Sagira was sixteen when she found it. Her mother had been foolish enough to hide a book from her. It was small, leatherbound, and it looked self-published.
At first, it looked like a love story. Then it became violent and sad. Sagira stayed up all night reading. She cried through most of it. It was her mother's memoirs. When she got to the end, her tears had dried. At once, her anger grew. Someone had some explaining to do.
In the morning, Sagira took the book down to the kitchen, where her parents were sitting at the table waiting on breakfast to cook. She stood beside her mother and slammed the book down on the table. Her mother looked at it in surprise. "Oh, my!"
"Anything you'd like to tell me, mother?" she asked.
Her father slowly stood and backed out the kitchen door.
"Oh, Sagira," her mother began, "we wanted to tell you so many times. But we knew if you found out the truth, you'd hate us!"
"And you thought having me find out this way was any easier?" Sagira screeched.
"Your father was an evil man-"
"Evil! Evil?" Sagira couldn't contain herself. "All he wanted was love! How is that evil?"
"He killed many people!"
"Evelyn," she said, enjoying the hurt look that crossed her so-called mother's face, "if he had been left alone, everything would have been fine."
"But then you woulnd't have been born," Evelyn said, trying to be helpful.
Sagira ignored this. "And my mother only did the same. She was protecting her love."
"I didn't kill either of them," Evelyn said truthfully.
Sagira snorted. "So you sell out your husband at the drop of a hat!"
Evelyn stood. "It's not like that! Why yell at me for something I didn't do and belongs in the past?"
"You lied to me!" Sagira yelled, supressing the urge to slap some sense into her. "And you make a living dealing with the past!"
Evelyn was quiet.
"I can't stay here any longer," Sagira said. "I'll pack my things and be out today."
As Sagira turned to leave, Evelyn leapt forward and touched her arm. "Honey, I know you feel awful right now, but know you will always be welcome here."
Sagira narrowed her eyes at Evelyn. "I will remember that."
************
After much thought, Sagira had decided that raising her father waas not the best solution to the problem she now faced. Her father's tortured soul would probably not be able to deal with more. Her mother was definitely out of the question. She would only want her love back.
Only two choices remained. She could either exact revenge on her own, or bring someone else who would be happy to do away with the O'Connells.
Her first objective was to find the Book of the Dead. Sagira had long known that the book on display at the museum was not real. Now she knew why. It had been decided after it's last recovery that it be kept in a secret location. Only three people knew where the book was. The curator of the museum, Evelyn, and the person who had it.
The curator wasn't going to tell her where it was, even though she was, for all purposes, Evelyn's daughter. Since she obviously didn't know who had it, that left Evelyn. But how could she get Evelyn to tell her? Sagira needed a plan. She took off to make a phone call.
***********
After she got the Book of the Dead, Sagira was going to need smoeone to read it for her. Evelyn had been smart and hadn't taught her how to read the hieroglyphs. She had taught Alex though. This was who she had decided to call.
"Alex, you must come home," Sagira said once she placed the call. He was in Cairo raising funds for a dig.
"Why?" Alex asked. His work meant everything to him. At twenty-five, he had yet to marry. It would take something important to bring him home.
"Mom needs you," Sagira said, hating the word. "She said she had news that she needed to tell everyone."
Alex was silent for a moment. "Why didn't she call herself?"
Sagira was impatient. "I don't know! She just told me to call. Now get here quick. I'll meet you at the airstrip." Sagira hung up before he could reply. She knew he'd come.
Several hours later found Sagira waiting at the airstrip. She had borrowed a friend and his car for her plan. Greeting Alex with a hug, she said, "I have a car waiting."
Both got in the backseat, and Sagira's friend drove off. From the floorboard, Sagira produced a rope.
"What's that for?" Alex asked.
"You," Sagira replied in a low, even voice. "You will let me put this on you."
Alex gave a little laugh. "You're kidding, right?"
"My friend has a gun. He will use it. Please do as I say."
Alex looked to the front, and Sagira's friend nodded. He bit his lip in frustration as Sagira bound his hands tight behind him.
"So Mom doesn't have something to tell us?" he asked.
Sagira scowled at him. "She is not my mother."
Alex's eyes grew wide.