Black Hand Vacation (Neiko Adventure Saga Book #3)

Chapter 4

A few days passed after the jail break, and Francesco had been searching his late foster parents' home. They were Crackedskulls who had died about a year ago from old age. Some time before they died, they shared with him a brief history of how he was left on their doorstep. He had come across the note that had been left on the basket he was found in.

To whom it may concern,

My husband Alberto and I are unable to care for our son. Please take him in and care for him. Alberto has been arrested and I may soon follow. I will be eternally grateful. His name is Francesco.

Dawn Carrisco

"So my family name is Carrisco—Francesco Carrisco. I like it. My real parents may be dead now or very old. I intend to find them or more about them sometime in between this tight schedule I have from Raven. I thought my espionage itinerary was convoluted while I was a mole, but boy, has it gotten worse. I liked my scribe job with Ramesses—it was so much cushier and a lot less stressful. At least there I was appreciated and not threatened to be clawed to death at every turn. I'm going to take this home and begin searching for them," he said and he left to return to his own home.

Raven and Bloodhawk had called their spies for reports on the activity of the Indians. This time they had a lot of information. However, it was not about anything the Indians were doing.

Raven was sitting comfortably in his throne with his legs crossed and his eagle-like feet with talons twiching in anticipation with the news as the spies presented themselves to him. Bloodhawk sat in boredom as he drummed the fingers on his right hand on his chair, his head propped on his massive left.

"What do you have for me, Deathwind?" asked Raven to the captain of his spies. The spies were dressed just like Indians in buckskins, feathers, and bone. They weren't wearing warpaint because there wasn't a battle. They were not wearing the black and silver titanium scale and full plate armor of Crackedskulls.

"I have some very valuable information for you, Majesty, but nothing about anything the Indians were doing. We have found out why Francesco was placed in prison without a trial," said Deathwind.

Raven cocked his head in curiosity. The Indians usually gave the accused a fair trial before the chieftains. "It is probably because of his service to me which they found out more about and in more detail," he said with an indifferent wave his hand and matching smirk.

"No, my liege, he also has crimes against you and Prince Bloodhawk as well," Deathwind said.

Bloodhawk perked up and the hand that propped under his cheek slammed on the chair's arm in surprise. "Really?"

Raven's amber eagle-like eyes burned in fury and his pupils dilated in his wrath. "Is that so? Do tell, and tell me everything."

"Francesco has been plotting to kill you and Prince Bloodhawk for sometime now. He also is trying to hurt your chosen, my Prince, but there is so much more to it than that."

"Go on," said Raven, beckoning him.

"As you know, the incident a few weeks ago that occurred in Egypt— there was more going on than you think. Francesco was gonna leave Neiko there to die in slavery."

"What?!" yelled Bloodhawk as he dug his nails into the arms of his chair and peeled up shavings with his massive strength.

"How is this? Do you know?" asked Raven in anger.

"As you know, your concerns about the pharaoh who lived there, they became true. Neiko would end up in slavery and die in misery, but instead she ended up in the arms of that pharaoh. The pharaoh knew about her from a previous encounter, and Francesco had something to do with his discovery of Neiko sometime later. He was gonna leave her in a life of luxury to die with another man—another king—for them to grow old and die together. If they did not make it back, Sito, his brother, and friends would be in unmarked graves in the desert, and Neiko would be in the Cairo museum this very minute as a mummy. We wouldn't know her as we know her. She would be known by what the pharaoh would have said about her and what the archeologists would have found after they found them buried together and the life's story they would have made—"