Chapter 51
Valley of the Queens

Indiana Jones pulled off his white turban and threw it down on to the bed. He then pulled off his long white 'aba' cloak revealing the khakis that he had been wearing underneath; complete with holstered Webley handgun at his side and leather bullwhip tucked into his belt in the back. In fact the only item of clothing missing from the archaeologist's normal field apparel was his worn and beloved fedora. Jones snatched the long time companion from off of the cabin dresser and placed it squarely and resolutely on his head as he strode out the door.

A short while later Indiana Jones walked aboard the 'Queen of the Nile' and sought out the cabin of passenger Marcus Brody.

"Marcus!" Jones called out loudly as he pounded hard on the door to cabin number 17.

A moment later the door opened and Marcus Brody stood staring at his friend with confusion etched on his face.

"Indy? Indy what ever is wrong?" Brody scanned his eyes over Jones for a moment and then cast a furtive glance down the passageway of the riverboat's passenger berthing deck, "Are you sure you should have come here like this? Agent Elliot is...."

"Never mind about Elliot," Jones said, "Vadoma, she's been kidnapped."

"Kidnapped?!" Marcus repeated the word, "by whom?"

"The Russians," Jones answered, "Yelena Badonov, Yuri Ivanovitch, and the other guy."

"I see," said Brody as he cast another look down the passageway, "please Indy come inside."

Jones stepped into the cabin and Marcus slid the lock closed.

"How do you know she's been kidnapped?" Brody asked him.

Indy showed him the pencil written note.

"The cabin was a shambles, there were signs of a struggle," Jones said as Marcus looked over the note.

"They want the scroll Marcus, they know I have it."

"How do they know?"

Jones paused for a moment and looked down at the deck of the cabin, "Yelena suspected it before," he said, then his face darkened, "but now, maybe they....maybe they forced Vadoma to tell them."

Indiana Jones looked up again and Brody could see the expression of concern etched on his best friend's face.

"Marcus where's Sallah?"

"He's gone off to the villages. Remember? As we discussed, he's gone to procure some diggers in case we need them."

"Damn!" Jones said, as he remembered that it was his idea.

A knock sounded on the door.

"Yes? Who is it?" Marcus called out.

"It's me, Agent Elliot," a voice answered from outside in the passageway. "Open up," he spoke loudly.

"He must have seen you Indy," Marcus said with concern.

Jones paused for only a few short moments, "It's too late for any more games now anyway," He said resolutely as he slid the lock and opened the door.

He was greeted by Agent Lawrence Elliot's .45 caliber Browning pistol pointed at his face.

"Hands up Jones!" The MI5 agent said sternly, "and hand over your weapon!"

Indiana Jones studied the man for a moment, "Look Elliot, I've had a few too many guns pointed at me over the past week," he said angrily, "and I'm getting mighty tired of it. So put away yours!"

"Please Lawrence, it's alright," Marcus said calmly, "put away the gun, it's unnecessary. There's nothing to fear from Doctor Jones...believe me...he's on our side."

Elliot looked over at Brody, then shot another suspicious glance at Indiana Jones before he finally, slowly lowered his weapon and replaced it into the shoulder holster inside his jacket.

"Look," Marcus said, "everything can be explained. We need to talk about the whole situation. There have been some ...serious new developments."

"Alright," he threw Marcus a quick look, and then said to Jones, "start explaining."

What followed for the next ten minutes was pretty much a repeat discussion of the one that Jones and Brody had had earlier in the evening at the Temple of Karnak. Jones told the British Government Agent everything, holding back nothing. He finished by telling about Vadoma's abduction by the Russians.

"May I see the scroll?" Elliot said to Jones.

Indy reached inside his shirt and handed Elliot the scroll. The Agent briefly examined it.

"Well of course I don't have the expertise that you gentlemen have with regards to these types of things," the Agent said as he examined the scroll, "but you're certain that it's authentic?"

"Absolutely," Jones answered, "it is detailed instructions to the location of the Sun Tablets."

"So the Germans...digging at Philae Island are...."

"The Germans are digging in the wrong place." Jones completed Elliot's sentence for him.

Elliot looked at him keenly, "You say the tablets are buried in a tomb? ...Where?" He asked.

"It's in the Valley of the Kings," Marcus spoke up to answer, "just across the Nile from here."

Elliot's eyes subtly lit up for a moment, "Well, that's wonderful, that they're so close by," he said with a tone of satisfaction.

Jones looked hard at him, "Yeah well it's not wonderful that Vadoma's been kidnapped."

Elliot returned Jones' hard stare with one of his own, "Yes, yes I suppose not," he said, "but you must understand Doctor Jones that the focus of our mission," he paused and motioned towards Marcus, "...Professor Brody and I... is the safe return of Lord Richard Malboury."

"That's my ultimate goal as well," Jones said, "it's what I came here to Egypt to do. But right now my concern is for Vadoma, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to get her back safely."

Elliot set the scroll down on the table, "May I see the note?" He asked Jones.

Indy handed him the ransom note, and then picked up the scroll off of the table, rolled it back up and placed it once again safely inside of his shirt. The action did not go unnoticed by Elliot.

The British agent glanced down and read the note.

"They say that if you want the girl back unharmed you must meet them tomorrow at dawn, at the mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut, in the Valley of the Queens, and bring them the scroll."

He looked up at Indy and Marcus, "Where is this Valley of the Queens then?"

"Right where one would expect to find it," Marcus answered him, "next to the Valley of the Kings."

"Across the river as well then?" Elliot asked.

"Yes," Indiana Jones said, "the Valley of Queens is just a few miles up river from the Valley of Kings, separated by some hills."

"I see." Elliot said, "But you're not planning to just hand over the scroll to these Russians are you?" He said.

"Not if I can help it," Jones answered.

"Then what exactly is your plan?"

"Right now I don't have one." Jones answered.

Elliot studied Indiana Jones for a long moment before speaking again.

"Look Jones, we've all come here for the same reason, to get Malboury back safely. I think you're the kind of man that I want on my team, and I think that you can help us. That scroll that you're holding is critical to the whole show it seems."

Marcus nodded as Elliot spoke.

Jones looked hard again at the British agent, "Until I get Vadoma released, the only way anyone is going to get this scroll from me is to pry it from my cold, dead hands."

Elliot smiled for the briefest of moments, "No need for that," he said.

After another long pause he spoke again.

"Well then, I guess we need to come up with a plan don't we."

Jones looked over at the agent again, but this time with an expression that conveyed both respect, and thanks.

Early the next morning, Valley of the Queens

Nine hours later, and after a sleepless night, Indiana Jones walked alone from the west bank of the Nile, into the Valley of the Queens. Behind him, the first rays of dawn reflected obliquely off the river's smooth waters, scattering their life giving light and warmth into the sacred valleys of the Kings and Queens of Egypt's golden ages.

The Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty, and one of the rare female rulers of the Kingdom, loomed in the distance. The temple's precise vertical and horizontal lines were echoed by the rocky desert cliffs, hundreds of feet high, which stood behind it.

Jones walked alone and unarmed, just as he had been instructed to do in the ransom note. His Webley holster hung empty at his side. Inside his shirt he carried only the much coveted Roman papyrus scroll of Grachius Calvertus that he would exchange for Vadoma. He would give up the papyrus for the girl, he thought, but then, if the rest worked according to plan, He, Marcus, and Elliot would leave the Valley of Queens with both Vadoma and the scroll.

As he approached the temple Jones came upon the shed of an archaeological dig; wary, he went closer to investigate. The door to the shed was padlocked, but outside there were a couple of gasoline powered, portable generators and an assortment of tools lying around that indicated recent usage.

"Yelena!?" He called out to the Russian woman who held Vadoma captive, but there was no answer, and he continued on across the desert plain towards Hatshepsut's temple.

The temple consisted of three terraces and two ramps. The first of the ramps led from the floor of the desert up to the main terrace, which in its day was decorated lavishly with frankincense trees and other rare plants. Now only its sand colored stone piers and fluted columns bore mute witness to those past days of splendor.

Indiana Jones ascended the ramp.

"Yelena!" He called out; searching his eyes around in all directions for the Russians, and the gypsy woman that they held captive.

Jones' eyes swept over magnificent stone porticos, colonnades topped with Osirean statues, and facades decorated with bas relief paintings of offerings being set before the god Amun. But there was no sign of anyone.

Indiana Jones felt utterly alone in the stillness of the desert dawn.

"Good Morning Doctor Jones," a gravelly voice called out to him.

Jones spun around to see the reptilian smile of Yelena Badonov grinning at him as she stepped out from behind a column decorated with a carved image of the cow eared goddess Hathor. Next to her stood Vladimir, the young man whom Jones had seen her with on the boat. He held a Kalashnikov automatic rifle leveled at the archaeologist's chest, as well as a dispassionate expression that bespoke his easy willingness to pull the trigger.

"Where is Vadoma?!" Jones demanded.

"Where is the scroll?!" Yelena said, as she dropped her smile with the suddenness of a guillotine.

"Show me the girl first!"

Once again the old crone leered, snake-like.

"Yuri!" She called out.

A moment later, Yuri Ivanovitch stepped out from behind yet another stone column. He nervously held a small handgun pointed at Vadoma, who stood with her hands bound in front of her, and a tight gag tied around her mouth.

"There's no need for that!" Jones shouted angrily, referring to the gag.

"I grew tired of hearing gypsy curses and insults," Yelena said.

Jones couldn't help an inner smile at the mental picture that conjured.

"What's wrong with you Yuri?!" He suddenly said, turning to Ivanovitch, "you used to be an archaeologist. Don't let this woman turn you into a criminal."

"Shut up Jones! And give me the scroll!" Yelena shouted at him, "I am tired of you, and this....gypsy girl. You give me what I want and I will set her free," she paused and smiled again with her wrinkled, leathery, old lips, "I will even let you two lovers live. But if you don't...." She silently completed her sentence with a motion of her head towards the Kalashnikov that Vladimir held.

"What guarantee do I have that you won't just shoot us once I give you the scroll?" Jones asked.

Badonov waved her hand dismissively, "Come now Doctor Jones, you know that's just not my style."

Indiana Jones debated in his mind whether or not he'd stalled long enough for Marcus and Elliot to get into position, then decided that just to be sure he needed a little more time.

"I don't have the scroll with me," he said.

A look of rising anger registered on the ugly face of the old Russian crone. She opened her mouth to speak.

"Relax," Jones pre-empted her words, "it's close by," he motioned with his head towards the desert plain he'd just walked through to reach the temple, "it's buried over there. But you'll never know where unless you release the girl...now! And give us a chance to walk away."

"Jones, you truly try my patience," Yelena said calmly, and then turned to her Russian archaeologist companion, "Yuri, shoot her."

"Wait!" Indiana Jones took a step forward and reached inside his shirt for the scroll, "wait, here it is," he said as he reluctantly held out the papyrus in his hand.

Yelena smiled again, "There, now that's better," she said as she walked over to Jones and snatched the document out of his hand.

She didn't even look at it, but merely handed it right to Ivanovitch. Then she rudely shoved Vadoma towards Indy.

Yuri Ivanovitch put away his small hand gun and examined the scroll.

Vadoma hurried over to where Indiana Jones stood. Jones reached up and untied her gag. Vladimir kept his weapon leveled at both of them.

Yelena studied Yuri with a look of mild impatience as he studied the scroll, "Well, is it authentic?"

"Yes." He said, "This is it. There's no question about it."

"Good." she said with her usual saurian smile, and then turned back to Jones and the girl, "There, you see, that was easy wasn't it?" Indiana Jones said nothing, because an instant later MI5 Agent Lawrence Elliot stepped from behind a fluted column and placed his Browning .45 caliber to the side of Vladimir's head.

"Drop it mate." He said decisively to the Russian goon. A moment later the man's Kalashnikov clattered down on to the stone portico.

At the same time Marcus Brody stepped out and placed the muzzle of Indiana Jones' .455 Webley against the base of Yelena Badonov's skull.

"Why don't you go ahead and give me yours too Yuri," Marcus said to Ivanovitch, who stood paralyzed, still holding the scroll."

"Give it to him Yuri!" Yelena said quickly.

Ivanovitch hurriedly handed over his pistol.

Indiana Jones strode forward and snatched the scroll back out of the Russian archaeologist's hand, "And I'll take this, thank you." He smiled mirthlessly at Yelena, "There that was easy too, wasn't it?"

"Get over against that wall, the three of you!" Agent Elliot shouted harshly at the trio of Russians as he reached into his pocket and handed some pre-cut lengths of rope to Jones and Vadoma, "Tie them up," he instructed.

A few minutes later the three Russians were tied up and sitting on the hard stones of the portico. Marcus returned Indy his Webley which Jones replaced into its new holster.

"Well," Marcus looked at Jones and Elliot, "I guess the question now is what to do with them?"

"We certainly can't leave them out here in this heat," Elliot said, "I suppose we'll have to escort them back to Luxor and turn them over to..."

Elliot stopped in mid sentence, and indeed all heads turned, as Yelena Badonov began a cackling, mocking laugh. Her gravelly voice lent the sound of her laughter a quality that was not unlike that of fingernails scratching on a blackboard.

Elliot stared at her, "Well, it looks like the old bird's gone daft."

"And just what is so funny Yelena?" Jones asked sardonically.

The old woman locked her gaze with Indiana Jones for a moment before speaking, "What was it that you said to me on the boat just a couple of days ago Doctor Jones?" She raised her eyebrows mockingly, "Oh yes, you said that I have a habit of surrounding myself with bad men." The crone paused, and then affected her best crocodilian smile, "sometimes bad men can come in handy," she dropped her smile and suddenly shouted loudly, "Boris! Ivan!"

Jones, Elliot, Marcus, and Vadoma turned as one. Jones and Elliot both reached for their weapons, but they were too late.

Two burly men dressed in tight fitting suits, the same two suspicious men that Jones instantly recognized from the boat, stood before them with a pair of deadly and powerful looking Russian Tommy guns leveled.

"Don't even try it!" One of the men shouted with a thick Russian accent, and a steely look in his cold eyes, "drop your guns on the ground."

Both Indiana Jones and Agent Elliot knew the look of a killer when they saw it, and reluctantly dropped their weapons to the ground.

"There now," Yelena spoke to Indiana Jones with exaggerated sarcasm, "once again it's my turn to say it: there, that was easy wasn't it?" She cackled again, "Now, be a nice young man and come over and untie me."

A few minutes later Indy, Vadoma, Elliot, and Marcus stood against the wall with their hands bound behind their backs. Vladimir guarded them with his Kalashnikov while Yelena and Yuri studied the scroll. The two thugs, Ivan and Boris stood in the hot sun in their impossibly tight fitting suits and seemed to be awaiting instructions.

Finally, Yelena walked over and spoke.

"Well my friends, my apologies, but Yuri, Vladimir and I must leave you now. We have a very significant artifact to go and find," she held up the scroll and smiled, "but don't worry; I leave you in the capable hands of my....bad men here, Boris and Ivan." The evil old woman dropped her smile, "Da svyidanya Doctor Jones," she said. A chillingly cold blooded mask descended on her weather beaten and craggy old face as she turned and walked away.

"Move!" Boris shouted at the four bound captives, accentuating his words with pokes in the back from his Tommy gun.

The two thugs pushed the four of them along. They descended the main ramp of the temple back down on to the desert floor. Jones glanced off in the distance to see a small truck rapidly driving off, out of the Valley of the Queens; no doubt carrying Yelena, Yuri, and Vladimir across to the Valley of the Kings, and the tomb of the Sun Tablets.

Boris and Ivan continued to prod the captives along, and a few minutes later they arrived at the same archaeological shack that Jones had come upon during his approach to the temple earlier.

"On your knees!" Ivan said harshly as Boris fished out a key to the padlock and opened the shed's door.

"Get in!" He pointed with the barrel of his machine gun.

Reluctantly the four prisoners entered the shed.

The door was shut and Boris slid the padlock back into place and locked it.

Inside, the windowless shed was dark, except for a few places here and there where sunlight shone through small cracks between boards. Indiana Jones kicked out at one of the walls to test its resiliency. He was surprised by the sturdiness.

"It might take some work," he said, "but we'll eventually be able to get out."

"Yes, I agree," Elliot said, "but let's just hope we don't suffocate in the interim. It's bloody hot in here."

"Well, let's give ample time for our friends outside to leave eh?" Marcus said, "In the meantime we can work on untying each others bonds."

"Indy I'm frightened," Vadoma said, "I have a bad feeling..."

"Shhhh!" Jones suddenly silenced everyone, "listen."

Outside, on both sides of the shed, a splashing noise could be heard."

"What ever is that?" Marcus said, perplexed for a moment.

Jones sniffed at the air.

"Gasoline!" He nearly shouted with a voice that was as near to panic as Indiana Jones' ever sounded.

"Petrol!" Elliot echoed him using the British word.

Outside the shed, Boris, coming around the left and Ivan, coming around the right, met in the middle and dropped their empty jerry cans to the ground. They each took a step back. Boris struck a match and held it up in the air for a moment.

The two killers grinned at one another in morbid anticipation of the death screams of their helpless victims.