The blow was meant to bust his beak and cause the eyes to immediately water. Ben turned his head in time to catch the blow to the side of the face. And then it was on; the pair of big men stood toe to toe, trading and blocking blows that would have felled a normal human in an instant.
Ben ducked under a looping right cross, jabbing up with a flat hand into his attacker’s diaphragm, and heard the breath whoosh out of him.
Got ya, he thought, and came up on his toes, expecting to bring a hammer blow down on the guy’s neck. Unfortunately, the second intruder was now back up and a boot came down against the back of Ben’s knee, forcing the leg to bend forward, and Ben with it… and straight into a short sharp left. Ben saw stars and went down.
Then the chair came down across his neck and shoulders. The thing about being hit with furniture was it’s never like you see in Hollywood — they don’t splinter over your head into matchwood; instead, they usually put a fucking big dent in your skull.
His training took over, and he acted on pure instinct and adrenaline now. He rolled away, still expecting the serious work of a beating to be administered to him, but when he came up, the pair was out the door. He staggered a few steps after them, rubbing the back of his head, but thankfully they were gone.
Ben stood in the doorway, breathing hard, and wiping his face. Shit-damn. He grimaced and flexed his knee a few times — a foot race was out of the question. People started to appear in the hallway — Steve, Dan, then Andrea and finally Emma, who folded her arms, looking at him from under her brows as though he had been having a party.
“They stole…” He briefly turned back to his room. Thankfully, the notebook and novel was still there. But all the maps he had been creating were gone, and with them the copious notes he had been making on landmarks.
His groan turned into a long sigh. “They took all the maps.”
“Ah, shit… those freaking assholes.” Steve quickly pulled on a jacket and went to head down the steps.
“No.” Ben held up a hand. “Don’t.”
Ben knew that Steve was a big and fit guy, but the two people who had been in his room were professional hitters. If they had taken him down so easily, Steve could get seriously hurt.
“But…” Steve turned, brows knitted.
Mrs. Davenport appeared at the top of the steps, tying a cord on her thick, powder-blue dressing gown.
“What’s happening here?” Her face was creased with worry, and the frown deepened when she spotted the blood around Ben’s nose. “Is everyone okay?” She looked from one of the group to the other. “It’s a bit late for all that noise.”
Steve chuckled, and Ben waved a hand to her. “It’s okay, Mrs. Davenport, the party’s over. Good night.”
She clicked her tongue and headed back down the steps. Ben bet that her preconceptions about rambunctious Americans were all coming true. He headed back into his room and was followed by the group.
“Holy shit.” Steve surveyed the damage to the small room. “Jesus, man, who were those guys?”
Ben shook his head and bent to lift a chair back into place. “I’m wondering the same thing.” He leant on it. “I woke up to find them in here.”
“That would have freaked me out,” Dan said.
“Yeah, wasn’t fun.” Ben dabbed at his nose again.
Emma knelt and started to collect up papers. She lifted the notebook. “I wonder if they came for this?” She then picked up the antique novel. “Or this?”
“Well, if they did, they failed. The big guy scared them off,” Dan observed. “Good.”
“Unlikely,” Ben said, wearily.
“If that’s what they came for, how did they even know about them?” Andrea said. “We’re not locals, and I doubt Mrs. Davenport has been chatting to anyone.”
“Oh God, of course.” Steve’s eyes widened comically. “She’s a spy.”
Andrea grinned and jabbed him in the ribs.
“I think they got something more important — the maps I had been making and all the notes,” Ben said.
Everyone’s head turned to the floor, stepping back, searching. After a few fruitless moments, Ben exhaled long and loud. “I guess now we know what they came for.” He put his hands on his hips. “Perhaps they did come for everything, but I disturbed them before they could clean me out.”
Dan’s brow furrowed and he pursed his lips for a moment. “Hey, you know what? This is the best news I’ve heard in… hours.”
“What?” Emma scowled. “Ben could have been hurt, and he just lost all his maps. How is that in any way good?”
Dan turned and grinned. “Because, they came for the map, or map and notebook. Someone actually took the time, effort, and risk to do this.” He kept grinning. “It proves how important it is… and not just to us.”
“Jesus.” Steve put a hand to his forehead. “But you know what else? We just got confirmation this is all real.”
The room was in silence for a few seconds, before Dan’s whooping broke it. “Yes!”
Ben nodded. He hated to admit, but he was right.
“But the map’s gone,” Andrea said. “Can we get it back?”
“We don’t need it; Ben made it and the notes. We have something far more valuable; that wonderful brain of his.” Dan threw an arm around Ben’s wide shoulders and turned to the group. “Plus, we still have the notebook, which is more important as far as the landmarks are concerned. Right, Bennie?”
“Maybe.” Ben’s mind had already turned to the who and how. “Your search, Dan.” He turned to his friend.
“What?” Dan’s eyebrows went up. “My search?”
“Yeah, when you searched for the notebook online, I think someone saw it. Maybe someone has been bird-dogging us ever since,” Ben said.
“Poss-iiiibly.” Dan’s lips turned down. “I mean, you can set alerts, traps, nets, and even alarms on the Internet.” His vision seemed to turn inward. “My searches might have been picked up on a sweep. Unfortunately, there’s no way to avoid that.”
“What do we do now?” Emma asked. “Ben could have been really hurt. These guys were thugs.”
“What do we do?” Dan asked. “I’ll tell you what we do; we still go, but move faster. It seems someone is looking for the same thing we are. This is not just a search, but a race now… and we need to get on the front foot; right, everyone?”
“I hate to admit it, but he might be right, Ben. If you want to find out what really happened to your ancestor, then you need to do it before someone else shuts it all down.” Steve shrugged. “Or else beats you to the punch.”
“We’re not ready,” Ben said.
“We’re as ready as we’ll ever be,” Steve replied. He raised a hand. “I vote we leave in the morning.”
“Aye.” Dan immediately raised his hand.
Ben saw Emma raise hers, followed by Andrea. He turned to Jenny, who also gave him a half smile coupled with a nod. “Just say the word, and I’ll have guides waiting for us,” she said.
Dan folded his arms. “And I can get us on a connecting flight to South America by midday,” he said. “Go hard or go home, people.”
Ben looked from their faces to the mess of his room. What happened to his great, great grandfather had been a family mystery for a hundred years, and he was dying to get to the bottom of it. But there was something else; now he also wanted to find out who attacked him, and who else knew about that mystery.
He knew he couldn’t do that from here or from home. He decided.
“Let’s do this.”