The Death Relic

64

For the past several minutes, Payne and Jones had been on the same side of this war as Tiffany. Now that Angel was dead, she went back to being their adversary. They approached her cautiously, fully aware of her skills. Payne closed in from the northwest, the assault rifle aimed at her chest. Meanwhile, Jones looped further south before converging on her location. She was standing next to the pyramid, three corpses at her feet. One was Angel. The other two were his bodyguards. The tattooed men had looked tough, but Tiffany had killed them with ease.

Payne kept that in mind as he moved in. ‘Drop the weapon!’

She scoffed at his request. ‘You’ve got to be shitting me.’

‘Drop the weapon,’ Jones echoed.

‘Seriously? You still don’t trust me?’

Payne moved closer. ‘Can’t afford to. We saw you in action.’

She smiled at the compliment. ‘What can I say? This isn’t my first rodeo.’

Jones took aim. ‘It will be your last rodeo — unless you drop your weapon.’

‘Wow! You guys are so serious. I thought you’d be more fun.’ She tossed her weapon to the ground and calmly raised her hands. ‘I’d heard that you were fun.’

‘From who?’

‘I told you, Jon. I’m not at liberty to say.’

The comment pissed Payne off. He charged forward and frisked her. Then he pushed her roughly onto the pyramid steps. Still keyed up from the battle, he was sick of her games.

‘I’m about to get a lot less fun,’ he assured her.

‘Damn! What’s your problem?’

‘My problem?’ Payne yelled. ‘Several tourists are dead because of you. Several more are injured because of you. And now you’re going to force me to kick the shit out of you to get some answers. Unless, of course, you want me to skip the beating and go right to torture.’

She laughed it off. ‘You won’t torture me.’

‘Really? I saw what you did to Angel. Did it work?’

Jones chimed in. ‘Do the Stick Trick. That always works.’

She glanced at Jones. ‘The what?’

Payne smiled. It was a tactic from the Vietnam War that involved a bullet hole and a very sharp stick. ‘Can’t. She doesn’t have an open wound.’

Jones grinned. ‘No problem. I’ll give her one.’

Before Payne could respond, Jones fired a single round into the pyramid. The bullet hit the steps a few feet above Tiffany’s head. The shot was so close that she felt the sting of debris on the back of her neck. She jumped in alarm, stunned that he’d actually fired his gun.

‘What the fuck? I’m not the enemy!’ she screamed.

‘How do we know? You won’t tell us who you work for.’

‘You know who I work for. Hamilton told you who I work for.’

‘Tell us yourself. Or I’ll fire again.’

‘Fine! I work for the CIA, just like Hamilton said.’ She checked the back of her neck for blood. ‘Are you happy now? Or do you need me to spell it for you?’

Jones growled. ‘Wait! What are you suggesting? That black people can’t spell CIA? You racist, redheaded spook. I ought to kill you just for that.’

Payne nodded in agreement. ‘She deserves it.’

Jones fired again. This time even closer.

‘Stop doing that!’ she screamed.

Jones shook his head. ‘Not until you tell us.’

‘Tell you what?’

Payne answered. ‘Who is running your op?’

She took a deep breath and nodded. It wouldn’t hurt to tell them a little more, especially this late in the game. ‘I don’t know his name. I swear to God I don’t. But his codename is Explorer. He says he knows you from back in the day.’

‘From where?’ Payne demanded.

‘How the fuck should I know? Your records are sealed, and he wouldn’t tell me.’

Payne shook his head. ‘Not good enough.’

‘Sorry, Jon. It will have to do, because that’s all I know about him. If you want to know more, you can ask him yourself. He should be here any minute.’

‘You’ve been saying that since the camp ground.’

‘What can I say? The guy is late. If I had to guess, I’d say he’s waiting for the fireworks to die down. He’s not the type to get his hands dirty, so to speak.’

She punctuated her comment with a smile, as if she’d made a joke that they would eventually understand. It was a feeling they didn’t enjoy. Normally they were the ones making the jokes. Not the other way around.

‘What’s so funny?’ Jones insisted.

‘Nothing,’ she assured him. ‘But if I were you, I’d round up Ulster and Pelati. Once Explorer arrives, we’ll need to clear out of here in a hurry.’

Payne laughed. ‘Clear out? We’re not going anywhere with you.’

She shrugged. ‘Suit yourself. If you’d rather stick around and explain to the Federales what happened here, that’s fine with me. I’m sure they’ll let you go with a warning.’

Jones cleared his throat. He hated to side with Tiffany, but it was a valid point. They needed to clear out ASAP. ‘Jon, she’s right. We don’t want to be here when the cops arrive. I’m not saying we have to go with her, but—’

‘Quiet!’ Payne ordered. He turned his ear towards the sky.

‘Damn, dude. You don’t have to yell at me.’

Payne ignored him. ‘Can you hear that?’

‘Hear what?’ Jones demanded.

He frantically searched the clouds. ‘Listen!’