Chapter 2
Posted: August 02, 2006 - 01:25:39 am
Updated: August 03, 2006 - 01:06:25 am


It was December seventeenth, 2005, my first day of winter break. I was a senior in high school, just starting to get over the tragedy of my grandparents' senseless deaths. It was one of my bad days that day. One of the days when depression reared its ugly head and froze me into inactivity. All I wanted to do was lay on my bed and feel sorry for myself. My cell phone rang right in the middle of my private pity party. I checked the caller ID but the display read 'private number'. I started to ignore the call then decided what the hell. I punched the 'accept call' button and said, "Yes?"

"Hello Johnny," my phone purred.

I recognized the voice of course; I guess she knew I would since she didn't identify herself. I must have been feeling reckless because of my depression to answer her the way I did.

"Hi Melissa, you have the sexiest voice I've ever heard."

She then gave me the sexiest laugh I'd ever heard. "It's 'my get Jacob to do what I want' voice, you are only the second man I've ever tried it on."

I very much doubted that but I played along.

"It works, what do you want me to do?"

Again the laugh, I reached down and adjust Kong as he hardened in my pants.

"Can you come out here to the ranch? I have someone I would very much like you to meet."

"I'm powerless to say no, but I have to warn you, if you use that voice on me in person I can't guarantee your safety."

The other end of the phone was silent for a tick or two. I smiled to myself at my cleverness. When she did say something her voice actually dropped another octave.

"You are so good for me Johnny, I'll think about that the entire time you are on your way over here," she said softly.

She gave me directions and I headed out. In twenty minutes I was at the gatehouse of the famous TnT ranch. A very professional, no nonsense guard checked my ID and electronically opened the heavy steel gate. The road to the house undulated in a series of sweeping curves. I was surprised when I had to go through the same procedure at a second gate a quarter of a mile later. I pulled my truck into a circular drive made of stone pavers and parked. The Turners' house was as large as a hotel. It was shaped like the capital letter 'E' and was three stories tall. A liveried maid opened the door when I rang the bell. I identified myself; the maid said I was expected and led me through the beautiful entry hall to a large and surprisingly comfortable family room.

Melissa Turner was sitting on a couch with some papers spread out on the coffee table in front of her. When the maid announced me, Melissa rose gracefully and beamed me a smile. When I reached the couch she hugged me. She didn't cheat me on that hug; it was full body and she held it long enough to let me know she meant it. She kissed my cheek before she let me go. She sat down and patted the cushion next to her. When I was seated she turned towards me.

"It has been a long time Johnny. I am so sorry about your grandparents. Nina said the loss was very hard on you. I didn't contact you earlier because of that. But now I hear you are doing better, so I took a chance and called."

I nodded in acknowledgement to what she said. I suppressed a smile because she had dropped the super sexy voice and reverted to her just plain naturally sexy one. The maid hustling in with our tea stopped our conversation for a few moments. While the maid was serving us I surreptitiously checked Melissa Turner out. I was trying to figure out just what made her so attractive. I mean yes, she was easy on the eye, but still, she was at least fifty years old and I had been around women prettier. She had a very nice womanly figure, her breasts were bigger than average and rode high and proud given her age, I had the feeling they might have had help somewhere along the line. Her waist was waspish and her hips generous enough almost to be considered bottom heavy. Her hair was beautiful, long and jet black and her eyes were that Elizabeth Taylor dark violet.

She caught me looking and smiled sweetly at me. I blushed and averted my eyes. She took my chin in her fingers and gently turned my head back toward her.

"You can look at me like that if you want Johnny. It makes me feel good when you do it."

I closed my eyes and gulped; she was using that voice again and in combination with those eyes she had me afraid of how I might respond. I tried to clamp down on the arousal I knew I must be broadcasting but some must have slipped out. I heard her draw a breath and she let go of my face.

"I forgot about that, my amazing young friend," she said. "And that's really the reason I asked you here. I want to introduce you to someone but first I have to tell you about her."

Her voice had gone from sexy to sad in one sentence. I listened attentively as she told me the story. It was as dire a tale as I'd ever heard. When she finished she arose and I stood up with her, she took my hand and we walked down a hall then turned at a right angle so that we were in the center leg of the 'E'. Melissa opened a door and we were in a large library with floor to ceiling bookcases. A gaunt young woman was sitting on a couch reading. The woman was about five seven and couldn't weigh more than ninety pounds. She had long dark red hair the color of chili powder and huge dark green eyes. However, her hair was dull and lank and her eyes listless and flat. She should have been beautiful, instead she was heart-breakingly sorrowful. Melissa made the introductions.

"Sweetheart, this is Johnny; Johnny this is my daughter Mikayla."

Beaming all the trust I could muster, I held out my hand. Mikayla eyed me appraisingly for a few moments then touched her hand to mine. I knew I had made a huge mistake as soon as we touched because the black hole that had existed in me when my grandparents were killed was a joyful sunbeam compared to the emptiness inside Mikayla Turner. In addition, the connection between Mikayla and I was an order of magnitude stronger than even Elaine and I shared. I literally felt her sucking my essence into the void that existed within her. I pulled my hand away as quickly as I could without frightening her. Our connection had lasted only a few seconds but I felt as if I'd run a marathon. Conversely, Mikayla seemed more alive somehow.

Mikayla spoke for the first time since I'd met her, she sounded as if she were no older than me.

"I'm hungry Mom, when's supper?" she asked. Then she turned to me. "Can you stay and eat with us Johnny?"

I turned and looked at Melissa, her eyes were shinny with tears. She nodded her head emphatically. "Yes, please stay Johnny," she said beseechingly. I did stay for supper and even for a few hours afterward. I can't begin to tell you how strange it was sitting at a table eating with the former president and talking about baseball. Jake noticed the change in his daughter instantly; I guess that was only natural though, since they had been living with her in her altered state off and on for thirteen years. I say off and on because Mikayla had been institutionalized for a good part of that time, sometimes for her anorexia, sometimes for depression and sometimes for an assortment of other nervous disorders.

I stayed with the Turners until late that evening. Well, mostly I sat in the library and kept Mikayla company. After supper I felt stronger and I had an idea of how to limit my exposure to her needs. So I sat on the couch next to her and casually touched her every once in a while. I kept the touches brief enough where she could feed off my aura without draining me. After an hour of us sitting and talking about innocuous subjects I enticed Mikayla to join her parents in the family room. I left her sitting on the couch next to her father; to say that the Turners were happy would be way understating the facts. They were ecstatic.

Melissa walked me to the door and before I could slip out she wrapped me in a fierce bear hug and sobbed on my chest. Finally she sniffled, leaned back and looked up at me.

"We'll never be able to thank you enough, Johnny, but whatever you ever need or want, all you have to do is come see me, okay?"

I was embarrassed by her sincerity so I tried to lighten the mood. I looked her up and down and sent her a little sample of how hot I thought she was.

"Hey, the only thing I want is already spoken for, so thank you is just fine." I said.

She regarded me seriously for a second and then a she smiled and slugged me on the arm.

"Careful what you wish for," she said in that extra sexy tone.

The next morning I started getting phone calls at nine. First Nina called me.

'Johnny, if I could waddle that fast I'd be all over you for what you did for Mikayla."

Nina was a week from her delivery date and she was huge. About the only place she had gained weight was in the boobs and belly so she looked like a toothpick with warts on it. I talked to her every couple of days as her time grew near and still saw her once a week. She was too far along to romp on the bed but we cuddled and spent some serious quality time together.

Donna Cavanaugh weighed in next and then Elaine and Ellen jumped on the phone. I was a very popular boy with the Turner clan. I went back to the ranch at two that afternoon and spent another hour with Mikayla. As a matter of fact I went over there every day, including Christmas, even after my sister, Katrina, came home on her Christmas leave from the Air Force Academy. (Now that's a story you need to hear and I promise I'll get to it.) Mikayla looked better every time I visited her. She started gaining a little weight and she became more outgoing and friendly. Hell, even her hair and eyes were shinier.

On Wednesday the twenty eighth, I took Mikayla out. It was her first date in thirteen years if you can believe that. She was shy and nervous but I sent her tons of calming encouragement and we made it through the evening. I even pretended not to notice the male and female Secret Service agents that shadowed us all evening. I took Mikayla to Olga Swistak's restaurant for dinner; heck if anyone could fatten the poor waif up it was Aunt Olie. Mikayla was delighted with the Polish sampler plate Olie fixed her up with and ate some of everything. From Olie's we went to the movies. Mikayla surprised me by pulling my arm around her as we watched the show. We went to see "Walk The Line" with that Phoenix dude and Reese Witherspoon.

From our first meeting until now, Mikayla and I have always been together. I don't want you to think I miraculously cured her or anything but being with me has made her much better. Part of the problem with Mikayla is a loss of about four years worth of her memory and another is her inability to trust anyone except me. She even has trust issues with her parents. Mikayla hates to be in public unless it's with me and most of the time, not even then. It was very hard on her when I was in the Army even though Melissa and Jake moved heaven and earth to get us together as often as they could. When I was discharged and moved back to Palmdale, Mikayla moved in with me. Believe it or not, she is the only woman in my life who lives with me full time.

I guess I should also mention that Mikayla and I are lovers and have been for all these years. She is wonderfully inventive and uninhibited in bed; she is a Buckley after all. You might think that the things that happened to her before she fell into a coma might have made her foreswear sex forever but thankfully those memories are lumped in among the years that she is missing. Mikayla knows I have committed myself to other women and it doesn't bother her at all. She gets along great with the twins, Cindi and Katrina; even though she is much older than any of them she is all of their little sister and they are fiercely protective of her.

Mikayla will be forty this year but she looks about eighteen. She has filled out some over the years but is still slender and small breasted. You should hear her giggle when she gets carded at a bar or restaurant. In addition to those Buckley genetics, she also inherited her mother's ageless beauty. I swear Melissa Turner has not aged a day in the fourteen years I've known her. And yes, Melissa still turns me on like crazy.

Palmdale Florida 2018

Mikayla snapped me back to the present when she gracefully slipped off my lap.

"I better go pack your bag, Honey, or you'll end up in a foreign country with no clean underwear. I swear you wouldn't last a day without us to take care of you."

I leaped out of my chair and playfully swatted her on the butt. She squealed and dashed out of my office. Yeah she was a lippy little thing and she poked her cute little Irish nose into all my business, but I wouldn't trade her for anything. Besides, who do you know that has an assistant worth over a billion dollars and works for what I pay?

Egypt 1216BC

Sulihotep stood atop the wide outer wall of the Temple of Karnak and gazed across the vast Nile River flood-plane. This was the seventh flooding of the River of Life since the Star of Amon had reappeared in the northern sky. The old priest was perplexed that there had as yet been no sign of Amon's emissary. Surely, that part of Khenemetamon's teaching was as true as all the rest.

Sulihotep was five score and twelve years old now. He was the longest-lived ever of the

Amonaten high priests. Yet, he was still as vital a man as the renowned Ramses who was half his age.

Mery and Tiy were standing on the rampart with him, leaning protectively against him on either side; the women were the most content when they were touching him. The blush of youth had left his companions, replaced by strong, serene beauty. A few steps removed from the twins stood Panahasi(the pale barbarian). Sulihotep had raised Panahasi since he was an infant washed ashore from a shipwreck. He was as big as a Nubian but with a pale complexion and light colored hair. His eyes were the gray of granite, flecked with black. Ten paces from where Sulihotep, the women and Panahasi stood, a coterie of priests and acolytes waited in respectful silence. Everyone except the old man was armed and alert for danger.

The cult of Amon-Ra had changed over the past seven years. The notoriety of the Star of Amon's appearance had brought the cult many new adherents; it also brought them powerful enemies from among the priesthoods of the other gods. Sulihotep now understood the first Amonaten's edict that the priests also be warriors.

Sulihotep's reverie was interrupted by a clatter of footfalls on the stone staircase. Mery and Tiy stepped in front of him and drew their swords. Panahasi hefted the strange looking javelin he had fashioned from one he had seen in a dream and circled to Sulihotep's left.

"Easy, my fierce lionesses," Sulihotep said mildly.

To Panahasi, he said not a word. A caution to the big man was unnecessary because he knew exactly what the high priest wanted him to do. Panahasi was in fact, Sulihotep's chosen replacement and after twenty-five years as child, acolyte and priest, knew his master's mind as well as he knew his own. Panahasi moved as silently and quickly as a jungle cat to a position to flank anyone cresting the stairs.

Mery and Tiy did not relax until the intruder's head popped above the top step. Their visitor's elaborate headdress and his purple pennant bedecked staff identified him as one of Ramses' royal heralds. The women remained vigilant but rested their sword points on the ground. The priests and acolytes sheathed their swords. The herald watched the women warily; they were big and ferocious-looking as any of the Pharaoh's Nubian guards. He had no doubt that they were ready to disembowel him at the slightest provocation. The herald had heard rumors that the Cult of Amon-Ra had female priests, but the reality was still startling. His eyes flickered next to the pale giant standing expressionless to his left. The cold flat eyes of the strange priest made him shudder involuntarily.

For Sulihotep, the women's unconsciously coordinated movements were still a source of wonder. Unlike other identical twins that he had observed, Mery and Tiy seemed as if they were mirror images, one of the other. Mery was the right hand, Tiy the left. They even had mirrored birthmarks on their thighs, Mery right, Tiy left. Although Sulihotep could tell them apart by looking closely, he never much needed to. If the woman was on his right, she was Mery and vice-versa. And Hasi, it still amazed the old priest how swiftly the huge man could move. If it was indeed the time for a warrior priest to guide the cult of Amon-Ra, Hasi was the perfect choice.

The herald reached the top of the wall and spoke.

"His Royal Highness, Ramses the Second, the exalted protector of both Upper and Lower Egypt; he who is first most favored by Amon, by Hathor, and by Ra, doth command the high priest of Amon-Ra to his presence at Luxor with all haste," the herald intoned sonorously.

Sulihotep regarded the royal messenger appraisingly; Ramses had never before called for the Amonaten with such urgency in the twenty-odd years he had been Pharaoh.

"Tell the Great Ramses that his humble servant will be at his feet as fast as my old legs can carry me," Sulihotep said.

"Your legs are not required, Lord Amonaten, for the Divine One has sent a chariot and guard of honor for you," replied the herald.

Mery and Tiy blanched at the herald's pronouncement; Sulihotep calmed them with a look and an imperceptible gesture.

"I am honored, noble herald, lead the way."

When the herald turned and retraced his step down the stairs, Sulihotep whispered to the twins, "Fear not, my sweets, I will be safe enough in the Pharaoh's palace. Wait for me at the gate though, because trouble might be lurking when I leave."

The twin nodded and Sulihotep followed the herald down into the inner courtyard where four chariots waited. The priest climbed aboard the second chariot and nodded to the driver.

"A smooth ride, if you please, for my old bones are brittle," he said to the charioteer.

The big Nubian driver gave him a startled look; Sulihotep had spoken to him in the language of his people. Then a smile split his broad gleaming ebon face.

"Yes, Grandfather," the driver said.

Despite the driver's best efforts, the ride was jolting; the herald's pace was too fast for comfort. Blessedly, the trip to Luxor Palace was a short one. In minutes, they were at the tall cypress outer gates of the Pharaoh's palace. The palace, and the high wall surrounding it, was made of mud brick painted a gleaming white. The gates swung open and the chariots clattered through them into the outer courtyard. The four chariots rolled down a broad, stone-paved avenue towards the doors of the palace proper. The avenue was lined with twenty-foot tall statues of Ramses. Besides the innumerable statues of Ramses, the outer courtyard was filled with olive, fig, and cypress trees. Dozens of fountains gurgled, their arcing spray creating colorful rainbows as the droplets of water caught the morning sun. The inside of the outer wall was adorned with murals of Ramses hunting lions or fighting bravely in his two great victories over the Hittites.

Sulihotep thanked the driver and dismounted the chariot when it wheeled to a stop in front of the doors of the palace. Another pair of Nubian giants pulled open the massive brass doors for Sulihotep and the herald. Inside the palace, it was cool and tranquil, the quiet broken only by the burbling of more fountains. The herald set a fast pace through the statue-lined entrance hall towards the inner courtyard, his sandals slapping a staccato beat on the polished obsidian floor. Sulihotep could have easily kept up with the herald but he slowed his pace to observe the new statuary. Although most of the statues were of Ramses, a few pure art pieces on display caught the old priest's attention. Despite his vainglorious faults, Ramses was a patron of the arts.

Ramses was holding morning court under an awning set amid an artificial glade in the central courtyard. The herald waited until Ramses noticed his presence then bowing so low he was almost groveling, the herald announced Sulihotep. When Ramses acknowledged them with a nod, Sulihotep bowed respectfully and stood back erect.

"You never seem to age, ancient one, how can that be?" asked the Pharaoh.

"It might be because I'm as old as it is possible to get, oh Great One. You seem to be doing well yourself, you appear as strong and vigorous as you were when you routed the Hittites. And, I must say that your new hairstyle is most flattering," Sulihotep said, tongue firmly in cheek.

Ramses had his hair hennaed bright red and waxed as stiff as the gold double crown of the two Egypts that he wore. Ramses was sitting on a smallish ebony wood throne trimmed in gold. The throne was on a dais that elevated him above his subjects and sycophants. It was an artfully designed stage that made Ramses seem bigger than life. One step down on the dais, Ramses' chief consort sat to his left while his eldest son and heir apparent was on his right.

Sulihotep turned toward young Setimose, Ramses' favorite son.

"Greetings, future of Egypt, how heals the leg?"

"It heals fine, thanks to your skills Lord Amonaten. I have sacrificed a fat ram in Amon-Ra's honor to show my appreciation."

"I think that most of the credit for your recovery belongs to the blood of Ramses that flows through your body, but happy am I that you are well."

Then Sulihotep nodded toward Ramses' consort.

"You are looking especially lovely today, my Queen. Your youthful beauty makes my old heart flutter."

The Queen cast her eyes down demurely, a small smile on her lips. She was well aware of Sulihotep's reputation among the women of the court. It was said that a night with the Amonaten changed a woman forever. Sihathor (Hathor's daughter) knew that her status of most favored of Ramses' fifty wives would end soon; when that day arrived; she planned to find out for herself the truth of the rumors. To be bedded by a man with a century of experience pleasing women had to be divine.

"Thank you Lord Amonaten; I consider praise from you a precious gift."

Sulihotep bowed to the Queen then turned towards the last person on the dais. That person, standing a little apart from the royal party was Inumut, the Hêtshepsu (First among nobles) Ramses' Grand Vizier, and closest advisor. Inumut was tall, gaunt, and sharp featured with deep-set glittering black eyes. Inumut's eyes made Sulihotep think of the deadly asp, a fitting symbol for the coldly calculating Hêtshepsu. Here was a man not to be trusted.

"Long life to you Lord Inumut," Sulihotep said. Then he returned his attention to Ramses.

"How my I serve thee, my Pharaoh?" he asked.

Ramses nodded to Inumut who gestured to the captain of Ramses' royal guard. The captain issued a crisp command and two armed guards brought a man out from a side entrance.

"This man claims to be Amonmose (Amon's son) in more than name only. He also says he was sent here by the one true God to be the King of the Israelites and demands that I set his people free. I sent for you to see what you thought of his uttering. I know you are awaiting for just such a person."

Sulihotep looked the man up and down. He was a big strapping fellow with a thick black beard and piercing green eyes. He wore the garb of an Israelite shepherd and carried a sturdy staff of yew wood. His manner was calm and unafraid. Sulihotep recognized the man immediately, even in his shepherd's garb: he was Ramses' nephew, the adopted son of the Pharaoh's oldest sister.

"What say you Amonmose, do you claim as Ramses charges?"

"The Pharaoh remembered perfectly," said the shepherd. "However, I am simply called Moses by my people."

"How were these things just now revealed to you?" asked Sulihotep.

"God sent a messenger from heaven to tell me what I must do," replied the Pharaoh's nephew. Sulihotep turned his attention back to the Pharaoh. Was it possible that Amon's emissary visited Amonmose first?

Egypt 2018 AD

Ellis Stone stopped reading, and reexamined the cartouche that contained the name she had just read. Yes, it actually said Moses. It was another monumental discovery, a cross link between the Bible and an Egyptian written record. The story of Moses' meeting with the mighty Ramses did not exactly match the biblical version, but her father, who among other things considered himself a Talmudic scholar, was going to go crazy over this.

On a personal note, Ellis was intrigued by the description of Mery and Tiy because it fit her and her twin sister almost perfectly. She and Elgin were also big women, at six feet-two inches tall and a hundred fifty-five pounds each; they were large even by present-day standards. Like Mery and Tiy, they were also opposite-handed and even had matching mirror-image birthmarks on their thighs. Ellis guessed that their Jewish ancestry also qualified them as Israelites of a sort.

Ellis glanced at her watch again; it was late afternoon and almost time for the team's daily briefing. Ellis ducked down to pass through the low doorway, exited the small room, and turned left down the columned hallway. It had taken four years of painstaking excavation by New Man graduate students to reach this point. Ellis had been involved in the project from the start, first as a graduate student, then as a teaching assistant. For the past year, she had been the project's leader.

The discovery of this part of the vast Temple of Karnak was a major coup for the New Man University. It also validated the school's multi-discipline team concept because it was the team's structural engineer who deduced that there was something underneath the sundial courtyard against the outside wall of the northwest corner of the complex.

Ellis had been the one who first discovered the sacred room of Amon-Ra. Last week, while working on a sketch of the floor plan of this newly excavated section, she noticed that the dimensions of two adjacent rooms did not add up to the distance between their doorways. She had examined the wall between the doorways and found a place where the stones were slightly different. With the permission of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities, she had removed a few stones at eye level and shined her flashlight into the opening. The small chamber was not a cache of artifacts, but Ellis still felt like Howard Carter as she excitedly scanned the room.

A gleaming rectangular block of polished black stone dominated the small room. The block was in the center of the space. Against the wall opposite the door, was a smaller, cubical block of what looked like granite. The walls and ceilings were covered with colorful hieroglyphics and drawings, while the black stone was finely etched with tightly spaced glyphs.

Ellis had photographed and video taped the room from every angle before starting on the translation of the hieroglyphics. For the last three days, she had been on an emotional roller coaster as she studied. Almost every single word she read was some sort of mind-boggling revelation. From medicine to astronomy, the cult of Amon-Ra was thousands of years ahead of the times in which they had lived.

Back at the air-conditioned trailer that served as the expedition's headquarters, Ellis listened to her team summarize their day and helped schedule the next day's activities. Everyone was deeply involved in his or her own specialized area of the site and only mildly curious about Ellis's find.

Ellis called the University again after the meeting broke up. She silently thanked her lucky stars that she was getting all the support she was receiving with the urgent focus the school was putting on the global weather crisis. Ellis reached her sister Elgin on the first try; Elgin was packing as she spoke. The digital images Ellis had transmitted back to the school had done the trick of ensuring Elgin's impending arrival.

"The university is also sending someone to look things over. He is apparently some sort of consultant; wait a minute I have his name written down, and it's a mouthful. Here it is, his name is Doctor Janus P. Pulaski. I don't have a clue as to what he is supposed to do," Elgin said.

Under other circumstances, Ellis would have been angry that the university was sending out a consultant to check her work. However, this discovery was so astounding that the earlier it was independently confirmed, the better.

Two days later, Ellis sat at Cairo International Airport. She was waiting for her sister to clear custom. Ellis wore khaki dress pants and a long sleeved white shirt, her long black hair was tucked up under a fedora styled hat, and a white scarf hid her neck. Ellis wore loose clothes to hide her femininity in keeping with local customs. As a guest of the Egyptian Government, she was careful to respect her host's traditions. Ellis was busy typing observations from her dig into her notebook computer when she sensed her sister coming down the hallway. She closed the paperback book-sized computer and stood up.

"Over here Gina," she mentally sent her sibling.

The ability to communicate like that with her sister was a by-product of being an E-twin. Because of their late integration into New Man University, Ellis and Elgin's ability to communicate mind to mind was limited. Their ability improved daily but they had a long way to go to be at the level of the average New Man wonder kin.

"I feel you Lisa, be right there," replied Elgin.

Lisa and Gina were the names the twins gave themselves when they were in the first grade. They had never figured out why their parents had hung such weird monikers on them in the first place. Ellis and Elgin were stupendously androgynous names; especially given one could never mistake the Stone sisters as anything but women.

Ellis and Elgin hugged fiercely as soon as they met up. The three months that Ellis had been on the dig was their longest separation yet.

"I have a truck outside. Where are your bags?" Ellis asked.

"I smoozed the head customs guy into having some of his soldiers carry them for me, they'll be here in a minute. Besides, we can't leave anyway, Dr. Pulaski should be arriving in an hour or so." Elgin said aloud. Then she continued mentally, "I am getting better at subtly influencing people, if I had had something to hide, I could have waltzed through customs without even a spot check."

Ellis frowned in annoyance at having to wait for New Man's errand boy; she wanted to be back at the dig as soon as possible.

"We'll wait a couple of hours for him but if he's not here by then he'll have to find his own way. I'm not hanging around here all day waiting on some stuffy windbag. Come on, we can wait in the restaurant, I will even spring for lunch," Ellis said.

Joe J
Chapter 3