Chapter 3

The area of operation was large and teemed with workers in teams. Kristine came into the tent and dropped some map she retrieved from the jeep. “Hopefully this one turns out to be worth it.”

“What do you mean?” Camille feigned as if she was upset.

“I didn’t mean to upset her majesty” Kristine mocked and bowed.

Camille began unfolding some maps. “It’s not like I forced you to come with me anyway.”

“But then, what will you do without me?” Kristine asked and went over to hug her friend.

Kristine loved ancient history and stuff that came with it. Although she wasn’t a collector, she wrote journals on historical and rare artifacts. She also did some papers on archeological sites and luckily for Kristine, her best friend Camille was an archeologist. Whenever she had a job that concerned something of interest to Kristine, she took her along. This was such a time. Camille’s team had been contacted after a ruin was discovered which was believed to have some sort of ancient artifacts.

“The guys working on the north chamber, who are they?” Kristine asked.

“No idea. Two weeks prior, management notified us we would be having company and we are to give them as much assistance as they require. Seems odd” Camille said and proceeded to unfold one of the maps Kristine retrieved earlier. “We are at the airstrip, ready to board and zoom off and the next thing we see are these mean looking men, I think a few of them, maybe three of them were armed, and there’s their horrible looking boss whom I think should be somewhere around right now, looking for whatever precious artifact brought him here.”

Katrine was okay with Camille's story except the parts where she said she had no idea who the guys were and when she called the boss horrible looking. She knew her friend was lying especially after the look she wore while she talked about the looks of the man.

“How cute?”

“Have you been listening at all?” an irritated Camille asked. “You skipped the part where they are armed.”

Kristine let out her hands in a 'whatever' gesture

“Do you think they'll use it on us?”

“Just don’t get into any sort of argument with them”

“Why?”

“Because they are armed!”

“Oh okay”

“I feel you intentionally want to wind me up” Camille said, then proceeded to picked up a bag and handed another to Kristine “help me with this.”

They left the tent and made for a location Camille marked on her GPS.

“At least we are safe. They’ll protect us if these local militias come around. Do they have them here? You know…like in the movies”

Camille let out a sigh and came to a stop. She turned to Kristine “maybe chances are we will get shot by them before the militias come” she turned back to the path and kept moving "and that would be courtesy of you".

“It can’t be that bad” Kristine muttered under her breathe.

Camille began to struggle with the gps device.

“Maybe its broken”

“Uh no” Camille held the GPS towards Kristine’s face. “Yes. Its actually broken.”

“That’s on you”

"I agree. Just get the other from your backpack please."

Kristine checked the backpack but couldn't find any device, not even the map. She recalled seeing both on the table back in the tent. "We should return to the tent."

"Why?" Camille asked.

"Because we left both the device and our map on the table."

"Oh. Okay”

Both ladies returned to the tent and immediately they stepped in, Kristine felt something was wrong.

“Didn’t you say we left the map and device on the table?” Camille asked.

“Yeah. Except someone was here” Kristine replied. A few more stuffs were missing including a journal. But who could have taken them?

Due to the busy nature of the site, the person would definitely be caught except it was someone who didn’t care about being caught.

Camille walked over to a few workers stationed not too far from the tent and asked if any of them saw someone go in, but they gave a negative reply. Kristine thought that was weird but Camille knew who it was that moment. Only one person could make the workers lie.

“I think we both know who has our stuff” she said to Kristine.

“Hell no!” Kristine replied with wide eyes and clenched fists.

Camille grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her towards the tent but Kristine threw her hands off and began to walk hurriedly towards the other group. Camille followed after her.

Kristine got to the other crew’s area of operation.

“Who is in charge here?” Kristine demanded rudely. One of the workers pointed towards a man who sat under a tent. When she arrived his location, she noticed a couple of books spread on a table and some maps. There was another man offering some sort of explanation she cared less about.

“These belong to me” she picked up an open map from the table, the journal and the gps device. “Weren’t you taught not to go through people’s stuff without their consent?”

The man did not flinch, neither did he utter a word. He just let her rant. He wore a hat and sunglasses such that she couldn't make out his face.

“In a sane environment this would be considered theft” she continued. “I’m not calling you a thief, but you took what wasn’t yours.”

Camille walked in and grabbed the map from Kristine and handed it over to the man “we are very sorry for the misunderstanding. We were never here.” she apologized.

“On the contrary, I and my team planned on getting to the site by tomorrow and since we all have the same goal, why don’t we go find this place together?” he spoke at last and took off both the hat and sunglasses. He was extremely handsome. For a moment Kristine seemed lost.

“Never mind. We didn’t mean to interrupt.” Camille replied and bumped her friend who seemed to recover from a dream.

“uh...we will pass. Thanks.” Kristine said

“I insist” he was authoritative.

“A minute please” Camille requested and pulled Kristine outside the tent “this might be a bad idea.”

“How is that?” Kristine asked. “this is exactly why I came. I can’t let someone else get to it. Moreover, you said management asked all assistance be given to them if they requested. So, I think we will only be doing what is expected of us.”

“I meant working with him. You just disrespected him a few minutes ago, called him a thief, not even considering the fact you wanted to be violent because he went through our stuff. Do you think he will let that slide easily?”

“Well, I err – had a ch – change of heart.” Kristine stammered “maybe he did too.”

“Wow that was fast. I’ll be damned.” Camille cursed under her breathe as they both retreated into the tent.

“We agree on one condition” Camille said politely

“Go on.”

“My friend has to get what she’s here for.”

“Sure. I have no problem with that. I saw your jottings and we are here for different things, just same location.” Alexander replied.

“Perfect.” Kristine said almost inaudibly.

“Alexander.” he said. “Alexander Williams.”

“I’m Camille, and my friend is – “

“Kristine” Kristine cut in sharply wearing a toddler’s smile “Kristine Richards.”

Whatever was wrong with Kristine, Camille could not understand. A while ago she was ready to chop off someone’s head and now, she’s acting weird.

Kristine stayed up late into the night. She was lost in thought, smiling at intervals and muttering some inaudible words to which Camille couldn’t make sense of. Camille had also stayed up because she thought something was wrong with her friend and needed to keep watch over her.

Kristine glanced at her watch which read 4:08am. She sighed in disappointment. “it should be morning already.”

“Are you okay?” Camille asked.

“uh yes – yes I am. Why ask?”

“You’ve been acting weird since we met with whatever his name is?”

“You’re exaggerating.”

For a moment Camille almost lost it but she swallowed her words and let silence win between them.

“How do you rate him?” Kristine asked.

“Ugh I knew it.”

Kristine got off her bed and went over to her friend. “Tell me please.”

“Mysterious, and judging by the people he surrounds himself with, he’s definitely up to no good.”

"Initially you told me he was horrible looking and it turned out to be the opposite. Now you say he's up to no good. Tell me what should I believe?"

"Who cares about what you believe?" A triggered Camille asked. "I'll still be the one you'll rub your sorrow on when the time comes."

The tone of Camille's voice must have hit Kristine so hard on the wrong side so that the joy on her face seemed to wash away. Everything her friend just said was the direct opposite of what she expected.

Camille noticed the effect of her reply on her friend and immediately felt bad. But it was for her own good. She sat up and hugged her friend. “I just want you to be careful. Better to watch before you take a leap so we don’t end up with another Darius episode.”

Kristine got up and returned to her bed without saying a word.

Morning came and both ladies went on with their preparations without a word from either of them. They got set and moved over to join Alexander's group.

He couldn't help but notice the coldness between both ladies. Kristine seemed to be absent minded and Camille wore a guilty look. He intended to interfere but thought it was best that way for whatever reason.

“You know, maybe it would be better if we stayed out of your way.” Kristine broke the silence.

The words were difficult for her, but she still let them out and when Camille tried to say a word, she stopped her.

“I know I’ve always wanted this, but I’m not in a hurry. You can have today and we will have another day. We don’t want to be a burden”

“I actually don’t mind.” Alexander replied.

“Well I do. I and my friend, we’ll just run through some other stuff and choose a much better time to come up here.” Kristine replied while turning to Camille and giving her a raised brow to which Camille nodded in affirmation.

Alexander took a long look at both ladies as if he expected a change. Kristine who though was lying, didn’t look it one bit and kept to her decision while Camille only held Alexander’s gaze for a few seconds and turned away like someone caught in an act.

Kristine noticed the awkward moment and for a second, she though she saw some resemblance between the duo, but then she had known Camille for so long and was acquainted with her family so she brushed the thought aside. After all it was normal for people to have some form of resemblance to others.

Kristine never missed her home like this moment. She wished she was tucked in her soft bed, shut away from the world including her best friend Camille. Although she felt bad Camille didn't pick her side, she thoight about her words. After all, Alexander walked with armed guys with questionable appearances. Well, she just wanted to go home at that moment.