The Pull of History
DESTINE MADE A hasty egress from the temple, with Ahman rushing behind her. Clutching the smuggled item close to her chest, her eyes darted around her. She was barely able to contain her excitement. The letter was correct. It had said that there was something to find in Sekhet Simbel, and she had found it. That confirmation proved much. It proved that everything in the letters was true. It was her legacy to find that cloth-wrapped parcel; perhaps even her destiny.
'Quickly, we must find somewhere safe to examine it,' she said to Ahman.
'Safe?' he asked, looking around. 'Are we not safe here? Who else do you think would be interested in whatever it is that you have there, ah?'
'I will not know until I open it, will I?' Destine said. The parcel seemed to pulse with its own heartbeat, radiating warmth as if it were alive. 'But I have no wish to do so right on Mr Mouk's doorstep. I am sure he takes a very dim view of people stealing from his temple!' Before Ahman had even finished untying his horse's reins, Destine was already sat in the rear of the cart.
'It is getting late in the afternoon and we should think about making camp for the night. I know a little place on a lake not far from here that is suitable,' said Ahman. 'It is not wise to be out in the open once darkness falls.'
'Tres bien! Please…just let us be on our way.'
Although Madame Destine was clairvoyant no more, it seemed that she retained a slight semblance of her gift, for she was somewhat prescient in her earlier estimation that she was not safe.
As she and Ahman began their journey, a pair of furtive eyes watched their cart with interest from an overlooking hill. His eyes fixed upon the duo, a knife's edge of a smile sliced across Heinrich Nadir's face. He turned to the two men at his side – men swathed head to toe in dark red rags that climbed their bodies, coiling around their heads into an all concealing hood. Only their dark eyes peered through an inch-wide slit. These men were trained in the art of dealing death, and its stench clung to their clothes like must.
'There are your targets, meine freunde!' Nadir said. 'When the order is given, you may kill the male…but whatever you do, ensure that the female is unharmed or the Hades Consortium will have your heads. Whilst the Frenchwoman is certainly valuable, she is but the bait to snare an even greater prize.'