It didn't seem like he had heard me. I heard him say, "Sand! Sand must have gotten into the intake. Wait here, I'll be right back."
He pulled his headset off and got out of the cockpit and then disappeared from view. My gaze fell to his pack and the camera that I knew it held. I had to destroy those pictures! It was my duty, but why then did I hesitate?
I knew why, but it didn't matter, protecting the treasure was more important. Wasn't it? I slipped his pack open and quickly found the camera. I had been going to destroy the whole camera, but instead I just slipped the memory card out. I put the camera back the way I had found it and closed the pack back up.
I held the memory card for a moment, and before I could think better of what I was doing I snapped it in half. Opening my door slightly I tossed the pieces outside into the sand.
Several minutes later Flint was back. He tried to start the chopper up again and this time it fired to life.
"Yes!" he exclaimed with a triumphant grin looking over at me.
Wanly, I smiled back at him and managed to give him a thumbs up before I turned to gaze out my side window. He was so going to kill me when he found out!
Several hours passed, during which Flint tried to converse with me on multiple occasions, but the conversations all fell through. I could hardly bring myself to look at him, let alone talk with him, as if nothing was wrong. My conscious fairly ate me up inside.
All along, during the length of our relationship, Flint had been nothing but honest towards me about his intentions in regards to the treasure, as well as me, and yet I had doubted him. Somehow expecting him to betray me in some way, but he hadn't and I instead had betrayed him. I felt awful!
Was the treasure really worth enough to risk losing something of real value? The answer I kept getting was surprisingly, no! I had to make this right!
"Are you okay?" He asked, concern evident in his tone.
In a rush of words I burst out, "I did it! I betrayed you! I'm sorry!"
Darn it all, I was crying again and viciously I wiped at the stupid tears. He turned my head with his right hand and then bringing my hand up to his lips he kissed it.
Still holding my hand he asked, "So what form has this wicked betrayal taken?" He asked softly.