Nightmare in Morocco (12 page)

"Here
.
I brought us a candy bar
.
Let's munch."

Noa leaned back and tried to imagine the great, fortified house that had once stood so proudly on this high bluff.

Her thoughts were immediately interrupted by a noise
.
It sounded very close, but she couldn't identify exactly what it was
.
It sounded harsh like rocks scraping together
.
"Did you hear that?"

Belda
,
rising, braced her hand against an overhead rock
.
The sudden movement caused the huge emerald walled by diamonds to flash
.
"Probably explorers, like us."

Noa listened intently, but the noise had settled into the stillness and did not sound again
.
For a while she waited and watched with a growing feeling of uneasiness, but at last as time passed, Noa became interested in Belda's finds and together they tried to reconstruct in mind the splendid structure of so long ago
.

At length Noa returned to the shade the thick rocks offered while Belda took picture after picture
.
She had to admit this woman, old enough to be her grandmother, had much more
stamina
than she
.
"It's late
.
We'd better start down."

"I want to take another picture."

"We've got to go."
Noa checked her watch
.
"Didn't you tell Johnny to be back for us in an hour?
He's probably down there waiting
.
We're already ten minutes late."

"Johnny'll wait
.
He's getting paid plenty."
Belda arranged rocks on the ground that she believed belonged together and snapped a final picture.

Noa waited for her at the edge of the bluff
.
Going back down the way they had come up seemed the only alternative
.
The cliff dropped straight down in most places, at least here existed a trail, however sharply it
descended
.

Belda reluctantly drew forward
.
"Did we actually climb that?"

Ascending the incline, it hadn't looked so steep; heading down would be a slow and careful process
.
Not even a tree grew to block a fall, and here and there great rocks jagged upward in a threatening way
.
"You mustn't lose your footing," Noa said
.
"Why don't you edge down facing the cliff until we get past the worst of the slope?"

Slowly, carefully, they began working their way downward
.
The long trek had tired Noa
.
Watching Belda's slow descent, Noa straightened up, running fingers through her sweat dampened hair.

From the corner of her eye she glimpsed the movement above her
.
She gazed upward
.
An arched form in dark, hooded robe loomed above the pile of rubble
.
He seemed to have no height or weight, no
identity
, but floated in layers of hazy heat
.
She could feel the power of his eyes
evil eyes
staring out from the folds of cloth that obscured his features.

Noa's heart sank
.
Without conscious thought, she knew exactly what he was
doing prying
a limb against a huge stone pillar, half embedded in dirt and rocks
.

Noa gave a startled cry
.
At once she slid downward, colliding with Belda
.
Noa hurled her from the path, springing after her
.
Both of them lost their balance
.
At the same time the column of stone crushed against the path they had just vacated, crushed with such force that it smashed into the ground instead of rolling.

The huge pillar missed Noa by less than a foot
.
Both of them had been but a few inches from certain death!

Noa reached out for Belda, but the cotton cloth of her shirt slipped from her grasp
.
Belda rolled downward
.
Noa scampered to her feet
.
Reaching Belda, she didn't know how she found the power to lift the heavy woman to her feet
.
"Hurry!
Hurry!
We must get to the bottom!"

As they stumbled and slid down the bluff, Noa glanced back
.
No figure appeared along the ruined wall
.
If they could just get to the car before their attacker could catch them!

The ground soon leveled off so they could run unhampered
.
Anxiously Noa scanned the area
.
No sight of a car, not on the trail where the road ended or on the highway so far in the distance.

"He should be here!" she gasped
.
She checked her watch
.
"He's already twenty minutes late!"

"What if he's come and gone?"
Belda answered
.

"He's just got to show up!"
Even as she said the words, Noa regretted trusting Johnny Ramos
.
She wondered if he had left them there on purpose to get back at Noa for threatening his job with the tour company.

Tension and exhaustion lined Belda's face
.
For the first time since Noa had seen her, she looked her age
.
Sweat trickled down her broad, pale forehead, where gray curls clung.

"He's not here!
What will we do?"

"On the way up, I noticed a house closer than the others
.
Within a mile or two
.
We'll have to get help there."

Gripping Noa's arm, Belda stopped
.
No doubt she had been hurt in the harsh fall against rocks
.
She swayed a little as if she might collapse
.
She worked the tight fitting emerald ring from her finger as she spoke
.
"Someone wants this jewel!

Very badly!
Noa, you must keep it for me!
I'll not wear it a moment longer!"

Noa hastened her forward
.
Not wanting to take the time or effort to refuse, she accepted the ring and with shaking fingers strung it on the chain beside the crudely fashioned Hand of Fatimah
.
She reclasped it around her neck, tucking it under the folds of her blouse.

"I can trust you
.
You'll be able to protect it for me."

"We'll turn it over to the police or some bank official until the tour's over
.
Then maybe all this madness will stop!"

"You do whatever you think best."

Noa kept glancing back over her shoulder
.
They had reached a section of flat land, empty fields covered with dry grass
.
With any luck, they would reach the small house she had spotted from the bluff and find some way back to Rabat.

The walk was much further than she had expected
.
Like an illusion, the small, white house seemed to disappear, only to reappear in the distance
.
When at last they did approach it, its brilliant color did prove to be an illusion
.
The pure white became cracked and dirty
.
A boy on an ancient donkey rode around the yard
.
Squawking chickens flew from him in protest.

Belda, responding to the terrible dryness Noa felt in her throat, said, "Better not drink the water."

From the doorway a women wrapped in a dull, brownish robe, stepped
.
As they drew closer, she covered her face, so they saw only great, dark eyes.

"I can make her understand!"
Belda said, surging forward to meet her.

Noa did not comprehend any of the words that passed between them
.
Belda gestured and drew on the ground
.
At last the boy was called
.
He urged the donkey away eagerly and soon returned leading two other donkeys.

Belda said, "He's going to take us into town."

"On those?"
Noa regarded the old donkey the youth forced toward her
.
It looked so shaggy and weak
.
"I'd just as soon walk
.
But he could show us the shortest way."

"Riding will be faster and easier."

Leaving Noa with the reins to the disobedient donkey, the boy hastened to bring forward a battered bucket, which Belda stepped upon in order to mount
.

The heavy, old lady looked so funny astride the small donkey that Noa despite her fears, smiled a little
.
She managed to climb upon her own animal, and the boy called them forward with sharp, foreign commands.

They did not head toward the highway, but cut across a rough, dry field, baked hard by the fierce African sun
.
Walking
would be faster and easier, Noa thought, trying to stay astride the bouncing animal
.

The worn blanket did not serve as a saddle
.
She held onto the shaggy neck and thought of the donkey that had carried her from Fez's medina, Dad walking beside her with kindly, comforting words. Noa had sobbed all the way to the hotel
.
She wanted to sob now.

Little by little the area grew more populated
.
Even as they passed through busy streets, no one even so much as glanced at them
.
The boy, determined to do the best possible job, led them directly to their hotel
.

Shyly he accepted the money Belda and Noa gratefully gave him
.
Heading away, he turned back to wave
.

"We made it!"
Belda said, wiping her forehead
.

They stood close together, reluctant to part.

"You know," Belda suggested, "We don't have to tell anyone about what happened out there today."

"We were almost killed!
We just can't forget about it!"

Belda remained silent for a while, looking down the roadway filled with traffic
.
"The police won't do anything
.
It would be a total waste of time to involve them."

“I’m
going to call Wendell
Carlson
.
We'll get his advice."

"Ok
.
I'm going to keep quiet and let you handle everything
.
I'll just trust you completely
.
Why wouldn't I?
You've saved my life, not once, but twice!"

* * *

"No, it wasn't an accident!"
Noa said on the phone to Wendell Carlson
.
"There's a big time thief on our tour!
No doubt someone arranged for this tour in order to steal Belda Ward's jewel
.
We might be dealing with a professional!"

"Noa, take another look at your list!
Most of them are young girls, students."

"What do you know about Moulay Aziz?"

"I'll find out about him
.
In fact, I'll find out all about everyone on the tour, even though I believe I do know what's going on."

"You'd better let me in on it."

"I haven't anything to go on but suspicions
.
It's
nothing
I can talk about over the phone."

"Shall I make a police report?"

He hesitated
.
"Do you know what a scandal would do to our tour business?"

"I don't much care
.
I'm more concerned about Belda Ward."

"I didn't mean to sound as if she's not my concern, too
.
I just meant that it wouldn't be wise to stir things up
.
We had better just try to handle it ourselves."

Noa hesitated
.
Wendell Carlson had always been a strong figure in her life
.
She had never gone wrong trusting his judgment
.
"What should I do with the jewel?"