Chapter Three: Murder in Cairo
Patty ran the wet sponge down over
Jane's breasts and belly before moving it back to the basin and
soaking it in the soapy water again. She retrieved her lady's comb
and stepped so close her erect fairer rosy nipples pressed against
Jane's darker and longer nipples. Jane had already soaked her hair
and Patty let the comb glide through Jane's long wet hair, finding
few tangles to unsnarl. “All clean then,” said Patty, looking on
her mistress with approval.
“Thank you Patty,” said Jane. “Turn
around and I'll get your back for you.”
Patty lifted her wet red hair up off
her shoulders while Jane ran to soapy sponge down her back and over
the outward curve of her buttocks. Their relationship hadn't started
out this intimate, with mistress washing servant, but as their
friendship grew, they become more like sisters then Lady and Lady's
Maid. Of course, Jane Stalwart had no compunctions against getting
down and dirty. She preferred doing everything herself and hadn't
even wanted a Lady's Maid except that her father had insisted upon
it.
There was a loud knock on the door.
“Yes,” called Jane.
“A Professor Al Arash is waiting your
pleasure in the dining room, Miss Stalwart,” came the voice of the
porter through the door.
“Please tell the Professor we will be
down momentarily,” she yelled back.
“Very good madam,” he replied.
The women dressed themselves. Jane
dressed to travel in black trousers and boots. She wore a white front
buttoned blouse, a little low cut for conservative Egypt. Gaps
between the buttons gave glimpses of her lovely white skin. She tied
her hair back and put her bag on her belt, including her pistol for
protection. Patty could never be convinced that wearing pants wasn't
sinful and wore a lacy green dress and hat that flattered her red
hair and pale complexion. She included her umbrella. Oddly, the
servant's clothing was usually more expensive then her employer's
which Jane always found amusing and many people she met assumed Patty
was Lady Stalwart. Their bags were already packed and the hotel would
see them delivered to the air field.
“Surely, two goddesses returned to
life,” said Omar standing when the two women arrived at the
breakfast table. Jane nodded at the compliment while Patty blushed
and curtsied. “I chartered a “tin goose” to Istanbul, but the
only flight leaves in two hours.”
“Thank you Omar,” said Jane. There
was some bread and jam already on the table as well as a bowl of
dates. “That shouldn't be a problem.” Jane retrieved some bread
and spread some jam on it. The waiter approached and Jane looked up,
“I'll have the ful medames with tomatoes.”
“I'll have the same, but no
tomatoes,” added Patty.
Their breakfast arrived swiftly and the
two women ate while Omar Al Arash regaled Jane with tales of Omar's
adventures with Sir John Stalwart. The two adventurer archaeologists
had traveled all over Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Hearing
her father's version of the same stories had made up Jane's mind for
her. Despite being a woman, she wanted to have her own adventures.
“May we visit the souk before we
leave?” asked Patty. “There was a vase I wanted to purchase.”
“Actually, we can walk to the air
field through the Khan el-Khalili. It would be good to stretch our
legs before the flight,” said Jane, standing up from the table.
“And you know Patty, that those vases are just knock offs for the
tourists.”
“Aye, but me da and ma don't know
that,” said Patty with a smile. “I'm the only O'Toole to leave
Ireland that wasn't fighting in some war for the empire.”
“Do you have the COCK, professor?”
asked Jane.
“Yes, Of course,” replied Omar. He
picked up a bag which held the COCK of Osiris in it's box. He
clutched the bag to his chest. “I think I'll accompany you to the
air field. I'll hold on to it until then.”
“You seem reluctant to let it go,
Omar,” said Jane.
“Of course, it's the discovery of a
lifetime,” said Omar, sadly. “But it needs to get out of Egypt.”
The three exited the Grand Continental.
Patty opened her umbrella as soon as they left the shadow of the
awning. It was a short walk to the souk, Cairo's fabled Khan
el-Khalili marketplace. The souk was huge and filled with almost any
type of food or goods one could imagine. Patty found the peddler of
clay jars painted with hieroglyphics and selected one she liked,
haggling the seller down to half his asking price. Satisfied, she
turned to leave the vendor when a collective gasp rose from voices in
the crowded market.
A man had appeared at one end of the
market. The man was a figure from the time of myth. He wore a white
Egyptian skirt and tunic that left his arms bare. Arms that bulged
with muscles and were as black as the darkest sub-Saharan negro. His
face was hidden behind a Set mask. Unlike the other gods, the head of
Set was unidentifiable and Egyptologists referred to it as a Set
animal. It was black with a large snout and big ears, part jackal and
part aardvark.
“It's HIM!” gasped Omar with
genuine fright.
Jane's eyes took in dark robed figures
working their way around the edges of the crowd trying to surround
them. The men wore turbans and had most of their faces covered. Each
held drawn Khopesh sickle-swords in their hands. “Patricia, your
umbrella if you please,” ordered Jane. Patty was too distracted by
the strange man's appearance to realize their danger and just
absentmindedly handed Jane her umbrella. Jane lowered the canopy and
reversed the umbrella so that the hook end was sticking out.
“Professor, please enlighten me.”
“His name is AKET! The high priest of
a Set cult and the reason I wanted to get the COCK out of Egypt
before he found out I'd discovered it. How did he find out?”
To answer the professor's question,
Aket held up one muscular arm and lowered it, pointing his finger at
Omar. As he did, he turned sideways and a short brown skinned
Egyptian appeared by his side, a Khopesh also in his hand. The short
man grinned evilly at the group.
“HASSAN!” hissed the professor.
“Follow me,” said Jane Stalwart
calmly. She turned and started running past some market stalls when
the first cultist was upon them. He ignored her and went for the
professor stabbing forwards with his Khopesh and gazing at Jane with
disbelief when she used the umbrella to parry his sword. His eyes
grew even wider when she grabbed his wrist and flipped him over,
while reversing the umbrella in her hand and bringing the heavy
wooden hilt handle down hard on his head.
Patty gasped and the professor grabbed
her wrist pulling her past Jane. A second cultist was almost upon
them. Jane turned and ran from the man, the hook of the umbrella
catching on the leg of a table filled with dates. “My apologies,”
she shouted at the angry merchant as the display fell spilling dates
across the ground. The cultist slipped in the dates and fell on his
buttocks. “Patty, your jar if you please.” Patty reluctantly
handed it over and Jane shattered the jar over the fallen cultist's
head. She looked up and saw the giant form of Aket striding towards
her, shoving anyone who got in his way aside. Jane turned around and
yelled for Omar and Patty to hurry. A cultist had caught up with
them. The professor was gallantly shielding Patty behind him using
his bag to block the thrusts of the cultist's sword. Another thrust
and the sword seemed to stick in the bag, caught in the priceless
ancient box containing the COCK. He tugged hard and just as his sword
came free, the hook of the umbrella came around his neck and Jane
roughly yanked him backward, kicking him in the head as he came down.
But just as Jane was about to run on,
she was yanked backwards as her ponytail was grabbed and pulled hard.
Instead of going down, Jane went with it, and rolled backwards coming
quickly to her feet just as Aket bent down to pick up the fallen
cultist's sword. He stood and the two faced each other. She could see
his eyes behind the mask. They stared intently at her. She watched as
they narrowed almost like a vipers, and quickly the umbrella came up
to parry the first thrust of his sword and the second. The metal of
the spine on the umbrella held well, but the cloth was soon in
tatters. Still, the blows Aket was raining down on her were so
powerful, the umbrella began to bend. His was brute strength over
skill, but brute strength might just be enough for the powerful black
Egyptian.
Jane was a skilled fencer, but the
umbrella wasn't a rapier and when she did take the chance, thrusting
the tip forwards, it did little damage to the muscle bound priest.
Instead, he caught her off guard, grabbing the umbrella and yanking
her forwards. Jane watched in horror as he raised the sword and
brought it down even as her momentum carried her withing reach of the
steel blade. She bent backward, pulling the umbrella free of his
grasp even as the curved blade tore down through the buttons on her
blouse and slicing the girdle beneath.
Jane's huge bosom burst free, jiggling
in the bright Egyptian sun. Her nipples were hard with the excitement
of the fight and her breasts glistened with sweat in the light. She
stared down at them momentarily, shaking her head, “Every time,”
she muttered.
Aket had paused, sword raised above his
head to come down in another powerful blow, one that might have
cleaved her skull in two. He was frozen, the dark eyes beneath the
mask staring in amazement at her bare breasts. Jane reversed the
umbrella again and swung up hard with the sold wooden handle. Aket's
mask shattered. The aardvark nose crumbled into pieces and the rest
of the mask cracked. He stumbled backwards, shaking his head, trying
to come to his senses, but instead he fell backwards and hit the
ground so hard a cloud of dust rose up.
Jane turned and ran, the crowd
following her heaving bosom with their eyes. A topless European woman
was not a sight normally seen in the souk. Another cultist had caught
up with the professor and Patty. He was raising his sword for a
strike when the hook of the umbrella caught his wrist and spun him
around. Just as Aket had, the cultist froze in surprise to see her
bared breasts. He was even more surprised when her fist smashed
through the bridge of his nose.
“Lost your top again,” stated
Patty.
Jane harrumphed, grabbing the turban
off the man's head. The cultist was shaved bald everywhere including
chin and eyebrows. He had kohl eyeliner around his eyes, ancient
Egyptian style. Jane punched him again for good measure when his
eyelids began to flutter. “This way to the airfield,” she yelled.
By the time they arrived near the air
field, Jane had unraveled the turban and managed to cover her breasts
with it after borrowing a hair pin from Patty. It was still unseemly,
the material barely covered her breasts and left her entire belly
exposed. Still, it would have to do because their plane was on the
runway, props spinning and they were about to push the boarding
stairs away. She waved and the stewardess at the top of the stairs
motioned for them to hurry. “Come with us professor,” she urged.
“It isn't safe for you here.”
“My place is in Egypt, Lady
Stalwart.” He raised the bag and held it out for her. “Give my
regards to your father.”
“I will,” replied Jane reaching out
for the bag just as Omar stiffened. His eyes opened wide in alarm.
“Omar?” she asked, just as he fell forward into her arms, a multi
bladed throwing dagger in his back.
“PROFESSOR!” she screamed, looking
up to see Hassan wickedly grinning on the edge of the field. Still
holding the professor, the bag containing the COCK between them,
Jane's hand went into her bag and came up with the pistol. Hassan's
grin turned into a look of terror and the little man threw himself to
the ground just as she got off three shots.
“Jane, come on,” cried Patty racing
towards the plane. The stewardess alarmed by the gunfire was pushing
the stairs away and trying to close the doors. More cultists appeared
in the street racing towards them. Jane quickly checked the professor
for a pulse and finding none, she grabbed the bag and ran for the
plane.
“My word!” gasped a passenger upon
seeing Jane's exposed belly as well as the exposed bottoms of her
breasts.
“Sorry, but I seemed to have lost my
blouse,” said Jane, lowering the bag to cover her front. “I
suggest you get this in the air as soon as possible,” she yelled to
the pilot.
The pilot grinned at her and winked,
his eyes sweeping her body and Patty's as well. He turned back around
and pushed forwards on the throttle. “I suggest we listen to the
lady,” he told the copilot motioning his head towards a growing
number of sword wielding robed men racing towards them, a giant black
man not far behind.
Jane watched the cultists angrily
waving their swords as the plane gained speed and was soon airborne.
It followed the Nile North to
Alexandria. The plane flew over the harbor and the Royal navy's
Mediterranean fleet recently relocated here from Malta. Jane saluted
the ships of her countrymen as the tin goose aimed itself towards
Turkey.