But that couldn't happen.
No one knew he was out here.
He eased himself between the strands of the barbed wire fence and followed the wider path. Benji soon discovered what had made the grunting sounds the last time he'd walked this trail.
Twenty feet or so ahead of him walked a very large cow, its shoulders reaching as high as Benji's head. It walked towards him one slow step at a time and he tiptoed through the brush, well away from the passing creature.
It seemed calm enough, but you never know.
Benji missed it at first and had to double back, but he found where his footprints left the trail and once again crossed the fence. From there it was as easy as following the distant roar of the double waterfalls.
The closer he got to the ruby, the stronger the feeling in his gut became. He'd felt the same way at the bridge when the Land Rovers were coming, when the little voice in the back of his mind had told him to run and hide. This time it screamed at him.
Something's not right! Run!
He made it to the waterfalls without a swarm of bad guys running at him with guns and started to convince himself he was just being paranoid. That didn't stop him from spinning in a full circle every few yards to check—just in case.
He found the pile of rocks next to the bamboo grove. After a quick glance over his shoulder, Benji moved them aside and dug out the ruby. He gave a sigh of relief when he saw the precious stone was still there. He picked it up and held it to the light. Beautiful.
Suddenly, someone gripped his hair in a tight fist and yanked back his head and pressed the cold steel of a knife against his throat.
42.
Traitor
Trent chuckled in Benji’s ear. “You’re such a good guide, Stone. Hand it over.”
Benji could kick himself. He’d led Trent straight to the ruby. The villagers were doomed.
So was he.
Trent took the stone from Benji’s shaking hand. The knife left his throat and he felt a moment of relief…until Trent kicked him hard enough in the back to send him face-first into the grass. Benji landed on the ground, the wind knocked out of him. He lay curled up, struggling to breathe.
“Anders?” Benji heard Trent behind him. He sounded confused. “What are you doing?”
As quietly as he could, Benji rolled to his side and saw Anders, the head of security, pointing a pistol at his boss’s son. They stood facing each other, not far from the waterfall.
“What does it look like I’m doing, kid?” Anders smirked. “I’m getting the biggest score of my life. You’re going to help me by dropping that knife and handing me the stone. Then I'm gonna leave and never work another day in my life.”
“Are you crazy?” Trent said. “You don’t steal from my father. No one steals from him, you fool. He’ll have you killed.”
Anders took a step forward and Benji heard a click as he cocked the gun. He pressed the barrel against Trent’s forehead and the knife fell to the ground. Anders held out his hand.
“The stone.”
Trent swallowed and held it out for Anders to take.
“You’re a dead man, Anders. You know that? My father’s going to find you and when he does he’s going to kill you.”
“Well,” Anders grinned, “I bet leaving no witnesses would give me a pretty good head start.”
All the color drained from Trent’s face. “Wha-what?”
“You heard me, kid.”
“Anders, please. Don’t do this. I’ll pay you. Anything you want. Please.”
“I got what I want. Bye, kid.”
And then Benji did something stupid. Something really, really stupid. Slow and quiet, he got his feet under him. Then, as quick as he could, he jumped up and ran.
That wasn’t the stupid part.
The stupid part was when he tackled Anders, sending them both over the edge of the cliff!
43.
Saved
Anders let out an OOMPH as Benji’s shoulder collided with his gut. They launched out into the open air and dropped fifteen feet to the river below.
Both surfaced at the same time, but Anders was busy looking under the water. He ignored Benji completely, took a deep breath, and went under again. A moment later, his head popped up and he repeated the process.
He dropped the ruby!
Benji ducked beneath the surface and swam deep, fighting the current. The water was clear and cold and he had no difficulties scouring the river bottom for the deep red stone. He watched Anders struggle against the current as he searched, but it was in vain—Benji saw it first.
Kicking hard, he made it to the stone and shoved it in his pocket. When he looked up, Anders was above him, just out of arm’s reach. Benji pushed off against the sand and stone and swam against the current towards the surface.
One quick breath of fresh air was all he managed before a hand gripped his ankle and yanked him back down.
Benji fought like a wild animal, kicking and hitting and scratching the man that tugged at him. Anders held him as tight as he could and struggled to steal the ruby. All the while the current grew stronger and they were carried along ever faster.
Benji managed to get his feet up and kicked out, putting a small bit of space between the two of them. Another hard kick connected with the older man’s nose with a crunch and Benji was free.
He reached the surface, gasping for air. The river had gone from slow and peaceful to fast and deadly, speeding over rocks towards the edge of a cliff. The roar of the waterfall grew louder. Benji and Anders swam to toward the bank only to find tightly packed boulders as smooth as paper and without a handhold to be found.
The two swam with all they had, now fighting the current in a losing race to escape the waterfall that pulled them ever closer.
Anders lost first.
He kicked as hard as he could and clawed at the rocks until his fingers bled before the rapids caught him and dragged him over the edge of the falls towards the rocks below.
Adrenalin coursed through Benji’s veins and he kicked faster than he could imagine. His arms were a blur as they churned the water into foam and pulled him upriver, away from the waterfall. Then, he began to slow down. The burst of energy left him and his arms began to feel like lead and legs like dead weight. His upstream progress was lost and he began drift backwards.
Still, he swam as fast as he possibly could, but it just wasn’t enough. This was one race he would lose. The whitewater had him. It was only the matter of a few brief seconds of terror, then it would be all over.
It was no use to fight, but he tried nonetheless to grab something, anything to escape certain death.
The waterfall was just yards away.
His fingertips dragged uselessly along the smooth stone…
When a hand grabbed his wrist like a vise.
Benji looked up. Corded muscles stood out on Trent’s arms as he fought the powerful current, straining to pull the younger boy from the water. His other hand firmly grasped a tree limb and he pulled with all he had.
Muscles stretched past their limit and ligaments tore and Trent screamed in pain but never let go. Benji watched him battle the river. He saw the determination in the baseball star's trim face and the stubborn refusal to lose.
With a roar of effort and one final burst of strength, Trent hauled on the tree limb. He fell away from the river and dragged Benji up onto the rock with him.
The two lay there, gasping for breath. Trent held his left shoulder and moaned. Shouts came from the forest—his father’s men. Their eyes met.
For a moment they were silent.
“Go!” Trent said through gritted teeth. “Get out of here!”
44.
Car thief
Benji didn’t need to be told again.
He stood on rubbery legs and jogged into the forest, passing the sharp embankment torn up by Trent’s scramble down to save his adversary. That was something to think on another day. Right now he worri
ed about how he was going to make it back to the taxi without getting caught by the remaining Ironside goons.
The game trail was easy to find and Benji raced through the forest until he caught his first glimpse of one of Trent’s men. As fast as he could, he crawled beneath some dense foliage and held his breath until they passed.
He snuck back onto the game trail and soon had crossed the first barbed wire fence. Benji dashed headlong down the trail. He kept an eye out for cows, which he had no desire to startle. Shouts carried through the foliage and the sound of feet crashing through underbrush came shortly after.
Benji had never claimed to be a fast runner. Just a fast swimmer. He ran as fast as he could, but the men were gaining on him. He sprinted around trees and up and down ravines. Just before the next turn he risked a glance over his shoulder and saw the first of Trent's men.
Benji rounded the turn...
And suddenly, the man behind him became the least of Benji's concerns.
He ran into a wall. A big, muscular, living wall. To be specific, the rear end of a bull. The sudden crash of a person into its behind spooked the bull and it bucked, kicking its deadly hooves out behind him.
Benji leapt aside, narrowly dodging serious injury. The man behind him didn't have Benji's luck. He rounded the turn, gun drawn and ready to shoot. The bull bucked again and kicked the thug in the middle of his chest. The only sound he let out was an OOMP! before flying backwards into the woods.
The bull spun around and faced the boy, who truly got to see how massive this creature was. The top of Benji's hat barely reached its shoulders. The thing's head was the size of a beach ball, with huge, pointed horns arching out from either side. The bull let out a loud snort.
It lowered its head, horns pointed straight at Benji.
And charged.
Benji turned and ran.
A new panic grasped his heart. This bull didn't care about the ruby. It couldn't sit down and talk things through. It saw this boy as a danger to be taken care of.
Or a fly to be swatted.
Either way, it seemed determined to either impale or trample the unfortunate teenager. Back around the bend, Benji ran straight into the rest of the hired guns. They aimed at him, ready to fire.
Benji leapt sideways off the trail and into the bushes. He closed his eyes tight and willed the bull to see the group of grown men as the greater threat.
It did.
The men dove out of the way. The fuming bull followed them into the brush, swinging its horns, stomping its hooves, and bucking wildly to get at them. Benji seized his chance and ran. The men behind him scattered, doing their best to avoid a horrible death.
Benji had a good head start before hearing the sound of gunfire behind him. The bull's bellow carried through the forest and Benji assumed Trent and his men were back on his trail. Before long, he climbed through the second barbed wire fence and kept running.
Branches lashed at his face and legs until he finally found himself standing on the trail that led from the willow tree to the secret valley entrance. Shouts sounded in the distance, but nearby there was nothing more than birds. Benji stepped slowly and stayed quiet, making his way back to the willow tree. The branches parted like curtains and he slipped into the shadows.
On the other side of the canopy he peeked through the leaves and found his hired pickup truck gone. In its place sat the two Land Rovers. Quiet music carried through the open windows of the front SUV, parked across the road from where he stood. A single man had been left behind as a guard. He leaned against the SUV, smoking a cigarette and nodding his head with the music.
The shouts of the other men reached him over the music and he trotted towards the willow tree in the direction of the sound.
Benji didn’t waste any time.
He jumped out of his hiding place and elbowed past the surprised guard of the Land Rovers. He sprinted to the front SUV and jumped in behind the wheel.
"Hey!" he heard the man shout as Benji slammed the door shut and started the engine.
In the side-view mirror he saw the guard running towards him. Trent had emerged from the jungle and lagged behind, cradling his arm, but the rest of the group had their guns drawn and was hot on his heels.
Benji’s driving experience amounted to none at all. His mom had never even let him back the car down the driveway or pump the gas. All he had to go on was what he knew from action movies and adventure books, which is why he quickly put the big SUV into drive and rammed the gas pedal to the floor.
The rear end of the Land Rover fishtailed, its wheels spinning, spraying his pursuers with gravel. They stopped and covered their faces and Benji eased off the gas a bit. The all-terrain tires found traction and he shot forward.
A cloud of dust followed him as he sped down the road way too fast. By the time the other Land Rover caught up to him he’d figured out the gas pedal pretty well. And put on his seat belt.
Gunfire erupted from the SUV behind him and bullets blew through the back window and out the windshield and ping ping pinged holes through the metal. Benji realized something that terrified him: now that he had the ruby there was no need to keep him alive. Before, they needed him alive to lead them to the treasure.
Now he was expendable.
He ducked as bullets pounded the rear end of the Land Rover. Benji swerved a little from one side of the road to the other like they did in the movies, trying to make himself a harder target.
He peeked over the dashboard to see where he was going and drove countless turns and straightaways as he tried to evade Trent and his goons.
In the rearview mirror, he saw Trent in the passenger seat with a scowl on his face just before they rammed Benji from behind. The younger, inexperienced driver lost control. The Land Rover swerved from one side of the road to the other before finally flying over an embankment and crashing into brush and small trees, ripping the side-view mirrors from the doors…
…And cutting diagonally onto the other road of a four-way intersection! He smashed into the side of a small pickup truck with a CRUNCH and spun the lighter vehicle off the road before racing on.
"Sorry!" he shouted as he floored it again and sped off.
Trent and his men blasted straight through the intersection, missing the turn, and had to slam on the brakes and back up, buying Benji precious time to extend his lead.
He came upon another intersection and took a hard left, watching his rearview mirror for them to turn. Just in time, he looked forward and slammed on the brake pedal, nearly hitting someone head-on. Benji shouted out his window.
"Help me!"
45.
Crash
Benji pulled up alongside the confused Fijian man.
“Mister, I really need your help! People are chasing me and I can't get away. They're trying to kill me!"
The man gaped at Benji for just a moment, looking between him and the bullet holes in the Land Rover. He nodded quickly.
"Go!" he said.
Benji watched in his rearview mirror as Trent and his men took the turn and sped up on the straight, smooth dirt road. A cloud of dust kicked up behind them, filling the air. He watched as the Land Rover picked up a dangerous amount of speed, too fast for these treacherous back roads.
They charged down the straightaway after Benji, ready to run him down. He saw flashes from the muzzles of their guns, the shots mostly flying wide. But then they got closer. A bullet punched through the passenger-side headrest and it burst in a puff of cotton and leather. The rearview mirror exploded moments later, showering glass down on Benji.
He slammed on the brakes and looked over his shoulder.
It was like they hit an invisible, knee-high wall at more than a hundred miles per hour.
Trent’s SUV slammed head-on into the winch cable that the man had stretched across the road between two sturdy trees. The strong metal cable snapped taut and in an instant the Land Rover was airborne.
The two-ton vehicle flipped end over en
d, sailing through the air and smashing back into the dirt and gravel. It hit rear end first and tumbled over and over. Glass and metal went everywhere, and the sound carried through the forest for miles. Sparks flew as the SUV slid upside-down for another hundred feet before coming to rest. A single wheel kept spinning. After a moment, one of the doors was kicked open. Someone else started crawling out through the shattered windshield.
Benji took one last glance in his rearview mirror and kept driving. He drove a safe speed all the way back to the Queen’s Road.
From there, it was no problem to leave the battered Land Rover on the side of the road and hop on a bus bound for Nadi—with a ruby worth millions of dollars in his pocket.
46.
Reunion
“Mom!”
Benji opened the door to her hospital room and ran to her bed. She smiled and put down a magazine. They hugged tight and smiled, each relieved to see the other alive.
“Anything new from the doctor?” Benji asked.
“So far so good. They still want me one more night, though, just to be safe. Where have you been? Are you okay?"
“I found it.”
And with that he pulled the ruby from his pocket and held it out for his mom to see.
She took it from him slowly. “Oh my word…it’s beautiful.” She spoke softly, in awe of the precious stone. Laura looked up at him. “Do you realize how much this must be worth? Millions, Benji. Did you have any trouble getting it?”
Benji’s smile faded. “I found it okay, but they followed me. Trent stole it. I thought he was going to kill me, Mom." Benji swallowed. "He—he held a knife to my throat and made me give it to him.”