Authors: Kathryn Le Veque
“Nice,” Fox
commented. “I’ve heard of The Mamas Tablet but I’ve never seen it. Limestone,
isn’t it?”
Alia nodded.
“Very old limestone,” she replied. “This was found near Amada, a Middle Kingdom
Fortress near the second cataract. I’ve asked the archivist for the full
translation of the text.”
Fox bent over
the stone, slowly reading the ancient and faded symbols, as the archivist came
around again and handed the translation to Beni. He handed it to Fox, who
immediately began to compare it to what he saw on the table.
“’
One will
build the Walls-of-the-Ruler, to bar foes from entering Egypt; They shall beg
water as supplicants, So as to let their cattle drink. Then Order will return
to its seat, While Chaos is driven to the fortress of the Ape’s Hand to the
west; a valley by which the Brave shall Live Forever.’”
Fox’s head shot
up, his gaze fixing on Alia. “It’s a canyon to the west of Amada,” he said
quietly. “Since Amada sits on the east side of the Nile, it must be on the
bluffs to the west.”
Alia watched him
carefully. “You know the region?”
He nodded.
“Remember that I was on a dig in Edfu for three years. I know it pretty well,”
he was beginning to get excited. “There are big bluffs on the west of the river
there and several small canyons as I recall.”
“I know this,” Beni suddenly
hissed. “I did not think at first… it did not occur to me, but I have heard of
this before
Khmsh
ʼ
Şāb
ʻ
Mn
ʼ
Ābl
, or Five Fingers of the Ape, is an
ancient burial ground for the soldiers who manned the fortresses along the
upper Nile. It is a canyon with five small offshoots, like fingers. They
ancients used to call it Five Fingers of the Ape.”
Fox grasped the
man’s arm. “Where is it?”
Beni began
pointing to the south. “Not far from the ancient city of Amada,” he told him.
“I believe it is to the northwest, on the left bank of the Nile, but I will let
you know for sure.”
He darted off,
winding his way back into the archives and disappearing. Fox turned to Alia
curiously and was about to speak when Beni suddenly reemerged, this time with a
big leather-bound book in his hand. He was reading and walking at the same time
and remarkably not crashing into anything. Fox waited patiently while Beni
flipped pages around until he came to what he was looking for.
“Ah,” he pointed
to the page. “Here it is. Dr. Gentry wrote of the location in 1953 in his book
entitled ‘Egyptian Antiquities’ that the Five Fingers of the Ape was located
approximately two miles north and west of the city of Amada, away from the Nile
in the Upper Nubian badlands.”
Fox stared at
the man, a faint smile coming over his lips. He shook Beni’s hand. “Thank you,”
he said sincerely. “You’ve saved me weeks, if not months, of research.”
“But what is it
all about?” Alia wanted to know. “What does it mean?”
Fox turned to
the woman, knowing he wasn’t going to divulge his purpose, not after seeing her
reaction to Morgan. He’d known Alia a long time and knew she could be petty and
underhanded; he’d seen it. So he did the best he could in trying to throw her
off the track.
“I’m not sure
yet,” he said honestly. “I’ve been researching a project and this was a part of
it I was unable to figure out. You and Beni have been a huge help.”
Alia smiled. “I
am glad,” she said. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”
It was a leading
question; he could just see it. He turned around and looked at Beni. “You seem
to be the man with all the answers,” he said. “How would you like to help me
with my project?”
Beni absolutely
glowed. “It would be an honor, Dr. Fox,” he nodded eagerly, looking to Dr.
el-Shabheen for approval. “Dr. Alia must give permission, of course.”
Fox looked at
Alia, who was mildly perturbed that he hadn’t asked for her help on the
project. “Beni is knowledgeable, no doubt, but I could probably provide more
assistance,” she insisted. “What kind of project is it?”
Fox cast a
glance at Beni. “Would you give us a moment, please?”
Beni, realizing
he was being asked to leave so Fox could discuss private matters with Alia,
made a mad dash for the archive entry. He skittered past rows of shelves
containing priceless artifacts, past the archivist who watched him flee with a
queer expression on her face. When Beni had cleared the room and the archivist
disappeared into another part of the storage area, Fox let down his guard.
“Alia, I think
it would be best if you allow Beni to help me with this,” he said frankly. “You
know as well as I do that you would be uncomfortable around Morgan and I won’t
let her be put in that kind of position.”
Alia tried to
pretend she didn’t know what he was talking about. “I’m a professional, Fox. My
personal feelings have nothing to do with….”
He cut her off.
“They have everything to do with it,” he told her. “You and I dated for a few
months, had a good time, and that was the end of it. I’ve tried to maintain a
friendship with you over the past few years because I like you and we have a
lot in common, but that’s where it ends. It will never be anything more than
that and I’ve told you that time and time again. I’d like Beni’s help, not
yours, because I think it would be extremely disrespectful to Morgan to work
with you on this project. You would constantly be viewing her as competition
and I won’t stand for it. Is this in any way unclear?”
Alia’s face was
pale by the time he finished. She met his obsidian gaze for a few moments
before averting her eyes, looking at anything other than his piercing orbs.
“I’m sorry,” she
said quietly. “I didn’t realize my feelings for you were still that obvious.”
He tried to feel
sorry for her but couldn’t quite bring himself to do it. “You’re a married
woman,” he reminded her. “And I will soon be married as well. It’s been over
between us for years and the sooner you get that through your head, the happier
we’ll both be. Grow up, Alia. Please. I need for you to.”
Her eyes snapped
to him, a flash of fury in the green depths that quickly cooled. After a
moment, she sighed heavily and looked away, laboring to compose herself. “If
that’s how you feel, then I’ll do my best,” she said softly. “I don’t want to
lose your friendship.”
“And I don’t
want to lose yours. But if you keep this up, I’ll cut it off without a second
thought.”
Alia simply
nodded, fidgeting around until finally lifting her head and smiling bravely at
him. “Of course you can have Beni,” she said, more at ease than she had been
since he had arrived; it was apparent that his words had impacted her and she
was trying to relax. “But if you need my help, my offer stills stands.”
He smiled at her.
“Thanks for everything.”
She patted his
arm and they turned away from the Mamas Tablet, heading for the door of the
archive area. “Your fiancée is quite lovely,” Alia commented. “But I was honest
when I said that I didn’t believe you were the marrying kind.”
He grinned. “I
didn’t think so, either,” he admitted. “But she changed that.”
“She’s
American?”
“Yes,” he
replied. “From Los Angeles.”
Alia lifted her
eyebrows. “And just where do you two plan to live? I would say you have a
logistical problem.”
He laughed
softly. “I told her I’d move to Los Angeles but she said she would move to
England,” he shrugged. “I’m not sure where we’ll end up, but we’ll be together
and that’s all that matters.”
Alia put her
hand into the crook of his elbow as they quit the storage area. “Ever the
romantic, Fox. You were always good with sweet words.”
“I’m even better
when I actually mean it.”
Alia laughed as
they entered the dark, cool corridor that led to the main part of the museum.
Just as they began their walk back to Alia’s office, Beni came running at them
from the far end of the corridor.
“Dr. Fox!” he
cried. “You must come!”
Fox felt a stab
of fear. “What’s wrong?”
Beni was waving
his arms. “Your wife is in trouble,” he told him. “I do not know what trouble,
but she is in trouble.”
Fox took off at
a dead run. “Where is she?” he roared.
“The lobby!”
Beni cried.
Alia couldn’t
keep up with Fox but Beni could. The two of them raced through the corridor,
into the rear section of the museum and through the main corridor into the
lobby area. There were guards and people everywhere and several Cairo police
officers. Fox plowed into the crowd, tossing people aside in his search for
Morgan.
As big a man as
he was, he was extremely strong and extremely formidable. People started to
scatter as he began shouting her name.
“Morgan!” he
bellowed. “Mor-!”
A cry went up,
cutting him off. He saw a blond head in the sea of dark-haired people and he
shoved anyone aside who got in his way until he came to Morgan. He threw his
arms around her, noticing almost immediately that she had an angry red welt on
her left cheek. He grabbed her face to get a better look.
“What in the
bloody hell happened?” he half-demanded, half-pleaded.
Morgan was still
furious from all of the hassle going on and struggled to stay calm. “I was in
one of the galleries when somebody mugged an old lady,” she explained, pointing
to the elderly couple a few feet away. “I ran after the guy and caught him,
only the museum guards saw it and they thought I was attacking him. I’ve tried
to explain what happened but they want to take me to jail.”
Fox’s dark eyes
were blazing. “Nobody is taking you to jail,” he growled. “What happened to
your cheek?”
She made a face.
“The fat-ass Head of Security slapped me,” she told him. “I was trying to tell
him that….”
It was all Fox
needed to hear. He let her go, turning for the group of police and security
guards behind him and, spying a fat man with gold braiding on his uniform,
plowed through the group to get at him.
Morgan saw what was
happening and she ran after him, putting herself in the very precarious
position between Fox and the security chief. Men were jostling, yelling, and
somewhere on top of it Beni and Alia were trying to calm everyone down. Still,
Morgan’s only focus was on Fox.
“No, Fox,” she
insisted, pressing herself up against his chest in an attempt to stop his
charge. “Please; let’s just get out of here, okay? If you assault this man,
they’ll throw us both in jail and we’ll never get out.”
Fox’s teeth were
grinding. “He’s not going to get away with hitting you.”
She put her
hands on his face, forcing him to look at her. “Please
don’t
,” she
hissed. “We’ve only got six weeks together here and I don’t want to spend five
of them in an Egyptian jail.”
Through his haze
of fury, he could see her point. He struggled to calm down. “All right,” he
murmured, taking a deep breath to steady himself. “Don’t get upset. We’ll get
the bloody hell out of here.”
Morgan simply
nodded, holding on to him tightly because she was afraid he was going to go on
the rampage again. As big as he was, she was sure he could plaster pretty much
everyone there and not even break a sweat. She didn’t want the man to end up on
the gallows for murder.
“Come on,” she
begged softly. “Let’s go.”
He nodded his
head, herding her away from the shouting guards and aggressive police, moving
towards Alia because he hoped she could help defuse the situation. He was
almost to Alia when he suddenly noticed that Morgan was shoeless.
“Where are your
shoes, love?” he demanded softly.
She looked at
her bare feet. “I kicked them off in the gallery so I could run,” she said. “I
dropped my purse there, too.”
By this time,
Alia was listening. “What gallery?” she asked.
Morgan pointed
off to her left. “Middle Kingdom, I think. It’s the gallery with the green
walls.”
Alia leaned over
and said something to Beni, who went on the run to retrieve the items. Meanwhile,
the cops were getting restless and Alia started yelling at them in Arabic,
pointing to the main doors vigorously. It was apparent that she was telling
them to leave but when they pointed at Morgan, Alia evidently knew the right
thing to say to shut them down.
While all of
this was going on, Morgan left Fox’s side to go over to the elderly American
couple who had been assaulted, gently assuring them that everything would be
all right. Fox watched her deal with the couple, his heart swelling with love
and pride at her sweet, professional manner. Simply watching her lovely lines
and deep dimples relaxed him, centered him. He felt whole and calm as he
watched her.
But his calm
state was rattled when a Cairo policeman approached her and barked something
about the ‘transient couple’. Whatever he meant, Morgan’s manner turned from
soft to rock-hard in a split second and she got in the man’s face about it. It
was like watching a beautiful kitten turn into the Tasmanian Devil.