Smith's Monthly #4 Read online

She had the most perfect body I could have ever imagined, and as an eighteen-year-old boy, I had done some pretty good imagining. Her body was even better than anything in the men’s magazines. She came down the steps into the water very, very slowly, smiling at me and clearly enjoying my stare.

  I remember that we kissed again.

  Then we washed each other, we kissed some more, did more washing.

  Kiss on, wash off. Kiss on, wash off. I explored her body.

  Finally, I think I remember that she took me by the hand and led me to the biggest bed I had ever seen, where we made love for hours, and I truly became a believer.

  The first real sexual experience with anyone would do that for any boy my age, but with a goddess, it was special, real special.

  We slept for hours after that. Then she had two of her slaves help me dress and send me out to my car in the driveway of the very ordinary looking suburban house, while she stood and waved at me from the front step, dressed again in her movie attire.

  I was surprised it was still dark.

  Now I think all that happened.

  But I’m convinced it couldn’t have.

  More than likely she just kissed me, got out of the car, and I came to after the kiss about the point she reached the front step and turned to wave.

  I turned on the car engine as she stepped inside and closed the door.

  I managed to get the car out into the street and headed home, wondering about the weird power-dream one kiss could bring on.

  Then I noticed it was a lot later than I had thought it was. All the way home I questioned myself if the dream had been real or not.

  I still, even the next day, don’t know for sure, because I’m not really sure of the power of a true goddess. And I’m sure not going to ask her between classes.

  But I do know that when I got home, I had my underwear on backwards.

  And I smelled like rose petals.

  WHAT CAME BEFORE IN…

  THE ADVENTURES OF HAWK

  Nineteen-year-old Danny Hawk, his uncle, and his best friend Craig, were in Cairo to look for his missing father. Danny had witnessed the death of his only contact in Cairo, Professor Davis, because the professor had Danny’s father’s journals.

  Danny knows that the men who had killed the professor were now after him and the journals. Danny finds the journals and gets his uncle and friend to safety in an airport hotel where he tells them what happened. They decide to keep searching for Danny’s father and try to rescue him.

  Along the way, Danny and Craig find some help from a street kid named Bud and twins from South Africa who had worked with Danny’s father.

  CHAPTER TEN

  August 19, 1970

  Gizera Hotel, Cairo, Egypt

  THE SUN WAS DROPPING over the desert to the west when they finally left the twins’ apartment. The bazaar had wound down in the heat of the day, and now the street looked almost deserted.

  Waves of shimmering heat came off the pavement and Danny, this time with Bud’s help, bought them all bottles of Coke again. Bud paid less than a quarter of an LE for the five bottles, and seemed upset that he hadn’t gotten a better deal.

  The five took two cabs to the hotel where Danny and Craig were staying. The twins and Bud took a cab to the hotel first, to scout out the area to make sure no one was waiting for Craig and Danny, who followed in a second cab a few minutes later.

  There was no one, Bud swore to that, but Danny was convinced that their luck wouldn’t last. He and Craig had to move to a safer place near the bazaar that couldn’t be traced. Bud said he knew the best place, but he wouldn’t be able to get it for them until tomorrow morning. So they decided to risk one more night in the hotel and all read Danny’s father’s journals while there.

  Danny brought them all food after getting the notebooks from the hiding place in the ceiling tile. The twins were well into the notebooks, writing like crazy. They had brought second spiral notebooks, and were going to copy by hand every word Danny’s father had said.

  And put it all in English.

  “Your father is an amazing man,” Ernie said as he ate and read at the same time. “He put together clues from diverse sources that no other archeologist would have thought of doing.”

  “Yeah,” Danny said, “but he wasn’t much of a father.”

  “Never home?” Ed asked.

  Danny nodded.

  Bud shrugged. “Never knew my father. Or my mother for that matter.”

  Danny glanced at Bud. He had said it so matter-of-factly, it seemed like he actually didn’t care. But Danny had a hunch that under that tough shell, Bud actually did care.

  “Our father was killed in prison for speaking out against the South African white government,” Ed said.

  “Our mother never recovered,” Ernie said. “She was also killed for the same cause.”

  Bud glanced up at them, surprised. Clearly they were not runaways as he had suspected, except maybe running away from their country.

  “My father drinks, can’t hold a job, and gets mean,” Craig said. “I try not to be around him much, but I still like the old guy.”

  Danny looked at his new friends, suddenly understanding just how lucky he had been to have the father he had. His mother had never complained, and neither had Uncle Steve. They had just accepted Professor Kenneth Hawk for what he was, a driven scientist in search of something mythical.

  Danny had been the only one angry at him for not being home more. And now it was up to Danny to save his father.

  After they finished eating, all five boys went back to reading, with Bud going out to check the surrounding area around the hotel every fifteen minutes.

  Craig dosed off around one, and Danny finally fell asleep at two.

  When he woke to the sun streaming in through the window, the two twins were still writing as fast as they could, and Bud was napping in a chair near the door.

  “We almost have it finished,” Ernie said without slowing down.

  “Another fifteen minutes at most,” Ed said.

  “But I can tell you this much,” Ernie said. “We’re going to have to go to your father’s apartment here in Cairo.”

  “Why?” Danny asked.

  “We’re not sure, but we need to go there.”

  Danny shrugged. More than likely it had been cleaned out, but if the twins thought it was a good idea to go there, they would do it.

  “And we need to go to the Giza Pyramids,” Ernie said.

  “So you can see something your father found and understood,” Ed said.

  “Was my father’s last work site there?”

  “No,” Ed said. “His dig was farther to the south.”

  Now Danny was really puzzled. “Why go to Giza then?”

  “A clue to the Hydra Journal is there,” Ed said. “We think you should see it.”

  “Wouldn’t my father have taken it with him, or the Hydra League hidden it after they took him?”

  “No,” Ernie said, pointing to a place in the notebook that was written in hieroglyphs. “Because it’s been in plain sight for years. Every tourist looks at it without understanding what it is. Your father finally put meaning behind what everyone sees.”

  “Oh,” was all Danny could say.

  The twins both went back to writing at full speed, so Danny decided he would get them all some breakfast.

  “We’re not going to either of those places without me checking out the area first,” Bud said before Danny could stand. “And right now, I need to scout this hotel again. No one leave until I get back.”

  Bud moved quickly and went out the door, closing it carefully behind him.

  Danny stayed in the chair he had been sleeping in and watched the twins work. He was very glad they had suggested making a copy of the notebooks and hiding both. That way, if the League did catch up to Danny, he could surrender the originals and still have what they needed to start their journey toward the Fountain and his father.

  “Done,” Ernie said.

/>   “As am I,” Ed said a moment later.

  They quickly wrapped the original notebooks and put them back in their pack. Then they quickly took the four notebooks they had written in and hid them under their robes, in pockets that didn’t seem to show the books at all.

  “We have company,” Bud said, coming back in quickly and closing the door.

  “These guys are good,” Craig said, sitting up and rubbing sleep out of his eyes. “Only two days to find us here.”

  The sound of the shot killing Professor Davis came back clearly in Danny’s mind, but he pushed it away. “How many and where?”

  “Only two, and they are at the front desk,” Bud said. “But they have a picture of you, Danny, and the front desk clerk is chattering like a bird at sunrise.”

  “You three go out the window,” Danny said, handing Bud a fifty Egyptian Pound note. “Circle around to the front and take a cab back to the bazaar and wait for us. They don’t know you, so you’ll be safe.”

  Danny grabbed his bag and then put his father’s backpack over his shoulder.

  Craig grabbed his suitcase.

  “How are you two getting out of here?” Bud asked, a worried look on his face.

  “Right through the front lobby,” Danny said. “We’re even going to check out and everything, then head for the airport.”

  Bud smiled. “I’m starting to like you two more and more. You have some courage.”

  “That is taking a great risk,” Ernie said.

  “They know what we look like already,” Danny said as he opened the window to hold it for the three new friends. “They won’t dare confront us in a public place. We’ll try to lose them at the airport, but if we don’t we’re going to need cover when we reach the bazaar.”

  “You’ll have it,” Bud said, going out the window right behind Edward.

  “Good luck,” Ernie said and ducked out as well.

  “We’re going to need it,” Craig said as Danny closed and locked the window, then turned and headed for the door, glancing around the room as he went to make sure that they hadn’t missed anything.

  Danny was happy that at least now copies of his father’s notebooks were in the hands of two twins who would never be suspected of having them.

  Danny knew his plan of escape rested on the two men staying in the lobby or outside waiting and not trying anything until they had privacy and red hoods, as they had done with Professor Davis. It was a gamble, he knew that.

  And he was betting his and Craig’s life that he was right.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  August 20, 1970

  Cairo, Egypt

  THE HALLWAY WAS thankfully empty, so Danny led the way down the hall toward the front desk. The restaurant was on the right of the big lobby. There were plants, small palm trees, and a dozen places to sit.

  The two men that Bud had described were still standing at the front desk. Both were white. One looked British and very properly dressed in an expensive black suit. The other was of what looked like Italian descent, with big arms and a black suit that was two sizes too small. He looked mean, and his face had a nasty scar on the right cheek.

  Clearly, the British-looking man was in charge. As Danny got closer to them, he could see that their skin had a weathered look to it all over. Not scarred, just weathered.

  Danny had no idea if that was the same two who had killed Professor Davis, but if they were asking about him, he had no doubt they were with the same group.

  “Remember,” Danny whispered to Craig, “don’t look at them. We don’t know them. We’re just checking out and heading home.”

  “You’re nuts, you know that?” Craig whispered back as they crossed the open tile of the lobby and walked up behind the two men.

  “Ah, Mr. Hawk,” the desk clerk said loudly, looking over one man’s shoulder.

  Both men seemed to jump just slightly. Then one of them said to the clerk, “Thank you for the information. Please keep this to yourself.”

  “I understand,” the clerk said, giving the man a sickly smile in return.

  Danny wanted to just cut and run. He knew that voice. It was the man who had been in charge in Professor Davis’s office, the man who had ordered the other to shoot the professor.

  As the two men stepped off to one side, stopping close enough so that they could hear, Danny nodded to the clerk and gave him their room key.

  “Checking out, going home,” Danny said, pretending to be in a good mood.

  “So soon?” the clerk asked, his voice trembling slightly. Clearly the two men had threatened him in some fashion or another.

  “We’ve got to get ready for school,” Danny said, trying his best to sound calm and relaxed, even though his heart was about to pound a new path right out of his chest. “It starts for us at the end of the month.”

  Craig stood beside him, pretending to read some sort of flyer that was on the counter. He had his back to the two men which, considering Craig’s lack of a poker face, was a good thing.

  “Where’s your uncle?” the clerk asked as he wrote up Danny’s receipt for the room.

  “He left early yesterday,” Danny said. “My mom needed his help. We wanted to stay and see the pyramids and everything yesterday, so he let us. Plus, we got my father’s notebooks, which is what we came here to get.”

  He made sure his voice was loud enough that the men could hear him, and then to make it really clear, he patted the backpack he had on his shoulder.

  Craig coughed and pretended to keep reading.

  “Your father?” the clerk asked.

  “Yes, he was an archeologist. These are his notes that I hope will help lead to where he is, but I can’t read them. They’re all Italian, Latin, and hieroglyphs. I figured someone back home can help me figure out what they say.”

  Craig coughed again and kept reading. Clearly Danny’s little play was giving him a near heart attack.

  “Well,” the clerk said, glancing at the men, “have a good flight home.”

  Danny pocketed the receipt the clerk had given him and picked up his suitcase. “We will. Great food on the planes these days.”

  With that, he and Craig walked right past the two men who had killed Professor Davis.

  Right past two members of the Hydra League.

  Outside, in front of the door, was a cab that wasn’t at the taxi stand twenty paces away. It had pulled up near the front door and had its back door open.

  Bud must have set that up for them.

  “Airport,” Danny said as he started to climb in. A cab a few behind them honked long and loud, like a warning.

  Danny suddenly realized that maybe Bud hadn’t set up the taxi. Maybe it was the men inside, and the cab driver worked for them.

  Danny quickly backed out, bumping into Craig and pushing him away. “Never mind,” he said to the driver as he slammed the door.

  The cab driver glanced back at Danny with an almost angry look on his face. Danny had a hunch they might have just escaped once again.

  The two men came out the front door and watched as Danny and Craig moved toward the three cabs at the taxi stand.

  Sitting behind the wheel of the second cab was Bud, smiling, a taxi driver’s cap pulled down low over his head.

  “Second cab,” Danny whispered to Craig in case he hadn’t seen Bud.

  They quickly piled in the back seat, luggage and all, and before the door was even closed, Bud had the cab headed out of the cab line and toward the highway.

  Danny glanced back as the two men got into the cab in front of the door and started to follow.

  “Okay,” Craig said to Bud, laughing, “how did you get this cab?”

  “Driver had to use the bathroom and he got a little tied up,” Bud said, shrugging as he focused on driving. “So I just thought we’d borrow it. We’ll leave it at the airport, blocking traffic, of course. The twins took another cab and they will be waiting for us at the bazaar.”

  “The two men are in the cab behind us,” Danny said,
glancing back as if he were looking at the sights, not at the cab following them. His heart was still racing, and even though it was cool in the early morning hours, he was sweating.

  “I know,” Bud said. “Don’t worry, we’ll lose them in traffic or at the airport.”

  “You had me scared to death with that act at the front desk,” Craig said, sitting back and shaking his head at Danny. “I thought they would just step up and grab the journals right there.”

  “I knew they wouldn’t, once I had them convinced we didn’t know they were following us. They’ll wait for the right time.”

  “Was it the men in Professor Davis’s office?” Bud asked.

  “It was,” Danny said, trying not to shudder. “I recognized one of their voices.”

  “They are mean-looking, that’s for sure,” Craig said. “Cold eyes.”

  “Very cold,” Danny said, forcing himself to breathe evenly. It was one thing to talk about going after his father and risking his life, but it was clearly another matter to actually be in danger.

  “And nice job telling them we hadn’t read the journals yet,” Craig said.

  “You did?” Bud asked, glancing back with a smile. “Nifty trick.”

  “You think that might save our lives when they do catch up with us?” Craig asked.

  “Probably not,” Danny said, sinking into the seat. “But it was worth the try just in case.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  August 20, 1970

  Cairo, Egypt

  BUD, EVEN THOUGH HE was barely tall enough to see over the dashboard, wound the cab through the thick Cairo traffic like a racecar driver trying to gain on the lead.

  As Danny watched, the cab with the two Hydra League killers behind them was cut off time after time, falling farther and farther behind in the thick traffic as they got closer to the airport.

  Finally, they were so far back, Danny wasn’t even sure which cab they were in in the sea of black and white cabs heading for the International Airport.