Lieutenant Ashraf held in his hand a cellular device, which he had just stolen from that arrogant french journalist. That's the downside to living in an attraction like Cairo, he thought to himself, as he paced the room. You have to deal with the ignorance of tourism.
Ashraf stopped pacing, and flipped open the cellular device. "Of course," he said aloud in his native Arabic. "All in french."
He turned to the nearest guard. "See if we can get a french translator on the line," he demanded.
"Of course," the guard turned to leave.
"Do you really think the journalist has something to do with this?" asked another guard.
"I know he does," the Lieutenant sat in the nearest chair, tossing the phone on the table. "You should never trust a journalist. They are ruthless, doing anything at any means to get there story...even if it means fabrication."
"Indiya, what are you doing?" Robert was pulling her away from the door that she had just opened.
"Shhh," she turned around to hush the two men. She wasn't about to be caught.
Her mind had switched to military mode. It was clear that they were not going to be let go, and it was even more clear that the Egyptian Guard had no lead in the investigation. She wasn't about to let her mentor and others die, she was going to take action.
She stuck her head outside of the door, and came face to face with yet another member of the Egyptian guard. It seemed Lieutenant Ashraf wanted them watched closely. She put on a smile, and tried to act as polite as possible.
"Excuse me," she asked him in Arabic. "Do you think it would be possible if I could use the bathroom?"
The guard eyed her suspiciously for a moment. "No, I have strict orders to keep all three of you in this room."
"Please," she asked persistently. "I promise it wont take long."
The guard looked around for a few moments. "Let me radio-"
But before the guard could even pick up his radio, his vision was met with Indiya's fist. She was surprised that only one punch was needed, he hit the floor with a dull thud, and lay unconscious. She stepped out into the empty hallway, and grabbed the guards feet.
"Je...Je...Je ne peux-" André stuttered at the door.
"I can't believe you just did that," said Robert, who also appeared at the door.
"Well, believe it," she said, beginning to pull the guard inside the room. "Can someone please help?"
Robert stepped up and took one of the legs. Together they heaved the unconscious body into their temporary jail cell. Once he was in, Indiya motioned for Robert to shut the door, while she knelt down next to the man.
"May I ask why you did this?" said André.
"We need to get your phone back," she replied, pulling the radio off the guards belt.
"And may I ask, where did you learn to punch like that?" asked Robert.
"You didn't think I was just some book worm did you?" she looked up and gave him a smile. "The Air Force."
"Ah, no," André was now kneeling down, as well. "Don't tell me you are one of them patriots, are you?"
"No, it was just the cheap way to a college education," she laughed, fumbling with the radio.
"Now that is America," Robert replied with a laugh.
"So, explain yourself," André motioned to the guard.
"Well, they've got to radio him eventually to make sure we're still in the room, Right?" Indiya began. "We'll take the radio with us, so we'll know when they do so."
"Wait, take it with us?" André stepped in. "Where are we going."
"Out of this room, that's for sure," Indiya replied. "I don't know where their headquarters are exactly, but I know my way around-"
"I'm glad you're having fun with this and everything," André broke in again. "But we can't risk it."
"Stay here if you want," she said, standing up and walking to the door. "Are you coming?"
"Why not?" Replied Robert, walking to the door as well. The two of them exited the room, leaving behind a rather confused André. Indiya decided that their best bet would be to make a turn to the right. She'd passed many makeshift workstations when being ushered to the room. Ashraf was bound to be using one of them.
"Do you hear that?" Robert whispered. She did hear it. Light footsteps were coming down a hall behind them. She pulled Robert by his jacket sleeve, into the nearest room. It was a small restoration room, and lucky for her, the door didn't fit it's threshold so perfectly, leaving a crack for her to peer out of. She watched though the slit for someone to pass by. Robert was right next to her, pressing his ear to the door.
The footsteps became louder, and a figure passed the door way. Indiya waited for the footsteps to fade before she cracked the door open. She peered out into the hallway. The figure that had passed was now well past them. It was another member of Egyptian guard who seemed to be carrying rolls of maps. If only Zahi could see the museum now, she thought. Flooded with authority, and not History.
"We should follow him," Robert whispered to her.
"You're right," she replied, opening the door fully. She stepped out into the hallway, and Robert followed. They walked as silently as possible, side-by-side down the hall. It was smart to follow the guard. He was most likely carrying those maps by request, and the request was most like from the Lieutenant.
Indiya's attention split immediately as she heard fast footsteps approach from behind. She reacted on instinct, throwing her fist back. It collided with human flesh. She heard a familiar voice yell out in pain, and she turned.
"Merde," André was clutching his nose. It seemed he'd changed his mind about staying behind.
"Keep it down," Robert whispered.
Indiya looked for another room to enter, and found one not to far down the hall. She ushered for the two of them to follow her. After they were inside what looked to be like a large utility closet, she lashed out at the man she'd just punched in the face.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"No apology?" André asked, lowering his hand. His nose was already turning a light shade of purple, and had a small cut on the bridge.
"Serve's you right for sneaking up on us like that," she said, turning to look on the nearby shelves for a box of tissue.
"It was in best interest," he replied. "I thought about it, and figured that I should come along. Beside's, my phone is set in french."
"Vous n'avez pas la foi dans moi?" Indiya flashed a smile. She'd thought of the possibility, and knew she could have handled it. French was mandatory for an Egyptologist.
"Vous avez tenu hors sur moi," André replied.
"The last thing I need is criticism on my language skills," she said, resting her hand on a box of tissue. She opened it, and handed a piece to André.
"So, do you think you know where my phone is?" André asked, putting the tissue to his nose.
"Shit," Indiya exclaimed. "I forgot."
"Well, we were following a guard," said Robert.
"Not to worry," Indiya said. "We'll just go in the direction he went."
She rested her hand on the nob for a moment, pressing her ear to the door. When she heard no sound of movement, she opened the door, and stepped out, André and Robert followed. Picking up their previous path, they turned right. They walked the distance of the hall, to the next intersection. Indiya decided it was best to turn right, again. However, before they could do so, they were met with unpleasant noise of a radio.
"Khalid." The sound of the radio was like a hammer to glass in the silent hall.
The three of them jumped. Indiya forgot that she had taken the guard's radio with them. She held it out before her, not sure of what to do.
"Khalid, we just want to make sure everything is under control at your post."
The radio went silent for another moment. It's next statement, Indiya was sure, made her heart stop momentarily.
"We've gotten news that one of the kidnaped has been killed already."
Author's Note: Wow...definitely not a good chapter. I hope that you can somehow forgive me. I must confess, it's been a few weeks since I've written anything. It seems like every time I've had an urge to write something, I didn't have access to a computer. I finally sat down and let my fingers work. However, I somewhat lost the rhythm of the story. NOT TO WORRY, I promise I'll work on it by doing some more research and re-reading the chapters. So I hope this chapter doesn't discourage you from reading any further.
What I've been doing is reading a lot lately, trying to pick up some good writing skills. I know I have a problem with writing to much dialogue and not enough fill in between. Im working on it, I promise.
Also, another side note. I just read Digital Fortress (the last book of Dan Brown's that I haven't read) and to my great surprise...the last name of one of the characters (David Becker) just happened to be the last name I chose for one of mine (Indiya Becker). If I would have known this before, I would have chosen otherwise. I promise, there is no relation.
Thanks for reading, and reviewing!
