Page 51 of Defying the Relic Hunter

A moron in a battered, red sedan gunned it and did a kamikaze cut across three lanes of traffic.

Laying on the horn, I missed his bumper by a good inch. Las Vegas traffic sucked.

“Is he crazy?”

“More than likely, he’s drunk. Just think how furious our guys would be if we got hurt in a car accident.”

“They would hunt the male down and kill him,” Xenia stated.

“Yep.”

It took us an hour to get to the Best Whore House and another ten minutes to find a place to park.

In the dim light the garishly lit whore house stood out brightly, exposing every inch of its peeling paint and decaying exterior. The cracked sidewalk was covered with rotting garbage, beer bottles and urine. The stench made my eyes water. Only the truly desperate or soused would willingly enter that place.

Was I that desperate? My lips twisted in self-mockery. Oh yeah. If I chickened out now, I would never find the treasure and Ethan would never respect me.

Xenia grimaced. “This place reminds me of pleasure houses on Vega Five.”

“Who knew skid row was universal.” I jumped about a foot when a rat the size of a small dog ran across my boot. For some odd reason the area gave me the willies and having a couple of armed-to-the-teeth warlords at our side suddenly seemed like a really good idea.

Boisterous shouts, rock music and wild, unrestrained laughter spilled out into the street from a graffiti covered bar. A hollowed-eye drunk loitered in the open doorway and eyed us hungrily.

It was time to suck it up and grow a pair. Yanking out my brand-new stun gun, I held it up and triggered it.

The drunk stared at the arcing electrical current for a moment and then ambled off down the sidewalk.

“A smart, tactical move,” Xenia commented as we watched him disappear into the darkness.

“A taser is a great way to get a man’s attention.”

Granny materialized next to me.“Dios Mio. Evil resides here.”

That explained the itchy feeling in my skull.“Another wannabe God?”

“The creature’s power is not of this world,”Granny replied.

Xenia’s right hand dropped to the butt of her laser pistol.“You think it’s one of the Tomb Raiders?”

“To discover what it is I must connect to the esoteric plane.”

“Wait!”I held up my hand. “Before you go, I need to know if you were you able to unfreeze the soldiers?”

“Of course, I am Dragos.”Granny vanished.

“Whew! Maybe General Jones will ignore us for a while.”

“Not a chance.” Xenia scanned the area. “I bet one of my mother’s rival relic hunters is after the treasure too. Some of them are powerful psychics with ties to Bjarke mercenaries.”

“Oh, yay.”

Two scantily clad women staggered out of The Best Whore House. One had bleached blonde hair with two inches of black roots showing and a dragon tattoo crawling up the right side of her face.

Xenia made a face. “There’s not enough liquor in the universe to make me want to touch that.”

“You’re not a horny guy. Their standards are a lot lower.” I focused my attention on the second woman and did a double take.

Her hair was a brilliant shade of pink and kinda reminded me of the cotton candy you got at the fair. She resembled a grotesquely made up Kewpie-doll. Two long pieces of toilet paper were stuck to her stilettos and fluttered behind her like well trained dogs as she strutted down the sidewalk.

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