The stupid seat was extremely hard and uncomfortable, thus making it impossible for her to sleep. After twisting and turning for nearly an hour she sat up and crossed her arms angrily. First class? Yeah, right. The young American couple sitting across from her soon distracted her though. The young woman was sitting by the window and the man was looking over her. "Oh! Isn't it beautiful?" the young woman asked.
"Yes, I don't believe I've ever seen anything like it!" He turned to Lara. " You know, you might want to look at this. It's really great!"
Lara glanced out the window, it was truly beautiful, but she had made the trip to Egypt so many times; the charm had worn off. Besides, she was too tired to take in the view. She turned back to the young couple. "You on vacation then?" she asked casually.
"Yes," the woman said, and then blushed "it's our honey moon actually."
Lara nodded, sorry that she had asked. "Well, I hope you enjoy. "
"Are you on vacation too?" the man asked curiously.
"No, I'm here to work. I'm an archeologist."
"Ah, where are you working? Giza?"
Lara felt like smacking him up side the head. She resisted the urge, just barely. "No, it's nearly impossible to get a fir man to work at Giza, and besides, the place has pretty much been picked apart by thieves and vandalized by tourists. Also it is so large I couldn't 'work on it'. Several teams could be stationed out there at once and not find anything worthwhile. I've got about three places 'book marked', I've got to decide between them." She turned to look out the window and said sharply "Besides, while pottery shards are all well and good and quite useful besides, that just isn't my...specialty."
The young man felt like questioning her further but his wife shook her head. A few minutes latter the captain came on over the speaker system, speaking in a heavy Arabic accent he declared that they would be landing shortly. True to the word the plane began a downward descent and within 15 minutes was on the runway. Grabbing her duffel bag and backpack Lara headed for the door. Behind her she heard the young couple rummaging around for their stuff. Idiots, on a plane you should be ready to get off fast. Especially on one where everything behind first class was stuffy, hot and cramped.
Shuffling down the platform and out onto the runway Lara was quickly caught up by the crowd and shoved toward the baggage claim. She had friends in most airports and this one was no exception. Pretty soon a little Egyptian boy came forward with her bags. He was grinning mischievously.
"Kowiees, shukran." (Good, thank you) She held out her hand for the bag but the boy held it back.
"Baksheesh, sitt." (Reward, Lady) He said holding out his hand. Lara laughed and put about twenty dollars in his hand. He smiled at her, gave her the bag, and then ran off. Lara looked in and saw that her weapons and clothing were still intact, despite the latter being a little rumbled.
Making her way out of the airport was easy enough, if you could just make it past the clueless tourists and baksheesh demanding natives. She did it though, in record time, and went off in search of a cab. It was too hot to walk all the way to the hotel so she piled into the aforementioned vehicle with two other people. Lara had her bag hugged close to her chest, it was hot, but she didn't want to risk losing it. Everyone in the cab ignored each other except for when Lara had to translate to the cabbie where her companions wanted to get to.
Within 15 minutes of completely reckless driving Lara was at the hotel. She barely had time to jump out as the driver 'stopped', demeaned payment and sped off again. Adjusting her hat she turned to go into the door and promptly had a forged artifact shoved under her nose. In crude English the seller yelled at her, "You buy! You buy!"
"La! Ana la tet kalam el Arabiah!" (No! I don't want!) She pushed her way past him and into the hotel. She quickly picked up the key from the English speaking man at the front desk and climbed into the elevator. There was no one else in it mercifully and she was able to ride up in silence, if you don't count the horrid elevator music.
She stepped off and walked down the hall to her room. It was a very old and distinguished, if a bit small, hotel. Her room had a bedroom, bath, and a sitting room that connected the other two rooms together. Dumping her stuff onto the bed she went over to the little deck. It over looked the courtyard where breakfast, lunch, tea, and dinner were always served with promptness. Not that she usually ate there, but she could generally find acquaintances there so it wasn't a complete waste of space. They had good food too, she'd give them that.
Turning back to the room she took every little detail in. She had stayed in this hotel before, stayed in it whenever she was in Cairo in fact, but had never gotten this room. Looked new, they must have recently redone it. The bathroom was spacey, with a tub, shower, toilet and sink. The sitting room/bedroom was very large; it had one bed up in a corner by the balcony, a couch and two chairs around a coffee table then a small TV behind the table, a writing desk, and a closet.
Taking her bag she promptly dumped every thing onto the bed. 5 different guns fell out among the clothes. 2 pistols, a shotgun, a desert eagle, and a M16; all of these she took and stuck in the extra large safe on the back wall of the closet.
Next she changed out of her travel stained clothes, choosing from the pile of slightly rumpled clothes. Before changing she contemplated what she would be doing that night. "Eating downstairs and going to bed, it's getting to late to do anything else." She thought. So she choose a white linen shirt, black slacks and black sandals. She then glanced at the clock, 4, if she didn't get down there now she would miss her tea. "Lord knows that we don't want that now."
Locking the door carefully behind her she climbed the stairs down to the courtyard. No one was there with the exception of a few old people who still held the notion of teatime, and some lounging hotel employees. She took a seat near the stairs and proceeded to busy her self with the menu. Attempting politeness she sat there for about half an hour after deciding her meal. When she looked up again the waiters were in the exact same position as last time she had looked at them. She cleared her throat while glaring at them, this also brought no effect.
Some more people were coming in now, since it was getting closer to 5 o'clock and they were getting ready for dinner. But she was not one to eat before she got her tea, didn't like being ignored either, but the main point was that she hadn't gotten her tea. So she decided to try an experiment. She stood...and one of the waiters promptly ran over telling her that they had lost her bill, they were sorry, and the meal was on the house. She sat back down with a thump and told the young man off, after demanding her tea he rushed off to get it.
"Well, that worked." She muttered, "Took 'em long enough though." Looking around she saw that the old people had dispersed, replaced by people half their age, the waiters and waitresses had also gotten off their butts and were now scurrying around taking orders and then forgetting about them. Lara was surprised that she managed to get her food by 6:00, so she decided not to push her luck and eat dinner later at some other restaurant.
"Yes, I don't believe I've ever seen anything like it!" He turned to Lara. " You know, you might want to look at this. It's really great!"
Lara glanced out the window, it was truly beautiful, but she had made the trip to Egypt so many times; the charm had worn off. Besides, she was too tired to take in the view. She turned back to the young couple. "You on vacation then?" she asked casually.
"Yes," the woman said, and then blushed "it's our honey moon actually."
Lara nodded, sorry that she had asked. "Well, I hope you enjoy. "
"Are you on vacation too?" the man asked curiously.
"No, I'm here to work. I'm an archeologist."
"Ah, where are you working? Giza?"
Lara felt like smacking him up side the head. She resisted the urge, just barely. "No, it's nearly impossible to get a fir man to work at Giza, and besides, the place has pretty much been picked apart by thieves and vandalized by tourists. Also it is so large I couldn't 'work on it'. Several teams could be stationed out there at once and not find anything worthwhile. I've got about three places 'book marked', I've got to decide between them." She turned to look out the window and said sharply "Besides, while pottery shards are all well and good and quite useful besides, that just isn't my...specialty."
The young man felt like questioning her further but his wife shook her head. A few minutes latter the captain came on over the speaker system, speaking in a heavy Arabic accent he declared that they would be landing shortly. True to the word the plane began a downward descent and within 15 minutes was on the runway. Grabbing her duffel bag and backpack Lara headed for the door. Behind her she heard the young couple rummaging around for their stuff. Idiots, on a plane you should be ready to get off fast. Especially on one where everything behind first class was stuffy, hot and cramped.
Shuffling down the platform and out onto the runway Lara was quickly caught up by the crowd and shoved toward the baggage claim. She had friends in most airports and this one was no exception. Pretty soon a little Egyptian boy came forward with her bags. He was grinning mischievously.
"Kowiees, shukran." (Good, thank you) She held out her hand for the bag but the boy held it back.
"Baksheesh, sitt." (Reward, Lady) He said holding out his hand. Lara laughed and put about twenty dollars in his hand. He smiled at her, gave her the bag, and then ran off. Lara looked in and saw that her weapons and clothing were still intact, despite the latter being a little rumbled.
Making her way out of the airport was easy enough, if you could just make it past the clueless tourists and baksheesh demanding natives. She did it though, in record time, and went off in search of a cab. It was too hot to walk all the way to the hotel so she piled into the aforementioned vehicle with two other people. Lara had her bag hugged close to her chest, it was hot, but she didn't want to risk losing it. Everyone in the cab ignored each other except for when Lara had to translate to the cabbie where her companions wanted to get to.
Within 15 minutes of completely reckless driving Lara was at the hotel. She barely had time to jump out as the driver 'stopped', demeaned payment and sped off again. Adjusting her hat she turned to go into the door and promptly had a forged artifact shoved under her nose. In crude English the seller yelled at her, "You buy! You buy!"
"La! Ana la tet kalam el Arabiah!" (No! I don't want!) She pushed her way past him and into the hotel. She quickly picked up the key from the English speaking man at the front desk and climbed into the elevator. There was no one else in it mercifully and she was able to ride up in silence, if you don't count the horrid elevator music.
She stepped off and walked down the hall to her room. It was a very old and distinguished, if a bit small, hotel. Her room had a bedroom, bath, and a sitting room that connected the other two rooms together. Dumping her stuff onto the bed she went over to the little deck. It over looked the courtyard where breakfast, lunch, tea, and dinner were always served with promptness. Not that she usually ate there, but she could generally find acquaintances there so it wasn't a complete waste of space. They had good food too, she'd give them that.
Turning back to the room she took every little detail in. She had stayed in this hotel before, stayed in it whenever she was in Cairo in fact, but had never gotten this room. Looked new, they must have recently redone it. The bathroom was spacey, with a tub, shower, toilet and sink. The sitting room/bedroom was very large; it had one bed up in a corner by the balcony, a couch and two chairs around a coffee table then a small TV behind the table, a writing desk, and a closet.
Taking her bag she promptly dumped every thing onto the bed. 5 different guns fell out among the clothes. 2 pistols, a shotgun, a desert eagle, and a M16; all of these she took and stuck in the extra large safe on the back wall of the closet.
Next she changed out of her travel stained clothes, choosing from the pile of slightly rumpled clothes. Before changing she contemplated what she would be doing that night. "Eating downstairs and going to bed, it's getting to late to do anything else." She thought. So she choose a white linen shirt, black slacks and black sandals. She then glanced at the clock, 4, if she didn't get down there now she would miss her tea. "Lord knows that we don't want that now."
Locking the door carefully behind her she climbed the stairs down to the courtyard. No one was there with the exception of a few old people who still held the notion of teatime, and some lounging hotel employees. She took a seat near the stairs and proceeded to busy her self with the menu. Attempting politeness she sat there for about half an hour after deciding her meal. When she looked up again the waiters were in the exact same position as last time she had looked at them. She cleared her throat while glaring at them, this also brought no effect.
Some more people were coming in now, since it was getting closer to 5 o'clock and they were getting ready for dinner. But she was not one to eat before she got her tea, didn't like being ignored either, but the main point was that she hadn't gotten her tea. So she decided to try an experiment. She stood...and one of the waiters promptly ran over telling her that they had lost her bill, they were sorry, and the meal was on the house. She sat back down with a thump and told the young man off, after demanding her tea he rushed off to get it.
"Well, that worked." She muttered, "Took 'em long enough though." Looking around she saw that the old people had dispersed, replaced by people half their age, the waiters and waitresses had also gotten off their butts and were now scurrying around taking orders and then forgetting about them. Lara was surprised that she managed to get her food by 6:00, so she decided not to push her luck and eat dinner later at some other restaurant.