The Medallion

The Medallion



The room was dark and dry. Seth peered in from the door, anxiety coursing through his body. He was sure the man in the black jacket had come through this door but the room appeared to be empty. A small ray of light pierced the dark from a hole high on the wall directly across from the door Seth was standing in. A couch covered in a dusty sheet and a chair and table were the room’s only decoration, apart from the hole in the wall. The door was the only entrance.
The door suddenly slammed hard into Seth’s face and knocked him sprawling into the alley that lead to the small, dark room. The sunshine outside was harsh after staring into the dim room. Seth’s head reeled from the blow he had taken and he strained to focus on the man in the black jacket as he emerged from the doorway.

“Well, seems I caught you, stead the other way round.” The man walked over and straddled Seth’s body

“Why’s you chasin me anyways,” the man asked as Seth’s vision came back into focus.

Seth touched the growing knot on his head and his fingers came away bright red.

“Get away from me and let me stand up.” Seth tried to stand but the man put a foot on his chest. “What do you think you’re doing,” Seth screamed.

“You ain’t gettin up until you tell me…” Seth grabbed the man’s ankle and toes and twisted. The man screamed as his ankle broke and he fell into a heap on the ground. Seth jumped up and then swayed slightly as his head swam.

“Now, the reason I was chasing you was because as I was walking home I saw you peering into the windows of my home. I followed you around the corner and that was where I called after you. You must have a pretty guilty conscience to just take off the way you did.” Seth started toward the man.

“Get back you son of a bitch. You broke my ankle. You broke it. I’ll never walk again. You broke my damn ankle.” The man was rocking and holding his shattered ankle.

“Next time you wont put your nasty foot on me will you? Now why were you looking in my windows?” Seth started at the man again.

“I wasn’t. You must have seen somebody else. It weren’t me. I was just walkin man.”

Seth’s foot lashed out and caught the man just below the chin. The man’s head arched back and smashed against the brick behind him. He went out like a light. Seth bent and went through his pockets looking for some identification. Finding nothing but a letter he unfolded it and started reading. What he read would forever change his life.

Mission

Go immediately to target’s house. Husband should be at work but check first. Make contact with target. Codename to use is Arrow. Swap medallion for money and return to 1501 West Maple St. Leave the suitcase with the money on the doorstep and walk away. Go back to target’s house and eliminate her. Return medallion to 89 Stepper Ave. Leave in the mailbox and walk away.

Your payment will be in the usual place next Monday.

Seth read through the letter four more times before the implications finally sank in. The only thought that came to mind was that the man had not been at the right house. Surely he had made a mistake. Seth thought about the medallion. He searched the man again but found nothing. Oh God what if he had already killed his wife. Seth grabbed the man and began to shake him. Calling for him to wake up. The man was out cold. The room, the medallion had to be in the room somewhere. Seth jumped up and ran into the dark room and searched for a light. Finding none he tried to think where the old man would have hidden it. The man hadn’t had much time and he had been behind the door. Seth swung the door wide to let the sunlight in and there on the floor was a small box emitting an artificial glow through the cracks of the lid. Seth snatched it up and tore it open. There inside was a golden medallion, solid gold with a Jolly Roger in relief on one side and smooth on the other. Seth stuffed it back in the box and went back outside. The man in the black jacket was just waking up. Seth sat the box down and grabbed the man by the collar and screamed into his face.

“Were you looking for my wife? The white house you were peering into, is that the target house? Answer me dammit. Is that the target house?”

“Yes, the white house I was looking in is the target house. I didn’t see your wife so I kept walking. Now you know why I ran.” The man had lost his accent and bad grammar.

“Who are you? Who do you work for?” Seth’s mind was buzzing. He couldn’t make his mind stay on one thought.

“Now you know I can’t tell you that. I have no idea who they are. I just get a letter in the mail and follow orders.” The man was rubbing his jaw and spitting blood onto the asphalt.

“So you haven’t talked to my wife yet. What is the medallion? Where is it from?” Seth began pacing and rubbing his head, mussing his hair.

“Man, I don’t know. It was on my table one morning. No idea when they came in and put it there, but these people are serious. I’ve been working for them for about two years, delivering items and retrieving the money for them. Look, this is the first time they said I had to kill someone. I wasn’t going to kill her. I was just going to drop off the money and disappear. I know you have a lot of questions that need answered but I can’t do it. I’m retired USMC. That’s the only reason I can figure they picked me. I ran black ops for ten years with the Core. Take the medallion and talk to your wife. Forget about me, I’ll disappear; I’m good at it. I’ll forget about you and your woman and disappear.”

“Ok, go.” Seth picked up the box and headed towards his house the man in the black jacket already forgotten.

As he got close to his home he began to sweat. How would he approach his wife? A woman he married, made love to and obviously had no idea who she really was. What was he going to say? He decided to just wing it instead of planning what to say. He walked up to the door and walked in. He sat the box holding the medallion on the kitchen table and went in search of his wife.

“Theresa, where are you? Are you home?” He walked through the house and began to think that she wasn’t home until he heard the toilet flush. He went and stood outside the bathroom and waited for her. She came out and jumped when she saw him standing there.

“Damn, Seth you scared the crap out of me. What happened to your head, you’re bleeding?” She reached up to touch his head and he slapped her hand away.

“Come with me, I have something to show you.” Without another word he turned and headed toward the kitchen.

“What’s wrong baby? What happened to your head? What is going on? Will you talk to me?” She started to sound frantic.

Seth stopped by the kitchen table, blocking her view of the box. He opened it and pulled out the medallion. He spun and held it up in front of her face.

“Tell me Arrow what the hell is this,” Seth screamed?

Theresa ran to the sink and threw up. She wiped her mouth and brushed hair out her face before turning. Tears were streaming down her face.

“What do you have to say? What is this all about?” Seth lay the medallion down on the table, his rage subsiding. Theresa promptly went to the table and picked up the medallion, running her fingers along the skull and crossbones on it. She gave a small half smile and turned to look at her husband.

“I guess I should start from the beginning. When I was fifteen


2

The day was long, long the way it is when summer is strongest and winter still hides on mountaintops but Theresa was going to no mountains. The old truck bounced along the winding path causing her to hold on to the door handle. Chiapas was the worst place on earth. Her dad didn’t understand that she couldn’t have a normal childhood going from third world country to cesspool of the world and back again. Since her mother had died of cancer he hadn’t stopped traveling. Travel was part of an archeologist’s life but this was too much. Most took some time off to teach or do some work closer to home but her dad had said ever since her mother’s death that the only home they had was each other and luckily they carried that with them where ever they roamed. Wherever he roamed she followed like a little puppy begging for scraps, she had no choice.

Now she was headed with this strange man she had met in her dad’s excavation team to an unknown destination with untold treasures. At fifteen she was prepared for the event that he may want a little more than an adventure in ancient treasures but the can of mace in her back pocket stood ready for the occasion and she had taken mental notes on how to get back to the hotel her and her father were booked in. Esteban was what he called himself. When Americans met him for the first time he said his name was Ban, Esteban that always wrung out a laugh or two. Esteban slowed the old Land Cruiser and turned into an overgrown path that led down into a small valley. They hadn’t gone very far when suddenly the road stopped and Esteban brought the truck to a halt. Looking over at Theresa with a smile that showed too many teeth he told her they had arrived at the X on the spot. Theresa got out and turned round looking for any sign of anything other than vegetation. She reached into her back pocket casually and wrapped her small fingers around the mace tightening every muscle, preparing to spring back and spray at the same time.

“Do not be frightened of Esteban; I would never hurt a little girl. Now if you will only walk through this small bunch of trees you will see a treasure.”

Theresa did as she was bid, resenting the fact that he had called her a little girl but deciding not to voice her indignation. She parted the upside down curtain of thick and looked on a sight that would have made her dad run in circles and shout. To her it only appeared to be another wreck of history in a long line of wrecks. Before her in the belly of the valley was what appeared to be a pirate ship. This struck her as odd. They were at least ninety miles from the nearest beach so how had a ship, especially a ship with three masts, ended up here. She turned to ask Esteban where the ship had come from and found herself alone; Esteban was gone. Not just gone, disappeared, he and the truck and even the road they had driven down for that matter. Her mind swirled, she bolted through thick underbrush in the direction of the main road. After about a minute of running all out she spilled out onto the road just as another vehicle was coming. The small truck slammed on the brakes and slipped around her, fish tailing down the road. She heard curse words in Spanish being flung from the truck. She turned around and there was the road her and Esteban had taken. Am I losing it she thought? Theresa started back down the road, this time walking. There were no tracks where Esteban’s truck had passed.
When she got to the end of the road she turned and the road was still there. She parted the curtain of leaves again and gazed at the ship. She then turned again and still the road was there. She decided to go down to the ship and see why Esteban had brought her here and then abandoned her. The way down to the ship was not an easy one. Over rocks and densely grown vegetation, she stumbled, slid and cursed her way toward the ship. After about thirty minutes she stood in the shadow of the monstrosity. She made her way slowly around the vessel trying to find some way to go aboard. On the port side she found some wooden blocks that had been nailed to the hull that went almost to the top. She started climbing.
At the top she struggled to reach the railing but finally did and climbed aboard. The deck was a mass of buckling boards and faded spots where the captain’s cabin once stood, three towering masts with tatters remaining where the majestic sails once flew and a gaping hole that lead below deck. She approached the hole to see if she could go below. The boards leading up to the stairs were badly worn with age. Her dad had always told here to never risk a discovery at the cost of bodily harm. Well if she fell it would serve him right for dragging her round the world with no friends and no school; she was “home” schooled. She found a rafter running below the cracked boards and followed it to the hole. A musty smell drifted out of the deck’s maul and made her nose crinkle. She had not thought it necessary to bring a flashlight, she would have to try and manage in the dark. No way was she going to walk away from this wreck. Something about this one was special. Something had brought her to it. Her thoughts drifted back to Esteban and how he had disappeared. She began thinking that he had probably driven off while she was looking at the ship the first time and thought it would be funny. He was probably watching her from the woods now. And now that she thought about it she had probably not seen the road when she realized that Esteban was gone. She had panicked that was what had happened. Roads just didn’t leave and then come back.
She peered down into the hold seeing that sufficient sunlight was filtering through the rotted wood of the hull. She wouldn’t have a problem looking around. She gingerly placed her left foot on the first stair and tested it with half her weight. It felt solid enough to hold her so she started slowly down the stairs into her future.


3

“What the hell has this to do with the fact that you are living a double life behind my back? I know all about your dad dragging you around the world. Don’t try to hide behind a bad childhood to explain lying to your husband. Do you know that the man I found this on was supposed to come back here and kill you after he delivered the money and get the medallion back?” Seth was screaming again. “Do you know what the man was told to do after he delivered the money, do you have any idea?” She was shaking her head. “Kill you, come back here and kill you. Then take the medallion back to these people he works for. What is so special about this pendant?”

“Baby, that man would never have delivered that money. I would have told him to take it and go buy him a nice place somewhere.” She had calmed down now that she was holding the medallion once more.

“That’s another thing, where the hell did this money come from? Is there some illegal stuff you are mixed up in I should know about?”

“I’ll get to that. Trust me all this is not as bad as you think. I know it sounds horrible but it really isn’t that bad. No shut up and let me finish my story”

Seth sat down, unsure how to go on. His wife had never been so assertive before. He found it very appealing.

“Okay, go then,” was all he said.


4

The musty smell was much stronger down in the hold. As Theresa looked around she marveled at the preservation of all the ancient things. There were no skeletons, maybe the survivors had buried all their dead, maybe all had survived. In the corner was a wooden box with a light coming from inside. She was drawn to it like a mosquito to the blue zappers that killed them. She hoped here fate would not be the same.
As she approached the box she noticed that indeed there was an artificial light coming from inside. Her curiosity took over and she grabbed a nearby piece of wood and pried open the box. Within was a smaller more ornamental box that was the source of the light. She opened the small box and inside was a golden medallion with a jolly roger in relief. The instant her hand touched to gold of the medallion she knew a peace she had never known before. She thought back over her life since her mother’s death and realized that her dad had only been trying to outrun his grief. In all the years since her death she had never seen her dad cry for her. She knew now that her dad had to expel that grief. She would help him, tell him he had to cry. Tell him he couldn’t run forever.

In the following years her dad had never been happier. They settled down in a nice little apartment in New York and her dad took a job as a professor at the University and even met someone new. They had grown close as a family once her dad was remarried and she knew that even though it hurt her mother to see her husband with someone else she was happy for him and her little girl.


5

“My dad eventually talked me into putting the medallion on display in a museum and one night someone took it. I’ve been trying to find it ever since. I’ve never been happy without it. No that doesn’t mean that the time I’ve been with you hasn’t been great but it just wasn’t complete now it will be.” She stroked the medallion over and over.

“Okay, well what about the money? How much exactly were you going to pay for this little pendant?” He asked hoping the answer was not as bad as he was expecting.

“Three million dollars.” She said it absently almost as though the amount wasn’t staggering.

“Three million dol...” Seth scraped his chair back and jumped up, “where the hell did you get that kind of money?”

“That’s the bad part, my dad had a life insurance policy for about one and half million. By the way he didn’t die of a heart attack, I sent him home to be with mother. He wanted it, he just didn’t know how to tell me, but I knew he wanted me to have my medallion back. He knew I couldn’t be happy without it. I took the money and invested it and when I had enough money I contacted Esteban. Ended up he was the one who had stolen it anyway. I guess I’ll have to go kill him now, but remind me to ask him how he disappeared that day,” Seth noticed that since picking up the medallion she hadn’t stopped rubbing it.