Lazy Days (46 page)

Rainey entered Endesha's home while he held the
door for her and Roth. The small stone structure, remotely located from Luxor
at the end of a quiet street with no nearby neighbors, conveyed the personality
of Endesha that she had already surmised; comfortable and accommodating. She
wondered how Roth knew to meet him at the Temple of Karnak. Maybe he'd emailed
him.

Endesha had driven them in his own car and it
was decided that Roth would return across the Nile the next day to find
long-term parking for their Toyota.

"Please bring your backpacks into my guest
room." He led them through a small living room and into a short hallway.
At the end of the hallway he opened a door and graciously waited for them to
enter. A double bed took up most of the tiny room. Rainey placed her backpack
on the bed and looked questioningly at Roth.

"I'll be camping out on the couch," he
told Endesha.

"As you wish."

"I'll store my backpack here for the time
being." He set it on the floor next to the bed and looked at Rainey.
"Why don't you unpack and freshen up, then meet us in the living
room?"

Rainey wasn't fooled; she knew he wanted to
speak with Endesha alone. She shrugged. "Sure." Endesha and Roth left
the room and she sank onto the bed wondering how long they would be staying.
She glanced around looking for somewhere to store her things. A tiny chest sat
opposite the bed. When she moved to unzip her backpack, her legs bumped
something and she looked down at Roth's backpack. Tapping her fingers against
her cheek, it only took her a second to make a decision. She pulled his pack
onto the bed.
This has to be where his laptop is.
Unzipping the large
pocket, she smiled when she saw his laptop briefcase wedged inside. She glanced
toward the bedroom door hoping to see a lock. There wasn't one.
Damn
.

She decided, however, that the opportunity to
fire up his laptop was worth the risk of being caught. She tugged the briefcase
out of his backpack. With shaking hands, she set it on the bed. Unfortunately,
instead of the simple clasp she'd hope to find, she found a key lock.
Double
damn!
Searching the large pocket and then the smaller pockets, she felt for
a key. All she found was clothing and toiletries. When she started to remove
her hand from the last pocket, her fingers brushed a slip of paper. She
withdrew it and read the dainty handwriting.
Huh, what's this?
She
reread the words written on notepaper with her lab's letterhead.

Meet me tonight. I don't
intend to stop reminding you of how it was before.

Ha ha.  —Fawn

Why would Fawn and Roth meet after hours?
Rainey didn't like the
way her heart sank at the thought of them being lovers. Stuffing everything
back into the pack, she told herself she didn't care if they were having an
affair.

Lying back on the bed, she placed her arm over
her eyes and blinked rapidly against it.

* * *

Endesha handed a cup of hot mint tea to Roth.
Taking a sip, he watched his former guide and adoptive father settle into the
chair across from him. Wrinkles now covered his once handsome face, and slow
movements evidenced problems with his joints.

"Your Prayer of Connection took me by
surprise, Roth. You are aware, of course, that contact between a shapeling and
a former shapeling is taboo, except under the direst circumstances. You will be
called before the counsel for this."

"Yes, I am aware of that. However, I need
the help of someone who is an Egyptian scholar and completely
trustworthy."

"Sounds intriguing; tell me more."

"I will, but first I must ask you a
question to satisfy my own curiosity."

"And what is that, son?"

"Was it worth it?"

A slow smile crinkled the lines of Endesha's
face. "Yes, son, it was worth it all."

"When did she die?"

"About thirty years ago."

"I'm sorry."

"Roth, don't be sorry. We had four hundred
years together as humans."

"If you had both remained shapelings, you
could have added three thousand to that."

"You may not understand this, but for us,
the love of country was as strong as the love we felt for each other. Zalika
was my wife, and Egypt is my home. For Zalika it was the same. After we met as
shapelings and spoke of our love for humans and Egypt, becoming human and
living the remainder of our lives here was inevitable."

Although Roth nodded, he still could not
comprehend Endesha forfeiting his heritage as a shapeling to become human. The
few shapelings who did lived longer lives than natural humans, but by
comparison to the longevity of shapelings, it was miniscule.

Endesha spoke. "Now, Roth, what is the
urgency that has brought you to me?"

For the next hour, Roth described the events
leading up to his visit. "I'll get my laptop and show you the pictures and
video I uploaded from the Sacred Cave. I enhanced them with software to bring
clarity to the hieroglyphs."

Roth walked to the small bedroom. Knocking
lightly, he waited for Rainey to respond. When she didn't, he cracked the door.
She lay on her side, breathing deeply with her eyes closed. He tiptoed into the
room and lifted his backpack off the floor. Pausing to watch her sleep, he had
a sudden urge to rest his palm against her cheek, and then his lips. Turning
hastily, he quietly left the room.

Endesha had moved to a computer station in a far
corner of the living room. He'd powered up his computer and now typed on the
keyboard.

"I'm calling up a reference I created for
hieroglyphs. Let's see what you've got."

Roth pulled a chair alongside Endesha's and
placed his laptop on a TV tray. He turned it so his guide could view the photos
from the Sacred Cave. Setting the program for slideshow mode, they replayed it
several times. Endesha whistled low. Next, they looked at the video.

Endesha shook his head. "I think you've
uncovered something incredible. You have my word that I will never reveal my
findings to anyone but you. I'll use my software to make more enhancements to
the figures"

"Thank you. That's why I came to you."

"It may take a few days to translate
this."

"Whatever time it takes, we will be
patient."

Changing the subject, Endesha said, "From
what you've described of your journey since leaving the cave, you must be
chomping at the bit, pardon the pun, to shapeshift."

"Actually, that was true up until a few
hours ago. Now, I just want to rest. Perhaps before sunrise I'll soar or roam
the countryside."

"You should rest then. Since I'm the old
man, I should rest, too." He chuckled.

Roth accepted the blanket Endesha handed him and
lay on the couch. His guide and mentor said goodnight, and paused before
leaving the room. "It's good to see you again, son."

"Thank you, my guide."

* * *

Roth felt a hand on his shoulder and a shake.
Instantly, he was fully awake. Endesha bent over him.

"Roth, you may have someone following you.
I have surveillance cameras hidden outside my home because of my work with
sensitive translations. The viewing terminal is in my bedroom and I've been
watching it for some time. There's a car parked down the street with a lone
figure. He's been there for over an hour with binoculars. I used the zoom on my
cameras to see if I could get details of his face. It's too dark. Of course,
whoever it is may be tracking me. But I haven't had that problem for some time."

Roth said, "I think it's time for that
shapeshift we discussed earlier." He slipped out the back door and into
the dark night. Bowing his head, he prayed and shifted into a small black cat
and stealthily rounded a corner of the house. Hiding in the shadows, he slinked
to the back bumper of the car and paused. Glancing upward, he saw the
binoculars extending beyond the open window. He edged forward. At the car door,
he prayed and shifted into his human form. Grabbing the binoculars with one
hand, and the man's throat with the other, he growled low, "Who are you
and why are you watching that house?"

The man's frightened eyes spoke volumes and Roth
loosened his grip.

"Speak!" he ordered.

The terrified voyeur said, "I was hired to
come to this house and watch for a man and a woman traveling together."

"Who hired you?"

"I don't know," the man rasped.

Roth tightened his grip again and the man barely
got out the words, "I swear…don't know…phone call."

Roth eased his grip. "Tell me."

"I'm a private investigator—credentials in
my pocket. I mostly do work for Americans and Europeans in Egypt. I received a
call tonight directing me here, and a sack delivered by a street kid with
payment. The kid tossed the sack and ran. It also contained drawings of a man
and woman. I swear that's all I know."

"Was it a man or a woman who called
you?"

"I couldn't tell, the voice sounded
electronic."

"Do you have the drawings with you?"

"Yes—in that envelope." He made a
slight jerk of his head toward the seat.

Roth removed his grip from the man's throat and
flipped the binoculars onto the seat beside the envelope. "Grab it and get
out of the car," he ordered.

The man picked up the envelope and then fumbled
first with the door lock and then with the handle, trying to obey. Finally, he
stood outside the vehicle. Roth closed the car door and then patted him down.
Finding a .38 special, he opened the chamber and saw it was empty. "Show
me your credentials...slowly," he commanded.

The investigator moved his free hand in slow
motion to his vest pocket and pulled out a wallet. He held it out to Roth.

"Open it."

The man's hands shook as he flipped the wallet
open. Roth looked at his P.I. credentials,
Jason Blackburn Investigations
.
"Throw it on the seat."

Jason Blackburn obeyed and tossed the wallet
through the open window.

"Now pull the drawings out of the envelope
and hold them up for me."

"How can you see credentials and pictures
in the dark?"

"I have great vision.

The investigator slowly removed two
well-executed head shot pencil etchings.

"What were you supposed to do if you
located them?"

"I don't know. The person calling said they
would call back soon. Didn't say anything else."

"Did you see a caller ID?"

"Blocked."

"Why should I believe you?"

"Look, I'm telling the truth. I'm more of
an internet detective, but hey, if someone delivered a few thousand pounds to
you and just wanted you to stake out a house; what would you do?"

"I sure as hell wouldn't work for someone
who didn't reveal himself. Get back in your car and get out of here. If I see
you again, it'll turn out painful for you. When you get your other call, tell
your
employer
you didn't find anyone." Roth tossed the .38 special
on the front seat.

"Sure man. I'm outta here. I didn't see
nothin'."

Jason Blackburn jumped in his car, started the
engine and jammed forward, then backward, and forward again, making a hasty
u-turn on the narrow road.

Roth watched his retreat, bowed his head and
soared upward as a falcon.

He followed the private investigator to a
middleclass neighborhood in Luxor. An automatic garage door opened and Jason
pulled his vehicle inside. Roth landed on a ledge of the house and peered
through a gap in the curtains. He watched Jason enter the room and set his keys
and wallet on a table before mounting stairs.

Flying upward, Roth perched on a palm frond. He
peered into bedroom windows softly backlit by nightlights. Jason entered a
bedroom, bent and kissed a sleeping child. He left that room and walked to
another bedroom, where he sat on the side of a bed and stroked the arm of a
sleeping woman. She turned and reached for him, pulling him toward her.

Satisfied that he'd seen enough, Roth spread his
wings and lifted skyward. The man seemed honest enough. Who had hired him…and
why? Only a handful of people knew they were in Egypt, and
no one
knew
about Endesha.

"Endesha entered his living room carrying
two cups of coffee. Handing one to Roth, he sat across from him and sipped.

Roth stared into the black brew. "I believe
the best course of action is to take Rainey back to Cairo—we'll disappear until
I can get some answers."

"I agree. I'll work on translating the
hieroglyphs."

"Endesha, I'm reluctant to leave. It seems
someone knows about you."

"Don't worry about the hieroglyphs falling
into the wrong hands. I'll keep them on a memory stick locked in my hidden
vault."

"It's not that. I fear for your
safety."

"Roth, do not dishonor me with fear. I have
lived a full and exceptional life. Before choosing to remain human, I lived
almost five thousand years as a shapeling. During that time, I was blessed to
mentor and guide you like a son. My life as a human included a wife I adored
and a country I love. What more could I ask? No, Roth, do not dishonor
me."

"I will say no more, Endesha; as you
wish."

Endesha nodded toward the window. "The sun
is cresting. You should be on your way soon."

"I agree."

Roth rose and walked toward the guest bedroom.

* * *

Rainey opened her eyes to a rosy glow peeking
through a gap in the curtains. She stretched and then realized she was still in
her clothes. She heard a light tap on her door.

"Yes?" she asked in a raspy voice.

The door cracked and Roth peeked around it.
"May I come in?"

"Okay."

He chuckled. "You're still in your clothes.
When I came in to retrieve my backpack last night, you were asleep. I didn't
realize you wouldn't wake up to change for bed."

"Me, either. I just wanted to rest for a
few minutes."

Roth sat on the foot of the bed. "I have
some news to break to you."

"What?" she asked warily, and sat up.

"Someone knows we're here. Endesha woke me
before daylight and said he'd spotted a car parked down the street. He'd zoomed
in with his surveillance cameras and discovered a figure watching the house
with binoculars."

"How could anyone know we're here?" she
whispered.

"That's what I'd like to know."

"What are we going to do?"

"I've decided we should return to Cairo.
It's a big city we can get lost in. We'll find a nondescript hotel to hide out
in. Can you be ready in half an hour?"

"Okay."

Roth patted Rainey's leg as if to reassure her,
then stood and walked from the room.

Rainey lay back down and stared at the ceiling.
However, she wasn't thinking about danger to her person, she was thinking about
Roth and Fawn. Were they romantically involved?

* * *

Roth returned to the living room where Endesha
sat at his computer desk scribbling on a pad. He tore the page off and held it
out to Roth. "Set up an email account with that name and I'll convey the
interpretation of the hieroglyphs there in a coded message." He pointed
below the scrawled email account. "This is how to decipher the
message."

Roth accepted the paper and studied it for
several minutes. He nodded. "I understand." He handed the page back.

The old man stood, pulled out a desk drawer, and
removed a box of matches. Striking the flint, he lit the page on fire. Walking
to the coffee table, he dropped the burning paper onto a small dish and carried
it to the kitchen.

A few minutes later, Rainey entered the living
room. "I smell something burning."

"My atrocious toast," replied Endesha from
the kitchen doorway.

"I think we'll eat on the road, my
friend," Roth laughed. "Are you ready, Rainey?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." She looked
at Endesha. "Thank you for your hospitality. Maybe we'll meet again."

The old man smiled. "I'd like that."

Endesha drove them to the same boat launch they
had arrived at the day before. Standing at the stern of the felucca, Roth
crossed three fingers over his heart. A subtle smile tilted the corners of
Endesha's mouth as he nodded goodbye.

Rainey glanced at Roth and then back at Endesha
at the shore's edge. Slowly, the old man placed three fingers over his own heart
as their felucca, pulled by the wind, transported them across the Nile.

* * *

They had been driving for hours after retrieving
the Land Cruiser and the interior of the car sweltered.

"So, what was that strange 'hand-thing' you
and Endesha did when we were leaving? You both put three fingers over your
heart. Was it some kind of boyhood secret code, you know, Star Trek
stuff?"

"I guess you could say that."

The heat made Rainey's patience snap. "Roth,
you are a master at evading questions. Either it was, or it wasn't!"

"Rainey, why don't you recline your seat
and rest?"

"It's too damn hot to rest; how much longer
until we reach Cairo?"

"You're sounding like a spoiled heiress
again."

"You are seriously irritating me,
Roth."

"Ditto, Rainy."

Rainey bent forward and grabbed a water bottle
from the floorboard. Hoping for a respite from the heat, she twisted off the
cap and swigged before tilting it over her blouse."

Roth turned to look at her and his gaze dropped.
"Don't do that!" he commanded.

Rainey gave him a rebellious look and with a
perverse sense of humor said, "Don't do what? This?" She turned the
bottle upside down again and poured half of it over herself.

"That does it!" Roth swerved the car
to the shoulder and screeched to a stop. "Out of the car, Rainey!"

"Fine!" She shoved the door open and
jumped from the heat of the car into the heat of the desert. The desert heat
was worse. Raising the bottle over her head she emptied it and closed her eyes
when water trickled into them. She opened her eyes to see a very angry Roth
staring at her chest.

He shouted, "What the hell's the matter
with you? Just when I think we
might
get along, you do something
stupid."

"Is that why you and Fawn get along so
well? Because she
doesn't
do stupid things?"

The moment Rainey said the words she wanted the
sun to melt her like wax.

A quizzed looked passed over Roth's face and he
asked softly, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Nothing. Forget it."

"No, Rainey, I'm not going to forget it.
Tell me."

"No."

Roth stepped forward. "Look at me."

"No."

He placed the tip of his index finger under her
chin and lifted. Her downcast eyes rose to look directly into blue heat.

"Tell me."

Rainey swallowed. "I...I"

"What?"

Speaking swiftly, she said, "I looked in
your backpack and found a note from Fawn to meet her and she wasn't going to
let you forget how it was before. Ha ha." Rainey lowered her eyes.

Roth removed his hand from her face. Rainey bit
the inside of her lip.

"Get in the car, Rainey."

* * *

Three hours later, Roth maneuvered the Toyota
through the chaos of Cairo. Rainey sat hunched against the passenger door. Just
thinking about the revelation she'd spewed in the midst of anger caused a fresh
waive of humiliation to wash over her. Roth hadn't spoken a word since their
verbal altercation.

A moped swerved in front of their car, which
caused Roth to break sharply and swerve in the opposite direction. Temporarily,
Rainey's attention moved from feeling sorry for herself, to fearing for her
life in Cairo's crazy traffic. An oncoming taxi turned left only inches in
front of them and Rainey's knuckles turned white gripping the seat on either
side of her legs.

"Close your eyes, Rainey." Roth
suggested. "I'll let you know when we reach a hotel."

Rainey closed her eyes just as another car
jammed its brakes in front of them. Deep breathing, she visualized her eagle
and started to relax.

"You can open your eyes. I've located a
hotel."

"Already?"

"Rainey, you closed your eyes half an hour
ago. What were you thinking about?"

"Um…nothing."

Roth shook his head and pulled into a parking
space at the back of a boring, middle class hotel. He retrieved their backpacks
and waited for her to exit the vehicle. He shoved her backpack at her. Turning
abruptly, he walked toward the rear entrance to the hotel. Reluctantly, she
followed.

 Within minutes, speaking to the clerk in
Arabic, he had secured a room. Rainey followed him down a dark hallway to an
elevator at the end. Punching the
UP
button, he shifted his backpack, ignoring her.
After a long wait in uncomfortable silence, the elevator bumped the ground
floor and shuddered open. Roth waited for her to enter and when she did, the
sliding door started to close on her backpack. Heaving an impatient sigh, he
darted his hand to hold it open. After punching the button for the third floor,
he leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes.

Finally, the elevator gave a little jerk before
halting at their floor. The door slid open and Roth exited without a backward
glance.
He's really pissed.
Following him to their room, she waited
while he slid the keycard and opened the door. She trudged in behind him.

The
room had two double beds. Rainey dropped her backpack onto the far one and
walked to the draped window. Pulling the fabric aside, she watched traffic
tangle in a dance of daredevils below. She turned back to see Roth pulling his
laptop and clothing out of his backpack.

She
sat on her bed and emptied her own clothing. After stowing her belongings in a
cheap dresser, she again walked to the window and looked toward the sky.

Finally, still facing the window, she summoned
all of her willpower and squeaked, "I'm sorry for being a snoop."

Roth grunted.

"Is that all you have to say?" She
didn't like her apology being rebuffed.

"What do you want me to say?"

"Jeez, forget I said I'm sorry. I'm not
sorry anymore."

"There's nothing between Fawn and me. The
note you read was…it's not something I can explain. But I give you my word,
we're not lovers."

Rainey gulped.

* * *

For the next two days, Roth spent hours
contemplating his next move while waiting to receive an email from Endesha.
After setting up the new email, he'd checked it every few hours. By the third
day, he was going stir crazy and so was Rainey. She spent most of her time
rereading the voluminous information he'd printed for her in Bawiti about
eagles. At night, he caught her standing at the window staring into a sky lit
by neon lights. He longed to give her what she wanted, a glimpse of the eagle.

Near evening of the third day, he checked his
email yet again. He sucked his breath sharply when he saw the new message
alert. The subject line read:
SUCCESSFUL FISHING TRIP.
He opened the message and read every word about
a fishing trip on the Nile River. Flipping the switch on his mobile printer, he
sent the message to print.

Hearing his printer, Rainey rushed over. Bending
near, she read the subject line.

"What! You're printing a message about a
fishing
trip!"

"Rainey, when are you going to learn to
think before you speak?"

Her jaw dropped. "How dare you speak to me
in that manner. I think you've forgotten who the
employer
and
employee
is in our relationship"

Roth ignored her barb and concentrated on the
printout. Reaching for a clean sheet of paper, he set about deciphering the
coded message.

Rainey sat in belligerent silence on her bed
watching. After fifteen minutes she lay down and turned to face the window.
However, a few minutes later she rolled back over and watched his intent
expression.

He looked at her and grinned.

"Okay, smart man; are you going to tell me
what's going on?"

"Do you actually think Endesha would send
the interpretation of the hieroglyphs without encoding it?"

Rainey jumped off her bed. "You've got the
interpretation?"

"I have."

"Well, are you going to tell me? Remember,
I was in that cave too. I have a right to know."

Roth rubbed the five o'clock shadow on his jaws
as if considering her words.

"Roth Beowolf, you tell me the translation
or I'll…I'll…"

"Or what, Rainey?"

She sputtered and finally said, "I'll make
your life miserable."