The bell shrieked throughout the house, screaming for attention. It repeated its peals as the person at the door leaned on the buzzer.
"Hold your horses," Ben murmured as he walked to answer it.
A whirlwind in black forced past him, screaming as she ran down the hall. "Ellie, habibti. Where are you?" She turned and pointed a finger in Ben's face. "What have you done with my Ellie? Where is she?"
Ben backed away, both hands raised to his shoulders. He shouted, "Ellie, there's someone here to see you - rather urgently, so it would seem."
Ellie came out of the kitchen, drying her hands on a tea towel. "Mama Aida! What are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here? My poor heart weeps. You come home at last, and do you call your Mama Aida? No! I get to hear my Ellie is in Egypt from the lips of another. Never in all my life did I think such a sad day would come to pass. It freezes my poor heart."
"Well, I..."
"No. Elena, you will not make excuses. Oh, what a day. I come overjoyed with anticipation to see my Ellie, and a strange man opens our door. Not a family member in sight to chaperone you. You will destroy your family's good name. Well, thankfully, Mama Aida is here to put all these wrongs right. Now come hug your Mama and welcome me. Did I teach you no manners?"
Ellie obeyed, glancing across at Ben, who stood with his mouth open in shock. "Ben, this is Mama Aida, my nursery nurse and moral champion. Mama, this is Ben, the student I mentioned on the phone. You'll meet his Uncle Gerhard soon. He's upstairs, taking a bath at the moment."
"Oh, no. It gets worse. So, you have two men under your roof and no chaperone. Thank God I came. Right, give me five minutes to get settled, and I'll sort this out. No one will ever question Mama Aida's ability to chaperone her Ellie."
After reorganising the house to have the men sleeping in a hastily prepared dormitory in the dining room and a single bed erected outside Ellie's door for herself, Mama Aida sat down to begin her interrogation of the men.
"I understand that you," she said, nodding at Ben, "may have fluid morals, but I'm shocked by you, sir," she said to Gerhard. "You seem like a fine gentleman, and yet, you've allowed my Ellie's reputation to be sullied by staying on her own with two men. Is this the action of a gentleman? May God strike me down if I'm wrong, but I will get answers!"
Ellie watched the proceedings with a degree of humour and a sprinkle of consternation as the two men received a verbal bashing and interrogation of which the Russian KGB would be proud. Although she tried to step in occasionally, she was firmly ejected by an indignant Aida. Finally, she lapsed into silence and became a spectator in the newest sport of “out-debate an enraged, protective Egyptian mama”, a sport both men were sorely ill equipped to take part in.
"Mark my words, Ellie. These two are up to no good. I've been talking to Mahmoud, and he saw that young American climb down the bougainvillea just a couple of nights ago. Mahmoud is a nosey sort. He lacks my respect for privacy, so he followed him, and guess what he saw? This Ben character left the house in the dark of night to have a secret assignation with none other than Sam Gamal - the worthless ragamuffin that broke your precious heart!"
"No, Mama, you're mistaken. Ben wouldn't do that."
"Elena, don't allow your sweet, trusting nature to lead you down the path to heartache again. I warned you before, and you didn't listen. Please, my darling, mark my words. These two are using you. Wasn't it Ben who led you to Gerhard? They are working together, possibly with Sam, to get you here to Egypt. Talk to Mahmoud yourself. He will tell you."
Mama leaned down, pushed Ellie's disheveled hair away from her face, and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.
"Mama Aida is here now. I'll make it all right, my little Ellie."
Research
The argument had cloaked the house in a dark, suffocating presence, which Gerhard was doing his best to ignore. The row had escalated over two days with neither Ben nor Ellie speaking to each other after the initial explosive quarrel. Gerhard was bemused that Ben had met the erstwhile husband, despite his advice to the contrary, and wasn't surprised Ellie had reacted with such volatility. Still, they had a mission to complete, and they'd delayed it long enough.
Mama Aida had left the house for the first time since she stormed on to the scene, and it gave them a chance to talk about their plans - if only he could wrangle the two opponents around the table.
"Meine lieben - unless you two want to spend your remaining years in each other's presence, we need to define our next steps. We've wasted enough time in anger. Put it behind you, and for goodness' sake, let's focus on our predicament. Sit!"
Gerhard pulled two chairs out from the dining table and gestured at them. Ellie unwound herself from the sofa and took the furthest chair. Gerhard frowned at Ben and barked, "Move now - mein Gott!" Ben leapt up in shock and moved to take his place at the table.
"While you two have been skulking around the house, I've been doing more research. It seems likely that Kom Ombo would be our target destination for Sobek. There are loads of mummified crocodiles there and a temple dedicated to him. For Khepri, it's less clear. I haven't found mention of any temples dedicated to him. Ben, I want you to undertake as much research as you can into locations dedicated to the worship of Sobek. Ellie, find out what you can about the cult of Khepri and where, if anywhere, we can go to connect with him."
Ellie whipped around. "I'm sure that would suit you both to have me busy following leads that go nowhere while you plot behind my back. I will not be manipulated by either one of you anymore."
Gerhard rested his chin on his folded hands and peered at her over his glasses’ rim. "Mein liebling, where has this come from, tell me?"
"You both lied to me about the Gayer-Anderson Cat. You used me to gain access to a priceless artefact, which you then stole. What do I know about either of you? Ben's a close friend of my worthless ex-husband, a fact he failed to share with me. I can't trust you both."
"So, we planned this elaborate plan, the destruction of my premises, and murder of my dearest friend all to steal a relic so well-known, it would be impossible to sell and to help Ben's friend gain access to his ex-wife. Are we both so intellectually challenged that we would consider this a plausible plan?" Gerhard removed his glasses and polished them as he watched Ellie's reaction.
"Sometimes, it's the stupid plans that work best as no one questions them. I should never have trusted either of you. I know not to trust men, but I allowed your gentlemanly old-world charm to disarm my natural caution. It's not something I will do again."
"For Pete's sake, Ellie. What in God's good name are you talking about? Has your brain addled? So what? We used some wacky hallucinogenic to get you to see the visions. How did we get you to see what you did, huh?" Ben ran his hands through his hair. "Could you be anymore paranoid? Believe me, I'd be happy to leave and never see your face again if I could. What can we do to win your trust? Get killed by the raving lunatics trying to murder us? Okay, so I screwed up by meeting Sam behind your back. I was wrong and I'm sorry. But get your head in the game. We're sitting ducks here, and I, for one, don't want lead pellets up my rear."
Gerhard watched Ellie's face as warring emotions flickered across it. "Elena, you don't have to trust us. Do all the research yourself or double-check our research, but are you willing to bet your life and ours on a lack of trust?"
The front door cracked back against the wall as Mama Aida huffed down the hall with bags full of groceries.
Ellie studied them in silence before nodding her head and leaving the table.
Gerhard blinked as the sharp rays of the sun found the solitary gap in the curtain and poured down on him in his rather uncomfortable camping cot. Across the makeshift dormitory, Ben was snuffling in his sleep, shaded from the sun by the banquet-sized dining table. Gerhard rotated his shoulder, releasing the knots. As his awareness swept away the grey fog of sleep, he remembered his previous night's dream. Jumping up from the cot, he grabbed his pillow and threw it at
Ben, who snorted in surprise and peered at Gerhard blearily.
"What the heck, Gerhard! I was having a doozy of a dream."
"No time for dreaming, my friend. We have a trip to plan."
Gerhard moved to the living room, sat down on the overstuffed, dusty sofa, and composed a text message on his mobile phone.
Ellie, Ben, last night, I had a vivid and photo-realistic dream. I'm worried about involving anyone else in our problems, so to protect Mama Aida, I thought I'd text you the details.
Gerhard smiled wryly. It was as much about loosening Mama Aida's influence over Ellie as it was about her protection. Still, he couldn't risk another life being ended prematurely. Much as the old busy-body was a constant and loud thorn in their side, he knew her actions came from a deep and abiding love of Ellie, something he felt had been sorely missing from her life.
In the dream, I was leading the three of us across a desert plain shadowed by looming mountains. The three deities were floating above a large river, probably the Nile, led by Bastet.
Bastet and I turned and saw the Bubasteion in the distance, far behind us. Bastet transformed into her human form and manifested a small sphere of the blue energy in her hand. She turned to Sobek, bowed low, and handed him the sphere. She left Sobek and Khepri and took my hand, guiding us to the back, leaving Sobek and Ben to guide the group.
When I woke, her paw print was embossed on my hand. It's time, my friends. We must pursue Sobek's trail. For her safety, Mama Aida mustn't know of our plans. Now how can we get down to Kom Ombo?
The gentle ping of a text confirmation followed Gerhard pressing the send button on the next step of their path of discovery.
Ellie awoke to the soft chirp of her phone informing her she'd received a message. She'd had a disturbed night, worrying about Ben's betrayal and Mama Aida's accusation that the two men were using her. Their denial had seemed genuine, and once her emotions had calmed a little, she saw the logic of their argument. But Mama Aida had sown the seed of doubt, and her brain wouldn't stop worrying at it.
She read the text repeatedly. She had a choice: trust the guys and protect Mama Aida or continue fighting them and potentially put Mama Aida in the firing line. It wasn't even a choice. After losing Stefan, there was no way she would ever allow Mama Aida to be put at risk. It looked like they were going to Kom Ombo. But how?
After several hours of debating the different routes open to them, they were no closer to finding a foolproof way of escaping Cairo unseen by the mysterious group intent on killing them. But Ellie had an idea - one she didn't want to share with anyone. If the guys were cohorts with Sam, he wouldn't be any the wiser. This way, she could grab back control.
Later that night, after saying goodnight to everyone, Ellie retrieved the rope ladder she'd kept hidden in her window seat when she was courting Sam and lowered it to the ground as quietly as possible. Avoiding all the bougainvillea thorns that had so tormented Ben's late-night rendezvous with Sam, she climbed down to the ground and slipped unseen through the gate.
Cairo is often called “The City that Never Sleeps”, but Maadi is a quieter dormitory suburb, so Ellie made her way to Road 9, the pumping social heart of Maadi. She soon hailed a cab and instructed the taxi driver to take her to Mohandeseen. Ellie watched the streets pass by, full of families having impromptu picnics next to the Nile in a desperate bid for some breeze to escape the hot, still night air. Poor families sat on the pavement at the side of the bridge, eating the treats that the street hawkers offered whilst engulfed in the exhaust fumes of the cars that crawled across the traffic-choked bridge.
Cairo had never made sense to her. In a country so full of space, of vast desert plains and scrubby valleys, why over twenty million people made it their home and business place, she'd never understood. There are other, smaller cities: Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast, Suez at the mouth of the canal, and the tourist cities of Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh. Yet, over twenty percent of the country’s population lived cheek-to-jowl in the polluted, noisy, and chaotic streets of Cairo. Egypt embraced the concept of urban spread but with its own definition, which meant to build more suburbs of Cairo rather than develop new cities.
As they neared their destination, Ellie wondered what reception she would get after such a long and silent absence. It was with trepidation she crossed the floating pier onto the houseboat's deck. She raised her hand to knock just as a deep, booming bark inside rocked the door. The door opened, and a black shadow rocketed towards Ellie, nearly landing her on the wooden decking.
"Elbi, down, boy."
A slimy, wet tongue washed Ellie's face as she bent to greet the dog. "You remember me, handsome fellow?" Ellie glanced up at the shocked face of her oldest friend. "Hi, Kareem."
He stared at her, unblinking, before he rushed forward and wrapped her in his bear-like embrace. "Ellie, I can't believe my eyes. I don't hear from you in years, not even a card to tell me you are alive and well, and then you rock up in the middle of the night at my front door. Al Hamdulillah. Come in, come in."
Ellie followed the Rottweiler and Kareem into the oriental interior of the houseboat. Dark wood flooring and walls were complemented with luscious wall coverings in a rainbow of colours and geometric designs. Large, comfy floor cushions replaced sofas and chairs, except for a wooden chaise longue that looked like it might have once been part of the old-fashioned ox-drawn plough favoured by the humble farmers of Upper Egypt. Large, brass-engraved trays rested on folding wooden supports and held little bowls of nuts and oriental sweets. A shisha pipe scented the air with the delicate perfume of apples as the smoke wafted lazily across the room. Old, wooden sculptures of various pharaonic, Hindu, and Buddhist deities dotted the alcoves around the room.
"Wow, this place has changed - very bohemian," Ellie said as she circled the room, touching an odd item here and there.
"Things change if you leave them long enough, Ellie," Kareem said as circled back towards her. "I host my tours here for the first two days before we cruise, so I thought I'd decorate it to start their Egyptian adventure in style. It's staging, really, but I've grown to like it. Doesn't hurt my chances with the ladies either," he admitted wryly.
"I bet it doesn't," Ellie acknowledged. "How are you, Kareem? How are Aliaa and Tante Azza?"
A shadow crossed Kareem's strong features. "I lost my mother last year. Her breathing had become very difficult, and she declined until living was too much for her. She's at peace now, God bless her soul."
Ellie sank down onto the cushions with tears in her eyes. "I'm so sorry. I had no idea."
"How would you? When you vanish without a word, with no forwarding details, it makes it hard to inform you. I'm fine now, but it was a tough time. Aliaa had just married, so at least I didn't have to worry about her future. She's expecting her first child in a couple of months."
"Aliaa, a mum? Wow, she's just a baby herself."
"She's twenty now. Not so young," Kareem said, adjusting the bowls of sweets into a more symmetrical pattern. He turned on his heel and bent down in front of Ellie "What happened, my friend? Where did you go? Why didn't you tell me you were leaving? I grieved for you. I searched everywhere, but no one would tell me anything. One day, we were laughing over mint tea, and the next day, you'd vanished. I lost my two best friends in one swoop. Can you imagine how that felt to go from the Three Musketeers to Han Solo?"
Ellie grabbed his hands. "But Sam stayed here. I had to go. There was no choice. The betrayal was too great to bear, but Sam didn't leave you. I thought a swift, clean cut was the best for all."
"Ellie, Sam went mad. He was certain I knew where you'd gone. He attacked me when I didn't tell him anything and put me in hospital. He was crazed. Obsessed with finding you and understanding why you'd left. Then he just withdrew from everything except work. You took the best of him with you when you went. He's a husk. I haven't seen or heard from him since that night. I hear the odd things from people he works with, but I lost his friendship the night you
left."
Ellie stared at him, aghast. "I'm so sorry, Kareem. I didn't expect that reaction. I thought he'd rub along okay until he moved on to someone new. By then, I hated him so much, I didn't care about his feelings, but believe me, I didn't want to hurt you. I'm so, so sorry."
"Well, time heals, and I wouldn't be a good Muslim if I didn't forgive slights. It's good to see you again, Ellie. Very good, indeed." Straightening, he smoothed down his trousers and linen top and offered Ellie mint tea.
Elbi entertained Ellie while Kareem prepared the tea, demanding stomach rubs and fetching a pile of toys for Ellie to throw for him. Each time Ellie threw something, the Rottie gave her enthusiastic licks before trotting off to retrieve the toy. Ellie stroked him, smiling at the dog’s antics. "He's still as soppy as ever, I see."
"Yep - just a little more arthritic now. All the tourists love him. He's a true ambassador for the breed, just a gentle giant."
They chatted over the tea, catching up on the years they'd missed until Ellie felt she could raise the favour she'd come to ask.
"Kareem. I need to ask a favour. Do you still have The Thebes?"
"Yes, of course. Actually, I was meant to leave on a trip tomorrow, but my passengers got delayed by an Alitalia strike. Damned inconvenient. It took me ages to get all the permits from Mogamaa."
"I hate to ask this, and I wouldn't except I'm in a terrible bind. Can I borrow her for a trip to Kom Ombo and maybe Luxor? It shouldn't be more than a week-long trip, and I'd take care of her as if she were my own."
"I'd let you if I could, but the government has the river regulated. You need permits to travel, and it takes days to get the permissions. Then I must captain the boat and register at every stopping point along the way. It's not like the good old days. There's so much fear of terrorism."
"You just said you have permits. We could use those. Kareem, I wouldn't ask, but my life literally depends on this. I've got myself into a difficult situation with some very dangerous people. Believe me, I want to share all the details, but I can't. On Mama Aida's life, I swear I can't. For your safety, you need to know only the bare basics. Please help me, Kareem. You're my last hope."
House of Scarabs Page 17