Chapter Fifteen
Gabriela stepped out of the hotel with Rafer and Harley close on her heels. She reached the street and Jim pulled up.
“Where is our adventure today?” he asked.
“Zamalek,” Gabriela said. “I have two addresses.”
“Zamalek is very nice,” Jim said. “It is on the island of Gezira, which is in the middle of the Nile and right in front of you.” He looked at the addresses that Gabriela handed him. “These are private residences, and I’m thinking persons of a suspicious nature must live in them.”
“Not suspicious,” Gabriela said. “Just persons of interest.”
Jim drove them over the 6 October Bridge onto the island.
“The southern part of the island has the opera house and the Cairo Tower. It also has museums and a golf course, and an aquarium. The northern part of the island is known as Zamalek,” Jim said.
“It is more residential. I drive this route many, many times because it is the way to the pyramids of Giza. The tourists always want to visit the pyramids.”
“I’d like to visit the pyramids,” Harley said.
“Everyone should see the pyramids,” Jim said. “They are wondrous.”
“Are they far away?” Harley asked.
“No. Not far at all,” Jim said. “And the route is speedy if there are no cars on it.”
“When I was a kid, I wanted to grow up to be an Egyptologist,” Harley said.
“I wanted to play pro ball,” Rafer said. “What about you?” he asked Jim.
“I wanted to be a pharaoh.”
They looked at Gabriela.
“I’m not telling,” Gabriela said.
“You wanted to be a pirate,” Rafer said.
“Close but not exact,” Gabriela said. “I wanted to find pirate treasure.”
“Her hero is Scrooge McDuck,” Rafer said.
“I do not know this person,” Jim said.
“Scrooge McDuck was always going around finding treasure,” Rafer said. “He’d bring the treasure home to Duckburg and put it in a big money bin and push it around with a bulldozer.”
“Well of course,” Jim said. “Who would not like to push their treasures around with a bulldozer?”
“I think after we see the residences, we should take an hour out so Harley can see the pyramids,” Rafer said. “It’ll give him something to remember if it turns out he ends up in jail for twenty years.”
“Will Harley be going to jail?” Jim asked.
“We hope not,” Gabriela said. “We’re working to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“I will work for it too,” Jim said. “I would not want to see Harley go to jail.” He turned off the bridge road and drove north.
“I know this part of the island very well, and your two addresses are close to each other. They are on a street of apartment buildings with river views. Very desirable.” He pulled to the curb and stopped in front of a modern high-rise with a circular drive and porte cochere.
“This is the first address. I would be happy to live in this building.”
“This is the father’s apartment,” Gabriela said. “Mohammed Mausud.”
“Looks like freight forwarding is profitable,” Rafer said.
“Are you going inside?” Jim asked.
“No,” Gabriela said. “Not today.”
Jim drove two blocks on the same street and stopped again. “This is your second address,” he said. “Also, a very nice building, but I think it will have smaller apartments.”
“The son lives here,” Gabriela said.
“Are we going to the pyramids now?” Jim asked.
“Yes,” Gabriela said.
“We can get Harley’s picture with a camel,” Jim said. “Everyone should have a picture with a camel.”
“No! No camels!” Harley said. “No way, no how. No camels.”
“Yes, but Apis might be there with his camel,” Jim said. “He sometimes brings her in the morning. She’s a sweetheart. She’s very pretty. She would erase all your bad feelings toward camels.”
Gabriela had been to the Giza pyramid complex on previous visits to Egypt, but she was looking forward to seeing it again.
This would have to be a short visit because she was on a mission to find Brendan’s coffin.
No leisurely walks around the grounds this time.
Just a view of the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx.
If Harley wanted to do more, he would have to do it on his own time.
“As you can see, we have gone off the island and the roads are very good here,” Jim said.
“In this area, there is desert on one side and a new housing complex on the other side. These are very nice apartments with balconies and some on the higher floors have pyramid views. We will come to the complex entrance soon and we must buy tickets.”
“Just the basic,” Gabriela said. “We can’t stay long.”
“I will take care of it,” Jim said. “I am a good tour guide.”
Twenty minutes later, tickets were purchased, and Jim was on the entrance road.
“I will take you to a very good viewing station,” he said.
“It is a good place to begin because you can see the pyramids and take a nice picture. The camels are also at this place, but you do not have to go near them if you do not want. I must admit that many of the camels are sometimes sad, and the drivers can be uncomfortably enthusiastic. This does not apply to Apis and his lovely Cleopatra.”
“His camel is named Cleopatra?” Rafer asked.
“Yes,” Jim said. “She is the queen of camels.”
Jim slowly drove past the Great Pyramid and took the loop road past Khafre’s pyramid and the smaller pyramid of Menkaure. He continued to drive the loop, pulled into the designated photo op area and parked.
“We can get out here and take pictures, so Harley has his memories,” Jim said. “And I see that Apis is here if you would like to go say hello. He is the one with the pretty camel.”
Gabriela looked over at the camel area and picked out Apis and Cleopatra. It seemed to her that all camels looked alike, but they were at a distance, and heck, she thought, what did she know about camels.
“Okay,” she said. “I’m going to say hello to Apis and Cleopatra.”
Rafer draped an arm across her shoulders. “I’m with you.” He looked back at Harley. “Are you coming with us?”
“Yeah, but I’m not getting close to the camel.”
Everyone crossed the parking lot to the area where the camels were lined up.
“You see how beautiful the blankets and tassels are on Cleopatra,” Jim said. “They are all handmade here in Egypt. Nothing from China. And if you come close you can see that Cleopatra has wonderful long eyelashes that curve up like a movie star’s.”
Everyone moved close enough to see the eyelashes.
“I told Apis that no one will be taking a camel ride today, that we just came to admire Cleopatra,” Jim said.
“She does have nice eyelashes,” Harley said.
“Yes, and she is smiling at you,” Jim said to Harley. “I can tell that she likes you very much.”
Cleopatra moved slightly to the side and planted her large camel foot on Harley’s much smaller human foot.
“Yow!” Harley said. “Shit! Fuck! Damn!”
Apis said something in Egyptian to Cleopatra, and in slow motion she calmly lifted her foot and stepped away.
“So bad doggy,” Apis said to Harley. “My rabbit turd.”
“She did that on purpose,” Harley said. “She looked at me and she purposely stepped on my foot.”
“No, no,” Jim said. “She was distracted by her like for you, and she wanted to be closer.”
“She broke all the bones in my foot,” Harley said.
“Then we should go back to the car now so you can be seated,” Jim said.
“I can’t walk,” Harley said.
“We can put you on Cleopatra,” Jim said.
Everybody sucked in air and Cleopatra shifted around a little.
“Or maybe not,” Jim said. “I will run and get the car.”
Rafer and Gabriela helped Harley hobble a short distance to a bench.
“Are you okay?” Gabriela asked Harley.
“No, I’m not okay,” he said. “My foot is killing me.”
She looked down at his foot. There was a camel toe impression in his Brunello Cucinelli boot.
Rafer got down on one knee. “I’m going to take your boot off so we can see what’s going on with your foot. Give me advance warning if you’re going to projectile vomit.”
“I’m not going to vomit,” Harley said, “but I might faint.”
Rafer got the boot off and removed Harley’s sock. “I don’t see any bones sticking out, so that’s a good sign,” Rafer said.
“Yeah, but it’s turning purple and starting to swell,” Gabriela said.
Jim pulled the car up next to them and got out. “Is he feeling better?” He looked down at the foot. “Was his foot that color before the camel incident?”
“No,” Gabriela said.
“In that case, he looks terrible. He might be in need of medical intervention. Of course, we can look on the bright side: If they have to amputate his foot, he will no doubt get an easy job when he is in prison.”
Four hours later, Harley was back in his room at the Ritz-Carlton. He had a soft cast on his foot, and crutches.
“Stupid camel,” he said. “I told you camels were evil, but would you listen to me? No. We had to go see the camel.”
“Apis tells me that Cleopatra feels very bad to have hurt your foot,” Jim said.
“And it could be worse,” Rafer said. “It’s a simple fracture of only one of your bones.”
“A metatarsal,” Jim said.
“Yeah,” Rafer said. “You’re lucky she didn’t turn your foot into a pancake with her giant camel toes.”
“They are big like that to walk in the sand,” Jim said. “A camel is perfectly evolved.”
Gabriela handed Harley his laptop. “I ordered you a cheeseburger with fries and onion rings, a chocolate shake, and double-fudge layer cake with butterscotch sauce. Room service said twenty minutes. Keep your foot elevated. Keep your phone nearby. I need to get to Mausud before they close for the day. Do you want Rafer to stay with you?”
“No. He’d eat all the cake. I’ll be okay.”
“I did not want to say anything in front of Harley,” Jim said when they were out of the room, “but I think his camel juju is not good.”
They walked the length of the hall, stepped into the elevator, and Gabriela pressed the lobby button. “Next up is Mausud Freight Forwarding.”
“I have the address,” Jim said. “It is in an industrial area by the airport.”