The Moses Legacy - Adam Palmer [14]
‘Professor Carmichael,’ the man called out, with a quiet sense of urgency in his voice.
‘Yes?’
‘I have to talk to you on a matter of grave importance… about your paper… to The Journal.’
A sense of realization returned to Carmichael and he smiled at the gushing enthusiasm of this man, whose words seemed to convey so much respect for him.
‘You’d better come in.’
The professor led the man inside and asked Roksana to make some more tea as he led his new guest through to the garden. Roksana looked nervous at the presence of this powerfully built stranger, but the professor appeared to know what he wanted.
‘Now, tell me what it is that you wanted to tell me about my paper,’ said the professor.
‘Well, I was wondering if you had a copy of it.’
‘You mean the one I sent to the American Journal of Egyptology?’
‘Yes. Do you have a copy of it? Is it on your computer?’
‘Yes, in my office upstairs. Would you like me to ask Roksana to get you a copy?’
‘Yes. Let’s do that now.’
‘Why don’t we wait for the tea—’
‘I said, let’s do it now!’ shouted the visitor, rising to his feet and yanking Carmichael out of the chair.
The professor looked at him, terrified. This man was a student of his, or so he had said, yet now all he could see was a giant of a man towering over him and being rough and aggressive.
‘Okay,’ said Carmichael meekly. He shuffled along nervously with the tall man walking behind him, giving him a couple of shoves and pushes in the back to assert his control.
When they arrived in the house, Roksana looked confused. ‘I was going to bring the tea out,’ she said.
‘No need,’ the tall man replied. ‘I’m not staying for tea. I just need to know where the office is.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘You don’t need to understand, bitch! Just show me where it is.’
In that moment Roksana understood, or at least thought she did. ‘There’s nothing valuable there. Just a computer and some books.’
‘It’s the computer that I’m interested in. That and its content!’
Roksana had enough of a grasp of the situation to realize that this man had come here to take something and he was not looking to leave any witnesses. She made her decision in a flash.
A fraction of a second later, a pot of scalding hot tea was flying at the big man. He was too big and his feet planted too firmly on the floor to dodge it, but a lightning-fast movement of his arm deflected it. After an initial moment of numbness, a searing hot pain shot up his left forearm.
But he was a man who could handle pain, and he had no intention of being stopped by a woman. As she made her desperate dash to the door, he closed the distance between them in three quick strides. She tried to scream, knowing that it was her last chance for survival, despite the isolation of the house. But the intruder clamped a giant hand over her mouth as his other arm encircled her neck from behind. With a powerful motion, he snapped her neck and let her lifeless body slump to the ground.
Carmichael looked on in terror, knowing that there was nowhere to run.
‘The office!’ the giant commanded.
He shuffled along meekly while the man pushed and shoved him from behind. Once in the office, Carmichael turned round hesitantly with tears of terror and confusion in his eyes. The tall man noticed, with relish, that the front of Carmichael’s trousers was wet.
‘Do you keep hard copies?’ asked the intruder.
‘What?’
‘Hard copies!’ He slapped Carmichael viciously across the face.
‘No. I mean… I don’t know. I leave all that to Roksana.’
The big man looked at the computer and knew that he had a decision to make. He recognized that the confused Harrison Carmichael had told him all he knew, so he decided to dispense with him now. Picking up a paperweight from the desk, he smashed