*~~~Inside Fort
Brydon~~~*
"Okay I have an idea!" Angela said excitedly as she ran over to where men
were filling buckets
with water.
"Well, what is it?" Jonathan asked
Without another word Angela dumped one of the buckets on him and then dumped
the next
on herself, both were soaked from head to toe.
"What was that for?!" Jonathan said exasperated
"What else? so our clothes don't burn, now come on!" she said as she grabbed
him and ran
into the room.
The room was almost completely engulfed in fire. In the far corner of the
room was Angela's
pack of clothes and artifacts. Running over to it Angela grabbed her pack
that held the book
as Jonathan helped her grab her other belongings. Suddenly Angela
realized... "Where was
Imhotep? Had he gotten out? and if he did how had he done so?"
For a moment she froze in her steps and just stood looking around
frantically but no sign of
him. Without warning Jonathan grabbed her by the arm and yanked her out of
the room as
two pieces of wood came crashing down where Angela had just been standing.
When they
arrived outside Angela still looked around to see if Imhotep was outside,
but no sign of him
anywhere at all.
"I can't believe I just did that!" Jonathan said relieved and amazed that he
had just ran into a
room engulfed in fire.
"Thank you very much for helping me out, how can I ever repay you?" Angela
asked
gratefully.
"Oh don't worry it was nothing...really"
"No I really want to repay you for what you've done"
"Seeing you smile is payment enough, but I guess if you want to, tell me
your name"
"Okay if that's what you want, my name is Angela...what's yours?"
"My name is Jonathan Carnarvon,nice to meet you....in such a frightful event"
"Nice to meet you too Jonathan, again thank you very much"
Looking at the room, Angela went into a state of shock..seeing it completely
destroyed
suddenly caused her to suddenly breakout in tears of desperation. Seeing
this Jonathan
hugged her gently.
"So, where are you going to stay Angela?...my god, I'm really sorry about
your room"
"I don't know, I guess I'll have to stay out in the street or find an
extremely cheap hotel and
stay there for a few days...cause frankly I don't have much money"
"Uh, if you don't mind you can stay with me, I mean, in my room"
Angela smiled and couldn't believe and help but feel really grateful. Nobody
had ever help
her so much in her entire life as much as Jonathan had in these few minutes.
"Oh Jonathan I really don't want to be a burden on you"
"You won't be, and while we're at it I'll introduce you to my sister Evie
and her fiancee"
"Oh all right, I'll stay with you for a couple of days"
With that Jonathan helped Angela with her stuff and led her to his room that
he had reserved
by telegram the day before. As they walked inside Angela set her stuff down
and slowly
balanced around at the room trying to get a feel for it, oddly enough she
didn't feel the least bit
uncomfortable being alone with Jonathan, it was actually the first time she
had felt like that in
a while.
"So Angela, just a thought, but would you like to go out to dinner with me?"
Jonathan
asked timidly
"Okay, I guess, after all this excitement I'm famished, just let me get out
of this clothes and into
something dry"
"Well, I guess I should do the same thing" Jonathan said as he walked over
to his trunk of
clothes.
Turning back he found that Angela was gone, looking over at the bathroom
door he saw that
it was shut and could hear Angela fumbling with her hair brush and stuff.
Suddenly it occurred
to him that he had helped out Angela, saved her from a certain death, and
had her here! in
his room! It was an odd feeling he had never experienced before, he couldn't
really tell what it
was.
"Jonathan, you're in love with her!" he thought suddenly
As he had been thinking this Angela stepped into the room and walked towards
him wearing
a beautiful, but somewhat revealing, burgundy summer dress. Jonathan froze
at the sight of
seeing her standing there smiling at him with that seductive mouth of hers.
"Do I look okay?" she asked curiously suddenly noticing that he was gawking
at her.
"Uh, yes you look positively stunning"
"Thank you, I totally have to get used to wearing dresses. I'm not a really
good dresser when it
comes to dresses and stuff like that"
"Well, all I can say is that no matter how your dressed you would look
beautiful"
"How do you know that? we've only known each other for what? an hour, now?"
"I just know, it's uh a talent, you can say, of mine.......well we should
get going now!"
"Pardon me for saying this but I don't think you want to go to dinner
looking like that"
Jonathan was already at the door and froze suddenly realizing she was right.
He turned and
walked back, picked up his dry clothes and walked into bathroom. While
waiting Angela sat
down and sighed, the room seemed like a sanctuary that she felt safe in even
though she
hardly knew Jonathan at all, but her intuition told her to stay cause for
some reason it would
be worth it.
"Okay Angela we can go now, hopefully we'll run into my sister on the way"
"Well, I'm set, where are we going?" she asked suddenly.
That's when the dream balloon suddenly bursts in Jonathan's face with a
bang...there weren't
any decent places near the fort or anywhere for that matter that he knew of.
But he wanted so
much to make her happy.
"Ok well just follow me and I'll show you"
He took her by the hand and led her outside and down the hallway, his hand
squeezing hers
wondering what her reaction would be when he showed her where he was taking
her to have
a bite.
"Let's stop here for a moment, I want you to close your eyes"
Angela gave him a puzzled look then followed his instructions. She looked so
innocent and
so delicate with her eyes closed. Jonathan caught himself when he realized
he was staring
at her.
"Now follow me" he said as he guided her down the stairs towards their
destination.
People were still putting out the fires and starting to clean up all the
debree that had fallen,
still a bit nervous yet they were sort of use to this event in away. Walking
down the stairs
Jonathan could still remember seeing the fireballs and hail that had fallen
the year the before
when Imhotep had came, a sudden chill went down his back causing him to
stumble a bit.
"Are we there yet? this is kinda weird...where are you taking me?" Angela
asked curiously
"Okay Angela, we're here you can open your eyes now.....1...2..3"
Angela smiled and quickly opened her eyes like an eager child who had been
awaiting a
huge present, her reaction suddenly changed into a look of shock almost
traumatic shock.
"The Casbah!? Jonathan you brought me to the Casbah!!! there is no way in
hell you're
getting me in there! if you wanted to surprise me Jonathan....it worked! but
no way I'm setting
foot in that place" Angela said appalled.
"Angela please I just need to find Evie and Rick, they must be in there
looking for me don't ask
why..you'll find out in time, believe me...I wasn't planning on bringing you
here"
"Ugh! fine but this the first and final time I go in there"
They then walked in though Angela for a moment had been reluctant to go, but
nonetheless
followed. As they made their way through Angela suddenly noticed all the
men staring at her
as if she were some kind of treasure that they could get their greedy hands
on. Jonathan
noticed this as well and gently squeezed her hand in reassurance. Within
these walls in the
dim lighting soldiers and ex-soldiers of His Majesty plus soldiers of
fortune mixed with bad
woman and bad booze in search of "a good time." The ceiling fans stirred the
stale air as they
stopped and looked around.
"Look there they are! there are Rick and Evie!" Jonathan pointed towards a
handsome guy
with sky blue eyes, a leathery tan, and unruly brown hair, next to him was a
woman with brown
hair and grayish brownish eyes wearing a very conservative navy blue dress
with a V-neck,
who had a prissy air.
"Well lets meet up with them" Angela suddenly said
"Okay let's go" Jonathan said as they walked towards the two.
"Rick,Evie I knew you'd be here! I'd like you two to meet someone I just
met...this is Angela"
Jonathan said joyfully.
Rick turned to greet him and suddenly stepped back awestruck at the sight
of Jonathan's new
friend.
"Uh, Hi Angela, uh...what brings you here to this place?" Rick asked.
"Well, Jonathan brought me here as a practical joke..would you believe me on
that one" Angela
giggled nervously.
"Ay I actually would believe you, that's exactly why we're here, you see
this is Jonathan's hang
out spot, he loves it here...and for fun he plays practical jokes on girls
such as you...this is his home away from home" Rick said swirling the whisky
in his shot glass.
"Yours too O'Connell" Jonathan commented dryly.
After a sudden long moment of silence Angela and Jonathan took a seat. The
atmosphere
suddenly became uncomfortable and quite tense, no one at the table said a
word.
"So Angela, where are you from?" Evelyn asked suddenly.
"I'm from Chicago, Illinois" Angela responded.
"Hey! I'm from Chicago too!" Rick said amiably suddenly interested in the
conversation.
"Wow! that's amazing! I never thought I'd run into someone from
Chicago...here in Cairo! my god
how interesting" Angela said happily.
"Ya I can't believe it either, so tell me what did you like most about
Chicago? isn't it the most
interesting and exciting city you've ever seen? god! what do you think of
Hyde Park? and the
57th Street Beach?" Rick was asking with extreme enthusiasm
"Whoa! okay let me start out by saying that I only lived there until the
age of seven, but I can tell
you that in that short amount of time I came to love the city, especially
Hyde Park and 57th St.
Beach, in fact every Sunday my family and I would go to either one of those
places and have
picnics after mass, it was the funnest thing ever! What about you? how long
did you live in
Chicago?" Angela asked joyfully.
"Well In lived in Chicago until I was fourteen that's when I moved to New
York with my aunt...
family problems forced me to go, but overall I loved Chicago too"
Noticing that both Angela and Rick weren't really saying anything to them
Jonathan looked
over at Evelyn who was surprisingly looking jealous at them as they talked
and laughed
about things and places she didn't know anything about. He could so tell
that she wanted to
interrupt, but before she could Jonathan took Evelyn by the hand and
stood up to leave.
"Come on Evie let's go outside to get some air, I think it'll do you some
good" he said softly
Evelyn looked up at him in a stern manner but found that for the first time
no words could
come out of her mouth. Glancing over at Angela she really couldn't help but
feel envious of
her. Rick really never spoke to her with such spark and enthusiasm when
she spoke to him,
in fact he always seemed bored and tuned out. Walking towards the door
Evelyn stopped
and turned towards Jonathan who almost crashed into her.
"Jonathan, where did you find her? why did you bring her here! if you wanted
a girlfriend you
didn't have to-ugh! forget it I'm going outside like you said" Evelyn said
jealously
"Mum, calm down! I met her during the storm! you shouldn't act like this,
this isn't you,Evie
what's wrong?" Jonathan asked confusedly.
"Nothing Jonathan, absolutely nothing is wrong with me"
"Oh I know! you're jealous of Angela"
"Me? jealous! ha! don't make me laugh"
"Oh but you are Evie,admit it....you're jealous that O'Connell is actually
having a full and fun
conversation with her unlike the ones he has with you"
Without saying else Evelyn stormed out of the Casbah with Jonathan trailing
behind her.
During this argument Rick and Angela hadn't even noticed that they had left
instead they
were merrily conversing as if they were old friends or family members who
hadn't seen each
other in years.
"So tell me Rick, did you have any siblings?"
"Yes I had a sister who was or is about your age, she was the youngest, but
still she enjoyed
doing things with me and I with her"
"So where is she?"
"I don't know, when I left to New York at the age of fourteen my sister
stayed with my dad who
was an alcoholic, our mom had left him five months before and he went down
hill from there"
"I'm sorry, how old was your sister when you left?"
"Seven, I can still remember the look of utter sadness on her face as my
uncle drove away
with me in the car, before then our family was the happiest on I've ever
seen. We always
had parties and went out on the weekends. I remember on one outing to the
park my sister
was balancing herself on a small bridge that cross the lake, me being the
oldest and most
mischievous walked up behind her and scared her, but she fell in and I had
to jump in to save
her"
"Oh man, Rick your parents must have been so angry at you"
"Ya in fact the moment we had gotten out of the water my father grabbed me
and said
"Young man what the hell do you think you were doing? your sister could have
drowned! i- "
"If you weren't my son I swear I would have killed you...you good for
nothing child!"
"Uh how did you know?" Rick asked suspiciously
"Lucky guess, the same thing happened to my brother what a coincidence,
isn't it?"
"Yes, it is, so Angela what was one of your most memorable moments?"
"Well it was at the age of 5, I had to be in the school play of Peter Pan’s
Adventures, the night of
the performance my parents and my brother totally forgot about it and left
me there without
saying good luck or anything, that night when I had gotten home I climbed
up to the roof and
sat there crying, my brother tried to bring me down but nothing, then my
dad being the rough
guy that he was took a lasso and literally lassoes me like a horse and
yanked me down
through the shaft I had climbed up on"
"You know that is exactly something that happened to my sister, pardon me
for asking but who
were your parents?" Rick asked.
"My parents were Michael and Janet O'Connell"
Rick went silent in an utter state shock of at the sound of those names, he
had never expected
her to answer that.
"So your complete name would be Angela Marie O'Connell"
"Oh god, how did you know? Did you know my parents or my brother?"
"Angela, I am your brother...I'm Richard O'Connell oh my god..we're......"
"Family...you're my brother!" Angela said jubilant
Both went into a slight state of shock once more. Unable to contain
themselves they both
started crying...tears of happiness. Instinctively they hugged each other
tightly not wanting to
ever let go of each other.
"I can't believe this is happening, after so long I finally found you!"
Angela said happily
"I know, we have so much to talk about, come on let's go" Rick said as they
parted.
Watching this entire moment was Evelyn who was now blushing with anger and
envy.
Jonathan knew she wanted to hit him so he kept his distance from her in case
she tried
anything foolish. Though Jonathan was already used to the fact that when he
got in trouble
he either got punched or slapped in the face. Noticing that Rick was coming
Evelyn
straightened herself out and sat down on a bench trying to look distracted.
"You two look awfully happy, may we know the reason why?" Jonathan asked
curiously.
"This will be hard to believe but Angela and I are family! she's my sister!"
Rick said excited over
this new event.
Jonathan fainted.
*~~~Downtown Cairo~~~*
Anton and Vinnie were just parking the car in front of the marketplace. The
entire way there
they both had been completely silent not a word was said...not even when the
storm hit.
Seriousness and silence was a must for this job, one small move and you lost
all sense or
person who you're searching for.
"What do you think that was a moment ago?" Vinnie finally asked
"I have no idea, must have been something to do with the atmosphere..who
knows?" Anton
responded with a slight shrug. "To tell you the truth I've never seen
something like that"
Stepping out of the car Vinnie walked into the marketplace and immediately
started asking
about Angela, while Anton looked at the sky hoping that what had happened
didn't happen
again while he was out here...it was just too unreal. Walking up to Vinnie
he paused trying to
hear what he was asking exactly.
Turning around Vinnie jumped slightly and regained his composition "So do
you think we'll
find her?"
"Don't know, I mean for all we know she could have gotten on a train and
gone to some other
city far from here"Anton responded trying to conceal his urgency and worry
hoping that she
really had left.
Anton didn't like the idea of having to track down Angela. Deep down he
loved her like a sister
and he knew that if Lewis found out he would be killed without notice and
erased completely
from this earth without a trace.
"Vinnie, why do you work for Lewis?" Anton asked suddenly.
"Mostly because I need the money and I guess I need a bit of adventure and
action in my
life...what about you?"
"I owe Lewis a favor and I'm also here because of a girl"
"A girl! you! the silent, serious one of the group....whoa Anton, I'm amazed"
"I don't care if you think it's wierd,.but yes a girl...you don't know her,
so I won't mention any
names...don't tell anyone"
Vinnie smiled and turned to continue looking around and asking people more
questions.
"Have you seen this girl?" Anton asked an Arabic merchant while showing him
a picture of
Angela, hoping that he would answer the same as the others...no.
"Yes, I have, she was heading towards Fort Brydon" the merchant answered.
"Thank You, my good man" Anton said softly.
Anton put the picture into his jacket pocket and looked over at Vinnie who
was a couple of
yards away from him asking merchants. Immediately he saw the light at the
end of the tunnel
that could possibly save Angela....preventing Vinnie from going to the
fort.
"Hey Vinnie, there she goes, there she goes!" Anton started shouting.
Vinnie looked up to see in the direction that Anton had pointed and looked
back at Anton with
a confused look.
"Where is she?" Vinnie shouted back.
"Over there she just rounded the corner...she was running in the direction
of the train station!
stop her before she gets a cab or something!" Anton shouted frustratingly
Vinnie then ran into the direction Anton had pointed hoping to catch up with
Angela. Watching
him disappear around the corner of the alleyway, Anton smiled and turned
back towards the
fort. "Angela, please for the love of god, I hope you got of Cairo" he
thought as he walked
towards Fort Brydon hoping Angela had left on the first train out of town.
*~~~Hotel Stack, a mile from the Fort~~~*
"David, ol'boy you're in Cairo, now next on your agenda find Angela at the
dig site, become
famous....ah yes following Evelyn will work out splendidly. I will have
money,fame,and a
woman" David was saying to his reflection in the mirror of his room.
The room was rather modest only a bed, a table, and a closet...but the view
of the plaza was
nice, if you like the sight of camels and yelling merchants. David who was
still staring at the
mirror, closed his eyes where his mind then took him back to the first day
he had seen Angela
walking into his office looking for a job...he had been left awestruck by
her beauty and open-
mindedness. In fact without even asking for references or any other
information he had hired
her, much to her surprise and the surprise of her fiancée.
"Angela, you will be mine, no matter what the cost" he thought.
"But I guess I should first get the book, the treasure and fame, I don't
think Angela would want
some poor fool, no, she would want someone with power, authority and fame"
There was a sudden knock at the door, David bid them come in and a tall man
dressed in
Bedouin clothing walked in, a worker it seemed, by the name of Al Janain.
"Yes, what do you want?" David asked
The man sat down and gave him a look of worry and fear, something was
troubling him. "There
was a problem at the dig site, something went wrong, I will explain
everything"
**~~~Sunset,An alleyway in Cairo,Egypt~~~**
The sun was doing it's daily thing of setting over the horizon...causing a
beautiful paint like
image of the sun going down over the Sahara. The blue dusk striped by the
orange dying
sun was exceptionally beautiful, but beauty sometimes leads to
things,horrible things emerging
from the darkness of the mind and the ultimate fears of our sub-concious.
It was said long ago
that the dead would rise out of their tombs and underground city at sunset
to stand on the
banks of the Nile looking longingly across the river at the living, but
some of the dead don't
like to stand on the bank.
A small figure trudged down the dark corridors
of Cairo glad it was
getting dark, dressed in a hooded cloak it was glad that no one could see
him for if anyone did
they would start a commotion like the one in the afternoon.
"I need to find whoever read that book and the fools who were at the dig
site...I need to
regenerate" it thought to itself
It walked out of the alley and into the street towards the entrance of the
fort, waiting for the right
moment to sneak in, if it only knew who had the book he could get his job
done faster.
"My master and I shall take over this world and once we do, we shall destroy
it...ah but how
vengeance is good" it said to itself as it stopped by the entrance looking
in at the people who
hadn't a clue about what was in store for them.
To Be Continued