Chapter 6: Restricted Love

Jenny, Jonathan, and Rick checked into two separate rooms. While Jenny and Jonathan went up to their room, Rick started checking times for tours of the Pyramids. He went to the front desk and the receptionist gave him a note from the man.

Dear Mr. O'Connell,

You will join the 7 a.m. tour and will leave the restricted section when I tell you. You will have 10 minutes with your wife then I must tell you some important information about myself. You will learn who I am and why I am doing this. Then your wife will come back in and give you the instructions that I told you about in our last meeting. So far I am happy with your conduct but make one move to call the cops or become late in an appointment that are in my instructions and your wife will no longer exist. I hope to see you at 7:30 a.m. exactly tomorrow.

Sincerely,

No One

Rick made his way up to Jonathan and Jenny's room and knocked on the door. Jenny opened the door wearing nothing but a bath towel and Rick was hoping that Jonathan had some clothes on because he walked into the room. Jonathan was sitting at the table to the left of the door way drinking what looked like coffee.

"Why are you in a towel?" Rick asked think that it was odd since the man had allowed her and Evy to take showers.

"I had to take a shower. I hadn't had my shower for today because that guy got us up early and told us that we had to be here to meet you so I just put some clothes on and walked out the door with him." Jenny ran into the bedroom and put her clothes on while Rick went over to talk to Jonathan.

"I got another letter from this guy. I have to go to a restricted place at a museum as you know and I'm allowed 10 minutes with Evy. The man will come back after 10 minutes and tell me who he is and why he's doing this. Evy will give me his next set of instructions and then I have to leave. Is there anything you want me to tell Evy while I have time to?" Rick looked back and forth, from Jenny to Jonathan.

"Tell her that I love her and hope she's being treated with respect." Jonathan said worrying about his sister more and more.

"You tell her for me that I want to see her back in your arms or I will come after her myself." Jenny said smiling at Rick.

"Alright. Is that what you really want me to tell her?"

"Yes. I am totally serious. I want her back just as much as you do. Maybe a little less seeing that she's your wife and all but she's still my friend."

"Alright. I'll tell her what both of you said. Mean while is there anything I can get you from the market? I want to go there and pick up some clothing for myself."

"You have plenty of clothing. Why would you want to go by more?" Jonathan wasn't really connecting with the reasons that Rick had.

"I want to get more clothes because I think we're going to be here longer than I packed for. I don't want to waist time with this guy by going and doing my laundry so I figured the easiest way is to get more clothes."

"You got a point there. I don't need anything because I bought everything that I needed when you left me at the market before you came here."

"I need some female things. Is it ok if I go with you?"

"I guess you can. It's not like I'm going to meet this guy there. I guess I'll go to my room and get the money. I'll meet you in the lobby again."

Rick ran to his room to pick up the money then went down to the lobby. He met Jenny down there and they went to the market place down the street from the hotel. Jenny went in one direction while Rick moved toward the clothing area. He had picked up a couple of Egyptian outfits and then went to find Jenny. As he moved toward the shop area Jenny came running at him.

"What's wrong with you?" Rick said in a shocked voice. There wasn't much that Jenny would run away from so this had to be something serious.

"I saw him. He was at the shop I was going to. Evy was with him. I didn't want to make a move because I know how this guy thinks and he wouldn't like it to see me again. So I ran to find you."

"What do you want me to do? All I can do is wait like you. If I make a move to grab Evy, he'll hurt her. Just go back and buy what you need. If he is still there try to stay out of sight."

Jenny took Rick's advice and went back to buy her supplies. When she entered the store again the man was gone. She came back out and outside of the shop Rick was waiting for her.

"Did you get what you needed?" Rick asked scaring her.

"Yes. I didn't see you there. Why are you hiding?"

"I'm not. I'm just waiting to see if the man comes back. If he did I would have gone in and told you."

Rick and Jenny made their way back to the hotel and met Jonathan at the lounge. They had supper then went back up to their rooms and said goodnight. Rick went into his room and set his alarm clock for 6:00 a.m. He wanted to make sure to get up in time to make it to breakfast then go to this tour to meet Evy and the man that was holding her. When the alarm went off Rick immediately got up and ready. He went down to the lounge to get some breakfast and when he was done it was only 6:10 so he decided to look around the hotel. He had been 15 minutes into his walk around when he found a store in the hotel. He thought that it had been stupid to travel 5 blocks away when the hotel had a store in it. Then he gave himself some credit and told himself that he didn't know because he hadn't had time to look around the hotel. The walk took a total of 25 minutes and Rick ran out of the hotel to catch a cab to the pyramids. He sat in the cab for what seemed like forever. The ride took 20 minutes and when he got out he had just caught the tour group. The tour went on for 15 minutes and then they boarded the bus. No one had noticed that they had an extra person on the bus so Rick was able to sit back and relax. When they had reached the museum it was 7:29 and Rick had 1 minute to find the building. It actually took him only 5 seconds to find it and he snuck in. He had 55 seconds to get to where Evy and the guy were. He had to travel down a couple flights of stairs and then found the man standing beside Evy talking to her.

"Ah Mr. O'Connell you made it. I was just saying to your wife that you might not get to see her because it is now 7:30 and you hadn't made it yet. I will stay to my side of the deal and allow 10 minutes with your wife." The man left Evy and Rick to their business.

Evy ran to Rick and threw her arms around his neck kissing him. She didn't stop kissing him even when he would try and pull away to talk to her. She finally stopped kissing him and wrapped her arms around his midsection. She gave him a hug so big that it almost crushed his ribs.

"How are you? Has he been treating you ok? Has he been feeding you?" Rick bombarded her with all kinds of questions.

"Rick your going to need to slow down with the questions. First, I'm fine. Second, he's been extremely nice to me and third I have eaten more then my share of food."

"Alright, I'll admit that I am going a little fast but it's only because I've worried about you ever since I read the note that you had left for Egypt. I've had problems thinking about anything but you since that incident. Now that I have you in front of me I can't help but hit you with all these questions that have been running through my mind."

"I know but I can only answer so many questions at one time and I can only answer questions about certain things. He won't allow me to talk about him so I can't tell you anything about him."

"He said he was going to do that when our 10 minutes was up. I will learn his name and why he's done this." Rick hadn't realized that 5 minutes was already up and he only had 5 more to enjoy his time with her. They hugged and kissed again then Rick remembered what Jenny and Jonathan wanted him to tell her. "By the way, Jenny says that you better come back in my arms or she'll come after you herself and Jonathan said that he misses you and wants to know if this guy is treating you good. Since you have already told me that I can tell them how you are."

"Tell Jenny that if she is willing to risk her life that much then go ahead. Even though he's nice I don't really like being away from the family. I have to go now. I love you Rick."

"I love you too." Evy walked away and the man came back standing in the shadows.

"Alright. It is now my turn to talk to you. You may not remember me but you do know me. I will get to my name when it is time for you to leave for now I will tell you why I am doing this. I do not expect money out of this, Mr. O'Connell so don't worry about ransom. I am doing this because out of all the people that I have fought against, you were the only one worth fighting. You had the spirit and will to live and yet you took the most dangerous assignments that you could find. If that hadn't been the case I guess none of this would have happened. I wanted to meet the man that survived the war. I wanted to see you face to face instead of seeing you behind a bush. You nearly killed me in the fields out there. I left that day with nothing but scars and my life changed. After I arrived home, my daughters had been taken from me by my wife and she left me because she thought I was being to reckless in my life. Not even my family wanted anything to do with me so I cooped myself up in Egypt. That was until I heard the news that you made it home and past all the anti-aircraft fire that was going on. I knew that I had to find you and get even. I don't plan to kill you or your wife but I hope to make your life a living hell just as mine has been. I figured that if I took your wife you would fall apart slowly and eventually kill yourself. I guess I was wrong and I guess you are a god because you seem to be living without her just fine. Since my plan has failed you will get another set of instructions. The decision you make after that will make your future." The man started to walk away when Rick stopped him.

"Who are you? What is your name?" Rick pulled him into the light and saw for the first time the scars that the man had been talking about. From his left ear, across his cheek, and then back up to his eye was a scar from what looked like a knife. The next scars that Rick saw was more like a burn then anything else. His right side had been scared from the bottom of his eye to his chin. Rick finally recognized the man. His name was Joshua Paris. Rick had met him only once and then the end. Rick was in a field as Joshua had said when he saw him. Joshua was marching toward him with his rife pointed at Rick. Rick started to run toward him and ducked just in time before a bullet hit him in the head. Rick came up from the ground and managed to hit Joshua with is knife that was on the end of his rife, from ear to eye. Joshua dropped to the ground and a mine went off 2 feet from him. The grass that was dead caught fire and burned straight to where Rick stood over Joshua. Rick ran from the spot and left Joshua to die but he didn't. It was true that Joshua was hit by the flames but managed to make his way back to camp. Rick stood there looking at him for awhile when words finally hit him. "I thought you were dead. That whole field caught fire that day."

"Yes it did. You left me there to die instead of trying to help me to safety. You could have pulled me off the field at least but no you left me to burn. For that I have stolen your wife and plan to make you feel worse then I felt that day." With those words ringing in Rick's ears, Joshua left. Evy came back and gave Rick the note and a final kiss good bye.

Rick left feeling twice as bad and feeling more worried about Evy. He got another cab and went back to the hotel. He went up to his room, flopped on the bed and read the note.

Dear Mr. O'Connell,

Our game is near it's end. By now you know who I am and you know that I want to get even with you for all that has happened to me. You will meet me and your wife at the dock tomorrow at 5 p.m. Again do not be late or misfortune will come to you. There you and your wife will decide your fates. I await you there.

Sincerely,

Joshua Paris