by Clay, Verna
"Yes…"
"Well, I want you to tell me everything you know?"
"And the reason is because…"
Rainey flipped some imaginary specks off her slacks. "You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, so I won’t. Just tell me what you know."
"Alright. Eagles are an endangered species. Eagles are the national symbol of the United States."
"I know that. Tell me something that most people don’t know."
"Okay. Eagles tend to use the same nests every year. They have approximately 7,000 feathers. They can dive at around one hundred miles per hour. They fly alone at high altitudes. There are fifty-nine species. Bald eagles can actually swim. The largest eagle is the Great Harpy, with a wingspan of seven feet and a weight of as much as twenty pounds. Eagles have better eyesight than humans and can spot prey two miles away. They do not eat dead things. The average lifespan of an eagle is about thirty years. They are diurnal, although sometimes they fly at night. How am I doing?"
Rainey looked incredulous. "And you said you learned all this by observation? Is your hobby ornithology?"
"Something like that."
"Well, that’s an evasive answer if ever I heard one. What else do you know?"
"Young eagles spend up to four years exploring before settling down. Their explorations may take them 2,000 miles from where they were born. Eagles stay faithful to their mate for life."
"Imagine that."
"Now, why all this interest in eagles?"
"Like I said, you wouldn’t believe me. Are eagles native to Egypt?"
"The coat-of-arms of Egypt is a Golden Eagle and it appears on the Egyptian flag."
Rainey blew out a breath. "I wish I had some books about eagles. Do you think there’s a library or bookstore here?"
When she asked the question, Roth suddenly had the answer to his dilemma—a way of flying out to locate the Bedouin tribe while leaving Rainey alone for a short time.
"Come on, I think it’s time you learned to make toast."
* * *
Soaring high above the Western Desert, Roth trained his eagle eyes far into the distance, seeking evidence of the Bedouin camp. Although not a perfect solution, his answer to leaving Rainey alone worked well enough for now. While she'd attempted to make breakfast, he’d slipped back to his room to unlock the briefcase with his satellite laptop and mobile printer. After calling up and printing information from several sites about eagles, he’d had enough pages to keep her reading for a long time. Hopefully, long enough for him to locate the Bedouin camp and return before she finished.
When he’d handed the printouts to her, she’d been amazed; but then her amazement had turned to anger. "You have a computer, don’t you? Why didn't you bring my laptop from home? You know how important it is to me."
"Actually, I can have a computer; you can’t. My computer is untraceable."
"There’s no such thing as an untraceable computer."
"Maybe not for you, but I’m in the bodyguard business, remember?"
"Where's your computer?"
"In a place unavailable to you. Now, just be happy I’m so generous and go study all about eagles, like a good girl." He’d grabbed her hand and plopped the pages into it.
After she’d returned to her room in a huff, he’d made a show of knocking on her door and telling her he was going to rest in his room. Then he’d slipped outside and prayed the Prayer of Secrecy, shifting into his eagle form to begin his search.
Roth flapped his powerful wings and scanned for signs of life. A color, other than the color of sand, captured his attention and he shifted his course. Swooping low, he reached the tiny oasis within minutes. A young man exited a tent, glanced upward at him for a second, and then walked toward tethered camels. A stooped woman, veiled and dressed in black, emerged from another tent carrying a large pot to a small pond. Several children played in the green area next to the pond. Roth flew past the encampment and landed on the opposite side of a dune. Flapping his wings once, he lowered them to his body and prayed.
Slithering across the sand, he maneuvered his sand viper form toward the encampment made possible by the tiny oasis. At the bottom of the dune he shifted into a spiny-tailed lizard and streaked toward the closest tent. Burrowing under the fabric, he listened and watched the three female occupants tending to small children. He left that tent and went to the next, and then the next. In the last tent, a group of men sat cross-legged discussing their upcoming move to another oasis. Roth hid in a fold of the tent fabric and listened. Peeking beyond the fabric, he studied the faces of the men he could see. They were too young. Darting outside the tent and around to the opposite side, he slipped underneath. From his new vantage point, he looked at the faces of the men he could not see before. He wasn’t positive, but the man in the center might be Tahnoon Kahlifa at an advanced age. One of the young men pointed to a spot on a map spread on the ground, and said Tahnoon’s name. The elderly man Roth had suspected of being Tahnoon replied. Not only had Roth located his target, he had learned of the tribe's soon departure for another oasis. He needed to act quickly.
Darting from the tent, his lizard legs took him quickly to the base of the dune, where he changed back into a sand viper and slithered over the top. On the backside, he once again took flight as an eagle. In a short time he'd returned to his rental house in Bawiti. Scanning the area for any sign of Rainey, and finding none, he landed on the bluff and returned to his human form. Walking through the courtyard, he slipped into the house and knocked on her bedroom door.
* * *
Rainey heard a knock. She wanted to study eagles, not talk to Roth.
"Yes?" she called, without getting up.
"May I come in?"
"Sure. You’re going to anyway, whether I want you to or not."
Roth opened the door. "You hurt my feelings, Rainey. I have more sensitivity than you give me credit for." He smiled a lopsided grin.
"Yeah, right. What can I do for you?"
"I’m just letting you know that tomorrow we’re going on a short trip. You need to expand your horizons beyond this room. Be ready to leave early; sunrise. Wear the head scarf I purchased for you and long-sleeved clothing. Bring sunscreen and slather it on any exposed skin. I’ll make sure we have lots of water and food. We’re traveling into the desert."
"What! Now why would I want to go into the desert? I think I’ll just stay here and read, thank you very much."
"Not gonna happen. There’s someone I need to talk to and I'm not sure how long it will take. I’m not leaving you here alone."
"You need to talk to someone in the desert?"
"Yes. You don’t understand now, but you will…eventually."
"And if I refuse…"
"Like I said, ‘Not gonna happen’."
Roth closed the door with a determined click. Rainey scrambled off her bed and rushed to open it, ready to give him a piece of her mind. He'd already disappeared. She slammed her door and pounced back on her bed. The man was impossible!
* * *
Roth reached under his mattress and retrieved the briefcase with his laptop locked inside. Signing on to the internet via satellite, he sent an email to Rainey’s father requesting a status update. Within minutes he received a response. Fawn had reported to the guard station at the lab that a man by the name of Professor Jonathan Blanchard had called Steve Brenner asking about Rainey. The Professor had said he was a fellow researcher who'd met her some months back at a conference in Washington D.C. He'd said she'd asked him to call the next time he was in the Portland area, and since she hadn't answered her private number, he'd wondered if Steve could get a message to her. Roth wondered if Rainey had wanted the man to contact her for business or personal reasons. Had she been attracted to him? Nevertheless, he'd ordered a background investigation of Mr. Blanchard.
Late that night, Roth roamed the oasis as a desert fox in the olive orchards below their rental. His restless spirit wanted to strike out for the sand dunes, but his respons
ibility for Rainey’s safety kept him near her. The hour was late and he decided to shift into an eagle and fly above low-lying clouds playing peek-a-boo with the moon. He prayed, flapped his powerful wings, and lifted into the wind. His feathers made him impenetrable to the frigid desert night. Exhilarated, he caught an updraft and pushed himself high above the clouds and into the perfect light of a full moon. Only bits and pieces of the landscape became visible through breaks in the shifting clouds. He stayed at that incredible height only a few minutes before diving back and landing on the bluff. He bowed his head to pray. Breathing sounds from beneath a date palm alerted him to Rainey's presence. He jerked his bird’s head toward the sound and saw her silently watching him. He had almost shifted in front of her.
Slowly flapping his wings, he took short hops toward her. She stepped from beneath the palm; her eyes alight with wonder and her hair in disarray. Her robe had slipped open to reveal her nightgown unbuttoned almost to her waist. Her full breasts strained against the "V". She wasn’t thin in any sense of the word—she was unbelievably erotic.
Roth cursed his short escape into the night. He cursed his desire for her. He cursed his inability to just fly away when she approached and sat in the dirt five feet from him, her eyes wide and luminous. He opened his wings to their full extension and she gasped.
"You are magnificent," she whispered. She stretched her body toward him, reaching her hand to touch his wing.
He knew he should either hop away or scare her, but he was helpless to do either. She touched him.
"Oh…" she breathed.
He folded his wings.
"I don’t know how I know, but I know you're the same eagle from home. It’s impossible, and yet, here you are."
Roth had to leave. His desire to shapeshift back into human form and touch her became overwhelming. Again, he cursed his lust for her. She was his job, not his lover. With one powerful kick of his legs and sweep of his wings, he flew over the bluff, but not before he heard her cry.
"Don’t leave me!"
Chapter 8: Caravan
The old Land Cruiser jerked and jarred Rainey for the hundredth time. Even with her mouth covered to filter the air, she could still taste dust. She wanted to scream at Roth for his insistence that she travel into the Western Desert with him to find someone he was vague about naming. His mood, for some reason known only to him, had been dower all morning.
Rainey grabbed her water bottle and chugged. The heat continued to climb to oppressive heights. Of course, their vehicle had no air conditioning. She punched the button on her digital watch and it glowed ten A.M.
"It’s only five minutes later than the last time you checked," Roth snarled.
"I don’t know what your problem is, Macho Man, but you’ve been on my case ever since we got up. Back off!"
Roth glanced at her. "I communicated with your father recently. He said some man named Jonathan Blanchard was asking for you. Do you know him?"
"Yes."
"Tell me about him."
"I don’t think it's any of your business."
"Everything about you is my business. I'm your bodyguard, remember. Are you romantically involved with him?"
"I am not going to be interrogated by you."
Roth clinched his jaw and braked to a stop. Twisting in his seat he spoke low. "Answer my question, Rainey."
"Or what?"
"Or I'll start making inquires of Daddy, Steve, Fawn, the milkman, the grocery clerk, the janitor, Mr. Blanchard's mother… Are you getting the picture?"
"You're disgusting. Okay, we attended a couple of the same conferences and had dinner together. He's nice. I told him to look me up when he's in Portland. That's all."
"So you have a romantic interest in him?"
"I didn't say that."
"Well, do you or don't you?"
"Yes and no!"
"What the hell kind of answer is that."
"I…I don't get much opportunity to date and…and…he's nice. I thought maybe we might…"
"What?"
"I…we…crap…I don't feel attracted to him, but I enjoy his company."
Roth studied her face and then put the car in gear.
Rainey felt humiliated by her revelation of wanting a relationship with a man. They drove in silence for a long time.
Finally, Roth said, "Rainey, to do my job effectively, I have to know everything about you. I'm not trying to embarrass you. It's just that you fight me every step of the way."
Rainey blinked rapidly at the sting behind her eyes. She was thankful when something ahead captured her attention. She pointed. "There’s something there."
"It’s the Bedouin camp."
Eager to get the focus off of her lack of a love life, she said, "Now, are you going to stop being so vague and tell me why we’re headed to a Bedouin camp. I would have been perfectly happy to stay at our rental and continue my study of eagles."
"With your tendency for trouble, I don't think so."
"What’s that supposed to mean?"
"It means I'm doing my damndest to take care of you."
When they reached the camp, Roth pulled the Toyota off the dirt track and onto the sparse vegetation of the oasis. Tent flaps opened and turban-headed men in robes stood in the entrances watching them. Roth exited the Toyota and walked toward an approaching elderly man from one of the larger tents. Roth bowed and spoke a greeting in their language. The Bedouin man bowed and replied. He glanced at Rainey and then returned his attention to Roth. Rainey remained standing beside her open car door. The men spoke for several minutes and then the Bedouin motioned for Roth to enter his tent. Roth turned and motioned for Rainey to come forward.
Conscious of everyone watching her, she went to stand beside him. "You’ve been invited to spend time with the women." He pointed to a tent several tents down where women in long black dresses and black face veils stood near the entrance. "The women will feed you and give you something to drink. Bedouins are famous for their hospitality."
"What if I don’t want to go with the women? What if I decide to stay with you?"
"Not gonna happen."
Rainey glared at Roth, but turned towards the women.
"Oh, and Rainey…"
She looked back at him.
"Mind your manners."
* * *
Roth entered the large tent with several men already inside. He greeted them and accepted mint tea. While sitting with the circle of men on colorful hand-woven carpets of blue, green, purple, and red, he introduced himself and chatted about various unimportant topics. Tahnoon, as leader of his tribe, sat in the place of honor. Finally, when the time came to state the reason for his visit, he requested a private audience with Tahnoon. The leader looked surprised, but nodded his assent. The other men respectfully departed. Alone, Tahnoon waited for Roth to speak.
"Tahnoon Kahlifa, you are going to be shocked by what I reveal. But please, listen until the end."
Tahnoon acknowledged the request with a slight nod of his head.
"Many years ago I received an assignment. I was directed by my elders to make sure a young man arrived at his own wedding. The young man’s parents had arranged for him to marry a girl he had met only once as a teenager. He had not been impressed by her and did not want to marry her. The elders who gave me my assignment believed it was very important, however, that the young man and the young woman marry. It would maintain peace between their tribes. The young man was destined to become leader of his clan, and my elders believed he would gain much wisdom from his wife."
Tahnoon watched Roth’s every movement, a puzzled expression on his face.
"That young man, Tahnoon, was you."
Tahnoon said, "Impossible! You were not even born when I married."
"That is where you are wrong. May I continue?"
Tahnoon inclined his head again, his expression showing more puzzlement than before.
"Do you remember trying to turn your camel away from the path it was on, but the came
l would not turn, no matter how much you switched or kicked or pulled the reins. After many attempts, you came to believe that Allah had destined your marriage, and you accepted it."
Tahnoon jumped up and said, "How can you know that?"
"Because, my friend, I was that camel."
The Bedouin’s eyes grew round and his jaw dropped.
"I know it sounds crazy, but please, sit and listen to the remainder of what I have to say."
Warily, Tahnoon sat.
"I would not reveal myself to you, except that I am on another mission of great importance from my elders and I believe it requires me to do so. You see, Tahnoon, I am a—let me think how to say this in your language. I am a species of creation that has the ability to change form. That is, I can become any animal, and that includes human. I live for thousands of years, and my sole purpose in attaining mastery of forms is to assist creation toward its ultimate purpose—enlightenment. I have not achieved enlightenment myself, but as a shapeling, I am further along that path than humans. So, you see, we are all in this together.
"Now, here is the reason I have revealed myself to you. The woman with me is a scientist. She is on the verge of a magnificent discovery that will relieve suffering. However, her life may be in danger because of that. As we both know, there are dark forces that want to control the earth for selfish gain. The breakthrough about to be made by this woman is in the area of sound.
"When you were a young man and I was your camel, I heard many things discussed. I know about the Sacred Cave beyond the White Desert that contains the secrets of sound in its hieroglyphs."
Tahnoon rubbed his hand down his beard, clearly trying to absorb what was being revealed.
"Since the location of the cave is known only to your tribe, I am asking you to guide me and the woman there."
The elder started to shake his head no.
Roth lowered his head and prayed. In a millisecond, he transformed into a falcon. In another millisecond, he returned to himself.
The Bedouin jumped backwards.
"We need your help, Tahnoon."
Tahnoon lowered himself to the ground to worship Roth.
Roth said, "Do not worship me. I am no less and no greater than you. We have both been created by the Source. As I said before, we are in this together, each with our own destinies. Will you help me?" He grasped Tahnoon’s shoulder and lifted. Tahnoon looked up with a mixture of fright and wonderment in his eyes. Roth used his own eyes to convey his sense of urgency.
