by Jonas, Gary
There was no wind, so we didn’t bother to hoist the sail.
“What do you think?” I asked Kelly. “Three or four days to get to the delta assuming we travel at night too? Twice that if we stop and make camp?”
“We’ll be stopping,” Kelly said.
Khattusa-zita approached us. “May I join you?” he asked.
“Of course,” I said, thankful for the distraction. I needed to keep my mind occupied.
“I am impressed with your Egyptian,” Khattusa-zita said. “Will you require a translator when we reach Hattusa, or do you speak Nesite?”
“I would greatly appreciate a translator,” I said, thinking it would give me an advantage. Kelly glanced at me and nodded her approval.
“King Suppiluliumas will be delighted by this turn of events. To marry one of his sons to an Egyptian queen will bring peace for the first time since before Akhenaten.”
“I’ve heard that the king is a great warrior,” I said because all kings like to be thought of as great warriors.
“Indeed he is. He took the Arzawan territory all the way to Hapalla. He crushed the Mitanni kingdom, and by now he should be back from his siege of Carchemish, where the last of the Mitanni tried to hold out. His greatness will be the subject of songs for the ages.”
I’d never heard of any of the places Khattusa-zita mentioned, but he seemed to think they were important, so I said, “Impressive.”
Khattusa-zita nodded. “I look forward to being your translator. You will be a friend to the Hittites and Egyptians, and I shall be proud to call you friend as well.”
Okay, I thought. I wasn’t sure what brought that on since Hani was going to do all the talking, so I just nodded and agreed with him. When he got up and moved back to the bow, I turned to Kelly. “Did you get any of that?”
“You know next to nothing about history,” she said.
“I don’t know much about the present. Our present. You know what I mean. I’m an Ugly American.”
“Well, you’re not that ugly,” Kelly said.
“So can you enlighten me about any of that with your historical expertise?”
“Right,” she said. “Like I know anything about the Hittites.”
I smiled. “I know they were in the Bible. Does that count?”
Kelly laughed and it felt great to hear her let loose a bit. “Khattusa-zita knows Ankhesenamun asked us to go on this journey. That means we must be important. As such, he’s looking to be friends with us so he will gain stature as well.”
“If you say so.”
“I just wish we could buy a Guide Book to Hattusa.”
“Yeah, I don’t think Amazon delivers to ancient Egypt. So here we are, a couple of Ugly Americans going to another country where we know absolutely nothing,” I said. “What could go wrong?”
“I wish you wouldn’t invite troubles that way.”
***
We made camp along the bank in the middle of nowhere. Several oarsmen stood guard, but near as I could tell, the only danger was from scorpions, snakes, and crocodiles.
“It will get very cold tonight,” Khattusa-zita said. “We have extra linen blankets, but body heat will be a good thing too.”
He wandered off to help build a small fire.
After a dinner of fish with some flavorful spices and beer, Kelly and I wrapped ourselves in linens and huddled close for warmth.
The temperature plummeted but Kelly and the linens kept me reasonably warm. The temperature didn’t bother Kelly, of course, so she rested on top of me.
With her head on my chest and her arms around me, I felt safe. I told myself that if it hadn’t been freezing, I might have been more bold, but I knew better because I didn’t deserve to be with her. Still, I used the excuse of being cold to hold her tightly. She didn’t seem to mind, but then again, she was sworn to protect me, and my enemy that night was the temperature.
Spending such an extended period of time with her without training or any real danger was more pleasant than I expected. I mean sure, she’s always been attractive, but she’s also a magically engineered assassin. And holding her every night and seeing her all day every day, I found a new appreciation for her as a woman. I had to keep reminding myself I was with Rayna. I loved Rayna. But Rayna wasn’t here, and the more time I spent with Kelly, the less I thought about wanting to be with Rayna and the more I thought about wanting to be with Kelly. It was more than a little confusing, but there you go.
I wanted to tell her she looked lovely, but all I could say was, “Good night.”
“Night,” she said.
So much for romance.
***
A few days later, we skirted around an island in the Nile, and Khattusa-zita said, “Get up. We can see the pyramids in the distance.”
Hani frowned. “I have seen the pyramids many times.”
The rest of us moved to the center of the boat and stared at the majesty of the pyramids as we moved past Giza. Hani might have been unimpressed, but to everyone else, they were amazing to behold even from a distance of five miles. They didn’t look like they do in modern times. I stared in awe because they were covered by tightly fitting casing stones polished to shine like mirrors.
We passed them in the early afternoon, so the sun reflected off them so brightly, they could probably have been seen from the surface of the moon. I marveled at the view, stunned by their beauty.
As it was still early, Hani insisted it wasn’t a good place to camp. That was a shame because I would have loved to have hiked over to them to see them up close. I felt like I was with Chevy Chase in National Lampoon’s Vacation, stopping to see the Grand Canyon. Take a quick look and say, “Nice. Let’s go.” I felt ripped off. How can you go to Egypt and not go up to the pyramids? Especially in ancient Egypt. We could have approached them nearly a thousand years before Herodotus.
Oh well. Maybe on the return trip.
***
Night.
The day had been hot, and now the night was growing cold. My belly was full of fish when I stretched out on the ground with Kelly and we wrapped ourselves with blankets. We were in the Nile delta now, and the land was green and marshy.
“I have something I have to tell you,” I said to Kelly as I put my arms around her.
She looked at me expectantly. “I’m listening.”
I gave her my most serious expression. “I’m really sick of eating fish every damn day.”
She made a suction noise, pulling her tongue away from the roof of her mouth. “You’re a dork,” she said.
“It gets old. I like some variety.”
She rolled her eyes.
I figured I’d switch subjects. “How are you feeling now?”
“Better,” she said. “Physically, that is.”
“Something wrong psychologically?”
“Yes. You need to talk to me.”
“We’re talking.”
“Promise you won’t dodge the question?”
“What question?”
“What happened between you and Sharon?”
I sighed. “Do we have to go there?”
“I’ve given you space, Jonathan. And I’d keep giving you that space, but I know it’s important.”
“It’s history. Well, future history.”
“It affects our future.”
“Because we have no way home.”
Kelly nodded. “I’ve been thinking about that all day, and I think it has something to do with whatever happened between you two.”
I nodded. “It does. She betrayed us.”
Kelly looked confused.
“When we faced Persephone on the bridge,” I said. “Sharon was supposed to show up to help.”
“You killed Persephone. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen you do. You had zero hesitation. It was almost like you set it up that way intentionally. I was impressed. Best use of katars ever.”
“Yeah.”
“There’s something you aren’t telling me.�
��
I looked into her eyes, and I felt tears well up in my own. I swallowed hard and sat up. Kelly sat up too and placed a hand on my shoulder.
“What happened?” she asked. Her voice was gentle, and her eyes held a sympathy I knew I didn’t deserve.
I turned away from her. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“It can’t be that bad. We won.”
I shook my head.
“Talk to me,” she said.
“Let it go,” I said.
“You know I can’t do that.”
“Please,” I said. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
She squeezed my shoulder. “You need to talk about it. You’ve been hiding from it for too long, and I need to know what happened.”
“Kelly, I can’t.”
“Talk to me. It’s important.”
I spun to face her and pushed her hand away from me. “You died. Okay?”
“Excuse me?”
“It’s something I see every night when I’m trying to go to sleep. It’s something that haunts my dreams. I wake up in sweats some nights and can’t catch my breath. It’s something I never want to see again, but I see it every single night.”
I got up and looked down at her. She didn’t say anything. It’s like she knew I needed time to get it out, and I knew she was right and that I had to tell her. I’d held it in for so long.
“Persephone killed you. She snapped her fingers and . . .” I looked away. “She killed Darla and Brand too. Your blood was all over me. I couldn’t save you.”
Kelly rose and put her arms around me. “But you did save me. I’m here now. I’m not a figment of your imagination.”
I looked in her eyes then shifted my gaze to the ground. “I grieved for you, Kelly. Sharon never showed up. I counted on her, and she never showed up. And my stupid faith in her got you killed.”
“But I’m here now,” she said, placing her palm on my cheek.
My anger battled my shame, and I fought to keep from crying.
“If I died, how is it that I’m here?” she asked.
“I found a way to go back. It took five years, but I did it. And as soon as that bitch Persephone showed her face, I killed her.”
“So you saved me. You saved us all.”
She kissed my cheek. Then she slowly turned my face toward her, and she kissed my lips.
It felt good but I felt undeserving. I pulled away but she held me firm and kissed me again. She started to pull me down to the blankets. “You could have told me this sooner,” she said. “You saved my life, Jonathan.”
“I took away an honorable death, something you’ve always wanted.”
“I’d rather be alive,” she said. “It means I get to spend more time with you. Let me thank you.”
She kept kissing me. I’d been so worried that she’d be upset and see me as a failure. Someone who needed a do-over and cheated to get it. And here she was, kissing me. She wasn’t upset at all. She was happy to be alive.
She kissed me again, and this time I returned it. I needed her acceptance. I needed her.
I’m ashamed to say I didn’t even think of Rayna. Kelly was all I wanted and all I needed.
BRAND EASTON
“This body is strong,” Edward said. “Far stronger than I ever was.”
Priscilla smiled at him. “We were fortunate to run across a man like Brand.”
Brand didn’t see it that way. Brand watched everything as a paralyzed passenger in his own body. He tried to exert control over anything—raising an eyebrow—with no luck whatsoever. He couldn’t speak. He couldn’t move.
“What about that irritating ghost?”
“She won’t be getting free anytime soon. Don’t worry about her. I can keep her spellbound. She won’t be able to move or speak. We’ll just leave her here.”
Brand wanted to cry out to Esther. He didn’t know what she could do if Priscilla had her magically bound, though. He wished Jonathan and Kelly would hurry up. Jonathan could take down the witch with ease.
Of course, for Jonathan and Kelly to get here, they would need to defeat Winslow’s first aspect. And as they hadn’t arrived yet, Brand didn’t know how long that might take. They were already later than he expected. Brand certainly didn’t want to play ride-along while Edward and Priscilla made up for lost time in the bedroom.
“Shall we return to New York?” Priscilla asked as she ran a hand along Brand’s cheek. “We can switch trains tomorrow.”
“I don’t care where we go as long as I’m with you,” Edward said.
“Then I choose New York.”
“Excellent. First thing I want to do is buy some new clothes. Your friend Brand has no sense of fashion.”
“There will be a layover in Council Bluffs. We can buy you some new clothes there.”
Brand considered this. If Edward ditched Brand’s clothes, he wasn’t likely to take the keychain, and without that, Esther would be left behind in Iowa. As long as he still had that typewriter key, Esther would be nearby. But how could he get Edward to keep it?
RAYNA NOBLE
Rayna stared at the pistol in Carlton’s hand. She knew it was a small gun, but it looked huge when it was pointed at her. Lincoln saw it too, and he put his hands up.
“Lower your hands,” Carlton said. “You’re both going to do exactly as I say, or I’m going to start putting holes in the lovely Miss Noble, and none of us want that to happen.”
There were other people on the street, so someone should have noticed them, but everyone seemed to be lost in his or her own little world.
“What do you want?” Rayna asked.
“A nice steak topped with mushrooms sounds good at the moment. I shouldn’t have skipped breakfast.”
“That’s not what—”
“I know what you meant, Miss Noble. You’ll find out soon enough. Both of you, turn around and go back the way you came.”
“And if we refuse?” Rayna asked.
“Don’t argue with the man,” Lincoln said. “I don’t want to see you shot.”
“He won’t shoot me,” Rayna said. “I’m the one he wants.”
Carlton smiled. “You’re too perceptive, Miss Noble. You are correct, of course. You are the one I want. That makes Mr. Parker here superfluous.”
“You won’t do anything in broad daylight,” Rayna said.
“You really don’t know me,” Carlton said. He shot Lincoln between the eyes.
Lincoln fell backward and was dead before he hit the sidewalk.
Rayna froze. She didn’t know what to do. Her hands shook and she couldn’t speak. When she found her motor control again, she knelt by Lincoln, stunned. “What did you do?”
People turned at the sound of the gunshot. Some people ran away, a few ducked, but nobody approached Carlton, who seemed bored by the entire event. There were no policemen nearby. No one would help. Rayna placed a hand on Lincoln’s chest as tears welled in her eyes.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, and the words felt empty. Lincoln was dead because of her.
Carlton grabbed her arm with his left hand, pulled her to her feet, and turned her. She tried to reach back to Lincoln, but Carlton was too strong. He held the gun at waist level in his right hand, aimed at her, but not positioned where she could reach it. “Walk,” he said.
“We can’t leave him here.”
“I said walk.” He pushed her forward.
Rayna felt tears run down her cheeks. She wanted to do something, but she didn’t want to get shot in the process. She stepped over Lincoln’s corpse. She didn’t want to leave him, but her mind wouldn’t work properly. This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be! When they turned the corner, the man who’d been following Lincoln exited the building.
Carlton smiled. “Hello, Mr. Baker. Look who I found.”
“Sorry, boss.”
“There’s a body around the corner. Make it disappear before the police arrive. I’ll see you back at the temple.”
“Yes, s
ir.”
Carlton dragged Rayna down the street. A yellow and black checker cab turned the corner. Carlton stuck his gun in his pocket then flagged the cab down. The driver wheeled over to the curb.
“Get in,” he said.
Rayna’s mind swam back to the reality of the situation. Jonathan had told Rayna that the worst thing a person could do in a kidnapping was to allow oneself to be transported to a secondary location where the kidnapper controlled everything. A person could be raped and tortured for weeks or more if the abductor was skilled. She knew her survival depended on getting away right then.
Carlton smiled at her. He leaned close and whispered, “Don’t even think it. Get in or I’ll shoot the cab driver. I’ll still get you into the car, and I’ll drive it myself. The driver’s life is in your hands now. Do you want another man to die for your disobedience?”
Rayna didn’t want to be responsible for anyone else’s death. She closed her eyes and wished she had Kelly’s skill set. She might be able to fight this guy, but from the way he carried himself, Rayna knew he was a professional and she didn’t stand a chance. If she had time, she could call on her fire, but time was something she did not have.
She wished Jonathan were there. Where was he? What was he doing? She missed him as a lover, of course, but now she missed him as a protector. She had no choice, so she climbed into the cab.
JONATHAN SHADE
Sometimes you see a person one way, and it seems impossible to change that. For years, I’d seen Kelly as a friend, and our relationship was really more a sibling kind of thing even though we weren’t related.
Kelly was beautiful. She was also deadly, but tonight she was all woman. We kissed and at first it seemed wrong in a forbidden pleasures kind of way. That was all right. We kissed and I caressed her cheek. She ran her hands down my back and pulled me close. I placed a line of kisses down her neck.
She pulled my shirt off and kissed my chest. Then she took off her shirt. I kissed my way down her collarbone to her chest. I cupped her left breast with my right hand and I stopped.