Faye let out the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. When Scott finally disappeared around the corner, she turned and smiled politely at the man. “Thank you for your help, sir,” she told him.
“It was my pleasure,” the man replied, tilted his head in greeting, then walked in the opposite direction.
Faye breathed in deeply, trying to calm her racing heart. Scott had always been a bit slimy, but he’d never accosted her before. What in the world was going on in with him now?
Dismissing the creep from her mind, she turned and headed towards the museum, hurrying now. She didn’t want to be caught alone with Scott again. She made a mental note to take a different route back to her apartment tonight. And maybe she should avoid meeting Zantar tonight. If Scott knew about Zantar, which he obviously did since the slime ball had said something about her “sugar daddy”, then she didn’t want to give Scott any reason to harass Zantar.
“Are you alright?” Mr. Latro asked as soon as Faye pushed through the back door to the museum.
Faye stopped and sighed, trying to pull herself together. “Yes,” she replied, smiling to the kind, older man. “I just ran into my step-brother. He was a bit…rude,” she finished lamely.
Mr. Latro’s eyes widened. “That’s not good! Family should protect each other!”
Faye’s smile was one sided this time. “Yes, well, he was older than me and already off to college by the time my mother married his father. We didn’t really get to know each other very well during holidays and his class breaks.”
They talked about her research after that and Faye explained her latest theory, which was that the symbols were tied together. She’d come up with a storyline for them, but wasn’t willing to reveal everything to the man just yet, needing to research a few more historical events. She’d give him more details as well as a copy of her dissertation after she’d finished it. But Faye was pretty excited about her hypothesis. She even had old letters for primary sources from that time period to back up her theory. The discovery of the letters in Skyla’s national library were key to solving some of the symbolism riddles and she was eager to find more letters. The letters were from government officials during that time period and reference places and events, political controversies, but even more importantly, they contained more than a little gossip. It was going to take longer than she’d anticipated, but the letters were key. She just…Faye had a limited amount of time here in Skyla. She had to figure out how to scan as many letters as she could so that she could read them later, once she was back in Georgia.
Faye spent several hours researching the symbols and scanning various letters, documenting her sources and asking both the museum director and library personnel for more information. The library was only two blocks away from the museum, so it was easy to walk between the two buildings during the day.
The library was also very technologically advanced, giving her access to the letters that normally would be kept in a water-tight, humidity and heat proofed storage unit. Thank goodness for digital files, she thought as she looked over her collection of letters. Otherwise, she’d be lugging boxes all over the place with the amount of information she was compiling!
Scott leaned his back against the wall, sipping his whiskey-laced coffee as he watched the workers heading down into the tunnels for the night. In six hours, the trucks would pull out, filled with the mineral deposits that would then head over to the processing center. He’d done this, he thought, trying to feel a sense of pride over his accomplishments. He’d hired all of these thugs and gotten this process up and running.
Then his thoughts turned to Faye. She’d looked lovely earlier today. But she was such a stubborn bitch! Always had been. Plus, she was snooty, thinking that she was better than everyone. He hadn’t missed how she’d sneered at him.
Granted, he smelled pretty ripe these days. But Faye didn’t know how hard he’d been working. Plus, he didn’t have the money for a hotel until he got his next payment installment, which wouldn’t happen until…he wasn’t sure. The mining operation might be ahead of schedule, but his payments were based off of mineral loads, not time.
Another truck filled with dirt and efiasia rumbled out of the tunnel, heading towards the processing plant on the other side of the border. Another motherload, he thought as he noticed the yellowish tinge to the dirt. Yellow indicated a heavy efiasia vein had been hit. Good!
Surely, that was enough to get old Neville off his back!
His phone rang and Scott pulled it out of his pocket, groaning as he read who the caller was. “Speak of the devil,” he muttered, lifting the phone to his ear. “Mr. Neville! How can I help you?”
“Did you get the contracts signed?” the man asked, not bothering with niceties. Hell, he was rich enough not to need to bother!
“Not yet,” Scott replied. “I’m still working on that. But I’ll…”
“You have twenty-four hours.” The line went dead after the bastard issued that new deadline.
Scott stared at the phone, his mind reeling with fear. Twenty-four hours to get fake contracts signed by the leader of the freaking country? Or what? Maybe it was worse not to know what his fate was. That way, his mind started to imagine the worst.
Scott leaned his head back, closing his eyes as the intense sun beat down on him. He needed a shower, but in order to get a shower, he needed money! That stupid prostitute had stolen all of his cash! Damn her! If he ever saw her again, she was going to pay with her flesh!
The last four words stuck in his mind, and he thought about them. “Hmmm!”
He pushed away from the wall, a plan forming in his mind. Maybe there was a way for him to get what he needed after all!