Page 124 of Sands of Sirocco
What was it Emerson had said?
“ ...the hand bombs.They have a pin you pull at the top.But you can continue to hold them so long as you grip the lever on the side.”
Ginger glanced from the hand grenade to the statuette of Anubis, her eyes widening.
“I have an idea.”
ChapterForty
Noah woke with a start.He’d dozed off, despite his best efforts.Two nights of the barest minimum of sleep had been more than he could manage.
His arms ached.Osborne had tied his arms behind his back, binding his wrists tightly.At this angle, the circulation to his shoulders was constricted, numbing his fingers.He wiggled his fingertips, and they scraped the stone wall behind him.The wall had provided him a place to sag against.
He tried to gather his thoughts and get his bearings.Osborne had brought him inside the Greater Vaults of the Serapeum, a long underground corridor of enormous curved ceilings and vaults containing smooth granite sarcophagi.The ancient Egyptians had built this as a necropolis for their sacred bulls, and the sight of it was breathtaking.
He didn’t know what time it was.Even at midday, the chambers had to be lit with candlelight: without them, they’d be left in pitch darkness.
Though Noah had been here before, he would have appreciated the Serapeum’s spectacular architecture, if not for Peter Osborne, who sat across from him.A pistol sat lazily on his lap, pointed at Noah.They appeared to be otherwise alone.
Osborne watched him thoughtfully.“You were asleep for a few minutes that time.”
Noah shifted, shooting pains traveling down his legs from sitting in one position for so long.“How clumsy of me.”He didn’t mean to sound as though he was mocking Osborne, but he couldn’t quite help it either.The dry, unaffected tone of voice that he’d gotten accustomed to using in situations like these would only enrage Osborne further.Given his position in government, Osborne’s inability to keep a stiff upper lip about his emotions either displayed a man who teetered on the edge or who lacked control.Both could prove dangerous when provoked.
Osborne pulled a coiled, polished black rope from his rucksack.Noah blinked at it.No, not a rope.A whip.“Do you know what this is?”
Noah studied the object.“A kurbash.”
A wicked gleam came to Osborne’s eyes.“Good.”
The kurbash wasn’t any ordinary whip.The weapon was made of hippopotamus hide, used as a symbol of Ottoman oppression over Egyptian slaves for centuries and recently outlawed in Egypt because of British objections.Osborne caressed the braided leather base.No doubt he intended to use the damn thing on Noah.
“I’m curious.Why you?Fisher has more than enough reason to want to see me dead himself.Wouldn’t he rather see it done than send a lackey?Or you could have returned me to the military.Made a public spectacle of my death and brought yourself glory.”Noah was parched, his lips cracking, but he wasn’t about to ask Osborne for water.
“Oh, dear fellow, don’t worry.I won’t kill you.”The tips of Osborne’s teeth showed as he sneered.“Not on purpose, at any rate.”
Just torture him, then.Noah’s jaw clenched at the thought.Noah’s death was too merciful for Stephen.Probably for Osborne too.But he was certain Osborne had no intention of letting him go.
“Won’t Fisher be angry that you haven’t turned me over to him?”
Osborne shrugged.“I will.Eventually.But I made a deal with Fisher.If I helped him, then I got you.I don’t need his permission to do what I want with you.”
Osborne’s vitriol toward Noah was dumbfounding.They must have crossed paths before.Noah stared him down.“I have no memory of you.”
Osborne’s cheeks reddened.“No, you wouldn’t, would you?I was nothing to you when we met.At least that was what you said to me.Your precise words were ‘you don’t matter.’”
You don’t matter.Noah leaned his head back against the wall, racking his memory.A man like Osborne, who acted from a place of revenge, could often be more dangerous than a man who simply knew his soul to be black.But what could Noah have done?
The answer had to be in Kut.Osborne had indicated as much.
Noah had been there twice.Once with the delegation sent to offer a bribe to General Pasha, and before then, when he’d visited the commanding officers during the height of the siege, tried to advise them against their mad actions.He’d barely escaped with his life going in and out of the besieged city.He’d snuck one of his fellow intelligence mates out of the city, and there had been an officer clinging to his leg, weeping, begging to come with him.
Noah lifted his gaze to Osborne’s face.Could it be?
The memory of the man’s face was faint in his mind, but the grey eyes … they had once been filled with desperation.The back of Noah’s throat itched.“It was you—you who grabbed me as I tried to leave.”
Osborne leveled his chin.“You punched me instead.Left me in a pile of excrement.”
Any remorse Noah may have felt for his actions would have evaporated because of Osborne’s threats.Though there wasn’t much to feel sorry for.“You wanted to abandon your men.And you were making so much noise and were so unfit.You would have caused not only my capture and death but the death of my companion.I had no choice but to leave you.”
