Kruger's Gold IC - Treasure Hunter RP.

[Independent Gredavcat]

Kruger's Gold.

Plot Introduction.

2014.

Diving in The Taiwan Straight searching for the sunken but treasure-laden Japanese ship Awa Maru, the treasure hunting team of James Beech and Arno Sanctum stumble upon a strange clue. A letter, concealed in a bottle, written in French which will point the pair in the direction of another treasure said to be worth $250,000,000.

However, another more ruthless profiteer has his/her sights on the potential fortune. Lord Charles Elizabeth Abbot is a force to be reckoned with and he will stop at nothing to get his hands on fame and fortune.

James and Arno will need to keep their wits about them as they travel the world solving puzzles and trying their best not to get killed in the process.


Accepted Characters.

Treasure Hunters- James Beech

Name: James Beech
Age: 39
Appearance: Thick Black hair, with slight stubble. Denim jeans and Henley shirt with brown boots.
Nationality: South African.
Biography: Being brought up in Johannesburg by a middle class family, James enjoyed a privileged childhood. He, his mother, father and sister would often go to their holiday home in neighbouring Namibia and it was here that James discovered his thirst for adventure. Countless times he would wander off for miles and, usually, make it back in one piece.

At age 15 his parents told him that they had saved enough money to send him to an international school in London - for James this was bad news as he planned to stay in South Africa until he had enough money to travel to the far flung places on the Earth.

Arriving in London James struggled to settle in - the bustling city was a far cry from the vast openness of the Namib Desert. He made few friends and counted the days until his time at school ended.

For the next three years he was educated to the highest standard however he did not like being surrounded by the world's upper class elite. During his time in London he studied history - this included ancient and modern history where he learned about the great explorers of the world. Vasco Da Gama, Ferdinand Magellan and Francis Drake - the heroes of exploration. James soon aspired to be like these men from the past and, much to the despair of his parents, decided that after school he would travel the world in search of legendary missing treasure. In truth he never thought he would find anything, he really just wanted to see more of the world.

At school he met, and grew to dislike, Lord Charles Elizabeth Abbot. For James, Charlie as he knew him (he hadn't become a Lord yet), personified everything he disliked - arrogant, sly and believing he was born to rule over people. James and Charlie openly were rivals and everyone knew it. Charles too grew to admire the explorers of the days of old however James knew that he, if he found any treasure, would surely keep it from himself and bask in the media attention.

Aged 18 James left school and followed his dream. For the next two decades he become renowned in the treasure hunting world - finding various pieces in his native South Africa, The Azores, South East Asia and Belgium. Donating all his finds to museums he lives confortably and makes his money by giving interviews and writing books on his adventures. He is worth and estimated $2,000,000 however his finds over the years have amounted to around $250,000,000.

Arno Sanctum

Name: Arno Sanctum
Age: 25
Appearance:
Nationality: American
Experience in field: considered a genius in field of Archaeology
Relationship to James:School Friend
Biography (please state how he/she met James): Arno was born the US, but moved to Quebec Canada when he was 3 and became very fluent in French though English was spoken at home. When he turned 9 he was labeled as a prodigy and was sent to an International School in London. There he focused on his history lessons and made a friend during his first year at the school which was James. Arno hated being a prodigy though, so he insisted that he go through the whole system like everyone else. But it was James' last year at the school when Arno arrived, though he met the soon to be lord. He always thought something was off about that guy. Abbot always seemed so pompous and arrogant about everything and he would no doubt seek fame and fortune for himself. So at the age of 15 he graduated and attended college for four years and has now recently graduated and is now hoping to join his old friend on many adventures.

Villain- Lord Charles Elizabeth Abbot, 7th Baron of Colchester

Name: Lord Charles Elizabeth Abbot, 7th Baron of Colchester
Age: 39
Appearance: Handsome (All other details to be decided once I have an age...)
Nationality: English
Biography: [WIP] If every peer in the United Kingdom was like Lord Abbot, revolutionary France wouldn't have been the only ones beheading every aristocrat they could lay hands on. Charles likely should have been whipped as a child, but his mother was aghast at the though of her noble son's posterior being struck for anything at all, let alone ensuring that the local plebes respected the difference in their positions in the social order. He excelled at athletics and academics while in school, as is only right for a member of the aristocracy.

Charles and James first met each other in school, quickly took a dislike to one another and have been rivals ever since. The refusal by James to recognize the young aristocrat's obvious superiority by birthright during their first encounter would set the tone for their constant struggle for many years. Every time that James bested him in anyway (which happened about as often as not in school) was regarded as a personal insult, and drove Charles all the harder to excel. Both James and Charles found themselves fascinated by the historical adventures of the great explorers. Charles began to dream of such a life for himself, travelling to far flung reaches to bring civilization to savages and returning with treasures for the glory of the Empire (which, sadly, no longer existed, though the Commonwealth did help bring the light of British culture to those many poor nations).

Upon leaving school, Charles spent four years as an officer of the Royal Marine Corps. It was during this time that he first reunited with childhood friend Mary Cooper, the only daughter of his father's good friend Sir John Cooper. Mary was often a calming influence in Charles, bringing out his more human charactersistics. When he was deployed, he would write to Mary daily and lived for the days when her return letters would arrive.

After seperating from the RMC, Charles bade goodbye to Mary and his family as he went out to make a name for himself, much as James had already done. His adventures would take him to the far flung corners he dreamed of and, if he wasn't able to bring civilization to the savage he did return with treasures he would sell to numerous museums. During this time, he and James would often find themselves in competition for the same items, and there were plenty of times what was briefly James's became his. Charles was ruthless and underhanded in his efforts to gain those treasures, though his traps and schemes were never deadly. He instead prefered to have the oppurtunity to gloat over his defeated rival.

This continued for a number of years until a word reached Charles of his father's death. Charles returned to England, distraught that he had missed his fathers last years. He found comfort in Mary's arms and after the funeral asked her hand in marriage. They were married within the month and the two began a world tour for their honeymoon. Begining in Paris, then onto Milan, Casa Blanca, Trinidad and finally their tragic stop in coastal Belize.

By chance, they encountered James and, at Mary's insistence, the Charles and James struck a truce after so many years. James, wishing the couple a wonderful honeymoon recomended a local ancient native temple they may visit to see the sights. The newlyweds acted on the recomendation and went to the temple. While exploring, calamity struck and some of the structure collapsed upon them. Though Charles was largely unhurt, Mary's pelvis was crushed. Help arrived quickly to unearth them, aided by a near histerical James, but Charles was found cradling the head of his poor, deceased bride when they were found. When James attempted to console Charles, the he whirled upon James, blaming him for Mary's death.

What humanity had been brought to Charles by Mary's influence has since fled the man. Charles has vowed to destroy James, and his schemes now include assassination as goal. Lord Abbort, as he insists all address him if he is not being addressed by his baronial title, uses the contacts he established at the international school and his considerable wealth to pursue his goals completely free of conscience. He still cares more about his pursuit of treasures and wealth, but it only barely over shadows his desire to utterly destroy his nemesis.

Minor Characters- VACANT

[Independent Gredavcat]

The Taiwan Straight.
Asia.
Present Day.

The small fishing trawler, that James and Armo had managed to barter their way on, travelled surpringly smoothly over the calm water. It was just after 06:00 and James was still in 'sleep mode', he yawned successively and rubbed his eyes vigorously as he tried to wake himself up. The bed in the cheap, 2 star hotel was rather comfortable and James reckoned he must have got, at least, 9 hours sleep despite the jet lag - it was only yesterday that he was at his home in California, looking out onto the ocean.

"Here, mister! Here, mister! This is where you want to be." Cried the trawler's Captain, indicating they had arrived at the coordiantes James' parter Arno had given him.

Arno was a close friend of James - they had went to school together in London and he was really the only one James could say he actually liked. Arno was a smart guy and James was glad he was here - James had the experience and Arno provided a fresh viewpoint on things.

In a flash James threw on his diving gear, checked his oxygen tanks and was ready to go within 15 minutes.

"Good luck." Arno said simply.

"Dankie." Responded James in his native Afrikaans.

And with that he plunged himself into the murky waters. Visibility was poor but James, as he descended, could just make out the remains of Japanese ship Awa Maru. The ship itself wasn't what James was after - he was merely using it as a reference point. What James wanted was located a few metres away from the wreck - a container, of some description. James had first seen it when he viewed the live video of the Chinese Government's own attempt to find treasure near the wreck. The sea bed, in this area, was predominately flat, however the video revealed an anomaly - standing at a few metres tall, an artificial stump was present.

James approached the 'stump' slowly. He managed to enhance the video and focus on the 'stump' which showed that it was indeed not created by Mother Nature, rather it was man made. The enhancement, too, revealed something else - heavily eroded and almost covered in coral and algae was a Japanese Military marking. It was covered by too much sea life to fully read what it said but it had ignited James' attention and he hoped he wasn't the only treasure hungry adventurer that had saw it.

James checked his oxygen - 30 minutes left.

He began, carefully, removing some of the coral and algae that had gathered over the years. This painstaking process took nearly 20 minutes.

James was right it was indeed a container. It was proudly standing up right on the sea floor and comprised of three, separate but large drawers. Naturally James tried to force them open but to no avail - the effects of the ocean had effectively welded to drawers shut and without any heavy equipment James was never going to get them open.

James tried all of the drawers once again, pulling even harder this time and to his amazement the top drawer prised open slightly. Dust and sediment spewed out as James forced the drawer to open even further.

He peered inside.

Nothing.

James was about to curse his luck until the dust settled and revealed a small glass bottle. Instinctively he grabbed it and decided to return to the boat.

James quickly ascended to the surface, with only 2 minutes of oxygen to spare.

Within 20 minutes he was helped back onto the boat by Arno, changed into denim jeans and a beige Henley Shirt and was ready to analyse the bottle.

The bottle, too, was heavily eroded although one could see that there was something inside.

Arno sat down and was trying to prise the seal off of the bottle - he cared and appreciate the history he held in his hands and wanted to ensure that it was kept well.

James snatched the bottle, grabbed it by the neck and smashed it off of the corner of the table.

Arno sat in disbelief and slight disgust.

"What? We would have been here all day trying get the thing open." James said with a cheeky smile.

Arno simply shook his head.

"This is what we're looking for." Said James as he held up a piece of rolled up paper.

The paper was stained brown and felt crisp to touch - it certainly was old.

James unraveled it as the Captain set sail for home. It was written in French in almost perfect handwriting.

"Eh, I believe this is your forte Arno."

Arno scrutinised the letter. "It's dated 1946."

"It reads: 'To My Dear Brother, I must inform you that what is written on this letter is for your eyes only and you must dispose of this letter, once you have read it, accordingly.

I have been asked by De Gaulle himself to transport a most special 'cargo' from Indo-China. I firmly believe that this 'cargo' is of great national importance and, perhaps, worth millions if not more.

I am telling you this as I know you think I am a fraud and a waste of space but...."

"And that's it the rest of the letter is torn off." Said Arno with a hint of disappointment in his voice.

"Well, I think I know where we need to go next - Paris."

The began to get choppy and a strong wind started to build up.

"Big storm come, mister! Really big!" Cried the captain in broken English.

"You're right about that." James muttered. "I've got contacts in France, some of whom may or may not be high ranking officials. So we get access to the covert mission files that occurred after the war and we build from there - easy."

"Easy? Just like that time in Panama where you nearly drowned." Joked Arno.

"Hey! That wasn't my fault that the guy was clearly crazy!" Laughed James.

As the two friends joked as the reached the harbour they were completely unaware that they were being watched from afar. The hi powered telescope being used by their observer provided a clear image even from a great distance away.

The lense focused on the letter which was spread out across the table on the moving boat. With a click the picture was taken. The photographer reached for his phone, dressed in a sharp black suit he stood out from the rest of the people around him.

"Boss? I've got it." He said, holding the phone up to his ear, in a distinctively British accent.

"The picture should be sent to you now. Do you want me to keep following them?"

A pause.

"Ok, boss, I will head to the airport now."

With that the man left - even leaving the state of the art telescope and camera. His work was done and the equipment was expendable for a man like Lord Charles Abott.

[New Roman Empire]

The Taiwan Straight.
Asia.
Present Day

Arno didn't like the vibe he was getting, it felt like he was being watched. But he dismissed it as just being paranoid about how they opened the bottle. "You may forget that though French is like a second first language to me, the French in Quebec is different from the French in France. But oh well, I guess we will see how different it is compared to mine." Chuckled Arno as he patted James on the back and pulled out a bottle of wine and opened it. It wasn't cheap wine and he knew it, he vaguely remembered buying some wine that was worth a good five hundred dollars. He then stood up and headed below deck with the bottle and started to pack him bag. He was glad to finally be off the boat, after James gathered his stuff. They walked off the boat where James hailed a Taxi and gave instructions to the driver to head to the airport where they were going to board a plane and fly into France.

[Heraklea-]

Lord Abbot slowly approached the weeping woman from behind as she cradled her dead husband's head. His body, obviously broken, was covered in blood and mournful tears. He reached out to console her fore her loss, as though anything could stop her pain in this moment.

Mary whirled from where she wept over her Charles. “It's all your fault!” she screamed. Lord Abbot stumbled back as the ground shook with her cry. The ceiling cracked and he gave out a yell as a large stone came crashing down upon him.

---

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
EUROPE
PRESENT DAY

Charles snapped awake in his bed and quickly stifled the shout he made in his sleep. He spent a few moments breathing deeply as he willed his racing heart to slow. He felt the cold, slimy sweat on his skin and cursed the nightmare haunting his sleep these past years for God only knows which time. He lay back once more as his body came more under control and began considering trying to return to sleep when the phone beside his bed rang. He reached over and picked up he handset.

“What?” he demanded.

“Boss,” he heard on the other end. “I've got it.”

“You're certain?” Charles demanded as sat back up in his bed and reached over to the tablet on his end table.

"The picture should be sent to you now. Do you want me to keep following them?" Charles opened the image and looked it over.

“Absolutely. I'll have a call in to a contact at the local garrison. They'll help you out, and delay those two if need be.”

"Ok, boss, I will head to the airport now."

Charles got out of bed and pressed a call button on the wall before he began dressing. Sanjit, the large Sikh that served him and never seemed to sleep, entered his room not twenty seconds later. Sanjit was already groomed and dressed, as though he had been anticipating the summons.

“What can I do for you, my Lord Baron?”

“We're going to Paris, Sanjit. We have work to do.”

“Of course, my Lord Baron. Will we be taking the Triton across the channel?”

“No, we'll be taking the jet. But call Captain Gurdas anyway, tell him to take the yacht to Dieppe, just in case.”

“It will be as you have commanded,” replied Sanjit with a deep bow. The Sikh turned and left the room as Charles finished dressing. As he left for his car, he placed a call to an old friend from his school days who happened to be Deputy Commander in the Nanjing Military Region.

[Independent Gredavcat]

Xiamen
China.
Present day.

James and Arno departed the fishing trawler together and James soon hailed a cab. Nanjing was a bustling place - boasting a population of over 4 million.

James opened the door and allowed Arno to enter first.

"After you m'lady." He said with a smirk.

Arno promptly told the driver to take them to the airport, there was no need to go back to the hotel as they had brought little possessions with them and had already paid their bill before they left.

The taxi travelled for around an hour and a half until they reached the airport, which was surpringly modern. James paid the driver and soon he and Arno booked a flight directly to Paris, went through security and found themselves taking a well earned break in the departure lounge.

James, with his hands behind his head, relaxed as he and his friend shared ice cool drinks before they left for France.

"It's odd." James said. "A message in a bottle, secret post-war operations and a treasure worth millions. I don't know what to make of it."

"Me neither." Replied Arno. "Perhaps we will discover more in France. Who is your contact there anyway?"

"Bacary is his name. I met him in French Guiana a few years ago, he was, and still is, a Government Official. He will pull a few strings, we will sign documents swearing to keep our mouths shut, we see what this mission was all about and we take it from there."

James looked around.

"I need to find the John, I'll be back."

"Don't hurry." Said Arno.

After a few minutes of searching of the facilities, James finally found himself in a clean and spacious restroom. He was about to open the cubicle door when a hand grabbed his shoulder.

He spun round to see a square faced man, with bald hair, who was sporting a black suit. James was startled.

"Hello, Mr Beech." Said the unmistakably British voice.

"Bobby? My goodness you've aged horribly." Replied James.

Bobby was as old contact of James, he was a freelance information gatherer and James had used his services on more than one occasion.

"Listen, mate",Bobby said quickly, "I need to be out of here soon - back to Blighty. Now Im going to tell you something you won't like but this conversation never took place. Ok?"

Confused James agreed.

"Old Charlie boy is on your tail. He hired me to take a few snaps of that bottle of yours."

"And you took them?" Questioned James.

"Em, yes. I'm a businessman James."

"Fair enough." Muttered James.

Bobby turned for the door. "Be careful, Abott is a dangerous bloke."

With that he left.

James exited the restroom too. Coming towards him were two armed guards - local police or soldiers he assumed. James stepped aside to let them pass but they altered their direction and headed straight for him. Instinctively James knew he was in trouble. He about-turned and walked casually away, occasionally glancing behind him. The two armed men were still there, following his every move.

Two more appeared in front of James.

"James Beech. You are to come with us." One of them said in broken English.

James knew there was no point in resisting, he allowed the men to escort him into the bowels of the airport and into a holding cell.

The cell was damp and poorly lit. James had had all of his possessions confiscated.

An hour passed. Then another.

James fell asleep and woke up the next morning.

He was given bread and water to sustain him. Then more waiting.

James guessed he must have been detained, for what he didn't yet know, for well over 24 hours - he had a suspicion that it was Abbot but was unsure.

A guard appeared with an emotionless face.

"You free to go. You get possession on way out. Friend free to go also."

A tired, hungry and thirsty James managed to mutters a polite thank you as he left the holding cell. It would have been unwise to ask why he had been jailed - he didn't want to spend another night in a cramped cell. It was Abbot, he was sure of it.

That 24 hours head start was all the Englishman needed to be one step closer than James to finding whatever treasure was out there. James was angry, corruption may cost him the chance of finding his fortune.

He and Arno met up and retrieved their belongings. Arno had been through the same treatment.

"Let's go." Said James.

Paris.
Europe.
Present Day.

The Government building James and Arno were standing in was bustling with activity. Papers were stacked everywhere.

Suddenly a man came out of nowhere. He was a tall and slender man, dressed in a trailer three piece suit. It was Bacary.

"Great to see you, old friend." Yelled Bacary.

"You too, Bacary. Do you have what I requested?" Replied James.

"Of course, but only because of the numerous favour you have done for me over the years. Not least in French Guiana."

James smiled as he picked up the file that Bacary had given him. He flicked through it - everything was there: dates, names and location.

"Bacary, thank you. Forgive my rudeness but we need to go, we may have been followed."

Bacary waved James off and with that James and Arno would begin deciphering the information they had.

[Heraklea-]

PARIS, FRANCE
EUROPE
PREVIOUS DAY

“Bonjour, Lord Abbot,” said Henris Boissonade. “Welcome to Paris.” The aristocrat regarded the Frenchman before him. The DSGE officer was not one of his usual contacts, but was rather a referral. Charles had been assured the man would have the information he sought, and would be willing to part with it for the right price.

“Monsieur Boissonade, have you found what I need?”

“Oui, I have discovered the secret history of General de Gaulle in 1946. While it is true that he resigned from government at the beginning of that year, and returned to Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises to write his memoirs, he did not divorce himself from attempts to influence the course of the Fourth Republic.” The intelligence officer held out a stack of papers and a flash drive. “These are messages passed by Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage between de Gaulle and Leclerc while the later was commander of the Far East Expeditionary Corps. In them, de Gaulle and Leclerc discuss the negotiations with Ho Chi Minh, including the organization of a gift from the Viet Minh to France to secure approval of the Ho-Sainteny Agreement. The gift was loaded onto a French merchantman in Haiphong, which was never seen again after it left port.”

“This is very good, Monsieur Boissonade. I trust you find the payment satisfactory?”

“Oui, Lord Abbot. If I did not, I would not have been here today.” The Frenchman gave a small bow then left. Sanjit opened the door to the room and followed Charles out. Once they were in the car, Charles placed a call to Bai Xiang, his friend in Nanjing.

“Good day, Lord Abbot.”

“Update me on Beech and Sanctum.”

“Unfortunately, they will be released in a few hours. There is not much we can do to an American, and his association with the South African means he will have to be released as well. We had to call in an anonymous tip of artifact smuggling to hold them, and that will not hold up for much longer. I am afraid that is all I can do for now.”

“I understand. Still, there is something else you can do for me. I'm going to be in South East Asia soon. I will need some protection. Can you recommend anyone?”

“Indeed, I can. It all depends on where exactly you want to go.”

“Splendid.”

---

HAIPHONG, VIETNAM
ASIA
PRESENT DAY

Charles, being a former Royal Marine, was less than impressed with the mercenary thugs his old friend had recommended for him. Still, they were doing their jobs adequately. Thanks to them, he had unfettered access to and full staff support of a local archive that may produce valuable information about the ship carrying Ho Chi Minh's gift.

It was slow going. Unfortunate, for that never to be sufficiently damned Beech was already in Paris. Doubtlessly he had his own contact that could set him on the trail to Haiphong. Charles wouldn't allow James to overtake him this time. Even if he had to shoot everyone in the building and burn it to ground after he found what he was looking for.

[Independent Gredavcat]

Paris.
Europe.
Present day.

"So what does this mean?" Asked Arno.

"I don't know." Said a tired James, rubbing his eyes. So far he had gone a day without any solid sleep.

Hour after hour went by as the two men analysed every piece of data and information. It was now getting dark and Paris seemed to light up with color and vibrancy.

Perhaps it was the newfound sense of life that gave James his lightbulb moment.

"I think I've got it!" James said suddenly.

Grabbing a map and the few pieces of relevant paper together, James began to explain his theory.

"Ok, so this cargo of 'massive wealth' was travelling from French Indochina to France. However, it came from France originally."

James slid a piece of paper in front of Arno.

"There, it is an evacuation order for this 'special cargo' and its dated 1940. The French must have shipped it out to their Asian colony to avoid it falling into the hands of the Nazis. Whatever this is it must be something big for the French to divert money from the war effort and focus on shipping this cargo half way across the world."

"So we need to go to Vietnam?" Asked a shattered Arno.

"It looks like it." Said James with a smile.

Haiphong.
Asia.
Present day.

The days of travelling and reasearching, the jet lag and the humidity of Vietnam made James and Arno look like they were on the verge of keeling over and dying. Sweat poured from each of them as they desperately tried to get their bearings in the port settlement of Haiphong.

"You...you know Abbot probably already here, right?" Asked Arno.

"Yeah, I know and he's probably bribed the local police or militia too." Replied James.

"I know you two never got on at school but why does he hate you so much?"

"Well......he kinda thinks I killed his wife." Said James awkwardly.

"What!" Shouted Arno.

"Yeah, in South America. Look its a long story, but for the record I didn't do it."

"Where are we actually going?" Asked Arno.

"First stop is the maritime museum - there's an obscure piece that was fished out of the sea in the 1950s. I did a little looking online and it may be of interest to us."

"In what way?"

"You'll see."

The museum was a basic building, with marble floors and few people inside and even fewer security personnel. At the far end was an odd device - to the Vietnamese fisherman that found it, it was nothing more than a quick buck but to a seasoned treasure hunter like James it was obvious that it was a decoder.

James had seen decoders before, from the very old ones used by Francis Drake to modern ones used in World War Two.

James approached the cabinet which housed the decoder. With a simple lock it took little more than a few moments to prise the cabinet open. He lifted out the device while looking around to ensure he was not spotted.

"Do you still have the message we found in the bottle?" He asked Arno.

Arno produced the piece of tattered paper.

"Read out the numbers printed along the top."

"What num....oh, I see them. 5, 10, 4, 3...."

Almost invisible were numbers which had been quickly scribbled down. James had a hunch that they were part of a code or inscription when he first saw them - he just hoped that Abbot hasn't too, but his rival had eagle eyes and he never missed the finer details.

As Arno read out the numbers James twisted the old dials on the decoder. As a new number was entered a letter appeared at the bottom of the device. Soon the numbers spelled out 'KRUGER'S GOLD TAKEN. DESTINATION ARABIA. UNABLE TO CONTACT VESSEL.'

"Kruger's Gold?" Said Arno.

James' eyes lit up.

"That's it. During the Boer War, Paul Kruger, the leader of the Boer Republic, fled South Africa bound for France. Legend has it that he hid gold worth around $250,000,000 in South Africa. But what if he actually, with French help, took it with him. He died in 1904 and the French must have kept hold of his treasure. Then in 1940 when the Nazis invaded they shipped it to Asia to avoid it being captured and after the war ended they tried to ship it back to France."

"So what happened after that?" Quizzed Arno.

"Well according to the decoder it was shipped to Arabia. By who and why, we don't know." Replied James.

"Wait, Abbot can't know about this he's......"

Arno's sentence was interrupted by a burst of gunfire. James swivelled round swiftly and locked eyes with the man who had a burning hatred for him. It was Abbot. He was here and was accompanied by a handful of well armed grunts.

James decided to break the silence.

"Ah, Charlie, fancy seeing you....."

Again, the sentence was halted by a burst from Abbot's weapon.

James knew when to go all in and when to fold and just now was certainly a time to fold.

The old rivals locked eyes again. James smiled weakly and Abbot growled. James or Arno didnt dare utter a word for it was Lord Abbot's turn to speak.