Chapter Twenty-Three: Luxor
Skinner tossed back the last of his Scotch. "Nice t' meet another Londoner, i'n' it?" he said jovially to his companion.
The tall, thin man known as Basil smiled. "Oh, right ye are, mate," he said. "Wha' brings you down 'ere to Luxor?"
The thief shrugged. "Coupl'a friends wanted me along. They paid the fare, so o' course I couldn't say no, now could I? Frankly, it's too 'ot for me 'ere."
He glanced surreptitiously around the small ale house, confident that his unseen wandering gaze would not be noticed behind his nearly opaque pince-nez. The League had spread out once they'd reached Luxor the night before, each going in different directions for information. Fortunately, there were several archaeological expeditions going on at the moment, so there were plenty of English-speakers in town to be quietly interrogated.
Basil smiled crookedly. "Well, I 'ope ye don't do anything t' make it 'otter fer yerself while you're 'ere," he said.
"Me? Why would anyone ever think I would do something? Mister Basil, you cut me to the 'eart, you do," Skinner said, contriving to look innocent.
"Come now," the other man laughed, "I'm not accusin' you of anythin', mate. I'm just sayin…"
"I'm playin' ya," he said, grinning widely. " 'Ere, 'ave another one on me."
"That's right generous of ye," Basil replied gratefully.
Skinner tossed the man behind the bar a coin and leaned casually back in his chair. "So then, Mister Basil," he said, sipping at a new glass of Scotch. " 'Ow long've ye been 'ere?"
Basil shrugged. "Couple of weeks," he replied.
"Seen anythin' odd?"
"What kind of 'odd?" the other man asked.
Skinner gave a little offhand shrug as he watched Basil's gray eyes for any sign of duplicity. "I 'ear there's some kinda cult in the area," he said conversationally. "Know anythin' about it?"
"The locals 'ave all sorts of 'ookey religions," Basil said. "Why so curious, anyway?"
Again, Skinner shrugged. "My mates- the ones 'oo paid for my ticket- are writin' a book, I think. They want to find everythin' they can- 'local color', they call it. They're particularly interested in some new one centered around a Neb-somthin'-or-other."
His companion shook his head. "Sorry mate, dunno a thing about it."
"Aw, that's to bad now, i'n't?" The Cockney thief got to his feet, finishing the last of his Scotch as he did so. "Well, thanks anyway, Basil."
Basil grinned. "Sure thin'. Always nice to see someone from the East End."
Skinner picked up his hat and headed out the door into the dusk's heat. The other members of the League were supposed to meet back at the villa they'd rented for the duration of their stay, so he went in that direction. Even in the middle of December, Luxor was very warm for the season to the London-bred thief's way of thinking. Right now it was in the high seventies at least- comfortable, but certainly not Christmas weather. It was the aridity of the place that was getting to them all. He had never seen such a dry place, except perhaps during the brief visits the League had taken to Kenya and Verris. Jekyll had been after all of them to drink water, and a great deal of it.
The thief paused in the middle of the dusty street. It was the twenty-third of December, he remembered. He'd nearly forgotten all about Christmas- while he had picked things out for his fellow League members, he'd just put everything into a box and turned his attention to other things, such as the imminent takeover of Earth by a crazy alien with delusions of godhood. He winced. He should probably make sure his gifts got wrapped. Tonight would probably be good- the only people likely to be awake were the dark-loving Mina and Jekyll, who ascribed to no particular sleeping pattern that Skinner could see.
He grinned, certain that everyone would like what he'd gotten them.
The thief was so preoccupied as he took a turn down a narrow side street that he didn't notice the tail he'd picked up until a thrown knife whistled past his ear. He yelped and whirled around, looking for the source of the attack.
A swarthy man, dressed in the loose white robe and headcloth of a local, lunged for him. Skinner ducked the wild swipe of a second knife and darted out of reach, hastily wiping off the greasepaint on his face. His attacker charged again, but by now Skinner had slipped off his trench coat. He threw it at the man, entangling him in its black leather folds as he cursed furiously.
The thief decided not to stick around. He glanced around for a heavy object, spotted an earthenware jug half-buried in the sand, and grabbed it.
"Night-night," he quipped as his attacker obligingly freed his head. Skinner swung the jug and hit the exposed cranium. The man collapsed in a heap.
"Are you incapable of coming up with anything else?" Mina said from the end of the alley.
He grinned at the vampiress, even though he knew she couldn't see it. "But this one works so well!" he said cheerfully as he stooped to reclaim discarded hat, coat, and pince-nez. "My, my, Mina, aren't we lookin' lovely this evenin'?"
"Someone needed to go and find you, Mr. Skinner," she said dryly. "We drew lots. I lost."
"You strike me t' the 'eart, you do," he replied morosely. "Quite certain you didn't just come t' see me gallantly-"
"Knock someone upside the head? No."
He sighed as he straightened his hat. " 'Ad t' try."
"Come on," Mina said. "Daria thinks she might have found a likely location for Nebthet's temple. The others are finishing up their inquiries. We are to meet back at the villa."
Skinner grinned invisibly at her again. "Anythin' you say, luv."
"Very well. Don't call me that."
OSCOSCOSCOSCOSCOSCOSCOSC
"So where is this 'temple' supposed to be located?" Jason was asking as Mina and Skinner joined him, Daria, Nemo, and Jekyll.
"Shouldn't we wait for Sawyer?" Jekyll pointed out.
Nemo shook his head. "He said he found something he wished to investigate further," the dark Captain said. "He will be back later tonight."
Daria frowned slightly. "Does anyone think he's been acting a little odd lately?" she asked.
The humans exchanged looks.
"Yes…" Jekyll said slowly as Jason and Mina nodded their agreement.
"He's been avoiding me," Mina supplied. "I… I thought he was starting to lose interest- I didn't pry."
"And he lied to all of us," Jason added. The others looked at him curiously. "Remember when Daria went overboard? He said he was showing her dolphins that were following the Nautilus and that she leaned too far over the side. But there weren't any dolphins anywhere in my range of sensing, and hadn't been for days."
"Anything else?" Nemo asked the mage. "You have been spending a fair amount of time with Mister Sawyer."
The younger man nodded. "It was his idea to come to Egypt," he told them. "He suggested that the Goa'uld may have been sustained in the canopic jars. I thought he just knew more about the Goa'uld because Daria or Dorou had told him, or something…"
"I never mentioned canopic jars," Daria said. "I don't know about Dorou, but I doubt he would have said anything about them either."
Jason looked around at the League members, a horrible suspicion dawning in his mind. He remembered the Tarot reading he had done nearly seven weeks ago, with the Knight of Rods embroiled in danger that came from the past, and a traitor, lies and double-dealings, all compounded by the illusions that were the Moon card's dominion. And, he remembered, he himself had described Sawyer as a knight not too long ago.
"Do you think he is in trouble?" Nemo asked.
To everyone's surprise, Jekyll nodded. As one, they turned to the tall physician.
"What do you- suspect?" Mina asked. Her expression was one of deep concern for the American. She felt very strongly for Sawyer, though she was not entirely certain what those feelings were. She knew he was strongly infatuated with her, but she had kept her heart too closely guarded since Jonathon and Dorian to just let herself fall in love again. All the same, she fervently hoped that Sawyer was not in danger- or a danger.
Jekyll nodded. "I… I found something that I think may be cause for worry."
"What is it?" Nemo demanded. "Speak, man!"
Jekyll swallowed nervously. "The day we were attacked in the desert, I went through Sawyer's packs looking for aloe."
"So that's what you were doin' in there!" Skinner exclaimed. "I wondered about tha'."
He nodded. "Yes, but I found something besides aloe."
Briefly, Jekyll explained about the hypodermic needle he'd found, and the tiny phials of liquid. Daria frowned. "And you don't know what they are?" she asked.
He shook his head. "They were labeled- I think in Goa'uld," he explained. "I couldn't read them."
"What did the fluids look like?" Mina inquired.
"One was sort of a pale silver color, and translucent," Jekyll told her, feeling relieved at finally being able to tell someone about this. He'd been growing more nervous since he'd discovered the syringe and the drugs that accompanied it. "The other was pink."
He looked over in surprise at the effect his words had on Daria. She had gone stiff, her face paling. Was that fear on her face?
Mina noticed the expression as well. "You know what they are," she said softly to the League's other female member.
"Yes, I think so," she said. "Henry, do you remember what the symbols on the label looked like? You or Hyde?"
Jekyll described what he thought he remembered of the tiny, odd markings on the scraps of paper had looked like. His alter ego corrected him once or twice, more out of curiosity about anything that could rattle the normally unflappable Daria Noclaf then for the sake of being correct.
"The first is a drug that specifically binds with an organometallic compound found in the bodies of Goa'uld and Tau'ka," she explained. "The compound reacts in the presence of more of itself, producing a physical sensation that can alert us to the presence of a Goa'uld symbiote. However, the drug binds to the compound in such a way that it prevents this reaction from occurring. A Goa'uld can inject itself- or rather, its host's body- and essentially be invisible to this sense. The other is just as bad though. It's a very powerful sedative, one of the few that will knock out one of my people, and even then it needs a high dosage. It's common enough that all Special and Shadow Agents carry the antidote in their kits. But neither has been produced on Earth since the days of the Goa'uld!"
"Could a supply have been discovered among the artifacts shipped to Mr. Fisher?" Nemo inquired, glancing at the mage.
Jason shook his head. "If it were, no one made a note of it. But wouldn't the drugs break down after so long?"
"Not if they were stored properly," Daria replied. "They're both very stable."
"But then how did Sawyer get his hands on it?" Jason asked. "And why wouldn't he have mentioned it?"
They looked around at one another, each able to guess what the answer might be but not wanting to say it aloud.
"You don't think…" Skinner said, breaking the silence. "That Tommy…"
"Is the Goa'uld?" Nemo finished.
Daria glanced at Mina. The vampiress's expression was unreadable, except for the faint disbelief in her eyes. "It fits the facts," the alien agent said quietly.
"I don't want to believe it," Mina replied. "But you're right. Given what we know, it seems possible that he-" She couldn't bring herself to say it. The thought of one of those horrid, slimy things in Sawyer's head, controlling him… He was as good as dead.