Andy McDermott - The Tomb Of Hercules

He pushed himself onto his knees, then took a deep breath and stood up. His legs wobbled for a moment. It felt as though he’d been beaten all over with truncheons-but nothing seemed broken. He took a few experimental steps, then went to Nina. “I’ll live. Come on, we’ve got to keep moving. It won’t take ‘em long to catch up.”

Nina looked back at the plain they had just crossed. A plume of dust rose into the air in the distance where the truck had dropped its load, and there were much smaller clouds of drifting dirt on the horizon-other vehicles coming after them. “Where do we go?” she asked, putting a hand to her head and cringing at the sudden sting of pain as she touched the bloody cut. “We’re never going to be able to get back to the airfield now.”

Supporting her, Chase moved closer to the cliff edge, looking out over the spectacular view before them. From here, the Okavango stretched as far as they could see, expanses of grassy savanna surrounded by dense marshes and broad, lazy rivers. Compared to the dusty desert behind them, the colors were almost overwhelmingly vivid. In the far distance was an aircraft, a white spot low and slow in the deep blue sky. “First thing we need to do is find some transport.”

“Easier said than done.” Nina leaned cautiously over the edge to look down at the smoking wreckage of the truck, now lying on its back like a dead animal with all but one of its wheels missing.

“Oh, I dunno.” Chase sounded oddly enthusiastic, and she gave him a curious look. He pointed off to the right. The slope of the cliff became more shallow, a hill leading down to a lake-on the shore of which was a wooden building, a short jetty leading from it into the water. A boat was tied up at the end. “You ever been on a river safari?”

Aah! Slow down, slow down!” Nina gasped, her ankle throbbing painfully as Chase bustled her down the hill.

“Yeah, let’s take it easy,” said Chase with a marked lack of sympathy as she limped along. “It’s a nice day, we can take in the view, have a picnic. We’ve only got a bunch of hired killers and half the Botswanan army after us, so there’s no rush!”

Nina scowled and drew in a deep breath through her nostrils, hoping to calm herself. The technique didn’t work. “You know, Eddie,” she began, voice flinty, “I’m getting pretty fucking tired of your sarcasm.”

“Oh, is that a fact?” he replied. Sarcastically.

“Yes, it’s a fact! You’ve been acting like a complete asshole for days-no, weeks, now I think about it. No, actually, months! What the hell’s wrong with you?”

“There’s nothing wrong with me,” said Chase. “If anyone’s acting like a complete arsehole, it’s you.”

“Me?” she exclaimed, shocked and offended. “What have I done wrong?”

Chase snorted. “It’s a long list.”

“Well, how about you tell me? I mean, it’s obviously been preying on your mind, so come on! Enlighten me!”

“You really want to know?”

“Yes! I do! Come on, tell me why I’m the worst person in the world compared to St. Sophia!”

“Oh, it all comes out,” said Chase, a mocking smile curling his lips. “This is what it’s all about, isn’t it? You think you don’t want me anymore ’cause I don’t fit into your perfect world of fancy offices and poncy apartments and rubbing shoulders with the rich and powerful, but as soon as Sophia turns up you have a massive fit of jealousy!”

“When did I ever say that I didn’t want you anymore? When?” Chase didn’t answer her. “And Sophia didn’t just ‘turn up.’ You disappeared and flew halfway around the world to get her-and brought her back into our home!”

“She was in trouble, she needed my help. She used to be my wife , for Christ’s sake. What else was I going to do?”

Nina narrowed her eyes. “How about, y’know, not running to do whatever she says when she snaps her fingers? She’s your ex-wife, Eddie. Ex . As in former . And you don’t owe her anything.”

“So being a historian makes you an expert on my past now, does it?”

“I know you never talk about it, but I do know some things. I know why you and Sophia broke up, for a start. Hugo told me.”

“Oh, he did, did he? He never could keep his bloody mouth shut.”

“Coming from you, that’s ironic. He said that your wife had an affair. With Jason Starkman.”

“Ha!” Chase barked in angry triumph. “Jason told me before he died that nothing happened between them, and she admitted it.”

“So you’re happy that she lied to you in order to end your marriage?” Nina asked. He looked away. “And I’m willing to bet that even if she did lie about Jason Starkman, there were others.”

“Woman’s intuition?” he sneered.

“But I’m right, aren’t I? She married you because you rescued her, and then after the euphoria wore off, she decided she’d made a mistake and did everything she could to end things quickly. However much that meant hurting you.” Chase didn’t reply, instead fixing his eyes on the distant hut. “Eddie, I talked to her on the flight. She practically told me straight out that she cared more about her relationship with her father and his business than she did about you. I don’t know why on earth you’d want to keep on defending her.”

Chase set his jaw, the tendons in his neck standing out. “Maybe it’s because I loved her,” he began, voice a low growl. “And you know what? At least when I was with her, there was something there. There was some fucking life , and it was all about us.”

“Meaning what?”

“It means,” Chase said, getting louder, “that Sophia actually lives life rather than just sitting at a desk reading what some dead guy wrote about life thousands of years ago.”

“I live life!”

“Yeah? When was the last time you actually left your office and went out in the field? When did you last do anything spontaneous or romantic or sexy?”

“Oh ho-ho,” Nina said, laughing accusingly, “now we’re getting down to it! It all comes down to sex, doesn’t it? All that pent-up frustration you’re feeling because now you’re stuck in an office instead of running around the world shooting people, and of course I’m to blame because I have a career with responsibilities rather than attending to your every sexual whim!” She clapped a theatrical hand to her chest. “Oh, how dare I!”

“At least Sophia actually knew how to have a good time in bed,” Chase shot back. “Yeah, I wasn’t her first, and I wasn’t her last, but you know what? Experience helps! She didn’t need a copy of The Dummies’ Guide to Sex!”

“Nor did I!” shrilled Nina, outraged.

“Oh take it from me, you do. There are more than three positions! Now Sophia, she had positions that aren’t even in the fucking Kama Sutra! You think that just because she’s posh, she’s all prim and proper? Oh no. She was a fucking animal in bed.”

“If she’s so great,” Nina seethed, “then why don’t you just marry her? Oh, wait- you did! And that turned out like a Harlequin romance, didn’t it? Her ladyship and the soldier, new heir to the manor!”

“I never cared about any of that,” objected Chase.

Nina raised her eyebrows. “Oh really? Y’know, for someone who thinks he lives his life according to the lyrics of ‘Free Bird’ you certainly change a lot whenever she’s around.”

“Bollocks!”

“Oh yeah. Everything about you! You stand up straighter, you swear less, even your accent changes! Whenever she’s there, you sound like you’re trying to be Hugh Grant! You might not admit it, but you so desperately, desperately want to be accepted by her as an equal because deep down you think she’s better than you!”