A/N: A big thank you once more to all those who reviewed. And if you didn't…well, enjoy the story anyway.

Chapter 4: Sinking Barge

Evy, Jonathan, and Nabila walked along the boardwalk of Giza Port, pushing through the throng of other travelers and hawkers selling their wares. Evy shifted the two rather large suitcases she held and looked at her siblings.

"Do you really think he's going to show up?" she asked.

"Undoubtedly," replied Jonathan. "I know the breed. He may be cowboy, but his word is word." He nodded confidently.

Evy was still unconvinced. "Personally," she said, a frown on her face, "I think he's filthy, rude, a complete scoundrel, I don't like him one bit."

"Anyone I know?" a voice from behind them asked.

Evy whirled around to see Rick O'Connell, no longer the dirty and scruffy man from the prison. He was shaven, showered, and was wearing new and clean clothes. He looked, well, rather dashing. "Oh, um…hello," murmured Evy, feeling rather embarrassed about her earlier comment.

"Smashing day to start an adventure, eh O'Connell?" Jonathan greeted him jovially, lightly thumping Rick on the chest.

"Yeah, smashing," said Rick, putting his hand in the pocket of his jacket to check if his wallet was still there.

Jonathan noticed and said, "Oh no, I never steal from a partner."

Rick nodded. "That reminds me, no hard feelings about the…uh…" He made a punching motion with his fist.

Jonathan waved it away. "Oh no, no, happens all the time," he assured Rick.

Nabila held out her hand. "We didn't get a chance to meet yesterday. I'm Nabila Carnahan."

"Rick O'Connell," the man replied, shaking Nabila's hand. His eyes strayed to the tattoos on her cheeks and forehead and a questioning glance appeared on his face. Nabila laughed.

"I'm a Carnahan by adoption, O'Connell," she replied.

Evy cleared her throat and spoke. "Mr. O'Connell," she said, "can you look me in the eye and guarantee that this isn't some kind of…of a flimflam, because if it is, I am warning you—"

"You're warning me?" interrupted Rick. "Lady, let me put it to you this way. My whole damn garrison believed in this so much, that without orders they marched halfway across Libya and into Egypt to find that city. And when we got there, all we found was sand…and blood." Without waiting for Evy's response, Rick bent down and said, "Let me get your bags." He picked them up and climbed the gangplank onto the barge.

Evy stared after him, a strange expression on her face.

Nabila looked at Evy and smirked. "Yes, yes, you're right. Filthy, rude, a complete scoundrel, nothing to like there at all."

Evy turned and looked at her sister, her eyes narrowed a bit.

Then, the warden walked up to them, dressed in traveling clothes and carrying a suitcase and a leather shoulder bag. "A bright good morning to all," he said to them.

Evy groaned. "Oh no, what are you doing here?"

The warden turned to face them as he climbed the gangplank of the barge. "I'm here to protect my investment, thank you very much."

The three Carnahan siblings sighed.

The full moon shone down on the Nile River as night descended. On board the barge, a group of Americans and Jonathan sat around a gambling table, playing poker. One of the Americans was cleaning his glasses, much to the irritation of his companions.

"Quit playing with your glasses and cut the deck, would you Burns?"

Burns grinned up at the man who had spoken. "Well without my glasses I can't see the deck to cut it, now can I, Daniels?"

Rick entered the gambling room, and Jonathan spotted him. "Ah, O'Connell, sit down, sit down. We could use another player."

He refused with a strange smile. "No, I only gamble with my life, never my money."

Daniels looked at him. "Never? What if I was to bet you five hundred dollars says we get to Hamunaptra before you?"

"You're looking for Hamunaptra?" Rick asked incredulously.

"Damn straight we are," replied another American, Henderson.

"And who says we are?"

"He does," the Americans chorused, pointing at Jonathan.

He smiled nervously and glanced up at Rick. "Well, how about it?"

Rick grinned. "All right, you're on."

The Egyptologist of the Americans sneered at Rick. "What makes you so confident, sir?"

"Well what makes you?"

"We got us a man who's actually been there," said Henderson, grinning self-confidently.

"Well what a coincidence because O'Connell here—" Before Jonathan could continue, Rick 'accidentally' hit him with his gunnysack as he placed it on his shoulder. "Whose play is it? Is it my play? I thought I just…"

"Gentlemen, we've got us a wager," said Rick. "Good evening, Jonathan." Before he left, he made sure to squeeze Jonathan's shoulder really hard. An expression of pain came across his face, then Rick left, content.

He went onto the deck of the ship, where he found Evy and Nabila seated at a table. Evy was reading, and Nabila was cleaning and reloading a gun. He dropped the gunnysack onto the table, startling both women.

"Sorry," he said, smiling at Evy. "Didn't mean to scare you."

Evy rolled her eyes. "The only thing that scares me, Mr. O'Connell, are your manners," she snapped, before returning to her book.

"Still angry about that kiss, huh?"

"Well, if you call that a kiss."

Nabila gaped at Evy. "He kissed you?" She stared at Rick. "You kissed her?" She shook her head. "My God."

Rick didn't respond, merely unrolling the gunnysack. He sat down opposite Evy, who looked in surprise at the array of guns, knives, and dynamite that was inside the sack. "Excuse me," she said, staring at the weapons, "did I miss something? Are we going into battle?" She looked up at Rick and smiled at her own little joke.

"Lady," Rick responded, loading a pistol with bullets, "there's something out there." He closed the cartridge and thrust the gun into a holster strapped to his vest. "There's something underneath that sand."

"Yes, well," said Evy, "I'm hoping to find a certain artifact. A book, actually. My brother thinks there's treasure. What do you think is out there?" She began to fiddle with a strange hook in the gunnysack.

"In a word," said Rick, fixing another pistol, "evil." He took the hook from Evy.

"The Bedouin and the Tuaregs believe that Hamunaptra is cursed," said Nabila suddenly. "May I borrow this?" When Rick nodded, she took a rifle from the gunnysack and loaded it with bullets. "They call it the doorway to hell." Absent-mindedly, she lifted a finger and ran it along one of the tattoos on her cheeks.

"Oh I don't believe in fairy tales and hokum, Mr. O'Connell," said Evy. "But I do believe that one of the most famous books in history is buried out there. The Book of Amun-Ra." Evy's eyes gleamed with excitement and a smile curled her lips. "It contains within it all the secret incantations of the old kingdom. It's what first interested me in Egypt when I was a child. It's why I came here, sort of a…a life's pursuit."

"And the fact that they say it's made out of pure gold makes 'no, never mind' to you?" asked Rick, now cleaning a rifle.

Evy nodded in approval, her smile still in place. "You know your history."

"I know my treasure," responded Rick.

Evy looked down at the gunnysack, suddenly seeming shy. "Um…by the way, why did you kiss me?"

Rick chuckled. "I was about to be hanged, it seemed like a good idea at the time."

Evy frowned, insulted. She slammed her book down on the table, stood up, and left, her back ramrod straight.

"What?" Rick called after her. "What did I say?"

Then, they heard a little snort of laughter from behind a stack of luggage. Rick stood up and walked over, then pulled out a doughy-looking Frenchman and held him up to the wall. "What a surprise!" the Frenchman cried out, panic in his voice. "My good friend! You're alive! I was so very, very worried."

"Well if it ain't my little buddy Beni," he sneered. He took a gun from the holster on his vest and pointed it at Beni. "I think I'll kill you."

"Think of my children!" Beni yelled.

"You don't have any children," snapped Rick.

"Someday I might," Beni said sheepishly.

"Shut up!" Rick cocked the gun. "So you're the one who's leading the Americans, I might've known. So what's the scam, Beni? You take them out into the middle of the desert, and then you leave 'em to rot?"

Beni looked sad for a moment, then said, "Unfortunately, no. These Americans are smart. They only pay me half now and half when I get them back to Cairo so this time I must go all the way."

Rick released Beni with a disgusted look on his face. "That's the breaks, huh?"

Beni looked at Rick suspiciously. "You never believed in Hamunaptra, O'Connell. Why are you going back?"

"You see that girl?" asked Rick, pointing. Evy was standing at the end of the deck, petting the camels in the barge's stables. She saw Rick and Beni looking at her, glared at Rick, then walked away.

"My sister saved his life," said Nabila, who was interestedly watching Rick and Beni.

Beni chuckled. "You always did have more balls then brains," he said, thumping Rick on the shoulder.

Rick pretended to laugh for a moment, slinging his arm around Beni's shoulders. Then… "Goodbye Beni." Rick threw him over the railing and into the water.

Nabila sniggered as the cowardly Frenchman bobbed around in the water. Then, her gaze turned to the wooden floor of the barge. Her eyes widened as she saw wet footprints.

She quickly glanced over into the water, but when she saw that Beni hadn't climbed back aboard yet, her expression grew fearful. "O'Connell," she said, tapping him on the shoulder.

He turned and looked at where she pointed. Then, the two marched off to Evy's quarters.

Evy paced around her small cabin, dressed in a revealing white nightgown. She read aloud from the book she held in her hand, desperately trying to concentrate on the words.

"George Bembridge…in eighteen-sixty…" Evy murmured. "In 1865…" She walked over to her bed and picked up her overcoat and attempted to put it on the hook on the door, but missed. "…was…was…a…"

"Oh, for heaven's sake it wasn't that good of a kiss anyway!" she fumed, stalking towards the mirror. Evy slammed the book down on the edge of the sink and picked up her hairbrush, running it through her dark brown curls.

There was a sudden thump. Evy looked down and saw her book had fallen. She bent down to retrieve it, and when she came back up, a black-robed man with a hook for a hand was standing behind her.

She gasped, but then the man grasped her throat and spun her around, holding the hook's sharp edge to her cheek.

"Where is the map?" the man growled.

"Th-there," Evy stuttered, pointing to the table. The map was spread out on the surface in front of a candlestick. Between the jumbled mass of thoughts like, I'm too young to die! I don't want to die! I didn't even get to see Hamunaptra yet, Evy noticed that the marks on the man's cheeks were similar to Nabila's tattoos.

"And the key?" he demanded. "Where is the key?"

"Th-the key, the key, wh-what key?" she stammered.

Then, a loud cry of "EVY!" shattered the silence. The door burst open and Rick and Nabila stormed in, guns in their hands. The man with the hook spun Evy around to use her as his shield.

A door on the other side of the room flew open, and revealed another black-robed man. Before he could shoot at them, Rick squeezed the trigger of his gun, accidentally shooting the lamp mounted on the wall, making the couch catch fire.

"We need to get out of here!" Nabila shouted. She moved forward and slammed her gun against the face of the hook-handed man. Evy grabbed the candlestick on the table and shoved the hot wax into the man's eye, and he let go of her, howling with pain and clutching at his face. Nabila grabbed Evy's wrist and pulled her out of the room, followed by Rick.

When they were in the hallway, Evy stopped and tried to turn back. "The map! The map! We forgot the map!"

"Relax," said Rick, grabbing Evy, "I'm the map." He tapped his forehead. "It's all up here."

"Well that's comforting," said Nabila sarcastically.

They raced out to the horse paddock, and a loud BANG startled them, as a large portion of the wall was blown up. Rick fired at the man who had shot at them until he ran out of ammo, then leaned back as far against the wall as he could. Nabila kept their assailant busy.

Shots got a little too close to Rick. Evy pulled him back in time, just as a bullet drove into the wall where his head had been only moments before.

Rick nodded at her in thanks, then they left their hiding place, Rick and Nabila firing continuously. They reached the edge of the boat, where many people were already diving overboard.

"Can you swim?!" Rick shouted at Evy.

"Well of course I can swim if the occasion calls for it!" Evy yelled back.

"Trust me," said Rick, scooping Evy into his arms, "it calls for it." Then he tossed Evy overboard. Screaming, she fell into the dark blue water. Nabila followed, her gun and the rifle she borrowed from Rick firmly grasped in her hands.

As Rick was about to jump overboard as well, a man vaulted over the side, letting out a loud war cry. He slammed into Rick and pushed him down to the ground. The man pushed Rick against a pole and punched him. Rick soon turned the tables, and he was now punching and kicking his attacker, then he pushed him into a room that was on fire.

The warden ran up to him, screaming. "O'Connell! O'Connell!" he shouted. "What are we going to do? What are we going to do?"

"You wait here," Rick told him. "I'll go get help." Then he jumped overboard.

The warden stood, stupidly waiting, until her realized what was going on. Then he leapt into the water as well.

Nearby, the Americans were crouching behind overturned tables, shooting aimlessly. Jonathan stumbled out of the rooms and onto the deck, getting ready to jump when he saw them. The Americans were whooping and yelling as they fired at the black-robed men, obviously having fun.

"Americans," said Jonathan, rolling his eyes.

The warrior with the hook hand came out on deck as well, now a flaming human torch. Jonathan yelled in fright. Henderson turned and aimed and shot the Med-jai warrior several times before he toppled into the water, the flames on his body going out.

Jonathan looked at Henderson, spotting the Egyptologist huddling in the corner with a terrified expression on his face. "I say! Bloody good show, chaps!" he called out, jamming his hat onto his head. "And did I panic?" He tossed the little puzzle box in the air before catching it. "I think not."

The fire suddenly blazed up, and Jonathan jumped overboard, yelling his head off (panicking). He was soon followed by the Americans and the other passengers.

Once they had all reached shore, it was chaos. People were trying to sort out their things, horses and camels were running all over the place, and their owners were trying to get them out of the water.

"This is a messed-up country!" Daniels shouted as he struggled out of the water. Looking incredibly pathetic, Burns poured water out of his hat.

On the other end, Rick, Evy, Jonathan, and the warden were climbing out of the river.

"We've lost everything!" Evy whined. "All of our tools, all the equipment, all my clothes!" she added pointedly, glaring at Rick as if it was his fault.

She was interrupted when Beni, on the other side of the river, shouted at them. "O'Connell! Hey! It looks to me like I've got all the horses!"

"Hey Beni! Looks to me like you're on the wrong side of the river!" Rick shouted back.

Ben scoffed in disbelief, then looked around. He swore in Arabic and kicked angrily at the water.

Ardeth Bey, commander of the twelve tribes of the Med-jai, stood on the shore of the Nile River, glaring fiercely at the sinking barge. The Americans were on the other side, but the three Carnahans and the American from the desert were on the right track. They were dangerous. The chances of them finding the Creature grew and grew.

"My lord," one of the warriors said in Arabic, walking up to him, "I bring troubling news."

"What is it?"

"One of the Carnahan women was Arabic," was the reply. "My lord, her cheeks were marked in the manner of the Med-jai!"

Ardeth's eyes widened. "Impossible! What is the woman's name?"

"According to the curator, she is called Nabila Carnahan. The English Carnahans adopted her, though we are not sure of her name before the adoption."

Ardeth wondered. Could it possibly be…? "It does not matter," he said. "She travels with the English expedition, and must be stopped as well. But worry not. I shall look into this."

The man hesitated for a moment before saying, "Sir, could she be…?"

Ardeth had been wondering the same thing himself, but he shook his head and said, "No. That happened over eighteen years ago. If this is indeed her, we would have heard word earlier."