Case Files of Detective Kenneth Cohl

Case File Eleven: Pharaohs Choice

The two got back onto the bikes and finished the drive into town. After looking in amazement at the pyramids, they decide it would be best to split up and cover as much ground as possible. As they drove around, kicking the sand up behind them, things began to look bleak, there were no signs anywhere pointing which direction to choose, no little hints from Alister this time as to where he may be, nothing but sand and buildings. When they met back up, it was close to The Great Pyramid of Giza. Kenneth kept staring over towards the Sphinx, when suddenly he had an idea, he pulled out a piece of paper, on it was written the message Alister had put on the DVD.

"Hey, I have a crazy idea." Kenneth said.

"What is it?"

"In this letter, Alister mentions a riddle; maybe he means the riddle of the Sphinx."

"The what?"

"The riddle of the Sphinx, what has four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three at night, you don't know that?"

"Yea, sorry, I was never all that great of a riddler."

"Your codename is Enigma, and you aren't good with riddles?"

"Yup that's about right, good mystery isn't it."

"Anyway, I think we need to get to the top of the Sphinx."

They drove over towards the back of the Sphinx and found a rope ladder hanging there. Despite being exhausted from the heat, they began climbing their way up the ladder. Once they reached the top, they could see a large shadow; they looked up and found a man there. He had to be over seven feet tall, black pants, gloves and a trench coat. His chest was a blood red and he had what appeared to have the face of the devil on his chest. He removed the huge black western style hat from his head to reveal his face, which was just a black skull, with long stringy strands of black hair growing out of it.

"Who or what are you?" Enigma asked.

"The name's Hell's Guardian." The man said in a deep western accent.

"You sure that's your name and not your job description?"

"I may not look like it, but I'm not someone you want to piss off."

"Kenneth, you go run on ahead, I'll hold him off."

"Boy, I don't think you know what you're volunteering yourself for, I can and probably will kill you."

Kenneth ran past Hell's Guardian ducking his punch as Enigma charged at him. As he kept running, he could hear screams coming from Enigma. He stopped for a brief second to look, but only saw a cloud of dust. He made it across to the base of the Sphinx's neck, and then proceeded to climb, his hands aching each time he gripped onto the stones. Once he made it to the top of the Sphinx's head, he found Alister standing across from him, dressed in a black suit, with a hat blocking his face from being seen. In his hand was a blade, at his feet were two ropes attached to hooks drilled into the Sphinx's head.

"Welcome to the Pharaoh's choice my friend, on one side of the Sphinx's head is Lauren; on the other side is Carmen. Choose one and lose one, simple as that." Alister said laughing.

"I'm tired of these games Alister; just let them go and you and I can settle this, man to man, I owe you a good beating and time behind bars for good for what you did to my parents!"

"I would Kenneth, I really would, especially since you brought up such a wonderful memory, but where would the fun in that be? I want to see if you can make the right choice."

Kenneth stood there staring at Alister, the wind blowing strongly behind him. He gripped his fists tightly as he looked in Carmen's direction and then in Lauren's direction. He had a sad look in his eyes as he ran in Carmen's direction, he pulled her up and got a small knife he had out and cut her free from the ropes. He held her tightly as he looked over at Alister, who had a smile on his face as he cut Lauren's rope. Kenneth watched as Lauren's rope slipped away. Alister began to laugh manically as Kenneth stood up.

"You can end this charade."

"What do you mean?"

"Lauren isn't dead, you probably had a small ledge placed on the side so if she fell, it would be a very short distance."

"You smart little bastard, I knew there was something I liked about you." Lauren said as she appeared and walked over to the side of Alister.

"Why Lauren, why would you do this?" Kenneth asked.

"You'd be surprised how much the promise of riches and power can change a girl" she answered.

A helicopter then appeared behind the two, the door opened to reveal Hell's Guardian and Lachina inside. Lauren and Alister walked in as the helicopter flew off. Kenneth tried to chase after but only got sand, he did notice a small piece of paper crumbled up into a ball, he picked it up and put it in his pocket. He and Carmen made their way down from the head and back onto the body; they found Enigma knocked out in a small hole.

"What happened to you?" Kenneth asked slapping Enigma's face then pulled him out of the hole.

"That asshole slammed me down; I can't believe I'm still breathing, though I think I may have some broken ribs, what happened with Alister?"

"He got away, along with his whole entire crew."

"Damn it." Enigma sighed punching his fist to the ground.

A few hours later; they found themselves back in the city of Cairo and on a plane waiting for takeoff so they could go home.

"Kenneth, how did you know that Lauren was still alive?" Carmen asked.

"It was the wind that told me."

"How's that?"

"The wind was knocking you around so your rope was shaking a lot more, Lauren's was barely moving, which meant she was somehow able to stable herself on something."

"Well that was quick thinking on your part; I'm impressed you were able to think on your feet and notice such a small detail like that, especially in that stressful of a situation." Enigma added.

"Going up against Alister, you have to be on your feet don't you, especially now that he has a gang of very tough, smart followers." Kenneth replied.

"Yea, like with that Hell's Guardian guy, we are going to need some major muscle to help tangle with that beast." Enigma stated.

The rest of the flight was quiet as Carmen slept with her head on Kenneth's shoulder; he just stared outside the window at the night sky. When they arrived, Kenneth took Carmen home and carried her inside. After he got her into bed, he headed out of the house and to his car, there was something about her house that just didn't seem right, but at this point he was just too exhausted to think anymore about it. 

 He got in his car and headed home, when he got there he went straight to bed, as he laid down he felt something in his pocket. He reached in and pulled out the paper that was left on the sphinx, he put it on the night stand at first trying to ignore it and just go to sleep, but he just couldn't. He kept tossing and turning until he finally decided to sit up, he then reached over and turned on the lamp that was on the nightstand and opened the paper, it said...