by Susan Stoker
“Tomorrow we’re meeting in the lobby around nine. We’ll be picked up and should get back to the hotel around three. It’s only six hours, but we’ll see as much of the city as we can in that time. It’s so cool you’re coming with us!”
They discussed price for a bit and as the bus was pulling up to the hotel, Diana exclaimed, “This is gonna be epic! See you in the morning!”
“She’s a bit enthusiastic, huh?” Sarah mentioned dryly as they collected their bags and headed into the hotel lobby.
“Yeah, but that’s better than not caring. Did you see that other couple? All they did was scowl at each other,” Rayne commented with a laugh.
“True. As much as I want to see the city, I’m beginning to wonder if we’d be better off on our own.”
“Nah, it’ll be fine. How bad can it be?”
* * *
“Oh my God, could this get any worse?” Sarah asked under her breath as they watched Michael berate the tour driver.
The morning had started off well enough. They’d all met in the lobby at precisely nine in the morning and had met their driver, Hamadi. He had a minivan that they somehow all managed to squeeze into. It was a tight fit, but it was Egypt, after all. It’s how everyone traveled.
They spent the morning looking at the pyramids of Giza…they weren’t the pyramids, but they were still very cool. Rayne hadn’t ever thought she’d see a real-life Sphinx either. They took a ton of pictures and then spent a couple of hours at the Egyptian Museum. Then they wandered around the square Diana had been so excited to tour.
Now they were at The Mogamma government building. It didn’t look like much to Rayne, but she was going with it. After the walk through the large square surrounding the building, they were now waiting in line with hundreds of other tourists for their chance to tour the inside of the massive government building.
They were all tired, and a bit hungry, but Michael and Becky weren’t dealing well at all with the circumstances.
“I hope you don’t expect us to tip you after all this. I thought we had an exclusive tour? How long are we going to have to wait in this line? It doesn’t look exclusive to me!” Michael raged. “Standing out here in the sun—baking. Ridiculous!”
Rayne looked at the driver. He’d been very patient, and Rayne even thought he’d done a wonderful job in maneuvering the van around the crazy traffic in the city, but she hadn’t heard one positive word out of either of the couple all day.
“Don’t mind him,” Rayne said softly to Hamadi, turning her back to Michael. “You’ve done an amazing job today. I don’t think I would’ve ever seen so many cool things if we were on a regular tour. Thank you.”
The man smiled briefly at her, a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Karma will take care of him,” he said to Rayne seriously, if a bit dramatically, then turned to the group in general. “I have the tickets, but we have to wait in the line for security to get inside. Once we’re in, we will break off and have our exclusive tour of the beautiful building.”
“That sounds lovely,” Paula said. She’d been the peacemaker the entire trip, trying to keep Michael’s bad mood from spreading to the rest of the group. “I can’t wait to see inside.”
“I still say this is bullshit,” Michael huffed. “What could they possibly be looking for anyway?”
Sarah leaned over and whispered to Rayne, “How about guns, knives and bombs? What an idiot.”
Rayne smothered the laugh that wanted to come out and looked at the ground, trying to regain her composure. There was always one in every group. One person or couple that was stuck up and spoiled and just didn’t understand cultures different from their own. She had no idea how they were even friends of Diana’s and the other couples. They were all laid-back and sweet, and Michael and Becky just didn’t seem to mesh with anyone.
Rayne thought of Ghost for the thousandth time that day. She tried not to, she really did, but she couldn’t help it. When Michael had berated Hamadi in earshot of everyone around them, she knew Ghost wouldn’t have stood for it. He would’ve ripped the guy a new asshole and made it look easy in the process.
Ghost would’ve made her feel safer. Cairo wasn’t horribly unsafe, as she’d argued with her brother, but Rayne felt uneasy nevertheless. His words, that it wasn’t the best place to be walking around, kept rattling around in her head. She felt better being in the group with the guide, but there were times she’d looked around after being dropped off to see a certain site when she’d observed their guide talking with other men in out-of-the way corners.
He didn’t do anything really to make her feel uneasy, but she felt uneasy all the same. He was allowed to talk to his friends when they were touring the various landmarks, but every now and then she’d catch a look on his face that wasn’t that of the easygoing guide he’d tried to show to them all day. Somehow Rayne knew Ghost would’ve made her feel better, told her she was imagining her unease. Or even told her she wasn’t making it up, and he’d take her by the hand and take them back to the hotel so they could—
She cut her thought off before she could finish it. Dammit, she was supposed to be getting over Ghost. Going on this tour today was supposed to be the first step in doing so…unfortunately all it was doing was making her miss him more. It had been a mistake, and Rayne could only hope they’d get through the tour of the government building quickly. Her bed back at the hotel was calling her name. She had a book to read and a person to forget.
They finally made it to the front of the line and all of them went through security with no issues, except for Steve. He had a small knife in his pocket that had been confiscated. He wasn’t happy it had been taken from him, but he’d acted with maturity and hadn’t pitched a fit as they all knew Michael would’ve if it had been his knife that had been taken away.
Rayne thought about the hair clip she was wearing. Chase had given it to her last Christmas and at the time, she’d just laughed at him, but she’d been wearing it every day nonetheless. It was a simple design, but it was touted on the package as the Swiss Army Knife of barrettes.
There were three screwdrivers hidden on it, including a Phillips head, and a larger and smaller flat head as well. There was a hole that could work as a small 8mm wrench, one side was marked to use as a ruler, but the last two features were the most important to Chase. One side of the barrette actually had a serrated edge. It wouldn’t cut through anything terribly thick, but if someone was determined enough, it probably could do some damage. And the last feature—which, as Chase had pointed out, the manufacturers probably hadn’t even thought of, or at least wouldn’t advertise—was that the point of the barrette could be used as either a pick or some sort of weapon in a pinch. Chase had told Rayne to go for an attacker’s eyes if she ever had to use it to defend herself. That should give her enough time to run like hell. He’d told her to never stay and fight if she could run.
Not once had the hair clip been looked at twice at any of the security checkpoints she’d ever been through. That probably should’ve made Rayne nervous, but she was happy to have the added protection and peace of mind that it gave her. Not that she was some kind of James Bond by any stretch, but if push came to shove, she just might be able to use it to help herself get out of a situation.
Just as Hamadi said, after they got through security they were met by another man who led them off in a different direction than the rest of the tourists standing around them. Hamadi said he’d meet them at the end of the tour and disappeared into the throngs of tourists waiting for their tours. Their new guide spoke heavily accented English, which Rayne could barely understand. She was more than ready to be done for the day. She was tired and hot, and honestly, touring a government building wasn’t high on her list of things she wanted to do.
The new guide led them through one room after another, explaining the purposes of the rooms and talking about some of the art on the walls. Finally, after about fifteen minutes, the Egyptian man guided them into a room that had no windows and no
t a lot of furniture. It had high ceilings and ornate carvings on the walls.
“Wait here,” he ordered, his voice echoing in the cavernous room. “I be back.”
Before anyone could say anything—rather, before Michael could complain about it the same way he’d been bitching about everything else—the man was gone. He’d exited through one of the three doors and the sound of it shutting behind him echoed through the sparsely decorated room. There was an uncomfortable-looking short sofa covered in fake fur and two wooden chairs that looked, if they were actually used, as if they’d collapse under the person sitting on them. A large brown rectangular-shaped rug with tassels all the way around it was on the floor. It was the type of furniture one would expect to see in a museum, not a functioning governmental building.
“Michael, I’m tired. This is boring. I thought we were going to get to see thrones and jewels and stuff. This sucks.”
Rayne sighed inaudibly. She’d thought the tour was going to be more exciting than it was as well, but she wasn’t going to bitch about it as Becky was.
“Don’t worry, I’ll find Hamadi and tell him to take us back to the van. It’s almost two-thirty anyway, we can cut the tour short I’m sure,” Michael told Becky, not even asking the rest of the group if that was okay with them.
He walked to the door the guide had gone through and tugged on the knob. It didn’t turn in his grasp. Michael turned with confusion to the group. “That’s weird. It seems to be locked.”
“Are you sure?” Sarah asked. “Maybe it’s just stuck or something.”
Michael tugged harder at the door. It still didn’t budge.
Leon, a tall gentleman in his sixties, with hair as white as the clouds that had been wisping in the sky outside, went to one of the other doors in the room. He tried the knob, and it was obvious that it was also locked.
Clearly more than a little alarmed, Steve hurried to the door they’d used to enter the room, and found that it too was locked. Everyone stood for a moment looking at each other in confusion.
“I’m sure Hamadi will be here soon. I mean, we’re on an official tour. They can’t leave us locked in this room forever,” Tracy said with complete confidence.
“This is total bullshit!” Michael seethed, kicking the door their guide had disappeared through. “I can’t wait to hear his explanation for this goatscrew.”
As much as Rayne disliked Michael, she had to agree with him on this one. It didn’t make any sense, but there wasn’t anything they could do other than wait.
Thirty minutes went by, then an hour. Rayne had wandered over to one of the walls and sat down against it, curling her arms around her up-drawn legs while they waited. Sarah had sat down next to her.
Leon and Paula were sitting on the sofa. Since they were the oldest of the group, everyone agreed they should have what little comfort it allowed. Paula was crying softly as Leon tried to comfort her. Tracy and Steve were sitting with their backs against the opposite wall, as they too waited for Hamadi to arrive.
Michael had paced the room for a while, ranting and raving about asshole Egyptians, which didn’t make sense as almost all of the men and women they’d met on their tour had been very polite and accommodating. He’d even banged on each of the doors and yelled at the top of his lungs, trying to get someone to come and let them out…with no luck. Becky had been pissed at first as well, but as time went on, it was obvious she was getting scared…as scared as the rest of them.
Eduardo and Diana were sitting on the two chairs in the room, and once again, Eduardo hadn’t let go of his wife’s hand. He would lean in and whisper in her ear in Spanish and she’d nod, then a few minutes later, he’d do it again. They were the cutest couple Rayne had ever seen. It just sucked that they were all in this kind of situation…whatever this situation was.
Sarah leaned over and whispered to Rayne, “What the heck is going on?”
Rayne could only shake her head. “I have no idea. None of this makes any sense really.”
“Do you think the guide meant to lock us in here? Or was it an accident?”
Rayne had been thinking about the exact same thing. “I think he had to have known. I mean, we didn’t really see many people in the last couple of rooms we went through, and it certainly seemed as though he knew where he was going…didn’t it?”
When Sarah nodded, Rayne said louder, so the others could hear her, “Diana, how did you guys arrange for this tour?”
She lifted her head and Rayne could see the worry on her brow. “It was at the airport. We had come through customs and were waiting on the bus when Hamadi came up to us and asked if we wanted a tour. He was very nice and spoke excellent English. We haggled a price and he said he would pick us up at the hotel this morning.”
“Did you tell him there would be eight of you?”
“Oh yes. He urged us to find two others to join us as he said he had room for ten in his van. That’s why we asked you and Sarah to come with us.”
It was a method many locals in not-so-prosperous countries used to try to rob the rich tourists coming into the city. Rayne’s thoughts were running rampant. She thought back to the things her brother had tried to teach her about security. Dammit, one of the first things he’d taught her was never to talk to or go with anyone who wasn’t with a legitimate tourist company. She’d thought everyone knew that, but apparently not. She hadn’t even thought to ask Diana and the others more questions about how they’d booked the tour. She’d just assumed they’d taken precautions. Diana had told her she’d met Hamadi at the airport, but Rayne hadn’t realized until now that he didn’t work for a reputable tour company. She mentally kicked herself. Chase would be disappointed in her.
“They’d planned for ten, although eight would’ve worked,” Rayne said to no one in particular. “I saw Hamadi talking to several groups of men as we went through the different tourist spots today. Maybe they were in on it?”
“In on what? What the fuck are you babbling on about, woman?” Michael asked caustically.
“On whatever this is. On why we’re sitting locked inside a windowless room in the middle of a government building on Tahrir Square,” Rayne retorted, not bothering to try to be nice anymore.
“I’m sure they just forgot about us. As soon as they find us, we’ll go back to the hotel and laugh about this,” Paula said in a watery voice.
Just then a large boom sounded from somewhere in the building. Then another, and another that made the floor beneath their feet shake.
“Oh my freaking God, what was that?” Sarah asked, standing up quickly, as did Rayne.
“Come on, everyone over here,” Rayne ordered, falling back on her flight attendant training. The room shook again and plaster actually flaked off the ceiling and rained down on the small group.
The four couples and Sarah and Rayne huddled against one of the walls, away from where they heard the loud thuds. Sarah and Rayne tried to reassure the group, using their experience to try to keep everyone calm, even though none of them knew just what they were being reassured about.
When another boom sounded, much closer than any of the others, Rayne looked around the room. “Sarah! Help me with the couch.” The two women dragged the small couch over in front of the group. “Everyone kneel down behind this. It’s not a lot of cover, but it’s better than nothing.”
Michael was silent. He apparently had no comebacks or rude remarks when in the middle of a dangerous situation. The group huddled behind the minuscule cover of the couch, wondering what in the world was going on.
Chapter Sixteen
Ghost and his team sat silent on the C-17 transport plane as they flew across the Atlantic Ocean. They’d come back from their fact-finding mission in Egypt two weeks ago and now were returning—but this time it wasn’t a fact-finding mission, it was a rescue.
All hell had broken loose in Egypt and the US government was frantically trying to get all Americans out of the country. The militants had made their move, in the middle of the
day, in the middle of the week. It was bold; no one had expected it, which had helped to make their aggression successful.
The coup had begun in the middle of the city, in the same place everything had gone down a few years earlier, although now the streets around the government building and in the square were deserted. In the past, they’d been teeming with news crews and other media, but this time the threat of violence was keeping everyone away. They’d set off a series of bombs in the square and with that distraction, they’d taken over the government building.
Their plan was simple and effective. The group had hundreds of men posing as tour guides. They’d slowly but surely infiltrated and learned the layout of the building. They’d laid in wait, even bribed the security officers. They’d planned well, each of the men bringing in as many tourists as they could round up, and now there were countless Americans and others being held hostage inside the large governmental complex, and it’d become a political nightmare.
The militants were parading the captured men and women in front of some of the windows in the huge building and they’d begun executing them when the Egyptian government didn’t react fast enough to their demands.
The US Army had already sent several units to the area and they were working with the Egyptian Army to secure the streets around the besieged building, but it wasn’t until the bodies of two men and two women were thrown out the third floor window of one of the buildings that Delta Force and the SEALs were called in.
The bodies of the killed tourists lay where they’d landed; any attempts to recover them had been thwarted by the militants. They obviously liked having them on display for the hundreds of news crews that had taken up residence in the buildings around the square. Filming from the windows suited them just fine.
Ghost had been surprised to see the SEAL team at the airport that they’d assisted six months ago in Turkey. The SEALs had been escorting Sergeant Penelope Turner home after successfully snatching her from right under the noses of ISIS when either their plan had been discovered, or the terrorists had gotten lucky, and they’d been shot down en route to safety. Ghost’s team had swooped in, cleaned up, and escorted the SEALs and Sergeant Turner to a safe base, where they’d parted ways.