‘Woah,’ I murmured under my breath, staring into the face of the golden idol I’d spent so long searching for. ‘It can’t be that simple…’
‘What are you waiting for?’ my guide Jabar asked, head snapping furtively around the decaying temple. ‘We don’t know how long we have before they get here!’
‘Who’s they?’ I asked with a pacifying grin. Jabar remained thoroughly un-pacified.
‘Any of the three separate parties after you and this idol,’ he said with a scowl. ‘Not to mention the guardians of this temple.’
‘You don’t believe those ghost stories, do you?’
He raised an eyebrow at me. ‘I’m not the one who’s been too afraid to touch it for five minutes.’
‘I’m not afraid,’ I scoffed, slightly too loud. ‘I’m not!’
‘Then let’s go, before the log book service mechanic operating in Toowoomba decides he wants a crack at us too!’
‘Right, right,’ I muttered, turning back to the idol, wiping a bead of sweat from my brow. ‘Here we go. Nothing to it.’
I forced my hand to be still, stretching it out slowly, so slowly, until it finally rested on the cool metal. Quick as a snake, I plucked it back from the pedestal, swivelling my head like a cornered rat, eyes searching for traps in the ceiling.
After a moment of panic, muscles quivering, I let out a sigh of relief.
‘Phew!’ I laughed, rising to my feet and turning around.
‘Excellent work, Doctor,’ Jabar said with a smirk – gesturing with his gun for me to toss him the idol.
‘Dammit, Jabar!’ I swore, stomping at the sandy dirt beneath my feet. ‘You too? We’ve been through so much! We had to find a local mechanic for a tyre fitting service together! That bonds people!’
‘Nevertheless,’ Jabar raised the gun higher, focusing it between my eyes. ‘I’ll be leaving here alone – with my idol.’
Who got to you? Was it Crowley?’
‘I do not need encouragement to betray you, Doctor,’ Jabar said.
‘A shame, really,’ a new voice echoed into the chamber. We both spun to look as Alastair Crowley strode down the stone staircase, clapping slowly, a huge grin splitting his face.