Chapter 17: Betrayed

Milo was too stunned to speak. He could only stare open-mouthed as Rourke chuckled and stood up, signaling with a hand for the armed soldiers to surround the stone pavilion. They made it clear that they would shoot if there was an attempt to escape. Milo scanned the group for any familiar faces and was shocked to see Sweet and Vinny among them.

Neither of the two men could look Milo in the eye.

Helga, dressed in a similar uniform to Rourke's, joined the commander at the water's edge, her dark eyes shining with triumph.

Milo exhaled in frustration and smacked the water with his fist. He looked up and met Rourke's hard gaze. "You're after the crystal."

The commander chuckled. "Oh, you mean this?" Rourke pulled the missing page out of his pocket and held it out. "Doctor Jones trusted you with his secret, huh?"

Milo suspected that the big man had something to do with Indy's disappearance. "What have you done with him, Rourke?"

Rourke shrugged nonchalantly. "Yeah, well, you see... about that..." a wicked smile crossed his lips.

Milo climbed out of the water, his fear for Indy giving him the courage to stand up to the older man who was three times his size. "Where is he?" He demanded angrily.

Rourke snorted and shook his head. "Relax, Thatch. He's alright for now." He crossed his arms, still clutching the page in his hand. "But his life depends on your willingness to help us find what we're looking for."

Milo balled up his fists.

"This right here," Rourke wiggled the page back and forth in Milo's face. "I know you can read this. And you're gonna tell me where to find it.

Milo took a deep breath and pointed a finger accusingly. "You've been after the Heart of Atlantis since my grandfather found the Shepherd's Journal in Iceland. You've been planning this all along."

Rourke rubbed his brow. "Ah hell, I would've told you our plans sooner, Thatch, but it was strictly on a need-to-know basis and, well..." he said in a mockingly sympathetic tone and shrugged his broad shoulders. "Now you know. I had to be sure you were one of us." Rourke held out a large hand and smiled. "Welcome to the club, son."

Milo pushed the big man's hand away and took a step back, shaking his head. "I'm no mercenary."

Behind him in the pond, Kida had resurfaced. Before she could react to the scene in front of her, one of the soldiers closest to the water reached down and grabbed her by her hair, causing her to gasp in pain as he pulled her out. Milo went to help her but Helga stopped him, the barrel of her pistol aimed at his chest. He watched helplessly as the soldiers struggled to detain the warrior princess.

Kida held her own, showing how much of a skilled fighter she was. She had ripped her hair out of the first soldier's grasp and pushed him into the pond, sending another two flying through the air with powerful punches and kicks. They lay senseless on the stones. Another man approached her with a wooden beam but she wrestled it out of his hands. Slamming him to the ground, she used it to hold him down before drawing a knife that Milo was stunned she had been able to hide somehow. She held it up, ready to stab down on her attacker.

Rourke pulled his pistol out of its holster and shot the knife out of her hand, making a loud pinging sound as the bullet hit the blade. Kida turned to look at him, her now empty hand still raised in the air, blue eyes wide with shock. She had never seen a weapon or heard one that loud before. Rourke narrowed his eyes, keeping the gun aimed at her in case she tried something else.

Reluctantly, Kida stood up, understanding that she was no match for a weapon like that. She allowed two soldiers to grab her by the arms but not before delivering a furious kick to the groin of the man she had been about to kill. He yelped in pain and curled up in the fetal position as they dragged her away from him.

Rourke lowered his pistol and turned to Milo, amused by the term the linguist had used. "Mercenary, huh?" He shoved Helga out of the way. "I prefer the term "adventure capitalist". Besides, you're the one who got us here." He waved the journal page and grinned. "You led us right to the treasure chest."

Milo stepped up to him. "You don't know what you're tampering with, Rourke! None of us do!" He gestured to Kida.

Rourke chuckled and shook his head doubtfully. "What's to know? It's big. It's shiny. It's going to make us all rich." He gestured to the watching uniformed soldiers, earning amused chuckles.

Trembling with fury, Milo waved his arms. "You think it's some kind of a diamond! I thought it was some kind of a battery- but we're both wrong!"

Rourke raised an eyebrow. Milo continued in exasperation. "It's their life force, Rourke. That crystal is the only thing keeping these people alive. You take that away, and they'll die!"

There were a few whispers among the watching soldiers before Rourke spoke again. "Well... that certainly changes things." He turned to Helga and smiled sadistically as she took the journal page from him. "Helga, what do you think?"

The blonde looked up from scanning over it and returned his smile. "Knowing that," she handed the page back to the commander. "I'd double the price."

"I was thinking triple." Rourke added.

"Rourke, don't do this!" Milo pleaded, his anger replaced with desperation.

"Academics." Rourke taunted him. "You never want to get your hands dirty." He glanced behind Milo and grinned. "You have something in common with Doctor Jones here."

Milo turned around and stared wide-eyed as the soldiers parted and Indy was forced at gunpoint to the front of the crowd, his hands tied behind his back. A stream of dried blood caked the side of his head. Some bruising had started above his eye and he was limping heavily. Milo bit his lip. The archaeologist had been badly beaten.

Meeting Milo's eyes, Indy opened his mouth to say something but the man on his left cocked his gun, threatening to shoot if the archaeologist attempted to speak. Indy shot the soldier a death glare.

"Think about it, Thatch." Rourke continued on, amused. "If you gave back every stolen artifact from a museum, you'd be left with an empty building." He shrugged. "We're just providing a necessary service to the archaeological community. Think of all the advances we could make in the world with the crystal's power."

Milo turned to Rourke, furious. "Not. Interested!" He snapped defiantly.

The big man frowned. He didn't like being back-talked, much less being defied. "I have to admit..." he moved closer to Milo which made the younger man step back nervously until he was standing at the edge of the pond, his heels hanging off the edge. Rourke stopped, his face inches from Milo's. "I'm pretty disappointed in you, Milo. You're an idealist, just like your grandfather."

Milo narrowed his eyes, fighting back the urge to plow Rourke in the face for daring to talk about his grandfather that way. The commander shook his head. "Do yourself a favor, Milo. Don't be like him. For once..." he tapped the side of his head. "... do the smart thing."

"Forget it Rourke. I won't help you find the crystal!" Milo repeated. "Over my dead body!"

Rourke leaned away, his patience wearing thin. "I really hate it when negotiations go sour." He snapped his fingers. One of the soldiers shouted a command in German.

The men holding Indy cocked their guns and aimed their barrels at his head. Those holding Kida did the same thing, shoving her to the stones and placing their weapons at her back. She scowled up at them.

Milo's jaw dropped, suddenly realizing that Rourke wasn't kidding around anymore. Indy and Kida were now at his mercy.

Rourke grabbed Milo's shoulder in a death grip, making him wince. "Let's try this again." Rourke said in a dangerous tone. He placed the journal page into Milo's trembling hands. "If you still refuse to translate..." he jerked his head at Indy and Kida. "... you can watch them get riddled with bullet holes." Milo stared wide-eyed, shocked by Rourke's vicious words. The big man grit his teeth and gave Milo a shake. "I'd choose wisely, son. Or they'll be the first dead bodies on your conscience."

Milo gulped and glanced over at Indy. The archaeologist shook his head, flinching when the barrel of a gun was pressed against his sore head. Milo looked down at the ancient page in his hands. It was an exact illustration of the mural Kida had shown him in the underwater temple.

It had all come down to this. After all they had been through, just to get to this point.

Impatient, Helga took a step towards him but Rourke stopped her with an outstretched arm.

Finally, Milo took a deep breath and met Rourke's hardened gaze. "I'll do it." He said softly.

A sly grin crossed the commander's lips. Gesturing with his fingers, a uniformed woman brought him Milo's clothes he had tossed aside before joining Kida in the pond. Rourke shoved them into the young man's arms. "Hurry up and get dressed Thatch. Got to look presentable for His Highness. Wouldn't be proper to be half-dressed, you know."

Ridden with guilt, Milo looked over at Kida. Her blue eyes were round with shock and disbelief. When he looked at Indy, the archaeologist turned his head and looked away. Milo hung his head, defeated.

He had brought death upon Atlantis and its people.


Milo feared that Rourke would storm the throne room right then but to his surprise, they were marched into the jungle, hands tied behind their backs, surrounded on all sides by Nazis and their supporters.

Walking alongside Indy, Milo watched as he struggled to walk with every step he took. But Indy kept on stoically, too proud to admit he was in bad shape. If he did have a concussion the first time he had hit his head, Milo thought, it had definitely grown worse after the beatings he sustained. The archaeologist had gone pale and looked half out of it.

Milo glanced at the soldiers around them before turning to Indy. "Are you alright? You don't look so good." He whispered.

Indy didn't look at him when he replied. "I'm fine."

Figuring he was angry that Milo agreed to Rourke's demand, he shook his head. "I couldn't let them kill you and Kida."

"He won't kill her, Milo." Indy lifted his head up, his eyes finding Rourke at the head of the group. "She's his bargaining chip to force the king into submission." He chuckled dryly and turned to Milo. "They won't have anything to lose if they got rid of me."

"Don't talk like that." Milo scolded.

"If this head injury doesn't kill me, Rourke certainly will."

Milo's stomach twisted. "Indy, stop! You're not gonna die."

Indy raised an eyebrow. "How do you know that for sure, Milo?" He asked softly.

The younger man opened his mouth but no words came out. He didn't know what to say. Deciding to change the subject, Milo nodded his head at Sweet and Vinny. "I can't believe they would be on Rourke's side."

Indy shook his head. "No, they're not." He stumbled but was roughly grabbed by one of the soldiers who forced him to his feet.

Once Indy was walking again, Milo went on. "But why?" He glanced around them nervously but the soldiers didn't seem to be paying them any mind. But then, Milo thought, they didn't get after them for talking because they probably didn't understand a word they were saying.

"After they found out," Indy began, glancing at the front of the group. "Rourke threatened Audrey when they refused to have anything to do with his plan. In order to protect her, they agreed to help find the Heart."

"So where is she? And Mole and Mrs. Packard? Cookie?"

Indy's face was grim when he replied. "They're keeping them under guard at the camp." The archaeologist sighed heavily. "But that's not the worst of it."

Milo grimaced. "Do I wanna know?"

"The Captain of the Guard has joined up with Rourke. I'm not sure if he has some kind of vendetta against the King or whatever the hell his reason is."

Milo fell silent, trying to process it all. The group was abruptly stopped, as Rourke had sent a couple of soldiers ahead to scout.

Milo shook his head. "Indy, we've got to do something."

"Its over, Milo." Indy replied flatly.

"But-

"Its too late!" Indy cut him off with a stony glare. "There's nothing more we can do."

Milo narrowed his eyes. "So that's it then? You're giving up?"

"Sure in the hell looks like it."

The younger man frowned and raised an eyebrow. "Where's the adventurous Indiana Jones that I've heard a lot of stories about since I met you?"

"Not here."

"Indy-

"That's enough!" Indy snapped, earning a shocked look from Milo. The archaeologist swayed a little on his feet, his outburst obviously having put a strain on his concussed head. He took a deep breath. "Leave me alone, Milo."

As if in answer to his demand, Milo was grabbed from behind and force marched to the front of the group where Rourke and Helga stood waiting. The man on his left shoved him and he caught himself before he could face plant in the dirt at Rourke's boots.

He glared up at Rourke who cracked his knuckles.

Using a knife, the soldier on his right cut away Milo's bonds. He rubbed his sore wrists, still watching Rourke suspiciously.

"Alright Mr. Linguist." Rourke grabbed the journal page out of Milo's pants' pocket and smacked it into his chest. "Start translating."


A/N: I decided to post this chapter now. I was going to wait longer and add more to it before I posted but I think its served its purpose.