Favoured Friends
Part 44/51
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 Cari Loran ( carilorus@yahoo.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: Sunday, November 9, 2003
"Shhh!" Nigel hissed at Sydney's exclamation, glancing around surreptitiously to see if they'd been overheard. "I don't think we should tip our hand on this just yet," he muttered. "So far it's only a theory, and..." he glanced around again, "...I don't think some people need to know about it if you know what I mean."
Sydney nodded, realizing exactly what he meant and finding herself casting her own glance around the helicopter. No one seemed to be paying attention to them, being more concerned with preparing for take-off than eavesdropping. Lloyd had already slipped on a headset and seemed occupied with whatever conversation was coming over the radio. Across the way, Preston and Claudia were fumbling with their seatbelts, trying to buckle in before they became airborne. Sydney nonchalantly latched her own belt into place, noting Nigel start fishing around for his.
Over the noise of the helicopter engine and rhythmic whirling of the propeller, she could still make out the cracks and pings of gunfire echoing across the desert. *The Gural Nataz* ... somehow it just figured they'd be involved. They'd become the proverbial bad penny in her life, always turning up just when it seemed things couldn't get much worse.
And speaking of things turning up... How had Lloyd's truck-driving friend known where they were going to be? And how could he have set himself up as Campbell's driver before anyone even knew Campbell was involved? If they'd been tracking the plane via satellite, they might have been able to discern the landing site ahead of time, which would answer the first question... but as for the second... she could only hope it had been a last minute interception of the real driver, the alternative was disturbing.
As Shakespeare would have said, something was rotten in the state of Denmark.
Derek had obviously been sending information to his superiors, she expected nothing less. It was partly why she'd agreed to team up with him... the man had powerful connections. He must have told his superiors about Mer de Tueur before they'd left Egypt, causing them to dispatch a team to either lie in wait for the Viper or find Ichriem first.
She thought back to what seemed like months ago when Lloyd strolled into her hospital room. He'd wanted The Viper, that had been his initial assignment, she was certain. He hadn't known a thing about Ichriem, what it was, or even how much it was worth. But somewhere along the way he'd learned more about it, probably in intelligence messages from his associates who were monitoring the Gurel Nataz.
The underground cartel evidently wanted Ichriem more than she realized. They'd offered The Viper half-a-billion dollars to recover it, and after seeing the man gunned down before her eyes, she knew the news of his demise would travel quickly to his employers.
The whirling of the helicopter blades reached a fevered pitch and a surge of wind churned through the open fuselage, whipping through Sydney's hair and sending it into a fluttering tangle. With a lurch, the aircraft finally lifted off, gaining altitude until the sounds of gunfire faded into pleasant nothingness. Beside her, she could almost feel Nigel sigh in relief.
*Gunfire.* Sydney furrowed her brow as the thought sank in. Odd. Why had agents of the Gurel Nataz been hiding in wait along the road? For all they knew, The Viper could have been on board that truck and they'd have been shooting at their own soldier of fortune... The thought trailed off as suddenly she realized that had likely been their plan all along.
They'd been using The Viper.
There were times when the true irony of a situation just sat up and begged to be recognized, and this certainly qualified. After all the relics the old mercenary undoubtedly usurped over the years, he'd fallen victim to the same ploy. He'd been used as an unknowing pawn, doing all the dirty work, tracking down the artifact, and once they thought he'd gotten close enough the Gurel Nataz would smoothly take him out of the picture.
And Campbell was one of them.
He may have had some background in archeology, but he'd never been Artie's "trusted" dig assistant, it was all part of the story he and Amarja had told. Which Sydney suspected was the truth, only it hadn't happened to him, it'd happened to Reynold's real assistant. She remembered the photograph again with the blond-haired young man Amarja claimed was Campbell, and she knew whatever his name was, he'd likely been the genuine article. She wondered what had happened to him. And she couldn't help but wonder, not for the first time, what happened to Reynold.
Campbell had put on a good show in front of Amarja back at the airstrip, demanding the name of the buyer for her benefit, all part of the lie he'd told to make her betray Dr. Reynold. But when he'd shot his alleged lover through the throat, there'd hardly been a twitch in his façade. He'd probably planned on killing her all along… The same way he'd planned to kill The Viper, which was no doubt what he'd been sent to do.
The Gurel Nataz goon squad lurking along the road must have been Campbell's support team. When Campbell fell off the truck, a scout must have seen him, and recognizing him ranting and raving by the roadside, realized something had gone wrong. Thus had come the order to open fire.
Sydney leaned back against the lightly padded seat, turning her head to look behind her into the cockpit. Derek was sitting in the co-pilot's chair, headset on and eyes flicking over what appeared to be a flight chart. His posture was slightly slumped and his lips were pressed into a thin line of concentration. Overall, he looked completely exhausted. As she studied him, she felt, as she often did around him, that she'd encountered an enigma. There were moments when she couldn't decide if she wanted to slap him in the face or give him a kiss that he wouldn't soon forget.
Conversation was next to impossible without screaming, so she unlatched her seatbelt and twisted around in the seat. "Derek!" she hollered. He turned his head and gave her a tired smile, pulling the headset off for a moment.
"What?" he spoke in a raised voice to be heard.
"How long until we reach the island?"
"Not long," he shook his head, using his left hand to point at the chart in his lap. "It's less than 20 miles out."
She nodded. At that distance traveling by air, the trip would take fifteen to twenty minutes. "Got anything to eat when we get there?" She wasn't sure about anyone else, but she was famished, scarcely able to remember the last time she'd eaten.
"Probably," he confirmed. He suddenly looked inspired. "In the meantime," he rooted around a moment and pulled a box of breakfast cereal bars from beneath the seat. "Abraham loves these things, takes `em everywhere." He extracted one for himself and gave her the carton. "Pass them out back there." He paused momentarily. "And I don't think I need to tell you, but it's pretty late and it's been a bitch of a night. I think once we get there we should probably take a couple of hours to rest."
"You read my mind," she answered, giving him a smile and turning back around. It was the one of the best ideas she'd heard all day. Rest. The concept almost seemed as foreign as the land they now flew over. She hadn't had a restful night since Nigel was kidnapped, aside from her drug induced sleep in Cairo. She glanced at her assistant, noting how exhausted he appeared, and she felt a surge of compassion, knowing how much he'd been through and wondering how much more they still faced. It seemed hard to believe she'd only been reunited with him earlier that day. "Snack?" she offered the box of cereal bars to Nigel.
The young man stared at the box for a moment in surprise, then eagerly picked out a bar. "Wonderful!" he praised, already ripping off the wrapper as Sydney offered some to Preston and Claudia, who both accepted them with zeal. She took one for herself and leaned back against the seat once again.
They were over water now, and the salty aroma of ocean air filled the helicopter. Looking out, the moon reflected palely off the waves of the dark Atlantic, as though any attempt to truly light it was an effort in futility.
Sitting there watching the moonlight skip across the waves, listening to the whirling hum of the helicopter blades, and inhaling the rich scent of the ocean, Sydney could almost forget where she was. It was as if she could just close her eyes and she'd be somewhere else... another world far away where there was no such thing as the Gurel Nataz and Ichreim was only a pretty picture in a child's book of myths.
And looking away from the moonlit water, she rested her head against the back of the seat and closed her eyes.
End Part Forty-Four