I wasn’t feeling so confident the next day when I hung up the satellite phone with our dealer. Felix let me handle the business negotiation side of things, he was far too blunt for many of the men we worked with, while I seemed to have a silver tongue. All the negotiation skills I possessed, however, didn’t hide the fact that our contact wasn’t pleased. I understood, neither were we. The most difficult part was that during the conversation, he insinuated that because of our less than optimal haul, our extraction would be delayed. I finally had to remind him that if he delayed in getting us out of California, he'd only be delaying getting his hands on the blades we did happen to get. It wasn't like we could just magically transport ourselves back into the museum and smash the glass cases around the rest of the blades and then be gone in the blink of an eye.
"He isn't happy," I said as I plugged the phone back into the battery pack that we'd brought up with us. The cabin didn’t have electricity or even running water, although it did have a hand pump connected to the aquifer directly outside the door. We'd lived in worse, but I was looking forward to getting out of the place. This pioneer stuff was not for me. "He says that the buyers will not be as willing to bid now that there is no chance for the best blades. He also told me the break-in made the news, although as you planned, we weren’t seen.”
"We never are," Felix commented. "Fucking Spaniards. I have known too many Spaniards in my life, Francois. Never, ever, trust a Spaniard!"
I could see Felix getting ready to start off on one of his angry rants, and I quickly moved to deflect him. "They'd probably say the same about our kind as well, Felix. Before we go into detailed discussion of the moral, cultural, and genetic failings of various nations, do you think we should get some breakfast ready? I was thinking, in honor of our devious dealer, perhaps we should prepare some huevos rancheros? I can see if Jordan is awake and ready to join us."
At the mention of Jordan, I could see Felix both cringe and brighten, so obvious to me, so hidden to anyone else. Then again, I guess when you’ve been around someone their entire life, you get to know them better than perhaps they even knew themselves.
Still, Felix had to play it off like he was granting me some great concession or something. "As you wish, Francois. But, let’s prepare the food first. I doubt that Miss Banks is still asleep, and she’s probably suspicious of us. I won’t give her a chance to escape because we’re not on our guard. This operation has gone bad enough already as it is.”
"Like I said, relax Felix. I checked the outside thermometer, it's below freezing out there. She's not going to run away into the deep forest wearing jeans and a sweatshirt without shoes on. She knows she'd die, and she doesn't strike me as a stupid woman," I replied. "But if you want, we can do our mise en place before I go to unlock the door."
Chapter 5
Jordan
I was bored out of my mind, sitting in the bedroom with little to do. I’d walked the room twice, and by my guess, it was ten feet wide by eleven feet long. It gave me a decent math challenge, counting the steps before multiplying them and then converting the inches into feet. And I did it with no pencil or paper even. When you get bored out of your mind, you’d be surprised what you do to keep your mind busy.
I looked around, finding nothing in the room that was even halfway entertaining. There were a couple of trunks that were locked, but that was about it. I thought about following Francois advice and going back to sleep again, but I was too wired. I needed to think.
Obviously, my first focus should have been on escape. However handsome Francois was, he was still a criminal, and I couldn't trust him at his word. I’d seen his face now, after all, and he could just as easily kill me and leave me here to rot. But, there were quite a few challenges for attempting an escape. First, I was in a locked room with no windows, and the only door led to another interior part of the cabin. In said cabin were, at least, two men who were most likely armed, if not with guns, then with at least some samurai swords.