Lifetime of Celebration
By Jeannette Hetfield
Chapter 16
Jackson Cravin sat inside the filthy jail cell in Cairo prison waiting for his brother to bail him out. Jeremiah had said he'd be there at 8:30 and it was now 9:00. Trust him to always be late, thought Jackson angrily. A cockroach almost as big as his hand hurried along the ground. He brought his foot down on it hard, enjoying the crunching sound of its brittle body.
A commotion from the jail entrance caught his attention. The guards were forcefully pulling a man inside who was cursing and spitting. The guard behind him whacked him over the head with his club. The man's ranting stopped and his head rolled forward. To Jackson's surprise, the man was placed in the cell next to him. On closer inspection, he saw the fine threads the man wore and snorted in disgust. This guy looked like a banker or a politician. He hated those kinds of people. They always thought they were better than everyone else.
Jackson glanced at his watch; 9:05. Time was dragging by at a tortoise pace. The rich man jerked awake and flew to the bars of the cell. He pulled back and forth, growling at someone to let him out.
"I swear if you don't let me out now, you'll be sorry!"
"You're wasting your breath. They won't listen. I already used the same tactics and they failed. Don't you think I'd be out of this hole in the ground if screaming worked?" Jackson casually said to him, glancing in annoyance at the guy's well polished shoes.
The rich man sneered, obviously looking down his nose at him. "Shut up, peasant. I wasn't talking to you."
Jackson bowed mockingly. "Pardon me, my good man. I didn't mean to offend. A lowly peasant such as myself should know better than to speak to a fine man of high social standing." Jackson looked the man up and down. "Seems to me though, you're not recognized by your social standing since you're in this dump."
"Would you shut up?" he snarled. "I'm trying to think."
"What'd you do?" The man ignored him. "Aww, come on. You can tell me. I'm your new best friend and we ain't going anywhere."
"What I'm doing here is no concern of yours."
"Just making conversation. I'm bored."
"You seem nonchalant about your situation, " the man noticed. "You're in jail."
"Rookie. I been in jail before, many times. Got used to it after awhile. Besides, my brother's supposed to bail me out. He's running late, but he'll be here. He always comes."
"Sounds like a reliable brother," the rich man said sarcastically.
Jackson shrugged. "He is, I guess. I'm getting out and you'll still be here." Jackson stepped up to the bars connecting their cells and closed his hands around them. "So, what'd you do?"
The man sighed annoyingly, but said, "Someone stole my wallet. I chased after him only to lose him in the souk. I thought I'd found him and pounded his face in only to find out I'd gotten the wrong guy. I was arrested and brought—" He threw his hands up and dramatically waved them around, "To this fabulous Egyptian resort."
Jackson laughed. "You're broke and in jail. Nice way to start your vacation."
"I'm not on vacation. I came here looking for someone."
"How interesting, but you'd be looking for a needle in a haystack. This is an easy place to get lost."
"You got that right. I can't find what I'm looking for," he muttered, looking at up at the sky. He jerked his head back up to Jackson. "I told you why I was thrown in here. Now it's your turn."
"A little five-card stud, the man across from me was cheating; I made him pay for it. End of story." Jackson waved his hand in the air dismissively. "Enough of my story. Yours is far more interesting. Oh, I'm Jackson Cravin by the way."
"Lyle Boenker." He shook his head. "You don't want to hear my story."
"I've got nothing better to do. Let me take a stab first. This person you're looking for wouldn't be a woman, would it?" Lyle shrugged sheepishly. "I knew it was a woman. That look on your face is plain as day, but it ain't no 'darling I miss you and love you' kind of look. In fact, you look pretty angry. A vein's throbbing up here." Jackson pointed to his temple. "And your nostrils are flaring real big like. Yep, I'll bet you'd like to strangle her pretty little neck."
Lyle grunted. "Tried that twice before. It didn't work."
Jackson laughed loudly. "Is that so? Well, imagine that. I was right the first time. This brawd got a name?"
"A beautiful name for a beautiful girl. Her name is Jensa."
Jackson gasped so roughly, he choked on his own spit. After a few bouts of coughing, he looked at Lyle with interest. Jensa? He knew that name well enough. Could it be the same girl? It didn't seem likely that there was more than one woman in Egypt with that name.
"What's that look for?" asked Lyle suspiciously, coming over to the bars. "Do you know her?" he said quickly. "Do you know Jensa—"
"James," he finished. "I know her all right. That dame played me for a fool and led me on with that flirting game all women play. She broke my heart."
"Yes, I can see that by all those invisible tears you're crying," Lyle said wryly. "How do you know her?"
"She and her brother Michael tagged along with me and Jeremiah—"
"Who's Jeremiah?" Lyle interrupted.
"My brother. Anyway, they tagged along with us on a failed expedition to Hamunaptra. She treated me like I was lower than that weird looking black stuff you're standing in."
Lyle glanced down and jumped back. He stomped his foot up and down on the ground made of gravel until most of the mystery substance was gone. He got really close to the bars so that they almost touched his face. "Tell me where she is," he demanded.
"I don't know where she is, but I'm pretty sure I know who she's with."
"Spit it out."
"What's in it for me?" Jackson wasn't about to give anything without getting something in return.
"I can pay you."
"Forget your wallet was stolen?"
"Don't be so dense. You really think my wallet is the only place I put money in?" he whispered.
"What do want her for?"
"Just a little payback. Stupid girl ruined everything. We were going to be married; would've been by now, but her and her family sent the police after me. I had to get out of town fast, but I kept tabs on her and found out she came here. I couldn't follow her right away or I might have been caught. It's been almost a year since I've seen her."
"You're going to kill her when you find her," surmised Jackson.
"Not before I have a little fun first," he smirked. "She and I have a little unfinished business to attend to."
Jackson grinned, catching on.
"Now, where is she?" he asked again.
"Can't tell you what I don't know, but I said I know who she's with. At Hamunaptra, a desert tribe raided us and killed most of the diggers. I didn't think they existed, but they do. Jensa seemed pretty friendly with the leader. More than friends I'd guess by the way he watched over her like a hawk. On the way back to Cairo, they disappeared into the desert together." He rocked back onto his heels and folded his arms across his chest. "I haven't seen her since."
"You think she's with this tribe leader?"
This Lyle person looked like he'd just gotten the best news of his life.
Jackson nodded. "I heard a rumor in a bar about their getting married. Everyone was saying something like, 'It's time the Medjai chieftain married and carried on the line of his people.'"
"What'd you call him?"
"Medjai," he repeated. "That's the tribe. I'd like a little payback for the snooty Miss James myself, but if I were you I'd drop it. The Medjai are well-trained and would kill you without question."
"I'm not scared."
"You should be."
"Listen, Jack," he spat out his name, "I've got a score to settle and I'm not letting anyone stop me."
"Fine, I've seen them in action. Your funeral."
Lyle rolled his eyes. "So where might the blushing bride and her hubby be?"
"I don't know. The Medjai keep to themselves as much as possible. Nobody knows where their village is."
"Surely somebody in this Godforsaken city knows how to get there?" Lyle said in exasperation, kicking up a cloud of dust and gravel with his foot.
Jackson frowned as he thought, but the frown slowly upturned into a smile. "There might be one person," he said, holding up his index finger, "who could take us out there."
"Who?" he cried impatiently.
"Michael James."
"Her brother? He's here too?" he asked with surprise.
Jackson nodded. "I'm sure he can be persuaded to tell us where to find her."
"You know where he lives?"
"Uh huh."
"Wait a second. You said 'take us'. You changing your tune?"
"I did a little thinking and anytime there's money involved…"
"Well, we're not going anywhere if your brother doesn't show up."
"He will," Jackson assured him.
"He'd better. I've already wasted too much time tracking that spoiled brat down."
Jackson glanced toward the prison doors. "Well speak of the devil." His brother Jeremiah was shoveling out money to the warden. Jeremiah looked at each cell until he found his brother. As he stalked over to the cell, Jackson easily made out the annoyed look on his face in the dark.
"Where have you been?" he demanded of his very tardy brother.
"I'd be a lot nicer to me if I were you. I could take all that money back and let you rot here, and I'm getting sick and tired of always bailing you out."
At this time, the warden came up and used a ring of keys to open the cell. He didn't have any food, but he was chewing something and disgustingly spat all over the ground. Lyle looked revolted. Jackson chuckled at the look on his face and stepped out of the cell, grabbed the money purse from his brother and shoved more into the warden's hands, who eyed it greedily.
"Let him out too." Jackson pointed to Lyle.
"What're you doing?" cried Jeremiah. "There's not much left. Why do you want him released?"
"Jeremiah, shut up. I'll explain once we're out of here."
Lyle approached them and said, "Now let's go find Michael."
After hurrying down the busy street, Jackson explained to his brother the plan of finding Jensa.
"You're an idiot," Jeremiah said flatly.
"Takes one to know one," Jackson retorted.
"This'll never work," he said, shaking his head. "The Medjai should not be messed with. Or have you forgotten what happened the night they attacked us? Guns? Swords? Blood? And lots of very angry men in black robes?"
"Of course I remember," Jackson said, "But so what? I'm not letting them get in my way. Jensa made a fool out of me and it's only fair I return the favor."
"But not before me," Lyle cut in, his voice suddenly deadlier than Jackson had heard so far. "I want that brat to pay for what she did. I don't care how long it takes. I've got all the time in the world."
He clutched one balled fist in his other hand and rubbed, as if aching to punch through a wall. Or, Jackson thought with a smirk, Jensa's pretty little face.
"I'm telling you, this won't work," Jeremiah said, beginning to look scared.
"Shut up. It'll work like a charm. I happen to know of the fondness Michael displays for the casbahs of Egypt. We'll find him easy enough."
They searched every casbah and found him within an hour. Lyle, of course, didn't join the search.
"Michael seeing me will ruin everything and then I will have to kill him before finding Jensa. And as much as killing that runt sounds like fun, I can't yet. He has to lead us to his little sis first," Lyle said, peering in through the window and seeing Michael at the bar.
"What's that look for?" Jackson asked, frowning at the disgusted look Lyle was making.
"Disgusting drunk of a man. Incredible wealth and all he does is drink all day. Money like that shouldn't be wasted."
"What exactly are your plans? Killing Jensa? Her brother? Both?"
"Who said anything about killing her now? She shouldn't be too hard to persuade when I threaten to kill Michael. For some reason, she loves that dope. She'll say her vows if Michael has a gun to his head."
"I like your way of thinking," Jackson said, conjuring up a mental image of Jensa and leering, which didn't go unnoticed by Lyle.
"Don't get any ideas, Jack. She's mine first. When I'm done you can have for however long, but give her back soon. I've got to have my pretty little wife by my side. Then she can clear the charges against me and we can live in wedded bliss."
"Will do," he said, heading inside the bar, taking one last look at Lyle, who disappeared to go get them a car.
Jackson's plan had been to get Michael drunk enough so that he wouldn't realize he'd be putting his little sister in jeopardy. There he was, drowning his sorrows in some whiskey. The bottle was nearly empty and there was another full one sitting next to him.
"Pay up," demanded the greasing looking bartender.
"Huh?" Michael slurred, squinting at him in the dark of the bar.
The bartender snatched the bottle away and shook it enticingly in front of Michael's nose. His bloodshot eyes followed it hungrily. "I said pay up or you can't have this."
"Oh." He then began digging through his pants and shirt pockets, but came up empty handed. The bartender snorted and walked away with the whiskey. "No wait!" he shouted. "Here," he said yanking off his wrist watch. "Take this. Real gold."
"Yeah right," huffed the bartender, twirling his thick mustache and staring at the watch doubtfully. "I've heard that before."
"Honest, see?" Michael bit down on the band and sure enough, little teeth marks were left behind.
Just as the bartender stepped up to claim the watch and hand over the whiskey, Jackson decided it was time to step in. He laid a hand roughly on Michael's wrist and smiled his most winning smile.
"Hold on there, buddy. Let me get that for you. No need to give up that nice watch. The rest is on me," he said, pulling out the money he had taken from Jeremiah earlier and slapping it onto the bar.
The bartender put the drink down, snatched up the coins hurriedly and shoved them in pouch at his belt before slithering away to tend to other customers.
Michael was a heavy drinker, but could never hold his liquor well. He kept passing out after each shot of whiskey Jeremiah poured him. Jackson tried his best to be discreet in his probing of the Medjai village.
"So, Michael, what's your sister up to these days? I haven't seen much of her lately."
"Who, Jensa?"
Jackson nodded, trying not laugh. "Only sister you got, pal," he said, slapping him on the back.
He lurched forward and nearly hit his head on the bar, but Jeremiah grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and yanked him back up. Michael tried to sip some more whiskey and completely missed his mouth, instead cuffing the glass rim just under his nostril. He gave the glass a funny look and turned back to Jackson.
"Did you say something about Jensa?"
"Uh, yeah."
"Oh. She's married ya know. You didn't stand a chance anyway. She's been gone on Bay ever since she met him."
Jackson shifted in his chair, feeling his anger stir, but he pushed it back down and said, "She's a Medjai now, eh? Imagine that. They live out in the middle of the desert, don't they?"
"Yep. She's in the middle of nowhere. All tucked away in her little oasis with her little stupid house and her little stupid husband," he said bitterly, slamming down his shot glass.
"Last I remember, Ardeth Bay wasn't so little," Jeremiah said under his breath, looking nervously at his brother.
It was his last chance to get revenge and he wasn't about to screw it up. "Well, you know something, Michael," Jackson began, putting on his best smile. "I don't want there to be any hard feelings between me and Jensa," he lied. "I'm glad she's found the right guy and I'd like to wish the happy couple well."
"That's big of you considering you were making goo goo eyes ever since you met her," Michael said dryly.
A nerve twitched just underneath Jackson's right eye. He cleared his throat. "Uh yeah. Yeah. So, do you think that'd be okay if I gave her my congratulations in person?" he asked slowly, sipping his drink and cutting his eyes down to the side in Michael's direction.
"Sure, I don't see why not. I haven't seen her in a while. Guess I could just pop in or something. You sure you wanna suffer that humiliation? I mean, after all, she flattened you with one punch," he said laughing.
Jackson had the urge to do some punching of his own, but hesitated. Whiskey was dribbling all down Michael's front and it was satisfying enough to see him making a fool out of himself.
"How about we get going then, eh Michael?"
"Sure, Jackson. I'm ready for a little family reunion."
"Sit there a second okay and we'll be right back to pick you up," Jackson said, standing.
"O-hic-kay," Michael said.
Jackson pulled his brother over to the side, but kept a watch on Michael out of the corner of his eye. "We'll tie him up once we get him to the car. Can you believe that drunk?"
"What car?" Jeremiah asked, ignoring Jackson's question.
"Doesn't matter. Anyway, we can't use the car out in the desert. We'd have to get it on board a boat at Giza Port and that'd be too much trouble. Arouse too much suspicion."
"So why do we need a car?" Jeremiah questioned, obviously still confused.
"Because, you idiot, we need to get to Giza Port and I'm not about to carry Michael all that way on foot seeing as how he's, at this moment, slipping to the floor in a drunken dead heap."
Just as Jackson said, Michael landed with a thud on the wooden floor. The shot glass popped from his hand and rolled away underneath a table full of poker players. He snored loudly with his mouth open. Jackson pushed his bowler up to scratch his forehead as he looked down at Michael.
"Well, looks like you'll have to carry him for a little anyway, but just to the car."
"Me? Why do I get stuck with him?" Jeremiah whined.
"Because I said so. Now get him."
Once they were outside, they met up with Lyle. Jackson laughed at his brother who was having a difficult time with Jensa's brother as he slung him over his shoulder. Michael's arm kept freely swinging and smacking him in the backside and he yelped every time.
"Yeah, it's real funny, Jack," snarled Jeremiah. "I'd like to see you try this and not get the creeps."
"Here comes Lyle," Jackson announced as two headlights appeared ahead of them.
"We all set?" he asked, eying them and the unconscious heap.
"Sure are. How about you? Did you get everything we need?"
"Yes," he said, patting three handguns on the seat next to him. "It's time to pay the happy couple a visit."
The directions Michael had given weren't precise as most of his words earlier in the casbah were incoherent, but they had enough to know what direction they needed to travel to. They brought Michael along to insure no one would thwart their plans once they met up with Jensa. No doubt, she would sacrifice herself to keep her brother from harm.
After reaching the other side of Giza Port, they commandeered a few camels and were on their way. Michael had only halfway come to, enough to sit on a camel. Jackson rode next to him and righted him if he tipped too far sideways. They couldn't lose their bargaining tool, well…except that there really was no bargain.
* * *
He jerked back into consciousness when he felt himself starting to fall over. Oh, how his head pounded! Furiously, he rubbed his hands over his face and found this very difficult to do. It felt like his hands were tied together. After blinking a few times under the bright sun, he stared at his hand in amazement.
"They are tied up!"
"Well, well! Look who's wakey wakey!" cried a voice next to him.
Michael jerked his head to the right and immediately regretted having done so as a fierce, throbbing ache resounded in his head. "What's going on?" he asked thickly. His tongue didn't seem to want to work.
"Don't you remember?" said the same voice.
He groggily looked around and was surprised to see Jackson Cravin riding next to him on a camel. Michael looked to the other side and saw Jackson's pansy of a brother, Jeremiah, also riding a camel.
"No…" he said slowly, confusion clouding his already foggy head. They were riding in the middle of the desert on camels and he was tied up. Jackson apparently noticed the confusion and answered Michael's unspoken question.
"Don't you remember, old buddy?" Jackson looked at him.
"Remember what?" he asked, suddenly feeling very uneasy. "Why am I tied up?"
Jackson ignored his second question. "I told you I wanted to give the happy couple all my blessings."
"What happy couple?"
"Jensa, of course. You were kind enough to tell me that was now married to none other than the chief of the Medjai and I wanted to give her my congratulations. Show her that there are no hard feelings since I made a grab for her myself, but the little tease, she was already spoken for!"
Michael heard the acid of his words and knew Jackson meant none of the congratulations he spoke of. "W—why don't I just tell Jensa for you?" he offered quickly. "Wouldn't that be easier if I just did it so you wouldn't have to ride all the way out there?"
A click right behind his ear shut his mouth. There was no mistaking that sound. There was a third party to this group other than the Cravin brothers.
"Because," hissed a voice behind him, "That would spoil the surprise."
A sinking feeling settled in the pit of Michael's stomach. He recognized that snake-like voice and slowly, he turned his head, coming face to face with someone he never expected to see again.
"Lyle."
"Long time no see, Michael."
"Wasn't long enough for me."
"The feeling's mutual, my friend."
"What's going on? What are you doing here? Why are the two of you with this sleaze?" Michael demanded angrily of the Cravins.
"We both have some personal problems with that sister of yours that we need to settle and we can't do that without her."
Michael's eyes widened. "You're going to kill Jensa," he whispered in horror.
Jackson applauded in mock praise. "Congratulations on finding your brain."
"Why?" he shouted.
"We're behind in our bills," Jackson said sarcastically.
"Lyle's paying you."
"Right again," said Lyle. "I couldn't very well go out there by myself either with all those whatever-their-called people running around."
"And you still think you can accomplish anything with adding just two people to the mix? I always thought you knew better than to go up against odds greater than yours. There are thousands of Medjai living in that village."
"That's where you come in," said Jackson.
"Hostages can be quite useful and we all know how much your sister cares about you."
"Thanks to the quiet little drink we had earlier, you revealed the location of the village. By the way, thank you for being such a big help," Jackson said, sneering.
"I'd suggest you get comfortable," said Lyle looking at him. "It'll be a while before we get there."
Michael slumped in his saddle. He rolled his head to look out into the empty desert. He stared hard at the endless sand, hoping to find the solution to his predicament, but there was absolutely nothing he could do. He prayed Jensa wouldn't give herself over to Lyle just to save his own sorry hide, but he knew his sister had a big heart and would do whatever she could to save his life. Michael's face was thunderous, though he was afraid.
What was he going to do?
A/N: Sorry that this took a while, but I'm glad it did because I wasn't really happy with how the chapter was going and I was able to work on it some more and it turned out much better. The end is in sight. Just a few more chapters to go and then I'm free. Legolas is cheering and ready for me to start on his story next. Thank you, Aulizia for always asking about the story and keeping me writing it. I'd have forgotten all about it if it weren't for you. Hugs!