Endesha entered his living room carrying two cups of coffee. Handing one to Roth, he sat across from him.
Roth stared into the black brew. "I believe the best course of action is to take Rainey back to Cairo where we can disappear until I can get some answers."
"I agree, and I'll continue working on translating the hieroglyphs."
Roth sipped his coffee. "But I'm reluctant to leave because it appears someone knows about you."
"Don't worry about the hieroglyphs falling into the wrong hands. I'll keep the flash drive locked in my hidden vault."
"That's not my main concern. I fear for your safety."
"Roth, do not dishonor me with fear. I have lived a full and exceptional life. Before choosing to remain human I lived almost five thousand years as a shapeling and during that time I was blessed to mentor and guide you like a son. After that, I met a woman who chose to become human with me and we lived a wonderful life in the country we love. What more could I ask? No, Roth, do not dishonor me."
"As you wish. I will say no more."
Endesha nodded toward the window. "The sun is cresting. You should be on your way."
"I agree."
Roth rose and walked toward the guest bedroom to wake Rainey and retrieve his backpack.
***
Rainey opened her eyes to a rosy glow peeking through a gap in the curtains. She stretched and then realized she was still in her clothes. She heard a light tap on her door.
"Yes?" she asked in a sleepy voice.
The door cracked open and Roth peeked around it. "May I come in?"
"Ah, okay."
He chuckled. "You're still in your clothes. When I came in to retrieve my backpack last night you were asleep. I didn't realize you wouldn't wake up to change for bed."
"Me either. I just wanted to rest for a few minutes."
Roth sat on the foot of the bed. "I have some news to break to you."
"What?" she asked warily, and sat up.
"Someone knows we're here. Endesha woke me before daylight and said he'd spotted a car parked down the street. We zoomed in with his surveillance camera and discovered a figure watching the house with binoculars."
"How could anyone know we're here?"
"That's what I'd like to know."
"What are we going to do now?"
"I've decided we should return to Cairo. It's a big city where we can easily hide. We'll find a nondescript hotel to stay at. Can you be ready in half an hour?"
"Okay."
Roth patted Rainey's leg as if to reassure her, then left the room.
Rainey lay back down and stared at the ceiling. She wasn't thinking about danger to her person, she was thinking about Roth and Fawn. Were they romantically involved?
***
Roth returned to the living room where Endesha sat at his computer desk scribbling on a pad. He tore the page off and held it out to Roth. "Set up an email account with that name and I'll convey the interpretation of the hieroglyphs there in a coded message." He pointed below the scrawled email account information. "This is how to decipher the message."
Roth accepted the paper and studied it for several seconds. He nodded his understanding and handed the page back.
Endesha pulled out a desk drawer and removed a box of matches. Striking the flint, he lit the page on fire and walked to the coffee table to drop it into a small dish, which he carried to the kitchen.
A few minutes later Rainey entered the living room. "I smell something burning."
"My atrocious toast," replied Endesha from the kitchen doorway.
Roth laughed. "I think we'll eat on the road, my friend. Are you ready, Rainey?"
"As ready as I'll ever be." She looked at Endesha. "Thank you for your hospitality. Maybe we'll meet again."
The old man smiled. "I'd like that."
Endesha drove them to the same boat launch they had arrived at the day before. As Rainey and Roth watched the old man on shore, Roth crossed three fingers over his heart. A subtle smile tilted the corners of Endesha's mouth and he also placed three fingers over his own heart as their felucca, pulled by the wind, transported them back across the Nile.
***
They had been driving for hours after retrieving the Land Cruiser and the interior of the car sweltered with heat. Rainey wiped sweat from her forehead and asked, "So, what was that strange 'hand-thing' you and Endesha did when we were leaving? You both put three fingers over your heart. Was it some kind of secret code, you know, Star Trek stuff?"
"I guess you could say that."
The unbearable heat caused Rainey's patience to snap. "Roth, you are a master at evading questions. Either it was, or it wasn't!"
"Rainey, why don't you recline your seat and try to sleep?"
"It's too damn hot to sleep. How much longer until we reach Cairo?"
"You're sounding like a spoiled heiress again."
"You are seriously irritating me, Roth."
"Ditto, Rainey."
Rainey bent forward and grabbed a water bottle from the floorboard. Hoping for a respite from the heat, she twisted the cap off and swigged before tilting it over her blouse."
Roth jerked his head toward her and his gaze lowered. "Don't do that!"
Rainey gave him a rebellious look and with a perverse sense of humor said, "Don't do what? This?" She turned the bottle upside down again and poured it over herself.
"That does it!" Roth swerved the car to the shoulder and screeched to a stop. "Out of the car, Rainey!"
"Fine!" She shoved the door open and jumped from the heat of the car into the heat of the desert. The desert heat was worse. Raising the bottle over her head, she emptied it and closed her eyes when water trickled into them. She opened her eyes to see a very angry Roth staring at her drenched body.
He shouted, "What the hell's the matter with you? Just when I think we might get along, you do something stupid."
"Is that why you and Fawn get along so well? Because she doesn't do stupid things?"
The moment Rainey said the words she wanted the sun to melt her like wax into the sand.
A quizzical looked passed over Roth's face and he asked softly, "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Nothing. Forget it."
"No, Rainey, I'm not going to forget it. Tell me."
"No."
He stepped forward. "Look at me."
"No."
He placed the tip of his index finger under her chin and gently lifted. Her downcast eyes rose to stare directly into blue heat.
"Tell me."
Rainey swallowed. "I...I"
"What?"
Speaking swiftly, she said, "I looked in your backpack and found a note from Fawn telling you to meet her and she wasn't going to let you forget how it was before. Ha. Ha." Rainey lowered her eyes.
Roth removed his hand from her face. Rainey bit the inside of her jaw.
"Get in the car, Rainey."
Three hours later, Roth maneuvered the Toyota through the chaos of Cairo while Rainey sat hunched against the passenger door. Just thinking about the revelation she'd spewed in the midst of her anger caused a fresh waive of humiliation to wash over her. Roth hadn't spoken a word since their verbal altercation.
A moped swerved in front of their car, which caused Roth to break sharply and swerve in the opposite direction. Temporarily, Rainey's attention moved from feeling sorry for herself to fearing for her life in Cairo's crazy traffic. An oncoming taxi turned only inches in front of them and Rainey's knuckles turned white from gripping the dashboard.
"Close your eyes, Rainey," Roth suggested. "I'll let you know when we reach a hotel."
Rainey closed her eyes just as the car they were following jammed on its brakes, causing Roth to do the same. Breathing deeply, she visualized her eagle and started to relax.
"You can open your eyes. I've located a hotel."
"Already?"
"Rainey, you closed your eyes half an hour ago. What were you thinking about?"
"Um...nothing."
Roth shook his head and pulled into a parking space at the back of an average looking, middle class hotel. While Rainey exited the car he retrieved their backpacks and shoved hers at her. Turning abruptly, he walked toward the rear entrance of the building and reluctantly she followed.
Within minutes, speaking to the clerk in Arabic, he had secured a room. Rainey followed him down a dark hallway to an elevator. Pressing the UP button, he shifted his backpack, ignoring her. After a long wait in uncomfortable silence, the elevator bumped the ground floor and shuddered open. Roth waited for her to enter and when she did, the sliding door started to close on her backpack. Heaving an impatient sigh, he darted his hand to hold it open. After he entered he punched the button for the third floor, and then leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes.
Finally, the elevator gave a little jerk before halting at their floor. The door slid open and Roth exited without a backward glance. He's really pissed, thought Rainey. Following him to their room, she waited while he slid the keycard to open the door, and then trudged in behind him.
The room had two double beds and Rainey dropped her backpack onto the far one. She stepped to the window and pulled the drape aside to watch the dance of daredevil drivers below. She turned back to see Roth pulling his briefcase and clothing out of his backpack. Following his lead, she sat on her bed and emptied her own clothing. After stowing her belongings in a cheap dresser, she again walked to the window, only this time she gazed at the sky. Finally, still facing the window, she summoned all of her willpower and squeaked, "I'm sorry for being a snoop."
Roth grunted.
"Is that all you have to say?" She didn't like her apology being rebuffed.
"What do you want me to say?"
"Jeez, forget I said I'm sorry. I'm not sorry anymore."
There was along silence and then Roth said, "There's nothing between Fawn and me. The note you read was, well, it's not something I can explain. But I give you my word, we're not lovers."
***
For the next two days, Roth spent hours contemplating his next move while waiting to receive an email from Endesha. After setting up the new email account, he checked it every few hours. By the third day, he was going stir crazy and so was Rainey. She spent most of her time rereading the voluminous information he'd printed about eagles. At night, he caught her standing at the window staring into a sky lit by neon lights. He longed to give her what she wanted, a glimpse of her eagle.
Evening of the third day, he checked his email yet again. Finally, his patience was rewarded when he saw a message with the subject line: SUCCESSFUL FISHING TRIP. He opened the message and read every word about a fishing trip on the Nile River. Flipping the switch on his mobile printer, he sent the encoded words to print.
Hearing his printer Rainey rushed over to it. She read the subject line and gasped, "What! You're printing a message about a fishing trip!"
"Rainey, when are you going to think before you speak?"
Her jaw dropped. "How dare you speak to me in that manner! I think you've forgotten who the employer and employee is in our relationship"
Roth ignored her barb and concentrated on the printout. Reaching for a clean sheet of paper, he set about deciphering the coded message.
Rainey sat in belligerent silence on her bed watching. After fifteen minutes she lay down and turned to face the window. However, a few minutes later she rolled back over and watched him.
He looked at her and grinned.
"Okay, smart man, are you going to tell me what's going on?"
"Do you actually think Endesha would send the interpretation of the hieroglyphs without encoding it?"
Rainey jumped off her bed. "You've got the interpretation?"
"I have."
"Well, are you going to tell me? Remember, I was in that cave too. I have a right to know."
Roth rubbed the five o'clock shadow on his jaw, as if considering her words.
"Roth Beowolf, you tell me the translation or I'll...I'll..."
"Or what, Rainey?"
She sputtered and finally said, "I'll make your life miserable."
"You're already doing that. Think of something else."
Before he realized her intent, she rushed over and snatched the paper out of his hand. Without thinking, he grabbed both of her shoulders and pitched her across his bed, straddling her body. "That wasn't very nice. I think you need to be taught some manners."
"Ha. As if you know anything about manners."
"Give it back," he said, deadly serious.
"No," she replied, with the paper held beneath her body."
He studied her face, but when he was slammed with a sudden inclination to crush his mouth over hers, he rolled off of her and walked across the room to sit in a chair. "Go ahead, read it."
Hesitantly, she pulled the paper from under her and raised it above her eyes to read aloud.
Amun, Lord of silence, without mother, without father, being everything, creates nothing. Mut, Lady of Heaven, without mother, without father, balances everything with a feather. Khonsu, great snake, son of Amun and Mut, fertilizes the cosmic egg with disharmony to create.
Rainey huffed, "That's supposed to be the secret of sound?" She sat up and tossed the paper on his nightstand. "I'm ready to forget this nonsense and go home."
"Rainey, Rainey, what am I going to do with you? We've only deciphered the code into English. Now we must decode the code."
"My God, Roth, when are you going to realize this is futile and take me home?"
Roth returned to his laptop and signed off before locking it and his mobile printer back in his briefcase. After stowing it under his bed, he said, "I'm going out for a few minutes. Don't leave this room."
"Where are you going?"
"Sorry, I can't tell you that. Just chalk it up to 'bodyguard' business."
Rainey's expression became livid, but to her credit, she didn't say anything. She just walked to the window and stared outside.
Contemplating the plan he'd entertained since interrogating the detective in Luxor, Roth left their hotel and crossed the street to enter another one. He checked in, making sure the clerk knew it was for him and his wife. However, instead of going to the room he'd just rented, he returned to the first hotel. Retrieving his briefcase, he fired up his laptop and when Rainey started to walk toward him, he shook his head. Giving him yet another nasty look, she plopped onto her bed and stared at the ceiling. He sent two emails. Afterward, he called room service and ordered dinner. While Rainey ate, he said, "I'll be gone for a while. Like I said before, do not leave this room. Understood?" he emphasized his command.
She lifted her fork to her mouth. "Yeah. You go do your covert operation."
He paused at the door. "Do not openthis door for anyone. Oh, and while I'm gone, try to think outside-the-box anddecode the message from the Sacred Cave." He quietly closed the door.