"You believe this little tamale?" one guy said, forcing Juanita's head back so far she almost fell.
Multiple two-way radios sputtered with static. "All clear! She's not in the house."
"We just want to know what you want," Marjorie shrieked.
"Some people wanna have a talk with you about these experiments you're about to conduct." The lead invader laughed hard in a mocking tone. "Your asses are screwed. We picked up everything off satellite intercepts of your coded message conference call with a buncha rogue clerics--religious fanatics. So let's go see some people who are very curious about your interest in Cairo setting something off and breaking into places with a link from here... just some folks who wanna know about all this Egyptian theory shit you're kicking around. All right?"
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER NINE
I am due at court," Cain said in a bored voice, beginning to walk along the opposite side of the long pool to collect his blade. "If you do not get dressed, you will not be permitted to go with me."
"Well, like I told you," Carlos said, keeping up with Cain's leisurely strides, "I ain't staying here by myself."
"You have nothing to fear," Cain said, his tone weary as he fastened a low-slung gold belt and sheathed the blade against his hip.
"I'm not scared of nothin'," Carlos said, his voice beginning to escalate with frustration. "But you ain't leaving me here to be lion bait, or some other foul--"
"Then get dressed," Cain commanded. He folded his arms over his chest and waited. "You gonna make me?" Carlos said, folding his arms to match Cain's stance.
Cain shook his head and stepped down into the pool. Carlos braced for the attack, sure that Cain was crossing the divide between them. But suddenly Cain stopped and submerged himself beneath the blue energy-filled space and was gone.
Dumbstruck, Carlos spun around, expecting Cain to suddenly materialize in a sneak attack. But soon it became apparent that he'd really gone. Growling lions tore his focus away from the strange pool and sent it ricocheting around the room in search of a weapon. But rather than two snarling sphinxes entering the chamber to attack him, a long-legged dark beauty strode toward him in a white Grecian gown.
Initially, he didn't know what to make of her, and he backed up a bit, just in case she transformed into something deadly. After where he'd been, he wasn't about to allow a pretty face or a voluptuous body make him sloppy.
"Hola," she murmured, pausing at the foot of the pool to curiously stare at him.
"Que pasa?" Carlos said in a wary tone, looking her up and down. She was such an odd combination of contrasts that her beauty had a temporarily mesmerizing effect. Her eyes were jewel green, but her skin as smooth and dark as black coffee. Her waist-length, jet-black hair and the hue of her skin made the white fabric of her gown practically shimmer. The thin gold ropes that separated her heavy, pendulous breasts added radiance to her overall appearance. But her smile was a devastating flash of white with the merest hint that her eyeteeth were a bit longer than normal human dimensions. She had Amanthra, or something close to it, written all over her. Maybe it was the fluid way she'd moved across the marble floor without effort in a tight-fitting dress, he wasn't sure. But the fact that she knew enough about him to hail him in Spanish worried him. "Word is out down in the valley that Cain's younger brother just tumbled into our realm. I thought I would stop by to inspect the rumor myself."
"I ain't his brother, by any stretch of the imagination, sis," Carlos said, watching her like a hawk. "So you need to state your business and be out."
She smiled, sighed, and sauntered over to a poolside bench and sat down, then reclined in leisurely repose. "Why are Neterus always so suspicious?" she murmured, but seemed totally nonplussed by his rebuff. "I see Cain left you in here all alone."
"He had something to do," Carlos said, keeping an eye on her and occasionally glancing at the door. "You his woman? That why the lions didn't rush you?"
She chuckled and shook her head. "No. Just a friend. I pose no threat. They only attack if they sense a threat or block an entry if he's in here and does not wish to be disturbed."
"What do they eat?" Carlos said, using his chin to motion toward the entrance. The fact that