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Aghurmi Mound, Siwa Oasis, Egypt
CROWLEY CURSED AS Rose gasped in surprise and they backed up quickly into the shadows. But the worshippers were already charging forward in a ragged line.
“Game on!” Crowley said, and dropped into a ready crouch. He sensed Rose beside him, equally prepared. He’d seen her fight before; her kickboxing and other training made her fit, strong, formidable. But five against two odds were tough, even for trained professionals. However, facing the fight was infinitely preferable to turning his tail to them.
Anubis hung back while the four worshippers ran on. Crowley slipped to the left as Rose dodged right, the two of them operating on an unspoken natural sense, working as a team. Crowley shot out a fast lead hand punch as the first cultist, or whatever they were, closed the distance and his knuckles cracked into the man’s surprisingly hard jaw. But hard or not, that one crumpled like a dropped sack of rocks and lay still.
Rose engaged another worshipper, trading blows and blocks while the remaining two both turned to face Crowley. Rose delivered a devastating forearm smash to her attacker and he howled and fell to the floor, writhing but mostly unconscious as blood poured from his crushed nose.
These fools have no idea how to fight! Crowley thought as he feinted with a looping left and then kicked one man directly in the stomach. Air rushed out of the man along with a pained grunt and the man clutched his midriff and collapsed to his knees gasping.
The last of the four ducked, arms over his head, and bolted off up the corridor, heading for the outside world. The man Rose had flattened sat up, face twisted in pain and fear, and raised his hands pleadingly. Rose whipped a kick to his temple and he dropped bonelessly, out cold.
Crowley grinned. Rose was a woman who took crap from no one. He respected the hell out of that.
“You need to stand very still!”
Crowley turned to see Anubis, keeping his distance but holding a long bronze knife in front of himself threateningly.
“He’s gone to get help, you know!” Anubis said. “Best you stand still and keep your hands down!”
“Get help? You’d better hope at least a few of them know how to fight,” Rose said, one side of her mouth hitched up in amusement.
Crowley saw the adrenaline sparkling in her eyes, knew she felt the same rush he did from the action and the combat. It was especially addictive when it was this easy. He also saw the hand holding the knife trembling. “I don’t think anyone else is coming,” he said. “What’s going on down here is obviously a secret, else you wouldn’t be doing it in the middle of the night.”
He stalked toward Anubis, who hesitated briefly, then raised the knife. With a cry of fear as much as aggression, the tall man in the faintly ridiculous headdress launched forward and tried to plunge the long blade down at Crowley. But Crowley’s training, and his confidence, meant there was never any threat. He raised his forearm, blocked the clumsy downward stroke, and cranked the man’s arm over, putting painful pressure against the elbow joint. Anubis howled again.
“One more centimeter and your elbow pops and will never work properly again,” Crowley growled between clenched teeth.
The man dropped the knife and it rang like a bell off the stone floor, echoing along the narrow, dim passageway. Crowley turned the arm over, moved behind Anubis and pinned his arm tight against his back. Rose stepped forward and yanked the mask off his head.
“Professor Hamza?” she said, aghast.
“Please,” Dado Hamza said. “Let me go. This is none of your concern.”
“Oh, we’ll let you go, of course,” Crowley said. “But not until we get some real answers.”