Lazy Days (40 page)

"Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, fine. I’m hungry. Are we going
out?"

"Yes, I saw a small restaurant not far from
here. How long do you need to get ready?"

"Only a few minutes."

"Okay, knock on my door when you're
ready."

Rainey sat on the side of her bed, rubbed her
eyes, and threaded her hands through her hair. Smoothing her slacks, she
changed into a fresh blouse, tossing the sweaty one onto a chair. It already
needed to be washed.
I wonder who does the laundry.

In the bathroom, she combed her hair into a
ponytail, brushed her teeth, applied more deodorant, and rinsed her face in
tepid water. Her small cache of makeup consisted of an eyebrow pencil, blusher,
and pale pink lipstick. She applied a little of each, and then wondered why she
even bothered. A final glance in the tiny mirror convinced her that she looked
about the same with or without makeup.
As if I care.

She met up with Roth in the small entry. He held
the door for her and placed his palm at the small of her back, guiding her to
the car. She got that strange feeling in the pit of her stomach again. Some
wispy hairs blew across her mouth and she reached to smooth them back into the
band. Roth opened the car door and she stumbled getting inside.

With the grace of a panther, he walked around
the car and slid into his seat. Rainey watched his hands on the wheel, steering
the vehicle exactly where he wanted it to go. She had a vision of his hands on
a woman steering her…
Stop it!

* * *

Rainey opened her bedroom door. She couldn't
sleep. After eating at the tiny restaurant that had been characterized mostly
by antagonistic silence on her part, they had returned to the house and gone
their separate ways. She'd tried reading the novel the clerk had shoved in her
face when she'd paid for her undergarments. For some unknown reason, she’d
purchased the silly romance paperback with a half-man, half-animal hunk on the
cover and a title of,
TAMING
THE BEAST
.
The subtitle read,
CAN
SHE TAME THE ANIMAL IN HIM?
What a bunch of crap.

Tiptoeing to the door leading to the back
courtyard, she turned the lock and slipped into the night. The air, now cool
and refreshing, gave no indication of the overwhelming heat this part of the
world was famous for. Lovely date palms graced the courtyard, but she scarcely
glanced at their dark shapes. She walked to the edge of the bluff. Below, only
a few lights braved the night. The oasis slept.

Rainey hugged the shapeless housecoat she’d
bought against her body. The magic of Egypt was hard to resist. She looked
beyond the oasis and out into the desert. Dark shapes of dunes stood sentry over
mysteries buried in the preserving power of sand. Although she feigned
disinterest whenever Roth spoke of the area, she knew from news reports that a
cache of corpses, one of the most amazing discoveries ever found, had been
uncovered near Bawiti.

She sighed and looked toward the sky, thinking
about her eagle back home. As if conjuring him up, a dark form flew above her.
It soared high enough that she couldn't discern details, but she could make out
the magnificent wing span. Her breath caught. Although an impossibility, she
wanted to pretend it was the eagle from home. Unexpected tears flooded her eyes
and she blinked them away.
How I wish it was you.

* * *

Roth shifted his wings and circled. Rainey stood
directly below him, gazing upward. He caught a downdraft and circled lower. His
eagle eyes saw a shimmer in hers. He wanted to land and listen to her
revelations like he had done in the field of flowers; listen to the woman with
her defenses down. He circled for ten minutes and she never took her eyes off
him.

Movement a few feet from her distracted him. In
an instant he dove toward it. He heard her gasp. Before it could strike, he
slipped his talons and sharp beak into a deadly viper. Swooping over the edge
of the bluff, he dropped it into the field below and flew back to Rainey. She
held her hands to her cheeks and her mouth formed an ‘O’. He landed near one of
the date palms and watched her hesitant approach.

"How can this be? Are you the eagle from
home? It’s impossible. You must be another bird native to this area. Oh, my
god, if you’re the same bird… I wish I knew. You saved my life. Oh, my god. I
can’t believe this. I was just thinking about you, and then I looked up and saw
you."

Roth suddenly took to flight. Her innocence
touched something in him he didn’t want touched. It made him want to pray the
Prayer of Secrecy and reveal himself to her, but that was impossible.

Roth eased back on a worn chair in the
courtyard, lifting his face to an Egyptian sun. Earlier that morning, he’d
slipped out while Rainey slept. After a few inquiries of people working the
orchards, he’d located a wizened old man whom the natives said might know the
whereabouts of the Bedouin tribe he was seeking. Physically, the old man
appeared frail, but his eyes were alert and wise. After assessing Roth, he’d
used his cane to draw a map in the sand showing a possible location of the
tribe.

Roth listened as a slight breeze ruffled palm
fronds. It was the kind of day he needed to accomplish his task. He could soar
as an eagle and see for miles, and hopefully locate the Bedouin tribe quickly.

Stretching and crossing his long legs, he
rehashed the events of the previous night. After abruptly flying away from
Rainey, he’d circled high above their rental until she'd returned to the house.
Even now, he couldn't believe he'd wanted to reveal himself to her. Shaking his
head at his lapse in judgment, he glanced across the courtyard, expecting her
to appear shortly. Although she’d been up late—no telling how long it had taken
her to fall asleep after her encounter with the eagle—it was now mid morning.

Absently, he drew designs in the sand with the
heel of his boot and pondered his dilemma. He didn’t want to leave Rainey for
any extended length of time because of her tendency to find trouble. As her
bodyguard, her safety depended on him night and day.

The squeak of the door drew his attention. The
object of his thoughts, wearing another version of bland slacks and prim white
blouse, entered the courtyard. He could see the excitement in her eyes,
although she feigned a look of boredom. She yawned and sat in the chair beside
him.

"Good morning to you, too, Sunshine,"
he greeted.

"Please stop calling me that. What are we
doing for breakfast?"

"I thought we’d try out the kitchen. Cook
something up. You
do
know how to cook, don’t you?"

"Not really."

"Are you telling me you've received the
highest education possible, with enough diplomas to plaster a wall like
wallpaper, and you can’t cook?"

"I was too busy getting my diplomas to
acquire that skill."

"Well, then, I guess it’s about time you
learned. We stocked up on supplies yesterday. How about something easy? You
know, taking baby steps until you can grasp the complexity of the culinary
art—what about toast?"

"Very funny. I think I’ll watch your
mastery of the art. Now, to change the subject, remember when I asked if you
knew anything about eagles?"

"Yes…"

"Well, I want you to tell me everything you
know?"

"And the reason is because…"

Rainey flipped some imaginary specks off her
slacks. "You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, so I won’t. Just tell me
what you know."

"Alright. Eagles are an endangered species.
Eagles are the national symbol of the United States."

"I know that. Tell me something that most
people don’t know."

"Okay. Eagles tend to use the same nests
every year. They have approximately 7,000 feathers. They can dive at around one
hundred miles per hour. They fly alone at high altitudes. There are fifty-nine
species. Bald eagles can actually swim. The largest eagle is the Great Harpy,
with a wingspan of seven feet and a weight of as much as twenty pounds. Eagles
have better eyesight than humans and can spot prey two miles away. They do not
eat dead things. The average lifespan of an eagle is about thirty years. They are
diurnal, although sometimes they fly at night. How am I doing?"

Rainey looked incredulous. "And you said
you learned all this by observation? Is your hobby ornithology?"

"Something like that."

"Well, that’s an evasive answer if ever I
heard one. What else do you know?"

"Young eagles spend up to four years
exploring before settling down. Their explorations may take them 2,000 miles
from where they were born. Eagles stay faithful to their mate for life."

"Imagine that."

"Now, why all this interest in eagles?"

"Like I said, you wouldn’t believe me. Are
eagles native to Egypt?"

"The coat-of-arms of Egypt is a Golden
Eagle and it appears on the Egyptian flag."

Rainey blew out a breath. "I wish I had
some books about eagles. Do you think there’s a library or bookstore
here?"

When she asked the question, Roth suddenly had
the answer to his dilemma—a way of flying out to locate the Bedouin tribe while
leaving Rainey alone for a short time.

"Come on, I think it’s time you learned to
make toast."

* * *

Soaring high above the Western Desert, Roth
trained his eagle eyes far into the distance, seeking evidence of the Bedouin
camp. Although not a perfect solution, his answer to leaving Rainey alone
worked well enough for now. While she'd attempted to make breakfast, he’d
slipped back to his room to unlock the briefcase with his satellite laptop and
mobile printer. After calling up and printing information from several sites
about eagles, he’d had enough pages to keep her reading for a long time.
Hopefully, long enough for him to locate the Bedouin camp and return before she
finished.

When he’d handed the printouts to her, she’d
been amazed; but then her amazement had turned to anger. "You have a
computer, don’t you? Why didn't you bring my laptop from home? You know how important
it is to me."

"Actually,
I
can have a computer;
you
can’t. My computer is untraceable."

"There’s no such thing as an untraceable
computer."

"Maybe not for you, but I’m in the
bodyguard business, remember?"

"Where's your computer?"

"In a place unavailable to you. Now, just
be happy I’m so generous and go study all about eagles, like a good girl."
He’d grabbed her hand and plopped the pages into it.

After she’d returned to her room in a huff, he’d
made a show of knocking on her door and telling her he was going to rest in his
room. Then he’d slipped outside and prayed the Prayer of Secrecy, shifting into
his eagle form to begin his search.

Roth flapped his powerful wings and scanned for
signs of life. A color, other than the color of sand, captured his attention
and he shifted his course. Swooping low, he reached the tiny oasis within
minutes. A young man exited a tent, glanced upward at him for a second, and
then walked toward tethered camels. A stooped woman, veiled and dressed in
black, emerged from another tent carrying a large pot to a small pond. Several
children played in the green area next to the pond. Roth flew past the
encampment and landed on the opposite side of a dune. Flapping his wings once,
he lowered them to his body and prayed.

 Slithering across the sand, he maneuvered his
sand viper form toward the encampment made possible by the tiny oasis. At the
bottom of the dune he shifted into a spiny-tailed lizard and streaked toward
the closest tent. Burrowing under the fabric, he listened and watched the three
female occupants tending to small children. He left that tent and went to the
next, and then the next. In the last tent, a group of men sat cross-legged
discussing their upcoming move to another oasis. Roth hid in a fold of the tent
fabric and listened. Peeking beyond the fabric, he studied the faces of the men
he could see. They were too young. Darting outside the tent and around to the
opposite side, he slipped underneath. From his new vantage point, he looked at
the faces of the men he could not see before. He wasn’t positive, but the man
in the center might be
Tahnoon
Kahlifa at an advanced age. One of the young men pointed to a spot on a map
spread on the ground, and said Tahnoon’s name. The elderly man Roth had
suspected of being Tahnoon replied. Not only had Roth located his target, he
had learned of the tribe's soon departure for another oasis. He needed to act
quickly.

Darting from the tent, his lizard legs took him
quickly to the base of the dune, where he changed back into a sand viper and
slithered over the top. On the backside, he once again took flight as an eagle.
In a short time he'd returned to his rental house in Bawiti. Scanning the area
for any sign of Rainey, and finding none, he landed on the bluff and returned
to his human form. Walking through the courtyard, he slipped into the house and
knocked on her bedroom door.

* * *

Rainey heard a knock. She wanted to study
eagles, not talk to Roth.

"Yes?" she called, without getting up.

"May I come in?"

"Sure. You’re going to anyway, whether I
want you to or not."

Roth opened the door. "You hurt my
feelings, Rainey. I have more sensitivity than you give me credit for." He
smiled a lopsided grin.

"Yeah, right. What can I do for you?"

"I’m just letting you know that tomorrow
we’re going on a short trip. You need to expand your horizons beyond this room.
Be ready to leave early; sunrise. Wear the head scarf I purchased for you and
long-sleeved clothing. Bring sunscreen and slather it on any exposed skin. I’ll
make sure we have lots of water and food. We’re traveling into the
desert."

"What! Now why would I want to go into the
desert? I think I’ll just stay here and read, thank you very much."

"Not gonna happen. There’s someone I need
to talk to and I'm not sure how long it will take. I’m not leaving you here
alone."

"You need to talk to someone
in the
desert?
"

"Yes. You don’t understand now, but you
will…eventually."

"And if I refuse…"

"Like I said, ‘Not gonna happen’."

Roth closed the door with a determined click.
Rainey scrambled off her bed and rushed to open it, ready to give him a piece
of her mind. He'd already disappeared. She slammed her door and pounced back on
her bed. The man was impossible!

* * *

Roth reached under his mattress and retrieved
the briefcase with his laptop locked inside. Signing on to the internet via
satellite, he sent an email to Rainey’s father requesting a status update.
Within minutes he received a response. Fawn had reported to the guard station
at the lab that a man by the name of Professor Jonathan Blanchard had called
Steve Brenner asking about Rainey. The Professor had said he was a fellow
researcher who'd met her some months back at a conference in Washington D.C.
He'd said she'd asked him to call the next time he was in the Portland area,
and since she hadn't answered her private number, he'd wondered if Steve could
get a message to her. Roth wondered if Rainey had wanted the man to contact her
for business or personal reasons. Had she been attracted to him? Nevertheless,
he'd ordered a background investigation of Mr. Blanchard.

Late that night, Roth roamed the oasis as a
desert fox in the olive orchards below their rental. His restless spirit wanted
to strike out for the sand dunes, but his responsibility for Rainey’s safety
kept him near her. The hour was late and he decided to shift into an eagle and
fly above low-lying clouds playing peek-a-boo with the moon. He prayed, flapped
his powerful wings, and lifted into the wind. His feathers made him
impenetrable to the frigid desert night. Exhilarated, he caught an updraft and
pushed himself high above the clouds and into the perfect light of a full moon.
Only bits and pieces of the landscape became visible through breaks in the
shifting clouds. He stayed at that incredible height only a few minutes before
diving back and landing on the bluff. He bowed his head to pray. Breathing
sounds from beneath a date palm alerted him to Rainey's presence. He jerked his
bird’s head toward the sound and saw her silently watching him.
He had
almost shifted in front of her.

Slowly flapping his wings, he took short hops
toward her. She stepped from beneath the palm; her eyes alight with wonder and
her hair in disarray. Her robe had slipped open to reveal her nightgown
unbuttoned almost to her waist. Her full breasts strained against the
"V". She wasn’t thin in any sense of the word—she was unbelievably
erotic.

Roth cursed his short escape into the night. He
cursed his desire for her. He cursed his inability to just fly away when she
approached and sat in the dirt five feet from him, her eyes wide and luminous.
He opened his wings to their full extension and she gasped.

"You are magnificent," she whispered.
She stretched her body toward him, reaching her hand to touch his wing.

He knew he should either hop away or scare her,
but he was helpless to do either. She touched him.

"Oh…" she breathed.

He folded his wings.

"I don’t know how I know, but I
know
you're the same eagle from home. It’s impossible, and yet, here you are."

Roth had to leave. His desire to shapeshift back
into human form and touch her became overwhelming. Again, he cursed his lust
for her. She was his job, not his lover. With one powerful kick of his legs and
sweep of his wings, he flew over the bluff, but not before he heard her cry.