Leap of Faith
"No."
Hattie raised her eyebrows at Beni's flat response, and conjured up her most adorable and alluring pout. "Oh, come on. Why not?"
He glared back at her suspiciously. "What do you want it for?"
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes and retorted, "To steal your valuables. What do you think? I want to talk to that desert chieftain."
Laughter hissed between his teeth in a scoff. "What the hell for?"
Hattie put her hands on her hips and looked at him like he'd asked the most obvious question in the world. "Don't you think what's happened here is the teensiest bit odd?"
"Yes. That is why I am up here and not down there."
Hattie let out an exasperated sigh, and glanced back down the deck. She certainly didn't want to return to the drunken hubbub down there; she supposed she could just give up and go to her room as she'd planned, but, well...She'd be dammed if she couldn't charm an ugly, pathetic little fellow like this out of his room key. What was the point of being pretty if she couldn't talk her way into getting what she wanted?
She turned her attention back to Beni and offered him a glittering smile, leaning down close to ask him in a husky and suggestive voice, "Now isn't there anything I could do to change your mind?"
He gave her an ugly grin and motioned her closer. She took a deep breath and let him pull her ear to his lips, bracing herself for whatever depraved thing she'd have to promise to fulfill (and tactfully avoid ever, ever doing). His breath was sticky against her skin as he whispered:
"How much have you got on you?"
Hattie balked, grimacing worse than if he'd asked her to do, well, just about anything with him. She glared at him in disgust: "Are you kidding me? Money? You want money? From me?"
He nodded taking the final drag from his cigarette and tossing it on the floor. He pulled himself to his feet and looked her in the eye. He held out one hand and dug the other into his pocket, fishing out his room key.
"Give me your wallet, and you can use my key."
Hattie crossed her arms over her chest, continuing to stare at him in utter disbelief. "Seriously? There's nothing else I could do for you?"
He gave her a cynical smile. "You're a tease. Do you think I forgot the first time we met?"
Hattie felt her face flush, and tried to clear her throat nonchalantly.
"You know the saying," he said, a greasy and aggrivating grin on his face. " 'Fool me once, fool me never again...' Or something."
"Fine," she said with broken dignity, pulling her purse off her shoulder to dig out her wallet. She handed it over with a defeated sigh, and he dropped his room key in her hand with a look of smug satisfaction.
"I will be here when you are done," he said.
Hattie's teeth clenched. "I want that wallet back. I don't care how empty it is."
She heard him chuckle at her as she started down the stairs, but she quickly forgot her annoying encounter with Beni Gabor as she reached the lower level and tiptoed down the dark hall. She could hear strange, ritualistic sounds coming from Meela's room and shivered. She squinted at the key in her hand and read the numbers engraved on its head before continuing hurriedly down the hall. She came to Beni's door and stopped, out of breath from walking briskly and from a thrilling kind of fear.
"This is it," she whispered under her breath, and before she could lose her nerve, she jammed the key in the lock and opened the door.
The cabin was lit by a kerosene lamp on the desk, and seat at the desk, with his hands tightly bound behind his back, was the desert chieftain, Ardeth Bay. His posture was stiff from his entrapments, but his chin rest on his chest and he appeared to be dozing. Hattie ran her tongue over her lips and said quietly:
"Hello?"
His eyes blinked open, and he turned to look at her in surprise.
"How did you get in here?"
She shrugged nervously. "I, uh, bribed your roommate."
Ardeth snorted. "It is good to know that anyone can walk in here at any time for the right price," he said dismally.
Hattie glanced at her feet; she hadn't thought to consider how invasive this was, and a part of her thought she should just apologize and leave...but she was already in the room.
"So who are you?" his deep, unreadable voice jerked her gaze back up to his.
She swallowed hard. "My name is Hattie. During the fight, Lock-Nah grabbed me, and - "
"I remember you," he said.
Hattie's eyes retreated to the floor. Her mind felt blank, and every question that had been buzzing around in her head had floated away the moment she met his dark, mysterious gaze. She took a few backward steps towards the door. Her first inclination was right. It was silly to be here.
"I'm sorry," she said, her face growing redder by the second. "This was very rude of me..."
She reached her hand back to grasp the handle. Her fingers wrapped around the cold, vaguely moist metal, but he stopped her before she could turn the knob:
"You came here for a reason."
Hattie froze. She glanced up and met his eyes, and they stared at each other for a strange and tense moment that felt like an eternity. Hattie's head felt light from the anxious pulsing of blood, and her numb hand dropped from the doorknob thoughtlessly.
"I want to know what's going on," she said, the words dropping quickly and breathlessly from her lips.
He raised his eyebrows. "You journey to Hamunaptra?"
She nodded. "Yes."
His eyes hardened with a severe kind of passion. "Then you are in grave danger."
Hattie glanced back at the door anxiously before looking to Ardeth again. "Why?"
He nodded at the vacant chair in the corner, and Hattie pulled it up to sit at the desk across from him. He told her a strange story in a hushed tone, and if it wasn't for the earnest look in his eyes, beseeching her to believe him, she would have immediately dismissed him as crazy or hopelessly backwards and superstitious. He told her about an ancient Egyptian priest named Imhotep who loved the pharaoh's mistress, and how he was cursed with a most terrible incantation. He told her that Lock-Nah and his men belonged to a cult dating back to Imhotep's loyal priests, and that they were determined to resurrect Imhotep as a god on earth.
When he finished, Hattie took a deep breath, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes. "And that's why you attacked our boat?"
"Yes."
"But lots of people go searching for Hamunaptra," she said pointedly. "Do you attack all their boats, too?"
Ardeth met her eyes evenly. "Someone on this boat has a key that can unlock the Book of the Dead and release the Creature."
She almost laughed at him, but just couldn't. He had such faith in what he was saying that she just couldn't bear to.
"But that's silly," she said at last in a tone that wasn't quite convincing. "That's only a myth..."
Ardeth grumbled something to himself in Arabic. "I would expect no less from an American."
Hattie gave him a pointed look. "Well it is pretty hard to believe."
He stared back at her stubbornly. "Perhaps for you. But what do you know of the ancients? Your country is barely a century and a half old."
She let out a sigh. "I guess I can't argue with you there," she said, resting her hand on her chin. She glanced at the door, remembering something. "So what about the danger of us all being attacked by a rescue party? How 'grave' is that?"
Ardeth sighed loudly, attempting to shake a black curl away from his face. Hattie reached towards him instinctively, but stopped.
"May I?"
He nodded, making an exasperated noise in his throat. She reached up and pushed the curl behind his ear.
"Thank you," he said, sounding almost embarrassed. He shook his head, and quickly changed the subject. "As to my men coming to rescue me...I don't know. It will certainly be a precarious situation."
"That's what I was afraid of," Hattie said with a sigh. She looked into Ardeth's eyes thoughtfully, and despite herself and all reason, and everything she'd ever been brought up to believe about curses, she found herself trusting him. Maybe he was just a superstitious native, but he was much clearer and more direct about why he was here than Meela had yet to be. And between the two of them, she'd take his form of crazy.
"If what you say is true," she started slowly, "then we have to do something about Meela - preferrably before your men attack us and any more innocent people die."
Ardeth raised his eyebrows curiously, and a little smirk twitched in the corner of his lip. " 'We'? I thought you did not believe me."
Hattie felt her face grow hot, both from self-consciousness and from how terribly handsome he looked with an amused expression. "Maybe I'm going on a little faith here."
He appeared surprised, but only nodded his head. He stared deep into her eyes, and her breath caught in her throat. She could tell he was thinking, calculating something. She didn't know what to do or say, but she couldn't bear to glance from that dark, enigmatic gaze.
"We need to avoid the City of the Dead altogether," he said at last. "We need the guides to instead take everybody to the Med-Jai camp."
Hattie nodded her head, thinking this over. "My brother is one of the guides. Maybe, if you talked to him, we could get him to agree. He didn't want to take anyone to Hamunaptra in the first place."
Ardeth nodded quietly, and glanced towards the door, letting out a sigh. "And the other one, who has this room?"
A dismal look crept across her face, and he nodded again. "That is what I thought."
Hattie sighed. "I get the impression he'll do anything for a price...but he just took my wallet, so..."
Ardeth raised an eyebrow, and she glanced down at her hands sheepishly.
"Find a way to bring your brother here. He and I will talk. As for the other man..."
"Beni," Hattie said, the name leaving a sour taste in her mouth.
"We will have to find some way to convince him to agree."
A little smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth as an idea occurred to Hattie. "You know, my brother might be useful in that department, too."
Ardeth looked at her quizzically, but only said, "Well, I will leave that to you, then."
He watched her a moment longer, and she stared back at him, feeling strangely compelled to stay...but having no excuse. Reluctantly, she rose to her feet and bid him good night. She could feel his eyes on her as she walked across the cabin and slipped through the door. A thrill ran through her veins, and she was vaguely aware that she might have agreed to take part in something rather crazy...but just then, all she wanted to think about was his dark, endless gaze.
"Hey!"
The strange voice made her jump and give out a little cry of surprise. She looked up to see Lock-Nah striding towards her.
"What were you doing in that room?"
Hattie swallowed hard, her mind buzzing for an alibi, any alibi...
"Umm..."
"Are you acquainted with that man?" he demanded before she could say anything more.
"N-no, I - "
Hattie's gaze flitted around the hallway, and she suddenly noticed Beni skulking towards his room. He froze when he saw Lock-Nah standing there, so very intimidating, and met her eyes in irritable confusion.
"With that one," she blurted, pointing directly at Beni. She saw Beni's eyes widened, and watched him begin to mouth her a threat before Lock-Nah turned to look at him, and he was frozen with fear again.
"That one?" Lock-Nah asked skeptically. "What would you be doing in that man's room?"
"Um..." She forced a wide smile, and began inching around Lock-Nah, glancing every few seconds at Beni. "Darling, I'm afraid I'm not feeling up to drinks tonight. Let's make it a date tomorrow, hmm?"
Beni just gaped at her in confusion; her expression begged him not to say anything as she came to stand next to him at last.
"Here's your key," she added, pressing the key into his palm. She held onto his hand, flashing Lock-Nah a dismissive smile. "Now, if you'd excuse us, I'd like to say goodnight to my darling here."
Lock-Nah studied her under an incredulous brow, but stalked off down the hall and up the stairs. When he was out of earshot, Hattie let out a relieved sigh, and Beni tugged his hand free of hers.
"What the hell was that about?" he demanded.
Hattie stared down the hallway for a moment before pulling Beni a little closer and saying quietly. "I'm going to need to visit your room some more - "
"No."
" - and I'm going to need you to play along in front of Lock-Nah."
He gave her a puzzled glare. "Play along about what?"
She heaved an impatient sigh, glancing either way down the hall before looking at him in determination. "Look, for all intents and purposes right now, I need him to think we're spending a lot of time alone together in your cabin. He can't be suspicious of me being there."
Beni looked at her skeptically. "Nobody is going to believe we are screwing. Least of all that man."
Hattie crossed her arms over her chest. "Then we're going to tell people we are."
He chuckled, staring at her skeptically. "You want people to think you're sleeping with me?"
"I just need an excuse."
He continued to eye her with suspicion. "Why should I help you? What is in it for me?"
She raised her eyebrows. "You're just hellbent on offending me, aren't you? Look, I'm letting you tell everyone on this damned boat that you're screwing me. You can't tell me that's not something you'd want people to think."
A greasy grin spread across his face. "Everyone, eh? O'Connell is going to think I am sticking it to his sister, and Campbell..." He chuckled darkly to himself.
"Well?" Hattie said, secretly relieved that she'd found some way to make a deal with Beni that didn't involve money or actual sex. It would apparently cost her her dignity, but if that's what it took to keep the treasure-seekers from getting killed in another Med-Jai attack, she'd do it.
Beni shrugged. "Fine. But you have to keep your brother from kicking my ass."
She held out her hand and he shook it. "Deal."
