The Amulet of Power - Mike Resnick [37]
“You are a very suspicious woman,” said Gaafar.
“I’m also alive,” said Lara. “The two go hand-in-hand.”
As she spoke, she saw a ripple in the water, larger than the one she had remarked upon the day before. She stared curiously at it, and then saw three more a few yards away. And a moment later she saw something else.
“There are no more River Horses in these parts, right?” she said.
“That is right,” answered Omar.
“That’s what I thought.”
Suddenly she drew her Black Demons and in less than two seconds had fired twenty quick shots into the water, which soon turned red with blood. Four bodies, each wearing a wet suit, an aqualung, and with a trident gun slung over one shoulder, slowly floated to the surface.
“All praises to Wilkes and Hawkins,” she said. “Who else could give me .32 caliber bullets that go straight and true through five feet of water?”
“Who are they?” asked Hassam, staring at the bodies.
“River Rats,” said Lara, holstering her weapons. “A suddenly-extinct species.”
“But why . . . ?” began Omar.
“They weren’t afraid of witnesses,” said Lara. “They were afraid that they might miss us and alert us to their presence. These four were going to fire at point-blank range.” She stared back at the Great Temple, which was still barely visible. “Take us out farther from shore,” she said. “They can’t have seen what happened. If we move far enough out so they can’t spot us, they may think we’re dead, and that perhaps we killed their assassins as well. That might buy us some time.”
Omar adjusted the sail and the boat’s bow turned slightly to the left, moving them farther and farther away from the shoreline.
“How did you know?” he asked. “They could have been marine biologists. Scientists are always studying the Nile. They wouldn’t be the first to show up here.”
“I saw one of the tridents,” answered Lara. “The only things requiring that big a weapon are crocs and hippos—and men. And you yourself told me that there weren’t any hippos or crocs left in these waters.”
“So I did,” said Omar, surprised.
“That’s why we let him talk so much,” said Gaafar with a chuckle. “He may bore us to tears, but every now and then he does say something that saves our lives.”
“He didn’t save our lives,” Hassam corrected him. “She did—for the third time. You had better hope we live to be as old as the Hebrews’ Methuselah, for it will take that long to pay off our debt to her.”
“You’re exaggerating,” said Lara with a smile. “I’m sure it won’t take more than a century or two.”
PART II
SUDAN
13
They sailed south for four days, and finally came to the end of Lake Nasser, which simply became the mighty Nile once again. There was no sign of the Amenhotep. Lara was sure it could catch them easily if it was traveling under full steam, which led her to conclude that the captain was stopping frequently to pick up contraband materials and get rid of contraband passengers.
She found herself thinking more and more of Kevin Mason. His father’s towering reputation had impressed her for years, but she’d never considered that he might be related to a handsome man who was good with his fists and made as much of a habit of saving her life as she seemed to be making of saving Omar and his companions.
Then, too, it would have been nice to have someone to talk to about the Amulet. Kevin wasn’t his father, but he clearly knew his stuff when it came to the Amulet of Mareish. Not that Omar wasn’t happy to discuss it, but he was no archaeologist. All he knew was that it was the source of the Mahdi’s power (or so he believed), and he could recite some of the legends concerning it. His only concern was making certain that it didn’t fall into the hands of any potential Mahdis.
She was pretty sure it had to be within, if not the official city limits of Khartoum, then at least that area around (and including) Khartoum that Gordon had turned into an island when he joined the Blue and White Niles. After all, it was the only piece of turf he controlled; there was simply no way he could have gone