Missing in Egypt (11 page)

2.
The Disagreement

Yasmeen had wanted me to meet her family whilst we were in
Cairo
but unfortunately her parents had gone to the
Bay
of
Dahab
on the
Red Sea
for a week’s holiday, leaving the antique shop in the capable hands of her brothers.
 
We decided to leave this meeting until I could meet the whole family together.

The
Valley of the Kings
had captured my imagination and I wanted to explore more tombs and to walk amongst the hills where everyone knows there are still many undiscovered tombs.
 
Yasmeen had a couple of days leave owing to her and we arranged to fly back up to Luxor on the week-end and stay overnight so we could have two full days exploring the area.
 
We flew up Friday afternoon and booked into a hotel in
Luxor
, ready to set off for the
Valley of the Kings
the next morning.
 
However the night before we left Cairo Yasmeen had received a phone call from a man in
Luxor
who said he dealt in special antiques and that he had something that would interest her father but that he had been unable to contact him.
 
Yasmeen explained that he was away for a few days but that she was coming to
Luxor
the next day and would be happy to have a look at it.
 
She had arranged to go to his stall at the markets
the next morning
.
 
“You go up to the Valley” she said “and I’ll join you after I have been to the markets.
 
“I don’t like you wandering around the markets on your own, I’ll come with you and then we’ll go on to the Valley.”
 
“I prefer to conduct business on my own” she countered
“
besides I often go to the markets alone – don’t forget I take tour groups there, I am well-known”.
 

My macho-side kicked in then – this was the woman I loved and wanted to protect.
 
I certainly didn’t want her pushing me aside for a couple of hours.
 
Before I knew it we were having our first argument.
 
“This is stupid” I finally realised.
 
I needed to go out and get some air and calm down.
 
I brushed past Yasmeen and went out into the night air.
 
I walked around
Luxor
for
a while
and cooled off, getting things back into perspective.
 
When I went back Yasmeen flew into my arms and I apologised for being such a chauvinistic male.
 
Of course she could go and conduct her business and I would see her later.
 
She had lived and worked in
Egypt
all her life – she knew better than me how to take care of herself.

However the next day Yasmeen had relented. “Okay,” she said, “We’ll go to the markets together and you can wander around whilst I go and meet with this Abdul”. We headed off and soon we were amongst the bustle and thrust of the hawkers.
 
Most tried very hard to pull you into their stall, with promises of very cheap deals – grabbing you as you walked past and following you to the next trader offering better and better deals.
 
There were many souvenirs of
Egypt
– wooden camels, statues of pyramids and of the Sphinx.
 
There were also several jewellery stalls offering gold jewellery “at the best price in
Egypt
.
”
 
Many of the stalls sold Egyptian cotton T-shirts and there were leather goods in abundance.
 
I would have liked to look at some of the items but the stall holders made it impossible.
 
They were in your face, offering you anything your eyes happened to fall upon at a cheaper and cheaper price, so you didn’t have a chance to look around.
 
In Yasmeen they recognised a fellow Egyptian and she stared straight ahead to where she was going, not looking to the left nor the right and they left her alone.
 
In me, they obviousl
y recognised an easy target.

Yasmeen was slowly getting ahead of me as I tried to fend off the traders.
 
When she found Abdul’s stall she turned and smiled at me and I was left to the mercy of the other stall holders.
 
After 15 minutes of their haggling I decided to wait at the front of Abdul’s stall in the hope they would leave me alone.
 
I looked inside for Yasmeen but couldn’t see her.
 
The stall was only small and I had been watching the front - I knew she hadn’t come out yet.
 
I went further in – there was a curtain and I tweaked the edge to peer behind it.
 
There was no further merchandise there – it just led out to another lane.
 
Obviously Abdul had taken Yasmeen to another place to show her his antique.
 
I had an uneasy feeling – all the guide books warn you about going off with one of these stall holders to see other merchandise.
 
It is a common ploy to take you out of view and rob you.
 
Yasmeen of course would know this –
but she would also have understood that a valuable antique would not be readily on display.
 

I walked through the curtain and out into the other lane.
 
There were fewer traders here.
 
I called out her name, as well as Abdul’s but there was no response.
 
I made my way up the lane.
 
Then I heard what seemed to be a muffled scream.
 
It was Yasmeen, I was sure.
 
I bounded forward and around the corner – just in time to see her being manhandled by two men in Egyptian costumes.
 
“Yasmeen”
 
I cried, “Yasmeen”.
 
“Help me Ramy” she screamed before one of the men slapped his hand over her mouth.
 
I found energy I didn’t know I possessed as I ran towards her.
 
They went around another corner and I tore around it blindly.
 
There were no stalls down here and suddenly there was Yasmeen, still held by one of the men
,
looking at me with terrified eyes over his hand, which was still tightly over her mouth.
 
Before I knew it a foot had been thrust out in front of me and I went down like a sack of potatoes.
 
One of the men grabbed me and tied my hands behind my back with cord.
 
I could see they had done the same to Yasmeen.
 
“What is going on?”
 
I demanded to know when I got my breath back “What do you want from us?
 
If it is money,
take it and let us go” I said.
They were dressed in traditional robes and had the mask used to keep the sand out of their nose and mouth pulled across their faces.
 
All we could see were their eyes.

“We don’t want you at all” said one of the men in reasonable English.
 
“We want the girl, but you have seen us taking her and now you will have to come along as well”.
 
They put gags in our mouths and pulled us around another corner where there was a car waiting.
 
They opened the back doors and pushed us in, one of the men getting in with us and the other jumping in the front.
 
A blindfold was put over my eyes but not before I saw the same being done to Yasmeen.
 
Then we were speeding away from the markets, completely confused and very, very frightened.
 
All the horror stories of tourists disappearing in
Egypt
flashed through my mind.
 
Were they going to kill us?

When the car stopped we were pulled roughly out of the vehicle and pushed forward.
 
The ground was uneven and I stumbled several times but the hand holding my arm yanked me upwards and stopped me falling.
 
I could hear Yasmeen quietly sobbing.
 
We were guided through a doorway and our blindfolds and gags removed.
 
“You can scream all you want” one of the men said “no-one can hear you now”.

I looked around.
 
We were in a small house, very rough and ready.
 
They pushed us down on to two chairs in the middle of the room and tied us to them.
 
Then they tied our feet.
 
It was beginning to look very nasty.
 
I could see Yasmeen was terrified but there was nothing I could do.
 
“What do you want from us?”
 
I asked, trying to sound as if I was in charge.
 
The smallest of the two guys pointed at Yasmeen.
 
“You” he said “are going to tell us where your father got his latest antiques from.”
 
“I don’t know” Yasmeen replied “I hardly every go to the shop now, I have a job as a tour guide.”
 

This answer obviously didn’t please him because he struck her on the face.
 
 
“Don’t give me that” he countered “We know they are genuine and no-one has seen anything like them before.
 
He must have found another tomb – one that has not been raided.
 
We want to know where it is”.

Yasmeen looked shocked and I felt sure she had no idea what the guy was talking about.
 
“I ….I don’t know…” she stammered.
 
“He has never said anything about it.
 
I’m sure if he had discovered something he would have told me.
 
He has never mentioned this to me” she stressed.
 
The man hit her again and I could see a large purple bruise already forming where he hit her the first time.
 
I had never felt so helpless in my life.
 
Not to be able to defend the woman I love was the most helpless feeling in the world.

“For goodness sake, Yasmeen” I hissed at her “tell him what he wants to know”.
 
“I don’t know anything” she replied, the tears welling in her eyes.
 
“I can’t tell them something I don’t know”.

“Very well” said the smaller of the two men.
 
“Mosi, work on the boyfriend.
 
Maybe when she sees you inflict pain on him she will be more co-operative”.

Mosi crossed the floor towards me.
 
He wasn’t very tall but he was very stocky.
 
Although his face was covered he obviously had a large nose because it protruded through the cloth.
 
All I could see of his face were his eyes, which were brown, small and piggy.
 
I could see the punch coming but there was nothing I could do to avoid it.
 
It half lifted me off the floor, together with the chair, and I yelped in pain.

“Leave him alone” cried Yasmeen.
 
“I’ve already told yo
u I can’t tell you anything.
 
Why didn’t y
ou ask my father, or my brother?
 
Why are you asking me – you must know I don’t work in the shop.”

“Because you were much easier to grab” replied Mosi.
 
“Your father and brother are in the middle of
Cairo
– someone would have seen us.
 
But you move around in many areas so it was much easier to grab you.”
 

“Very well” said the smaller of the men.
 
“We will take them to the cave and leave them there overnight.
 
Maybe by morning she will have remembered something.”

They undid our feet and untied us from the chairs.
 
Pushing us in front of them we went outside.
 
It was easy to see why no-one would hear our screams.
 
The little house was in the middle of nowhere.
 
We walked for about an hour, Yasmeen stumbling occasionally on the rocky terrain.
 
As we came to the top of a hill I could see where we were heading.
 
Across the next valley on the next hill there were many caves.
 
Again no-one would hear us scream and a feeling of dread descended on me.
 
We were taken to the far end of the hilltop and up a steep track.
 
The cave they had selected had a small opening and we were taken deep into the back of it then pushed into the blackness.
 
As we fell to the ground there was a loud clang and a rudely improvised steel gate was locked on us, just inside the opening.
 
From the outside it could hardly be seen and crude though it was I was quite sure I would never be able to force it back open.
 
We were told to back up to the gate and, to our great relief, they untied our hands.
 
We rubbed our sore wrists and I pulled Yasmeen into my arms.