The Amulet of Power - Mike Resnick [53]
“That’s stupid,” she said. “It’s becoming active. It seems to have a will of its own, and it wants to be found. If Kevin or I don’t find it, then someone else will—but it’s pretty clear that it’s no longer content to be inactive.”
“I know,” agreed Omar. “But we cannot convince all of those who should be our allies, who oppose the Mahdists as we do.”
“We’ll worry about each in turn as we come to them,” said Lara, tiring of the conversation, which seemed to be about how many different factions wanted to kill her. She laid her robes onto a sofa. “They’re useful in the desert, but they’re awkward when I’m inside.”
“I do not think you will have to return to the desert. Never forget that Gordon was surrounded. The Amulet must be in Khartoum.”
“He sent Colonel Stewart all the way to Edfu,” noted Lara. “What makes you think he couldn’t have sent someone else out of the country with the Amulet?”
“Let us hope he didn’t,” said Omar. “The Sudan is big enough. I would hate to think we had to search the entire world.”
“It would make life much easier if you were right—but it’s always possible that he was using Stewart as a decoy, that while his enemies watched him and Stewart, he gave it to some Sudanese man or woman to take into the desert, or to Somalia, or to Libya, or somewhere else.”
“Do you really think so?”
“I don’t know,” answered Lara. “But you have to consider all possibilities. For example, Colonel Stewart traversed the Nile all the way from Khartoum to Edfu. What makes you so sure he didn’t simply throw it overboard, or bury it in a riverbank hundreds of miles from Edfu?”
“Because history tells us that he did not travel alone until he reached Edfu, and he would not take the chance that someone might be observing him.”
“Someone observed him going into the Temple of Horus,” she pointed out.
“But we know now that he was acting as a decoy,” answered Omar. “If he actually had the Amulet with him, he would have waited until the middle of the night, and approached it by a circuitous route, making sure that he wasn’t being observed.”
“Well, it sounds good, anyway,” said Lara.
“You know it was not at the Temple of Horus or you would have found it.”
“I keep telling you: I wasn’t looking for it,” she replied. “Besides, do you know how big that temple is? You could hide a hundred Amulets in it.”
“But no one did,” said Omar with certainty. “Since the journalist’s memoir was found, the Mahdists have searched the temple top to bottom. If neither you nor they nor Dr. Mason found it, it was not there.”
“I hope you’re right,” said Lara. “At least, I’m going to proceed on that assumption.”
There was a knock at the door.
“Come in,” said Lara. “It’s not locked.”
Hassam entered the parlor. “The Amenhotep is four days overdue,” he announced.
Lara looked at Omar with concern, but Omar merely smiled. “That’s faster than usual. Are they in radio contact with the port authority?”
Hassam nodded. “They expect to be here tomorrow morning.”
“Mason is still in good health?” continued Omar.
“They have not reported any unusual incidents, and I thought it best not to ask about him.”
“You were right,” said Omar approvingly.
“I saw Gaafar walking through the lobby on my way back to the suite,” said Hassam. “Is something wrong?”
“There has already been an attempt to kill Lara Croft,” confirmed Omar.
“I will get my rifle,” said Hassam instantly.
Omar shook his head. “That will not be necessary. Gaafar will take care of it.”
“But—”
“I want you to stay here to protect her.”
“I can protect myself,” said Lara firmly.
“Right now you are the most important person in the whole of the Sudan,” said Omar. “Through no fault of your own, you also have the most enemies. There is no question that you are able to protect yourself under normal circumstances, but you must acknowledge that these circumstances are anything but normal.”