A/N: This is the second entry in the Derek-solo trilogy that started with The Confederate Gold.

Derek Lowell Drake: Loving husband, father, and treasure hunter.

Niko Lowell: Gifted linguistics and cousin.

The Priest and Bethany: An uncle and niece religious duo.

Erkin Yura: Competent boat captain.

Giovanni Gagliardi: The leader of an anti-fascist movement in Italy.


Extended Summary

While on a dig in Jordan, Derek gets a text message from his aunt and uncle, telling him that there is trouble involving his cousin. Derek travels to Rome to save his cousin and discovers that Niko had translated a scroll that proves the existence of the Staff of Moses and a group of radical protesters have a map to the temple that holds the staff. It's a race against time and Derek is going to need help from a religious Turkish duo and a weak but skilled boat captain if he wants to get to the staff in time.


Then the Lord said to him, "What is that in your hand?"

"A staff," he replied.

The Lord said, "Throw it on the ground."

Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. Then the Lord said to him, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail." So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. "This," said the Lord, "is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you."

Chapter 1: Prologue

February 2040

Petra, Jordan

Had it not been for Omaria, they never would've gotten access to the Petra site in Jordan, where they could do some digging in the mountains. While the digging crew Derek Lowell was with left the temples alone, Derek couldn't help but chew the scenery and take in everything before him.

It wasn't the sights that had Derek working with his archaeology institution but the new rumor that someone found evidence of Sodom and Gomorrah in Jordan.

Given the biblical significance of such a find, it wasn't a surprise when he spotted his old buddies, Catholic priest Yagmur Sadik and his niece, Belinay Sadik, at the site with them.

"It's an honor to meet you again," the Priest bowed. "But I do wish the circumstances were a bit better."

Derek tilted his head. "I have no idea whatcha mean."

The Priest nodded to his shoes. "If the new evidence suggests that we are standing upon Sodom and Gomorrah, then take your shoes off, for we may be on Holy Ground, despite God's destroyed cities."

Derek chuckled before he took off his sneakers. "I guess you have a point; it wouldn't be respectful to God if we wore shoes while walking on Holy Ground."

"Thank you," the Priest smiled.

Derek looked at Bethany. "Wow, Bethany, you are getting tall."

"I just turned fifteen," Bethany shrugged, her voice more profound than the last time he saw her. "Three more years until I'm an adult."

"Life has been treating you well?"

"Of course," she said smugly, "I've been doing good in school and spreading the love of God to everyone around me."

The Priest looked around at the other archeologists digging at the site. He noticed that none of them were wearing shoes, mostly because he told them to take their shoes off.

Derek was just grateful that it wasn't too hot today and the sand felt soft and warm against his white socks. He looked around and took in the site; the dig site was in the canyons where, an earthquake, caused some of the canyons to come apart and reveal parts of what looked to be building structures.

The rumor that it had once been part of Sodom and Gomorrah came from the Hebrew writing found scratched into the wall with several references to the destroyed lost city. Derek looked over to where everyone was digging and saw his wife, Cassie Drake, sitting on a rock with an artifact in her hand, carefully dusting the sand off with their Egyptian friend, Omaria Al-Bashir, digging into the sand with a shovel beside her. Feeling eager all of a sudden, Derek walks over to his wife and puts his hands in his pockets as he watches the two girls work.

"What's up, ladies, been doing fine and dandy with finding any interesting skull and bones?"

Cassie paused to look up at her husband. "No, not yet, but we'll keep looking."

Omaria gave up on digging and dropped the shovel. "In this day and age, finding skulls and bones buried in the sand is much more exciting than finding lost cities or mythical artifacts. No thanks to you guys and your handiwork."

Cassie laughed. "I try my best to make sure that everything unearthed has value, even skull, and bones."

Omaria put on a fake sad face. "Cassie, if I ever lose my worth over the years, I want you to make a promise: to bury me in the sand so when I'm unearthed a thousand years later, I'm priceless."

Cassie put down the artifact and stood up. "Of course and you know that there's already a process for this: they're called graves." She held her hands out. "But if you're looking to spread your value after your death, I can always cremate you and then put your ashes in a very nice jar."

"Aww, would you do that for me? In spite of how unholy that sounds?"

"Of course. I'm an organ donor so when I go, the life and joy I have filled in my heart will spread to everyone else."

"Along with your small stomach and Olympic swimming lungs."

"A smoker who has to get his lungs removed should be honored to have my lungs; I can hold my breath for six minutes underwater."

"And odd how we have no physical proof of it nor any photographic evidence."

"Hey, if God is all about faith and believing rather than seeing, then so are the things I've done."

"That's right." Omaria grabbed Cassie's shoulders. "I believe you, Cassie, I believe you."

Cassie held her finger up. "Oh, you said 'I believe you' twice."

"That shows how much I believe you.' She smiled smugly. "I believe you." He patted Cassie's shoulder before picking up her shovel.

Derek laughed. "You two are hilarious."

"Of course we are, we have to be when it is this hot outside," Cassie laughed again. "My serious side is reserved for the fall. And spring, both still a way to go."

"Yeah, and your snarky side is reserved for winter and summer, both good occasions for having a cold-blooded sense of humor." He checked his watch. "By the way, it's almost lunchtime; you want to eat with me?"

Cassie looked back at the artifact. Just as she was above to say something, she coughs. She coughs for a few seconds, loud and hard to the point she actually has to take out an inhaler and use it.

Derek flinched. "For reals, what is going on with you, Cassie?"

"Allergies," Cassie insisted as she pocketed her inhaler. "All this sand."

Derek looked at her with a look that said 'are-you-serious'. "First soy, then snow, now sand? If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're allergic to anything with the letter S in it. If that's the case, you shouldn't be working near a lost city called Sodom and Gomorrah."

"Honey, after everything we've done, I think lost cities should be scared of us."

He nods. "Valid point."

"But anyways, to answer your question, I'm going to be doing a little more digging because I'm sure that I'm close to finding something."

"Okay then, I'll keep your lunch warm."

"Yep, just leave it outside and the dessert will do most of the work for us."

Derek turned away, ready to be done with this dig site before he was about to have a sunstroke. Granted, it was somewhat chilly but it was still also hot. This was the first time in a while Derek had been feeling both hot and cold at the same time.

XXXX

Rome, Italy

Casino

Muscle memory, Giovanni thought as he flung the cards across the table. With three purple grapes lined up before him, he flicked the Ace of Spares into the grape on the left, then the King of Hearts to the middle, and the Jack of Clubs on the grape on the right. All three cards had landed on the target and slit the grapes.

The door at the end of the casino opens up. A man dressed in casual clothing approaches Giovanni with an envelope. He drops the envelope on the poker table and Giovanni quickly picks it up. He opens the envelope and reads its contents. He smiles widely, laughing in a high-pitched voice that sounded like squeaking.

"Ahh, you can always trust my boys down in the Vatican," he told the messenger. "They always got tricks up their sleeves. Now you see them, now you don't." He laughed once again. "Aww man, the beauty of this historical find. It could be historical, unnatural, in a way, supernatural. Do you believe in ghosts and spooks, my messenger?"

"No," the messenger answered.

"Well boo-hoo to you, man. You better start believing in ghosts before they take revenge on you for not believing in them."

"I'll take my chances."

Giovanni pulled out a deck of cards. He flipped through the cards and shuffled them a few times before he made one of them fly out of the deck and into his hand. "Pretty slim chances, if I do say so myself." He held the Joker card in his hand. "Now then, is there anything else I must know before I return to this lonely LONELY game of poker?"

The messenger flinched slightly at Giovanni's sudden eruption. He shook his head. "No."

Giovanni's smile remained. "Good. Now leave me alone to play a game of Poker against myself." He shuffled the deck once more before drawing himself five cards. "Who knows what cards I could have that could beat me or win against me."

The messenger turned but before he could get one step in, Giovanni spoke once more.

"I saw my madre get shot by my padre, I never laughed until the day before yesterday." The messenger rolled his eyes, stopping only when Giovanni had more to say. "I got assaulted by fascist yesterday." The messenger held back, in case Giovanni had more to say, which he did. "My youngest brother joined that Neo-Fascist group. And I know now, that I'm the black sheep of the family."

He laid down his hand. "That's why I got a Royal Flush of the Clubs variety."

The messenger grunted. "Is there anything else you need me for?"

"No no no, I know how important it is for you to be as far away from as possible so I'll let you be in your merry-go-way. Before you go, I just want you to know you shattered my expectations today: messengers don't talk." He shrugged. "Oh well, life has always been a series of whimsical, unpredictable, chaotic, unforeseeable random events." He laughed once more. "Now fly away little birdie."

The messenger rolls his eyes once more before leaving.

XXXX

Vatican City

Niko Lowell was here on a mission, he was a man with a mission. He was here to do some historical research on some ancient artifacts. He was still shocked and amazed at how he managed to make it into the St. Peter's Basilica. First of all, he couldn't believe the architecture of this place and second of all, he wished he invited his friend, the Priest, and Bethany into this church; he was pretty sure they'd appreciate being in the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church.

If what the conspiracy theories said is true then there should be an archive room somewhere in this place with hidden secrets. Niko wasn't much of a believer in conspiracy theories, at least not of the sci-fi and alien type. He wasn't saying that something fishy isn't happening at these locations prone to breeding conspiracy theories, like the Vatican or Area 51, it's just that he believes that what's going on in this place is more mundane than these conspiracy theories make them out to be. He may have been a skeptic, in denial, or maybe a non-believer, but he truly did not want to meddle in anything. He was a man of language, who believed that history is told through the evolution of language. The Bible speaks of God changing the way people talk involving a structure known as the Tower of Babel. In fact, Niko would go as far as to say he had more in common with their religious archeologist friend, the Priest than he did with his own cousin because the very idea of a singular language worldwide being split apart interested him immensely.

It's why he got into studying languages, modern and ancient and he may be feeling smug but he's proud that his ability to read, understand, and write more ancient languages surpasses his cousin and his wife.

When a contact of his said that the Vatican had scriptures written in Sumerian, he knew he had to get his hands on the archives. Still trying to decipher the tablet from Lemuria in the last few months, he needed to look at more authenticate Sumerian writing from back in the days, not the stuff he read in books or looked up on the internet. Just as his contact came out of a room holding a thick book, a black bag was placed over his head and he lost consciousness shortly after.


Chapter 2: Family Emergency

One Day Later

Petra, Jordan

When Derek got a text message on his phone from his cousin, Niko, Derek immediately opened it up and read it. 'Derek - Family Meeting - Vatican City'. While it may look like nothing more than a simple text message between families, anyone born in the Lowell family would be no better. Maybe his aunt and uncle were requesting they meet Derek and they ordered Niko to send a message. Either way, Derek decided to make plans to go to Vatican City.

As he walked through the excavation site, he came across Omaria. Cassie was nowhere to be seen. "Where's Cassie?"

"She said she wasn't feeling well so she is taking a break to recuperate," Omaria answered.

"Oh," Derek gaped. "Okay. Well, if you can point me in the direction of where she is, it'll be much helpful."

Omaria gestures to a nearby tent and Derek quickly heads inside. Cassie was sitting at the table, a warm washcloth over her forehead as she takes careful sips of water.

"Are you okay?"

She looks at her husband. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired and I think I caught a cold."

"You caught a cold in the middle of the desert?"

"Yeah." She notices his phone in hand. "What do you need?"

"Oh, I was here to let you know that I was going to leave for the day to go to the Vatican City."

"What?"

"Family emergency," he quickly answered. "But, I can stay here and have someone-"

"No, go on," she insisted, "if it's a family emergency, then you should go. I'll rest up and recuperate here."

"Is there anything I can do?"

She chuckles at him. "Come back in one piece. Or two; I can put you back together."

Derek laughed. "Whatever you want. Hopefully, I'll only be gone for one day."

"No need to rush; family is family."

"Thank you." He leans in to kiss her only for her to pull back. "I don't want you catching my cold."

"Oh, good point." He backs away. "How about blowing me a kiss?"

Cassie quickly blows him a kiss. He catches it and presses his fingers to his lips. "Thank you, Cassie-Blanca."

"Go on, go do your business, D-Man. And if you can, have fun."

XXXX

Vatican

Five Hour Later

Derek arrived in Vatican City at an old address his aunt and uncle stayed when they went on vacation there a few years ago. Derek arrived at the apartment complex and greet his aunt and uncle with a smile on his face, only to realize they had sad looks on their faces.

"What's going on?" Derek asked.

"It's Niko," Aunt Helene answered.

"What about him?"

"He's gone," Uncle Edward answered. He sighs heavily before rubbing his eyes. "He went to the Vatican and the last time he was seen was when he was dragged into a car with a duffle bag over his head." He was wearing four Rolex watches, two on each wrist, and began tugging at them subconsciously.

Derek felt his heart race. "Oh my god, what happened? Why didn't you call the police?"

"We did but they were completely useless," Aunt Helene growled. "No witnesses to a kidnapping." She rubs her eyes before heading into the kitchen to pour herself a much-needed drink of red wine. "But I saw the car, I saw the car and the license plate. It was a 2040 Pagani Zonda, a sports car in Italy."

"If you have a car model then why not-"

"Like I said, no witnesses. The car was parked in an alleyway and the only reason we managed to spot the car was because we were racing around the church looking for our son."

Uncle Edward tugged on his Rolex watches. "We looked it up and the Pagani Zonda isn't available to the public. However, there is a casino in Rome that is giving away these types of cars to people who win big. Casinò Devil's Fortune."

"We figured that you could be of big help," Helen said after downing an entire red wine glass. "Our son was onto something before he vanished. He was doing some research on ancient languages. A contact of his said the Vatican held ancient articles with historical languages. Given that he was kidnapped after grabbing an ancient article, we figured this might have something to do with treasure hunting."

Uncle Edward went to the bedroom and pulled out a scroll. He tossed it onto the kitchen table. Derek promptly picks it up and looks it over. "Sumerian," he realized. "Don't tell me my cousin got caught up in some ancient secret conspiracy."

"You have any experience with ancient conspiracy groups?"

"Just one. Ironically, they were also Italian but they sank in France like three years ago."

"Please," Helen suddenly said, feeling buzzed. "Please save Niko, Derek, please bring him home."

Derek turned to his aunt and hugged her. "Don't worry, I promise to save him, don't you worry. I'm going to find him."

"You need to get your treasure-hunting life under control," Uncle Edward urged. "Must everything you do involve some kind of lost cities and mythical artifacts?"

Derek rolled his eyes. "It comes to me naturally."

Whatever's going on, I have a feeling it's going to involve me trotting across the globe searching for some kind of ancient artifact. Oh man, Cassie is going to murder but I'll worry about that later. First stop: Casinò Devil's Fortune.

XXXX

Casinò Devil's Fortune

Doing a little background research on Casinò Devil's Fortune, Derek found out that the casino has given away a large number of cars and merchandise months before it was available to the public. Some of the ways the cars and merchandise were fun were through jackpots or if the gambler has played and won such a large number of games that they have enough money to give the casino to pay for the car.

Derek walked through the front lobby, mentally reciting Italian phrases in his head as he walks up to the desk manager. The manager was a man of average height and dark brown hair. He was wearing a suit with suspenders and a red tie, which seemed to be the attire of the employees at this place as the employee behind the desk manager was wearing the same thing. What stood out about the desk manager was the piece of licorice dangling out of his mouth. Derek looks at the nametag.

"Riccardo," Derek spoke. "Hello," he spoke in Italian.

Riccardo looked at Derek. Speaking Italian, he said, mumbling with the licorice still in his mouth, "Come posso aiutarla?"

How can I help you? Derek translated in his head. "I would like to see the manager please."

"Avrò bisogno di vedere un documento d'identità." (I will need to see ID.)

Derek shows him his ID.

"Americano," Riccardo realized. After looking for Derek's ID, his mouth gaps open, the licorice falling onto the desk. "Lorenzo."

The man working behind Riccardo was smacking his gum as he chewed loudly. He had a very similar appearance to Riccardo which lead Derek to believe they must be brothers.

"Derek Lowell?" Lorenzo read the ID. "Deve essere imparentato con Niko." (Must be related to Niko.)

Riccardo elbows him. "Stai zitto! Lowell parla italiano!" (Shut up! Lowell speaks Italian!)

Derek's eyes widened. "Oh, is this a bad time because I-"

Riccardo pulls a gun on Derek. "Come. With. Us." Each word spilled out of his mouth was slow and heavily accented as he spoke English. He picked up the licorice and put it back in his mouth.

Derek held his hands up. How the hell do I keep getting into these situations? Derek follows Ricarrdo and Lorenzo as they lead him into the casino, which didn't look dissimilar to the Las Vegas casino at Mandalay Bay. Even the sounds of money spilling out of slot machines reminded Derek of the time he, Niko, Erkin, Joshua, Simon, and the Priest took a boys' trip to Vegas for a bachelor party. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

He was beginning to wonder if that applied here until he saw his cousin sitting at a Poker table being run by a large man and when Derek means large, he's talking about the fact that this man's build was so stocky and muscular that no shirt in existence could hide his bulging muscles.

"Hahaha," the hulking man laughed like a chipmunk upon seeing the treasure hunter. "It is you," he chuckled. "Derek Lowell, in the flesh. Oh, it's like a dream come true." His laughter rose in volume.

Niko turned his head. "Derek? What are you doing here?"

"Would you believe me if I said I wanted to try my luck with lady fortune?"

"In a place called 'Devil's Fortune', no." Niko's eyes brightened, hope rising within them.

Derek suddenly noticed a scroll of some kind laid out on the Poker table.

Riccardo and Lorenzo shoved Derek into the chair beside Niko before retreating.

"Mr. Lowell, it is such an honor to meet you." The big man's smile did not vanish. In fact, it got wider with each word spilling out of his mouth. "The man, the myth, and the legend."

"What's going on here? Who are you?"

Niko spoke first. "The man you see before you is Giovanni Gagliardi."

"Does the name ring a bell, Mr. Lowell?" Giovanni asked impatiently.

"It does," Derek whispered. "I heard of a man in charge of an anti-fascist movement in Italy being called Giovanni Gagliardi. Do you happen to be that man?"

"Oh, it appears I'm famous. It seems we are both man, myths, and legends, Mr. Lowell."

Derek eyes the scroll on the table. "What's going on?"

Giovanni pointed to Niko. "Your cousin here has been kind enough to translate this scroll from us." He reached under the table to pull out another scroll. The color of the page of this scroll was silver. "Both scrolls, might I add."

Niko looked at his cousin. "Adiuva me." (Latin: Help me.)

Giovanni drew a gun but didn't point it. "Mr. Lowell?"

"Yes?" both Derek and Niko answered.

"Do you believe in fascism?"

"No," both Lowell boys answered.

"Then finish translating the words on these scrolls. Or I will do punishment onto Mr. Lowell here."

Derek and Niko looked at each other, confused. "Which one of us?" both answered.

"My god, you guys are like my boys, Riccardo and Lorenzo."

"Tell us what you want," both boys demanded.

"You have not translated the rest of the scroll, Mr. Lowell. If you do not, then I will be forced to take action." He slides both scrolls toward Niko. "In this country, associating with that Neo-Fascist movement is enough to warrant an investigation and jail time in this country. Have you seen the prisons here? I've never seen so much shit in one bucket." He pulls the hammer. "Mr. Lowell, carry on." He points the gun at Derek.

Niko quickly grabbed the scroll. He translated the ancient language he could only identify as Hebrew. "Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left."

Derek's eyes widened. The Staff of Moses.


Chapter 3: Gamble

"The Staff of Moses," Giovanni laughed. "So the legends are true; the staff does exist." Giovanni laces his hands together. "To be fair, Mr. Lowell, this whole thing was just a formality; I already knew the Staff of Moses existed."

"A scroll doesn't prove anything," Derek claimed. "That's like saying a book about dinosaurs being alive today is true."

"We've seen dinosaurs before, Mr. Lowell."

"In Jurassic Park?" Derek looked over at Niko.

Niko was about to say something when Giovanni spoke up once more.

"Mr. Lowell, a man of your talents has found something like this before, am I wrong?"

"Uh..."

"Do you believe in the fascist movement in Italy? The war may be over but there are still plenty of neo-fascists running around Rome and Venice."

"I don't believe in fascism but I'm not going to help you find this object."

Giovanni suddenly glared. "Everything I do is in the protest of fascism within my country. If you are not going to help me fight back against the fascist, then you are a fascist." He draws his gun and points it at Niko.

Using what was on the table before him, Derek snatched the stack of cards and threw them in Giovanni's face. Niko ducked out of the way just as Giovanni fired and Derek quickly reached for the gun.

Giovanni grabbed Derek by the arm and managed to yank him onto the table and throw him an estimated five feet across the floor. He rolled to a stop against a slot machine and Derek quickly looked up and suddenly felt like a child once more.

Giovanni looked like a bodybuilder of average height when sitting in the chair but now that he was standing up, Derek felt like he was three feet tall. Derek picks himself up and raises his hands to this six-foot-eleven bodybuilder.

Giovanni stopped just five feet short of Derek and flexed his muscles. "Give me your best shot!" Derek kicks him in the groin. Giovanni barely flinches. "I'm used to being kicked there. Try again." Derek punches him in the stomach, the bodybuilder not even batting an eyelash. Derek was shorter than Giovanni by only ten inches so he decided to throw a couple of jabs at his face. He managed to connect his fist to Giovanni's jaw but his smile remained.

"Come on," Giovanni urged, "you can put up more of an effort than that."

Derek jumped and delivered a knee to his stomach. Giovanni pounded his fist like a gorilla. Derek grabbed the chair near the slot machine behind him and slammed it over Giovanni's face.

The chair broke, but Giovanni's smile didn't. "That's what I'm talking about," he said cheerfully. "I actually felt a little tingly." He felt something drip down from his forehead. He put a finger to the space between his eyes and felt a warm substance. It was blood. Giovanni's smile instantly vanished and his breathing hitched before he started snarling, his hands becoming fists as he stared down at the blood on his hand.

Oh shit. Derek quickly ran off. Giovanni reached out for him and having longer hands, grabbed the back of Derek's head by the hair and pulled him in. He picked Derek up above his head with one hand but not before Derek managed to grab another chair and hit Giovanni in the face with it. Like before, the chair broke again but he held a torn-off piece of the wooden chair in his hand and he quickly stabbed Giovanni in the shoulder with it. The large man screamed before throwing Derek into a slot machine.

The slot machine fell backward and spilled coins everywhere. The crowd around them, which had mostly been staying out of the fight rather than running or reporting, were suddenly on their feet and running to pick up as much change as they possibly could. Giovanni moved through the crowd and started pushing civilians out of the way but Derek was already on his feet and running.

Back at the table, Niko had managed to stay out of Giovanni's sight and grab hold of the scrolls. He picked up the fallen gun and he aimed at the bodybuilder. He squeezed the trigger and a gunshot went off but Giovanni was still standing. He had shot guns with the male Lowells in his family to develop something of a half-decent shot. he was by no means a marksman but he had steady hands and Giovanni was taller than the average man that a headshot would fly over most average-height people's heads. But no, nothing to indicate that a bullet had ejected from the gun, a live one at least.

Derek was scrambling to get as far away as possible from Giovanni/ He thought with that gunshot that went off, people would be in a frenzy but no, everyone was still minding their own business. Are these people THAT apathetic to the violence around them?

Derek ran across the casino, crashing into some people with his sides still hurting from slamming into the slot machine. He was ambushed by a man who was attempting to strangle him. Derek threw him over his hip and kicked him into the ground before escaping. Suddenly, more and more people began charging for him. Derek grabbed another chair and used it as a weapon against them. He knocked several people out with the chair before the chair broke away. Derek grabbed one more thug and threw him into a slot machine, knocking it over and causing more money to fall out. The civvies around him crowded around the machine and managed to get in the path of several incoming radicals.

Derek was restrained from behind by a radical. Giovanni had a clear path and charged for it. Derek elbowed his attack in the face before breaking free. He moved out of the way just as Giovanni collided with the radical hard enough that when he fell to the ground, the wind was knocked out of him. Giovanni was unable to stop until he collided with something more solid and that was the red wall in front of him. Derek continued to make a run for it.

As the crowd started running around him, he had no way of distinguishing civilian from enemy so he decided to take the path that involved the least amount of people. Derek ran past several slot machines before he ran past an open bar. He stops for a quick second before grabbing a large bottle of red wine and making off. He spots Niko in the corner of his eye, who was charging for him, still armed with the gun. Niko had a panicked look on his face and Derek saw Riccardo and Lorenzo chasing after him.

"Blanks!" Niko shouted, holding the gun out.

Derek tosses the wine bottle to Niko. He catches it and turns around to shatter it over Riccardo's face. He held his leg out and Riccardo tripped over his foot. Lorenzo grabbed Niko by the throat and began strangling him. Derek races up to Niko, snatches the gun out of his hand, and pistol-whips Lorenzo. With Riccardo getting up off the floor, Derek stomps on his leg before lunging over to the slot machine behind Riccardo and yanking it forward before it landed on Riccardo, pinning him by his knees.

With the exit in sight, Derek and Niko make a run for it. The two Lowell boys sprint out the front doors and had only a split second to react as a sports car drove into the front doors. Niko managed to jump back inside while Derek jumped onto the car's hood just as it crashed. Derek rolls off the hood and gets into a fighting stance just as the driver opens the door. He raises his gun, thinking the bluff would work but the radical saw right through it.

Derek and the driver get into a fight and grab at each other. Derek knees him in the stomach before slamming him headfirst through the driver's window. Niko climbs onto the hood of the sports car and kicks at the glass so he can claim inside. Once inside, he makes it to the driver's seat and puts the car in reverse.

Because the radical driver was still through the driver's windshield, when the car took off in reverse, he was taken with it. His clinging to the car door was shortlived when he was crushed between the sports car and another car.

With the driver's body no longer clinging to the door, Niko drives back to pick up Derek. Derek races forward, jumps onto the hood, and dives into the passenger seat.

"Holy shit," Niko gasps, "did that really just happen? Am I a badass?" With the adrenaline pumping in his body, Niko was wondering how he wasn't having a stroke at this point. "I'm a badass!"

"You're a badass," Derek reassured, taking the time to catch his breath. "And this is a nice sports car." He looks at his cousin. "Niko, what the hell is going on here? Why did those-"

Two sports cars were on them now. Niko saw them in the rearview mirror and began picking up the pace. One of the sports cars caught up to them and rammed into them from the right side. The only thing Derek could find as a weapon was the gun with the blanks. That's when an idea came to him. He rolls down his window and tells his cousin to ram into the car to the right. When Niko does that and the two cars collide, Derek smashes the driver's window. When Niko slammed into the sports car once more, Derek reached the gun out, planted it into the driver's temple, and fired.

The driver went limp and the car slowed to a stop before knocking down a streetlight.

"I thought those were blanks?!" Niko exclaimed.

"Taking a blank at point-blank is fatal," Derek declared.

With only one more sports car on their tail, they had to get creative. The last radical car was directly behind them and tailgating them. Niko went as fast as he could before Derek point his head out the window to see if there was something he could use.

As they drove down a mostly deserted street, there was an alleyway that was barely big enough for both cars to fit. The street also had several cars parked on the curb which helped Derek come up with a plan.

"Niko, you want to be a real badass? Take this gun and follow my orders."

After explaining the plan, Niko takes the gun and sticks it out of the car window. The radical car caught up to them and was to the left of the treasure hunters' sports car. Niko aimed the blank-bullet gun at the radical sports car and fired.

The driver inside ducked his head as he heard the gunshots and kept his head low. He looked up to get a glimpse to see if his enemy had shot his car but so far nothing. He keeps his head down when-

CRASH!

The radical sports car crashes into a parked car and since the driver's face was three inches away from the center of the wheel when it crashed, not even the airbag being deployed could save his life.

Niko snatched his hand back in just as they drove through the alleyway. Once they came out on the other side to a boardwalk, Niko quickly parked the car. Both Lowells quickly emerged, both feeling exhausted physically and mentally.

"Derek," Niko began as he sat on the hood of the car. "Distracting the driver with the gun, that was a solid plan."

"You pick up a thing or two in this line of work," Derek pants.

"I saw those guns being waved around in the casino; apparently, they're for Russian Roulette games."

"Nice to know," he sighs heavily, "Niko, I think we just got involved with a plot involving a staff that parted the Red Sea."

Niko shrugs. "Must be Tuesday."


Chapter 4: Lowells

After they returned Niko to his parents' place of dwelling, Helen and Edward immediately hugged their son and stroked his soft hair soothingly. While Derek was happy to see his cousin, aunt, and uncle happy, he was more concerned with the scroll that Niko found. He laid down on the table and looked over the Hebrew writing once more. His Hebrew was a little rusty but Niko had already read him the contents of the scroll several times. Deciding to spend the night, he phoned Cassie and told her that he was going to be staying a little while longer. She said it was fine after coughing a few times. He immediately changes his mind before she insisted that if it was a family emergency then he should be with them.

But you're my family now, Cassie.

He made one more phone call and four hours later, a familiar trio came knocking on the door.

"Father, Bethany," Derek greeted. "I'm so glad you're here."

The Priest spoke first and said, "Based on your tone, you didn't invite us over for crappy coffee, did you?"

"Sorry, but I got something of interest to you."

"Translation, you need us to decipher something," Bethany accessed.

"Yeah," Derek answered.

Inviting the two into the house, Derek handed them the scroll where the Priest looked it over and translated the Hebrew in his head. His eyes go wide. "The Staff of Moses?"

Derek nods. "Yep. The Staff of Moses."

The Priest covers his mouth. "The Staff of Moses is real?"

Derek shrugs. "Well, I wouldn't say it's necessarily real but-"

"If Noah's Ark is real then the Staff of Moses is real," Bethany declared.

Derek clicked his tongue. "True, I guess you have a point there."

"Where did you find this?"

"Niko."

Niko turned upon hearing his name and got up to meet the Priest and Bethany. "Always a pleasure to see my favorite pastor and their niece."

"I'm a priest, not a pastor," the Priest corrects. "And part-time explorer in biblical archeology."

"So... uh... what are you doing here?"

"Lending a helping tongue with this Hebrew." The Priest turns back to the scroll. "Where did you get this?"

"The Vatican. When I was coming out of the Vatican with Sumerian texts, I got abducted by a couple of guys chewing gum and sucking on licorice. The scrolls say something about the Staff of Moses and this guy built like a tank, Giovanni Gagliardi, is seeking out the staff."

"Giovanni Gagliardi?" Bethany asked. "That radical anti-fascist movement leader?"

"Must be popular."

Derek spoke up and said, "We got into a confrontation with Giovanni, who chased us across Rome in some fine-looking sports cars. The saddest moment in my life was when I forced two sports cars to crash."

"I've never felt so awesome driving a car like that," Niko smiled. "I felt like a NASCAR driver, racing to the finish line; why did we have to dump it in the ocean, man?!"

"Sorry for not wanting to get in trouble," Derek rolled his eyes.

"What's that?" Bethany pointed to the scroll. "That symbol at the top."

The symbol the Priest spotted was the top of the scroll and was of a cross with a snake coiling around it. Its tongue stuck out and the snake had a black-and-white color scheme. "Wow," the Priest's eyes widened. "I've seen that symbol before."

"It's just like the symbol that helped us find Noah's Ark," Bethany said.

Derek stands up. "Oh good, because that's why I called you guys over here. I wanted to Facetime you but I figured if this is something involving the Staff of Moses then you'd want to hold it and touch it in person."

"Smart man," the Priest smiled. "This snake coiled around the cross is a symbol I've seen in various sites across the Middle East, mostly in Jerusalem and Egypt."

"Both are commonly associated with lands in the bible," Edward suddenly spoke up. The treasure hunters look at him. "What? I'm well-versed in the bible."

"I'm sure you are," the Priest nods, "but-"

"The Staff of Moses parted the Red Sea and is a very well-known object in the bible," Helen suddenly spoke after taking a sip of wine. "They say that the Topkapı Palace holds several biblical artifacts, the Staff of Moses being one of them."

"I've been in the Topkapı Palace; trust me when I say that the Staff of Moses in there isn't real. Something of that historical and biblical value said to hold god-like abilities; it would be way too dangerous to leave it out on display."

"It looks like we know how to find the real thing, though," Bethany smiles. "If we can figure out what that symbol means-"

"Then we can find the Staff of Moses."

Derek sits down. "Is it really necessary?" He rubs the back of his head nervously. "I mean, chances are, Giovanni isn't going to find the staff. So-"

Niko's eyes go wide. "Shit, I completely forgot to tell you." He grips his hair hard. "There were two scrolls that Giovanni made me read. He only made me read the second one after you got here as a way of taunting you. The first scroll he had me read said something about the Staff of Moses having taken refuge in a temple with the snake watching over the cross."

"For the love of god," Derek stands up.

"Blasphemy," the Priest warned.

"For the love of cog." Derek groans and grips his hair in a similar way Niko did. "There were two scrolls and Giovanni has the one that has information relating to the staff's location? Shit."

"I am so sorry," Niko said quickly. "I swear, I didn't want to read it."

"How did he even find out about you in the first place?"

"Apparently, I have quite the reputation for translating ancient languages. I'm as famous as you and Cassie are but not as skilled in combat so I'm easier to get a hold of."

"Oh."

Edward and Helen looked at Derek.

"Uncle Edward, Aunt Helen, I-"

"Thank you for getting our son back," Helene interrupted. She took another sip of her wine. "You have nothing to apologize for."

"But... if it hadn't been for me, Niko never would've been interested in studying-"

"Niko came out of your aunt's womb like that," Edward claimed. "He's always been picking letters and words apart. When he was a toddler, instead of building towers with those letter blocks, he was staring at them and trying to figure them out. Instead of knocking down letter towers other toddlers built, he was trying to figure out the meaning."

"My fault," Niko nodded. "Don't worry, Derek, I know how much you like to take the blame for my predicaments but this time, it's my fault."

"It's Giovanni's fault!" Helen suddenly snapped. "I hope he drowns in a river of his own blood." She looked at her husband when he took her wine glass away. "I guess I had one too many, huh, honey?"

"What you said about Giovanni, you took the words right out of my mouth."

Derek looked down at the scroll. "What reason could Giovanni want something like the Staff of Moses?"

"It's a very important object in the bible," Edward answered. "Good for propaganda. If I recall, Adolf Hitler dabbled in using some Christian artifacts for Nazi propaganda. The Staff of Moses would rally a bunch of supporters and if this Giovanni guy is a radical anti-fascist guy-"

"He said that because I wasn't going to help then by that logical, I am a fascist in his eyes."

"So he has an extreme binary way of thinking. If you're not an anti-fascist, you're a pro-fascist."

"With that kind of thinking, if he had the staff then he could assemble a radical army. If the powers of the staff are true then he could do so much damage." He sighs heavily and regretfully. "Well then, looks like I gotta get the Staff of Moses before Giovanni does."

Niko looks at his cousin. "I'm going with you."

"Don't," Helen slurred as she hugged her son from behind. "Please, don't go."

Niko stroked his mother's hand. "Mom, I have to. I was the one who deciphered that scroll for that anti-fascist; if he finds the Staff of Moses then it's because of me." He pries away from his mother. "Besides, I'm almost twenty-four years old; I can make my own decisions." His face cracked upon seeing her sad face. "But I promise to come back. I will come back."

"We'll see to it." The Priest stood up. "With Him as our witness, we promise to bring both Lowell boys back alive."

"Yeah," Bethany cheered.

Derek looked at the religious uncle and niece. "You guys should stay, no one else has to-"

"Derek, with all due respect, with the way your adventures usually end, I am not going to allow you to destroy the Staff of Moses. Those other cities you destroyed in the past, I'm fine with it but the staff that parted the Red Sea, no, I refuse to let that happen."

"Me too," Bethany joined in. "You ain't going be destroying any biblical artifacts on our watch, boy. 'Sides, you could use Uncle's expertise."

Derek groaned and rolled his eyes. "Well, if there were eight more of us then we would be the twelve disciples." He stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Alright, fine, the four of us are going after the Staff of Moses. But I have no idea where to start."

Niko taps himself on the head. "I forgot again: the scroll mentioned something about this temple being in the sea."

Derek narrowed his eyes. "The sea?" He looked at the Priest. "Have you been to any of these temples at sea that had this cross and snake symbol?"

Both the Priest and Bethany shook their heads.

Derek groaned before his eyes widened. "If a temple like this is at sea then there's one person in our social group who is known for exploring the ocean." He took out his phone and dialed a number. After ten seconds, the line picked up.

"Erkin Yura," Derek smiles. "How's my favorite boat captain?"

"Sinking fast..." Erkin paused, "in the hot tub."

"Oh, good to know. So, anyway, uh, buddy, I was wondering if you would be willing to lend a helping hand."

"I got two hands to lend help with."

XXXX

Casino

Giovanni laughed at the top of his lungs, his voice booming through the house. As he applied a bandaid to his forehead, he turned to Riccardo and Lorenzo beside him. "It is a win in our favor," he claimed. "A success, a real-life triumph." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his cell phone. "We may have lost one of the scrolls but what we have in our hand is the scroll that is our map to the Staff of Moses. The Lowell idiots have the scroll that proves that the staff exists." He shows the gallery on his cellphone. "While we may not have our translator, we have the entire scroll translation recorded on my phone."

Lorenzo and Riccardo were busy patching themselves up.

"Both of you, rest, because tomorrow, we're heading out. If what my contact in Israel says is true then the Staff of Moses is in Israel."


Chapter 5

Jerusalem

One day later, the quartet of treasure hunters arrived in Israel where they were greeted warmly by the natives of the country. The four of them were dressed in casual clothing with the Priest wearing his church attire and Bethany dressed in a button-up shirt with khaki pants. Derek and Niko both settled on wearing T-shirts. Derek's shirt was gray while Niko's was white. Both Lowell boys were wearing sneakers while the Priest and Bethany settled on boots.

"Wow," Niko gasped, "would you look at this place?" He twirled around dramatically. "The Western Wall."

"Magnificent," the Priest smiled. "Why is it that every other country seems more beautiful than our home country?"

"That's because other countries have to look good to attract more visitors," Bethany suggested.

"True."

Derek looked at his watch. "Erkin should be here in about-"

"Ah-hem," someone cleared their throat. "Did somebody call for an Urkin or an Erkin?"

Derek turned and greeted a young man who was about to turn twenty-three this year. "What's up, skinny boy."

"Not my bone density, I'll tell ya that much pal."

Erkin was wearing an open button-up shirt over a black shirt and had on a pair of cargo pants and Converses. There was a chain around his neck and a smile on his face as he noticed the crowd of people behind Derek. "Man, it's been too little, not too long since I've seen the rest of you guys." He slaps his hands with Niko before moving to the Priest. "How's my favorite Catholic preacher been?"

"I'm a priest, not a preacher." He shook Erkin's hands. He notices a ring on his hand. "Did you get married?"

Erkin displayed his wedding ring. "Yeah, I am officially a married man. I would say happily but I don't believe in premature proclamations." He chuckles. "Okay, that was a lie; we're happily married."

The Priest hugs Erkin. "Congratulations are in order."

"Hey, I'd be worried if they were out of order."

Bethany steps up. "Congrats, Erkin."

"Thank you." He taps her head. "Boy, the last time I saw you, you were four-ten. How many more years are you going to grow on me, kid?"

"As many as it takes, Erkin. Pretty soon, I'll be taller than you and you will be looking up to me."

"Lad, if I ever shrink down to the size of a mouse, will you promise to take care of me and not put me in a mouse trap?"

Bethany shrugs. "Only time will tell."

Derek chuckles. "We are so glad you could make it, Erkin. I'm sorry for any-"

"Pleasure I might experience along the way? No worries, man, I'm a loving person all about spreading love and the reputation of a man and woman who destroy lost cities." He takes out his journal. "So anyway, I've been going over some old files I recorded when I was in the Red Sea." He flips to a page of a temple drawing. "This is a temple I found eighteen months ago when my crew and I were diving for copper and ancient ruins. A small island just off the coast of Jerusalem in the Red Sea. My crew dug the place up but we found nothing worthwhile. We found some interesting infrastructures ut we were pulled back before we could investigate."

"Where is it?"

Erkin looked over his journal. "The coordinates are right here." He pointed to the numbers.

"You could've sent this to us in a text message."

Erkin shook his head. "No way, Jose, I would've missed my dramatic entrance if I did that." He turns to the Priest. "The Staff of Moses," he whispered, "sounds very lovely. Oh man, doesn't hunting for an object in the bible make your heart all warm and fuzzy inside?"

"Yeah, like wild Thanksgiving turkeys," the Priest answered.

"With a side of mashed potatoes," Bethany added.

"You think you can handle yourself on this adventure, missy?" he asked Bethany. "No offense but you seem to be a little less strong than the rest of these guys."

"Obviously, they're going to leave me behind when they do the dangerous stuff. Babysitting is a real and underrated job, pal."

"Yeah, I took care of my siblings and cousins when I was young but don't worry, Uncle Erkin will take care of you."

"As her only uncle, I take offense to someone else being called her uncle," the Priest deadpanned.

"And when I was referring to babysitting, I meant babysitting you, Erkin." Bethany grabbed one of his arms. "You need to fatten yourself up."

Erkin feigned shock. "But... if I fatten myself up, how are you going to carry me out when this Temple of the Staff crumbles to the ground?"

"We could fill you will helium and help you float."

"Yeah, I've always wanted to be Superman. A bird, a plane, I-" He silences himself. "-am afraid of heights."

Derek and Niko laughed at the exchange they saw before them before they turned to each other and perked their eyebrows at the other.

"I love these guys," Derek said first.

"Yeah, it's nice to have a normal conversation while we still can." Niko's smile fades away briefly. "Let's all make sure we come out in one piece so we can all snark at each other once more."

"Snark, Niko, you barely snark when we're in the room." He puts his hand on his shoulder. "I'll make you a deal, if we make it out of the Temple of the Staff in one piece, I am going to give you a little lecture in Snarking 101 by Professor Derek Drake."

"Sounds like an easy credit course."

He bumps his fist into Niko's shoulder. "Already getting an A in it."

After a few more minutes of chatting with each other, Erkin lead the group to a pier where there were a few speedboats on display. Erkin lead them to a Century 2900 Center Console boat with the words 'Uncharted Explorer' written in bold yellow words on the side.

"Wow, look at this," the Priest gasped.

Erkin looked at him weirdly. "What, it's a boat; do you not see boats that often? For such a loving priest you are, you need to get out and experience nature, mate."

The Priest tilted his head. "'Mate'?"

"Sorry, my hubby must be rubbing off on me." He turned back to the boat. "Anyway, this boat is big enough for all five of us to fit on. Unfortunately, I couldn't get any 'fishing' gear so we're going to have to rely on our wits if we want to catch 'fish', especially the ugly ones with last names 'Gag-Me-Lardy."

Fishing equipment, discreet for 'guns', Derek thought.

"Gagliardi," Niko corrected. "The semantics of any given word matter."

Derek quickly climbs on board. He runs his hands over the wheel. "It's been a while since I've been on a boat. I need to get out more." He takes out his pocket-sized journal and writes a note on the first blank page after all the Staff of Moses notes to go fishing.

After all five had boarded, Erkin started the boat up and drove off into the ocean.

"Land ho!" Erkin yelled at the beach as they got farther and farther away. "When I see you again, I don't KNOW!"

Everyone was wearing a lifejacket as the boat swerved across the ocean, hitting rough waves that nearly made them fall overboard. The Priest hugs Bethany as tight as he could while Niko opted to sit down on the floor. Derek was leaning against the railing, feeling a little reckless, and stuck his head over the edge. That was when water splashed in his face when Erkin drove into a wave.

"Sorry," Erkin laughed. "Please keep all hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times."

They eventually got far away enough from land that there weren't too many waves to drive into. Erkin decided to ease up on the throttle as he looked up. "Huh, it looks like it is going to rain."

I looked up the weather patterns for Israel and apparently, it rains around this time of the year. I better keep an eye out for any rough waters.

He looks ahead and keeps driving. Using the GPS to guide them, he searches for any other boats in the area but the radar picked up nothing.

Niko finally stood up when Erkin drove at a steady speed. "So, what's going to happen when we find the Staff of Moses? We're not going to destroy it, right?"

"Over our dead body we destroy it," the Priest declared. Bethany nodded firmly.

Derek held his hands up. "Don't worry, when we infiltrate, I'll be sure to set my treasure hunting mode to 'Explorer' and not 'Brutal'. We'll just find the Staff of Moses and then seal it away so it can't be found. One way or another, Giovanni ain't getting his giant hands on that stick."

"It would be a big disrespect to God if Giovanni so much as touches the staff. Hell, it would probably be a big disrespect if any of us touched it."

"God will understand," Niko claimed. "He will understand your intentions."

The Priest sighs. "Thanks, Niko. I still feel a little uncomfortable though."

"Understandable," Niko nodded. "Then again, you guys shot up a couple of terrorists during your Noah's Ark adventure."

"True, but it was human-against-human and not human-dissing-God or anything like that."

"If anyone deserves to go to Hell, it's me." Niko looks down sheepishly. "I'm the one who gave Giovanni-"

"Holy crap!" Erkin suddenly shouted. "Do you see that!" He pointed forward. "Over there."

Derek races to the front of the boat and looks out but all he could see is the Red Sea as far as the eye could see. "Where?"

"Over there!" Erkin pointed blindly.

"What is it?"

"The light glistening off the water." He suddenly burst out laughing as he saw Derek glare at him. "What, it was shining; it was a shiny glistening in the water."

Derek laughs before heading back to his seat, where Niko, the Priest, and Bethany were all laughing at him.

Hopefully, they can chitchat about something positive and funny instead of something gloomy, Erkin thought. Don't talk down on yourself like that, Niko, I already heard what happened and you do NOT deserve to go to Hell.

Derek looked at Erkin and saw the concerned look on his face. I see what you're doing and I'll play along. "Erkin, if you see a whale out there, don't scream 'Jonah', the whale will take offense."

"No promises. After all, if we get swallowed by a whale, we'll go down in history. We'll have our names written in history books... I just hope that people are able to pronounce my name correctly; it's 'Air-Kin', not 'Ur-Kin'."

XXXX

Giovanni wasn't too far behind. He could've zoomed off to the island this contact told him about but he decided to wait. If he had the map then Lowell would be miles behind. But there was always a chance that he would be following him. Either way, he could not shake the feeling that Derek and Niko Lowell might already be on their way to the island. They had caused massive damage to his casino and killed a few of his guys and stole some of his sports cars.

He wasn't going to underestimate them, no matter how much they were outnumbered. That is why when he left the port, he took several boats with him.

12 of them to be exact.


Chapter 6: Bible Paradise

Red Sea

After boating around in the Red Sea for roughly one hour, Erkin finally spotted land. He calls out to the others and tells them to look ahead. Derek takes out his binoculars and scouts the place ahead of time. The island was big enough that a small city could fit on there. There were thick trees of the deepest green color and tall palm trees towering over most of the other trees. There were boulders up and down the beach and the sandy beaches stretched for at least one hundred feet. That was the only thing Derek could see outside the island. On the inside of the island covered by those thick trees, he couldn't see.

"Land ho," Erkin said. "See anything interesting on the island?"

"Small trees, medium trees, and worst of fall, big trees." Derek held the binoculars over Erkin's eyes. "See what I mean?"

"Oh shit, the last time I was here, the island wasn't that overgrown."

"Well, nature can be a bit cruel sometimes."

"And a bitch."

"I'd be nicer to Mother Nature," Bethany warned, "it took God six days to create the world and humans."

"And we're all proud of His work," Erkin told. "We should hurry up then."

After everyone held on as tightly as possible, Erkin drove straight for the island. As they got closer and closer to land, waves began to knock them off course but Erkin was experienced enough to know how to get around them. Once they reached land, Erkin turned his boat around before cutting off the engine. He took an anchor and brought it with him off the boat as he wrapped it around a tree trunk.

"This is it," Erkin said. "Looks just like a postcard, doesn't it, huh?"

Everyone jumped off the boat with the Priest nearly losing balance after traveling in a moving vehicle for a while. He looks down at his shoes and grimaces. "I wish I brought sandals."

"What's wrong with your shoes?"

"I just love the way my feet feel against the sand, especially warm sand. I'm thinking of running barefoot once more."

"We'll need all the clothing we can get," Erkin warned. "Based on the clouds and the weather predictions on my phone, it's going to be raining tonight."

"We don't want that," Derek told. "Let's find this temple, make sure the staff is undiscoverable and get out of here before we're stranded here."

"Sounds like a good idea," Niko supported. "They have coconuts here. I love coconuts."

Erkin looked over at Niko. "Heed my warning, buddy, coconut milk is a natural laxative so if you drink too much and you're swimming, you'll shit yourself in the water."

Niko rolled his eyes. "Thanks for the imagery."

"Now I feel like need Holy water to cleanse my brain from that sentence," the Priest said.

Derek chuckled. "Hey, it could be worse." He moves on ahead. "Come on, guys, the sooner we find this temple, the better."

They took all the equipment they could carry with them, namely backpacks that had some goggles and snorkels inside. Erkin remembered to bring a grappling hook and climbing piton for Derek, who quickly coiled the hook around his belt loop and pocketed the climbing piton.

They walked through the thick and luscious jungle of the island with nothing but the sounds of waves crashing against the short being heard. That and the occasional call of crickets and birds chirping above them. There were insects crawling up and down the trees and the Priest looked away. When he felt something land on his shoulder, he nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw it was a locust.

He was convulsing and struggling so much that he almost hit Bethany upside the head. When he finally calmed down, he panted heavily and patted his shoulder once more to make sure the locust was gone. "Big locust," he gasped, "I hate locusts. I'm scared to death of them."

Niko patted him on the shoulder. "Call me weird but I'm scared of alcohol." He decided to explain himself when the Priest looked at him weirdly. "I had a couple of bad experiences with alcohol growing up. Now, whenever I smell so much as a shot of gin, I get anxious; the very thought of what I might do if I become intoxicated haunts me."

"And yet Aunt Helene is a stress drinker," Derek reminds, "how ironic."

When they come across a quick sand pit, Derek didn't notice at first and he stepped in and began sinking. Erkin quickly clawed at his shirt and tried to yank him up but he was not strong enough. Derek threw the grappling hook at a tree trunk but it fell short. That is until Niko tied the hook around the trunk and helped stop Derek from sinking any further. Derek was pulled out by Niko and the Priest and after thanking them for his rescue, groaned in disgust at his muddy shoes.

"Damn it," he grumbled. "And I just got these clean." He groans. "Oh well, the cycle of life I guess: clean dirty shoes so they can get dirty once more." He gestures to the quicksand. "How about we go around?"

"Good idea," Erkin agreed. "Follow the leader, boys." Erkin lead them around the quicksand pit, which seemed to street about a hundred feet wide. "Damn, it feels very nostalgic being back in this place. It felt like I was only here a year or two ago. Man, how time flies by."

"Yeah, pretty soon you'll be shaving," Bethany joked. "And your daddy will take you shopping for big boy clothes."

"And then he'll teach me to tie a tie," Erkin chuckled. "And how to tie my shoe, fix cars, and do whatever it is a man is supposed to do."

"Looks like you both got something to look forward to," Derek joined in. He looked at the Priest. "Cherish these younglings because they're only younglings for a short time."

"And you'll want to shape them quickly before they're Erkin's age," Niko laughed.

"Definitely," Erkin nodded. "Don't want to be me, in spite of my very handsome features and very charming quirks."

They came across another pit of quicksand that ranged about fifty feet across. They decided to take another path until they reached a cave. Erkin mentioned that he had never been in a cave like this but it was still worth trying out. If his calculations were correct, they were halfway to the Temple of the Staff.

They cut through the cave and when they got too far for the light to shine in, they used their flashlights. Erkin had provided the flashlights, which made Derek realize that Erkin provided almost everything on this trip. He actually had the foresight to think ahead unlike him.

The cave was overgrown with grass but it was used to their advantage because if grass was growing in, that meant there was some kind of opening. They followed the grass and found the exit to the cave and found themself on another part of the island.

"Damn," Derek cursed under his breath. "Can you imagine if we got lost in this place?"

"Oh yeah, that's a terrible tragedy man," Erkin answered. "Unless you're the kind of person who likes to be lost because you have a phobia of using maps." He looks around. "I don't remember this part of the island but I swear I saw something like this with my excavation team." He stops and closes his eyes. "Okay, I saw some kind of cave entrance when I first got here to my right but I didn't bother going in so I continued moving forward. And when I moved forward I saw three fallen palm trees."

Derek looked off into the distance. He pulled out his binoculars and looked into the forest. There was a single palm tree that landed against another tree.

"You mean like that?" he pointed out.

Erkin looked. "Exactly. It's one tree but it is one of them."

"Okay, we head for that tree, we're back on track."

XXXX

They had finally made it to the island. Giovanni was so relieved and happy that he patted one of his men so hard on the back that they fell to the floor. Giovanni jumps off his boat before it lands and falls into the water. He only made it up to his waist in the water so he wasn't too drenched. He did the honors of grabbing the anchor to his boat and wrapping it around a tree trunk.

Wait a minute, he thought, if this is the island mentioned in the scroll then where's Lowell's boat? I saw him leave in a boat so he should be here. He looked around and shrugged. Then again, it is a big island and it's possible he landed somewhere else. He pulled out his phone.

Giovanni turned and saw his men Riccardo and Lorenzo jumping overboard and onto the sand. Neither one was armed with a gun, only a wooden baseball bat, wooden and aluminum for Riccardo and Lorenzo respectively.

The other eleven boats pulled up to the island and each one was anchored. The beach was big enough to temporarily house all twelve parking boats and there was no shortage of room for all thirty-six men.

Speaking of which, none of the thirty-six radicals carried any firearms and were only armed with melee weapons such as tire irons, hammers, crowbars, baseball bats, and golf clubs.

Those damn fascists back home are making it impossible to buy guns in Rome, Giovanni growled internally.

"You all know what to do men," Giovanni proclaimed loudly. "It's a game of hide-and-seek and right now, the Lowells and whoever is traveling with them are the ones who are hiding. If we can find the Staff of Moses before them then we win." He smiles. "It's getting exciting; I haven't been gitty about this kind of scavenger hunt since I was four."

Giovanni took the first step forward. "Hurry up now, time is of the essence. And if time is money, you guys are running me broke now go out there and get my money's worth."

XXXX

When Derek and the others were back on track, something suddenly felt different. The hairs on Derek's forearms raised up when he realized that there were no more insects chirping. The birds were no longer flapping their wings above their heads nor could he hear the call of the ocean. Even the wind had gone silent and the sunlight vanished when the gray storm clouds above got in the way of the sun.

Derek stopped dead in his tracks and when everyone else noticed, immediately shut up.

"What's going on?" Niko whispered.

"Did you suddenly decide to take a vow of silence?" Erkin asked. "You going the way of the Buddha or something?"

Derek put a finger to his lips. "Listen."

Everyone listened. The Priest narrowed his eyes. "I don't hear anything."

"Not even the sound of insects," Bethany said. She was about to say something else when the croaking of a frog to her left sent her screaming at the top of her lungs. The Priest grabbed her shoulders and pulled her head into his chest.

"Shh..." he urged, "quiet. Don't worry, I'm not going to let you get eaten by a frog."

"Thank you," Bethany panted.

Derek narrowed his eyes. Huh, the Priest has a fear of locusts and Bethany has a fear of frogs. Weird.

"Derek," Niko whisper-shouted. "Look, over there."

Derek scooted over to get a visual of what his cousin was pointing to and gasped when he saw a building structure, one that looked to be thousands of years old.

The Temple of the Staff!


Chapter 7: Exodus

Petra, Jordan

While Cassie was missing her husband dearly, she had her computer to keep her busy, especially when her computer allowed her to Skype with her mother and father-in-law. When Cassie opened the screen, she smiled delightfully when she saw Erica bouncing Evan on her lap.

"How's my little prince doing?" she asks.

"He's a handful," Erica admitted. "He's quiet but he's a handful. And he keeps hiding his blocks."

"Oh, yeah, Evan has a habit of hiding blocks. That's because he's a sneaky one." She turned on her baby voice. "Who's mommy's sneaky boy?"

Evan looked at the screen with a blank expression on his face before yawning. His eyelids got heavy and he promptly closed them.

"What, am I really that boring, Evan?" Cassie chuckles. "I'm going to have to bring you back something special when I get back."

"He's starting to babble," Erica told. "He keeps saying 'bah'."

"Yeah, he's been babbling for a while. I keep getting him to say 'ma' but the only word he's capable of saying is 'bah'. He calls his bottle his 'bah-bah'."

"He's been crawling a lot." Erica sets Evan down on the ground, where he sits, and stares absentmindedly at his mother. Erica rubs her grandson's head and watches as the infant coos into her touch. "Your hair is so soft, Evan." She looks at the screen. "Your son's hair is starting to grow out and even change colors."

"I know, he has my blonde hair."

"I thought your hair was dirty blonde."

"It is."

Erica looked around at the screen. "Where's my son?"

"Oh, he's busy with a little family reunion up in Italy."

"What?' a male voice said offscreen. A few seconds later, Richard Lowell walked into view and into the frame. He kneeled beside Evan before shaking his head disapprovingly at Cassie. "What's going on with this family reunion?"

"I don't know, Derek just said that he was going to some kind of family reunion with his cousin in Italy."

"I'm going to call my brother and find out what that's about."

"Good for you." Cassie's eyes widened. "Oh, how is his walk coming along?"

"He's coming along like Godzilla," Erica answered. "When I took Evan out of his crib, he was standing up. He tried walking towards me but he fell."

"Yeah, he's been working on his walk for the last two weeks." Cassie takes out her phone and opens her photo gallery. She shows Erica a photo she took of Evan standing fo the first time. "This is the very first time Evan stood up. Just look at that smile on his face."

"My grandson is growing up." Erica hugs Evan tightly. "Before we know it, he's going to be in high school, then shaving, then college."

"Erica, you're making me sound old, and I haven't turned twenty-six yet." She coughs into her fists. "Well, I'm going to get going now."

Evan looks at the screen and reaches a hand out for his mother. "Bah-bah."

"I think he's hungry."

"Don't worry my little prince..." Erica picks up Evan. "I will serve you your favorite Goldfish crackers. Wave goodbye to Mommy."

"Bah-bah."

"Bah-bah, Evan." Cassie waved before she ended the conversation. Once the conversation was over, Cassie started coughing her lungs up. She clutches at her sides, desperate to do anything to make the pain go away, even if it was only for a split second. She reaches over to the bedside table to grab her inhaler before finding that it was gone missing.

"I'm telling you, Gil, the Golden Fleece does not exist," a familiar voice said outside the tent.

"Hey, Marcus!"

Marcus Cote walks into the tent by himself. "Cassie, what's up, coughing up a storm in here?"

"I think I left my inhaler in my backpack outside, can you get it for me."

"Of course, what are friends for?"

Marcus rotates on his heels and heads for Cassie's backpack. When he finds it under a tent, he looks inside the front pocket, he finds her inhaler, and takes it out. He looks it over for a few minutes before checking the area around him. When no one was looking, he chucked the inhaler as far as he could into the desert.

Let's see that thing become priceless in a thousand years.

He checked the other side pocket for her spare inhaler and he digs a small hole with his boots before dropping the inhaler inside and stomping on it. He covers the hole with sand before picking up Cassie's backpack.

He returns to the tent with her backpack in hand. "Sorry, Cassie, I couldn't find your inhaler."

She looked up at him, her facial expressions hinting dumbfounded. "What? I could've sworn I packed my inhaler in here."

"Here, you can check for yourself."

Cassie digs through her backpack but could not find the inhaler. Marcus waited before Cassie sighed and gave up. "Damn it, I must've lost it somewhere."

"I can help you find it."

Cassie coughs once more. "Thank you."

"Are you sure you didn't drop it in the sand?"

"If I did, then I'm in a big trouble."

XXXX

Temple of the Staff, Red Sea, Israel

"Oh my..." Derek halted on the last word, unsure if he should take the lord's name in vain. He decided not to say anything at the last second before he pointed to the temple doors. "Look at this architecture, people. Are you seeing this architecture?"

"We are," Erkin assured, "I scored a 20/20 on my optometry test so I'm pretty sure I'm seeing what you're seeing."

"Same here," Niko confirmed, "my score was 18/20 but still, not blind."

The temple before them stood at twenty feet tall with nature growing all around it. Its doors had some branches and leaves blocking it but it did not obscure the painting on the two solid doors. The painting on the door looked to be of the event in the bible when Moses parted the Red Sea. Moses stood along with his siblings at the front of a crowd of people, raised the staff in the air, and then parted the Red Sea. Blue, red, and white were used to color the sea, and the color black was used to paint the back of the human figures.

"I remember this," Erkin said, "we excavated this sight but we were told by the authorities to not enter this place for it may be Holy Ground. So we're trespassing."

"For good reason," the Priest reminded. "Did you go inside?"

"No."

"Then we'll be the first ones to enter." Derek walks up to the front door and pulls the branches to the side before pushing the door open.

The front room looked to be a temple with the same colors as the ocean on the door on the floor before them. There was a red carpet that seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see along with a hallway to match in length.

"Be careful," Derek urged. "Let's go."

The five of them marched forward and Derek took very detailed notes of the temple in his journal.

There was not a speck of nature overgrowing inside this temple; the temple was so well-built and preserved that not even Mother Nature could grow herself inside this place.

When they reached about halfway down the hallway, Derek spotted a lantern. He lit the lantern to give them so light and all of a sudden, all the torches and lights in the place lit up to illuminate the temple. Derek spotted what looked to be a map above them of the place with a straight black line drawn directly below the temple.

"I think the Staff of Moses is below us if that map is correct." Derek draws the map in his journal. Not wasting any more time, they are marching forward. When they reached the end of the temple, they came to a dead end with three torches all without light on the wall. When Derek lit all of them, one of them had a red fire, the other blue, and the other, an orange fire, from left to right respectively.

"What's this supposed to mean?" Bethany asked.

Derek noticed that the torches could be removed. He took the red torch while Erkin took the blue torch.

"Anyone up for some s'mores?" Erkin asked.

"In my experience, you usually have to place the torches in a specific order for a certain room to open up."

"If we're going by temperature then blue would be the hottest and red would be the coolest," Bethany said.

"But if we're going by that logic, because red was already on the left end, doesn't it mean we have to switch up the blue and orange torches?"

"True." Derek and Erkin swapped places with the torches but nothing seemed to happen.

"Maybe it's the other way around?" the Priest suggested. "It's going from hottest to lowest."

Derek, Erkin, and the Priest began rearranging the torches so they went from blue to orange to red. Nothing happened.

"Damn it, what are supposed to do?"

"Combine all fires," Niko realized.

"Yes," Bethany agreed. "If you remembered the painting on the door, the red sea was painted red, blue, and white. And since white fire is very hard to make, the orange fire is probably used for the white color."

"Of course. Let's combine fires." Derek placed the orange torch on the center of the wall once more while Erkin and the Priest held the blue and red torch over. The torches suddenly extinguished themselves and the wall before them opened up and showed them a cave.

"I'll go first." Derek was about to walk forward before Niko went back to collect a still-lit torch from the hallway and use it to guide himself through.

The cave was full of cobwebs and rocks, the one thing he learned to expect in these adventures. Derek took careful steps and made sure to be on the lookout for any traps. For example, when he saw a rock fall from the ceiling in front of him, he leaped back just as spikes shot out of the wall.

Rocks don't just suddenly fall from the ceiling after thousands of years. Not so suddenly when the cave gets visitors.

Derek figured out the spikes worked by stepping on certain tiles and they were hidden well in the ground. That's when whenever he saw holes in the wall, he was very conscious of where he stepped and everyone followed his example.

When a light from above suddenly shined from above, everyone knew not to get caught in it. When they reached the end of the cave, there was a small opening barely big enough for one person to fit through. Derek decided to go first. When he made it to the other side, he nearly lost his breath when he saw where he was.

A big room filled with all kinds of wheels for water and levers and tiles placed everyone on the floor. It looked like a Medieval playground where if you stepped on the wrong thing, it could be death certainty.

But what truly shocked him was in the center of the room, just fifty feet from him, a hop, skip, and jump away, was the very item he came for.

There it was, secured inside a glass case with lamb statues surrounding it, was the Staff of Moses.


Chapter 8: The Staff

They could've easily walked straight ahead for the glass case with the goat statues but that was much easier said than done with all the booby-trapped tiles across the floor. They had to do their best to avoid all the traps, which proves that walking so much as thirteen steps forward proved to be a risk.

Derek was the first to make it to the display case. He tosses the torch to the Priest so he would have both of his hands free to work. He stood before the glass display case and looked inside. The Staff of Moses was displayed there, about six feet in length to made completely of wood. The bottom of the staff twirled for about six inches upward and resembled the rattles on a rattlesnake's tail. The top of the staff was more protruded and looked to have two black holes that resembled eyes. Derek was in awe and he quickly sketched the staff in his journal.

He turned to his companions and gestured for them to come over carefully.

"It's the staff," the Priest gasped.

"The Staff of Moses," Bethany repeated before drawing a cross on her chest.

"If Noah's Ark is real, then surely the staff would've been real."

Derek noticed that the four goat statues had unlit torches hanging on their chests. Derek quickly lit each one up and the goat's eye lit up brightly. Light shined from their eyes and at the wall. When Derek looked, he saw that the lights were creating some kind of pattern. He couldn't figure out the patterns but it looked to be a stick of some kind. That's when an idea came to him.

The goat statues could be removed from the display case and pushed away. With the exception of Bethany, everyone began pulling the goat statues a short distance back before they turned them toward the staff.

Bethany saw the shadowy symbols the goat lights made and she figured out how to solve the puzzle.

"Guys, I think we have to line the light up with the staff. There are four goats and each one shines a shadowy stick figure on a different part of the staff. If we can line all four statues up so the staff will be covered with the right symbols, we can unlock the display case."

The four statues were turned so their lights could shine on the glass case with the shadows hitting the staff. Not all goat statues were a proper distance away so moving around had to be done before the light shined on the staff and the shadowy symbols lined up with the staff successfully.

The glass case lit up with a red light, then a blue light, then finally, an orange light. The glass shattered but the Staff of Moses remained standing upward thanks to the pedestal it rested behind.

Derek carefully walked over to the shattered display case, stepping over the glass and making crunching noises before he held his hand out. "I-" he choked. "I can't believe this."

He was inches away from touching the staff when he curled his fingers into his palm. "Father, Bethany, would you two like the honors of touching the Staff of Moses first?"

Without wasting another second, the Priest and Bethany run over to the staff, stopping just three feet away. Carefully and tenderly, with the gentleness of a baby, they grabbed hold of the staff, the first feeling they're getting can only be described as one word: loss.

A loss of words, a loss of thoughts, the world around them completely blank and dark, like they were in a limbo traveling through nothing where the only thing that mattered was that uncle and niece were clutching onto something God bestowed His power on to help Moses part the Red Sea.

Both Catholic prayers closed their eyes and silently prayed in their head. The Priest held the staff close to his chest and caressed it with his other hand while Bethany reached over and put her hand on his hand. She opened her eyes and looked her uncle in the eyes.

Silently, they both drew crosses on their chests, a silent conversation going on between them before they turned back to their companions.

"Derek," the Priest began, "I-"

"Nope," Derek interrupted. "I think the honor to carry it should be yours."

They smiled at him. "Thank you."

Erkin smiled happily. "Aww, that was lovely."

"What now?" Niko asked. "I mean, we got the Staff of Moses and everything but are we to hide it?"

"We'll find a place to hide it," Bethan reassured. She took her hands off the staff.

"I don't know, can the two of you keep a secret, huh?" Erkin teased.

The Priest chuckles. "Erkin, I'm a Catholic priest; people confess their sins and secrets to me every Sunday. And I've heard some pretty disturbing secrets." He looks at the staff once more. "I will admit one thing, though. Despite this being a stick, it doesn't feel like a stick, a wooden one. Physically it feels like... well... I can't describe it. The best way I would probably describe this is dry pasta."

"Well," Derek shrugged, "maybe-" His ears perked up when he heard the sound of something to his left. A rock was rolling in his direction. He had less than a second to react when a tire iron swung at him. He managed to duck in time and grab at this attacker's arm and force him back.

The tire iron thug fell to the ground and Derek ripped the tire iron from his grasp and hit him over the head with it, killing him. Looking up, he saw more attackers coming in through the entrance armed with melee weapons and Derek knew he had to do everything he could to fight back.

One of the attackers stepped on a tile and spikes launched out of the wall and struck him from head to toe. He fell to the ground, dropping the monkey wrench.

"It's Giovanni," Derek realized, "they followed us!"

Niko picked up the monkey wrench. "Well, the good news is that they don't have guns. The bad news is everything they have is enough to crack a skull."

Erkin staggered back. "Shit, why now; we were just having a magnificent moment after finding this object."

The Priest clutched to the staff like his life depended on it while keeping Bethany safe and sound behind him. "Stay with me and don't leave my side."

"Yeah."

As more and more thugs piled through the narrow opening, they fell into several traps Derek and Co. managed to avoid. Spikes shot out of the wall, knives from the ceiling fell, and flames shot out of the wall. The Priest went to one of the goat statues and turned it to blind one of the attackers so they would step on a tile and get killed by a spike.

Seeing no more thugs coming at them, they charged for the entrance they came through. Derek crawled through first but he was immediately ambushed by Riccardo and Lorenzo. They struck him with their baseball bats and would've done more damage had it not been for Niko crawling through and striking Lorenzo in the back of the head. The man staggered forward before Riccardo struck Niko in the stomach and shoved him away. A third thug came up to them and upon seeing the Priest crawling through, the third thug punched him in the face before stitching the staff from his hands and making a run for it.

However, in the heat of the moment, he ignored the light shining in from the ceiling and when he walked into it, was immediately set ablaze by blue fire. He screamed in pain and dropped the staff before it could catch fire.

Riccardo picked Lorenzo up and dragged him forward so they can grab the Staff of Moses themselves. They were sprinting out of the cage but were mindful of the traps. They had a good guide to help them avoid the traps given how many of their companions died on the way here.

With Erkin and Bethany crawling through the opening after them, they helped Derek, Niko, and the Priest o their feet before they chased after Riccardo and Lorenzo. Derek was at the front and despite being in pain, he still managed to narrowly avoid the ceiling light trap and the tiles on the floor. When he made it out of the cave, his instincts told him to duck and he did so.

Unfortunately, he slipped into the mud and fell on the seat of his pants. He looks up to see a thug with a sledgehammer pulling himself back. He had tried swinging at him but missed when Derek instinctively ducked. The thug was having a hard time wielding the hammer as well as a hard time keeping his footing. The last time Derek checked, it was about to sprinkle when they went into the temple and now that he was out of the temple, it was raining.

When the sledgehammer guy raised his weapon, he fell to the ground when Erkin bashed him over the head with the baseball bat Lorenzo left behind. The sledgehammer felt a blunt force to the back of his head but apparently, it was not enough to kill him, let alone knock him out.

The sledgehammer guy backhands Erkin. Derek uppercuts the sledgehammer guy with his tire iron. The thug fell to the ground, motionless.

"We have to get the staff back." A thug armed with a golf club swung at the Priest. He barely dodged it and threw the golf club thug over his waist. He snatched the club away and swung it at the thug's head. "Fore."

One more thug was charging for them armed with a hatchet. Derek charged the thug and slammed into his gut. he picked him up and threw him to the ground and into a quicksand pit they managed to avoid earlier. There was no time for the thug to react when he sank into the pit and was buried in the ground.

"I should have a weapon," Bethany said, "to protect myself."

Derek tosses her his tire iron. "Be very careful." He picks up the fallen hatchet.

They ran through the jungle and were very careful to move around the sandpit. When Derek encountered a thug with a stick as a weapon, Derek plunged the hatchet into his throat before using his stick as a weapon. He thought all was going to be alright before he looked up to see eight thugs carrying bladed weapons rushing him. He turned at the very last second and coming up with a plan, he ran for the quicksand pit. Everyone else was hiding in the trees and out of view from the eight attackers.

Derek used his grappling hook on the trees above to swing across to the other side. The first four attacks ran into the quicksand pit and sunk to the bottom. The last four were careful to back away in time before Niko and the Priest push two of them into the pit.

The last two swung their blades at Niko and the Priest but they were caught off guard when Erkin and Bethany threw mud in their faces and blinded them, allowing Niko and the Priest to push them into the quicksand pit.

Derek swung back around and when the last attacker came out of the trees, Niko threw mud in his face before Derek finished him off with a stick to the face.

Not wasting any more time, they ran back the way they came and caught sight of Riccardo and Lorenzo taking off in one of their boats. Derek and the others jump on Erkin's boat and chase after Riccardo and Lorenzo.


Chapter 9: Parting

Chasing after Giovanni's boat was much easier said than done, especially when they were taking on rough waters and the storm making it hard for them to steer but Erkin preserved. Having the most experience on the water, Erkin managed to narrowly avoid crashing into the waves and caught up to Giovanni's boat. Just as they got within fifty feet of his boat, three more boats filled with radicals tried to crash into them.

The first boat struck them and nearly knocked them off course. Derek nearly lost his balance but he maintained a steady footing and he leaped onto the enemy boat with his stick weapon. He strikes the driver over the head with the stick and disables him immediately. The other four on the boat charged for him. Derek took the wheel and jerked the wheel to the left, knocking two of the thugs overboard. He jerked the wheel in the opposite direction to shake off the last two thugs. He put the boat in cruise control before he ran up to the thugs and shoved the first one overboard before smacking the last one hard with the stick that it shattered. Dazed, he threw the radical overboard.

He took control of the boat once more and seeing that the other two boats were trying to ram into Erkin's boat, he sped up to the closest radical boat and ran for the edge, and leaped over it. He barely landed on the enemy boat just as it was about to turn away.

With no weapon in hand, he was grabbed from behind by one of the thugs on board. The thug in front of him had an ax. He swung the ax at Derek, who managed to move his head out of the way and strike the thug holding him in the face, killing him. Derek kicks him in the ground before wrestling over the ax. With one of the radical thugs dead, there were four more on board but one of them was busy driving.

The other two thugs charged Derek. Just as they were about to tackle him, Erkin rammed his boat into theirs and knocked them off course. Niko and the Priest quickly jumped on board and attacked the two thugs. They shoved them overboard before the Priest struck the ax thug over the head with his golf club.

The driver of the boat was shoved overboard by Derek and Niko before they commandeered the boat for themselves.

"One more boat," Niko told and pointed to the last boat. He spotted something in the corner of his eyes. "Shit, I spoke too soon."

Two more boats were on their tail.

"Don't worry!" Erkin shouted. "I got this!"

Erkin rammed his boat into the closest enemy boat as hard as he could. The enemy boat was knocked off course and crashed into the second enemy boat and both were capsized.

"Good work!" Derek praised. "Now let's get back on track!"

There was the last of the original boats that ganged up on them. Niko quickly sped up to allow Derek the honor of climbing on board. Derek took Niko's monkey wrench before leaping on board. There were three thugs on board this time and one of them was armed with a flare gun. When Derek realized this, he stepped to the side as the flare was launched out, lighting the rainy sky up red briefly before falling into the ocean. Derek strikes the flare gun radical thug over the head before pushing him overboard. The second thug on board also had a flaregun.

Before he got a chance to fire, Derek chucked the monkey wrench as hard as he could and hit the thug in the head. He dropped the flaregun and fell over the side. Derek lunged for the driver just as he picked up the flaregun. He knocked it out of his grasp before tossing him overboard. The driver surfaced a few seconds later, only for his head to end up in the path of Erkin's incoming boat.

Erkin was just grateful that the rain washed some of the blood off his boat.

Niko and the Priest abandoned their boat and leaped back onto Erkin's boat as Derek remained in his boat and drove as fast as he could.

Upon reaching Giovanni's boat, he picked up the flaregun, placed it in the back of his pants, retrieved his monkey wrench, then leaped on board.

Giovanni's boat was larger than the smaller boats Derek took out. Derek wasn't able to tell what kind of boat it was exactly but there were barrels of gasoline on board. In a storm like this, it wasn't recommended that there be barrels full of gasoline on board. He was just going to get on this boat, retrieve the Staff of Moses, and then let himself off.

Giovanni came out of the cabin, clutching the Staff of Moses in his hand. He smiled and held up the staff.

"Ahh, Mr. Lowell, did you come to retrieve this? This old wooden stick?"

"Just give it back!" Derek shouted. "And I won't shoot you. I have a gun on you."

"Is your hobby so boring that you started collecting sticks?" He laughed. "Oh, how the great adventurous Derek Lowell has gone so board from a lack of adventure that he's collecting sticks." He laughed once more. "This will play well in my memoir."

Riccardo and Lorenzo came out of the cabin and charged for him.

Derek incapacitated Lorenzo by hitting him over the head with the monkey wrench while Riccardo tackled him to the ground. Derek kicks him off and tries to stand up but slips in the rain. Riccardo tried standing up but the end result was the same for him: slipping.

This is what I hate about movies that feature fights in the rain: the characters never slip.

Derek was faster and struck Riccardo over the head with the monkey wrench. Riccardo was done and when Derek went to hit him once more, Giovanni was on him and he ripped the monkey wrench from him.

Derek backpedals just as Giovanni stomps on him. Derek evaded his attack by only a hairsbreadth and moved to the side. Derek keeps moving back and looks for anything he could use as a weapon. If Giovanni gets his hands on him, even one hand, he'll immediately be thrown overboard.

That's why, instead of fighting the hulking Giovanni in close quarters, he had to attack him from a distance. He kept his distance and moved around the large boat by using the oil drums as obstacles for Giovanni.

"Let's end this game of cat-and-mouse, Mr. Lowell," Giovanni told. "I do have business to attend to back home in Rome."

"By using the Staff of Moses as propaganda to recruit people?"

"You're only half-right. I want to use the Staff of Moses to destroy the morale of those neo-fascists. I'm going to stand in the center of the Colosseum, declare that I have the Staff of Moses, and destroy it."

Derek wasn't sure he heard that correctly over the crying of the rain. "You want to destroy the Staff of Moses?!"

"The fascists are all about religion and the occult. If I destroy a biblical object of biblical significance to them, imagine what it could do."

"What are you hoping to gain by doing that?"

"To punish those murderers for believing in fascism."

"You are no different than those fascists."

Giovanni's smile vanished and suddenly, he leaped over the barrels. Derek barely had any time to react. The weight of Giovanni caused him to tip the barrels over and fall headfirst into the ground. Derek backs away, only for Riccardo to leap on his back and put him in a chokehold. Derek forces his body to fold over and makes Riccardo hit his head on the barrels still standing. Riccardo falls to the ground but Lorenzo catches Derek in a chokehold. Derek grabs his climbing piton and stabs him in the hip. Derek forces himself back and sandwiches Lorenzo against the wall. He broke free and punches him across the face.

When he turned around, Giovanni was almost on him. Derek quickly takes out his flare gun and shoots. Giovanni dodges and the flare misses his head by inches.

"Crap," Derek cursed under his breath. With nothing left to do, he grabs the fire extinguisher beside him, removes the pin, and sprays Giovanni. The man stumbles and falls to the ground. The extinguisher stutters as Riccardo and Lorenzo get up. He hits Riccardo in the gut, folding him before hitting him in the back. He swings the extinguisher like a sack of potatoes at Lorenzo and strikes him in the temple.

There was an anchor at Derek's feet. He quickly picks it up and uses it as a weapon just as Giovanni got back to his feet. He launches the anchor at Giovanni's face, hitting him square in the mouth and making him tumble over, knocking a barrel over and spilling the contents out.

Derek hits Giovanni over the head once more before he grabs the Staff of Moses and yanks it out of his hand. He quickly runs over the edge just as Giovanni and his two cohorts recover.

Realizing that he never had an escape plan in mind, he felt helpless until he saw Erkin's boat converging on his position. Not wasting any more time, Erkin closes in on Giovanni's boat and Derek leaps on just as Giovanni reached out to grab him.

Derek lands on his feet hard and slips but he picks himself up. Giovanni was about to jump on board but Erkin already accelerated ahead. Giovanni stood at the front of his boat as Riccardo and Lorenzo waited near the sides. The boat chased after Erkin's and Derek wished he had the flare gun with him.

What's going on?

The staff in his hands was suddenly vibrating and Derek suddenly felt the urge to raise the staff above his head. He hesitated when he saw two more enemy boats chasing after them, trailing directly behind Giovanni's boat. That's when Derek gave in to his urge and raised the staff as high as he could above his head.

Lighting struck from the clouds and as if God was with them right now, the water in front of Giovanni's boat parted. Giovanni's boat suddenly went riding down the waves at a downward angle while the two enemy boats behind him weren't so lucky. They were caught on the waves that parted and rose high up in the air to make a superwave that a surfer would love to surf. The waves titled the boats in a way that they couldn't stay clung to the water and they fell over and landed right on top of Giovanni's boat in the valley of the parted waves.

The three boats exploded just as the waves came down on them and their boats were capsized and set on ablaze that not even rainwater could put out.

The superwave vanished and sank the remaining boats into the ocean. Derek's eyes widened and he gently lowered his hand with the staff in it. "Holy crap," he gasped, "did that just happen?" He points to the open ocean. "Did the waves just part before us?"

Erkin looked back. "In all my years braving through the storm, I had never seen a wave to do that!"

Niko looked over at the staff. "It's gotta be the staff. The staff has to be legit, right?"

The Priest and Bethany simply drew a cross on their chests.

"It looks like God really is with us," the Priest declared.

Bethany nodded. "Yeah, He is."


Chapter 10: Epilogue

Making it back to land roughly thirty minutes later, the storm had finally cleared out and the five treasure hunters could take a moment to catch their breaths. Derek held onto the Staff of Moses the whole way through and Erkin parked the boat at an isolated seaport that had little to no one present. The storm clouds had cleared up slightly to bestow upon them sunlight.

Derek panted and looked down at the staff before him, his mind unable to stop replaying what he just saw. The staff was vibrating in his hand and when he held the staff up, the sea parted, just slightly, and killed the last of the radicals.

"If I wasn't a believer then, I am now," Derek declared.

"It's kinda terrifying," Niko announced, "if God is real then it's kinda terrifying. There's a man in the sky, watching over us. And if God is real then that means the Devil is real."

Erkin stepped onto the boardwalk. "I might be branching off my husband but do we know for sure that it was the Staff of Moses that parted the sea?"

"What are you talking about?" Derek titled his head.

"My husband has always said, that for every paranormal explanation, there is a normal explanation. How do we know it wasn't a coincidence?"

"Didn't you say that you've never seen those kinds of waves before?"

"I haven't but at the same time, the story is that Moses parted the Red Sea so he and the people he's traveling with can get across the land. As we can see, while the waves parted, it was just the waves, not the sea. It could've just been waves."

"But the staff was vibrating in my hand. Why else would-"

Deciding that now was the time, the Priest chimed in. "I think it's a good thing that we don't have a clear and definitive answer."

Bethany looked at her uncle like he was crazy. "What? Uncle, don't you want to know if God is real?"

"Yes," the Priest answered. "I would love to know if God is real and I believe He's real but that is what God is about, believing, not seeing. God is all about faith and if we have a definitive answer as to whether or not He exists, then there wouldn't be any faith." He takes the Staff of Moses for himself. "Maybe it was God who parted those waves or maybe it was the storm parting the waves, either way. Maybe it was natural, maybe it was supernatural. I choose to believe that it was Him and Erkin, you are allowed to believe what you believe. All that matters is that we have stopped Giovanni."

The Priest held the Staff of Moses close to his chest once more and Bethany grabs his hands. They silently pray in their head as they hold the staff and their eyes open when they felt the staff vibrate.

The staff suddenly convulsed in the Priest's hand and he drops it. The staff, which was a straight and vertical stick, was now curved and making hissing sounds. Upon realizing that the staff was now a snake, he jumps back. Derek, NIko, and Erkin jumped back and watched with shock and confusion as it crawled away.

The snake leaped into the ocean and swam away.

"Did anybody else see that?" Niko asked.

"Well, the staff was said to turn into a snake," Derek reminded. "So..."

"Did the stick turn into a snake..." Erkin began, "Or... was that a snake the entire time? It would certainly explain why you felt the stick vibrating in your hands and why the stick didn't feel like wood."

Niko looked at the ground. "And the shed skin."

The shed skin left behind by the snake matched the color of a wooden stick.

Erkin looked up at the Priest. "Was that the Staff of Moses that turned into a stick... or was it a snake that was in some kind of hibernation or sleep?"

The Priest looks at Bethany. "God?"

She nods. "God."

Derek looks at the shed skin before looking at Niko. "That was kinda gross but... damn, I can't believe it."

"What a story to tell," Niko sighs. "Can we go home now?"

"Yeah, let's go home."

XXXX

Maui, Hawaii

Derek couldn't get home faster. When he heard from his supervisor that their work in Jordan was done and Cassie was already home, Derek booked a flight home. On the way there, he got several text messages from everyone involved in the Staff of Moses mission.

Erkin sent a message saying that when he went back to the island, the island had been wiped out by a tsunami, and the structure was completely destroyed. The Priest and Bethany sent a message that they visited the Staff of Moses in the Topkapi Palace Museum. They're looking at the artifact differently now.

The last text message came from Niko, who said he returned to his parents and got everything he originally came to Rome for.

When Derek arrived home, he was immediately greeted by a standing Evan. Derek smiled and dived in to pick up his son. "There's my man." He spun Evan in the air before kissing him on the cheek. "Did you miss Daddy?"

"Bah," Evan sputtered. "Bah-bah."

"Aw, are you hungry? Where's Mommy?"

Cassie came out of the bedroom, the color in her skin returning. "You sure took your time getting home."

"Sorry, it turned into a real business trip, one with some occupational hazards."

Cassie's eyes widened. "Oh, do tell me. And does it have something to do with the Staff of Moses?"

Derek went silent. "How did you know?"

"Are you telling me you forgot about the group chat the eight of us created?"

Damn it, why did I have to use the group chat. "No."

Cassie held her cell phone up. "Care to explain yourself?"

"Okay. But, you might want to get some popcorn because it may take a while."

"I'll make myself some coffee."

Cassie went into the kitchen and made herself some coffee. Just as she poured the creamer in to give it flavor, she suddenly started coughing.

"What is up with your coughing?" Derek asked as he sat down on the couch. "Allergic to coffee now?"

Cassie coughed into the palm of her hand. She slowly pulled her head back and looked at the palm of her hand.

Her heart dropped to her stomach.

She was coughing blood.

"Cass, Cassie, are you okay?"

Cassie's breath leaves her and her skin turns pale on her. Her breathing became shaky as she stares at her hand.

"N-no."


The End of Chapter 15