Chapter Eleven
Training
Sam paced around the campfire trying to make the buzzing inside his head stop. He didn't want to do this now, all he wanted was to sleep and forget all about that horrible day, but he couldn't. Not when he felt afraid that Snitch Gravel's men might burst into their camp and kill them in their sleep.
"I was sent here to be the leader," JT insisted for what seemed to be the thousandth time.
"Get over yourself, you're not," Kyle said annoyed, not raising his eyes of the two rifles he was loading.
Sam wouldn't have minded to hand the reins to JT, but he was new there, had no idea what was going on. Plus, he'd have to prove himself before Sam let him call the shots. I haven't proven myself either. At least the others had given him a vote of trust.
Steve on the other hand seemed glad JT wasn't in charge. He threw his companion a satisfied glance and returned to the sketch he and Jimmy were making.
Kay sat between Kyle and Jimmy, a map on the ground in front of her and was trying to retrace their way from the cliff and figure out where they were. It didn't seem to be going very well. She started scribbling on the map furiously, crossing out and almost ripping the paper altogether.
Kyle dropped his guns and grabbed her hand to stop her from destroying the map. He took the pencil, poked her in the nose with it and started drawing a few lines on the map. Kay watched him, frowning, and took the pencil back, continuing the work he had started, mumbling something that sounded to Sam like 'insufferable know-it-all'. It made Kyle smile and he returned to the rifles.
Sam started pacing again, his attention on Jerry. He was once again engrossed in a book, but this one had no plants in it. Jerry had started reading up on wounds and treatments hours ago and hadn't come out of his book since.
"Sam?" JT said and Sam wheeled around to face him.
"Enough!"
"Come on, Johnny, this is not the time to be your usual stubborn self," Steve said.
Sam frowned. "Johnny?"
"Yeah, you didn't think JT was his real name. It stands for Johnny Turner."
"He's your brother?" Sam asked in disbelief.
"Yeah," Johnny mumbled as though having Steve as a brother was the worst thing that had ever happened to him.
"Don't you find it a bit weird that this agency recruits entire families?" Tom asked. "Us, these two, Tina and Christine..."
"I find everything weird. We'll try to figure it out once we get back home. Now we need to make some sort of action plan."
"I'm not going to let you order me around--" JT started, swelling with indignation, but Sam waved him away and he fell silent.
"You three." He looked at JT, Steve and Billy. "Do you know anything about other backup?"
Billy swallowed the chunk of sandwich he was chewing. "As far as I know, there are two missing members."
"Do you have any idea when they're coming or what they look like? Or if they're actual adults?"
Even if Steve and JT who were twenty-five and thirty raised the group's age average considerably, Sam still felt as if they were mostly children. Herrison was lucky he wasn't still with them. Though, if he were completely honest, Sam was more likely mad at himself. He'd been such a child, so naïve and inexperienced, treating everything like schoolwork.
The real world was much tougher. Here they were, lost, without the ruby and without much chance at survival.
"We don't know more," Steve answered and Sam started pacing again. He couldn't focus on one thing for more than a moment.
Jerry closed his book. "Sam, you're exhausted. I think we should call it a night and think about what we should do, tomorrow."
Sam stopped in his tracks and glared at him. "But we haven't come to any conclusion so far."
"Yes, I know. But right now, my brain is working backwards. It's been too much for one day. It's been too much for a lifetime in my opinion. Whatever we decide now, it can't be trusted. Look, I..." Jerry shook his head. "We've been irresponsible. All of us, me included. It took something like this to wake us up, to make us realize what we've really gotten ourselves into. And if it's something I've learned so far is that we can't rush anything."
Sam took in a big breath, holding on to it for a few seconds and then exhaled loudly. All his muscles relaxed and he felt more defeated than ever. But Jerry was right. He couldn't make any decision now.
"Okay, you're right. I think it's time we all tried to get some sleep." Sam didn't want to sleep. He was too afraid of what he might dream. He'd tried to push Carlos' death to the back of his mind, but wasn't sure how much longer he could pretend nothing had happened.
Everyone got up and headed for their tents, wishing Sam a good night, except for Kyle and Jimmy. They both stood and Kyle passed Jimmy one of the rifles.
"Are you two sure about this? I know you're not feeling much better than I am and I don't want you to get—"
"Hurt?" Kyle raised his eyebrows. "Kid, you obviously have no idea who you're dealing with here."
"Sam, someone has to stand guard. It's one of the few things we've agreed on tonight. So take Jerry's advice and go rest," Jimmy said, patting his shoulder.
"But you two must be just as tired..."
"Kid, shut up and go to bed unless you want me to knock you out." Kyle smiled, putting the rifle over his shoulder. "Really now, we'll be fine. We'll start planning our moves tomorrow and you'll feel much better, but right now, we're all too messed up to think properly."
Sam didn't argue any further. He swung around and headed for Christine's tent. There was one more thing he had to worry about. He caught her at the entrance. She turned to him looking tired, worried and uncertain.
"Hey, can we talk?" Sam asked.
She nodded and followed him away from the entrance. "I think I know what you want to say to me."
"Break up with me," Sam blurted out before he lost his nerve. "You saw what my life is gonna be like until Snitch Gravel somehow disappears. Carlos... that could've been you. I couldn't..." his voice cracked and he wished he wouldn't be so pathetic.
Christine looked at him with tears in her eyes. "Why don't you break up with me?"
"Because I can't. I need you too much right now."
Christine hugged him tightly. "I was so sure you were going to break up with me. I'm glad you're not, because I've just realized something. Being your girlfriend saved my life today. If I wasn't, it could've really been me instead of Carlos."
Sam detached her from him and kept her at arm's length. Her words were honey soothing his insides, but that didn't make it alright. "Snitch Gravel is going to use you against me. He will hurt you to get to me."
"Are you going to let him?"
"No." Only that he wasn't sure he could stop Snitch Gravel. But if Christine believed in him, then maybe it was time he started to as well. "I won't let him get anywhere near you."
Christine smiled weakly. "That's what I thought. I'm not breaking up with you, Sam. You're exactly the kind of man I want."
He didn't feel like a man, but, for her, he would become one. He kissed her on the forehead and let her go to sleep. What they had found out that day was surreal and he somehow wished he would wake up the next morning and have Angie throw something at him.
*
"You're stupider than you look!"
"That's a bit much coming from you! And I'm not offended. I don't look stupid at all."
"That's what you think, you narcissist!"
Sam scratched his head with the end of the pencil he was holding, trying to figure out what other columns to add to his to-do table. He completely ignored Angie and Tom who were screaming insults at each other – it was background noise that proved Tom was back to normal and it calmed Sam down.
The previous evening, while trying to take his mind off everything, he'd read more of the document they'd found in the temple. He was intrigued by what it turned out to be. The old Spanish was a little hard to decipher, but once he managed it, the whole jumbled writing turned into an accurate map.
Sam hadn't managed to translate more than a few phrases, but he was glad for the distraction. He could hardly concentrate on anything that reminded him of Snitch Gravel. The night had been awful, his sleep plagued with nightmares. The more he had to do, the better. And, apparently there was a lot to do. They had almost ran out of water. They had to find a water source and fast.
The map Carlos had left behind showed there was a river in the part of jungle they were, but after Snitch Gravel dragged them on top of that cliff, he had no idea where they'd ended up. Finding the river should be their top priority. Ugh, they had to rearrange the luggage, check all the supplies, make a training schedule and a guard duty program. Kyle and Jimmy had been on guard the previous night, but he couldn't expect them not to sleep at all.
"Hi, Sam. What are you doing?" Kay asked, coming next to him.
"Trying to sort out this mess." He stuck the end of the pencil into his mouth.
"I've been working on the map, too." Kay put her own version on the ground, in front of Sam. "I'm not one hundred percent sure, but I think we're here." She drew a circle on the map.
"It would be awesome if we were here," Sam mumbled. It was close to the river.
"We should head south and see if we can find this river." Kay pointed on the map. "Unfortunately, finding it would only confirm our north-south position. We could be anywhere along it from east to west. Well, not anywhere, but it's a pretty big area."
"Do you think we should get out of here?" Sam asked abruptly. This decision was one he didn't want to make on his own, because he was a freak. As far as he was concerned, his new mission was to somehow take the ruby back from Snitch Gravel and not head back home while they were still alive.
Kay pondered on his question for what seemed like forever. "We have to build traps," she finally said.
Sam nodded. She wanted to stay. Which meant Kyle wanted to stay. He hadn't decided already, but this was one first step towards his decision.
Kay frowned and glanced over her shoulder at Angie and Tom who kept screaming insults at each other. "Don't they bother you?"
"Nah, I'm used to people fighting. They're doing this just to entertain me." They didn't bother him yet, but Sam planned on having a nice chat with Tom to tell him to knock it off already. He was being too much of a jerk for Sam's liking.
"Hey, Sam, look what I found." Jimmy charged toward them, Jerry in his wake, dragging a skinny, trembling man by the collar of his shirt. He wore used, dirty clothes and had a pencil moustache.
Sam stared. What the...? "Who's that?"
"Snitch Gravel's spy, apparently." Jimmy shoved him at Sam's feet.
"Jimmy, we mustn't be violent." Jerry wrung his hands. "He's defenseless."
No, he's not, Sam thought. Nothing that had to do with Snitch Gravel was defenseless.
"Yes, only because I took his gun away. Obviously, Snitch Gravel found us and knows where we are."
"Not exactly, since you caught his spy," Jerry said.
"One of his spies," Jimmy corrected him.
Sam had to agree with Jimmy. There had to be more of them. He glanced around, but no one came out of the bushes to claim their mate. Maybe this one man wasn't worth it. Or maybe they were sure no one would hurt him. And, unfortunately, they were right. Sam didn't even know what to do with the man.
"Are there more of you around?"
Pencil moustache pursed his lips.
"Sam asked you a question," Jimmy said pleasantly.
Kyle appeared behind Jimmy and Jerry and tilted his head questioningly. Sam nodded toward the intruder than toward the jungle. Kyle nodded back and gave a sharp whistle to alert the rest of the group. They all split up to search for more intruders.
"Hey." Jimmy shook the guy, but he still didn't speak. Jimmy stuffed a punch in his stomach.
"Jimmy!" Jerry said outraged.
The man bent double and coughed. Jimmy punched him again, knocking the little breath he had out of him. Another oomph, but no answer.
"Okay, fine," Jimmy said exasperated, took his pistol out and stuck it to the guy's temple.
"Jimmy, what the heck are you doing?" It was Sam's turn to be outraged. Jerry stared with wide eyes, his hands covering his mouth.
"Getting information. Anyway, since there's more of them around, we'll find another one for questioning." Jimmy cocked the pistol.
"I'll never talk," the guy yelled, though his wide eyes and shaking head said the complete opposite.
Sam frowned and came closer to the guy. "If you don't change your mind, I might just let Jimmy shoot you." And then, in a whisper, he said. "So there are more of you around."
The guy nodded. "I don't care," he called out loud, then whispered, "Snitch Gravel isn't paying me that much. Don't shoot me."
"Where is he?"
The man's eyes widened. "I really can't tell you that. He'll kill me."
"Why is he still here?" Jerry asked. "He has the ruby, what more does he want?"
The man huffed. "To kill you off. He won't leave until that's done."
Sam froze on the spot, the cogs inside his head spinning rapidly. Unexpectedly, that was good news. It meant they had a real shot at getting the ruby back. And as long as they had to face Snitch Gravel, why not do it on their own terms? He jumped on a nearby tree stump and waved his arms to get everyone's attention.
"Everybody, pack up!" he said, trying to sound as serious and as panicky as possible. "Snitch Gravel knows where we are now. We have to move our camp next to the river. Kay, get working on the route, please. Come on people, let's move!" and Sam jumped off the stump, satisfied with his handy work.
Tom, Kyle, Steve and JT came out of the bushes like a thunderstorm, all of them armed with rifles.
"Great job, genius," Tom said, annoyed. "Go ahead and yell your plans when we're surrounded by spies."
"It is genius, isn't it?" Sam said pleased. "They're gonna find us anyway, so why not make it easy for them?"
"Why? Why would you make it easy for them?" JT asked, so angry, the rifle shook in his hand.
"Because it's better to meet them on our own terms," Sam answered impatiently and rolled his eyes. "Am I glad I didn't let you take the lead. You have all the foresight of a rock."
JT gritted his teeth, but since everyone started chuckling and no one seemed to disagree with Sam, he shut his mouth, wheeled around and left for the camp perimeter.
"I think we can safely assume that the spies are off to deliver the news," Jimmy said. "Which leaves us with you."
Pencil moustache man trembled. "Whachu gonna do to me?"
Sam pondered at this. "What's your name?"
"Clive," he answered nervously.
"Well, Clive, you'll have the honor of carrying some of our luggage. Jimmy, make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."
"What are you planning?" Tom asked, walking with Sam toward their tent. Ever since Billy came along, they'd moved around so now Sam shared his tent with Tom and Billy while Jerry, Jimmy and Kyle had bunked up.
"I want to set a trap for Snitch Gravel. Maybe we'll manage to get the ruby back. Though, I'm not so sure about it. That old map really confuses me."
Tom frowned. "What old map?"
"I forgot to tell you, but that document we found turned out to be a map of the inside of the temple. I've been trying to translate and draw out a part of it. It's nothing like the temple we've been into. It must be a map of the other temple. Though, I thought that the fact that they were called the 'Twin' Temples of the Sun would cause them to be identical." Sam explained.
"We're not identical on the inside either, you know," Tom answered with impeccable logic and Sam nodded, impressed. "Great, so we set a trap."
Sam nodded. "And train." It was about darn time he learned how to throw a decent punch.