As I cried myself to sleep that night – surprised I still had tears to shed – I came to a decision. I could not let his death go unavenged. I would return to Egypt and finish what Kareem had set out to do – find his brother. I would not let him die for nothing.
The next morning, however, common sense returned. What was a woman alone in Egypt going to achieve? I was more likely to end up as just another missing persons’ statistic – particularly if Gahiji or his friends heard that I was still asking questions. It was time to be a little smarter.
I had to try to work out where the antiquities would have been taken. From the track marks it seemed a donkey and cart were used to transport them from the tomb back to the track that passed as a road. The tyre marks belonged to quite a large truck and, if the tomb was untouched when they found it, the treasures would be numerous. They would need to be taken to a large shed where they could be sorted and shipped out. They would probably have needed a couple of 40’ containers. Where could the goods have been taken, involving many trips over many weeks, without attracting any attention?
I channelled my energy and grief into work. I spent long days at the office and came home exhausted but only slept for 3 or 4 hours. Sandra was great – she came around as soon as I called her and rang each day to see if I was okay. My spare time was spent trying to work out where the goods were being stored. I poured over maps of Egypt and the Valley of the Queens/Deir el Medina area. The latter was certainly quite deserted but there was nowhere big enough to store the goods without drawing
attention. Eventually I came to the conclusion that they had to be somewhere out past Gahiji’s house. If the track only led to his house and then on to the storage shed, there would be no reason for anyone to go out that way. Assuming there was enough space to turn a large truck and 40’ container around, it would be possible to get the truck down there if it was driven carefully. From there the containers could be taken to Port Said or even Alexandria to be shipped overseas without causing any great interest.
I called my good friend John Turner. “John, I think they have to be holding the goods out past Gahiji’s house. There must be a big shed out there and probably a couple of large shipping containers. Can you get the police or authorities to go out and take a look?” “I guess that’s possible” John replied “I’ll take a run out the with the local police and see if there is anything.” “I just hope they haven’t already moved them.” I responded.
As I put down the phone I thought how lucky I was that John would take me seriously and follow up on my idea. I waited impatiently to hear back from him, cursing the time difference.
It was almost midnight when John rang back. ”Well, you were right about the big shed out past Gahiji’s, Anna” John told me. “And you’ll be very pleased to know we have Ramy, Yasmeen and Masud. They are all alive and safe!”
“Oh my goodness” I exclaimed. “I can’t believe it. You actually have them safe and well? That’s such good news. I am so excited! If only Kareem were alive to hear those words”. “I know, Anna. But think of his mother’s excitement when you tell her Ramy is alive.”
“Oh, you are going to let me give her the news? That’s wonderful.” “If you contact her now, you will be the first to tell her. We’ll make our official call in a few minutes”. “Tell me more, John. Where were they found? What happened when you went to look for the shed?”
“Well, there were lots of tyre marks out past Gahiji’s. He must have swept the road up to there because there were no tracks to his house. The shed was well hidden in amongst some hills. We crept up on them and when I realised there were only two men guarding them we decided to move in ourselves. They came quietly enough when they realised we had them at a disadvantage. Ramy, Yasmeen and Masud had
been used as workers. Yasmeen and her father were cataloguing the treasures and Ramy was the muscle, being used to stack the goods into one of two 40’ containers. Unfortunately, we just missed the containers – they took them out the night before. There were only a few items left in the shed, which they were cleaning up and cataloguing. I don’t know what would have happened to them if we had gone in any later – they no longer had any use for them. I can only think they would have killed them to protect themselves.
Customs at the ports of Alexandria and Port Said were notified immediately and have arranged for searches of all containers leaving the ports. My guess is that they are already on the water on the way to their new overseas owners to be part of very expensive private collections. However, Customs will continue to monitor for any unusual shipments over the next couple of weeks, just in case they did not have ships already lined up for the containers.”
Whilst I felt very sorry for the Egyptian government who had lost out on these important antiquities my main thought was that Ramy was still alive and that Yasmeen and Masud were also okay. How happy Mrs Hazif and Waleed would be!
“On the way back we picked up Gahiji. They have all been interviewed extensively but at this point none will admit that anyone else was involved. Gahiji has admitted that he had heard of the tomb from his father and it was he who had known about Masud’s father and made inquiries about Masud. When he found he was involved in the antiques business we assume he then contacted Mohammed, whoever he is, to take the matter further. He obviously thought it was worth a visit to Cairo to check out Masud and his shop. Gahiji has made no admissions regarding you and Kareem and I don’t think he is likely to do so. The authorities will continue to work on him to find out who this Mohammed is and who else was involved. Rashidi and Mosi were just the foot soldiers but they will also keep working on them to see if they know who Mohammed is, but at the moment they are denying all knowledge of him.”
I hung up from John to make that important phone call to Ramy’s mother. She was, of course, crying and laughing at the same time, so happy to know that at least one of her sons was coming back to her. After promising to go around and have a meal with them one day next week I put through a call to Yasmeen’s mother. Again, there was much laughter and crying and Waleed was very grateful to me for making good use of the information she had passed on to me.
A few days later I had a call from Ramy’s mother, inviting me for dinner. Apparently Yasmeen and Masud had returned to their home and Ramy, having visited his aunt and uncle, had arrived back in Australia. Yasmeen was to follow on in a couple of weeks. This would give her a chance to see Australia and meet Mrs Hazif.
It was over dinner that Ramy told us all about his exploits. He had already filled his mother in regarding Yasmeen and their courtship, their kidnapping and finding the secret tomb filled with treasures. Tonight he picked up the story from the point at which they had emptied the tomb.
4. Ramy’s Story Continues
“The last of the treasures from the secret tomb had been loaded on the truck. Up until now we had not been involved in the unloading and didn’t know where they were taking the treasures. We assumed Gahiji was helping Mosi unload. At this point I had grave concerns for our safety as I could see that once the tomb was empty we would no longer be needed. Masud and I had talked about it one night when Yasmeen was asleep and Gahiji was outside. We knew we needed a plan – we would have to find a way to escape before our usefulness was over. Neither of us could come up with much – our best chance seemed to be to wait until there was only one person guarding us, to overpower him and then make a run for it. Masud knew the area a little. His car would still be parked where he left it but Rashidi had taken the keys off him immediately. We had checked in the little house and could find no trace of them so he had obviously taken them away somewhere we would never find them. That ruled out making our escape in the car. Masud knew that Queen Hatshepsut’s temple was somewhere over the hills behind us and that if we made it to there the chances were good there would be tour buses and tourists there and we would be safe. The only problem – and the reason why we had not tried it before – was they always had a gun with them. However we knew there would come a day w
hen we would just have to take our chances.
After we had emptied the little cart in to the truck for the last time, Mosi took us back to the tomb, instructing us to cover the entrance and then wipe out our tracks back to the ravine. This might be our last chance, I thought, as I caught Masud’s eye. He nodded to acknowledge he too knew this would have to be the moment we tried for escape. As we moved rubble to block the tomb I whispered to Yasmeen that something was going to happen and she should follow her father when he made a move. I made my way around behind Mosi, pretending to look for larger rocks. I found a good size one and crept up behind him. Clunk – and Mosi was on the ground, out cold. ‘Run Masud, run Yasmeen” I called out as I went to grab his gun from under his robe. They took off into the desert, just as Rashidi called out “Stop. Stop I shoot”. I left the gun and dived for a large rock and rolled behind it before springing to my feet and running. I heard the gun fire and I tried to dodge from side to side, as I had seen them do in the movies. The shot missed but Rashidi was coming after us fast and fired another shot in the direction of Yasmeen. Her father pushed her in front of him and the bullet hit his leg. They landed in a heap as another shot whizzed past me. By the time I had pulled Masud up Rashidi was on top of us. It turned out that when he got back to the truck it had a flat tyre and he had come back to get me to help him change it. Can you imagine such rotten luck? Anyway, to our surprise, he didn’t shoot us – just bundled us back to the tomb where Mosi was just shaking his head and coming around. I helped her father back to the truck and Mosi brought up the rear, his gun at the ready in case we made another dash for freedom. After I changed the tyre, Masud was put in the truck and Yasmeen and I clambered into the donkey cart as usual. Yasmeen was very upset of course, but I told her it was a clean wound – the bullet had passed right through his leg – and that her father would be fine. I realised afterwards that we hadn’t put much over the entrance to the tomb, nor removed our tracks.
When we got back to the house, Gahiji proceeded to clean up Masud’s leg with disinfectant and some foul smelling ointment. Not long after, Mohammed appeared and he was very angry with us. “Look what you have done now” he said, waving his hand in Masud’s direction. “We still have work for you to do. You” he pointed at Yasmeen “and your father will need to catalogue the treasures ready for sale. And you” he said pointing at me “will load them into shipping containers. But now we have another use for you too. We need money to ship the containers and to pay for things until we get paid for the goods. Your family in Australia can pay a ransom for you?” I nodded vigorously and he chuckled. “What luck it has been to have you along after all, eh Aussie?”
“How much do you think your family will pay for you?” he asked. I shook my head. “$1 million?” he suggested. I laughed. ‘We do not have that much money. My mother has the house, nothing else.” “How about $500,000?” I shook my head again. “Well, how much do you think you are worth then?” Mohammed asked, starting to get frustrated. I decided it was time to make a suggestion. “A$250,000” I replied. “Okay, give me the number and your mother’s name” Mohammed demanded. There was no phone in the house in which we were kept prisoners so Mohammed left to make the ransom call.
When he returned he announced “Okay, your family think you are worth $A250,000, that is good. Soon we will have enough money for our needs. Now, get some rest for tomorrow you start your new job”. Laughing loudly at his own joke, Mohammed took his leave.
The next day we were taken to a huge shed, further on from Gahiji’s house. There we saw all the antiquities we had taken from the tomb and two 40’ shipping containers. Yasmeen and Masud then spent many weeks cataloguing the items. Masud’s leg healed up okay. He was in quite a lot of pain at first and I would take the objects over to him to catalogue so he could work with his leg up. Then I would have to pack and load them into one of the two containers –either the USA one or the Australian one. I made a mental note of where the containers were to be sent.
Then not long after lunch on the fifth day Mohammed reappeared. He was obviously very happy. “You are right” he said to me, slapping me on the back “your family have paid good money for your return. Well done, Aussie.”
So that was how it came to be that Kareem was at the temple to hand over the ransom money. My poor brother – I cannot believe that he is dead. To know that he died trying to find me is both wonderful and sad.” We were all quiet for a few minutes, remembering Kareem’s gallant effort to locate Ramy and bring him home. Our sadness was almost palpable.
“Anyway,” Ramy continued “we finally filled the two containers and only a few special items remained. These had been put aside by Mohammed – I don’t know if
they were for his personal collection or whether he had another buyer. Yasmeen told me they were very fine pieces. We were just cataloguing them when the doors to the shed burst open and the Egyptian police arrived. Only Rashidi and Mosi were there and they soon rounded them up and then the Australian Embassy guy came in. He introduced himself as John Turner and said how pleased he was to have found us. He told us that they had been looking long and hard to solve our disappearance.
We were taken back to Cairo for questioning and allowed to leave after making our statements. Yasmeen and Masud went home whilst I had to go to the Australian Embassy to see John Turner and make another statement. He seemed very pleased that we were all safe and well and told me he had been keeping in close contact with you, Anna. Then he told me about my father and Kareem. I couldn’t take it in at first. It didn’t seem possible that both of them could be dead whilst I had come through all this unscathed.
The Embassy arranged for a room in a hotel for me and I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to have a hot shower and a comfortable bed. Whilst we had not been harmed and had sufficient food and somewhere to sleep and bathe, we were kept in very primitive conditions. Although they did not treat us badly, as long as we behaved and did as we were told, the threat of violence and the ever present guns kept us on edge. That night I slept deeply and contentedly. The next day I went to see my aunt and uncle to let them know I was okay and they made a big fuss of me and prepared a huge feast. Then I went over to meet Yasmeen’s mother. Mrs Ahmose made me very welcome and Yasmeen looked so different after a good night’s sleep
free of stress. I love Yasmeen, you know” he said quietly, looking at his mother. “She is going to come to Australia to see what it is like and to meet you, Mum, and then we are going to be married.”
“I hope you are not going to live in Egypt” Mrs Hazif said in alarm. “No, Mum” Ramy replied, “I have had quite enough of Egypt for the time being and Yasmeen has agreed to come and live in Australia, as long as she sees her parents regularly.” Mrs Hazif sighed a big sigh of relief. She had been through a horrendous time, losing her husband, not knowing what had happened to Ramy and then Kareem’s untimely death. She did not look as if she could take much more.
“I knew that Gahiji was involved somehow” I said. “He came across as shifty when Kareem and I went out there. That’s why I thought there might be somewhere to store the treasures out that way.” “I’m glad you had that hunch. If it wasn’t for you getting John Turner to send the police out there, I don’t know what would have happened to us once the last of the antiquities had been documented and packed. Another day and ……..” Ramy shuddered thinking about their likely end.
I also thought they would probably have been shot once they were no longer needed for anything and it seemed we only got there on time by the skin of our teeth. Thank goodness I had made the call to John – I don’t think I could have lived with myself if I had found out later that they had discovered their bodies in an empty shed near Gahiji’s house. To think that we had been at the house where they had been kept overnight and not had any idea. If only we had realised, seen some evidence of Ramy’s existence there, perhaps Kareem would be alive today. If we had been back in Australia and I had been with him when the clot had burst, maybe he would have
survived. Without the stress, maybe it would not have burst at all. I shook myself out of my thoughts and back to the present. Ramy was telling his mother about Yasmeen. He was clearly besotted with her and it seemed, she with him. “How soon will Yasmeen arrive?” I asked. “She is coming next month” Ramy replied. “She needs some time with her family and she will return to work for a while and then she will come to me.”
The rest of the evening passed quite easily, with the conversation turning to the places Ramy wanted to take Yasmeen to in Australia. As I took my leave at the end of the night Mrs Hazif hugged me warmly. “Thank you for bringing Ramy back to me” she whispered. “I am just so sorry that we have both lost our Kareem.”
5. Fate’s Next Twist
My life soon fell back into a pattern – work, home, going out with friends and more work. I grieved for Kareem and cried myself to sleep regularly. The slightest thing could set me off – a movie on the TV, an ad depicting a couple enjoying a sunset, an advertisement for a holiday in Egypt showing the pyramids and temples. By day I managed to push these thoughts out of my mind – work was so busy and required all my concentration, but at night my thoughts wandered and they always returned to Kareem.
John Turner rang to let me know that Gahiji, Mosi and Rashidi were due to stand trial in a few days’ time. They had not revealed the names of the people they worked for and were saying very little. Gahiji had admitted that he had learned of the tomb from his father on his deathbed, but that he had died before he could tell him where it was. He had told Mohammed, who had traced Masud and visited his shop. However Gahiji claimed that he did not know Mohammed’s surname or where he was. I was angry; I wanted to see justice done. I needed to see the man who had hit Kareem stand trial for his death. None of the three arrested had admitted to hitting him and grabbing the ransom money, nor had they put anyone else in the frame for it. I wanted to see someone punished for Kareem’s death and for trying to bury us alive but as John pointed out to me, proving any connection with either of these events was going to be almost impossible. “Gahiji is not going to admit to sealing off the tomb’s entrance and you cannot prove that he did it. You didn’t see him and are only assuming he was the one who set off the dynamite. Likewise no-one will admit to
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