"Do you really think they'll show up?" I heard the woman, Evelyn, ask her brother.
"Undoubtedly, I know the breed, they may be a Americans, but their word is their word." Jonathan told her.
"Personally, I think he's filthy, rude and a complete scoundrel. I don't like him one bit. And she didn't do anything to help him. I wouldn't trust her even if she saved my life." she told him.
"Anyone we know?" Rick asked as we walked up behind them. Evelyn was staring at Rick, which is understandable. He'd shaved, showered, spit and polished, had a new haircut and new clothes. He looked the way he used to when he used to pick up all he women an bring them home: handsome and dashing.
"Oh... um,... hello." Evelyn greeted slightly embaressed. Jonathan gradded his arm and shook his hand.
"Smashing day for the start of an adventure, eh, O'Connell?" Jonathan asked us.
"Yeah, sure, smashing." Rick said checking his pockets. He pulled out his wallet and relaxed before puttng it back. Evelyn then cleared her throat, overcoming her embaressment.
"Mister O'Connell, can you look me in the eye, and guarantee me this is not some sort of flimflam? Because if it is, I'm warning you -" Evelyan told him sternly. Rick stepped closer to Evelyn, invading her space, and looking her straight in the eye and she didn't back away from him.
"All I can tell you, miss, is that my Colonel found that map in an ancient fortress, and the whole damn garrison believed in it so much, that without orders, we marched halfway across Libya and into Egypt to find that city. Like I told ya, all I saw was sand. Everybody else was wiped out by Tuareg warriors. I'll take your bags." he said the last bit with a smile on his face then took her bags and headedup the gangplank and onto the passenger barge we were crossing the Nile on.
"Sorry about him. He can be tempermental." I told them before following him.
I sat with Evelyn on a table, staring out over the passing river as she read a book. A gunny-sack dropped onto the table, startling her. I turned to see Rick standing next to the table.
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare ya." he told her.
"The only thing that scares me, Mister O'Connell, are your manners." she told him and I snorted in laughter.
"Still angry that I kissed ya, huh?" he asked her.
"I would be." I told him and he gave me a look.
"If you call that a kiss." she told him and I smiled again, looking back out over the water. I heard Rick messing with weapons and I turned back to him again. He was pulling out revolvers, pistols, hunting knives, a massive elephant gun, and a half dozen carefully wrapped sticks of dynamite.
"Did I miss something? Are we going to war?" I asked him turning on the table to watch him.
"The last time I was at that place everybody I was with died." he told me. The smile that was on Evelyn's face fell as Rick started dismantling and cleaning the guns. "There's something out there, you know, something under that sand."
"Yes, I'm hoping to find a certain artifact, a book, actually, my brother thinks there's treasure. What do you think is out there?" she asked us and I glanced at Rick then looked back to her.
"Evil. The Tuaregs and the Bedouin believe that Hamunaptra is cursed, they call it, "passageway to the underworld."" I told her. "Ahmar is Ossirion."
"I don't believe in fairy tales and hokum, Miss O'Connell, but I do believe that one of the most famous books in history is buried out there, The Book Of The Living. It's what first interested me in Egypt as a child. It's why I came here, sort of a life's pursuit." she told us.
"And the fact that they say it's made out of pure gold, makes no nevermind to you, right?" he asked her.
"You know your history." she said surprised at him and smiling.
"I/He know/knows my/his treasure." we said together glancing at each other then I helped him with his cleaning. she got up to go before hesitating, nervous, and turning back to us.
"By the way,... why did you kiss me?" she asked him and he shrugged his shoulders.
"I was about to be hanged, seemed like a good idea at the time." he told her and I rolled my eyes. She quickly stormed off and he looked confused after her.
"What?... Wha'd I say?" he asked me.
"Smooth brother, real smooth." I told him moving from the area to the other side of the barge. I looked at the floor i was walking on and saw three sets of wet footprints, coming over the tailing from the river and heading down the deck. "Damn it!" I said quickly running in the direction of the footprints. I followed them all the way to a room. Evelyn's. I put my ear to the door and heard a voice.
"Where is the map?" I waited for a response but didn't hear anything. "And the key? Where is the key? Then I'll find it myself." I turned to see Rick coming towards me. He tossed me a gun and I prepared it before kicking the door open with him. Rick and I burst in, guns in hand and the man spun around with Evelyn around and holding her out in front of him. I felt my face grow cold and my eyes darken.
"Friend of yours?" Rick asked her and she turned her eyes to me and her eyes widened. And that's when the candle on the table flickered and everything happened at once. Rick spun around just as a window burst open. Another man leaned in and fired a gun. Woodchips blasted off the wall next to Rick's head and he returned fire. Rick killed the man and he fell back and fired blindly. A lantern in the room was blasted and kerosene splashed across the wall then burst into flames. Evelyn grabbed the candle on the table and jammed it back over her shoulder, right into the first man's eye. He screeched in pain and lets her go. Rick grabbed her and yanked her out of the flaming room and I followed them. Rick pulled Evelyn down the hall as she tried to jerk free.
"The map! We need the map!" she reminded him and he shoved her up against a wall.
"Relax! I'm the map!" Rick said tapping his forehead. "It's all up here."
"Oh that's comforting." she told him. Rick gave her a look then pulled her forward again.
"C'mon, there's still one more of those guys around here somewhere." I told them leading the way down the hallway. Rick, Evelyn and I raced out onto the deck near the horse paddock. People were screaming and shouting. A chunk of the wall was blown off next to Evelyn's head and Rick pivoted and fired back. The man in black and Rick exchange gunfire and another lantern burst into flames. Rick shot off the paddock lock and the horses went nuts. Rick shot over our heads. We charged forward and crashed through the door. The Medji screamed as the horses stampeded over him. Flames swept up the walls and raced across the roof. Half the barge was now on fire. Rick threw the gunny-sack over his shoulder.
"Can you swim?" Rick asked Evelyn.
"Well of course I can swim, if the occasion calls for it." she told him.
"Trust me." Rick said picking her up and throwing her over. "The occasion calls for it." He was about to pick me up but I held my hand in between us.
"I can jump myself thank you." I said before jumping over the rail into the water. Rick was right behind me and we all swam for safety. We all swam to the shore our clothes clinging to our bodies as we tried to wring them out. I looked behind us to see the Americans and the horses.
"Hey O'Connell! Looks to me like I got all the horses!" A man called to us.
"Hey Beni! Looks to me like your on the wrong side of the river!" Rick called to back to him and the man looked up at the stars, then angrily kicked the sand cursing. I looked at the flaming barge as it drifted off, slowly sinking. I sighed and we went on our way to find some dry clothes.