British Museum, London, United Kingdom May 10th, 1985
EEEEEEEEM! EEEEEEEEM! EEEEEEEEM! EEEEEEEEM! EEEEEEEEM!
This wasn't part of the plan. Aharon and I make a frantic dash towards the stairs leading up from Room 25 into Room 24, satchel in tow. Surely the guards would be arriving soon. Slipping my headphones over my ears, I press the button on the Walkman.
"Richie! We've been compromised!" I warn him. "Get the hell to Kacem's truck, we'll meet you there!"
"On it!" he replies, panting. "Just need to outrun my ex-colleagues first!"
I disconnect, before turning to Aharon as we reach the top of the stairs. We are back in the presence of the Moai, where we had fought Logan, now flashing with emergency lights. The shrill blaring of the alarm echoes throughout the entire museum. It's so loud that I am beginning to hallucinate the sound of footsteps around Aharon and I.
"What's the plan, my old friend?!" he frantically asks me.
"I'll figure it out!" I assure him. "I always do."
Thinking fast, I recall that we can use the keys we swiped from Logan to unlock the back gate. I reach for my pocket, feeling around the inside. It has to be there somewhere.
"Al'aama!" I curse out loud this time.
"Yafa?" Aharon asks.
"I lost the damn keys!" I confess.
"You what?!" shouts Aharon. "That was our only way to the rendezvous point!"
"At least we have the Bronze," I assure him.
"Yeah," he says, calming down, "It's right- what the?!"
I watch Aharon shake the satchel before opening it. I gasp as I gaze upon the void where the Benin Bronze we swiped should have been.
"You can't have just lost it!" I yell.
"I didn't!" he protests, "It was right there! Someone must have-"
The thought hits me as well.
Bump!
We veer our gazes to the direction of the sound, catching sight of a figure dressed in a khaki jacket and pants, a classically colonial wide-brimmed safari hat hanging on her belt, alongside Logan's keys. In her clutches is the Benin Bronze we had taken from the display.
"Hey!" I shout at the figure. "Come back here!"
As I begin to sprint, my foot catches onto a large object. Getting wedged in, the leverage sends me tripping into the marble floor.
"Uff!" I grunt.
Aharon rushes over to me as I get onto my knees.
"What was- huuuuuuhh!" I gasp when I see what tripped me.
It is the massive form of Logan, lying face up, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. Right on his forehead is a gaping bullet hole, oozing with his blood that has begun to pool on the floor. The poor guy. Even if a little dull, from what little he had said of his motivations, his heart was in the right place. I lay my fingers on his eyelids and pull them over his blank eyes, finally giving my recent opponent some rest.
"May God grant you a place in Paradise," I whisper, quoting my dad.
I stand up, turning to Aharon who nods solemnly.
"Now that we've paid our respects to the dead, let's hurry!" he declares. "We have a Bronze to reclaim."
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Yafa Awad: The Herb of the Lost Tribe Alpha Version
AventuraIn an alternate history, Palestinian archaeologist-adventurer Yafa Awad and companions embark on a quest to find a mysterious group known only as the Lost Tribe, once sought by her mother, the famed anthropologist Dr. Yusra Hamad. However, also seek...
