A Matter of Trust

15 - Suspicions

Gretta and the professor sat by themselves studying the symbols on the scroll from inside the statue. Arnold sulked several feet away, his eyes straying to Gretta with amazed confusion. From ad office fashionista to a murderous, Gretta of the Goddam Jungle in a single week. He shook his head and chucked the twig he'd been fiddling with away.

"All through moping?" She called from her huddle with the professor.

Arnold stood and wandered over to them, kicking the ground in annoyance. "How did I ever get mixed up with you two?"

"Old ground, Arny. Let's move on, eh? We are almost there." She held out the scroll and he looked at it then her like she was crazy.

"I can't read that crap. There's no point showing it to me."

"I want you to tuck it away somewhere safe in your things. We're putting a little fake back in the statue... just in case."

"Oh you mean we might be in for more of your adventures in slaughter so we're spreading the evidence around? Give it to Arnold, he'll be the first to fold, they won't suspect him?" He snatched the scroll from her hand and glanced at it angrily.

"Something like that." She stood and faced him, peering into his eyes.

"You are really- really . . ." He felt his head slipping into her gaze and his mouth puffed up with cotton as the perfect lips began a slow curve into the perfect smile.

"Ready to move on, Arny?" He quivered, as her voice plucked away at whatever was pluckable, leaving him speechless and totally subdued.

They followed Gretta's lead, climbing up the side of the gorge at a shallow angle. The going was much easier than the earlier decent and they made good time. There was no sign of pursuit but they weren't banking on being that lucky and kept driving on. Just as Arnold was going to beg for a break, Gretta stopped for no apparent reason and when he and the professor caught up, they were glad she had.

Almost hidden from view by the natural camouflage of the jungle was a small canyon extending about one hundred and fifty feet across and about seventy feet down. Set in the center of the depression, amid a cloud of swirling mist, was a tall, thin structure covered in vines and flowers. Only parts of it were visible but they could all see that it was not natural.

Gretta started down at a steep angle, gaining speed as she went until she reached a steppe that was supported by part of the same stone as the mysterious structure. She waved to the others to follow and slipped off her pack, rummaging for her camera. Arnold and the professor arrived in a skidding, careless fashion, both stumbling and falling to the ground.

"Look at this! Look!" Gretta was snapping pictures madly. "Recognize it Cheesy? Arnold?"

They both took a moment and then answered almost in unison. "It's the small statue. It's the same image as your statue."

"Right. Gentlemen, welcome to Uncle William's dig site."

"Gretta, how did you know to come here?" The professor seemed annoyed.

"Back at the clearing when I went to have a- to relieve myself, right there on the ground behind the bushes was a stone marker." They both looked skeptical. "It's true! When my uncle left it there was probably very little growth around, just enough to make you have to look. We would never have found it if I hadn't gone there. And," she tapped her temple, "neither will our pursuers."

"Why didn't you tell me- us?"

"Cheesy, what difference, you can't read them anyway and now we're here." She flung her arm up at the giant statue.

"Exactly where are we?" Arnold asked. "What happens now?"

"Well, now that I see this thing I understand the last two symbols on the marker, but," she cautioned them both, "it doesn't mean we find the treasure right away."

"Why?"

"Because, if uncovering the secret to this thing was that easy, he might as well have told us how to come directly here and forget the drama."

"I must say, my dear, I still feel a little slighted at being left out of the loop as it were."

Gretta put an arm on the old man's shoulder. "Cheesy, I'm sorry. Truly. I just didn't want to waste any more time getting in front of those guys, whoever they are."

"Isn't it Vincent?" Arnold asked. The professor's head snapped up as Gretta answered.

"Could be. I don't know. I thought we lost him back home. Those two back there could be local hires."

"Then what about this Gravestone guy?"

The professor dropped his pack and fiddled with the straps. "I'm uh- going to try Thomaso again. His cell is just dead air so I'm trying the radio."

"Okay, Cheesy. Good idea." She and Arnold watched him cart the radio off to a cluster of rocks and bushes.

"He's gonna keep a secret from you now, is he?" Arnold said sarcastically.

"Do me a favour, Arny. Go over there without letting him know and see who he's contacting."

"What? He's your pal for cripe's sake."

"Please?"

Arnold crept exaggeratedly across to where the professor sat, and craned his head over the bushes to hear. After a few moments, when he heard the radio shutting down, he scurried back Gretta who was squatting down and drawing images in the dirt with a piece of stick.

"Jesus, you were right! He was speaking to Vincent."

Her hand stopped and her head dropped a fraction, then she scrubbed out the symbols and stood. "Don't let on."

"But he told them we found the- this- that- thing. He'll lead them right here!"

"Can't stop him. Our radio is fixed with GPS and you can bet your boots Vincent's is too. They just lock co-ordinates and it's game over."

"But doesn't GPS have be set up somewhere?"

"Nope. He just leaves the radio on and that's all she wrote."

"I am not soothed by your choice of aphorisms."

"No answer," the professor made a disappointed face. "I don't understand it. Thomaso is usually so reliable."

"No point cryin' over..." She glanced at Arnold and made a moue. "Nothing we can do about it right now. Let's find the entrance to this thing."

*****

Claude dropped back to walk with Vincent and he placed a hand on Vincent's back as though hurry him along.

"Who were you talking with?"

"Wadda ya mean? Nobody."

"Don't lie to me, Vincent, I saw you on the radio."

"I was trying to see if I could connect with their radio. Nobody would come into this place without GPS, I thought they might have their unit on and if they did I could find their co-ordinates."

"Hmmm. And?"

"Nothing." Vincent shrugged and stepped around something brown that slithered beneath some branches in front of them.

"They could do the same thing in reverse then, right?"

"If they were trying and if we had our radio on."

"Which we did." Claude let the statement hang. Very enterprising, Vincent. Just don't be too enterprising." The hand increased its pressure then turned to a hard slap.

He would definitely have to be more careful, Vincent thought. Claude only wants him around because he can't work the damn radio. Vincent watched the backs of the men lumbering ahead of him and wondered what the best way to proceed would be if they ever reached the site.

The trio of jungle jocks could probably be bought off, after all, Gravestone wouldn't be coming to Mexico after them. Claude was the problem. Vincent felt in his bones that Claude was supposed to do the lot of them once the location was known. He needed a plan.