Favoured Friends

Part 2/?

Summary: An invitation to the National Egyptology Conference quickly becomes deadly race for the mythic Ichriem against an old rival of Sydney's - the assassin known only as 'the Viper'.

Note: This is a round robin originally posted at the Relic Hunter Yahoo Group. Although I'm posting it, I did not write the entire thing. This part was written by me, Trinity Day (trinityday@hotmail.com)

Also, I have Support Services. That means that, if you want, you can put me on Author Alert and receive notice when other stories of mine are posted, even if you haven't paid yourself.

Posted: Monday, June 24, 2002

Nigel had just about finished unpacking when the knock on the door came. He hung up his tuxedo in the mini-closet in his room and went to see who was there.

"Hey, Nigel," Sydney said, flashing him a smile. The way she looked, one would think she had spent the last five hours getting ready instead of being on a cramped airplane and in a sticky, sweaty, crowded airport, trying to deal with stubborn airport officials. "You ready?"

"Sure," he said, although he would have killed for the chance to have a shower. Considering how much travelling he had done, he should have been used to it by now, but he wasn't. How Sydney could do it and still look like a million dollars was beyond him. "Let me just grab my keys."

He picked his wallet and the keys to the hotel room off the dresser and followed Sydney out of the room, checking the doorknob out of habit to make sure it was locked.

Several of the hotel's rooms had been devoted to the convention. The one they entered now had been colourfully called "The Ballroom" and it was already filled with people. Either the people there didn't believe in being fashionably late, or the reception had started a lot earlier and the fashionably late had already arrived.

"Sydney!" The delighted exclamation came from a dark-haired man in his mid-thirties. He came towards them with outstretched arms, a wineglass in one hand.

"Cal?" Sydney wondered aloud. "Is that you?"

"In the flesh," he answered. Sydney flung her arms around him.

"I can't believe it!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like I'm doing here?" he retorted. "I'm attending the National Egyptology Conference."

Sydney rolled her eyes. "I mean what are you doing *here*? I haven't seen you in years."

"I've taken up a teaching post over at the University of Ottawa. Since I was so close, I was invited to attend."

"Ottawa?" Sydney asked, but Cal didn't get a chance to answer.

Up until this point, Nigel had been standing there, feeling rather uncomfortable. He had the feeling that unless he brought some attention to himself, he would be forced to witness their reunion for the rest of the night. So he cleared his throat.

Glancing over at him, Sydney stepped away from Cal. "Cal, this is my research assistant, Nigel Bailey. Nigel, this is Cal Quinn, an old friend of mine."

Nigel forced a smile. "Pleasure to meet you," he said.

"Likewise," Cal said, but he seemed distracted. "Syd, there's something I want to show you. Come with me."

Grabbing her by the arm, he pulled her away and into the milling crowd. Before Nigel even knew what had happened, he was all alone.

"Great," he muttered. "Perfect."

One of the servers came by, offering him a glass of wine. Nigel declined with a shake of his head and she disappeared again. There were dozens, maybe hundreds of people around, but Nigel still felt left out. They all seemed to know each other, while he didn't know any of them.

He was startled when somebody tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and saw a young woman with dark brown hair staring at him. She gave the impression of a timid mouse and was biting her lip nervously.

"Excuse me," she said in a soft voice. "Was that Sydney Fox you were with?"

"Yes," Nigel said suspiciously. "Why?"

"I need her help. It's very important. It's about - " she broke off, looking fearfully at something beyond Nigel's shoulder. Nigel turned around to see what was scaring her and saw a security guard watching them closely, talking into his walkie-talkie.

"Here," she said, pressing a piece of paper into his hand before scampering off.

The security guard started after her, but since she had gotten a good head start and he wasn't hurrying so that he wouldn't alarm any of the guests, Nigel doubted he would catch her.

What had that been about?

End Part Two