Giza Port - Cairo
The three Carnahan's walked down the pathway at the port to the boat they'd be embarking on. Jonathon, as usual, had only brought the clothes on his back, Evy had two suitcases, small, and Lillian had two duffel bags that she'd bought from an American soldier. They were all wearing similar shades of colour; white, beige, cream. Jonathon was wearing his 'explorer' hat, Evy was wearing a wide brimmed hat that belonged on a sunbathing socialite, and Lillian had put on her favourite tan, felt cowboy hat she'd 'acquired' from a cowboy who had fallen asleep in a bar she had been drinking in.
"Do you really think he's going to show up?" Evy asked, yet again.
"Have a little faith, baby sister. He'll probably bathe, shave and come straight here once he's sorted himself out. The man just got out of prison." Lillian replied, fanning herself with her hand. It was hotter, despite the fact she was wearing a short sleeved shirt, but Lillian always loved the heat.
"But are you sure he'll show?" Evy pressed.
"Yes, undoubtedly, knowing my luck. He may be a cowboy, but I know the breed. His word is his word."
"Enlighten me, big brother, how do you know his type if his word is his word?" Lillian teased him, and he nudged Evy so that Evy would stumbled into Lillian. She kept them both upright, and narrowed her eyes at him playfully.
"Well, personally, I think he's filthy, rude, a complete scoundrel." Evy ranted.
"Really? I liked him. He wasn't so hard on the eyes, which says a lot, because he was filthy and rude. I'll give you those. But still I liked him." Lillian said, and she was going to continue, but someone cut her off.
"Anyone I know?" A familiar voice questioned.
All three Carnahan's turned, and Lillian raised an eyebrow at the sight in front of her. Surely, this could not be the man from the prison. Mr O'Connell had cut his ratty mane of hair and now it was neat and combed, and didn't get in the way of his blue eyes. O'Connell stared back at Lillian, noticing that she had braided her hair. He wasn't sure it suited her. Her sister, maybe. Lillian seemed to realise that they'd been gazing at each other and snapped out of it.
"You clean up well, Mr O'Connell." She said, innocently.
Rick smirked at her, before Jonathon took his attention.
"Smashing day for the start of an adventure, O'Connell?" Jonathon said, patting O'Connell on the chest, before he shook his hand.
"Yeah, smashing." He replied, slipping his hand in to his jacket to check his wallet was still there. She didn't blame him. Because of Jonathon and his sticky fingers, Lillian kept all of her money locked away in a tin box she carried around with her when he was with her.
"Oh, no, no, I'd never steal from a partner, partner." Jonathon said, lightly punching his arm. Lillian bit back any remarks the fact he was the reason she no longer owned any jewellery, well except her mother's necklace, but he would never take that.
"That reminds me, no hard feelings about the…" O'Connell trailed off, mocking a punch instead.
"Oh, no, happens all the time." Jonathon replied, waving the past away.
"Mr O'Connell. Can you look me in the eye and guarantee this isn't some kind of flimflam?" Evy questioned, and Lillian picked up where she left of.
"Because if it is, I'll hurt you. Badly." Lillian smiled at him, as she put emphasis on the last word, giving it more impact.
"You'll hurt me? Sweetheart, let me put it this way, my whole damn garrison believed in this so much…that without orders they marched across Libya and into Egypt to find that city. And when we got there, all we found was sand and blood," O'Connell stared in Lillian's brown eyes as he spoke, and he knew the words had sunken into her head. She knew this was dangerous, but was going to go through with it anyway. He reached down and grabbed her duffel bags from her hands. "Let me get your bags."
Then he walked away, leaving Lillian staring at his back, and the other two Carnahan's sniggering at her dumbfound expression.
"Yes, yes, you're right, Evy. Filthy, rude, a complete scoundrel. Nothing to like there at all." Jonathon mocked Evy's earlier words, as they both eyed Lillian.
"He-he-he called me sweetheart! Do I look like a sweetheart? No! Men are so frustrating!" Lillian hissed under her breath, as she stalked after him, muttering curses that Evy would scold her for when she finally caught up to her.
It was night now, and they were still sailing down the Nile. Lillian had found a quiet spot away from all the testosterone that was suffocating her on one side of the ship. Jonathon was playing poker, and Evy was reading in their room, so that left Lillian alone to her own devices. She decided to clean her guns and sharpen the collection of knives she'd brought with her.
And it seems Lillian wasn't the only one who had that idea.
A bag dropped heavily onto the table in front of her, and she gripped the whetstone and knife tighter in her hands. She narrowed her eyes at the offender and wasn't surprised to see it was O'Connell.
"Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you." He said, smirking down at her as he removed his jacket.
"It would take a lot more than you, Mr O'Connell, to scare me. Your manners, for instance." She replied, placing the whetstone back into its holder in her bag as she was satisfied with the sharpness of the blade. She tucked that one into a small knife holster on her leg. When she got ready for bed she'd keep it on underneath her nightgown, with her guns in their holsters under her pillow. The other weapons she'd keep under her bed.
"Still angry about that kiss, huh?"
"I've had better." Lillian replied, smirking at him, as she disassembled one of her pistols and began to clean out the mechanisms. He just stared down at her, before he snapped his bag open and revealed his weapons. Lillian raised an eyebrow, impressed by the collection he had amassed.
"So I see I'm not the only one who came prepared." Lillian said, running a finger along the row of shells he had tucked in along the edge of the fold out bag.
"Sweetheart, there's something out there. Something underneath that sand." O'Connell said, as he focused on his pistol. She tucked hers back into the empty holster on her shoulder, before she took out the other.
"Evy's hoping to find a book. Jon's looking for treasure. What do you think's out there?" Lillian questioned, as she cast a trained eye down the barrel of her gun to see if it was aiming straight.
"In a word, evil. The Bedouin and the Tuaregs believe that Hamunaptra is cursed." O'Connell replied, inwardly shocking the Carnahan woman. She hadn't expected such wise words from him. He sounded very different from the half-crazed, half-filthy man from the jail cell.
"Look, I don't believe in fairy tales and curses, O'Connell, but Evy is convinced that one of the most famous books in history is buried out there. The Book of Amun-Ra. It contains within it all the secret incantations of the old kingdom. When we were kids, Evy did nothing but go on about it. It's why we came to Egypt. It was her life's pursuit-"
"I didn't peg you down as a follower." Rick interrupted her.
"I'm not. I've gone my own way, done my own things, made my own path. Evy is my little sister, and when she decided to go to Egypt, I felt it was my responsibility to make sure she was safe. I would do anything for my family, Mr O'Connell. Understand that now."
Rick saw in her eyes that she meant what she said. If it came down to it, he was certain that this beautiful, puzzling woman would lay her life on the line to protect her brother and sister. Somehow that made her even more attractive, which did not help him at all.
"I got you. So the fact that they say the book is made of pure gold makes no never mind to you? Right?" He said, as he rubbed his shotgun down with a dirty rag. She rolled her eyes at him, and tossed him a clean one from her own pack. He took it and nodded his thanks.
"You know your history." Lillian said, smiling at him.
"I know my treasure."
Lillian watched him for a moment, as he finished cleaning his shotgun, and pulled two handguns from his bag to check next.
"Why did you kiss me?" She questioned, not fully knowing why she had to know.
"Who knows? I was about to be hanged. It seemed like a good idea at the time."
Lillian felt the smile get wiped from her face. She packed up her weapons, rolling them up on the holder they were on, before slinging the bag onto her back.
"You have no idea how to talk to women, O'Connell." She muttered as she walked away from the table.
"What? What did I say?" He questioned, mostly to himself as he watched her walk away. He could say that he was a perfect gentlemen and that his eyes remained trained on the back of her head, but her curves beckoned to him and he followed them up and down.
"What is this woman doing to me?" He muttered, before he heard a noise that sounded familiar.
He cocked his gun, and stood, walking towards a shadow wearing a fez. The person the shadow belonged to was hiding behind some crates, and Rick instantly knew who it was eavesdropping on his conversation. He reached round the crates and grabbed the snivelling weasel, and shoved him against the crates.
"What a surprise! My good friend, you're alive!" Beni said, appearing to be happy, but Rick knew it was because he thought he would kill him. "I was so very, very worried."
"Well, if it ain't my little buddy, Beni. I think I'll kill you." Rick said, chambering a round and pressing the gun against Beni's chest.
"Think of my children!" The thin, pale coward cried, causing Rick to pause for a second.
"You don't have any children."
"Someday I might."
"Shut up!" Rick snapped, pushing Beni slightly more against the crates. "So you're the one who's leading the Americans. I might have known. So what's the scam, Beni? You take them out into the desert, and then you leave them to rot?"
"Unfortunately, no," Beni replied, figuring honesty was his only way to safety. "These Americans are smart. They pay me only half now, half when I get them back to Cairo. So this time I must go all the way."
"THat's the breaks, huh?" Rick questioned sarcastically, letting go of Beni as he holstered his weapon. Beni stared at his old American friend curiously.
"You never believed in Hamunaptra, O'Connell. Why are you going back?" The coward questioned, but before Rick could answer, they heard one of the camels start to make noises. Both men turned to look over at the animals, and saw Lillian patting one of the camels' heads.
"You see that girl?" Rick questioned, not tearing his eyes away from Lillian to see if Beni responded. She seemed to realise that she was being watched so turned, her weapons bag still slung across her shoulder, and raised an eyebrow at the pair, before sauntering away to her room. "She saved my neck."
"You always did have more balls than brains." Beni said, slapping Rick's arm gently and sniggering. When Rick seemed to join in on his laughter, Beni felt more at ease, especially when O'Connell rested his arm across Beni's shoulders.
"Goodbye, Beni." And suddenly, Beni wished he wasn't so naïve, as Rick tossed him overboard and his body cut through the warm Nile water.
"O'Connell!" Rick could hear Beni shout, as he started to pack away his gear. That is until he noticed the wet footprints that led towards the rooms. He checked to see if Beni was still in the river, which he was, and then he realised.
Someone had stolen aboard the boat. And he could guess why.
Lillian was dressed for bed, with the exceptions of the knife holstered on her thigh, and the two hand guns holstered on her shoulders. She had decided to keep them on her person, and the bag with her weapons in was at the end of her bed. Evy was pacing around the room, reading from a book as she readied herself for bed, and it was distracting. Lillian pulled the hand gun on her right side from its holster and placed it in the bag, so she could rest facing the wall, but not before she drew the curtains around her bed closed, allowing just a crack of light to seep in.
She wanted sleep, but all she could think of was that damn kiss. It wasn't that long, or that satisfying, or wanted, but she couldn't forget it at all. She blamed his blue eyes. She always had been a fool for men with pretty blue eyes.
She groaned silently, burying her face into her pillow, until she heard Evy gasp loudly.
She begrudgingly sat up, prepared to ask her sister what great discovery she'd made, or what had she realised she had forgotten back in Cairo, and then she saw him. A man dressed in all black robes, with a black turban, and black tattoos on his face, with a weird knife pressed against her sister's cheek. He seemed to not recognise her presence in the room.
She silently pulled out her knife, and gently pulled apart the curtains a little wider.
"Where is the map?" He questioned, his voice sounding like he'd swallowed a handful of gravel.
Evy was panicking, but she didn't draw attention to where her Lily was. Lily would get her out of this.
"There." She said, gesturing to the round end table in the centre of the small cabin.
"And the key? Where is the key?"
"The key? What key?" Evy asked, her eyes scanning the room for whatever key he was after. Suddenly, the door was kicked open and a knife flew through the air.
"Lillian! Evelyn!" Rick O'Connell shouted, as the man groaned. The knife had sunk into the centre of his back. Lillian flung herself out of her bed, wrapped an arm around the man's neck, and twisted the knife, causing the man to scream. Rick grabbed Evy's arm and pulled her out the way, while he trained his gun on the man Lillian was dealing with. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he was impressed by the way she handled herself.
Another man appeared at the window, and Rick pushed Evy further behind him, as he opened fire. He quickly took that guy out, but a lantern dropped from the wall and a fire started, just as the man threw an elbow backwards and hit Lillian in the gut. She stumbled back and she grabbed her weapons bag from the end of her bed, slinging it over her shoulder, and forgot all her other belongings. Except from her knife.
Lillian pounced on him once more, grabbing the knife, tucking it into its holster, before using a lit candle to blind him. She turned on her heels, and rushed behind O'Connell as he provided cover fire for their escape. Evy ran down the corridor ahead of them, before she gasped and ran back again.
"The map! The map! We forgot the map!" She said, as she was about to race past them. Rick grabbed her arm, and pulled her back.
"Relax. I'm the map. It's all up here." He said, gesturing to his head.
"That's comforting." Lillian said, sarcastically, as she chambered rounds into both her hand guns.
Havoc was unleashed everywhere, due to the gunfire, and the mysterious men in black that had stole onto the ship. People were running wild, the animals were panicked and fire was starting to lick every available surface. They needed to get off the boat and quickly.
Rick grabbed his bag of weapons, and dropped it into Evy's arms.
"Hold on to this." He told her, as he used a wall for cover, with Lillian next to him, and Evy at the very end. They were getting ready to duck out, when bullets started raining around them. Lillian pushed Evy back so the pair with the weapons had more room. Rick was busy reloading, while Lillian occasionally leaned around him to shoot at whoever was blocking their escape route.
As Rick was reloading, bullets started ripping holes into the wall they were sheltering behind, getting closer and closer to Rick's head, until Lillian pulled his body away, as Evy tugged her back as well. And as Evy gasped with fright, Lillian and Rick exchanged a look and nodded, before springing into action.
They both pushed away from the wall, and started forward, guns ablaze, the smell of smoke and gunpowder filling their nostrils as they fired at the man on the balcony opposite them. In a matter of moments, they had taken him out, as well as a couple more who had joined in the fight.
Rick turned towards Evy, and Lillian, who had holstered her guns again, and was tightening the strap on her duffel bag.
"Can you swim?" He questioned them, as he grabbed his own bag from Evy, swinging it up onto his shoulder.
"Of course I can swim if the occasion calls for it!" Evy yelled back at him. Lillian understood where he was going with his inquiry and stepped back slightly, as he pulled her younger sister into his arms.
"Trust me. It calls for it." He said, before dumping her overboard, ignoring her scream. Rick turned towards Lillian, but she glared at him. So he merely gestured for her to dive in without his help.
Lillian barely registered the splash, before she moved forward, climbed over the railing and dived into the warm Nile water herself. She took a deep breath before her body hit the water, and then immediately swam upwards to the surface again. Lillian gasped, and pushed her hair out of her face, before she swam for the shoreline. Evy was already there, wringing out her white, now slightly sheer, nightgown. Hoping hers wasn't the same, she looked down at her similarly drenched white gown. It was clinging to her body, and accentuated certain body parts that could have done without being accentuated. O'Connell, Jonathon and the prison warden weren't too far behind them, and as soon as they were within ear shot, Evy began her complaining.
"We've lost everything! All of our tools, all the equipment, all my clothes!" She said, as Lillian dropped her wet duffel bag onto the bank, and rolled her shoulders in an attempt to work out the kinks. She rolled her eyes next as she felt someone staring at her.
She turned and saw O'Connell's eyes burning holes into her body, before he caught her eyes and cleared his throat, turning his eyes away.
"O'Connell!" A voice shouted from across the river. Lillian narrowed her eyes, and focused until she could make out the outline of a slim, pale man waving his arms manically to get O'Connell's attention. "Hey! O'Connell! It looks to me like I've got all the horses!"
"Hey, Beni!" Rick shouted back, stepping a little closer to the river bank so Beni could hear him better. "It looks to me like you're on the wrong side of the river!"
Realising his mistake, the man kicked at the water in frustration, forcing Lillian to have to stifle a snigger. She was certain that Evy wouldn't have appreciated her laughter at this moment in time.
"We should get moving. We should try to get to the nearest town by sunrise." Lillian said, trying to be constructive instead of laughing at their present situation, or how she and her sister must resemble drowned rats.
"That's a good idea. There's a village not too far from here." Rick replied, grabbing his bag again, and Lillian's, much to her silent frustration, and set off. Jonathon seemed to notice her chagrin but said nothing to help her, as she stalked O'Connell, mumbling threats under her breath. This was becoming a routine, Jonathon thought, his sister stalking after O'Connell after he does something to annoy her.
When they arrived in the village, it was daylight, and market stalls were opened and children were running around, playing without a care in the world. The women of the village saw the group arriving, and rushed over to Evy and Lillian, pulling them away and hurrying them to a tent where they could get dressed. They weren't covered up enough to be seen by men, especially not in this village. Lillian managed to persuade them to clothe them for half the price they would normally do, so they had enough money for other expenses, but she was confused as to how easy it actually was. When she asked an elderly looking woman, as the others began to dress Evy and Lillian, as to why they were so willing to let them pay half for the clothes, the woman's reply confused her.
"We would do anything for you, Meritaten." She had replied in Arabic.
Lillian stared at the woman, wondering why she had called her Meritaten, but soon her attention was brought to the beautiful clothes she was now wearing. Evy had been given a tightly fitted gold Bedouin dress, which suited her rather nicely. Lillian, however, was dressed in a beautiful black crop top that stopped just beneath her breasts, and a matching skirt that flowed down to her ankles, with a slit all the way up to her upper thigh on the right side. A thin, see-through, black veil was tied around her face and draped atop her head as well, as she slipped her dainty feet into long black boots that ended below her knees. Lillian strapped her knife holster back onto her thigh, the skirt hid it from view, and she decided to simply hold her guns for now.
Evy and Lillian thanked the women and left the tent, finding that Rick and Jonathon had already purchased the camels and had one for each of them. The two men pulled the animals behind them, not seeing the women yet and continued their conversation.
"You probably could've got them for free. All you had to do was give him one of your sisters." Lillian heard Rick say, and she rolled her eyes.
"Yes. Awfully tempting, wasn't it?"
That was the moment Rick noticed the two women approaching them. First, he saw Evy and he noted how prettier she was when she wasn't moaning or whining about losing all of her belongings. And then his eyes lapsed onto Lillian. He was stunned for a moment. She looked like a vision in an all black outfit that fit her perfectly and subtly accentuated her curves and he noted just how in shape she was when he noticed her toned stomach that was on show. He caught her smiling at his stare, but he carried on regardless.
"Awfully." Rick finally replied, patting the camel closest to him on the nose.
Lillian carried on walking towards him, smirking. She knew that her new outfit had not escaped his notice, and was quite enjoying the attention she was receiving from him.
"Aren't you glad you didn't follow through with bartering me away, O'Connell?" She asked, as she took one of the reins from him, and expertly climbed onto the camel. Rick shook his head at her playful flirting, and strapped her duffel bag on the camel's back.
"If I tried, you'd probably kill me, so yeah."
"I think you're trying to paint me as a violent person, Mr O'Connell! And I resent that very-" Lillian cut herself off with her own laughter, and Rick laughed along with her. After last night, they both knew she had a violent streak. "Oh, it feels so good to laugh."
"I like it. Your laugh. It's a, uh, it's a good laugh." Rick complimented her, stumbling over his words. She could tell that in spite of his good looks, and charm, he was still unsure when it came to showing affection or trying to compliment a woman.
"Why thank you, Mr O'Connell. It was my mother's," Lillian joked, watching him as he mounted his own camel, not speaking again until his camel had risen to it's feet. She looked around, and saw that her siblings and the smelly prison warden were all waiting to set off. "Well let's get moving. We've got to beat Mr O'Connell's friend and those bloody cowboys to Hamunaptra or I'll never forgive myself."
As if sensing she was ready to move, the camel set off at a brisk pace, leaving the others behind listening to Lillian's laughter and racing to catch up with her.