Lady of Heaven (44 page)

Alia was insane,
of that he had no doubt, but he had history with her. And after Fox left, he
would still have to live with the woman. She controlled so much at the museum
and within the antiquities arena that even if he left her, he would probably
not be able to get another job. His sense of justice, his disloyalty to Alia,
would cost him.

As the car
approached the lush lines of Luxor against the blue ribbon of the Nile, Beni
began to re-think what he had done. He could fix it, of course, but it would be
for a price. Always for a price.

When Jabeel and
Allahaba dropped Fox and Morgan off at the hotel, Beni got out of the car and
disappeared.

He had a flight
to meet.

***

Fox paid for a
room for one night at the Hilton Luxor even though they would only be using it
for the afternoon.  Morgan was exhausted and his primary concern was calming
her down before their flight to Cairo that night. With their luggage reclaimed
that they had been storing at the Hilton, they checked into the only room
available for an early check in, a junior suite.

It was early
afternoon by the time they checked in.  Fox carried the luggage in and laid it
on one of two queen sized beds in the room.  Pale and weary, Morgan dug through
one of her massive suitcases, pulled out some clean clothes, and stumbled into
the bathroom.

Fox began
unloading his duffle bag, listening to Morgan run a bath.  As he shifted around
the items in his suitcase, preoccupied by his wife’s grief, he also checked the
papyrus, which was in its case and shoved into the lining of his suitcase. It
was safe, secure, and he pulled it out, opening the case and reading over the
ancient hieroglyphics that had meant so much to Fanny.  He could hardly believe
the ancient symbols had actually told the truth. 

As he unpacked
his duffle bag, a small scroll inserted in a sock came forth and he pulled it
out to make sure that one was all right, too.  The small bit of linen that had
been rolled up in the mummy’s hand greeted him and he gazed at it a moment,
wishing he could have told Fanny about it, too. To him, it was confirmation
that the Lady of Heaven papyrus had indeed told a true tale. He felt like a
black-market smuggler with two ancient papyruses hidden in his suitcases and
knew he’d have a hell of a lot of explaining to do to his superiors. At least until
they understood the entire story.  Then they’d probably build a shrine to him.

By the time he
was finished unpacking his duffle bag, repacking his suitcase including the
folded-up duffle bag, the bathroom was quiet so he went inside to see what Morgan
was doing.  He found her up to her neck in bubbles and hot water, eyes closed
as she lay against the side of the big Roman tub. She looked positively ashen. 
He took a few steps inside the room.

“Are you all
right?” he asked softly.

She opened her
eyes, half-lidded, to look at him. “I’m fine.”

“Would you like
anything? Something to eat or drink?”

She shrugged.
“If you’re hungry, then you can get me something, too. Otherwise, don’t bother.
I’m okay.”

He smiled at her
and left the bathroom, going to phone and calling room service. He ended up
ordering a couple of sandwiches, cake, and four bottles of good Egyptian beer. 
After hanging up the phone, he stripped off his dirty clothes and stepped into
the shower, a separate fixture from the big Roman tub.  As Morgan lay in the
tub and enjoyed the warm bubbles, Fox scrubbed himself down and shaved. Then he
turned the shower off and walked, dripping wet, over to the tub.

Morgan’s eyes
were closed when the water suddenly surged and she ended up with bubbles in her
mouth.  Fox slid into the tub, grinning as he picked up the floral-scented
shower gel and began to lather it up on a wash cloth.

“I haven’t had
the pleasure of doing this for a few days,” he told her softly, seductively.
“I’ve missed it.”

Morgan smiled weakly,
shifting so he could slide in behind her. Seated between his massive legs, she
lay back against him as he soaped her arms, her shoulders. His kisses were
gentle on the side of her head as he soaped her neck with one hand and pulled
out the clip holding her hair up with the other. He wanted to distract her from
her sorrow and he was slowly succeeding.  Morgan let him pull her head back,
his lips seeking hers. After that, things got amorous.

Forty minutes
later, Morgan was limp and dozing in Fox’s arms on one of the queen sized
beds.  There were damp towels on the bed, on the floor, and the two of them
were wrapped up in the sheet.  Morgan was snoring softly against him, exhausted
both emotionally and physically from the past few days.  As Fox began to doze
himself, there was a soft knock at the door.

His eyes popped
open as he remembered the room service he’d ordered before things got heated in
the tub. Carefully disengaging himself from Morgan, he threw the bedspread over
her to shield her from prying eyes as he wrapped the towel around his waist and
went to the door. Peering from the view hole, he could see a young Egytian man
dressed in a uniform with a tray in his hand.  He opened the door and let the
kid in.

The young man
didn’t speak English; he quickly and efficiently set the tray down and handed
Fox the invoice, which he signed for.  When the man left and Fox shut and
locked the door behind him, the phone suddenly rang.

Morgan’s head
popped up and she grabbed at it, groggy and grumpy at having been woken up. 
She put the receiver to her ear.

“Hello?” she
asked, voice hoarse.

“Yes, hello,”
came a man’s voice. “Dr. Henredon has a visitor. Shall I send her up?”

Morgan heard the
‘her’ part and her eyes opened, more alert. “Who is it?”

“A woman by the
name of Mrs. Aziz. Shall I send her up?”

“No,” Morgan
snapped. “What does she want?”

“She is here to
see Dr. Henredon. Shall I send her up?”

Morgan sat up,
irritated and suspicious after everything that Beni had told them. “Not unless
you tell me what she wants,” she said pointedly. “Ask her and call me back.”

She hung up the
phone and looked over at her husband, who was taking the heat lids off the
sandwich plates. “Someone named Mrs. Aziz is here to see you,” she said. “Does
that name ring a bell?”

He brought the
plates over to the bed. “No.”

Morgan took the
plate and he sat down next his next to her on the bed as he went back for the
beer.  She had taken a big bite of her sandwich when the phone rang again. This
time, Fox answered.

“Yes?” he nearly
demanded.

It was the same
nervous young man on the other end. “Mrs. Aziz says she has business with Dr.
Henredon. Shall I send her up?”

Fox was on the
same page as Morgan; given what Beni had told them, he wasn’t so inclined to
greet strangers, especially when no one should know he was staying at this
particular hotel.

“No,” he said
flatly. “Ask her what business?”

The young
concierge could be heard, muffled, asking someone what their business was.  A
few unintelligible words were exchanged and the young man got back on the line.

“She says that
she will speak with Dr. Henredon later,” he said.

Now Fox was
thoroughly perplexed. “Who was that woman?”

“Mrs. Aziz,
sir.”

Fox just shook
his head; they weren’t getting anywhere.  He just hung up the phone and went to
sit down on the bed beside his wife.  She was already half-way through her
sandwich.

“Who in the hell
was it?” she asked.

He took a
massive bite of his sandwich. “I have no idea,” he replied.  “It makes me
nervous, especially after what Beni told us.”

Morgan shrugged
and took a big swallow of beer to wash down the food. “Assassins don’t usually
come knocking on the door asking for an audience,” she said, eyeing him. “Maybe
it was a call girl.”

Fox smirked.
“I’ve got my own call girl, thank you very much.”

Morgan giggled. 
“Maybe it was a wedding present to spice up our honeymoon.”

He laughed.
“From whom?” he wanted to know. “My brothers have a fairly dirty sense of
humor, but even I wouldn’t expect them to send me a call girl on my honeymoon. 
A box full of lubricant and condoms, yes; a call girl, no.”

Morgan just
laughed as she started in on the second half of her sandwich. “I’m looking
forward to meeting them.”

Fox rolled his
eyes. “God, they’ll love you,” he shook his head, taking a drink of his beer.
“Chase is the one I’d worry about. He’s almost as tall as me, a big bloke, with
flaming red hair and a red goatee. He looks like a pirate. And he loves the
ladies.”

“I can hardly
wait.”

Fox just
shrugged, secretly wondering if he’d have to kill his brother because he knew
for a fact the man would find Morgan extremely attractive.   He downed the rest
of his beer and opened up a second bottle.

After their
meal, they lay down to sleep for a couple of hours before rising and preparing
for the flight home.  Morgan, true to form, refused to wake up at the appointed
time so Fox got up, showered and dressed before pulling her out of bed and
depositing her into the shower. Yawning, Morgan finished cleaning up and
wrapped up in a big towel as she finished brushing her teeth and putting on
makeup. 

Fox was finished
with everything by the time she began blow drying her hair and he stood in the
doorway, watching her. From the moment he had first met her, all he seemed to
want to do was watch her. Morgan was chattering on about wanting to visit the
pyramids before they left and visit some other sights, but as he watched her
style her hair, it suddenly occurred to him that it was nervous chatter.  He
knew she was dreading Fanny’s funeral and trying to distract herself.  He leaned
up against the door jamb and just listened.  He thought that was what she
needed most.

He moved to sit
on the bed as she left the bathroom and began dressing.  He watched her drop
the towel and put on a lacy bra and panties, proceeding to dress in jeans and a
beautiful flowing top that was sweet and sexy.  

All the while,
she continued talking as she put on jewelry, her beloved wedding rings, and her
shoes.  Fox just sat back and enjoyed the view; what was it she had said to him
once? That she wondered what she had ever done to rate such an amazing guy.  He
thought the same thing, of her, every minute of every day.

When she was
finished dressing and talking, she finished zipping up her suitcases and Fox
hauled them both to the door as she made a final sweep of the room to make sure
they didn’t forget anything. She had her big designer purse in hand as she met
him at the door.

“And that’s
another thing,” she went on. “Since this whole venture has taken less than a
week, are we planning on leaving Egypt early? We really need to talk about what
we’re going to do when we leave. Are you going to fly back to Los Angeles with
me so you can meet my parents? They want to throw us a party, you know. And
I’ll need to go home and pack up all of my stuff to ship to England.”

He opened up the
door for her and she sashayed into the hall beyond.  As she held back the door
for him, he collected the luggage and followed her out into the hall.

“I’ll change my
return ticket and fly back to Los Angeles with you,” he told her. “You’re not
going anywhere without me and I’m not going anywhere without you, so it makes
sense for me to go back to California and help you pack.  And in answer to your
question, I can see us leaving Egypt in the next week.  With those two sites
that we discovered, I really need to get in contact with the Supreme Council
for Antiquities to stake a claim for the Bolton. But before I do that, I need
to speak with my bosses and see how they want to proceed.”

She nodded as
the door closed behind them and they headed down the hall. “How does it usually
go in something like this? We weren’t digging legally, so does that mean we
don’t have claim?”

He nodded.
“Technically,” he said. “The SCA will take over the digs regardless but the
Bolton will offer to sponsor it, making it our dig as well.  We’ll have equal
claims to artifacts.  It gets a bit technical, and political, but we’ll make it
work.”

She fell silent
as they waited for the elevator. “What are you going to do?” she asked. 
“You’re going to want to excavate, aren’t you?”

He looked at
her. “You asked me that already, remember?”

“No, I didn’t,”
she shook her head. “That was before we found the temple. You said you didn’t
want to speculate about it, so I’m asking you now. Are you going to want to
return to Egypt to excavate the temple?”

He shrugged as
the elevator door opened and then went inside. “I don’t know,” he said, hitting
the button for the lobby. “What do you think about it?”

She looked
surprised that he would ask her. “What do
I
think?” she repeated
thoughtfully. “I think I would be very happy living at Heaven’s Gate with you
while you work at the museum and I do whatever it is I end up doing.  But on
the other hand, we’ve followed clues on an old papyrus that has led us to two
pretty substantial finds. You found them and I think it’s only fair that you be
in charge of excavating them.”