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TITLE: Something Lost, Something Found. By : Aryea Chapter 10 They ran for quite a ways, and could no longer hear the rats or the sound of M and his men; in fact they could hear nothing at all except their own breathing and footsteps. The tunnel had twisted and turned into several dead ends, where they had to back track, and now they had to stop to rest. “What do we do now, Syd?” Preston asked, his voice sounding incredibly loud in the ominous surroundings. “There’s another way out, right? You have a plan?” Sydney stared at him hopelessly, they had found no other way out the last time and most Egyptian chambers had only one way in and one way out. She glanced down at Nigel, who had slid down to settle on one of the steps. She moved to settle beside him. “Hey.” “Hey.” “I’m sorry I got you into this, Nigel.” Nigel nudged her shoulder with his. “It’s what we do,” he absolved. “So, what do we do then?” Preston demanded. “Wait until we suffocate?” “Shut up, Preston!” Nigel said, sharply, tilting his head, suddenly. “There’s no need to be rude, I just…” “Preston, shut up!” Sydney repeated, watching Nigel, and then tilting her head with his. “Do you hear it?” Nigel asked. “Yes!” Sydney stood suddenly, pulling Nigel with her. “It’s this way, come on!” “What? What is it?” Preston asked, hurrying after them. “What do you hear?” No one answered them as they headed further along the tunnel. Coming to what seemed like a crude ancient stone, drainage ditch. “I can hear the wind, Syd!” Nigel assured. “It’s a tight fit, Nigel.” “It always is, Syd.” Stay close, okay?” “Okay.” Sydney tossed her torch and pulled out her flash light, as she started to crawl through the narrow channel. Nigel, his trust in her complete, fumbled behind as Preston brought up the rear. “I hope we don’t meet anything coming in,” Preston commented. They crawled several minutes, before the sound of wind whistling off the walls of the ditch, further ahead could be heard and Sydney’s hair started to fan about her face. “We’re almost there guys,” she assured. It was still dark, but it seemed that a storm was approaching, and that was not good. In the desert, when the sand got rustled up by high winds it could suffocate or blind anyone caught in the blast. She looked around, saw no one about and crawled all the way out, before reaching down to help Nigel. “Thank God!” Preston sighed, as he followed Nigel out into the desert air. “I don’t think I’ll ever go underground again.” “Some on,” Sydney encouraged, pulling Nigel with her. “There’s a storm coming and we don’t know where M and his men are.” They started around the side of the temple and stopped suddenly at the small group of armed men at the temple’s entrance. “What’s wrong?” Nigel asked; only to have Sydney place a hand over his mouth and pull him back behind one of the larger, unearthed sections of the temple. Most of it was still underground and only a small portion had been discovered near the entrance. “The usual,” Sydney whispered. Nigel nodded. “Ah, a garrison of men armed to the teeth, got it.” Sydney smirked and glanced behind her, she really didn’t like the look of that dark cloud in the distance; it was too close to the ground. “We haven’t got time for this.” She looked around desperately. If Nigel had his sight, he could help her in a diversion, but without it, he’d only get hurt. “We need a diversion,” he said, reading her mind again. “Preston, jump out and let them shoot at you, there’s a good man.” Preston glared at him. “What?” Nigel couldn’t be serious. “Really Podge, I know we’ve had our differences but…” “If you’re going to be here you might as well earn your keep.” Sydney shushed them, knowing that Nigel was only tormenting his brother, at least she hoped he was kidding; it was hard to tell with Nigel sometimes on how far his resentment of Preston went. “Well fine, be that way,” Nigel sighed. “I’ll go. Point me in the direction, Syd.” “Nigel…” “Trust me.” What choice did she have? Part of her wanted to refuse, it was too dangerous, but a larger part wanted to throw her arms around him for his bravery; he’d been through so much and he was still playing the part of her assistant and partner. “Okay,” she agreed, turning him slightly. “Straight ahead, about thirty paces. Give us a time to get around to the other side, count to thirty before you start walking.” “Got it.” Sydney paused, what they were doing was extremely risky; they might just shoot Nigel on sight. She gripped his shoulder. “Nigel…” she began, unsure how to say the words. “Likewise, Syd,” he assured softly. “Go, I’m starting my count.” Sydney and Preston scurried around to the other side, staying low and grateful for the curtain of night to hide behind. Nigel counted to thirty and then stumbled forward, calling out for Sydney as if lost. Predictably the soldiers turned their attention to him and hurried over. “Don’t move!” one of them said as they grabbed him, their weapons lowered as a blind man seemed little threat. “Oh thank God!” Nigel exclaimed. “Have you seen Sydney Fox, beautiful woman, long hair, dark eyes? I seemed to have misplaced her.” “Radio M,” the tallest of the group insisted. “Tell him we got the Stevie Wonder here, and to look out for the others. “There’s no need to get personal!” Nigel insisted, offended. “It’s cruel to make fun of someone’s handicap you know?” The guard laughed, but didn’t have the chance to reply, because he was suddenly kicked to the ground by Sydney. Preston took out a second one, while Sydney dealt with the remaining two. Finally, she grabbed Nigel and shoved him into the back of one of the jeeps. “Did we win?” he asked, as Preston hopped in on the passenger side. “I’ll tell you the details later!” Sydney shouted to be heard over the wind. “We’ve got a sandstorm coming our way, we have to move, so hang on!” “A sandstorm!” Nigel sat up, alarmed and was just as quickly tossed back against the seat as Sydney threw the jeep into gear and sped away from the temple. “Syd, a sandstorm will cover the temple entrance! They’ll be buried alive!” “I know,” Sydney returned grimly, as they bounced over the sand at alarming speed. “And so will we if we don’t outrun this thing!” Nigel sat back and hung onto the rails of the jeep; he didn’t care for the men that had abducted him, but no one deserved that sort of death; entombed with the dead you chose to rob; fitting perhaps, but a hard death indeed.
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