Chapter Three: Mum, Love, Girl

The silence seemed to have the occupants of the car in an iron grip as they sped through the city streets. Any sense of safety seemed to have been flung out the window as the vehicle roared through every intersection and skidded around corners at break neck speed. Bianca had to bite her lip to stop the reprimands from jumping out. She was on thinner ice than physically possible at the moment and she hoped to have a chance to redeem herself before the morning was over.

Thinking back the break in, she began to plan ahead. 'There couldn't have been more than ten men last night. And Mr. O'Connell seems like he could handle at least five with his hands tied behind his back, so that would leave the rest to Jonathan. There might even be a few guards at the museum this early too!' That seemed to brighten her mood a bit.

With that thought tucked into the back of her mind, Bianca took a moment to look over her temporary companions. As much as she tried, she couldn't imagine that the rugged man sitting in front of her was the husband of the gentle woman that she met the previous afternoon. The way his eyes glinted when she admitted her mistake and had realized that his wife was in danger made Bianca more nervous than she would admit.

Her other companion wasn't nearly as much of a mystery to her. Years and years of summer homes and social get togethers had conditioned her to recognize his type: the playboy fooling around with daddy's money with a different woman on their arm every night. Even with the news of his sister's danger Jon still managed to hold onto that slightly smug look that hadn't left his face in the time that they had known each other. At any other time, Bianca would have paid good money to see that look swiped right off his face.

Bianca ran a hand through her hair, trying to push the mass of curls out of her face. 'I'll have to tie that back if they're expecting me to fend of a gang of thieves.' she thought dryly.

"You're awfully quiet back there, love. Are you sure you aren't going to fall asleep on us?"

She looked at the man who was now twisted around in his seat entirely so that he could face her. She was tempted to ask how it was that he could even move in the rolling car, but she thought that Rick might take her comment as the insult to his driving that it was. Instead she turned her gaze back out the window and said "I'm fine, thank you."

Bianca could hear the man snort even over the screeching tires and the shouting of pedestrians in the car's way. She whipped her head back to face him with her glare once again painted on her face. "Did you say something, Mr Carnahan?"

Jonathan's smirk grew into a full on grin. "No, of course not. I'd never dream of it! I was just thinking about where that politeness was yesterday. If I remember correctly, you were quite the snapper."

She felt her fingers tighten around the handle of her cane and her teeth gnash together. "And if I remember correctly, someone in that room couldn't manage to keep his hands away from things that were not his."

Rick's eyes flickered from the street to the bickering couple through the rear view mirror with interest. Bianca caught his gaze for a split second and was a quite proud when her glare sent his eyes straight back to the road in front of them.

'How dare he say something like that to me! That smug, arrogant, idiot.' She silently fumed in her seat as she plotted the many possible ways that she could prove that she was better than him in most aspects.

Thankfully for every one in the car, their destination was in view and within seconds the car was pulling up along the curb. Rick leapt from the car and was up the steps like lightning while the other two had a move difficult time. Bianca flung open the door and reached out to grab the door frame for leverage, but quickly found that it was too far for her to grab onto and pull herself from the seat. She bit down on her bottom lip as her mind raced through the chances of her being able to stand up using one leg.

"You need some help there, Mum?"

Pride reared its ugly head for a moment as the words 'no, leave me alone' shot to her brain. Instead she grasped the man's hand and, with a great amount of help from him, hoisted herself to her feet. She pulled her arm back to her side like it had been burned. She remembered her new goal of proving herself more civil than him and nodded briskly in place of a verbal thank you.

Jonathan paused to let Bianca get a few steps of a head start before he began following her towards the building. She clenched and unclenched her free hand to try to calm her racing heart and nerves. As they reached the open door she glanced towards the man and managed to find a bit of comfort in seeing him as placid as usual. 'Although, the flask that hasn't left his hand might have something to do with that.'

The atrium was just as quiet as when she first entered; the only change was the lack of human life besides Rick. He motioned for the other two to join him by the hallway that Evy had used to get to her office.

"How do we even know that Mrs. O'Connell is even here?" she whispered as they made their way through the dimly lit room. "What if she's at home and the thieves show up there instead?"

While Jonathan simply shrugged, Rick answered her question, "She stayed up all night trying to translate that damn rock of yours. When she sent me to find you she was on her way here for some of the few books that we don't have at home. Knowing her, she's gotten sidetracked at least five times by now."

Seeing that the woman was satisfied with his explanation he continued onto the next task. "Do you know how to shoot?"

Bianca looked at the man strangely while her brain struggled to comprehend what she had just been asked. "Do I...What? Why would I know that?"

"You're the one that said that you could be useful." He pulled out a small handgun from his satchel and held it out to her. Seeing her hesitation he said "It's either take the gun and be useful or go back, sit in the car and wait for us to come back."

"Now, why isn't that an option for me?"

Bianca ignored Jonathan's remarks and reached out gingerly for the weapon. It felt unnaturally heavy in her hand. Rick seemed to be impressed with her choice. "Just don't point it at anything that you don't want to blast a hole in and we'll all be fine."

She saw Jonathan pulling his own small pistol from his pocket and asked, "Are you two always armed to the teeth?"

Her question was ignored by both the men as Rick started down the narrow hallway, followed by Jon and with Bianca at the rear. Her mind raced with constant reminders as she walked: don't step too loudly, make sure the cane doesn't bump into anything, keep your ears open, don't shoot anyone. The only thing that she had forgotten was 'watch where you're going'.

Bianca found herself bumping into Jonathan's back as their train of people came to a hault. She jumped back and swung her gun hand up in suprise, but quickly lowered it again as she realized what had happened. Rick turned to face the other two, holding a finger to his lips as a signal to stop making such a racket. As Binca took a moment to listen she noticed the sound of banging and papers being shuffled around coming from the next door way. She knew that it was to one that led to Evelyn's office.

She watched as Rick leaned closer to the door way, his hand slowly pulling back on the safety lock on his pistol. She thought about doing the same, but realized that the chance that she would actually be able to hit anything that she wanted to shoot was slim, so she simply left the weapon hanging limply by her side. Bianca pressed herself closer to the wall in an attempt to listen in on what ever was happening. The movement stopped.

'They can't know that we're here already.'

As Rick started to take a step foreword, a voice sounded from the next room. "Oh, for heaven's sake! I know that I put that book right here! Where could it have gone?"

The men visibly relaxed at the sound of the distinctly feminine voice that they all recognized. With a nod of his head to signal that the other two were to follow him, Rick stepped out of the hallway. Bianca stumbled after the two.

Evelyn didn't seem to even notice the party as it entered the room. Her head was literally stuck inside one of the many boxes the lay around her office space. She seemed to be looking for something in particular and was almost throwing everything else from the box in her search.

"Evelyn?" her husband said.

Her head shot up and she spun around. Her eyes were as wide as saucers as she took in the view in front of her. Bianca smiled tightly as the woman's eyes set on her with confusion written on her face. "What are you..." her mind seemed to make some connection. "Oh, that's right! I'm so glad that you came on such short notice!"

Bianca watched as the woman flitted around the room, picking up books and scraps of paper and adding them to the growing pile on her desk. "That tablet that you brought in yesterday really got me thinking, you know. I was so sure that I had seen something like it in a book once so I got to work looking and it turns out that I was right! Have you ever heard of Ramesses the Great or his son Setna?"

"Evelyn, this really isn't the time." said Rick.

She ignored him and continued on her rambling. "Well, in one account of his reign that I read ages ago it spoke of his son's quest to find an ancient book that had been lost for years. The story was embellished quite a bit in the years, but there was supposedly some truth behind it. Anyway, the important part is that in the end-"

"Evelyn!"

She halted thought and turned to her husband with a look is disbelief. "Excuse me?"

"We have a bit of a problem."

Bianca watched as the woman's demeanor took a complete one eighty, turning from the school girl like giddiness of finding something important to grave. "What happened? Are you alright?"

Rick took his wife by the shoulder and began leading her to her seat at her desk. "Everyone here is fine, but I don't think that Miss Chevalier's store is going to recover anytime soon."

At the mentioning of her shop, Bianca suddenly took an intense interest in the books on the shelf next to her. She made sure that she was turned away with no chance of catching Evy's eye as Rick filled her in on what happened. She half listened as he told his wife about the state of the store when he and Jonathan arrived and about how they had found Bianca unconscious.

Bianca glanced over at Jonathan leaning against the wall a few feet away, hoping for any distraction from what the other two were talking about. He caught her stares and flashed one of his cheeky grins at her before he turned his own attention back to his family.

She snapped her head back to study the titles that she had already gone over two times before.

'Rulers of the First Empire, Napoleon's Conquest, Julius Caesar, I'd be surprised if she didn't have every book remotely related to this hell hole of a country.' she mused as she looked over the rows of hardbacks.

Rick had paused his narration, and she took that as her cue to step back into the conversation. "So, they know that the tablet is here?" Evelyn asked.

Bianca winced. "Yes, that's right." The heads of everyone in the room swung to face her and for a moment she regretted opening her mouth. "That happened at about dawn, so I don't understand why they haven't shown up here yet. Not that I'm complaining of course."

Evy looked at her thoughtfully. "You're right, there's no need for them to wait if they want the tablet. Unless they were waiting for some sort of signal or a sign..." She grabbed one of the brick like books that she had stacked on her desk and began flipping through it rapidly.

Jonathan seemed to appear out of thin air behind her, peeking over her shoulder at the words as she read. "What on earth could possibly be in that dusty old thing that's going to help us stop a gang of blood thirsty thugs? I mean, it's no Book of the Dead, Old Mum."

Bianca watched in confusion as a small smile spread over Evelyn's lips at what must have been an inside joke with the family.

"I'm looking for the passage that talks about the fable that I was telling you about. I know that a group of guards were sworn to secrecy over the whole thing, but the way you described the men that attacked Miss Bianca they really don't fit. And I would say that they could be the Priests of Khemennu if they hadn't died out some time in the late 21st dynasty." she mumbled more to herself than anyone else in the room.

A strange feeling began bubbling in the pit of Bianca's stomach as she listened to the woman's rambling. She took a few steps away from the desk and towards the large windows that dotted the opposite side of the room. Outside, the city was finally fully awake.

Bianca leaned forward rested her forehead against the cool window pane. She held her eyes closed as the feeling grew. It was as if something was pulling on her insides, like when she knew that she had forgotten something, but couldn't remember just what yet. The conversation behind her faded away as the feeling crescendoed. Waves seemed to crash against the walls of her insides as her whole body began to squirm.

Her eyes shot open. In the reflection in the mirror she caught sight of something moving away just as she opened her eyes. She spun around to catch it before it was gone again, but was met with only the faces of the three others in the room. The feeling was gone.

"Are you alright?" asked Evy.

Bianca shook her head lightly and said, "No, no, I'm fine. I just thought I saw something, that's all."

Much to her surprise, Rick's hand shot to the holster at his hip and his hand lit on the pistol inside. "Where was it?"

"Really, it was just my imagination! I didn't get that good of a nights sleep last night, remember?"

"Oh, for heaven's sake girl, just tell him so he can go and save the day like always." barked Jonathan from his new perch on top of Evy's desk.

"I'm telling you that it was nothing! But if you want to go waste your time on some goose chase then you go right ahead." Bianca said as she turned back to the window in a huff. From the reflection she could see Rick looking at her with exasperation before exiting the room. Evelyn seemed to ponder what to do for a moment before she hurried after her husband. That left just her and Jonathan. 'Oh, lovely.'

Her hand began twirling her cane as she watched the man pull out the silver flask from his jacket and took a swig. She scrunched her nose in disgust. 'It's not even eight in the morning yet and he's already hitting the bottle.'

"So, are you always hallucinating, or is this a new thing?"

Bianca spun around like a top. She could feel the heat rise to her cheeks. That seemed to be happening more and more when she was around the insufferable man. "What did you say?"

"I was just wondering." he held his hands up in defense, one of them still clutching the flask. "There's no need to get so defensive, Love."

"I have a name you know, and it's not Mum, Girl, Love, or any other ridiculous pet names that you might come up with."

He swung his legs up so that he was practically lounging on his sister's desk. "But Bianca is such a stuffy name! I feel older just saying it. I'm sure someone has come up with a better name for you than that."

"No." she answered just a second to quickly. He grinned as her expression became more flustered.

Instead of pressing the matter like she thought he would, he said, "I haven't heard any ungodly commotion coming from Rick and Evy yet. You wouldn't be too heart broken if I left for just a minute to make sure they aren't dead, would you?"

A minuscule smile snuck its way onto her lips. "Go right ahead." She watched as he strolled out the door as if he didn't have a care in the world.

The very moment that he was out of sight, the feeling in her core returned tenfold. She stumbled for a second as she fought to regain balance and to force the feeling away. She grasped the corner of the desk with one hand and planted the cane into the carpet with the other. Practically crumpled over the table, she took a deep breath and tried to lift herself again. Pain seemed to ripple through her with every movement. Not even her lungs would cooperate to yell for someone, anyone, to come back for her.

A sound to her side made her pry her eyes open and tilt her head towards it. What she saw made her heart jump into her throat. Standing just a few feet away, close enough to reach out and touch if she wanted, was the gaunt figure of a man.

'Oh, my God.'

I tried to include more interaction between Bianca and Jonathan in this part, but I think that I snubbed the others because of this. Whoops.

Also, is it easier for the reader if thoughts are in italics? I've seen them done many ways and it really doesn't make a difference with me. Thanks for reading as always! Feedback would be lovely.