Episode 9-The Tablet of Osiris

9

The Tablet of Osiris

Cairo was a city of wonder.  It was a series of ancient buildings, some dating back to the time of pharaohs, set to a background of more modern skyscrapers.  The two intermingled in a fascinating combination of old and new in a way that made E feel like she was on cloud nine.

The city itself was populated to the point of bursting.  People where everywhere, Cairo was packed full of youth and energy, making the city feel wild and alive.

E had caught up quick on her Arabic, having to deal with so many fast talking Middle Eastern people.

She had however, After all it was what she did as a living and she was damn good at it.

She couldn’t help but smile as she rounded the corner heading back to the down-trodden hotel room Karl had rented them for the night.  She shouldn’t have been in a good mood considering what she had gone through in the last few days.  She had fallen out of a plane, been attacked by a giant Mongolian thug, and of course been dragged halfway across the world.

Still it had a strange feeling of right.  She turned to look at the sun as it was beginning its descent and it illuminated the ancient metropolis in a way that sent chills through E’s body.  She could almost hear the history whispering to her.  It whispered of loves and battles, victory and defeat.

How could the sight of this not be worth it?

She had seen more and done more in the last two days than most did in their entire lives.  She could only think about all the times she sat between two stuffy old business men and helped to broker by translating a deal.  It had been her job for the last ten years, but this, this was the reason she wanted to speak other languages; to explore, to find things.

This was a reason to get up in the morning.

She turned and entered the hotel, climbing the steps to their room and knocking twice before entering.  Karl had stayed behind.  He would have been useless at this part anyway.  E had gone out to find out what she could about the situation, recon, Karl had called it.

She entered the room and put her bags down on the table, not seeing Karl in the small room.  “Hello?”

As soon as she said that, Karl walked out of the bathroom wearing only a towel.

E’s eyes widen as he crossed the room to where he had laid his clothes out on the bed, having not noticed her yet.  She could only stare in wonder at Karl’s hard body, damp from the recent shower.  His stomach was tight and defined by a six-pack, his arms were not overly muscled but instead thick and sturdy.  His thighs matched his upper body and his entire body glistened.

She cleared her throat finally to let him know she was there and he whipped around.  For a second, it looked like the towel was going to fall.

For a second, she wished the towel would fall.

He relaxed at the sight of her.  “Jesus, E.”

“Sorry,” she said, turning to shut the door and hide the deep red that her cheeks were turning.  “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“I’m not scared,” Karl said, having been spooked, obviously bothering his warrior instincts.  “Just jumpy, I guess.  You find anything out?”

She turned smiling.  “Of course I did.  It’s what you pay me for, isn’t it?”

He grinned.  “I guess so.”

She smiled.  “According to the locals, the Fortress Babylon has been closed off for weeks now.  They have been hiring free workers to go in and work during the day… digging.”

“Sam was right.”  Karl suspicions justified.  “The cup is under the fortress.”

E shrugged.  “That, or this Bomani thinks it is.  Anyway, that’s probably where Sam is, but from what I can tell, they haven’t taken any workers up there in a couple of days.  I found one of the workers and although he didn’t know what they were doing down there, he said there were a lot of Asian looking men with guns.  He said they all took their orders from a Mongolian man with bad teeth.”

“Hoi,” Karl hissed with no small amount of disdain.  “You find out how many?”

“The worker said including Bomani and Hoi there are nine men, all armed with machine guns.”  E answered.

Karl frowned.  “Damn it!  How am I supposed to deal with that?”

His question was rhetorical but E smiled and walked to her bag on the table.  “With these.”

She dumped the bag and two Colt model 1911 semi-automatic pistols and four clips fell out onto the wood.

“Holy shit,” Karl said as he stared in shock.  “E, how did you-”

“A good translator can speak the language.”  E smirked.  “A great translator uses it.”

Karl looked at her and smiled.  “You are one hell of a woman.”

E found herself blushing again.  “It was nothing.”

Karl picked up the guns and went through a quick field check of them.  He then set them down.  “Okay I’ll leave tonight.  I’ll have a better chance in the dark.”

“You mean we’ll?”  E interrupted and Karl turned to see her cheeks flushed now with anger.

“E, you can’t come.  You’ve helped a lot but I can’t put you in that kind of danger.”  Karl said with sympathetic eyes.

“You can’t put me in that kind of danger?!” E scuffed before getting into his face.  “Eight hours ago, I fell out of a plane.  Guns cease to scare me.”

“Look, these men are killers,” Karl protested.

 “You can’t do this alone,” E said.  “You lost the right to do it alone when you brought me.”

Karl took a deep breath.  “Okay.”

“Good.” E said putting a period on the conversation.

The two now lingered in a weird place.  The adrenaline was still flowing but now it was flowing in a different way.  E knew Karl felt it too.  Sam was endearing in his mad scientist sort of way, but Karl was earthy.  He was a man with bloody knuckles, a determined warrior.  He struck something deep and primal in E, a female need to pick the biggest and the strongest.

“God help me.”  She said as Karl leaned in to kiss her.

The towel slipped away.

****

Sam had not had the chance to sight see.  He had his hands tied and was hustled into a car and driven directly through town to the fortress.

The operation had taken pull and a lot of money but somehow, Bomani had gotten permission to dig in the basement of the fortress.  He had found the original exit to the cup’s tomb.

They entered the man-made tunnel and Bomani suddenly began to talk.  “It took time, much like when the Egyptians built the pyramids.  They had tricked the laborers inside and collapsed the way out, sealing the tomb and the knowledge of the tomb inside.”

Sam nodded, having already guessed as much.  “Where is your digging crew?”

Bomani turned with a smile.  “No longer needed, we found the tablet.”

Sam’s eyes went wide as they walked through the tunnel.  “The tablet is real.”

“Of course,” Bomani said turning away.

Sam stared at the back at his head and Bomani finally turned, feeling his eyes on him, “Question?”

“I don’t get it,” Sam began.  “You worked for the Taliban.  They’re religious zealots.  How does a Muslim zealot go searching for a Pagan artifact?”

Bomani took a deep breath and for the first time Sam could see pain on his face.  “I believe in the cause.  I believed in the holy land.  Believed in god.  I watched so many die to send the infidels to hell, all the time thinking there would be a place for me in heaven.”

“What happened?” Sam asked honestly curious.

“The Ankh,” He answered.  “It is a thing made not of this earth, but not made of my God. The more I learned of this legend, the more proof showed itself and I realized that the cup’s existence is proof that my God does not exist.”

“That must have been a mind blower, huh?”  Sam’s words had a grounding effect on Bomani.

Bomani shook his head and his soft smile returned, the pain in his eyes vanishing. “Whoever drinks from the cup gains the strength and immortality of a God.”

Bomani turned back to the man made cave in front of him.  “There is no eternity waiting for me, Mr. Bier, so I will make my own.”

TO BE CONTINUED…