CHAPTER TEN

"I so fucking hate this idea," he whispered in her ear as he kissed her goodnight.

"I know, but just until we're married," she smirked, rubbing the back of her hand along the seam of his zipper.

"You'll pay for that," he growled.

"I hope so," she said with a heavy breath in his ear. "I'll see you at breakfast tomorrow."

Leif opened her door, turned on the light, and looked around the room. Satisfied that no one was in there yet, he kissed her again and then went to the room next door. While they were playing kissy face in front of her room, Sebastian was crawling out of his window and down to the car. He popped the trunk of the strangers' car, folded himself inside, and prayed it wouldn't be long, or he'd sweat to death.

A few minutes later, Ellie heard someone playing with the lock and moved toward the door. She opened it quickly.

"Couldn't stand to be… Oh. What do you want?" she asked. He smiled at her, holding his fingers to his lips.

"Say nothing, or a lot of people will die, Magnolia."

"H-how did you know my name?" she said. He held up her photo, grinning at her.

"Let's go, gorgeous. You're worth a lot of money to me." He gripped her arm, pulling her out toward the exit. When she turned to see the rooms behind her, he squeezed harder, making her yelp slightly. "You scream, I kill all of them."

Behind the closed doors, the others were doing everything they could to control Leif. Watching as they shoved her toward the car, one of the men moved toward the trunk.

"No! Please, I'll do whatever you want, but not the trunk. Please. I'll have an attack," she pleaded with fear and panic.

"Fine. Put her in the backseat between you two."

Sandwiched between the two foul-smelling men, she prayed that one of her own was in the trunk. As they sped out of the city and toward the sites, her true panic began to rise. She didn't see any cars behind them and none in front.

With the windows down, the noise level was such that she couldn't hear anything from the trunk. But when she felt something warm on her hand, she looked beside her and realized that both men were bleeding. Realizing they were disabled, she gripped the driver's head and yanked it backward causing him to swerve, sending the car into the sand.

Climbing over one of the wounded men, she leaped from the car and started running back down the road. She could hear the footsteps catching up to her and realized that she was allowing her panic to control her breathing. Using all of her cross-country skills from high school and college, she slowed her breathing and lengthened her steps with ease.

Suddenly, a vehicle was in front of her and, for a moment, she was panicked. But when Leif came running toward her, she realized everything was okay. Grabbing him, he held her tightly, whispering in her ear.

"I was scared to death."

"Me too," she smiled. Turning, they both saw Sebastian standing over the driver. Walking toward him with the light of the headlights, they looked down at him, smiling.

"I think there's something we have to talk about."

"Fuck you," he snapped.

"Not nice," said Sebastian, kicking the man's ribs. "Why were you taking our friend?"

"Money, dumb ass. She's worth a shit ton of money." Sebastian patted his pockets, tossing a knife and small handgun aside. In his back pocket was a printed flyer with Magnolia's photo on it and a reward of fifty thousand U.S. dollars.

"Why?" asked Ellie.

"I don't know, and I don't care. It's money," said the man.

"Where did you get the flyer?" asked Leif.

"It was sent to me. I sent a message back saying she was in my hotel and I'd bring her out here."

"Where out here?" he asked the man, stepping on the back of his hand. He grimaced in pain, shaking his head.

"Valley of the Queens. The tomb of Queen Sitre."

"Why there?" asked Ellie.

"How the fuck would I know? I just was taking you to them."

"Who is them?" growled Sebastian.

"Again, how the fuck do I know or care? You're the one that apparently knows everything," he said, nodding at Ellie. Ellie looked at Leif and the others, signing that she was going to call Mags. Stepping behind the car, she let the men continue to interrogate her kidnapper.

"Mags? Honey, how are you feeling?" she asked her sister.

"I guess okay," she said quietly. "Walker just left to shower and get some food. I love him, but he's driving me nuts."

"He loves you, Mags. That's why he's driving you crazy," she smiled. "Listen, someone tried to kidnap me tonight, thinking I was you. He said it was because you knew too much. What's going on, Mags? What do you know?"

"I wish I could tell you," she said. "I've gone over this with Cam and Hex. I was working the angles of why there were so many threats in Cairo and Luxor beyond the usual. They were specifically targeting antiquity sites, palaces, pyramids, that type of thing. Were the men Sudanese?"

"No. That's just it. All three are Americans."

"Well, that doesn't mean anything, as we know. Money is money to these guys. I'm sorry they thought you were me, Ellie."

"Honey, it's okay. I'm good. Listen, I need you to think on this for a while. Really walk through it with everyone. You've either seen or heard something they didn't want you to. But who is they?"

"That's the million-dollar question," said Mags. "The men who took me, th-the men who t-touched me…"

"Honey, you don't have to."

"It's okay. I'm working through this. They weren't all Sudanese, Ellie. That's what was weird about this. They were Pakistanis, some Sudanese, but most were Egyptian. They never demanded anything of me, never asked me to admit to anything, but said they would be ransoming me off."

"This is so weird," whispered Ellie, looking back at the others. "This man was taking me to the Valley of the Queens to meet with whoever wanted me. It was at Queen Sitre's tomb. Do you know the significance of that? Is there any significance?"

"I'm going to see if May can help us understand, but she said that she gave you the names of a few archaeologists. I would say that you need to reach out to them tomorrow, Ellie."

"I will. I love you, Mags. I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you when you needed me."

"But you were, Ellie. You and the others saved me. We should have trusted that Mom and Dad would have been okay with our choices. I could have let them know where I was going and what I was doing, and maybe I would have had help."

"What were you doing, Mags? What was so important that you needed to be in Cairo and risk your life?"

"That's just it. I wasn't there to risk my life. I was there to train on counterterrorism tactics with the Egyptian Guard and talk about the missing weapons from the American and British bases. They were having the same feeling that we were. That there was something big about to happen. I was only going to be there a few days, and then I'd be back home before you knew I was gone. I told the others that I got word that my car was downstairs, and when I went to the lobby, the driver was waiting for me.

"He let me in the car, and when he got in, someone shot him and stole the vehicle with me in it. The rest, the rest I don't want to talk about right now, Ellie."

"Okay, honey. It's okay. We're going to figure this out. All of us. How is Walker?" she asked, smiling into the phone.

"A pain in the ass, but I love him, El. I've loved him since the eighth-grade dance, probably before that, if I'm being honest."

"I know. I feel the same about Leif."

"Are you two okay?" asked Magnolia.

"We are so far. I mean, we haven't killed one another. We had a rough start, but it's better. How are Mom and Dad doing with all of this?"

"Remember the time we got caught looking for the Christmas presents?" Ellie groaned into the phone. "Yeah. This is a thousand times worse. Just be ready when you come home. And Ellie? Come home soon. I need you."

"I promise, Mags."