11-Together Again

11

Together Again

Sam had finally made a decision.

It had been the most difficult one of his life.  He had agonized over it for the hours that he had been pretending to work on the Tablet of Osiris.  He had been pretending because it had taken him five minutes to figure it out but he wasn’t yet ready to give up his hand.

He turned and looked around the ancient auditorium.  It was a big, open room.  Bomani & Hoi’s men had dug it out over the course of who knows how long.  The walls were decorated with thousands of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.  In the center of the room there was a large cylinder coming up out of the ground that was fifteen feet in diameter.  The top of it was a round heavy stone with three large prongs coming out and covered in very foreign, very not Egyptian writings.

The Tablet of Osiris.

Sam looked down at his hands then clenched them together and sat down planting his butt on the face of the Tablet.  Bomani eyed him hard and so did the other two guards in the room.

“What are you doing?” Bomani asked.

Sam looked up at him.  “Do you want the long answer or the short answer?”

Bomani raised an eyebrow.  “Can I really choose the short answer?”

Sam couldn’t help but grin.  “Sorry, I’m not a short answer sort of guy.”

Bomani made a motion with his hand for him to get on with it.

Sam took a deep breath.  “The cup is here, under the tablet.  The tablet hides a tunnel, not sure how long or how far, but we will find the cup at the bottom.  The tablet is itself like a combination lock.  Turning it the right number of ways in each direction opens it.”

Bomani smiled.  “Then open it and let’s finish our journey together.”

“No.” Sam said cleanly.

“No?” Bomani asked, surprised by the answer.

“You have made it clear that you are going to kill me after we find the cup.”  Sam said with a feel of defeat.  “And honestly, you called it right.  That fact doesn’t bother me as much as not finding the cup would.”

“The problem, then?” Bomani asked.

Sam looked up and frowned.  “The problem is, you are a miserable lunatic who killed the only family I have ever known and I’m not going to lift a finger to help you.  No discovery in the world can change my mind about that.”

Bomani studied Sam, clearly not expecting this.  “I could blow the lid.”

Sam shook his head.  “That’s the first stupid thing you have said since I met you.  You blow that lid and you risk destroying the auditorium as well as the cup since you don’t know how far down it is.”

Bomani cocked his head to the side like a dog studying a beetle.  “I truly didn’t expect this from you, Bier.  I applaud your resolve.  This could not be easy for you.”

“Hardest thing I have ever done.”  Sam said with a grin.

“I am glad,” Bomani began, “that things turned out the way they did then.”

Bomani picked up his cell phone and pressed a button.  Someone picked up on the other end and Bomani spoke two words.  “Bring them.”

Sam looked at him confused then turned to the entrance to the cave and watched as Hoi and two more of his men entered with both Karl and E walking in front of them.

Sam forced himself to tear up.  “You have got to be kidding me.”

“You okay, Sam?”  Karl asked, concerned.

Sam shook his head.  “Am I alright?  You fell out of a plane!”

Karl shrugged.  “Long story.”

E shook her head.  “Short story, actually.  Just very interesting.”

E and Karl shared a look and suddenly Sam’s mood changed.  “Did you two sleep together?”

E snapped back in utter shock.  “Wait, how the hell did you know that?!”

Sam shook his head.  “You did!  What the hell, Karl?”

Karl shrugged.  “Look brother, it happened and let’s face it, I have more in common with her than you do?”

“Hey, will someone tell me how he figured that out in the two seconds we have been here?!” E questioned.

She was ignored.  “What exactly do you two have in common?  She’s a translator not a rich ex-FBI agent who specializes in killing people!”

Karl was offended.  “I don’t specialize in it, and what the hell does it matter to you?  You never sleep with the same girl twice!”

“Maybe she was different!”  Sam shot back.

“Why?!” Karl was yelling now.  “Because I like her?”

Bomani fired one shot in the air to silence the room.

Every one stopped talking and turned toward him.  “This is what I hate about Americans, their inability to prioritize.  I believe the men with guns take priority over your pathetic love lives.”

Sam knew the score now.  It wasn’t just about him anymore.  If he didn’t open the tablet then Bomani would kill Karl and E.  Not that he wouldn’t do that anyway, but the longer he kept them alive the more chance Karl had to pull something out of his ass.

“You just lost and you don’t even know it.”  Sam said smiling.  “The worst thing you could do was put us back together.”

“Spare me.”  Bomani said with a frown.  “Open it.”

Sam turned back to the tablet and motioned for E and Karl to help.  “Okay guys, I need to you turn the tablet right toward me until the jackal symbol matches the strange flower looking one.”

E didn’t move.  She stared at the tablet.  “This is amazing, these aren’t hieroglyphics are they?”

Sam shook his head.  “No, they aren’t.”

“Do you know what they are?” She asked, turning to him.

He shrugged.  “A special code used by the ones who built this place.”

“It is the language of the Gods.” Bomani cut in.  “The cup was placed here by Isis to keep it from harming any others.”

Sam shrugged again.  “If you’re superstitious.”

Bomani raised an eyebrow.  “This talk of superstition coming from a man searching for something that exists only in myth.”

Sam ignored their capture and watched as Karl and E pushed hard to twist the large stone tablet in the correct direction.  It locked up with the right pictures and Sam smiled.

“Pull up while turning it clockwise till it hits the symbol that looks like an upper case M.”

They did and there was an audible click.   Everyone was watching now.  “Move it back while pulling up again till it locks with the double droplet looking symbol.”

They did and everyone felt the changing of the air as the tablet freed itself and opened into what seemed like a tunnel leading strait down. Metal rods crossed the center on the round opening which was obviously a ladder.

Sam smiled.  He had done it.  Below was the cup.  He could feel it.

Hoi suddenly grabbed him and pulled him back from the edge, tossing him to the dirt floor.

He yelled.  “I have had just about all I can take of this shit!”

Bomani turned in rage.  “Hoi, what are you doing?”

“What are you doing?  You promised me money, a lot of money.  So far I have three dead guys and nothing to show for it?” Hoi was very frustrated.

Bomani smiled.  “Don’t worry, this is it.  Everything we want is down there.  You watch Karl for insurance and I will take the woman and Samuel.”

Hoi took a deep breath, not wanting to give up on making some money.  “Alright, last chance.  Find me something to make me rich.”

Bomani smiled.  “Don’t worry, Hoi.  Unlike God, I reward the devoted.”

TO BE CONCLUDED…