Death on Tour (22 page)

“Well, this is fun,” said Kyla. She sounded more annoyed than anxious.

People were starting to shift and move around. Probably no one was thrilled to be stuck on the bridge, suspended over a dark chasm. A couple of people moved past me back toward the light, and I was forced to inch a little closer to the rail to let them pass. Just then, someone pushed me hard.

“Hey!” I gasped as I fell back against the rail. It was more solid than it looked, thank goodness. Besides the fear of falling, my main emotion was outrage that anyone would be rude enough to shove.

But I knew I was in trouble when that same someone grabbed my purse and almost yanked it off my arm. I was able to clutch it to me just in time, mostly because my arm was threaded through the strap. I jerked back hard. A second later, I heard an odd ripping sound and felt a small sharp pain along my forearm. My purse instantly felt empty, and I heard the sound of small objects falling to the stone. I let go of the bag and struck out as hard as I could. My fist caught someone with a glancing blow. It was promptly returned and with far better aim. A sharp punch connected solidly with my stomach. I staggered back against the rail again, gasping for breath.

“Jocelyn!” I heard Kyla shouting a few paces away.

The attacker kicked my feet out from under me, and I spun and fell hard. The cables that made up the lower part of the railing bowed alarmingly, and my feet slid off the bridge. I screamed. In the utter darkness, I clutched at the cables, all my attention focused on not sliding under the wire into the dark pit below. My attacker kicked again, narrowly missing my face.

Kyla began shouting for help. People behind us milled about in the darkness as the tourists farther down the passage decided to panic and run up toward the light. On the plus side, the flood of people pushing past swept away my attacker. On the minus, they jostled me even farther toward the drop. My feet dangled helplessly in thin air, and I struggled to pull myself up, clawing at the planks. Someone stepped on my hand, and I almost went over the side, but I managed to grab at a cable. I screamed again.

The lights came on, revealing pandemonium. A stream of legs and sneakers passed before my eyes as people charged toward the exit. No one noticed me. I struggled to get my knee back over the edge. The cable was cutting into my palms. I didn’t think I could hold on another moment.

And then Alan appeared. With one smooth motion, he grabbed me by the arms and hoisted me back to safety.

I clung to him. He folded me in his arms and held me tightly while I trembled. The rest of the people behind us streamed past, until the two of us were left alone in the middle of the bridge.

“Are you all right? What happened?” he demanded, tipping his head to peer into my face.

“Someone stole my purse and then tried to push me off the bridge,” I managed. I was trying hard not to burst into tears. “And they hit me,” I added, lip quivering.

A muscle in his jaw tightened. “Who did? How many were there?”

I wanted to say five or six. A dozen. All heavyweight wrestlers.

“Just one,” I admitted. “I think. I couldn’t see anything.”

I heard footsteps and turned my head to see Kyla hurrying back down the steps. She looked pale even in the dim light.

“They pushed me right up the stairs,” she said indignantly. “I had to run with them or they would have trampled me.” She scanned the two of us up and down. “Are you all right? One of you is bleeding,” she announced.

Startled, I looked down. Sure enough, there was blood on Alan’s nice white shirt. Had he scraped his hands when he pulled me up? I reached for his hand and then saw my sleeve. Neatly slit from elbow to wrist, it was stained bright red. I pulled the fabric aside and saw a hairline slice across my skin. I hadn’t even felt it, but now it began to hurt at once.

“A knife did that. Or a box cutter,” said Alan grimly, holding my arm and examining the wound. “And razor sharp. They must have tried to cut your purse. Thank God it’s not deep. But we need to get you to a doctor.”

“But my stuff,” I protested. “Look!”

The contents of my purse lay scattered down in the bottom of the well chamber. Alan leaned over the rail and I resisted the urge to pull him back. We could see my bag lying crumpled on the stone below, surrounded by scattered small items. My wallet lay a couple of feet away, unopened. But everything was well beyond our reach from the bridge.

Alan looked grim. “I know it was dark, but did you notice anything at all? Could you tell what he was wearing? Was he tall or short? Did he say anything?”

I thought hard. “He didn’t say anything, and I couldn’t see him. But I don’t think he was very big,” I said at last. “I tried to hit him, and I’m pretty sure I caught his shoulder. He just didn’t seem very solid. But it happened so fast. I’m just really not sure.”

He pulled me close again, his arm wrapped around me protectively. To my dismay, I felt a big tear well up and trickle down my cheek, followed closely by another. I pulled away abruptly, turning so he wouldn’t see. I pulled up the bottom of my shirt so I could wipe my eyes. He pulled me back gently and pressed my head to his chest. He smelled so good. I couldn’t help myself, I started bawling.

The Egyptian authorities arrived at last. Alan took charge, pointing first to my arm, then to my scattered belongings fifteen feet below. He started explaining, first in English, then in broken Arabic. Before long, he and the three Egyptians were talking at the same time, gesticulating wildly.

Kyla tried to lead me away. “Let Alan handle it,” she said. “Let’s go find you a Band-Aid. A big one.”

Alan looked over his shoulder. “Wait just a minute and I’ll go with you.”

“Well, at least let’s go sit down on the steps,” Kyla urged.

I knew she was right, but I felt unaccountably stubborn. “But I haven’t seen the burial chamber yet.”

Her jaw dropped a little. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“No, I’m not,” I said. “Look, once we leave, you know they won’t let us back in. Let’s just dash down there while nobody’s looking.”

It was true. None of the men were paying any attention to us at all. And we were so close. “You’re insane,” she hissed under her breath, but she followed me to the other side of the bridge.

We hurried through two more chambers, down a short flight of stairs, and at last came to the burial chamber with its arched ceiling, painted midnight blue and decorated with hundreds of characters in white. A miniature zoo of hippos, lions, crocodiles, and oxen mingled with people. All stood in profile, some fully human and some with the heads of animals. Stars and glyphs dotted the grid etched on the surface, full of undecipherable meaning. I’d never seen anything so beautiful.

The walls were just as fabulous, painted from floor to ceiling in reds, golds, tans, and blues. A beautiful woman floated on a boat with two trees and two attendants. Guarding all, the goddess Isis spread her great wings protectively near the ceiling. The striking colors glowed like jewels on dark velvet. I could not take it all in. It would be impossible to see and appreciate everything in a month, much less a few stolen moments.

“Well,” said Kyla finally. “All right. You were right. There, I said it. It was worth the wait. And very clever of you, I might add, getting rid of all the other tourists, so we could have a private viewing.”

I grinned. My arm was stinging, but it had almost stopped bleeding and I didn’t care. She was right. It was worth it all. We moved together into one of the little side chambers where one wall was decorated with a figure of an enormous cow surrounded by tiny people.

“The Book of the Heavenly Cow,” I announced.

“You’re kidding, right? A holy cow?”

We laughed together, and I scrubbed my cheeks to wipe away any remains of tears. Sounds echoed down from above, thumps and clanks, voices, sometimes in a low murmur, sometimes raised as though shouting orders. The air was still stuffy and humid, even without the crowd. Now that I was over the first shock, my mind was racing, and I didn’t like my own thoughts.

“You know,” I said slowly, “whoever tried to take my purse had to be someone who was fairly close to us in the line.”

“Well, duh. Oh, I see. You mean one of the tourists? Or maybe a thief disguised as a tourist?”

“Maybe. Probably. But what if it was one of us? What if it was Alan?” My voice broke as I said it. I didn’t want that to be true.

Kyla looked at me, appalled. “But he was helping you. He pulled you up. And you said yourself the person was short.”

“Yeah, I know. But that was just an impression. It was so dark, I just can’t be sure. And Kyla, who else could it be? It had to be someone fairly close in line. A common thief couldn’t have been hiding on that bridge. And that someone picked me. Out of all the people on the bridge, they picked me.”

“I’m sure it was just random. You were there, you had a purse. It could have been any other woman just as easily.”

“Maybe. But I bet I’m the only one in the entire valley who owns an extremely beautiful, very mysterious Egyptian necklace.”

Her eyes widened. “Your necklace! Did they steal your necklace?”

“No! I’m not retarded,” I snorted. “I wasn’t carrying it in my purse—I left it in the safe. You saw me put it in,” I reminded her.

She breathed a sigh of relief. “Then what did they take?”

We looked at each other. “I guess we’ll see when the Egyptians gather everything up. But it looked like the wallet was down there in the well, and that was the only thing that had anything valuable, if you call about one hundred dollars worth of Egyptian pounds valuable.”

“Well, it might be valuable to someone. I mean, the thief can’t have meant to drop it over the edge. He probably didn’t expect you to fight back.”

We stood in silence for a few minutes and then slowly moved back into the main chamber with its arched ceiling. My arm was aching now for real.

“It’s ridiculous to suspect Alan,” said Kyla finally. “I don’t believe it.”

“I don’t want to believe it either,” I agreed. But the doubt lingered. “Let’s go back. They must be done by now.”

We were just starting up the low steps in the next chamber when we heard footsteps drawing closer, and Alan appeared, looking harried. He stared at us in disbelief.

“We thought you’d gone up to the surface. Everyone has been looking for you.”

I searched his face, but all I saw was concern and maybe a little exasperation.

Kyla gave him a brilliant smile. “You told us to wait for you. You didn’t expect us to just stand there doing nothing.”

“And I had to see it,” I added apologetically.

He glanced around at the brilliant paintings and just shook his head. “Come on.”

And that was pretty much the end of our visit to the Valley of the Kings. Once on the surface, I was dragged to a very nice first-aid building where they sprayed some stinging disinfectant on my arm and then wrapped it up like a mummy. Kyla disappeared while I was getting patched up, but returned after a few minutes bearing a t-shirt covered with hieroglyphics. “Twenty pounds,” she said triumphantly. “I haggled.”

I was just putting it on and trying to straighten my hair, when Anni brought in a distraught Fiona, followed closely by Flora.

Anni rattled off something in Arabic, and the nurse put a protective arm around Fiona’s shoulders and led her to a chair. To my surprise, Fiona had blood on one sleeve.

Anni closed her eyes briefly, and then joined Kyla and me. “How are you doing? I hope your arm does not hurt too much.”

“No, it was just a scratch,” I reassured her, then looked over at the sisters. “What happened to them?”

“Fiona fell on some stairs and scraped up her hands.”

“Probably in that stampede,” said Kyla. “I almost fell myself.”

“Probably. But she fell again on the way here. I am worried about the two of them.” She bit her lip and lowered her voice. “I am not sure they are really well enough to have made a trip like this one.”

She wasn’t going to get any argument from any of us on that one.

At that moment, Flora looked over at me like a little owlet, all eyes and glasses. Her mouth formed a perfect circle as she gazed at my bandaged arm.

“Aren’t you on our tour, dear?” she asked. “What happened to your poor arm?”

I did not quite know how to respond to this. Too many details would either frighten or confuse her. After a pause, I just said, “I got pushed and fell when the lights went out in the tomb.”

She drew in a quick breath. “That’s what happened to Foney, too. My sister,” she added by way of explanation. “We’re traveling together. On a boat.”

“Us, too,” I said, nodding. Poor old thing. We’d been together for a week, and she didn’t even recognize me. I hoped that Fiona wasn’t as bad off and was looking after her.

She smiled vaguely at me and wandered back over to her sister. An Egyptian official entered the room with a security guard and joined us. He carried a paper bag and held it out to me.

“We have retrieved your belongings. Would you be so good as to examine them and let us know if anything is missing?” he asked in flawless English. His accent was British.

I took the bag and emptied it on the examining table behind me. My purse was there, sliced right through the side. I looked at the thick leather and felt a chill. That could so easily have been my arm. I picked up the wallet and opened it. Cash, my health card, and my driver’s license were still there. Lip balm, tissues, tickets for the tomb entrance, tic tacs, it was all there. I looked up, puzzled.

“I think that everything is here.”

The official relaxed and smiled. “Very good. And your injury?”

“It’s nothing,” I answered firmly. The last thing I wanted was to get caught up in some huge investigation. I just wanted to get on with the tour. Fortunately, that seemed to be what everyone wanted.

“I want to assure you that we will pursue this matter most diligently. And more security guards will be posted. This is not something usual here. In fact, it has never happened before.”

“I’m sure that’s true,” I reassured him. “Can we go?”

He looked so relieved that I wasn’t going to make a fuss that I thought he was going to hug me. Fortunately he restrained himself. “Of course. I wish you a wonderful trip through our country. I hope this has not tainted your experience.”