Lady of Heaven (29 page)

Beni had
followed them all the way to Luxor. 

He had followed
Fox and his new wife to the airport and, upon discovering their destination,
booked a seat on a flight that departed on another airline fifteen minutes
ahead of theirs.  He therefore arrived before Fox and Morgan at the Luxor
Airport and was able to spot them when they departed the AirEgypt flight.

They had company
with them, too; the man who Beni had contacted at the Blue River Antiquities
shop was close by Fox’s side. It occurred to Beni that perhaps this man was
helping Fox with his project, which offended Beni. Apparently Fox thought more
of the man’s skills than he did of Beni’s. All insult aside, Beni thought
himself rather fortunate that he had managed to keep them within his sight from
one city to the next. Failure, for Alia, was not an option, and Beni was
determined not to fail.  The black eye she gave him would likely turn into a
broken neck.

He called Alia
while Fox and Morgan were at Baggage Claim, letting her know where he was. 
Like an eager dog, he was anxious to please a woman who was thus far unwilling
to be pleased.  The more Fox and Morgan progressed with whatever they were
doing, the more unstable she seemed to become.

 “
Salaam
?”
Alia sounded rushed.

“Dr. Alia,” Beni
could see Fox and Morgan through the crowd of people, waiting in Baggage Claim.
“We are in Baggage claim at the Luxor airport.  I am not sure where our
destination is, but once I arrive, I will call you and let you know.”

Alia’s voice was
cold. “He hasn’t seen you?”

“No,” Beni
replied. “He has been too focused on other things.”

Alia was silent
a moment. “You mean his wife.”

“And other
things.”

Alia grunted,
falling silent for a time as she gathered her thoughts.  For every move Fox
made, she must make two.  It was imperative she stay ahead of the man if she
could.  She saw this entire undertaking as a game that she was going to win.
Alia always got what she wanted except in the case of Fox Henredon.  But she
was determined to change that.

“When you
contact me next, I may have some information for you,” she told Beni.

He was curious.
“What kind of information?”

“There is a man
I know who lives in Zeiniyat,” she said, her voice low. “He and my father are
very good friends.  He has a business dealing in arms and other items that have
made him very wealthy. I do believe I shall ask a favor of him. He owes my
father.”

“Favor?” Beni
was confused. “What kind of favor?”

“That is not
your concern,” Alia snapped. “Trust me when I tell you that once I tell him of
Fox and his invasive presence in Egypt, he will agree that something must be
done.”

Beni was not
only confused, he was increasingly troubled. “Done about what?” He wasn’t
trying to pry but he was very bewildered. “Dr. Fox has done nothing.”

“Not yet,” Alia
corrected him. “But if he is on a project, then it stands to reason that, at
some point, he will do something that many Egyptians would find offensive. My
father’s friend can do what you cannot; he can make it so the man will have to
return to me for assistance.”

Beni wasn’t even
sure what to say.  Alia’s instability was growing by the moment where Fox was
concerned and he didn’t want to set her off.

“How would he do
that?” he wanted to know. “I am following Dr. Fox and will tell you all that I can.
I thought you simply wanted to know where he was going and what he was doing.”

Alia sighed; he
could hear her.  He could also feel the evil that the woman was breeding, the
twisted thoughts of a woman scorned long ago.

“Fox and that
woman are searching for the Lady of Heaven,” she finally said. “The papyrus
that the old journal spoke of is involved and it has been my belief from the
beginning that she is pushing him to do this. She has turned an otherwise sane
man into a treasure seeker. That is not the Fox Henredon I know.  If she were
to turn up missing somehow, then perhaps Fox would be forced to return to me
for help.  He knows that, with my connections, I would be able to find her. 
Perhaps I would; perhaps I wouldn’t.  In any case, the woman is the key. She is
the one causing all of the trouble.”

Beni could see
now where she was leading and it sickened him. But he had no choice other than
to follow. The woman controlled too much in his world for him to refuse.

“It is not so
much what he is seeking as who he is seeking it with,” he said softly.

Alia readily
agreed. “There is no tomb of Isis,” she said flatly. “Whatever papyrus was
mentioned in that journal, I do not believe it. It was probably a forgery;
there were so many of them back in the days when the Europeans wintered in
Egypt.  Some clever dealer probably made the papyrus himself so stupid
Americans like Fox’s wife would follow it.  If I eliminate her, then Fox will
have a chance to regain his senses.”

Beni remained
silent, pondering her threatening words. It wasn’t something he agreed with; he
had seen Fox’s wedding. He had seen how much love there was between them.

“You should not
harm her,” he finally murmured. “There is no need.”

Alia barked at
him. “Call me when you reach your destination,” she growled. “I will have my
father’s friend contact you. You will do as he instructs. Is that clear?”

Beni nodded,
watching as Fox and Morgan moved from Baggage claim to curbside. “It is,” he
told her. “I must go. They are leaving.”

“Make sure
you…!”

He hung up on
her before she could finish, feeling dirty and apprehensive.  His directive to
follow Fox and his new wife was gaining in intensity in a manner he didn’t like
at all.  He hoped he was strong enough to endure it.

Beni called Alia
when they reached the Hilton Luxor and was subsequently contacted by a local
drug lord named Alezer bin Akil who ran arms and narcotics out of Luxor to
Saudi Arabia and Iran.  Alezer had the money and the resources to accomplish
what Alia wished; he owed her father a favor, after all. All Beni had to do was
keep tabs on Fox and relay his whereabouts back to the drug lord.  Beni didn’t
want to be a part of it any longer but he had no choice.

When Fox and his
wife moved south, Beni followed and the drug lord received the information. 
Fox, having no idea he was being followed, made it very easy for Beni to trail
him.  Somewhere near Edfu, the drug lord’s men picked up Beni and drew him out
into the desert with them.  Now the drug lord himself was watching Fox. Beni
was just along for the ride.

Fox had made it
extremely easy for them to set the trap.

***

November in
Egypt was the preferred month.  The temperatures were warm and mild, and the
climate was dry. Not a rain drop or a snow flake in sight.  Wealthy Europeans
had been wintering in Egypt for one hundred and fifty years.  As the jeep sped
south from Luxor towards Edfu, Morgan could see why the snowbirds thought Egypt
was such a lovely place for winter. It was eighty six degrees and crystal clear
blue skies overhead.  

Allahaba and his
cousin, Jabeel ibn Ahmed ibn Sula, were at the hotel promptly at five a.m.  Fox
had been up for a couple of hours but Morgan had remained fast asleep. He
finally woke her up about an hour before Allahaba and Jabeel arrived so she
could take a last hot shower and get dressed, but Fox was coming to discover
something about his wife that he found very comical. 

In the first
place, not only could she fall asleep with the television blaring, but she
wasn’t easy to wake up.  He had to shake her a few times before she finally
made a half-hearted attempt at sitting up, but then she fell back down again
and he had to physically pick her up and carry her to the bathroom. 

Once inside the
bathroom, he put her on unsteady feet and turned on the shower for her.  She
managed to get into the shower under her own power, but he swore she fell
asleep again as the hot water beat down on her and he found himself washing her
hair as she half-heartedly washed her body.  Not that he minded bathing her,
but he struggled not to laugh the entire time.  She was like a zombie.

She shaved
herself, a little more awake by this time, but then she slumped against the
shower wall and closed her eyes again, dozing as the hot water washed over
her.  Fox had stepped out of the bathroom momentarily to open the door for
their early-morning room service breakfast, coming back into the bathroom to
find her pretty much sleeping standing up.  He couldn’t help it; he started
laughing.  He’d never seen anything like it.

Going back to
the living room where their breakfast sat untouched and cooling, he put jam on
a piece of toast and took it back into the bathroom with him.  As Morgan
virtually snored leaning against the shower wall, he stuck the toast in her
mouth, turned off the water, and wrapped her up in a towel.   She sleepily
chewed her toast as he pulled her out of the stall and proceeded to vigorously
dry her off. 

By the time he
rubbed the towel over her blond head, she was more awake and grumpy because he
was drying her so roughly.  He snorted as she batted at him and insisted she
was awake enough to take care of herself.  When he wondered aloud how she had
managed all these years to get herself out of bed and to work, she threw a
hairbrush at him. He roared with laughter but wisely cleared the bathroom.

All grogginess
aside, she was ready to go when Allahaba arrived.  Fox had all of the duffle
bags while Morgan carried the two backpacks.  Jabeel was a younger man, nice
looking and dressed in Levi jeans, and apparently very industrious with his
modified twenty-five year old Land Rover.  Hand-painted signs were fastened to
the vehicle announcing “Eye of Horus Tours”.  There was no air conditioning but
the two rows of seats were roomy.  He had also removed the windows and made
some body modifications so it was much like a tram-car, open air for the most
part to allow for a wider field of vision.  

Morgan eyed the
car, walking around it with her practiced police-eye and wondering aloud if it
was street-legal.  Jabeel just smiled at her and told her that the car was like
a tank, a statement of which she had no doubt.  Jumping in when Jabeel revved
the engine, they were off.

Jabeel and
Allahaba sat in the front seats while Morgan and Fox sat in the second row
bench seat.   Morgan leaned against Fox, her legs across the seat and her
designer sunglasses perched on her nose as they took Highway 2 south.  The
highway paralleled the Nile and Morgan was enjoying the warm temperatures and
stunning view immensely. There was something so timeless and raw about the
beauty of the land.  Fox had his left arm around her, enjoying his own view off
to the west.  It didn’t get any better than this - Egypt and Morgan were the
two things he loved best.

It was a sixty
mile drive to Edfu, bumping over the open highway with the wind and dust
whipping around.  Jabeel had a portable CD player which he plugged into a
cigarette lighter that looked like he had jimmied it into the dashboard.  When
he popped in REO Speedwagon, Morgan gave him the thumbs-down.  When he popped
in Van Halen, she threw up her hands like she was at a rock concert.  Fox just
grinned and shook his head; with “Dance the Night Away” blasting, the old Land
Rover tore down the highway. 

This far south,
the majority of the agriculture was on the west side of the Nile. Morgan
settled back for the ride, using Fox as a seat back, her head on his enormous
shoulder as the trip progressed.  Allahaba and Jabeel had brought cases upon
cases of bottled water and Fox procured a couple of bottles as the drive
progressed.  By nine o’clock in the morning, they had reached Edfu. Jabeel
pulled into a gas station to gas up the jeep and fill up some gas cans.

Morgan and Fox
climbed out of the car to stretch their legs, looking around the area.  Shielding
her eyes from the bright sun, Morgan peered off in the direction of the Nile.

“Where was your
dig?” she asked Fox.

He was standing
a few feet away from her, gazing off toward the southwest. “The city is
actually on the west side of the Nile,” he pointed. “See that bridge about a
half-kilometer down the river? If we cross that, it will take us into the city
proper.  The Temple is on the other side of the city, about three kilometers
from here.”

She peered in
the direction he was pointing. “It’s a big city. I didn’t realize it was so
big.”

Pulled off his
sunglasses and cleaned them with the edge of his shirt. “By Egyptian standards,
it’s rather new. It was founded during the Ptolemic reign so the Temple of
Horus was technically built by the Greeks.”

She looked over
at him, smiling. “Very cool,” she said. “Too bad we don’t have time to see it.
I’d love to see where you spent three years of your life.”

He winked at
her. “As important as the dig was, I have to admit I was glad to get back
home.  Looking around at this area now makes my skin itch; the dry air, the
heat, the sand storms… oh, yes, I was glad to get home.”

She sauntered
over to him. “Meet any luscious local women?”