Okay, it's been a while since I've posted anything. So, to get you updated... Urban Archaeology is still set in Cambodia. The foreign language at the end of this post is Malay because I couldn't get Khmer to translate into something that actually looked like a language as opposed to symbols. The characters are still Lacie Sullivan and Tristan Lyons, though new characters have been introduced. Some of them likable, but some not so much. So, here you go. Multiple days of writing in its horribly raw form. Enjoy!!
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“Boss, you are acting different. Like, more than you usually are. What’s going on?” asked Fey Walson.
“Nothing! I’m just talking to Lacie. What’s wrong with that?” snapped Tris.
“Do you usually yell at young women you haven’t seen in years? Because if you do, remind me not to leave you for extended periods of time.
Tristan gave Fey a look that could make stone crack it was so cold, but Fey, being used to it, just gave him a huge cheesy smile. Lacie looked around at all the faces grinning at Tristan Lyons and she looked at Tris, who had a glare on his face that had the potential of freezing there.
“Why don’t we put this behind us? Pretend this never happened and once we get off this train, we go our separate ways.” Lacie suggested.
Tris swiveled in his seat and gave her a bored look. “That would be great, doll, but both of us are going to Angkor Wat. Seems to be a bit of a problem to me.”
“Angkor Wat is a big place. We could be in the same area and still not see each other. I am learning from and living with the monks in the middle temple.”
“I am excavating a part in the lower area of the middle temple.”
“I hate you.”
Four hours later, the train came to a jarring halt. The same Cambodian boy came to take them to the platform. People jostled out of their seats, knocked each other in the head with their luggage and curses were being thrown left and right.
Once they were on the platform, Lacie found her guide, Sanjay, who took her to a waiting car to be taken to Angkor. Lacie handed over her bags, got in the back and, when Sanjay closed the cab door, she could see Tris and his team standing on the sidewalk, loading their things into a truck for hire.
“It’s good to see you again, Sanjay. How is your wife?”
The tall dark skinned man turned around in the front seat to look at her. His mouth stretched into a huge grin, showing off his white teeth, and said with pride, “Mari is very good. She is going to have a baby soon.”
“Oh, Sanjay! That is so wonderful!” and they talked about it all the way to Angkor, which, with the horrific traffic, took a good chunk of time.
Meanwhile, back at the train station, Tris and Fey were directing the rest how to load the gear.
“So, she hates you, huh?”
“No, Fey. I think she was just saying that. Of course she hates me! I yelled at her the moment I saw her on that train and I don’t know why. I haven’t seen her up close, even talked to her, in years, and my actions weren’t acceptable. Now she is going to do everything she can to stay away from me.”
As they all loaded in the truck, 3 in the front and 4 in the back with the gear, they didn’t notice the man in flowing black robes, holding a huge sword, watching both them and Lacie leave.
The man stood between the vendors, surrounded by various fruits, people and goods for sale. He knew the Americans hadn’t seen him, so his plan was still active.
The girl was pretty, with black hair and green eyes, a startling resemblance to the man who had hired him for the job.
Seamus Sullivan was an entrepreneur. Though he didn’t dabble in the arts and conventional business like his brother, he was doing quite well for himself.
He owned people. Not like slavery, but almost as bad. He made them do what he wanted no matter how shady, dark or degraded it was, he made sure they did it.
So when he hired Sharif Kasib to kill his niece, he expected it to be done quick, clean, quiet and precise. Sullivan was not a man who allowed sloppy jobs and incompetent people to rain on his illegal and very expensive parade.
Lacie had to be dealt with. She had killed his Mary Margaret. Of course, the police reports were written so it was read as an accident, due to heavy rains, slick roads and high winds, but he was convinced that Lacie had killed his Maggie on purpose.
And it was equally smart of her to go to a place where the job could be done and no one, not even the government, would give it a second glance, Seamus Sullivan thought with a wicked smirk on his face as he rubbed his hands together, Godfather style.
Sharif Kasib was a man who could blend into the background very easily. He was nondescript, middle height and average looking. Anyone observing Kasib would think that he had a daughter that he bounced on his knee and a Cambodian version of a 401-K. The same person observing Kasib while he was working wouldn’t live to tell the tale.
~
Sanjay and Lacie got out of the cab, loaded all her gear and luggage onto a flatbed cart pulled by two matching donkeys, whose names, apparently, were Huey and Lewis. It seemed like the people in Cambodia liked The News.
A short monk, dressed in the bright orange of his order, greeted them on the other side of the long stretch of bridge from the main land into the middle of the lake that held Angkor Wat. “Ms. Sullivan,” he said, his voice heavily accented but his English was very good, “I am Ashwan. I am to welcome you to Angkor Wat and take you to your room. While you are here, I am to be your guide and translator as well. If you have any questions, please ask me. Follow.” Ashwan started down the long lanes between the towering temples, forcing Lacie to look up at their huge mass of wonderful inlays and stonework.
“Saya tahu saya akan memerlukan panduan, tetapi kerana memerlukan penterjemah, i dont pikir saya akan butuh satu. I know I will need a guide, but as for needing a translator, I don’t think I will need one.”
The monk looked at her in astonishment. “When I heard from your contact last, he said that you only knew the basics of our language. Ms. Sullivan, that was three weeks ago! How did you manage to learn Malay in that amount of time? Ketika saya mendengar daripada kenalan terkini, dia mengatakan bahawa anda hanya mengetahui dasar-dasar bahasa kita. Ms Sullivan, yang tiga minggu yang lalu! Bagaimana kau boleh belajar di Malaysia jumlah masa?”
Lacie smiled. “Aku bisa melakukan banyak ketika aku menaruh fikiran saya untuk itu. Aku belajar sendiri bahasa Latin hanya selama lima minggu, Greece di empat dan aku belajar bahasa Sepanyol dan Itali pada masa yang sama. I can do a lot when I put my mind to it. I taught myself Latin in just over five weeks, Greek in four and I learned Spanish and Italian at the same time.”
Sanjay looked at Lacie and said, “Not to be bragging or anything. Lacie is just that accomplished.”
Lacie stuck her tongue out at Sanjay and he gave her a look at the same time that a family of four from Canada was walking through snapping pictures of everything.
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