The tall man spun Jay around. He was still bare-chested since they had fled after he’d taken off his shirt for bed. Once the soldier saw his scar, he nodded at another militant--a small, greasy figure who took out his cell phone and spoke rapidly into it. With a nod, he shut the phone and jutted his chin at them. “Bring them. She wants these two alive.”
These two?
The men dragged Kelsey and Jay out of the cave, up the ravine and pushed them into the back of an idling van. Four of their captors jumped in the back with them, while the tall man and Crew-Cut moved into the front seats. The doors slammed shut and the van took off at a fast speed. They had left Eldana dying on the cave floor.
“Who are you?” Kelsey asked. “Where are you taking us?”
No one answered her, although all four of the men in back with her now stared at her breasts. She didn’t have to glance down to know her bra barely contained them. Oh, God, not now. She knew those looks. So, apparently, did Jay. He slid closer to Kelsey and glared at the soldiers. Unfortunately, he was breathing heavily and sweating profusely.
Thanks, Jay, but I don’t know how much help you’re going to be against four armed men and wheezing like that.
She knew she could fight them, but could she win in such close quarters, feeling the way she did? Should she egg them on? She racked her brain for a way she could get the upper hand. She only knew she had to do something now, not when they finally got to their destination and they would be significantly outnumbered by whomever had wanted them. The Usthatan had been given instructions to bring them in alive. There hadn’t been time to discuss what actual condition they would be delivered.
They had an advantage of six to one… or maybe two depending on how well Jay could fight. She sized Jay up quickly. He was muscular, with a nice set of abs, but she had no idea of his fighting capabilities. In her experience size did not always help. The van bounced wildly along the road. She tried to ignore the cramps gripping her gut and wondered if what she contemplated would hurt the baby. The baby? Was she really acting like she was pregnant now? An idea formed.
She put her hand to her abdomen. “Can you stop the van? I think I’m going to be sick.”
The men ignored her. She doubled over on her knees and moaned. They continued to stare at her. One of them actually licked his lips. From her angle, she could see he was getting sexually excited.
She begged again. Still they ignored her, though another of the soldiers snickered.
“Look, you did something to me when you took off my necklace. I feel sick now. Can I at least have it back?”
A soldier with a missing front tooth and a Neanderthal face leered at her. He held their necklaces in a small black pouch and shook the bag at her, teasingly.
The goon next to Kelsey, a filthy, smelly dirtbag with a mole on the side of his nose, reached out his hand and stroked her hair. Without thinking, she started fake retching. One of the men finally called out to the driver in Egyptian. She understood only a little of it, but enough to know they discussed her. She felt the van slow down and then stop. She pretended to continue to dry heave.
Two of the men moved to her and grabbed her around the arms as another opened the back door. That was exactly what she wanted. She spun her body around, whippet-fast, and elbow- jabbed the man’s cheek to her left. He flew into the wall and collapsed onto the floor. Then she swiftly continued the turn and punched the other surprised minion with the mole squarely in his jaw. The sound of his head subsequently crashing into the metal van wall was loud and satisfying. The third assassin rose and aimed his gun at her. Kelsey kicked it away from him and swung at his face. He dodged her blow, but dropped the pouch holding their amulets in the process. Meanwhile, Jay threw himself forwards onto the man still holding open the van door. Both of them fell out of the vehicle and disappeared into the darkness.
Kelsey flung herself at the pouch and shoved it down the backside of her underwear. The remaining militant in the van had roused himself and lunged at her. He grabbed her legs and they both tumbled to the floor. Kelsey reached out, seized one of the rifles and swung it wildly. It connected solidly with the side of the militant’s head. He cried out, and she jammed the butt of the gun into his forehead and knocked him unconscious. A second later she jumped out of the van.
Jay was sprawled on the ground. The assassin above him was about to plunge a knife into his side. Kelsey fired and the soldier flew backwards.
A gunshot sounded close to her ear and she spun around, blindly firing back in the direction from which she thought the bullet issued. The driver of the van took her shot squarely in his chest, a surprised expression on his mustached face before he, too, dropped to the dirt.
She could faintly make out Crew-Cut slinking around the front of the vehicle, trying to confuse her by approaching from another direction. Kelsey edged to the other side of the van and shot into the gas tank. The vehicle exploded in a fireball, lighting up the night. Crew-Cut jumped backwards and away from the flames.
Kelsey ran back to Jay, grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet. “Come on.” She bent down, scooped up the dead soldier’s pistol and tossed Jay the rifle. Then they disappeared into the brush, hoping to lose the last solider within the papyrus plants and mulberry trees.
Jay wheezed loudly next to her. Kelsey pulled him into a thicket of bushes and then kneeled in the dirt. She reached into her underwear and pulled out the sack.
Jay glanced behind him nervously, but it was too dark to see. He tried hard not to cough and give them away, but he was struggling wildly. His eyes watered and sweat poured down his face and torso. She could see the heaviness in his chest as he tried to breathe.
“Put this on.” She handed him the necklace and he placed it around his neck. His face registered instant relief. For some reason, she felt instantly better as well. Her stomachache and nausea disappeared. Still, she put hers on, too, remembering Gianni’s words and hoping it would cloak her from the remaining man following them.
A crackling in the underbrush sounded near them and they bent lower.
Peeking through the bushes, they saw Crew-Cut edging towards them. He stared at his wrist and cursed. The metal bracelet no longer glowed.
Jay stared at her, his eyes wide, and pointed at his necklace.
Kelsey nodded. So that’s how they’ve been tracking us. When we’re wearing the opals, they can’t pinpoint our location. If Eldana really was one of us, then she didn’t have a charm on. It’s how they located us. We’d been led like lambs to the slaughter.
Crew-Cut cursed and stalked off in the other direction.
Kelsey pulled on Jay’s arm and they slunk further into the brush.
Chapter 9
THE ACCIDENTS
They walked for a mile through the desert and followed the river until they came to a small village. Some dry laundry hung on a tree branch and they both nabbed a shirt. Then they located a water tap the Peace Corps had recently put in and drank heavily, jostling space with a few vagrant dogs who slurped at the tap for drops. After that they faded back into the brush, making their way towards distant city lights. Now that Jay had on his amulet, he seemed to have an enormous reservoir of strength. Kelsey had thought he’d be a burden, but thankfully he proved otherwise. He was still a jerk, but even that seemed to have eased. Maybe she now felt sensitive to what an ass his father was, and felt badly for him.
“I don’t understand what’s happening,” Jay said. “What in the hell are these amulets?”
Kelsey scowled. “Forget the charms for now. What I want to know is why we all have the same scar. Explain to me how you got yours again?”
Jay sat down on a broken rock wall. “From an accident. I was five years old and had been visiting my father in Egypt. I had a terrible asthma attack and when it happened, I fell into our coffee table and cut myself pretty badly. But don’t ask me to tell you about it, because I don’t remember anything. I apparently blacked out.”
He didn’t remember his accident
. Hmm…“You’re a year younger than me, right? You’re twenty-one?” She took off her sandal and brushed off the sand from the bottom of her foot.
He nodded.
Kelsey frowned. “Wait a second, you were five and in Egypt when this happened?” Her eyes widened. “Were you, by any chance, ever obsessed with a Belgian cartoon character called Tintin and carried a little stuffed dog around with you everywhere?” She motioned with her hands to show the size of the plush toy.
Jay’s jaw dropped in surprise. “Milou? Oh, my God. How do you even know about that?”
“Because I was in Egypt with you at the same time. My family went to visit your father when I was six,” she said. “The first few days I stayed there, there was this little French kid and all he talked about was this cartoon character and wouldn’t put down that fox terrier doll, even at the dinner table. Though I remember my parents called it Snowy, not Milou. But then the kid got sick and they had to take him away to the hospital. He never came back.”
He squinted, recalling the events. “Wait, I think I remember you, too. I had arrived in Egypt just a few days before and was enjoying some time with my father, when this family from America came to visit. My father seemed obsessed with their annoying daughter. I had been trying to get my dad’s attention for days, and once she showed up all I remember was him spending all his time with this stupid little girl, telling her stories and showing her pictures. That was you?”
Kelsey shook her head. “Yeah, pretty sure.”
Jay was not amused. “Great. Do you know he completely ignored me after you arrived and didn’t spend any time with me until the accident happened? Then, he brought me back to France and he stayed by my side for a full week. Of course, once I got well he disappeared again. Typical.”
Kelsey recalled the events. “That’s right. I remember he left for a while. My parents took me and Robbie to the Red Sea Riviera and we stayed at a resort for about a week, playing at the beach. When we came back to Cairo, Armand was the only one there at the residence. Just two weeks later, I had my own accident. You know, your father was with me then, too.”
“Do you think our accidents were connected?” For the first time he seemed to look at Kelsey with something other than annoyance, condescension and sex.
“Don’t you?”
Jay swallowed hard. “What did you mean in the hut about you and me being a payment for a poker debt?”
“I think your dad did something he regrets. Something where he used you and me as collateral.” She told him about the letter she found written from her mother to Armand.
He blinked rapidly. “This Decan. Who is he?”
“I don’t know. He may not be a he, but a what.”
“A what?” He thought for a moment. “The only Decans I know of are the thirty-six Decans that are the set of star constellations. That’s how the Egyptians created their star clocks and calendars.”
Kelsey nodded. “You know, they were also considered some of the Egyptians gods and goddesses.”
Jay squinted, thinking. “There’s not a lot of information about them. The only way we know about them at all is because they started appearing on the coffin lids during the Middle Kingdom. Some of the tombs my dad excavated show the Decans also depicted on the walls of the tombs well into the Late Period.”
They remained silent for a moment until Jay spoke up. “No offense Kelsey, but maybe the guy just took the name Decan. You may be looking into this too much, trying to find some sort of meaning or connection that’s not really there.”
“A coincidence? I don’t believe in them, Jay. There’s too many other things happening here that are all connected. Think about it. Egypt and the Decans. The Usthatan. These amulets that seem to cause some sort of physical reaction and yet also shield us from some entity searching for us. All of our scars.” She swallowed. “And my mother and Armand. I’m trying to be open-minded, but my gut tells me they’re all connected.”
They sat quietly for another moment. “You know,” Kelsey ventured, “some theorists say the Decans also have a spiritual meaning. That the Decans passing by in the night sky are really a passing of the human soul. Don’t the Egyptians believe that once you die, your soul is supposed to travel back up to Osiris?” Oh, my God. I’m back to the afterlife and discussions of the soul? It always seems to come back to that for me. But what did the Buddhist monks always tell me? Everything is connected…
He shook his head, unconvinced. “That’s just one interpretation. There are tales numbering into the thousands. Another is that the Egyptians believed each person has a life force, called the Ka.”
Yes, like karma and samsara. All religions always seemed to blend into one, didn’t they? “Yes, and don’t forget they had a Ba, too.”
He appeared impressed. “Yes, the Ba is the soul. Some Egyptians believe that after you die, the Ka is separated from the body and the Ba takes over. Instead of going straight to the sky you travel through the Underworld first for judgment.”
Kelsey nodded. “Yes, to fight the monster enemies of Osiris. Just like Mara’s monsters in Buddhism.”
Jay raised his eyebrows. “You’re familiar with Buddhist lore?”
Kelsey hedged. “Just… a bit.”
Jay appeared not to notice her hesitation. “There are different opinions, of course, but the overriding belief is that each person has a soul and that death is just a temporary interruption of life. But what it has to do with what is happening to us, I can’t tell you.”
Kelsey shook the sand out of her other sandal, put her shoes back on and stood up. “We really need to get to a phone. Come on, let’s go.”
Morning came and they still hadn’t slept much. Thankfully, after another twenty minutes they caught a ride in the back of a pick-up truck from a farmer. They caught a half hour’s nap as he drove them to his destination on the outskirts of Cairo.
Another two hours on foot brought them to Armand’s apartment. Jay was shocked at the sparseness of his father’s quarters. He stared at the large picture of the Sa and tried to make sense of all the post-it notes. “What possibly possessed my father to do this?”
“I was hoping you’d know.”
Jay roamed through the apartment. He stared for a long time at the photo on the nightstand.
Kelsey moved next to him. “You remember taking that?”
He nodded. “My father didn’t spend a lot of time with me, so moments like this are etched into my memory.”
It took a minute for Kelsey to notice Jay was teary-eyed.
He swiped the tears away, suddenly angry. “Did you notice in the picture that he’s wearing the necklace he gave me?”
She leaned in closer and saw the opal peeking out from Armand’s button-down shirt.
“Now that I think about it, I always wore some sort of jewelry. My father gave me this necklace after my accident.” He fingered the gem around his neck. “When did you get yours?”
“This necklace isn’t mine,” Kelsey said. “I only saw it the first time when Gianni gave it to me. But my dad gave me a jade bracelet with little opal beads to wear when I was six. Right after my accident as well. At least I had thought it came from my dad. It was a gift.”
Jay frowned. “It might have been a gift from my father.”
Yeah, after I paid his debt, only then did he protect me. Wait… did my father know? No, of course not.
With only a few hours of sleep in nearly thirty-six hours, they both crashed on Armand’s king-sized bed. Even in his exhaustion Jay leaned over and tried to make a pass at Kelsey. He leaned in to kiss her, but she kicked at him to get away, turned over and fell into a deep sleep.
Hours later Kelsey woke up from a nightmare. In it, the being that recently occupied her dreams shook her to wake up. He held her by the shoulders like a rag doll, out over a cliff, from atop an enormous snow-capped mountain. With a final shake, he let her go. As she plummeted towards the earth, a scream caught in her throat. She woke to bright lights shining through the w
indow and Jay choking to death on the floor – deep into the throes of a severe asthma attack.
Chapter 10
THE DECAN
Kelsey dropped to the rug and strained to see through the glare. Blinding lights like white hot laser beams blazed into the room from some object floating adjacent to the apartment complex. What the hell is it? Is it a helicopter or some specialized military plane?
It didn’t matter. All she knew was that Jay rolled on the floor and clawed at the furniture. She crawled to him and he threw his hands to his chest and tried to speak. No words came out. Kelsey tried lifting him to a sitting position, but he thrashed too much. She reached over to the night table and grabbed his inhaler. She ripped the cap off. “Jay, please take this.” Dammit, he won’t open his mouth.
Horrified, she watched his lips and skin turn blue and he fell back to the floor. He threw his head back and smacked it hard into the night table. She didn’t have a lot of time. Out of the corner of her eye, she spied his necklace peeking out from under the bed. In desperation, she dove at it, snatched it up and slammed it onto his chest, holding it there as if she were trying to push it inside his body.
Jay’s eyes piped open and his mouth opened wide. He inhaled a desperate breath, then another, trying to get air into his lungs, but none came. With her other hand, Kelsey shoved the inhaler into his mouth and squeezed the trigger, the medicine now pumping freely into his body. “Jay, breathe it in, now!”
Jay sucked it in deeply and closed his eyes. He continued to cough and choke. She squeezed another hit into his lungs and he took another desperate breath. He still wheezed, but he seemed better than he had been just seconds before. Kelsey helped him to a sitting position and let him catch his breath. Slowly his color returned.
That was too close. She put the necklace back around his neck.
“Why did you take this off? It’s obvious you need to wear it so you don’t get sick.”
He looked confused. “I don’t remember taking it off. I must have done it in my sleep.” He choked out a few phlegmy coughs to clear his windpipe.
The Quest of the Empty Tomb Page 9