by Tom Hunter
“Says the man who couldn’t stop complaining about his latest romance going sour the last time we went out for a drink,” Samuel pointed out. “You’re going to have to work a little harder on your sincerity, if you want us to take you seriously.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Josh grinned good-naturedly, picking up a stick to poke at the fire to keep it going.
“You people. Is it impossible for you keep quiet?” Waleed gave up the pretense of trying to sleep, and sat up to join in the conversation.
“What’s the problem now?” sighed Samuel. “Has it been a whole five minutes without you complaining? Do you really feel compelled to spoil the mood when everyone’s chilling out?”
“No, but you’ve got to admit that it’s strange that you’re all still smiles and good cheer, given what we’re up against,” Waleed observed. “Anyone with half a brain would have stolen the skimmer and been halfway across the desert by now.”
“Is that right?” Samuel and the other men all looked at Waleed, who shifted about uncomfortably as he realized that he’d said more than he should.
“All right, all right, I admit it.” He threw his hands up in exasperation. “Yes, I considered running out on you all. You can’t blame me, given what we’re up against. Yet there’s something about you idiots that’s made me want to stick around.”
“Ah, Waleed. Don’t tell me you’ve fallen in love with this pretty boy face too?” Josh blew a kiss at him while the others laughed.
“You?” Waleed sneered. “You’re not my type.”
“Well it can’t be his personality,” remarked Samuel. “Josh isn’t exactly known for his charm.”
“That’s not what your mom said the other night,” joked Josh.
“Touché,” Samuel laughed.
“Americans,” spat Waleed. “I don’t think I’ll ever understand your sense of humor. Keep this up and maybe you’ll have me rethinking my plans.”
“That would be a terrible shame,” deadpanned Samuel. “We’ll miss your sparkling wit and delightful personality.”
“Pah.” Waleed lay back down, closing his eyes to make it clear that he wasn’t interested in talking anymore.
“Those were quite the moves you pulled on me, Samuel,” observed Akhenaton, changing the subject. “I must admit that I wasn’t expecting you to last five minutes against me, let alone win the duel. Where did you learn to fight like that?”
“I first got into boxing back in college,” Samuel replied. “If I’m honest, it had a lot to do with the cute girl who was going round with the signup sheet. I had no idea that behind the blonde curls and baby blue eyes was hiding one of the meanest fighters you could ever meet. She was absolutely lethal in the ring, not that I ever would have had the courage to ask her to spar with me. I never stood a chance with her anyway–she was madly in love with another guy. Last I heard, they got married not long after graduation. But that’s all by and by. I joined the college club in an attempt to impress her. By the time I realized I was wasting my time, I was hooked. All those endorphins rushing around during a workout are truly addictive.”
“You must have taken a fair few titles during your college days then,” guessed Akhenaton. “With an upper cut like yours, you must have considered going pro.”
“Me?” Samuel chuckled. “No, I was never good enough to compete. I never even tried. I’m too undisciplined. Boxing involves as much strategy as it does physical ability, and I’m too hot headed. I have a tendency to lose it in the heat of the battle. If I’m honest with you, there was as much luck as there was skill involved in my beating you.”
“Then you really have put me to shame.” Akhenaton looked crestfallen.
“Don’t look at it that way,” Samuel advised. “It’s not as though I haven’t kept up my boxing regime since graduating. In between contracts I spend all my spare time at the gym, so my natural instincts take over when I’m in a fight. And what’s that saying? Age and experience will win out over youth and enthusiasm every time.” Seeing that he hadn’t done anything to assuage the younger man’s upset, he lightly punched him in the shoulder. “Tell you what. Why don’t I give you a few pointers, when there’s a spare moment in between saving the world? I reckon we could both teach each other a new trick or two, and I’m always open to learning new techniques.”
“That would be good,” Akhenaton nodded. He was about to say something else, when Shafira walked up. The men fell quiet as she went over to the skimmer, and pulled out a couple of the last blankets.
“Good night, everyone,” she said as she climbed into the middle row of seats in the skimmer. “Please wake me up in the morning if I’m not up already. I assume that we’re going to want to get an early start?”
“Is she all right?” Samuel whispered to Josh, who shrugged.
“She’s talking about leaving us when we get back to Cairo,” he replied.
Samuel stared thoughtfully at the skimmer, wondering whether Shafira really would follow through on her threat to leave. Nobody could blame her if she did, but Samuel had grown accustomed to having her around, and her quiet way of solving problems had been useful on more than one occasion.
She’d be a big loss to the group if she did go, and to Samuel in particular.
Twenty-Seven
“There’s the dig site!” Samuel whooped as the outline of tents came into view on the horizon. “Josh, you are the man!”
“I aim to please,” the pilot grinned, as he piloted the skimmer towards their destination.
“Dieu merci,” murmured Basile, “thank goodness.” Shafira anxiously brushed his hair away from his face, placing the back of her hand against his forehead to gauge his temperature.
“Not long now,” she soothed. “I can see the tents of the camp. We’ll get you straight to a medic just as soon as Josh parks the skimmer.”
“What’s going on?” Samuel sat up a little straighter, wanting to get a better look at the site. “Why can’t I see anyone working?”
“Is it just me, or have they taken down most of the tents?” added Josh. “I could have sworn that the camp was a lot bigger last time I was here.”
“It was,” said Samuel grimly. “Something’s seriously wrong.”
Josh sped towards the dig site, deftly pulling the skimmer to a halt close to the remaining tents. The site was eerily quiet, the usual hustle and bustle nowhere to be seen.
“Stay in your vehicle and identify yourself!” came a voice from the shadow of a shelter. “We’re armed, and we’re not afraid to shoot.”
“This is Pin’s doing,” muttered Samuel as he stood up, arms high in the air to show that he was unarmed. “It’s me. Samuel McCarthy. I’m here with Josh, my pilot, Shafira from the Ministry, Waleed, and Basile, as well as a friend of mine, Akhenaton. Basile’s been injured and he needs urgent medical assistance.”
“Samuel? Is that really you?” Alec, the site foreman, came out from the shelter, revealing his weapon to be nothing more than a shovel. “It certainly looks like you.”
“Of course it’s me.” Samuel climbed out of the skimmer and went over to prove that he really was the archaeologist, returned to the site. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Did you think I was dead or something?”
“Well, yes,” replied Alec. “That’s what Director Haisam told us. He also said to be on the alert for the Bruard, because it’s been discovered that they’re active in the area.”
“They are, but I’m afraid the people you thought were from the Ministry were the Bruard themselves. You can count yourself lucky that you’re still alive.”
“Are you kidding?” asked Alec, shakily.
“I wish I were,” Samuel replied. “It seems that there’s a lot more going on than any of us could have known.”
“Samuel!” Shafira called. “Basile’s getting worse. Where are the medics?”
“Please don’t tell me you’ve taken down the medical tent?” Samuel asked Alec. His shocked expression was all the reply he needed.
&nbs
p; “I’m sorry,” Alec whispered. “We didn’t want to make it easy for the Bruard to steal our medical supplies. I didn’t even consider that we might have been duped or that anyone would need treatment.”
“All right. No use crying over spilt milk. Let’s just sort out something for now, and we can worry about reinstating full medical support later.” Samuel beckoned to some of the workers who’d been brave enough to come out to investigate the skimmer. “You and you,” he said, pointing at various men, “help carry Basile to the nearest resting place. You, go and fetch the doctor from wherever he’s gone to hide. Tell him that it’s safe to come out–the Bruard are long since gone. But if we don’t act now, Basile could lose his arm–or worse.”
Men rushed to lift the delirious Basile out of the skimmer, Samuel close on their heels while Shafira anxiously followed, not wanting to let her patient out of her sight. Alec led the way to the closest suitable tent, ordering men to go and fetch the medical supplies from where they’d been packed away.
Going over to a table stacked with paperwork, he shoved all the documents to the ground, not caring that they might be important. Alec then indicated that they should place Basile on the makeshift bed, as a harried looking woman came rushing into the tent.
“Where’s the patient?” she asked, as Samuel pointed to Basile. “Ah, Basile.” She smiled warmly at the man lying before her. “I should have known it would be you. You always were ridiculously accident prone.”
“Are you an angel?” the engineer murmured, vaguely reaching for the doctor’s sleeve.
“Close enough,” she replied. “I’m Doctor Ramirez, and I’ll be the one trying to save your arm today.”
“Good. I like arms. Arms are useful.” Basile muttered a few incomprehensible phrases in French before slipping into unconsciousness, as the doctor pulled up his sleeve and carefully peeled away the dressing Shafira had bandaged on his arm.
“Who did this?” she asked.
“I did,” replied Shafira, stepping forward nervously.
“Good job,” nodded the doctor brusquely. “We could be looking at a much worse scenario if it wasn’t for your first aid.”
Dr. Ramirez pulled out a scanner and ran it over Basile, paying close attention to the readouts. “Hmm. Did you give Basile any kind of medication?”
“No.” Shafira shook her head. “We didn’t have anything that I could find in our supplies, not even an aspirin. That’s not a problem is it?”
“Don’t beat yourself up about it.” Dr. Ramirez sidestepped the question. “You did your best, and you kept him alive for long enough. We just have to hope that I’ve got the most effective antibiotic in my supplies. Someone went a little overboard with destroying things to stop them ending up in the hands of the Bruard. Why there was such an overreaction, I don’t know. It’s not as though they’d be interested in an unimportant dig site like this one.”
Alec blushed, but didn’t say anything to correct the doctor, as Shafira paced up and down, worrying at a hangnail on her little finger.
At that moment, a porter came rushing up carrying a large crate. “Your emergency kit, Dr. Ramirez,” he announced, slightly breathless from running in the heat with the heavy equipment, as he put it down and opened it up.
The medic rummaged around in the crate, eventually pulling out a wicked-looking needle gun. “It’s not ideal,” she said to herself, holding it up to the light and examining the dial to find the right combination of drugs to treat Basile. “How anyone expects me to work under such basic conditions is beyond me. Add to the mix Basile’s foolishness in getting himself shot, and I’m amazed that anyone survives these digs.”
Samuel suppressed a smile. The liquid in the needle gun turned from green to red as the selected medicines mixed together. Dr. Ramirez observed the color change and when she was satisfied that she had the right combination, she injected Basile just above the bullet wound.
“Is he going to be all right?” asked Shafira, taking a break from her nervous fidgeting.
“Well, I’d advise moving him from the table to a proper bed,” the doctor replied. “Otherwise he’s going to wake up with a hell of a pain in his back. But other than that, he’ll be fine. He just needs some rest. He was lucky–a few more hours and I might not have been able to pull him back from the brink.” The doctor turned and glared at Alec. “I trust that this is proof enough that I need to have my medical bay reopened?”
“Don’t worry.” Samuel stepped forward to take charge of his site again. “I’m personally giving the order to get your tent reassembled and equipped. We’ll transfer Basile there as soon as a bed’s available.”
“Excellent. Well, if you don’t mind, my work here is done for now, so I’m going to write up my notes. Keep a close eye on the patient, and come and get me if he shows any sign of waking.”
The doctor nodded at Shafira and Samuel before striding out.
“You’ll have to try harder than that to leave me, old friend,” Samuel said to Basile, before turning to oversee the reinstatement of the medical bay, leaving Shafira alone to watch over her colleague.
Twenty-Eight
“Based on everything you’ve told us, I’ll immediately put in a request to send over a party to take over the handling of the site, including extra security for everyone’s protection.”
Samuel nodded, even though the Ministry official on the other end of the radio couldn’t see. “Excellent.”
“We’ll expect a full report and debrief from you when you liaise with the party on arrival,” the official continued.
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible,” Samuel told them. “I’ll be accompanying Basile out of the desert following his injury, to ensure he receives appropriate treatment.”
“No, you won’t,” countered the official. “It is essential that you remain on site as the only person with the required experience. Quite frankly, you should have never have left the site to investigate the cave. That could and should have waited until your current dig was completed. Director Haisam seems to have suffered a momentary lapse in judgment when he signed off on that expedition.”
“Director Haisam was certainly not himself back then,” Samuel agreed, knowing precisely why he’d been allowed to check out the cave. “However, I’m going to have to insist that I stay with Basile. There isn’t anyone here I can trust to take care of him and I feel personally responsible for his injuries.”
“As well you should,” chastised the voice on the other end of the radio. “Very well. Given the goodwill between you and the Ministry, and your otherwise unblemished record, we will allow you this one time to leave your contract to look after your engineer. Just make sure that you appoint a suitable replacement, and give them a full briefing before you leave.”
“Thank you. I really appreciate it.” Samuel’s gratitude was palpable as he finalized the details of the handover.
Hanging up the handset, Samuel left the comms tent and went to his own sleeping quarters, one of the few tents that had been left untouched when the crew started packing up for fear of the Bruard’s attack. Pushing open the flap, he found Shafira, Akhenaton, Waleed, and…
“Basile!” cried Samuel joyfully. “You’re alive!”
“I don’t know what was in that cocktail of drugs the doctor pumped me with, but it worked like a charm,” beamed Basile, patting his arm, which was now safely encased in bandages. “A few hours’ sleep, and I’m practically good as new. Which is more than I can say for the state of your tent. Anyone would think that the Bruard had waged war in here–it’s even worse than I remember!”
“That’s the Basile we all know and love,” grinned Samuel. “Never happy unless he’s got something to complain about. Moving swiftly on, I’m happy because I’ve just got off the radio with the Ministry. They’ve agreed to send out a team to relieve us. They should be here within a day or so, along with support from the military.”
“Tres bien!” exclaimed Basile. “It’ll be a relief to know that we ha
ve fully armed men on our side.”
“Ah.” Samuel grimaced and shook his head. “They’re not going to be on our side, specifically. We’ll be long gone before they get here. We’ve lost so much time already, what with the raiders and needing to patch you up, we can’t afford any more delays. It’s best if we get out of here as soon as Josh gives the word he’s ready.”
Akhenaton took in a breath as if about to say something, but remained silent. Waleed shot him a sharp look, expecting more of a fuss from the Knight, or at least some kind of questioning of Samuel’s decision to leave without getting military backup. It would appear that the duel really had settled the two men’s differences, at least for now.
There was a rustling of the tent flaps, and Josh strode in.
“We were just talking about you,” Samuel greeted. “Is the skimmer fully refueled?”
“It is,” nodded Josh. He went to sit down, then took a closer look at the chair he’d been about to use. He picked up an unidentifiable item of clothing between two fingers, holding it at arm’s length, before tossing it into a corner of the tent and finally taking a seat. “If we leave now, we’ll be in Cairo within a day. Just give the word and we’ll be out of here.”
“Great.” Samuel clasped his hands in front of him, twiddling his thumbs as he considered what else needed to be done before they could go. “Alright. We’ll need to replenish our supplies, but I’ve tasked Alec with that. He has a better idea of what he can spare from what they’ve still got around camp. Alec will also be in charge after we’ve gone, so it’s important that he has everything he’ll need. Meanwhile, I’ll prepare a report for the handover. Whether the Ministry will believe everything it says…” He shrugged. “That’s not really my concern right now. What matters is that we throw everything we’ve got at finding the leader of Akhenaton’s Order. Basile, I suggest you take things easy. I know what you’re like. No wandering off around the camp to check all the construction ‘just in case.’ We can’t risk you hurting yourself any more than you already have.”
