THE SAHARA - 1925

We all sat upon a ridge and watched as two hundred French Foreign Legionnaires scurried through the ruins of Hamunaptra, preparing for onslaught. We watched the fight as the Legionnaires were all killed brutely before only one was left alive. I held my breath and looked down as a hand was placed over mine on the reigns. I sighed in relief when they left the man alive and I breathed a lot easier when the man left the city. He suddenly stopped and looked up at us before turning back to stagger into the open desert.

CAIRO

Cairo prisons were one of the worst hell holes on earth. Every low-life form of scumbag could be found here. The Warden, a first rate scumbag himself, escorted me across the gallows courtyard to the visitors station.

"You know, we normally don't allow women in here." he told me.

"He's my idiot brother, I assume that's why I was made a special case." I said walking behind him.

"That and your note from a very profitable friend." he told me and a small smile graced my lips.

"Just don't forget your job and you will get payed." I told him.

"I wont." he told me smiling with his green teeth showing. I made a disgusted face and looked straight ahead as we walked.

The Warden ushers me into the holding pen and I could hear the guards coming down a hall with him.

"What is he in prison for?" I asked the Warden.

"I did not know, so when I heard you were coming, I asked him that myself." he told me.

"And what did he say?" I asked.

"He said... he was just looking for a good time." he said as the cell door burst open with my brother in chain being drug by four guards. They shoved him up to the cell bars that separated us and his looks hadn't improved. Half his face was hidden by long hair, a scraggly beard and many bruises that were in various stages of healing.

"Leave us." I order and the Warden left. Rick's eyes widened at him following my orders.

"You made yourself a very important friend didn't you?" he asked me and I glared at him.

"What did you do this time?" I asked him. "And don't tell me you were just looking for a good time." I said and he shut his open mouth. I heard the door behind me open and turned to see a woman and a man dressed in white in contrast to my black. I saw Rick give them both a the once over out of the corner of my eye.

"So who's the broad?" Rick asked and I gave him a look.

"Broad?!" the woman asked shocked.

"She's my sister, actually." the man told us.

"Yeah? Well,... I'm sure she's not a total loss." Rick said and the woman looked stunned and furious while I gave Rick another look. I gave a look to the Warden and he headed out the door.

"I'll be back in a moment." The Warden said to us.

"I tremble with anticipation." Rick said sarcastically and a guard clubbed him across the head making my brother's face bounce off the metal bars. He showed no pain, but he did throw a nasty look at the guard.

"We uh,... found... your puzzle box, and we've come to ask you about it." she said and I looked at her curiously.

"No." he told her.

"No?" she asked.

"No... You came to ask me about Hamunaptra." My eyes widened slightly and I looked between the two of them. The siblings looked around quickly, hoping the guards hadn't heard him.

"How do you know the box pertains to Hamunaptra?" the woman asked him.

"Because that's where I found it. I was there." he told her. She looked at him dumbstruck but her brother looked suspicious.

"How do we know that's not a load of pig swallow?" the brother asked my brother. Rick looked at the man closely and a glint of recognition appeared in his eyes.

"Hey,... don't I know you?" Rick asked the brother.

"Um, well, you see..." Rick didn't give the man a chance to answer and let his fist fly through the bars and hit the man square in the jaw. The man hit the floor out cold and a guard clubbed Rick, his head bouncing off the bars again. He, again, showed no pain and threw another nasty look. The woman looked at her brother before back to mine.

"You were actually at Hamunaptra?" she asked him.

"I just decked your brother" Rick reminded her.

"Yes, well..." she shrugged at her brother. "I know my brother." she said and I smiled slightly. I liked her, and from the look on Rick's face, so did he.

"Yeah, I was there." he told her.

"You swear?" She asked him.

"Every damn day." I told her and she shook her head at me.

"No, I mean -" she tried explaining.

"- I know what you mean. I was there, alright. Seti's place. The City Of The Dead." Rick said.

"What did you find? What did you see?" She asked him.

"I found sand. I saw death." he answered her honestly as the Warden came back in the room. The woman leaned closer to the cage.

"Could you tell me how to get there? The exact location?" she asked him quietly.

"Want to know?" he asked as she leaned in closer.

"Yes." she answered.

"Really want to know?" he asked again as she leaned her face right next to the bars, nervous and excited.

"Yes." she answered once more. He stepped forward and kissed her full on the mouth.

"Then get me the hell outta here." he told her as she stared at him stunned. A guard clubbed him again and his face bounced off the bars again and before he could react the guards grabbed him and yanked him away from the bars; dragging him out of the room.

"Where are they taking him?" I asked the Warden.

"To be hanged." he said smiling with his green smile again. "Apparently, he had a very good time."

"Apparently." I said studying the woman.

In the gallows courtyard hundreds of prisoners stared down as the hangman's noose was draped over my brothers head and tight around his neck. The woman and I followed the Warden onto a balcony above the scene and I sat down in a large center chair and stared down at my brother. The prisoners had all gone quiet upon seeing the woman and myself and stared; like jackals staring at fresh meat.

"No women allowed." The Warden told the woman.

"What about her?" she asked me.

"She is a benefactor to the prison and family to the prisoner." he told her.

"And I am an English woman." she told him. I glanced at them to see him confused and sitting down n a small chair to my left while she sat on my right. "I will give you one hundred pounds to spare his life." She told him.

"I would pay one hundred pounds just to see him hang." The Warden told her.

"Two hundred pounds." She offered.

"Proceed!" The Warden called down. I took a deep breath. Because of who I was I could do nothing to help my brother out of this. Not this time.

"Three hundred pounds!" She offered once more. The hangman grabbed the lever to the trapdoor and my breath froze. "FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS!" she offered desperately. The Warden set his greasy, lecherous hand on the woman's leg and gave her a look.

"And what else?" he asked her. She was revolted by his words and actions and shoved his hand away from her. The Warden angrily turned and gestures to the Hangman, who pulled the lever to the trapdoor.

"NOOOO!" The woman called out as Rick dropped through the hole. The rope jerked taught and Rick's body snapped at the end of the rope.

"His neck did not break! Good! Now we watch him strangle to death." The Warden said and the prisoners went crazy, screaming and shouting in anger. I saw the woman looked at me horrified and what she just witnessed. I noticed the guards the Warden hired look around, nervous. The woman quickly turned to the Warden and leaned forward and whispered in his ear.

"He knows the location to Hamunaptra." she told him and I quickly made sure I heard everything she said. The Warden spun around quickly and faced her.

"You lie." he said after a moment.

"I would never!" she said looking appalled at his words.

"Are you saying this filthy godless son of a pig knows where to find The City Of The Dead? Truly?" The Warden asked her.

"Yes and if you cut him down, we will give you ten percent." She offered him.

"Fifty percent." He countered.

"Twenty." she offered again.

"Forty." he countered again. She hesitated and bit her lips.

"Give... give him... give him GLAAAA- !" Rick called out to us.

"Twenty-five percent, and not one single farthing more." She said finally. The flashed his green smile and yelled in Arabic. A scimitar slashed the air, cutting the rope. Rick crashed to the ground, half-dead, and rolled over still gagging. All the prisoners burst into cheers and he looked up at us. The woman smiled broadly and waved down at him.

That night I stood in the office of one of our inside men.

"She must die." he said looking at us. I looked to the men standing in the shadows across from his desk to the three men I brought with me.

"She is like all the others. She will die in the desert." I told him.

"No! She has seen too much. She knows too much." the man told me as I sat down in the chair across from his desk. He leaned across his desk with fear in his eyes. "Not only does she have a map, but she has the key." My eyes widened at his words.

"The key!? She has the lost key!?" One of the men at my back asked.

"Yes. No one has ever had so much, been so close. We must stop her, or it will be the end of us all." the man told us.

"Then we will kill her, we will kill her and all those with her." I told him.

"And burn the map and retrieve the key." the man said.

"It will be done. But what of the American expedition? They leave tomorrow as well." I asked him, needing to know if he knew anything about them.

"Forget the bumbling Americans, they will be like all the others. Without the map to guide them, how can they possibly find Hamunaptra?" he asked me.

"We will attack after the leave the barge across the Nile. The desert is our allies." I told him.

"No we should attack while they are on the water." he told me and I raised my eyebrow.

"We are not strong there. I've decided, we attack when they reach the desert." I told him.

"Yes, My Lady. Our Chieftain choose you as his voice while here. We will do as you say." he told me and I nodded. I turned to leave with my blond hair over my shoulders and lifted my hood before I walked out of our meeting place.