Maybe it was time to give it a second look.
He gazed at the image, twisting his head back and forth.
Tommy was next to him, counting to himself. Sean figured his friend was trying to see if there was a numerical meaning to all the symbols.
Sean had noticed that the figure drawn into the rock had a strange body shape. While Baiame had been a skinny figure with long arms and legs, this one had those thin appendages, but the torso was swollen and rotund. Inside it was another large circle with several dots smattered on it. One dot in the middle was slightly bigger than all the others.
"What about that figure?" Sean said to Tommy. "Think it has anything to do with what we're looking for?"
"I was wondering the same thing," Reece said.
"I took a look at it earlier," Tommy answered. "It doesn't seem to be like anything we've seen. It's just random. Like everything else on this wall."
Sean frowned and looked back up at the figure. "Wait a minute. Think, Tommy. When all this started, we went to Baiame Cave. We're looking for the boomerang of Baiame."
"Right… Where are you going with all this?"
"The Baiame story, Schultzie. What does the legend say happened to this god?"
Tommy shrugged. "I don't know. I only read a little about it. According to the story, he left the people of Earth from the top of a mountain."
"Which mountain?"
Tommy's eyes went wide as he realized Sean had just unraveled the code. "Yengo," he whispered. "The story said Baiame ascended into the sky from the top of Mount Yengo." Then his temporary high vanished. "Even if that is the right place, it has to be a huge area. We don't know where to look once we're there."
Sean turned his head and spied the dots in the middle of the circle on Baiame's torso. "I do."
"Time's up," Jack said as he stepped forward toward the three friends. "Do you have the solution for me, or do we start dumping bodies into the ravine?"
"We know where to go next," Tommy said.
"Tell me. Maybe I'll make your deaths quick."
"No," Sean said. "See, here's the problem. We know where you need to go next, but you have no idea. I'm willing to bet you can't figure it out like we just did. So, as I see it, you're going to need to take us with you to the next location."
"I think maybe you're bluffing," Jack said after a moment of careful thought. "Maybe you don't know the solution to this riddle and you're just trying to bide your time, hoping my men and I slip up."
Sean stared through him. "Do you want your golden boomerang or not? I'm thinking your boss, Mr. Holmes, would rather have it sooner than later." He waited for a minute as Jack considered. "Or you could just kill us right now and then never find the stupid thing. I'm sure Holmes would be happy about that."
Jack clenched his jaw. "You do realize that you are going to have to tell us where we're going before we get there. Once you do that, what need do I have for you anymore?"
"I thought you might ask that," Sean said. "Even if I told you the name of the place you need to go, you could search for a hundred years and never find where that boomerang is hidden."
"And I suppose you know the exact location?"
Sean's head moved up and down. "Yeah."
"And you'll lead us right to it?"
"More or less."
Tommy and Reece watched the exchange like a fierce tennis match of words lobbed back and forth.
"For your sake, I hope it's more." Jack turned to his henchmen. "Back to the trucks. Let's get out of here before the visitors start arriving. Tie these three down in the back of the pickup, and keep a close eye on them. If any one of them tries anything stupid, shoot them."
Jack stepped close to Sean, again hovering over him like a statue. "If you're lying to me and wasting my time, I'll make sure you die very slowly."
Chapter 33
Camera crews wedged in closer to the podium to try and get a better angle. Flashes went off across the room. Reporters sat on the edges of their seats, eagerly awaiting what the chairman would say. Some held up their smartphones to record the press conference. Laps were full of notepads with notes jotted down — questions to be asked of the petroleum giant's head man.
Bernard Holmes stepped out into the light from behind a dark blue curtain. He offered a solemn grin, keeping in character with the sadness he wished to portray. Much had been made of the recent elevator tragedy that killed his board of directors. He'd pretended to be reluctant about taking the reins on his own but promised to put together a new board from some of the more active shareholders.
Many called it a miracle that he'd survived. Others had said it was a lucky coincidence he'd stayed behind to do a little extra work in the office. Then there were a few who claimed the whole thing was a conspiracy — all engineered by Holmes so that he could gain total control of the company.
Those mouths were soon hushed.
In the old days, Holmes would have simply had the conspiracy theorists murdered. It was the way things were handled. Now — in the digital age — things had to be taken care of with subtler tactics.
With the resources Holmes had at his disposal, it was easy enough to make things happen rapidly.
One reporter who'd written an article about the Holmes theory was arrested for heroin possession just three days after the piece was published. Police dragged him out of his home, kicking and screaming as he tried to proclaim his innocence. Another writer was taken into custody after authorities — working on an anonymous tip — found ten gigabytes of child pornography on his computer.
The one that made Holmes laugh, though, was the reporter who actually had done something wrong. The guy had a cocaine addiction, which provided the perfect cover for a hit. Holmes made sure the writer was supplied with a doctored stash of blow. Two days later, the man was found dead of an overdose by the river, sitting in his car.
If anyone else had suspicions regarding Holmes and the deaths of everyone on his board, they kept quiet about it.
He gripped the edges of the podium and looked out at the dozens of eager people. He pinched his lips together as if hesitating for a moment and then began his speech.
"Life gives us many challenges. We are tasked with things that often we believe are too difficult for us to bear. Sometimes these trials carry tragedy with them, as is the case with my…" He faltered for a second to add effect. "Pardon me." He cleared his throat and began again. "As is the case with my coworkers and friends on the board.
"First off, I would like to once more extend my condolences to the families of those we lost in that vicious terrorist attack." He looked down at a middle-aged woman in the front row. Her blonde hair cascaded over the shoulders of her $3,000 dress. She dabbed one of her eyes, fighting back a tear. Holmes had to fight back a laugh. The woman had been married to one of the men on the board. Clearly a gold digger, she was twenty-five years younger than her husband. With his death, she'd become even wealthier than before. Holmes would give her time to mourn before he called on her.
He went on. "This company has experienced extraordinary growth over the last five years. Their leadership and abilities to guide us to tremendous success cannot be questioned. Now we are left with the task of trying to find our way through without them."
Stocks had dropped by nearly half once the news of the elevator incident hit the airwaves. Holmes wasn't stupid enough to sell off his stock before the murders. He knew prices would go down, which is why he had Jack sell off every piece of the company he owned and then buy it back tenfold after things bottomed out.
This press conference would send the stock soaring again. But that was only the beginning.
"We are entering a tenuous age for this company, and for the energy sector as well. The energy needs of the world are not decreasing. Yesterday, there were seven billion people on Earth. Today there are eight. Tomorrow, there will be ten. All of them will need fuel to get them through their days. We are committed to providing that energy to the people of the world so that the human race can continue progressing forward into the dawn of a new era."