Chapter Nineteen
"Fucking... cambodia."
Sam grumbled from behind me. I'd never seen him so angry in my whole life, Sam had always been the 'fun' uncle. He was always relaxed and happy, making bad jokes or telling embarrassing stories about my dad.
Sullivan and Sam hadnt spoken since they had fought in ireland. We were waiting for a taxi to the temple. It was evening and we were all tired, but Sam was dead set on finding Rafe right away. I didnt know what to think, I'd heard about Rafe when my father told me the stories about Avery and his treasure. Rafe had been killed, in the story at least. How was he alive, why did he come back. I was just confused.
The taxi pulled up and we all piled in, Sam directed him to the temple. The taxi driver said something in broken english along the lines of "The temple is closed at these hours." Sam argued with him, but eventually he agreed to take us. I watched the back of my uncle's head, he lit a cigarette- much to the drivers discontent- and began to smoke. He'd burned through two packs in the last fifteen hours. Sully was sitting next to me. "We'll find them, kid." he ruffled my hair. I let out a low sigh. "How are we going to fight a guy with a robot arm, by the way- how is that even possible." I muttered. Sully laughed softly. "Kid, Rafe is a billionair- he can afford anything. What im more curious about is how he dragged his sorry ass out of that collapsed cave." Sam shuffled in his seat.
"The guns we kept finding on the Mercs, they were very similar to Nadiens men's guns- its possible that her men came back for him." he said. Sullivan folded his arms. "Rafe and Nadine were not on good terms. I doubt it..." Sam shrugged and said nothing as the car pulled up to the parking lot of the massive temple.
We stood in the parking lot, Sam glaring at the silhouette of the palace. "I'm going in, you can stay here or come with me. Up to you." he said, stalking forward and towards the closed gate. He climbed it with ease and removed his gun from his jacket. Sullivan sighed, gesturing to me- we would find a different way around.
--
I stalked through the temple, shadows painting the old stone as I walked. Dark purple painted the sky as the sun vanished below the horizon. I kept my flashlight off, I knew Rafe would not come here without mercs or something to protect him. They were around here somewhere. I walked through the palace halls, passing statues of buddha.The scent of moss filling my nose, the only sound was my quiet footsteps echoing through the stone. I came to a opening and stopped, on the far side I could see a shape. I pointed my gun at it and stalked around towards the left, hugging the wall. As I edged closer, suddenly massive lights turned on and everything went white. Above me their was a searchlight and along the sides men with sniper rifles. Something pushed me from behind and I fell into the center of the room. My eyes lifted slowly from the floor to see someone sitting in a throne. I couldn't quite make out who it was, but my guess was on Rafe. Two mercs walked out from behind them, carrying struggling people. They tossed them next to me and I ran towards them. It was Nathan and Elena, I ripped the bags from their heads. My little brothers face was bruised and he had dried blood all over his mouth and nose. Elena had cuts on her arms and face. Nathan's breathing was shallow, but he meekly whimpered when I touched him. "What have you done." I screamed.
I heard the cocking of sniper rifles above me as the shape in the chair began to move another shape moved out from behind it. The person stood up and I stared in horror. Alaya...
She walked down the steps towards me, a golden pistol in her right hand. Rafe stood behind her, a grin on his half robotic face. She stood in front of me, her hair was clean- she was not bruised and there was not sign of a struggle. "What have you done to her Rafe." I roared. She would not act like this unless he had blackmailed or bribed her, maybe even used mind games to control her. She'd finally come to terms with me, we had just started to get along again-
"Not what he's done." she said, her voice was as thick as arctic ice. "What he's helped me remember."