Sands of Time (Out of Time #6)

by Monique Martin

Simon heard the shot almost at the same moment he saw the knife wrench from Vale’s hands. She cried out in pain and rage. Everyone turned toward the source of the gunshot and saw a man poised on a hill and then two dozen riders appeared behind him. Ahmed!

  Simon felt the man holding his shoulders shift his grip and Simon took advantage of his lapse. He pushed himself up as quickly as he could, knocking the man off balance. Turning, he hit him square on the jaw, sending him tumbling down the steps.

  Next to him, Elizabeth tried to do the same, but her guard was too quick, too big and he gripped her tightly. He let go of one arm, balled his big, meaty hand into a fist, ready to strike her. Enraged and finally free to do something about it, Simon hit him harder than he’d ever hit anyone in his life. The force of the blow stunned the man to near insensibility and he let Elizabeth go.

  Simon ignored the pain that shot through his hand and readied for a parrying shot when Elizabeth’s tiny fist rocketed out and punched the tall man right in the neck. The guard’s eyes went wide with surprise. She looked at Simon almost as stunned as the guard.

  Not wasting a second more, Simon grabbed him by the shoulders and brought the man’s head down to his knee. He felt and heard the cartilage in the man’s nose break. Off-balance now, the guard swayed and Elizabeth pushed him from behind, and he rolled down the steps to the lower level.

  The rest was chaos. Jack and Diana fought off men of their own. Freed from the men who restraining her, Christina hurried down to her father, who’d somehow been knocked down the steps as well. Ahmed’s bandits flew off their horses and spilled into the temple.

  In the maelstrom, Elizabeth called out to Simon. He turned to her and she pointed to the top of the pyramid. “There!”

  He turned just in time to see Vale at the top of the steps. She grabbed a torch and ran toward the copper disk. And right through it.

  Simon stood stunned for a moment until he realized Elizabeth was running after her.

  “Elizabeth!” he called out, but she didn’t stop. Simon started to look for a weapon, but realized there wasn’t time and followed close behind. “Wait for me!”

  Elizabeth stopped and grabbed the second torch. “She’s getting away.”

  When Simon reached the top of the pyramid, he could see that the copper disk stood in front of an opening to the apex of the pyramid. Vale hadn’t gone into the disk; she’d gone behind it.

  Simon took the torch from Elizabeth’s hand and poked it behind the disk. All he could see was a long tunnel, leading down. He was half-tempted to let Vale go, to simply be glad they’d survived, when Elizabeth looked at him.

  “We have to stop her,” she said.

  It was simple, and yet, so very not. But she was right. They had to stop her.

  Carefully, Simon led the way into the tunnel. The rough stairwell led down into the darkness. Holding Elizabeth’s hand in one hand and the torch in the other, he led them down the steps as quickly as he dared.

  The long tunnel finally ended in a small room and another tunnel, this one flat, probably running under the pyramid. He could hear Elizabeth’s breathing start to race and he turned back in concern. Her eyes scanned the walls nervously. Of course, he thought, she’d nearly been buried alive.

  “You can wait for—” he started.

  “Don’t even say it,” she said between short breaths. “I’m okay. Let’s go.”

  She clearly wasn’t, but they didn’t have time to argue. They continued down the narrow tunnel. There were small alcoves along the way and in the dim light, he could just make out small bundles piled on top of each other. Mummies.

  “Are those babies?” Elizabeth said, her voice trembling.

  “Animals,” he said, hoping he was right. He’d read about catacombs filled with animal mummies. The long labyrinthian passageways were found all over Egypt.

  Elizabeth eyed the mummies warily and they continued on until Simon thought he could hear someone else’s footsteps and ragged breathing. He slowed their progress and stopped to listen. Nothing.

  They walked on ahead until the tunnel hit a crossroads. Vale could have gone either way. Simon looked in one direction and then the next, only just catching a glimpse of torchlight down the one to the right. She wasn’t far ahead of them now and they quickened their steps. He swore silently to himself as they followed the light. He should have taken the time to find a weapon. If Vale was armed, they’d have no defense.

  Simon forced that thought away and saw that the glow from Vale’s torchlight was brighter now and slowed as they came to a corner. Simon held Elizabeth back as he peered carefully around it.

  Vale was busy fussing with something in her hands, her torch discarded at her feet. He could see the flames reflecting against the wall behind her. A dead end. She was trapped.

  Slowly, he and Elizabeth eased around the corner, and stood face to face with Katherine Vale.

  Her breathing was heavy and her eyes still wild, but they had more of the woman he’d known in them. And that made him nervous.

  “It’s over,” Elizabeth said.

  Vale looked pained and lifted an empty hand. It was bloody and one of the fingers was missing. “Help me?”

  She took a step forward. Simon and Elizabeth eased back a step to match her.

  “That’s far enough,” Simon said. She didn’t have a knife or a gun, thank God, but she had something in her other hand.

  Vale smiled then. “I should have cut your hearts out when I had the chance.”

  “Sorry to disappoint you,” Elizabeth said.

  “Oh, there’s still time.” Vale held out her other hand now. One of the watches rested in her palm. She smiled a terrible, trembling, mad smile. “I have three now, you see.”

  She patted a small pouch at her waist. “And you with none.”

  Elizabeth started to say something, but Simon interrupted her. “They won’t give you what you need.”

  Vale sighed contentedly. “Oh, I think they will.” She opened the watch and then looked at them again. “I’ll find Charles and I’ll kill him. And then I’ll come for you.”

  In spite of the chill her words sent coursing through him, Simon didn’t react.

  Her eyes danced over them. “And you’ll learn what suffering really means.”

  “Ila-liqaa’,” she said and pulled the stem of the watch activating it. She stared at them as the electric blue light snaked up her arm. She stood paralyzed, frozen for a moment as the light enveloped her. Her body shook violently and then in a flash, she was gone.

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  By the time Simon and Elizabeth emerged from the tunnel, the battle was all but over. Simon had never been in a war before, but he suddenly had a sense of what it must be like. The mad rush of men, fighting and killing in a riot of violence and then the surreal quiet when it was over.

  Elizabeth ran down the steps to Whiteside and the others. A quick glance told Simon they’d all survived—Jack and Diana, Whiteside and Christina.

  Bodies of half a dozen or more cult members lay strewn on the temple grounds. Two lay twisted at the bottom of the pyramid steps, their limbs bent in unnatural repose. More lay dead sprawled over crumbling bits of wall. In the courtyard, Ahmed’s bandits kept the remaining survivors prisoner at gunpoint.

  He could scarcely believe they were alive. Amid such savagery, they’d somehow managed to survive. Simon joined the others and stood a few steps above them.

  Jack looked at him with a relieved grin on his face. “Am I glad to see you two. When all hell broke loose, I lost track of you.”

  “We’re okay,” Elizabeth said, frowning at the state of him. His jacket gone, the white sleeve of his shirt red with blood. His stitches must have torn loose.

  “Everyone all right?” Simon asked as he took stock of the rest of the group.

  “Just a twisted ankle,” Whiteside said from his spot on the ground. “Clumsy.”

  Kneeling at his side, Christina caressed his cheek. “Oh, papa.”

 
; Diana stood. “I don’t think it’s broken.”

  Simon nodded. “Good.”

  Diana moved over to tend to Jack next.

  “What about…?” Jack asked, jerking his head toward the top of the pyramid.

  Simon scowled. “Escaped.”

  “You mean there are tunnels?” Jack said. “Maybe the men can—”

  Simon shook his head. “They can’t follow her where she’s gone.”

  It was clear from his expression that Jack didn’t quite understand. “She had a watch,” Simon said.

  Light dawned in Jack’s eyes. “Damn.”

  Simon was about to tell him what Vale had said when Ahmed joined the group.

  “Christina,” he said, his eyes on her and her alone.

  She started and looked away from her father, eyes widening as she realized who had spoken.

  He knelt down beside her and helped her stand.

  “Are you hurt?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “But you are,” she said, touching his cheek just below a cut near his temple

  He took hold of her hand. “It is nothing. Nothing at all.”

  He pulled her tightly into his arms as she cried with relief and joy. He kissed her and Whiteside cleared his throat.

  It took him a moment, but Ahmed managed to pull away from Christina’s embrace. “Are you badly hurt, sir?”

  Whiteside looked up at him, forlorn. He looked at his daughter as she clung to Ahmed’s side and Simon could see the pain of knowing he was losing his daughter in a way he hadn’t imagined at the beginning of the night.

  “I’ll survive,” Whiteside said and then shifted his weight to try to stand.

  Ahmed reached out his hand to help Whiteside up. The older man looked at it and then sighed and accepted the offer.

  “It was so much easier disliking you.”

  Ahmed looked nervously to Christina who could only smile.

  Once he was up, Whiteside didn’t relinquish Ahmed’s hand and held it firmly. “Thank you, my boy. Thank you for everything I hold dear.”

  Whiteside’s eyes shifted to his daughter.

  Ahmed’s followed. “I would do anything for her.”

  Whiteside nodded, a little sadly. “Well, then you can start by helping her father back to civilization. I desperately need a scotch.”

  Ahmed smiled and nodded. He took Diana’s place at Whiteside’s side and Christina slipped under her father’s other arm. Together, they helped him down the steps.

  The bandit leader barked some orders and the prisoners were marched from the compound. The bodies of the dead were piled onto the backs of horses and led off.

  The leader stood at the center of the temple and surveyed the scene before turning to face Simon and his group atop the steps.

  His expression was almost amused. His dark features broke into a small smile and he laid his hand over his heart and bowed slightly. After another quick barked order in Arabic, his horse appeared at his side. In one fluid, powerful movement, he swung himself into the saddle, gave another command and rode off into the night leaving them alone in the temple.

  ~ ~ ~

  “The carriage is ready,” Jack said as he came back into the lobby of Shepheard’s hotel, one arm firmly ensconced in a sling.

  Simon nodded. “Good.”

  Jack shook hands with Whiteside. “Take care,” he said and then with a wink at Ahmed and Christina added, “You two I’m not worried about.”

  With that, he walked over to a Diana who was busy giving orders to the men carrying a large crate across the lobby.

  “I hate goodbyes,” Elizabeth said with a sigh.

  “I’m dashed sorry to see you go,” Whiteside said, leaning heavily against his cane.

  “I thought you’d be heading back to England after all this,” Simon said.

  Whiteside looked over at his daughter and Ahmed as they lingered, arm in arm, not far away. He sighed resignedly and then turned back to Simon. “I’ve spent so much time focusing on the past that I nearly missed how precious the present is. And it seems, that is here, now, in Egypt.”

  His eyes were misty with emotion when he looked back to Simon. He cleared his throat and looked from Simon to Elizabeth. “How can I ever thank you?”

  “How can you ever forgive us?” Elizabeth said. “If we hadn’t been here, none of—”

  “Nonsense,” Whiteside said. “I don’t know your past with this woman, but I do know you have no blame in this. And without you, my child would be lost to me. I wish there was something I could do to repay you.”

  Simon reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out an envelope. Inside were the necessary papers to ensure Hassan received all of the money in their Cairo account. Simon held out the envelope. “You can make sure this is taken care of for me. It’s for Hassan.”

  Whiteside took the envelope and slipped it into his pocket. “You have my word.”

  The awkward silence that always accompanied any unwanted parting hung in the air. No one wanted to be the one to put an end to it. Finally, Simon did.

  He held out his hand. “Professor.”

  Whiteside chuckled and shook his hand. “If you ever return to Egypt…”

  Elizabeth glanced up at Simon with a smile. “You never know.”

  She stepped forward and gave Whiteside a hug, then said goodbye to Christina and Ahmed. Simon followed close behind.

  He held Ahmed’s handshake for a moment. “Second chances are a rare thing,” he said. “Don’t screw it up.”

  Ahmed smiled a bit nervously. Simon was not joking.

  “Yes, sir.”

  Simon looked back once more at Whiteside before joining Elizabeth with Diana and Jack near the front door.

  One of Diana’s men motioned to her and she turned back to the group. “That’s me, I’m afraid,” she said.

  She looked at Simon and Elizabeth, and quirked a smile. “You two have an interesting way of vacationing. I like it.”

  Elizabeth winked at Diana. “You should have seen our honeymoon.”

  Diana laughed. “My usual mayhem will seem dull after this.”

  Simon smiled. “From what Jack has told me, I find that hard to believe.”

  She grinned at Jack. “Maybe it is.”

  Turning back, she pushed out a breath and pulled Elizabeth into a hug. “Oh, I hate goodbyes.”

  “Me, too.”

  She smiled and inclined her head politely toward Simon and then walked over to stand in front of Jack. Toying with the material of his sling, she said, “Maybe I’ll see you around?”

  Simon lowered his gaze, trying not to invade their private moment.

  Jack nodded. “You never know.”

  Grinning, she kissed him and then walked to the door. She stopped there and turned back. “Something to remember me by,” she said and patted her jacket pocket before smiling once more and disappearing into the street.

  Jack frowned and mimicked her gesture. His eyebrows arched and he pulled out a piece of paper. He unfolded it and smiled. He held it out for Simon and Elizabeth to see. It was the sketch Christina had done of Diana that first day in the Valley of the Kings.

  Jack stared down at it for a moment, before folding it back up.

  “We don’t have to rush home,” Elizabeth said. “If you want…”

  She nodded toward the doorway.

  Jack grinned. “We said our goodbyes last night. If you know what I—”

  “Yes, we know,” Simon said.

  Jack laughed and then sighed. “Well, then.”

  “I can’t wait to sleep in my own bed,” Elizabeth said.

  “Yes.” Simon felt the same way, but he couldn’t help but feel that by leaving here and going home, they were leaping from the frying pan into the fire. They’d made a powerful enemy.

  Elizabeth sensed his hesitation. “She can’t trace the watch. She doesn’t know where or when we live. It was just dumb luck that we ended up here together. She won’t be able to find us.”

&n
bsp; Simon wanted to believe that, but knew their life was never so simple.

  “Let’s go home,” she said, slipping her arm into his.

  After every mission they’d been on so far, returning home had been a deep cleansing breath. A return to a place of safety and rest. But this time, it was different. The one place he’d always thought they’d be safe left him feeling more vulnerable than ever before. Katherine Vale was not finished with them yet, and Simon had a sinking feeling that what they’d endured would be a pale shadow of what was to come. Her final words echoed in his mind—Ila-liqaa’. Until we meet again.

  Simon looked down at Elizabeth, who smiled back at him, her boundless faith unblemished by it all. He wished he could share that feeling, but as they started toward the carriage, he knew with a horrible certitude that they hadn’t finished anything here. It had only just begun.

  The End

  NOTE TO READERS

  Thank you for reading Sands of Time; I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Look for another adventure in 2014!

  If you enjoyed this book, please consider posting a short review at http://www.amazon.com/author/moniquemartin

  Thanks again for reading!

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  Have an idea for a time and/or location you’d like to see Simon & Elizabeth (or Jack) visit? Drop me a line or come on by Facebook and let me know. I have quite a few ideas for future adventures, but would love to hear from you!

  ALSO BY MONIQUE MARTIN

  Out of Time: A Time Travel Mystery (Out of Time #1)

  When the Walls Fell (Out of Time #2)

  Fragments (Out of Time #3)

  The Devil’s Due (Out of Time #4)

  Thursday’s Child (Out of Time #5)

  Sands of Time (Out of Time #6)

  Coming in 2014 - Out of Time #7

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Monique was born in Houston, Texas, but her family soon moved to Southern California. She grew up on both coasts, living in Connecticut and California. She currently resides in Southern California with her naughty Siamese cat, Monkey.