Firstly, thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter – you are now my new favourite people.
Secondly, just to clear up any confusion, I've set this story around now-ish in an Egypt where Hamunaptra is real and a very long way from Cairo simply to make my own life easier. This way I'm allowed to use cell phones, jeans, credit cards, dialogue and various other bits and pieces which might not have been around in the 20's and 30's. I am aware this is very lazy and presumptuous of me…but if you knew me that wouldn't seem at all surprising. Therefore, if anything seems odd or out of place, just put it down to creative licence – unless it's really ridiculous, then feel free to point it out. I do however; promise to stay as true to the characters we all love as possible.
And I think that's about all. Thank you for sticking with me and encouraging me, I really do appreciate it.
Disclaimer: Rick is mine! Mine, mine, mine! Author wakes up, realises this is totally untrue and promptly bursts out crying Also, some of this dialogue is taken almost directly from It Happened One Night. I told you I'd seen that film!
Chapter 3: The Journey Begins…
If Evelyn hadn't been so determined to dislike the man walking several feet ahead of her, she would have admitted to being impressed that with the use of the security key she had taken from Ardeth, he had managed to get them out of the Carnahan building and into the city proper without being spotted by a single guard or employee of her brothers. Not that disliking him had stopped her from noticing how handsome he was – it was rather hard to miss.
She hadn't seen him properly at the airport, and the lighting in his cell had been very poor. In the bright light of the moon however, she could see how his golden brown hair seemed constantly to fall over his granite blue eyes, eyes that sparkled with a hidden intelligence. And that mouth…
"Stop it." Evelyn scolded herself for being caught up in such schoolgirl like notions. She was a happily engaged woman thank you very much!
"Stop what?"
Evelyn looked up to see that the very man she thought of was standing directly in front of her holding open a door, a quizzical look on his face. She hadn't realised that she'd spoken out loud.
"Erm…stop walking so fast?" The excuse sounded more like a question, as if asking if it was in anyway believable. In an attempt to improve her credibility she added, "I can't keep up."
He raised his eyebrow and for a moment she thought he would call her on her obvious lie, but instead he simply shrugged his shoulders with a muttered 'whatever' and a wince she was at a loss to explain. She was still trying to figure out why he seemed to be in pain as she preceded him through the door - not that she cared of course, she just didn't want him to slow her down – and as such, she didn't immediately realise he was speaking to her.
"…low profile. I'll get us the tickets."
"Pardon?" she asked, confusion evident in her voice. Tickets for what?
He rolled his eyes, clearly frustrated about having to repeat himself. "You stay here and try to keep a low profile, y'know, don't let anyone see you-"
"I know what keeping a low profile is." Evelyn snapped, irritated both by his patronising tone and her own absentmindedness. "And who do you think you are to tell me what to do?"
If he was affected by her outburst he didn't show it, continuing to speak as if nothing had happened "-and I'll go get our tickets."
It was only when Evelyn looked around at the masses of people surrounding her that she realised they were at the bus station. She must have been day dreaming more than she thought if she hadn't even noticed where he had been leading her.
"Oh." She spoke, mostly because she felt she should say something rather than act like the meek, well behaved female he obviously took her for. "Won't they get suspicious if you ask for two tickets when you're on your own with no bags?"
"I doubt they'll care enough to ask." He pointed out. "But if they do I'll just tell them my wife is waiting with the luggage."
"Wife?" Evelyn cried incredulously "I'm not your wife." Why the very idea was ridiculous, as if anyone would believe that she would marry this…this…ruffian!
She glared at him when he murmured a quiet "Thank God for that." And only nodded when he added in a louder voice "It's only for cover while we travel."
Taking her lack of response as acceptance, he had already begun to turn away from her when she called out to him. "By the way, what's your name?"
"What's that?" he asked, turning back to her with a puzzled frown.
"Who are you?" she was highly surprised that she hadn't bothered to ask so pertinent a question sooner. In all of the excitement it must have slipped her mind.
"Who? Me?" he grinned, teasing her.
Evelyn resisted the desire to point out how rude it was to answer a question with another question – she suspected he'd take it as incentive to do it all the more. "You have got a name haven't you?" she inquired with an annoyed huff.
"Yeah, I got a name." He replied at last "Rick O'Connell."
"Rick O'Connell." She repeated, testing it out before declaring, "I don't like it."
"Don't let it bother you." the man now identified as 'Rick', shrugged. He did that a lot she noticed. "You're giving it back to me when we get to Cairo." He had a point there.
"Pleased to meet you Mr O'Connell." Evelyn stated primly, offering her hand for him to shake. Rather than do that however, Rick took the dainty limb in his own larger hand and brushed a kiss across her knuckles.
"The pleasure is all mine, Mrs O'Connell." He chuckled when her eyes widened in indignation, and hurried away before she could think of a comeback.
"Oooh" she pouted, glaring at his retreating back. She didn't like the way that sounded, not at all!…
…Rick was still laughing quietly to himself as he joined the ticket line, finding himself pleasantly surprised at how much fun he was having, when all things considered; he should have been having the night from hell. He was on the run from the law, he was in deep trouble when Lock found out his money wasn't coming after all, and once the Carnahan security guys found both he and Evelyn missing, he was likely to be suspected of kidnapping. He'd even had to lift the lady's purse when she wasn't looking to pay for the tickets, and his shoulder hurt like hell. Despite all of this however, he was in an exceptionally good mood.
He put most of it down to the fact that this girl was so good to banter with. Where as most people of his acquaintance, both men and women, would take offence and either resort to throwing insults or punches, Evelyn gave as good as she got when he needled her. And the furious blush of her cheeks when he got the last word in was just so…
Rick quickly derailed that particular train of thought, guessing it could lead nowhere good. The woman was annoying, standoffish, and only interested in him as a means to an end. Theirs was a business arrangement and that was exactly how he wanted things to stay.
Still, he decided to later, when they reached Cairo perhaps, allow himself the luxury of wondering how things might have turned out had they met under different circumstances. Not now though, later…maybe. If there was one thing he needed to do on this trip, it was to let his brain do the thinking for a change – there was too much that could go wrong.
His new resolution fixed upon, Rick turned once more to the woman who occupied his thoughts. He felt a small smile struggle to make its way to his lips when he picked her out of the crowd and he shook his head. Rather than taking his advice to try and stay out of sight, she was stood exactly where he had left her, her arms folded across her chest, her head held high, and her foot tapping in a manner seeming more bored than nervous. Had she been looking in his direction, he was sure he would have seen an expression of smug defiance on her face. This girl was something else.
He was pulled from his thoughts by the nasal voice of the ticket clerk trying to get his attention. As he had expected, the harassed bus station employees had better things to think about than why he was alone and he had no trouble purchasing the tickets – he'd make a point NOT to tell Evelyn, the marriage thing was much funnier than his being right.
Fortunately, the next bus left in fifteen minutes and as he studied the schedule he was handed, he found they would be travelling through the night and making a stop sometime tomorrow afternoon, then another stop the next day. As long as nothing went wrong with the bus, they should be in Cairo by Thursday morning. Granted it was a lot longer than if they had been able to fly or if they didn't have to make stops, but it was the best they could hope for under the circumstances.
Pleased that at least travel arrangements were dealt with, he began to make his way back to Evelyn. When he saw her standing with her hands on her hips, sending him a look of death, he realised she must have noticed the missing purse. This was going to be an…interesting couple of days…
…Bob used to be good at his job, back in the days when he'd first started at Carnahan security working for the late Mr Carnahan. Now, more than twenty years later, when he'd seen more men come and go than he could count for various reasons, he was coming to accept that perhaps he was a little too old for such strenuous work. For this reason, whenever someone was needed to simply sit behind a desk, wait for a call, or generally take things easy, Bob was usually the first person to volunteer.
Therefore, it had come as little surprise to anyone that Bob had ended up with the responsibility of waiting at the security office for the police to show up and collect the prisoner while the rest of them went off to do 'more important work than babysitting'. Bob had had no problem with this assignment in the slightest – it should have been easy money.
Bob hadn't thought anyone would notice if he gave into the weight that seemed to be pressing down on his eyelids as the sun began to sink over the horizon. He was only going to have a quick nap; he'd hear anything out of the ordinary. Unfortunately for Bob, he underestimated his ability to sleep like the dead and as such, he was understandably panicked when he awoke two hours later to find the cell empty and his prisoner nowhere to be seen.
Well aware of his already tenuous position within the company, Bob was quick to decide not to inform his superiors of his little slip up. After calling the police to inform them that there was no need to collect a prisoner after all, Bob informed the men who arrived for the twilight shift that the police had done exactly that. It couldn't make that much difference he reasoned. The man they had been holding was only a small time thief and was likely of no significance. They'd probably never hear from him again…
…What Bob didn't realise of course was that Jonathan had bigger worries than the mistakes of his less competent employees.
"Gone! What do you mean gone!" He yelled at the men currently filling his office. All of them, except for the stoic as ever Ardeth, flinched at the ferocity of his tone and more than one man was worried for his job. It was no common occurrence to see the usually easygoing man in such a temper, so this time did not bode well. "Where is she?"
"We do not know where she has gone." Ardeth replied, his own voice calm. "She was in her room, and then she was not."
"Why the hell didn't you have a guard posted?" Jonathan demanded, trying to make sense of this mess. "Do you know how she got out?" It was so unlike Ardeth to leave anything to chance that he was having trouble believing that this wasn't some horrible nightmare he might wake up from.
"My security key is missing." Ardeth admitted, and had Jonathan not known better, he would have sworn that the man's cheeks were burning with a blend of fury and embarrassment. "I assume it was she who took it from me."
Jonathan raised his eyebrows in surprise but decided not to comment. As much as he would like to lay the blame for this turn of events in the lap of his chief of security, he knew doing so would make him the hypocrite he'd so despised in his father. He knew that the blame was as much his own, but that didn't mean he had to like it. With a heavy sigh he sunk into the overstuffed chair behind his desk, his head falling into his hands.
When several minutes had passed by in silence, Ardeth signalled for his men to leave with a wave of his hand, each of them filing out quickly without protest. Even when the last man had left, shutting the door behind him, Ardeth remained quiet, just watching and waiting. At last Jonathan spoke, his words muffled by his hands.
"It wasn't meant to happen like this." He explained, though he could as easily have been talking to himself as to Ardeth. "I was supposed to be the ne'er do well older brother, while Evy grew into a respectable lady. I was supposed to drink myself into an early grave without a care in the world, while she married a nice boy who would treat her right and keep them both out of the papers. Y'know, some bookish fellow who even I could put the fear of God into, let alone an army of security personnel."
Sitting up, dropping his hands to the arms of the chair, Jonathan once more lapsed into silence, yet still Ardeth did not speak. He could practically see the wheels turning in the other man's head now his moment of self pity was over, and Ardeth was reminded why this man was running one of the most successful business empires in Hamunaptra.
"Do what you have to, use whatever resources or people you need." He ordered at length. "She'll go to Imhotep, wherever the blighter is, so find him and you should find her."
"Sir." Ardeth nodded, but didn't turn away. He knew Jonathan wasn't finished.
"I suppose it goes without saying that I'd like her found before she finds him."
"It does." Ardeth replied.
"I'll send word to the papers that she's missing. That should help."
Ardeth nodded.
"Very well then." Jonathan concluded, leaning forward and making a grab for the phone on his desk. "Lets get to work."
Ardeth was not a man prone to talking for the sake of hearing his own voice. He said what needed to be said but more or less relied on action over words. Neither was he overly sentimental, or one for voicing his opinions when no one had asked for them. So it was that Jonathan had little explanation for what compelled Ardeth to voice his thoughts on the matter before simply getting on with his job.
"With all due respect sir," he began "Miss Carnahan is a grown woman. Should she not be able to make her own decisions and be allowed to take care of herself?"
Jonathan seemed to consider this before answering, but he did not put down the phone. He was likely more surprised than actually unable to come up with a response immediately. "She is a grown woman." He agreed "But she's a grown woman who has had everything done for her, who has never been anywhere without someone looking over her shoulder whether she knew it or not. She's never even set foot outside of Hamunaptra since our parents died. I scarcely think she's capable of surviving five minutes out there on her own."
Ardeth made only the briefest of replies before leaving to do as he had been instructed, but what he did say had Jonathan staring at the space where he had been for quite sometime.
"Maybe she'll find a friend."
Jonathan wasn't sure whether the idea gave him a greater sense of hope or of fear…
… "So, are you going to tell me why you're so desperate to get out of Hamunaptra?"
"No."
"Okay…gonna tell me what's so special in Cairo that you have to get there?"
"No."
"It's that guy I saw you with at the airport isn't it?"
"That's none of you're business!"
"I'll take that as a yes then."
"Oooh!"
"Good comeback."
"You are without a doubt, the most insufferable man I've ever met." Evelyn declared much to the amusement of the man in question who simply smiled.
"I try." He informed her.
Evelyn, who was finally feeling the effects of her very long day, was too tired and agitated to bother retorting. Instead, she let out a ladylike 'humph' and turned her face towards the window of the bus, watching buildings pass by in a blur. First he steals her purse, then he asks relentless questions about her private affairs – this man was simply too aggravating for words and she was seriously beginning to regret her decision to ask for his help.
"Look," Rick continued when she had remained mute long enough for him to feel slightly guilty about upsetting her (the feeling was itself a highly confusing one that he declined analysing), his tone becoming softer "it's going to be a long trip. I just figure things will go more smoothly if we're honest with each other." It wasn't an apology he reasoned, but at least it was something of an explanation.
At first Rick thought she was going to ignore him, but after a moments hesitation, he heard her sigh, though she didn't shift her gaze from the window. "He's my fiancé."
Rick was taken aback by that revelation, having not picked up a newspaper in the last few days, nor had he noticed a ring on her finger. Before he could voice either point, Evelyn continued.
"My brother hates him. They've had a few…disagreements you see. He doesn't want me anywhere near Imhotep." She chuckled humourlessly "Even had me locked in my room to keep us apart."
Rick snorted. "Jonathan Carnahan doesn't really seem like the kind of man who should be criticising other people's relationship choices." There was rarely a week went by where the notorious businessman wasn't in the news connected with some new scandal. The last time had been the affair with Senator Haffez's wife. Not that Rick could recall anything particularly flattering about Imhotep either, though he thought best not to mention that little detail.
Evelyn did turn to him then, the barest of smiles visible on her lips. "My sentiments exactly."
Rick found himself involuntarily returning her smile, and as curious as he was about the exact details surrounding her sudden desire to flee, he didn't want to risk this tentative…something…that had developed over the last few minutes, so held his tongue. Evelyn turned away again, and when he heard her breathing evening out, he assumed she had fallen asleep.
Leaning back in his own seat, Rick ran the events of the last few hours through in his head. He had little doubt that come morning, they would be back at each other's throats with her driving him insane. For now however, while he wouldn't call them friends, they weren't enemies either. With that oddly pleasant thought in mind, Rick closed his eyes, blocking out the pain in his shoulder, and soon joined his travel companion in getting some much needed sleep…
…On the other side of the Nile at the Cairo Airstrip, Imhotep was dismounting the plane after a very long flight, and was blissfully ignorant of the pains his fiancée was taking for them to be reunited. Even if he had known, it is hard to predict what his reaction might have been since his attention was currently focused on one thing only…make that one person.
He spotted her across the airport lounge looking ravishing in a long black dress which both flowed over, and clung to her womanly curves. She raised her hand to beckon him over, even that tiny movement incredibly seductive, and Imhotep was as powerless as ever to resist her. He went willingly into her open arms, and at that moment in time he didn't care why she had called him all the way to Cairo, he didn't care that he was engaged, and he certainly didn't care to check what was actually in the bag that the thief had dropped back in Hamunaptra. Instead, the mystery bag, as well as his own luggage and any inhibitions he may have had left, lay forgotten at his feet…
TBC…
Sorry not much happened there, but I was trying to get some stuff out of the way because the next chapter should be quite Rick/Evy centred. Hope you're all still with me and once again I thank you for reading and ask that you review and let me know what you think. It makes me write quicker I've noticed!
KTx
