Blood of the Nile (12 page)

“You must remain
calm,” his serene voice crooned as he tucked a stray strand of hair behind her
ear. “Brooding will only serve to fuel the uncontrollable emotions we seem to
share.” With his words, every ounce of hostility she’d harbored had vanished.
For the second, Ramses had soothed her, stilled her rage. He’d done the same
thing on the barge from Aswan to Elephantine. The vampire’s gift had certainly
come in handy. If nothing else, it had saved them from a very embarrassing
exchange in front of their newfound friends.

“Thank you,” she
mouthed silently as they approached the table.

Ramses shook hands
with Andreas. Then he embraced the woman at his side, his wife, Eva. She was
spunky and beautiful with a pixie haircut, a pair of wide-set dimples, and
sparkling sea-green eyes. Ramses stepped away and eventually, the woman’s
profile came into view. Maliyah gasped softly. Eva was also pregnant – in her
second trimester if she judged correctly by the size and shape of her round
belly.

 
“Oh my!
I don’t mean
to stare. Please forgive me.”

“It’s quite alright,”
Eva replied, reaching out to pat Maliyah’s shoulder reassuringly. “I’ve been
getting similar looks since the moment I started to show. So you know who and what
Ramses and Andreas are? I wasn’t sure.”

Maliyah glanced
sheepishly at the other female, not prepared to let her guard down just yet.
Still, she was eager to share her insecurities with someone who could relate to
the surreal nightmare thrust upon her in the last twenty-four hours. “Yes, I’ve
just recently been enlightened. I’m slowly acclimating myself to the idea.”

“I understand your
apprehension. It isn’t easy to accept the notion, but things that go bump in
the night really do exist. You’d be surprised!”

After everyone had
been introduced, the two couples sat down to dinner. Every few minutes, the
waiter brought a scrumptious new dish for them to devour. Shrimp, lobster, and
steak tartar was accompanied by a plethora of garden fresh vegetables and a bed
of fragrant saffron rice that had been expertly seasoned with rosemary and
thyme. A pang of hunger erupted inside Maliyah like a volcano from the deep
recesses of her stomach. Her palate was ready to explode
—
an orgasm of delicious, flavor-infused morsels.

At first, the
conversation remained lighthearted. The men discussed business and the state of
the global economy as they dined. The women gossiped about fashion trends and the
latest starlet to suffer a nervous breakdown.

To Maliyah’s surprise,
the two newlyweds seemed quite ordinary. They were certainly happy and in love;
their genuine affection for one another was evident in each fervent glance and
gentle stroke of skin against skin. It somehow put Maliyah at ease. They held
hands during dinner and whispered softly in each other’s ear every so often.
Seeing the couple together forced Maliyah’s mind to venture to places she
refused to go before. Could she and Ramses overcome their differences and let
their mutual feelings blossom into something more? He seemed eager to try. It was
Maliyah who held back, rife with the fear of the unknown.

Once all the plates on
the table had been cleared, Andreas crossed her arms over his chest and exhaled
deeply. “Are you ready to get to the good stuff?”

“Dessert?”
Maliyah asked. “Are you kidding me? I couldn’t eat another bite!”

“No,
habibti
,” Ramses said, his eyes peered left to right as if
to decipher the underlying meaning of their dinner guest’s request. “Andreas
was asking whether or not we were ready to begin the task of finding Anwar’s
killer?”

“Let’s do this.” The
two women answered in unison.

I think I just found my new best friend,
Maliyah chuckled to herself.

Ramses paid the check
and soon the foursome was headed toward the beach in the blacked out Chevy
Yukon he’d rented when they’d disembarked on the island. Its dark-tinted
windows and silver-flecked paint reflected the backdrop of the night sky. There
was a full moon and for a moment, Maliyah let her body relax into the cushioned
leather seat.

As they turned onto the
two-lane highway that ran north to south along the coast, Eva filled the others
in on the reconnaissance she’d been able to complete thus far. She proved to be
a tactical genius. From everything Ramses had told her, this was what the
huntress did best. She tracked prey and hunted it down until the only thing
left to do was beg for death to be swift and merciful. To think that Andreas
could have suffered the same fate had the two of them not found a way into each
other’s hearts. The thought unnerved Maliyah for some reason. They seemed like
they were meant for each other.

“The house sits near
the edge of a bluff overlooking the Nile River on the Eastern side of the
island,” Eva said, pointing to a small red dot she must have drawn on the map.
“There are a series of sandbars that have been etched into the landscape by
erosion. We’ll park our vehicle here and let the guys go in and scope the place
out.”

“What about us?”
Maliyah cocked her head sideways, peering skeptically at the other female.
“Surely we can be of some assistance to the men. These psychos murdered my
father and almost got me killed. I’m not about to sit here and twiddle my
thumbs.”

Suddenly,
Ramses’s
head jerked around toward the rear of the car, his
intense stare boring into her.
“Maliyah.
Don’t. Even.
Think.
About.
It.”
He uttered
the warning through clenched teeth. She could have sworn she saw his eye color
begin to shift once more. His body language and tone of voice seemed almost
feral, like a wild animal poised for attack.

Maliyah bit down on
her bottom lip to keep a sarcastic retort from escaping her lips. Then, she
arched her back, and pressed the base of her skull against the leather
headrest.

“Fine!”

Chapter Fourteen

The Reconnaissance

Before Ramses and
Andreas made a move toward the house, they both changed into camouflaged
fatigues and rugged hiking boots. For even greater anonymity, a dark-colored
beanie covered Ramses’ head, partially shielding his face. He slung a holster
low over his hips and a pistol was anchored to his side, cocked and loaded.

 
“You take the back. I’ll go around front and
make sure no one surprises us.” Andreas said, pulling his gun out. As Ramses
started to do the same, the other man placed his hand on his shoulder, halting
any movement. “Remember, we’re only here to case the house out. Maybe pilfer a
set of fingerprints. Don’t get cocky.”

Ramses shrugged
his shoulders, then drew his weapon and headed for the rear of the building.
Based on Eva’s Intel, they knew three people occupied the shack. The infrared
images she’d captured appeared to show two men and a woman, at least from the
height and build of their silhouettes.

The plan was to
slip inside the residence, yet remain virtually undetected. The three occupants
sat huddled together in the living room watching television. If everything went
as planned, they’d never know the premises had been infiltrated. Ramses would
sneak in through a sliding glass door that opened up into the backyard, while
Andreas would make sure they didn’t get caught.

Ramses gently
tugged on the sliding glass door and found it unlatched. He let out a sigh of
relief, thankful he didn’t have to waste time trying to jimmy the lock. Slowly,
he opened the door, leaving it ajar to make for an easy retreat.

There by the bed,
sat a nightstand made of rich mahogany. A man’s watch lie draped on its edge.
Next to it, a half-filled glass of water left a ring on top of the wood. Near
the far corner of the mattress, lay a woman’s nightgown, a crumpled swath of
silken fabric. Surely the negligee belonged to Anat. That must mean the objects
on the nightstand adjacent to it belonged to her accomplice.

Eager to flush
Anwar’s killer, Ramses yanked a handkerchief out his pocket. He wrapped it
around the glass,
then
stuffed it back into his
fatigues. From the other pocket, he pulled a tiny circular object that had
wires poking out of one side. It looked like a speaker attached to the end of a
fishhook. But the device was much more sophisticated than it appeared. The bug
would help them stay one step ahead of their enemies. With it, they’d be able
to hear everything that went on inside the house.

As Ramses slid out
of the small crack he’d left in the sliding glass door, he heard a series of loud
noises, followed by a flash of light in the distance.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

Ramses’ gaze
traced the line on the horizon toward the location of the noise. There on the
cliffs about eight hundred feet away, a luxury hotel sat above the house he’d
just escaped. During their reconnaissance, they had taken note of its
proximity, but ruled out any chance that
Anat’s
accomplice would post a sharp shooter nearby waiting to take aim at them.

With his highly acute
vision, he could see the outline of the gunman as he hurried away from the
balcony, then disappeared back inside the building. It was too late to go after
the bastard. Most likely, he was just hired muscle. He needed to courier the contents
of the glass to Boris, the private investigator he’d hired.
The
sooner, the better.
Hopefully, they’d find a clear set of fingerprints
to help them identify the mastermind behind the attacks on Maliyah’s family.

As Ramses turned
the corner to make his way back to the SUV, Andreas came running from the front
side of the house. His eyes shot open in surprise. “Jesus Christ, man. You’ve
been hit. I heard gunshots. What the hell happened?”

Ramses looked down
at himself, his attention drawn to the red splotch that crept across his right
shoulder, expanding quickly over his chest. How could he not have felt the bullets
penetrate his skin? His adrenaline must have kicked in something fierce for
that to happen without even an inkling of pain or discomfort.

“No time to explain.
We need to get the fuck out of here!”

Once back in the
car, Ramses started to feel a bit woozy. Everything around him seemed to spin.
While wounds like the ones he’d sustained wouldn’t kill an ancient vampire such
as himself, the loss of blood could send his body into shock. If that occurred,
he’d no doubt fall into a coma-like state.

Ramses knew he
needed sustenance. In fact, he could hear the life-giving elixir pumping
through Eva and Maliyah’s veins, tempting him. He tried not to inhale the
intoxicating scent as his eyes fluttered shut. The image of his lover’s face
was the last thing Ramses remembered. She looked worried. Her brow was furrowed.
The tip of one long, manicured fingernail teetered on the cusp of her lower
lip.

***

“Look what your
stupidity has caused!” the man screamed at
Anat
as he
tossed a handful of clothing into a leather duffle bag. “Your carelessness has put
us both at risk.”

“I’m so sorry.
Please forgive me.”
Anat
begged as she lowered
herself to the floor. She wrapped her arms around the man’s ankles and sobbed
into the linen cloak he wore. “I only did as instructed. There was no way for
me to know that Anwar’s business partner would come to his daughter’s aid
before the poison could take full effect.”

“You should have
used a more potent dosage. Now our anonymity has been compromised. We’re forced
to leave the sanctity of the home that took me years to procure.”

He’d spend decades
planning and preparing. Years of depravity and sacrifice spent moving from city
to city, a virtual ghost with no true identity. Under the guise of various
aliases, he lived the life of a vagabond. Anwar al Aziz, once one of his
staunchest defenders, had forced him to relinquish all he’d worked so hard to
attain. He lost everything – his wealth, his home, even his wife and children. For
more than a quarter of a century, he’d waited for the right moment to enact his
revenge and now that the time had come, he refused to let anyone alter his
course.

Anat
had been his best chance of
infiltrating Anwar’s inner circle. The import/export guru rarely let outsiders
get close to him, and it took a great deal of finesse to convince the maid to
do his bidding. He knew she’d always held a soft spot in her heart for him.
Still, the servant proved exceptionally loyal to Anwar, challenging his cunning
skills of seduction until she finally capitulated.

Once his bond with
Anat
had been forged, he relied on her for information
and surveillance. The maid kept him abreast of Anwar’s every move and had been
instrumental in orchestrating his assassination. She was the one individual
with the means and access to kill him. They’d agreed that inducing a heart
attack would be the best course of action. Small doses of antifreeze infused in
his food over a series of several months had worked like a charm. His plan
would have come off without a hitch had it not been for Anwar’s family and his meddlesome
business partner.