Chapter Four: A Friend Steps In

Three-thirty local time, Riley was wishing he would have taken the backseat of the car. The rags kept getting flat, and his head kept hitting the flashlight stowed in his bag. He had just turned over again when he saw the shadows on the wall. Great. Riley crawled over to the window and peeked out over the sill.

The two men in black were back. This time, though, instead of suits, they were sporting black robes. Of course. Riley crawled back across the dirt floor and tugged on Natalie's shoe. "Natalie," he whispered. He shook her gently. "Natalie!"

She opened one eye. "You'd better have a good reason for waking me," she groused.

"Our buddies are back," Riley said. "We gotta get outta here."

Natalie reached for her glasses. "There's only one door," she reminded him. "How do you expect to get past them?"

Riley shouldered his backpack and winced as the MagLite flashlight bumped into his back. Then he had a thought. He unzipped his backpack and pulled out the heavy red flashlight. Then, he chucked it out the back window.

They heard loud shouting in Arabic. "I think they bought it!" Riley said. "Let's go!" He threw his backpack on again and headed for the door, Natalie right behind him.

The pyramids cast shadows over the tiny city of Giza. The full moon provided some light, but not much. "Where should we go?" Riley asked.

Natalie thought about it. "The pyramids," she said. "We may have to sneak past night guards, but I'd rather the guards be up and ready to get our friends than come after us."

"How do they keep finding us?" Riley wondered. "We left them in the dust in Cairo, and all of a sudden, here they are."

Natalie had wondered that too. Then she thought of something. "Riley. Hand me your bag."

He did, and Natalie shuffled through it. "Bloody hell," she swore.

"What?"

She held a finger to her lips and pulled a small black disk from his bag. "GPS," she whispered.

His eyes widened. "How in the world?"

"The fight at the museum," Natalie said. She took the dot and dropped it on the road, then slammed her heel down on it, shattering it. "Let's see them track us now," she said.

"We can't go to the pyramids- they would have heard that," Riley said.

"We'll have to go the opposite direction, then," Natalie decided.

"Natalie, all that's left is desert. Dying under a 130 degree sun is not the way I planned to go. Plus, Ben and Abigail will be in Cairo soon."

"We'll only go into the desert a little way," Natalie argued. "There's a small town nearby that caters mostly to tourists who want to do the desert on camels. We can hide there until morning, then go back to Cairo and meet your friends."

Riley thought it over. "Okay, that just might work."

She smiled. "I've gotten us this far, haven't I?" she said.

"Yeah." He found himself smiling back. He didn't like the way this trip to Egypt was turning out...but he definitely didn't mind the company. "How far is this camel town of yours?"

She pointed. "Five or six miles. They wanted to get just out of sight of the city, make tourists feel like they're in the middle of nowhere."

"You want to walk that?" Riley asked.

"You have another idea?"

He pointed. "Well, yeah."

A small car was sitting off to the side of the road. "Oh, Riley. Not another stolen vehicle."

"Beats walking," Riley argued.

"Riley, this is Egypt. People just don't leave their cars unlocked with keys in them."

To her utter surprise, Riley walked up to the car, pulled the door open. "Lucky. And it's called hotwiring," he said. At her surprised look, he shrugged. "I spend a lot of time on the Internet."

Natalie said, "You never cease to amaze me, Riley."

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Riley had never actually hotwired a car before. But it only took him a couple tries before the engine was running. "All right, your chariot awaits," he teased Natalie, climbing out of the car.

Natalie hopped into the driver's seat. "I know where I'm going, you don't," she said.

He waved a hand. "You're the local," he said. "After you." He climbed into the passenger seat, and Natalie eased the car out and onto the road. She put it on course for the little tourist camp town. They had barely driven half a mile when Natalie saw headlights in the rearview. "I don't believe it!"

"How?" Riley demanded. "Did they plant one somewhere else on me?" His face turned sour. "Not a pleasing thought."

"I don't know," Natalie said, stepping on the gas.

The headlights grew larger in the mirror. "Uh, Natalie, I don't want to be paranoid, but I think they're-"

A jolt sent him slamming into the dashboard, then back into his seat. "-trying to ram us!" Riley finished.

"Riley, hold on!" Natalie fought to keep the car on the road. "Damn it. Riley, I don't think I can keep this on the road."

"Then pull off, but do it somewhere with some cover!" The car behind them rammed them again, sending Riley into the dashboard again. "I can't believe this; this is worse than Ian and his thugs!"

"Riley, you'll jinx us!" Natalie said, pulling the car inbetween a line of palm trees on the road. "Go, go get out, go!" Both of them threw their doors open, and took off running. "Riley! Head for the tourist place!"

"Natalie, that's all wide open!"

"I know, I know, but we've got no choice, just go!"

Riley hit the sand, his feet sinking a bit. "Great. I wish I was a camel," he groused.

Something landed in the sand next to his feet with a pfffft sound. "Natalie, I think they're shooting at us!"

"Just run, Riley!" Natalie was just ahead of him. "Hurry, come on!" Deep down in her heart, she knew there was no way they'd make the little tourist town. They couldn't outrun the guns for very long.

Something slammed into Riley's shoulder. It pitched him forward into the sand. He cried out in pain. Natalie heard him fall, turned around. "Riley!"

"Go, get outta here!" Riley yelled to her.

"Yeah right. We're in this together!" She came back, dodging gunfire. "Riley. Your shoulder..."

"Yeah, yeah, I can feel it."

"You have to run!" Natalie said, trying to pull him to his feet. But Riley was in too much pain to move. He collapsed back to the sand, pulling Natalie with him.

Natalie cradled him in her arms as two men approached bearing AK-47s. "You will come with us," one of them said, a voice that made Natalie very, very nervous.

"Like hell," she replied. One of them raised the butt of the gun to hit her.

She heard a crack, and he toppled backwards. The other man looked up, his eyes went wide, and he backed off, in fact, took off running the other direction.

Natalie looked up at the three approaching men. Great. Things just got worse. They were holding guns as well, but she could also make out that one of them had a scimitar. The one in the lead was hard to see. He worse black robes and a black headdress. Natalie could just make out some dark tattoos underneath his eyes.

"Please. Come with us," he said, offering her a hand.

Gingerly, Natalie got to her feet. "Careful, he's-" she broke off as they gently picked up Riley, who by now was barely conscious, and helped him onto a horse. One sat behind him to keep him from falling off. The other got on his own horse.

Natalie looked at their rescuer. There was something so familiar about him that she couldn't quite place it.

"You get into much trouble," he said, helping her onto his horse, a beautiful black animal. Then she heard him smile. "Just like your great-grandfather." He urged his horse into a gallop.

Natalie's eyes went wide. "Oh, no. No way!"

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