There's A Fine Line Between Coincidence & Fate ✓

Chapter 4

I couldn't stop him as Jack, fueled by adrenaline I'm sure, rushed over to the front of the statue and made to try to pry it apart. "Maybe we don't do that brother dearest. The Ancient Egyptians are known for their booby traps." I warned him. Hell must have been freezing over seeing as how Dr. Chamberlain agreed with me.

"Yes. Let us use some of the diggers." He said before ordering three men to come and open the secret compartment at the base of Anubis. When they weren't moving fast enough for his liking, he started yelling at them to hurry up. They had finally managed to knock something loose. However, it was fitted with a booby trap and a cloud of pressurized acid blew out of the statue, covering them and immediately started sizzling off their skin.

Now I'm not one with a weak stomach, truly. Growing up on a ranch, you see all sorts of nasty things. But even all that couldn't have prepared me for watching men melt and their skin dissolve. Gagging, I turned my head into Jack's shoulder. "God that was vile," I said. The others just nodded in agreement. "Maybe we should stop here for today?" I suggested. Again, all they could manage was to nod in agreement.

Walking slowly back the way we came, none of us had the courage to speak. That was, without a doubt, the nastiest thing I had ever seen. And I'm sure the others were in agreement. Back on the outside, we quickly set up camp before the sun started to sink back below the horizon and the desert started to cool off. I started shivering, even by the fire. I had been able to change out of the dress I had been wearing back into a pair of my riding pants and a cotton button up that had once belonged to Jack, but even that did little to shield me from the cold. Noticing that I was shivering, Bernard brought me a blanket and draped it over my shoulders. "Thank you." I replied to him, smiling in appreciation. He sat down next to me and we both just stared into the fire, comfortable in each other's silence.

We had always been like this, since we met in the university's library as freshmen. He was shy and extremely awkward, fumbling over his words as he asked me if I worked there and if I could help him find a book he needed for a paper. I had tried my best to not giggle as I informed him that I was a student there, but I would definitely help him find the book. He had been so flustered, fumbling over his words as he tried to get out an apology. I assured him I wasn't offended, and we went about finding his book. And the rest, as they say, is history. We had become inseparable. And here we were ten years later, still the same way.

However, silence was made to be broken and he quietly informed me that he was going to go shave before calling it a night. But I was lost in my own mind and didn't register that he had said anything. I continued to stare into the fire, mesmerized by the dancing of the flame, completely unaware of the world around me. That was until I heard the faint sound of neighing horses in the distance brought me back to the present and standing up, alert to my surroundings. It hadn't been any of the horses we had, they were all looking out beyond the perimeter wall of the city, ears flicking back and forth, taking in the sounds that we couldn't quite hear. They started stamping in anticipation, and I was getting nervous. They sensed something.

As if on cue, a group of riders in black robes came jumping over the half wall, firing guns into our camp. Throwing the blanket off of me, I jumped behind a pillar to avoid the bullets being fired in my direction. I was vaguely aware of Jack and Daniels joining the party from their respective tents, with Dr. Chamberlain yelling like a girl to get Jack's attention. Rolling my eyes, I took out my pistol, checking to make sure it was fully loaded. When the next rider came past me with his gun raised in my direction, I took aim and fired, hitting him in the shoulder. He fell from his horse with a groan. Moving on I made my way towards the center of our campsite. I heard Jack shout something at me, but over all of the noises from gunshots and the riders yelling to each other, I couldn't make out what he was saying.

That was until I got knocked down by a rider, who had flung himself off of his horse to tackle me. Before he had a chance to pin my hand down, I was able to introduce myself with a right hook. I got him just good enough that his head snapped back and in doing so, the bottom half of his turban came loose. Damn! When I say that this man was the most gorgeous person I have ever seen, I am not exaggerating. He had the darkest brown eyes that I couldn't help but get momentarily lost in, perfectly sculpted cheek bones and a beard that was just long enough to make him look rugged but not enough to age him prematurely. He was the perfect example of tall, dark and handsome.

I guess being this up close and personal with me had finally alerted him to my more feminine features. He jumped back; shock written all over his face. I smirked and took the dagger out of my boot, lunging at him, which he side-stepped out of the way of without thought. Realization dawned on him and me that we had already faced off with each other on the boat the night that it was attacked. I lunged again but he had pulled out his sword and was able to block it. We went on like this for a little bit before Rick had apparently noticed that I was in need of help and shot the man's sword out of his hand. I lunged again, in an attempt to get him to back the hell off. But out of nowhere he had another sword. We were inching closer and closer to the fire still lit on the ground when I noticed Rick scoop down and pick something up from the fire pit.

Looking out of the corner of my eye, I nearly dropped my weapon when I saw that he had lit a stick of dynamite. What the hell was it with men and explosives. I mean come on! I turned to him to yell at him to blow it out, but my attacker decided that the threat was too great and called off his men. "Enough. We will shed no more blood, but you must leave. Leave this place or die." He mounted the horse that one of his survivors brought to him. "You have one day." With that warning, and another weird look in my direction, he turned and him and his men left the city.

Looking around, I started assessing the damage. Most of our camp was trashed, tents burned to rags or nothing at all, half of our diggers laid dead in the sand. Was whatever might be buried under our feet really worth the death and destruction that had occurred tonight? I wasn't so sure. And it wasn't just our people that were gone. It seems that the others weren't as nice in their aiming. The few men I shot, I aimed to injure, not kill.

I walked over to Bernard. "Are you ok?" He still had half a face of shaving cream from earlier, before being rudely interrupted by our "guests".

"Yeah. Just a little on edge you know?"

"That proves it. Seti's treasure must be out here!" my idiot brother yelled across the campsite.

"Why else would they be protecting this place?" Daniels asked. I just shook my head. Sometimes you couldn't reason with stupid.

"These are desert people. They don't have value for gold. Water is more important." I informed them. Bernard walked up to Rick and Evy and suggested that we combine forces at night. Rick seemed to be in agreement of this and they moved their things over to our camp. I approached Evy and said that I had a spare bed roll in my tent if she wanted to have some privacy from the men. She looked at me and smiled graciously, nodding and taking me up on my offer. I showed her over to my tent and leaving her to make herself comfortable.

I returned to the fire and sat down, feeling someone approach me from behind. "What is it Jack?" I asked, not even having to look to know it was my twin behind me.

"We're thinking of setting up a watch rotation in case those guys come back. You want in?"

"Sure. I'll take second watch." I told him.

"Ok. I'll come and wake you up in an hour or two. Try to get some sleep." He said before going to grab his rifle and heading to the perimeter wall. I waited until he was safely perched in his spot before walking over to my tent and laying down on my bed roll. The adrenaline rush that the fighting kicked up had been drained and I was exhausted. I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow.