Treasure for All

29. What's It Going to Be

A slow but sarcastic applause resonated off the cave walls. As the crew turned around, they're met with two figures approaching them, one tall and the other short.

"Who's there?" Hongjoong calls out.

The taller figure steps forward, and it's Steinbeck with a wicked grin plastered on his face. He was dressed in his usual attire, but he bore what looked like a cat scratch on his left cheek and was walking without his cane. However, he now had a pistol in his hand, and the air grew tense.

"I think I underestimated you all," he smirked.

"What are you doing here?" Dalia asks, her brow raised.

"Oh, Dalia, you never were the best at sneaking around. I'm surprised you managed to swipe my secrets from my desk when I was resting at home."

Yunho could tell Dalia wanted to crawl into a hole and hide. She was only trying to help, but the scientist still riddled her out.

"We know you've been following us," Hongjoong stepped forward.

"So, I have," Steinbeck confirmed as he held something beside him. "I've come for a little trade of sorts."

The captain's brow raised. "What kind?"

The professor pulled the figure in front of him, revealing it to be Dahae. Her mouth was taped shut, hands were bound by zip ties, and her eyes were red as if she had been crying. Her face had welts where she had been struck multiple times. Steinbeck pointed his weapon to her temple.

"Dahae," Hongjoong cried, his blood boiling seeing her like this.

The crew began to step forward, but Steinbeck warned, "One flash of silver from your weapons and she's dead."

The crew stopped, but they still were prepared.

"What's the trade?" the captain asks, trying to keep his cool.

"Give me the piece you found," the professor requests with an evil glint in his eye, "and she's free.You show me the diamonds you have, and maybe I'll give you the Colorado piece. What's it going to be?"

Dahae's eyes were filled with panic, and she even shook her head for her fiancé to not give him the diamond. As much as Hongjoong didn't want to give the artifact to Steinbeck, Dahae's life was more important. He ultimately decides to toss the piece to him, the professor throwing Dahae to him with a hard yank. Hongjoong immediately frees her from her binds with his pocket knife and just held her in his arms.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed into his shoulder. "I'm so sorry. He attacked me on the ship and brought me here."

"Shh, it's okay," Hongjoong soothes her. "You're here now."

"You," Steinbeck points to Seonghwa, "lead us out since you're second in command."

He almost refuses until Hongjoong gives him the okay. Seonghwa reluctantly walks in front of the professor, the older man pushing the barrel against his back. Grace-Anne nearly protests, but Dinah covers her mouth. Hongjoong helps Dahae up and acts as a crutch for her.

Seonghwa focused on the wall as the crew and professor walked the thin ledge to the steps, and soon they were back at the ship. The rest of the crew spread out through out the HALA, getting the ship started and Dahae into the medical wing. Steinbeck lets Seonghwa off the hook but turns the gun on Hongjoong, the captain having his gun out already.

"Now, look, boy," the professor scoffs, "you don't want to do that."

"Do what?" Hongjoong replies. "Murder my friends because I didn't make the discoveries they did and take all the credit? Cover up my tracks by placing their bodies in odd places?"

Steinbeck just stood there not showing a look of guilt on his face. "You knew?"

"You're the only one I know who carries a gun that matches the wounds in their skulls."

A wicked grin appears on the professor's face. "Suppose I did kill my colleagues," he half-confessed. "They didn't deserve to find all of those treasures and artifacts. I spent my life's work cracking all of the riddles and codes, and just when I find where to go, those nitwits find them by chance."

"That doesn't mean you had to kill them," Hongjoong shook his head.

"Just show me the bloody diamonds!" Steinbeck impatiently screamed, making the captain jump a little.

Hongjoong led him to Grace-Anne's lab where the diamond pieces were held. Steinbeck immediately gravitated towards them, his eyes filled with lust for them.

"So many riches," he says, "in finding where this unlocks."

Two other guns cock. "It doesn't belong to you," Dalia's voice growled.

Steinbeck turned his head to see Yunho and Dalia standing at the doorway with guns pointed towards him.

"Now, what makes you think that?" he steps forward.

"My father was one of the scientists you murdered," she confessed. "He told me about where the diamonds were and what they unlocked. He left me a note explaining everything in case something happened to him."

"So, you came to work for me to eventually turn on me? Oh, you stupid girl." He points the gun to Yunho and fires, but Dalia was quick to push him out of the way, leading her to take the bullet for him.

"What was that for?" Hongjoong shouted.

"One less problem to deal with," he says before getting tackled by Yunho, knocking the gun out of his hand. The younger boy punched and kicked the professor, screaming profanities at him as Hongjoong tried pulling him off.

"Yunho! Yunho, STOP!" Hongjoong commanded before getting hit in the nose on accident.

Having heard the gunshot, the others ran to the lab, and Yeosang immediately started chest compressions on Dalia to try to keep her alive until they could get her to the hospital. Mingi and Jongho helped Hongjoong pull a hysterical Yunho off and eventually got him to just lay on the floor, which just led to him crawling over to Dalia and pushing Yeosang off to just cradle her lifeless body.

Steinbeck tried to reach for his gun that had fallen out, but Hongjoong just stepped on it.

"Okay, Steinbeck," Hongjoong growled, "you give us the last piece, and we can march right down to the police, and you confess to all of the crimes you committed."

"And if I don't?" Steinbeck spat, his nose bleeding.

Hongjoong leaned in closer. "Then you'll be tied just below the crow's nest for twenty-four hours. And as Dinah will tell you, it gets hard to breathe up there. So what's it going to be?"