didn't fight him.
"Just hear me out alright?"
They both watched her as she looked between them; her tongue rolling around her mouth until finally she waved for him to continue, staying silent. It took Nate a minute to dig through the papers before he produced the one he'd needed. Once he had the paper describing Vishnu, he didn't hesitate to start reading it, just in case Abbie's silence didn't last much longer.
"My feet have lines forming a celestial standard, a royal parasol. On my chest are the lock of hair Beloved-of-Fortune and the shining jewel Treasure-of-the-Ocean. In my four hands are a conch, a lotus, a mace, and a bow. My arms are adorned with armlets. I wear a garland of shining diadem, and earrings shaped like sea monsters." He set the page down and quickly picked up a new one. "Now from what I've been able to make out from the rest of these was that all four of these explorers believed that this guy, and these objects, were real."
"That's great Nate but what does any of this have to do with Golomya and the jewel?" Sully asked.
Nate's lips pressed tightly in distaste as he took in a deep breath.
"Because he doesn't really care about the jewel, not really."
"How could he not care about something that would make him a millionaire?"
"Because-"
Nate started to answer him when Abbie did it for him; realization playing across her features.
"Because if Vishnu is real Sully that means the four things he is holding are real."
Sully looked between the two of them.
"Alright I can already see I'm the last one invited to the party again. Would one of you enlighten me so we can speed this along?"
"All the four objects he has hold what is reported to have unrelenting power Sully. One has the power of illusion, the second of knowledge; the third said to be like a universal mind and the fourth focuses on creation. These four objects in his hands were said to express dominance over life granting absolute power-"
"So if a bad guy like Golomya got a hold of it," Sully murmured finally connecting the dots.
"Then he would be unstoppable," Nate agreed gloomily.
"Guys," Abbie had turned ghostly white as she licked her lips and glanced up from the table. She'd been riffling through everything on the table until she found a picture of Vishnu and flipped it over; trying to face it so both of the men could see. "If these objects are real then we have more to worry about then just that."
"More good news?"
Ignoring Sully she continued, locking eyes with Nate.
"The Lotus isn't just about the universal mind Nate; it's about controlling them. The Lotus allowed Vishnu to create a peaceful mind and to also destroy forms of ignorance and to expel demons and errors. The bow doesn't just grant illusion but can make Hitler seem like Mother Teresa if you wanted. The mace, well, it dazzles and intoxicates the mind, basically inebriating it. Back when Vishnu had it, it was literally called the stupefier-of-the-mind; it destroys all that oppose it. Not to mention that the lock of hair Beloved-of-Fortune is said to symbolize fortune."
Leaning back in the booth Abbie tried to calm herself as she tried to understand why anyone would want something like this. If these things were really, honest to god real, why would any man want them? But for a man like Golomya this sort of thing would be perfect. World domination without even having to fight for it.
"Nate?"
She had spoken so low he'd barely been able to hear her.
"Yeah?"
"How close did those explorers come to finding these things?"
"That's the thing: all four of them apparently documented that apparently Vishnu was a man or that he at least had came down and joined the ranks of men to live among them. When he passed away they reportedly had incidences were zealots and king's tried to take possession of Vishnu's belongings, ending in chaos. So they divided up the four pieces and sent them off to other countries hoping to separate them far enough, and hidden enough, that over time everyone would forget their existence. Now each object has its own private temple that was built to protect each object."
"But they're scattered in these different locations?"
Nate shook his head.
"Oh yeah."
"Superstitious bugger," Sully growled as he placed his cigar in his mouth.
"In these notes it says that to find Vishnu's final resting place you have to first collect all four of the objects for his arms to present as tribute. Once inside it is said that he blesses you beyond measure."
"That still doesn't explain anything about the locations," Abbie said.
"I was getting there!" He made himself a little more comfortable in the seat before he continued. "All four of these guys have the locations written down in their log books."
"Sweet so we just have to write it down and go-"
Shaking his head Nate stopped him by lightly patting Sully on the shoulder.
"When has it ever been that easy?" he chuckled.
"A guy can dream."
Poking a finger at her book Abbie asked, "We have to read them, don't we?"
"Yeah but it shouldn't take long. There will only be four locations that they share the same. We'll just have to write down each location and go from there."
Sully leaned forward and quickly snatched up Drake's journal much to Nate's displeasure.
"Well I've got my book," Abbie began.
Getting up from the booth she made her way over to the small bench that faced out against the ocean and sat down.
"And I've got mine."
Raising his eyebrows Nate looked at the two books in front of him and back at Sully's one.
"What?"
"There's four of them and only three of us."
Sully leaned forward and patted him on the back.
"You can handle it."
"You're a real sweet soul you know that Sully."
Nate's eyes felt like they were burning; he hadn't blinked in so long that they probably were.
In what was only supposed to take an hour at the most had ended up stretching out into three, and so far, all he had come up with was at least three places that had showed up the same in all four logs. He'd ended up picking up Sully's after he had fallen asleep beside him. Even now the rhythmic sound of Sully's snoring reminding him how much he'd like to be asleep himself.
Nate let out a heavy sigh as he relaxed back into the cushions, running his hands over his face; it felt even better to stretch. Normally he would've taken the time to get up or maybe just look around a bit but when he'd ended up doing that earlier he'd almost fallen asleep. He hadn't even realized he was going to until Abbie had thrown a Cheeto at him.
A coffee mug was placed in front of him and seconds later the smell of finely made coffee drifted up too his nose.
"You look like you could use this."
Reaching out he happily took the mug, cautiously taking a sip. It tasted even better than it smelt. Looking up at her he gave her a small smile of gratitude as she sat down beside him, placing her mug down next to his.
"Thanks."
"No problem."
After his third sip of the coffee he looked over at her, a sly smile on his face, as she glanced at him a couple times until she realized he was staring.
"What?" she laughed.
"Where'd you learn to make coffee this good?"
Her eyes flicked over to Sully's slumbering form before she looked back at him.
"It took years to perfect it but after a long night of drinking, Sully was a mad man for his coffee; made him less grumpy."
Nate chuckled beside her as they both looked over at the slumbering man as he mumbled incoherently in his sleep.
"Oh yeah I definitely remember nights like those."
And Nate did.
When he was younger Sully had cut back a lot or at least waited until he was asleep before he had himself one too many but as Nate had gotten older neither of them really cared. Well, he did care on nights like the one they'd had in Jamaica. Something had gotten him so upset he'd drank his way through the bar, starting a fight with a few locals. Nate hadn't been surprised that Sully had been able to handle them with ease, what had pissed him off though was when he had to basically carry Sully up to his room later that night. He'd been rambling on and on about her eyes, they hadn't been sparkling like last time. Nate had thought he was just rambling; dreaming while awake and intoxicated, as he'd helped him up the stairs. But now…
Sitting there and looking over at Sully he wondered if all those times when he was seventeen and he'd left him for two days, and as he gotten older and they would do separate jobs, if the whole time, Sully had gone off to see Abbie. Everything had been moving so fast that Nate hadn't had any time to really think about the fact that Sully had kept her a complete secret from him; that that whole part of his life had never been shared with him when they had promised to never have any secrets.
Here was someone else who knew Sully their entire life. Who could share inside jokes with him and know things about him that only Nate had thought he'd known. An array of emotions erupted inside him all at once: betrayal and hurt being the strongest ones he felt.
The silence between them had grown heavy with neither one of them making a move to interrupt it or get back to reading the log books.
Reaching across him Abbie picked up the list they had made so far, showing how they'd only been successful with finding three of the four locations. The fourth one was either being illusive or was trying to wait her out until she became illiterate.
"Screw it I'm just going to start scanning through them and write down every name I see until I find one that matches."
While she'd been looking over the paper Nate had further slouched down into the cushion of the booth. His neck resting comfortably against the top of it when she turned to look at him.
"You won't find it like that."
"Oh yes because this is working so well," she replied sarcastically having drawn out the so.
Abbie allowed herself to look down at the treacherous books laid out in front of them and behind them were the miles of papers that they could barely understand. It could take who knows how many hours for them to find that one damn country along with the exact location of the temples. Letting out a groan she slammed her face down into the pages of her opened book: Nate chuckled as he stroked her back.
"We'll find it…eventually."
He left his hand on her back as he rubbed soothing circles, glancing at the books like they were the creature from the Black Lagoon. Nate realized then that his hand had ceased making the small circles, and was now resting on her waist. He removed his hand immediately and rested it back on his thigh as his feet began to dance wildly.
Lifting the book up with her Abbie reclined back until she was eye to eye with Nate.
"I'm really starting to get tired of reading Portuguese…and Spanish-"
Nate's eyes widened as his eyes caught something on the page. Taking the book from her hands he placed it down in front of him and read feverishly over the page letting out a laugh of success.
"Ha that's it!"
"What's it?"
"Sully! Sully wake up!"
He started to shake Sully so hard the older guy thought there was an earthquake going on. When Sully opened his eyes however he realized it was just Nate.
"What the hell are you going on about?" he grumbled his voice heavy with sleep.
"That's what I'd like to know too," Abbie joined in.
"I found it!"
"Found-"Sully's eyes widened. "You found all four locations?"
"How the hell did you do that so fast? You just saw my one page!"
Abbie was shocked as well as impressed.
Quickly Nate put down her book as he started to flip through another books page.
"Okay, okay no need to show me."
She snatched the book out from under him as she closed it and placed it in her lap. By the look in Nate's eyes she could tell he wanted to continue to look for the page. After a few more seconds he finally looked back at Sully giving him his full attention.
"I haven't found their exact locations just yet. You're still going to need to take these pages to your buddy Ivan up in New York for that."
"Jesus Nate isn't there anyone else we can take these too? You know how much I dislike the guy."
"I know you do Sully but we need him on this. Unless you know anyone else who can speak and read fluent Hindu all of the sudden."
"The man smells like rotten vegetables."
"Sully-"
Sully just waved him off.
"Alright I'll book a flight to leave tomorrow. What are you gonna do?"
Nate moved a couple papers around on the table until he produced a map. Laying it out in front of them he lifted a piece of paper from underneath one of the books.
"From what I was able to get from this it says that the first main temple is hidden along the river of Rawang in Malaysia. I figured I'd start to head that way and scope out the area until you call with what Ivan your favorite smelly vegetable is able to come up with."
They all sat there in silence; the hum of anticipation electrifying the air as they looked from one another.
"So…we're gonna do this, right?" Abbie asked, excitement laced in her voice.
"Hell yeah!"
Nate and Abbie laughed, both excited to begin this adventure, but more importantly were ready to get some sleep. All that ended when Sully leaned heavily into the table, his face set in harsh lines.
"Whoa you don't seriously think you're coming along do you?"
"After what I just went through Sully there is no way I'm leaving this empty handed. Your damn right I'm coming with you guys."
"Abigail-"
Abigail? Nate thought as he looked at her amused. Then he remembered what was going on and quickly dropped his smile.
"-This isn't some goddamn jewel heist out of some guys' house-"
"I know that Sully-"
"Do you? Because I don't hear a lot of common sense coming out of you here. You could die Abbie!"
"I'm as good as dead already Sully. You honestly think that Golomya doesn't have his guys out there trying to track us down? No matter what I am going to be in danger; let's be realistic about this."
"She has a point Sully," Nate added.
This exchange between the two of them was becoming hard to watch. Sully's face was so red Nate thought for a second he wasn't breathing.
Turning to him, Sully pointed and shouted, "You stay the hell out of this!"
Abbie had had just about enough.
Getting up from the booth she slammed her hands down hard on the table causing it to shake and the coffee to spill from the cups.
"Goddamn it Sully I am going end of discussion! Nate I'll see you in the morning."
Quickly she turned and made her way down the hallway leaving the two men to sit at the table stunned. In a way Nate was happy the discussion was finally over. They had a game plan and he could finally get to sleep but at the same time…
He watched Sully closely as he got up from the booth, made his way over to the small loveseat (the only other seat he had in the whole boat) and sat down trying to get comfortable. The sudden sound of the bedroom door slamming shut making him jump.
He was grateful this time that he wasn't the one in trouble with a girl.
As always, I'm dying to know how you guys felt about the chapter!
Also do you guys prefer long or short chapters?
Let me know if you have any questions :)
~Much Love, Jeneane~