Death in Luxor

by Graham Warren

  “Cairo watches too many gangster movies,” said Alex.

  “Quite appropriate though,” thought Kate.

  Bast had disappeared before the police arrived, as had Gadeem. Rose left shortly afterwards. As Rose had said goodbye, Kate felt sad that she had to go home alone. Even Cairo had left them.

  Quentin and Babs had now stopped fussing around Kate. They had also stopped offering her strong cups of tea loaded with sugar. Sitting on the sofas just beyond reception, Kate vocalised her lack of sadness at Aggie’s passing. They all agreed that they were looking forward to tomorrow without the worry of Aggie, and that any grieving for her would be quite false.

  With everything seemingly sorted out, Kate said that she would like to spend some time chatting with Alex. Quentin ordered a pot of coffee for their room, as he and Babs retired.

  Cairo came back into reception whilst giving a most graphic telling of the demise of Aggie to a member of staff who was just coming on duty. He finished with what was going to be his punch line whenever he referred to Aggie from now on, “She was creamed.”

  “Well, it is certainly not done for a young lady to be late for her own birthday party, and there is only an hour of the day left.”

  Kate knew that voice. Not only did she turn to see Rose standing by the corridor which lead down to the bar and restaurants, but she ran over to her with tears of joy in her eyes and gave her the biggest hug.

  “Well, young lady, you now have less than an hour left, so we may have to seek an extension to your birthday due to … what shall we call them … exceptional circumstances.”

  Alex came over, as did Cairo.

  “We do not have to travel far.” She pointed to a loan figure on a far sofa. “Why don’t you ask him along this time, Alex?” They had not even realised that Julian was still around.

  “Why don’t we all go and ask him,” said Kate, and that is what they did.

  They all followed Rose. They passed the lounge and then the bar. They then passed the really expensive restaurant on the left before the standard restaurant on the right, which also doubled as the breakfast room. They were fast running out of corridor when Rose turned to her right and gestured towards a small door. It looked as though it gave access to a broom cupboard, and on looking in, that is exactly what everyone saw.

  “Not another broom cupboard,” Alex said quietly, though he was suddenly drowned out by shouts of happy birthday from the room behind them. They spun around and everyone was there. Ramses was holding up a full glass of red wine, Gadeem was drinking his, Thoth was waving his quill, Sobek was snapping his jaw, though thankfully he was on the opposite side of the room to Thoth, and Bast was just beautiful. Nakhtifi and Henutmehyt were shouting happy birthday. Keydora, Ropet and Sanuba were waving frantically and grinning from ear to ear. Even Inky and his wife were there.

  “Quickly now,” said Rose as she ushered them inside so that the doors could be shut and bolted. She did place a hand on Julian’s shoulder, which caused him to look up at her with sadness in his eyes, as he thought that he may not be allowed to enter. “You will have to forget much of what you see from this point on,” Rose said to him with a smile on her face.

  “What is there to forget? I went to bed at ten.”

  “Good lad, now go and enjoy,” and he did.

  Kate and Alex found out that where they were standing was a raised dining area that Ramses had constructed by the River Nile. Thoth explained that this had been built so that on special feast days the pharaoh could be seen by the masses, whilst remaining at a safe distance from the great unwashed.

  “So, you built this, Ramses,” shouted Kate across the room.

  “If I had not, you would not be enjoying your birthday party with such excellent guests, now would you?” he shouted back whilst raising his half full glass. This was obviously where Inky and Cairo used to watch television together. It all made sense now.

  A cake arrived, though this was a proper birthday cake, and Kate could not think of anything to wish for as she blew out the candles, because this was quite perfect.

  As with all parties there came a time when the noise died down as everyone mellowed. Kate had her feet up on the sofa and her head in Rose’s lap as Rose stroked her hair. Alex and Julian were deep in conversation. Kate could hear that they were talking about Cairo, though she could not make out everything they said. It had something to do with the laws of physics and Cairo breaking them by being able to eat more than his entire volume at a single sitting. Kate glanced over, and yes, Cairo was still eating.

  “Well, Kate,” said Rose, “it is now three in the morning, so it is time for your special day to end and someone else’s special day to start.” Kate gave out a mumbled unintelligible sound, which, if it could have been translated, would have said that she did not want this day to ever end. “I think that you will be happy with what is coming, Kate.”

  “No, I won’t,” she replied.

  “It is not won’t, it is will not, but trust me, you will be pleased. Now come on, sit up.” Rose nodded to Bast and she in turn nodded back.

  Ramses nodded to Thoth who gave his trill bird call and everyone immediately looked his way. Ramses stood with a deliberate, though over acted motion. “Julian,” he called slightly more magisterially than he had meant to, to which Julian replied, “Yes, sir.”

  “Julian, I want you to stand by me and look at that door, the one that you came in by.”

  “Yes, sir,” Julian said again as he complied with the request. “Why can’t you both be that obedient,” said Ramses addressing Kate and Alex, to much mirth.

  There were three bangs on the door before it was unlocked and opened from the inside. There stood Victoria Ramolino. Before Julian had time to panic, Victoria ran towards him. She hugged him like he had never been hugged before. “It’s my mum,” Julian shouted with joy, “it’s my real mum.”

  All things considered, it had been quite a perfect day.

  Chapter 18

  -

  Ancients and Abductions

  The day was almost over as Kate awoke to the view of Quentin’s back. He sat by the window writing some notes. Babs was lying on the bed, earphones in, and listening to an audio book, though she would probably have to go back a few chapters, as it was obvious that she was in a deep sleep.

  Just as Kate wondered where Alex was, Quentin spoke. “Well, I cannot wish you a good morning, Kate, as it is now evening.” He turned in his chair and smiled at her.

  Kate had no recollection of how she had got to bed, and though somewhat annoyed that she had slept for a whole day, she did feel so much better for it.

  “Alex is showering. If you had not woken up now, I would have woken you once the bathroom was free. Would you like a coffee?”

  “Yes please,” said Kate as she swung her legs out of bed and sat up, rubbing her eyes. It was nearly an hour later before they were all enjoying dinner, and another hour after that before Kate, Alex and Cairo were finally together in the bar. Quentin and Babs had left them, as they had gone off for a stroll through the well-lit mature gardens of the hotel grounds.

  After lots of chatting Kate suddenly announced that she knew where the ancient gold was. Alex and Cairo looked at her with incredulity before looking at each other, their jaws dropped. “You look like goldfish, so either say something or do close those mouths.”

  “Even Bast,” uttered Alex, “said just last night that she had been unable to source the supply of gold, so how come you suddenly know where it is?”

  “It isn’t sudden, as I worked it out and I know that I’m correct.”

  “How can you be so sure, when nobody else has any idea?”

  “I will prove it to you, Alex, and I will be back in a minute with that proof,” and with that said, Kate jumped up and left the room.

  Three came over to them to ask where Kate was going. “I think she’s gone to her room to get something,” said Cairo in Arabic.

  “Three, can I ask you a question?”
>
  Checking that the bar area was empty of tourists, he replied, “Of course, Alex.”

  “How did you, they, Bast or whoever, get the real Mrs Ramolino back?

  “Oh, that was easy,” said Three with a smile. “As once we were made aware that magic was in play and that she was not Julian’s real mother, to break the spell was not at all difficult. We just had to remove from the imposter whatever item she had on her from his real mother, because it was only that item which kept the spell intact.”

  “Oh yes, I see what you mean, really easy to search a woman with the power of magic, magic which hurled me against a wall without her even touching me. Surely, you cannot just pounce on her and search for it?”

  “Well, pounce on her and search her is exactly what we did … well, not me of course. Once the spell was broken, Julian’s real mother was able to scream for help, and scream she did, which meant that we found her in minutes.”

  “Hold on, Three, what of her magic?”

  “Well, we do have four family members who will take a day or two to recover. Very regrettably we have one other who will take a while longer than that, but, by then, she had weakened herself to such an extent that we could indeed pounce on her. We searched her thoroughly, so thoroughly that she will no longer be a threat to this or any other family.”

  “So, she didn’t get away last night?”

  “All I am willing to say is that I could well imagine we will be reading in the papers, sometime in the next few days, of an abduction leading to a plot to smuggle artefacts out of Egypt. With any luck we should also be reading of a reunion between the real Victoria, Julian and her husband, Julian’s real father. I quite expect that there will also be an international manhunt for the woman who acted the part of his mother as well as for Napoleon Ramolino. As nobody will be able to find either of them, they will be portrayed in the press as criminal masterminds who have now gone into hiding.”

  “But he is dead and in that false tomb which is now sealed.”

  “Then that is a very good place to hide, isn’t it, Alex? Perhaps they are both hiding in the same place,” said Three with a glint in his eye, just before he turned to welcome Quentin and Babs back into the bar.

  “I suppose it is,” said Alex to nobody in particular.

  Alex’s parents sat down as Three brought over a fresh pot of coffee and a jug of ice cold tamar-hindi.

  “Where’s Kate?” asked Babs.

  “She has just gone to get something from the room,” replied Alex with confidence.

  “Are you sure, because she wasn’t up there just now. I had to pop up to put some antihistamine ointment on this bite. I got it as we walked outside,” said Babs as she leant forward to show Alex a nasty red bite on her arm. “You should have seen the size of it before I put the ointment on. It doesn’t look quite so angry now.”

  On overhearing this, Three motioned to Alex to stay calm. With a circling motion of his hand he let the boys know that he would locate her. The problem was that he could not locate her, and neither could any of the hotel staff. It was a full ten minutes later that Three brought in a man who supposedly wanted to interview Quentin and Babs for a local magazine. A front to let Alex and Cairo to get away.

  “Where is she?” asked Alex.

  “Not here, not in the hotel,” said Three as he rather shoved both the boys into the manager’s office.

  “Well, where is she?”

  “In all honesty, Alex, we do not know, but there is no need to panic.”

  “No need to panic. Oh, come on, Three, this is Kate we are talking about.”

  “Okay, I just had to say that, as there is every need to panic. The doorman who saw her leave the hotel–”

  “She has left the hotel, what sort of security does your family have here?”

  “Apparently very poor security, Alex,” said a voice with a purr in it.

  “Oh, am I glad to see you, Bast.”

  “Likewise.” Bast acknowledged Three and Cairo before she continued. “The doorman who has just confirmed that he saw Kate leave the hotel is no longer on duty. He is at a family wedding. We have only just been able to contact him. Nobody else saw her leave.”

  “What on earth possessed her to leave the hotel?”

  “That is what I am getting to, Alex. She said that she was popping down to the Gaddis shop, which as you know is at the bottom of the hotel steps, so the doorman could not see anything wrong with this. Personally, I would have sent someone with her, as the shop is at ancient ground level. Anyway, nobody did go with her, and as it turned out, the Gaddis shop is closed tonight as the Gaddis family are attending that same wedding.”

  “So, she must have gone on to the Aboudi Bookshop which is just up from McDonald’s.”

  “McDonald’s in Luxor, and directly behind Luxor Temple, that shows absolutely no respect for history!”

  “Let’s try and focus here, Bast.”

  “Yes, sorry, Alex. Well, that is what we thought. Though if that is where she set off to, then she certainly did not arrive.”

  “Come on, Cairo, let’s go and find her.” Cairo was not quite as sure as Alex, though he felt much better when Bast gave him a reassuring nod.

  “Just one thing, lads, do not run, or it will draw unwanted attention,” called out Bast as they left the manager’s office. She thought to herself, “It will also make it much more difficult for the family to protect you.” Bast had had the foresight to place four of the family’s female guards half way between the Winter Palace and the Aboudi Bookshop. She would not have been able to do this during daylight as the road was a good few centimetres higher than the ancient land. Being a poorly lit area, they would be fine after dark. Also, as the clothes of ancient women were not dissimilar to those of the women of today, they would be able to blend in. Bast was unsure, however, just how they would be able to help Alex and Cairo further up the road, by the bright lights of McDonald’s, but for that she would just have to wait and see.

  “Where we go, Mister Alex?”

  “Oh, you and that Mister Alex rubbish.”

  “Sorry.”

  “No problem, Cairo. I do not even know what I am doing, where could Kate have gone?”

  There were, if only Alex had thought about it, far too many young women around. Egypt was a male dominated society, so therefore it was most unusual to see lots of young women, either out on their own or in small groups, during the day. In the evening, a few if they were chaperoned, but otherwise it was all men after dark. Cairo had picked up on this, though Alex was in no mood to listen to him talk about young women.

  “Mister Alex, we in a trap,” shouted Cairo in a final desperate attempt to grab his attention.

  “Look, Cairo, I am well aware that the four young women behind us are part of Bast’s protection detail, or she would never have let us leave the hotel.”

  “I think you need look behind, Mister Alex.”

  “What’s up with you, Cairo? Look, they are right behind us.” Alex turned around to see four different young women to those he was expecting to see, with two more searching a body on the ground which had already turned into a shimmer. Destroying the last instance of her name, even the shimmer disappeared. Four protectors had changed into six, for want of a better word, killers. Alex spun his head around to see if they could make a run to the relative protection of McDonald’s, only to come face to face with the woman who was in the photographs he had on his laptop. The spy, the enemy, the woman they had been warned to look for by Rose.

  “Do not worry, Alex, as they will not hurt you whilst I am with you, they would not dare.”

  “But we have been warned about you.”

  “Oh no, Alex, think back to what you were told.”

  “I am thinking.”

  “Well, I would bet that you were not told to be afraid of me. Rose and I are good friends. You know how important it is for you to make your own decisions, and you could not make a decision on me if you were not aware of my existence. I followed y
ou back from the ferry last week so that you would not be harmed. I also followed Kate to the ferry just recently so that she too would not come to any harm. Come with me, and I will ensure that we all get to the Aboudi Bookshop safely.”

  “We are not going anywhere with you as we were warned about you!”

  “Oh Alex, you really must learn that the ancients want you to make your own decisions and have your own experiences. They want you to have your own adventure, not one told to you or planned for you.” This sounded quite plausible to both Alex and Cairo, “Think of me as your guardian angel. Now do come on, as there are six of them and only one of me. Right now they are confused, so they do not know whether to attack or not. I can take on three, maybe four, but even I cannot beat all six of them.” Again, this sounded most reasonable to Alex and Cairo who, without a word being spoken, followed the ancient woman at a pace. As they glanced back they could see the six ancients behind them coming ever closer.

  Alex still had some doubts. This caused him to say softly to Cairo that they would run into McDonald’s just as soon as they were near enough, rather than walk on to the Aboudi Bookshop. It was then, in the dark, just before the well-lit area of McDonald’s, that two very old ladies came up to them, heads bowed, each with a begging hand extended. Alex placed a one Egyptian pound coin in each palm, though when Cairo shrugged, as he had no money to give, Alex fumbled in his pocket to find a further two Egyptian pounds.

  That was the last Alex remembered. The already dark street turned to black. Had he been aware of what had occurred, he would have known that the two old ladies were nothing more than a distraction. A distraction which allowed the ancients who were following them to move up really close. In a swift and well-practiced movement they had rendered Alex and Cairo unconscious. Falling forward onto the already stooping old ladies, the boys had their hands and feet tied before a heavy printed cover was thrown over each of them. Now, even in the brightly lit area around McDonald’s, it would look to any tourist as if two old Egyptian ladies were returning from the Nile after washing their carpets.