Chapter 11 Alex and Sarah in danger

A/N: Oh God I know, it took me soooo much time to update. I want to thank everybody who reviewed, it really helped me keeping this up. And now I finally posted another chapter and the next one will follow more quickly this time, I promise. I'm very sorry that it isn't beta readed so there will be a lot of mistakes I guess. If you want to be my beta reader, write me an mail, I would be very pleased. And now on with the story. Alex and Sarah are safe… but for how long?

Ardeth Bay stared into the desert which laid in front of him and then his look wandered back to the two sleeping children. Sarah rested on his coat which he had laid out on the sand and was soundly asleep. Alex leaned against an rock, his face covered with dried tears.

He sighed, he felt great pity for the young boy who had gone through so much shit. But worst of all was that he had never been able to show his pain and despair to anyone during all of this years. He'd always wanted to be the strong and brave one, he'd tried so hard to replace his father to support his mother and his sister. Alex had always been more ripe and reasonable than other boys his age but now Ardeth felt like talking to an adult instead of an 13teen years old kid.

Alex had told him the whole story, the whole shit that had happened to them. To his family, to his parents and to himself. Ardeth couldn't help but felt disappointed. He'd always thought that the O'Connell would be a saint family, one that was unbreakable. And now he had to see that one thing, an accident to be exactly, could destroy even the strongest family in the world. But he understood Evelyn and Rick, he knew very good what it meant to lose someone you love very much. But what disturbed him a lot was that the children had suffered so much. He liked Alex so much, it had been him after all who had saved the earth from Immuteph by taking the bracelet of Anubis. He was smart and clever, this he had from his mother. And he was brave and strong, that he had from his father. Not to forget Sarah. She was such a cute little person, with eyes glittering full of innocence and hope.

She hadn't talked much this evening. She had just listened to her brother and sometimes she'd nodded in agreement. Well, but it seemed like she would agree to everything her brother said.

He sighed again. It was a cold and windy night and he hated the fact that he hadn't been able to offer the kids somewhere more comfortable and warm. Now they had to sleep here with him, in his small tent. But better than being with this strange friend Alex had spoke about. He didn't think that this man was someone that could be trusted and that he didn't seem to look for the children after they've gone away with him made him even more suspicious. Tomorrow in the morning he would sent someone to Cairo, to tell the police that Alex and Sarah had been found and that they were okay. Ardeth was sure that their parents were out of their mind, not knowing where their beloved children are. And then he would sent Luku back into the desert with the promise that he would follow him soon, and he would take the kids to bring them back to Evelyn and Rick. He would also take that chance to yell at both of them a little bit for giving their children such a hard time. Sure, what happened was terrible for everyone, but hey.. they were parents now and they had to look after Alex's and Sarah's feelings too.

Suddenly he heard something strange coming from the outside. It sounded like steps. Usually it's hard to hear someone appearing from behind when he walks on sand but Ardeth had a good ear for these kind of things. He stood up and reached for his sword. Sarah woke up, too and rubbed her small eyes tiredly. Ardeth knelt down to her and then he laid his finger on her mouth to show to be quiet. She nodded slightly. And then he left the tent. Silence fell upon the tent and Sarah suddenly felt very frightened and softly shook her brother to wake him.

Alex sat up startled and stared at her with wide eyes. "What? Why"? He needed a few seconds to realize that he wasn't in his bed but deep in the desert stuck in a mission that had gone completely wrong. He looked at Sarah questioning and rubbed his eyes.

"What's going on Little one"? He asked loudly and Sarah quickly placed her hand over his mouth.

"Shh…", she whispered. "Ardeth has gone outside, I think someone is there. He told me to be quiet… do you think it's getting dangerous"? She asked and her eyes began to shine at the thought of experiencing an real adventure before going back to their parents.

Alex shrugged his shoulders and stood up. He surely wasn't longing for any more adventures now. He was finished and just wanted to sleep. All of sudden there was loud yelling outside.

He quickly crept out of the tent and then he stopped abruptly. There was David, his Dad's friend, but he wasn't alone. He had three masked men with him who pointed their guns at a quite confused Ardeth. "What's going on? What're you doing David here?"

Sarah came out, too and her brother shoved her behind his back to protect her. She looked at David confused. "David? Why do you yell at Ardeth Bay? He's a friend of us and he's a friend of our Daddy. Just like you", she said.

David Luis groaned, he was so fed up with her constant babbling. "Shut up fleabag! I don't give a shit about him being a friend of your damn Daddy. So would you please shut your mouth"!

Alex stared at him angrily. He had known that something was wrong with this guy. And now he acted like a real asshole even if he had told them that he was their friend. "Stop talking to my sister like this. And stop swearing or don't you have manners"?

The men laughed loudly and the sound made his blood freeze in his veins. David just shook his head, ignoring him and turned back to Ardeth. "See… I don't want to make any trouble. But fact is that these kids belong to me, I found them first. I don't know what you intend to do with them and to be honest I don't care. If you don't mind I'll just take them and you continue to do.. well whatever you're guys doing", he said.

Ardeth was now getting angry with this idiot. "I do mind! Alex and Sarah belong to no one but to their parents. And I intend to bring them back to them".

Alex nodded quickly and stepped closer to him. "We want to go home now David. It was really nice of you to help us but I don't think that this thing would work. You can come with us if you like, I'm sure that my Dad will be pleased to see you again… well, as long as you're really a friend of him", Alex said and looked askance at him.

David laughed. "What a clever boy. I really wondered why you did trust me and why you never asked questions. But I guess you're not that smart after all. No.. I'm of course no friend of your father. In fact I hate him… I hate him more than anything else in the world. And I would love to see him dead, ya know. And when I met you two I knew that my chance had come. But then I had an even better idea than killing him… I kidnapped his children. This will pain him much more. And now I intend to go back to Cairo to hide you somewhere nobody will ever find you and than I tell him that you're dead. God, this will be a pleasure. Have you any idea how much this is going to make him suffer?"

He grinned from one ear to another, already imagining what it would be like to see Rick's face. Alex face paled and his eyes went wide. He had known that David was trouble but he hadn't realized that it would be like this. He mentally slapped himself for being such a stupid fool, for being so naïve. By doing this he hadn't only brought his life in danger but this of his sister too.

Sarah was still young and she didn't understand how David plan actually worked but she knew that it would be no fun. Alex glanced up to Ardeth hoping that he would save them. But then he remembered the gunmen and his hope sank, even Ardeth Bay wasn't strong enough to beat four men at once.

David snapped his fingers and suddenly a man came up from behind and grabbed Sarah. Alex whirled around but he wasn't fast enough to hold her. "No", he yelled. "Let her go"! Pure fear flooded through him when he saw his little sister in the hands of these bastards. The man held her very tightly and pointed his gun at her head which made her cry. Little tears ran over her cheeks and she looked at Alex searching desperately for help. But her brother was helpless too just like Ardeth who watched this with wide eyes. A minute before he had thought that maybe he was able to bring them all down but now an attack was impossible. It would endanger Sarah's life.

"Ardeth Bay.. Alex. One wrong move and she'll die. Do you understand?"

Both of them nodded quickly. David looked at one of his men.

"Snake… you take care of this desert guy", he said and there was no doubt what he meant with 'taking care of'.

Then he turned back to Alex. "And you little brat. You stay quiet and make no trouble, alright? If you do I'll hurt your sister, copy that?"

Alex nodded quickly, his heart beating madly at the thought of Ardeth being killed because of him and his stupid ideas. But he was helpless, all he could do was to try to save at least his sister's life. "I promise I'll make no trouble but please would you let her down and please remove the gun. She's so scared don't you see that. You can point that damn thing at my head but not at hers.. she so little", he said and while talking he got more and more aggressive. God how could this man do this? What were his motives? What was that all about? For Alex it was like awaking from a dream. He had followed this strange man without thinking, without considering the consequences. Usually he was very reasonable, he was thinking quite rational and logical and he was very thoughtful about everything he did. But this whole thing with his Dad seemed to have put him into some kind of trance. A trance that made him trust any jerk like a blind fool. That made him put his life and that of her sister in great danger.

David looked at him and then at Sarah who cried so desperately that it even disturbed him a little. He groaned quietly and nodded. "Let her down", he muttered. The man let go of Sarah and the little girl ran over to her brother as fast as she could. He wrapped his arms around her trembling body and stroke her back while she sobbed. God, she was so scared. Seeing her like this made Alex even angrier. And he swore to himself that he would find a way to get his sister out of this shit.

But for now he decided to keep calm and stay quiet. He grabbed Sarah's hand and then he followed David while Ardeth watched them in fear. "Don't not be frightened my son! I'll find a way to sort things out", he quickly yelled and the boy turned around once more.

David didn't like to see this. He snapped his fingers and a man pushed Ardeth very rudely back into the tent. Then he looked at Alex. "Don't get your hopes up, the second we're gone my man will kill your friend. No one is going to help you. Your life is in my hands. Sounds good, right"?

Alex stared at him frantically and then he walked further without responding. No, he wouldn't let this man hurt his sister or himself, he would show him what it meant to trouble with the O'Connell family. He still had to think of something to do but he was sure that his creative and smart mind wouldn't leave him this time. He grabbed Sarah's hand and squeezed it slightly and so quietly David couldn't hear he said: " Don't worry Sarah.. everything is going to be okay. He's going to get what he deserves, no one is going to hurt you… not as long as I'm still around".

His sister looked up and a small smile appeared upon her lips.

Back in the tent:

Ardeth watched the kids disappear and it scared him. No they were all alone and he couldn't help them anymore. He knew that Alex was a smart and brave kid but would it help? Suddenly David's man turned around and pointed the gun at Ardeth's chest. Just now he realized that he had trouble himself that he had to take care of.

"They're gone. Time for you to die Desert Freak", the man said and grinned widely.

Ardeth already wanted to close his eyes, anticipating the shot but then he spotted Luku. The boy was still young, nearly 17 and while his fighting skills were already impressive, e still had to chance against a man with a gun. But that didn't seem to bother him. With a loud scream he lunged forward and grabbed the man's neck from behind. Ardeth jumped forward too, wanting to help him but the there was a shot that resounded through the quiet desert. Luku stopped and stared in shock at Ardeth Bay who was slowly sinking into the already bloody sand.

A/N: And now what will happen to Alex and Sarah? Ardeth Bay dead? Review if you want to find out! 