CHAPTER TWO

Elena Fayek had spent her entire life watching her father dig in the dirt and sand. All for the hope of finding one sarcophagus, one ancient treasure, a piece of stone with ancient writing, bits of wood, cloth, or a gemstone. Anything to tell him that his digging was worth all the missed social events, all the missed birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays.

Spending her years in boarding schools in London, her summers were spent with her parents in Cairo, Luxor, Sakkara, Karnak, and so many more.

"Who are you looking for now, Baba?" she asked her father.

"Oh, hello, my darling," he smiled, turning to lift her into the air. Her father was an Egyptian-born, Oxford-educated man. His accent was a beautiful blend of his culture and his education.

"Hello, Baba. What are you looking for?" she asked again.

"I'm looking for something old and something special," he smiled.

"Everything you look for is old, Baba. You're an achee-, um, archaeologist." He laughed, tossing her into the air again. The men who worked the dig with him knew her well, and they laughed with him.

"That's true," he smiled. "But we're looking for something very, very old. It isn't older than anything we've ever thought to find before, but it is more important and might change the world. Where is your mother?"

"She said she had things to do, and I was to stay with you." She noticed the sad look on her father's face as he nodded.

"Would you like to dig?" he asked her.

"Very much!"

"Alright. You must be very careful and not step on anything or touch anything without Efram's approval. Follow him and do as he says." Efram smiled at the little girl, holding out his hand.

"Come, princess, let's find something special."

She dug with them all day, and then again the next day, and the next. It turned into weeks of preferring to dig rather than spend time with her mother. She found small amulets, a few small bones, pieces of wood from a sarcophagus, and some strange material that no one could identify. It was fascinating.

By the end of the month, she'd barely spent any time at all with her mother, only her father. When he told her that it was too dangerous to enter the dig site, she had to sit back beneath the tent and watch from a distance.

Several of her father's assistants were beneath the tent, washing and cataloging the items that had been found. Arabel and Dominique were very smart and were archaeologists as well. She talked to them for hours about why they loved their work.

Suddenly, there was a rush of men racing toward the dig. She stood, staring at the site below.

"What's going on?" she asked the women.

"I'm not sure, darling," said Arabel wanting to shield the little girl from what surely was a disastrous situation. "Come. Let's go find some food."

"No," she said, shaking her head. "Something is wrong."

"Elena, come, dear."

"No! No! Baba!" she screamed his name as she ran down to the dig site.

Efram caught her in mid-air, holding her tightly. As the sounds of alarms and warning sirens went off, Elena knew what had happened. The tunnel her father was in had collapsed.

While they searched and dug for her father, Elena sat with Efram.

"I'll go get Zia," said Arabel to the man. He nodded, and Elena stared at her. Zia was her mother, but no one ever seemed able to find her.

"How do you know where my mother is?"

"I just know, sweetie. I will be back."

Elena didn't know it that day, but apparently, everyone knew that her mother spent her days with another man. A man that she'd fallen in love with. He owned several grocery stores in the city, and Arabel knew just where to go.

Arabel entered the store, and the woman and man were laughing, having tea and sandwiches as if nothing in the world had gone wrong. She wanted to hate the woman, wanted to be angry with her, but her own marriage had fallen apart because she preferred sand to romantic evenings alone.

"Arabel! What are you doing here? Is Elena alright?"

"I'm glad you were at least concerned," she said, frowning at the woman. She looked at the man, but he didn't move, didn't give them privacy.

"I don't need your judgment. Where is my daughter?"

"She's waiting for her father to be pulled out of a collapsed tunnel," said the young woman. "Maybe you might find it in your heart to leave your lover and go to her." Arabel turned and left the woman standing in shock.

By the time she made it to the dig site, it was confirmed that there would be no survivors. In fact, it would most likely be months before bodies could be recovered, perhaps not even then.

Elena was inconsolable.

There was a small service held for the men and one woman trapped in the tunnels, but no bodies to weep over. Not yet.

For Elena, that wasn't even the worst of it.

"We'll be living with Ahmad now," said her mother, holding the other man's hand. She might be only eleven, but she knew that having another man only weeks after your father died was not normal.

"No. No, I won't. I want to live in our house," she said.

"Elena, our house will be sold. We'll be living with Ahmad. You'll go back to boarding school in the fall but come home in the summers, just as you've always done."

"I hate you!" she screamed at her mother. Others turned to stare at the little girl. "I will never forgive you for this!"

She ran out of the small grocery store and down the street. With all of her savings in her small young lady purse, as her mother called it, she hailed a taxi and directed him to Efram's house. When she knocked on the door, he knew and grabbed her in his arms.

"Please let me live with you," she cried.

His wife cried with the little girl, holding her until she fell asleep. Efram called the grocery store and told her mother and her new husband that the child was alright. He would bring her home in a day or two when she was settled.

Her mother didn't even care.

"Thank you, Efram," she said. "She's so headstrong, and she's just being unreasonable."

"All due respect, she is hurting. Her mother introduces her to the man in her life just a few weeks after her father's death. You can't expect her to be happy about that."

"Well, she needs to be happy about it. This is our life now."

"No," he said calmly. "It's your life. Elena's will always be sand and dirt and digging."

Elena eventually had to go home. She never apologized to her mother or her stepfather, but she was more than happy to return to England. Refusing to come home on holidays or summer break, she found other things to do with her time.

When she was in college, she spent her summer traveling the world as an assistant at dig sites.

Ultimately, she knew that she needed to forgive her mother. She was happy. Happier than she'd ever seen her with her father.

Returning to Egypt to work on the dig sites was a dream for Elena. She would be able to complete her father's life's work and, perhaps, find her own as well. When her friend and colleague May and Thomas Bradshaw called her to help out some friends, she was more than happy to do so.

"It's wonderful to hear your voice, May," she said, smiling at the image on the screen.

"Yours too, Elena. Thomas and I would very much like it if you'd come and work with us here. The incident with Roderick was appalling," she said to the woman.

"I know. I've learned my lesson. Never trust a senior archaeologist who tells you that he's giving you your big break," she frowned.

"It was wrong, Elena," said Thomas. "You could prove it and put him on the block."

"Then what? Everyone will see me as the tattletale who turned in the famous man. No, I'm fine here at the museum. I get to teach university students, give tours on occasion, and help old friends. Speaking of which, what do these friends need help with?"

"We're honestly not sure," said May, "but it could be dangerous, Elena. You can say no if you want to."

"Are you kidding me?" she laughed. "Danger is my middle name."

They talked for a while longer, then Elena ended the call and headed to the museum. As she left her tiny apartment, she passed the storage unit that held all of her father's belongings. They'd been there for years now. She'd hoped to be able to afford a larger place at some point, but so far, she was stuck in her one-room apartment.

The museum was busy, as always, with tourists and locals alike. The exhibit for Tutankhamun was the most visited, but other exhibits were just as spectacular.

"Dr. Fayek? There is a woman and several men here to see you," she said.

"Of course. I'll be right out." She knew it was May and Thomas's friends, but she knew nothing else about them.

As she stepped into the main lobby, her heart froze. The men were all tall, nice-looking, and the woman was beautiful. But one man stood out from the others. His green eyes stared back at her, and her body ignited.

"Hello, you must be the friends of May," smiled the gorgeous woman, walking toward them.

"Yes," said Ellie, standing to take her hand. "My name is Ellie Stanton, and these are my friends, Leif, Alistair, Forrest, Garr, Sebastian, Brix, and Major." She looked at Major, giving a big smile.

"Are you in the military, Major?" she asked.

"Oh, no, ma'am. Just a family name," he grinned, nodding at her. Good lord, thought Elena, that man might get me pregnant just by looking at me.

"How can I help you all? Would you like a private tour of the museum?" she asked.

"That would be lovely on any other day. The pieces in here are magnificent, but this is a more delicate matter." She nodded, waving them to the back of the hall and into a private room.

"This exhibit won't be open for another few weeks. We'll be alone here. How can I help you?"

"Well, Dr. Fayek," started Leif.

"Elena. Elena is my name. Please, I'm only Dr. Fayek to my students," she smiled.

"Thank you, Elena. This is going to seem unusual, but I have a story to tell you."

"Egyptians love stories," she laughed. Elena did listen to the story and helped the group as much as she could.

She never expected to fall in love.

"This is the best thing, the safest thing, Elena," said Major. "Stay with your friend until all of this blows over."

"I will," she nodded. "Major? I regret nothing. I loved every moment with you."

"Me, too," he said, pulling her in for a hug. "We'll see one another soon. I want you to come to Louisiana and visit me, visit us." She smiled at him and nodded again.

As she walked through security, she didn't dare look back. Her heart was breaking, tears streaming down her face. If she turned and saw pain in his eyes, she would turn around and never leave.