Four Ways to Pharaoh Khufu (29 page)

Chapter 44

Cairo, Egypt

Monday, September 25

1:30 p.m.

E
gypt is essentially sand, rocks and sand again. Its only “strip of life” is the narrow Nile Valley, which gave birth to the Egyptian civilization. The whole truth about the current Egypt lies in its past, which literally feeds the country today.

With a population of about ninety million people, Egypt consists of several ethnic groups: the Arabs who speak the Egyptian dialect of Arabic, the dark-skinned Nubians in the South and the many Greeks in Alexandria. The Arabs were not always an ethnic component of Egypt. Up until the seventh century there lived a very different kind of people who built thousands of wonderful monuments such as the pyramids of Giza and Saqqara, the temples of Luxor and the tombs of the pharaohs’ treasures. Some of these monuments have been found, while many have not.

Remembering his previous taxicab rides, Michael advised Anna that riding in a taxi in Cairo would be the Egyptian equivalent of Russian roulette and recommended that either she closed her eyes or have nerves of steel. Anna breezily ignored his remarks as their taxi sputtered and wheezed through the gridlocked traffic. But when a gap suddenly opened up, the driver raced through it as they clutched their seat with a death grip. When the taxi slowed down, Anna simply said, “Wow,” as Michael chuckled. Meanwhile the cab driver smoked non-stop, jabbered on his phone and occasionally leaned out the window to abuse other drivers. It was then that Anna realized Michael had given prophetic advice. But, in the meantime, she enjoyed the views of Cairo slowly opening up in front of her. As traffic stopped and started, the city began to reveal itself layer by layer. Anna gazed in awe, eager to experience this distant and enigmatic land.

Founded in the year 969, Cairo grew until it had absorbed all the neighboring cities and spread across the Nile. It is difficult to describe a third world country to someone who has never visited. Although full of modern technology, Egypt remains rich with tradition, culture and pharaoh-related superstitions. Cairo’s composition is like a patchwork quilt, composed of Muslim, Mamluk, Turkish, Coptic, Egyptian, English, French and modern Arab neighborhoods. A metropolis with sixteen million people, it is a chaotic city that truly never sleeps.

As their cab entered Cairo’s downtown area, Anna was glued to the window, staring in amazement as hundreds of people walked along the road. Amidst all of this activity and people traffic, Anna was dumbfounded to see a camel carcass lying flat in the dirt, just skin and bones, and the people simply walking around it.

Anna grabbed Michael’s attention, asking, “Why doesn’t anyone remove it?”

“Camels are indeed beasts of burden in Egypt,” replied Michael, shaking his head in disbelief.

Soon they were driving through Tahrir Square on its wide and busy traffic circle. They passed by the Mogamma, a fourteen-story governmental administrative office building, rumored to be a gift from the Soviet state after World War II. The roar of engines, however, drew their attention as a convoy of dark green armored trucks swarmed around the square, lining up around its entire perimeter. Anna and Michael gasped as Egyptian SWAT teams leapt onto the street armed with riot gear and automatic weapons. More armored trucks filled the side streets as the military readied itself to disperse the day’s planned protests and demonstrations.

After they passed through the busy square, traffic began to recede. Ten minutes later, the cab zipped up next to the Windsor Hotel, an elegant building featuring colonial-style architecture. Built at the turn of the last century to serve as baths for the Egyptian royal family, the hotel also served as a colonial British officer’s club for many years before being turned into a hotel. At the turn of the nineteenth century the hotel held exquisite balls. There were beautiful dinners by candlelight after which the Arabs could dance with real European women, an unprecedented occurrence in Cairo at that time. Michael noticed that it was located just steps away from a market known as the Khan El Khalili Bazaar.

Still shaking, Anna stepped out of the taxicab. “Anna,” Michael called out to her, grinning widely as he retrieved their luggage, “now you can cross off ‘surviving a Cairo taxicab ride in one piece’ from your bucket list.”

She ignored his comment and inhaled a life-affirming breath. Instead, her lungs were filled with exhaust fumes, a souvenir from their taxicab speeding away. She coughed and took in another breath, this time of the exotic smells surrounding her. As she was deciphering the mysterious smells, her ears were filled with the seemingly nonstop car horn blares and sounds of the nearby crowd. Over all of this chaos, the evening call to prayer sounded, as loud as thunder amid the clear skies.

Anna looked over at Michael only to find him heading to the hotel entrance. The hotel seemed to have been frozen in time in the late nineteenth century, providing a unique opportunity to enjoy the dusty old flavor of a bygone era. Once inside they were immediately welcomed by the hotel staff and offered complimentary drinks. A pretty lady named Ramla was stationed at an old, dark wooden receptionist desk. Speaking in excellent English, Ramla politely informed Anna that the room in which her father stayed was currently unoccupied and available to her. She sincerely offered her deepest condolences in the death of Mister Schulze who, in her words “was very friendly with the hotel staff and the center of the livelihood of the hotel.” Anna nodded her head, her eyes brimming with tears. Ramla added that the police had retrieved all of Mister Schulze’s belongings.

Michael did not require any help with carrying the luggage as it only consisted of his old faded green duffle bag and Anna’s pink suitcase, which easily rolled around on its wheels. Nevertheless, Ramla insisted, in the good memory of Anna’s father, that one of the concierges be dispatched to accompany them to their room and deliver their luggage.

The guestroom retained an ambience of faded grandeur and old world charm with its original wood furnishings combined with all the modern necessities of today’s world. Michael was pleasantly surprised to discover a plasma screen television, small refrigerator, complimentary wireless Internet connection and a modern bathroom. Anna did not notice these fine amenities until later, as the second she walked inside the room her eyes were fixated on the two queen beds. On top of each bed were bathroom towels folded in a heart shape, surrounded by fresh, colorful flower petals. After he dropped off their luggage, the concierge politely refused Michael’s tip, bowed slightly and then left, closing the door behind him.

“Wow, I can’t believe my father stayed in this very room,” Anna remarked as she walked slowly across the room. “Only a week ago he was alive and restoring the Great Pyramid.”

“Well, I’m not deeply religious, but based on my own experience, G-d always takes the good ones first.”

“He was a very good father,” said Anna as she sat on a bed. “He was the kind of dad every kid wishes to have.” She paused and took a deep breath. “And even though later in my life he betrayed my mom, he still remained a great dad.”

“That’s true. He will always be your dad. Nobody can take that away from you,” Michael replied gently.

“Thanks, Michael,” Anna said, looking up at him with a small smile.

“Oh, look at the time,” Michael groaned, pointing to the digital clock on the nightstand. “The Inspector and detective will be here in about an hour. I would like to take a quick shower and change, and then the bathroom will be all yours.”

While Michael was digging in his duffle bag for his clothes, Anna grabbed her purse and started searching through it for her hairbrush. When she dumped the contents out, her lipstick fell off the bed and rolled underneath. She sighed and crouched down on the floor to get it.

“Michael!” she called out. “Michael!”

“Yes!” Michael said, “What happened?” He walked toward her, “Are you all right?”

“My lipstick is somewhere under this bed, but I can’t find it.”

“Lipstick?” he asked. “Wow! I thought somebody was trying to kidnap you.”

Anna gave him a look.

“OK, OK,” he replied, grinning. “Move aside, please.” He crouched down and stretched his hand under the bed. In a few short seconds he had triumphantly retrieved her lipstick along with a piece of notebook paper.

“Ta da!” Michael announced as he handed the lipstick over. She reached out with her other hand and grabbed the paper from his hand. “By the way, if you are such a lipstick fanatic, then you should know that during the French Revolution wearing lipstick of any kind was taken as a sign that you sympathized with the aristocracy. It could get you sent to the guillotine.”

“Oh really? Wise ass,” she replied in dismay as she looked over the paper Michael had retrieved with the lipstick.

“Yep, and I’m proud to say that this ended the era of men wearing lipstick,” he smirked, but Anna was already too deep in her thoughts to hear.

“Hello? Are you OK?” he asked, seeing her expression.

“You are not going to believe this, but this paper was my father’s,” she finally managed to utter.

“Really?” this time it was Michael’s turn to be astonished. “Let me see it,” he asked, holding out his hand.

The paper was obviously torn from a notebook. It had a skillful sketch of a military tank that included various small details. There were some words handwritten underneath the sketch in an unfamiliar language.

“That’s my father’s handwriting,” Anna said sadly. “At least I now have something that belonged to him,” she added, as tears rolled to her eyes.

“The police probably missed it,” Michael suggested, handing it back. “I’m almost sure this tank is an American Sherman tank. But I think the last time it was used was during World War II.”

“Well, my father loved sketching. That was his passion.”

“I can tell you more about this unusual tank,” said Michael.

“Unusual?” asked Anna.

“Well, as you can clearly see on this sketch, this tank has fenders,” Michael pointed to the panel covering the tank’s tracks. “The American models didn’t use fenders, because they were easier to maintain that way. But the British forces attached fenders. So, this American tank was used by the British forces during World War II,” Michael concluded.

“Wow, Michael, you continue to surprise me.”

“OK, but what does this phrase say in German?” asked Michael, ignoring her remark. “Your father wrote it, right?”

“Yes, he wrote it, but I’m kind of lost.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, roughly translating, it means something like ‘the General scorched the earth in the village of two flags where two great battles once were won.’”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t know,” Anna answered, shaking her head.

Suddenly the room phone rang loudly. Michael reached for the receiver. “Michael Doyle,” he announced into the phone. “Oh, Inspector Suliman. Yes, we are in room number five. OK, see you in a minute.” As he hung up the phone, he turned and looked at Anna, “They’re here. Hide the paper and don’t say anything about it.”

Anna nodded and rolled up the paper, putting it inside her purse. She threw the rest of her stuff back inside.

They heard a knock. Michael walked over and opened the door. “Hello, Inspector, nice to see you again,” he said, shaking the Inspector’s hand. The Inspector solemnly walked inside the room followed by his seemingly inseparable detective. “I would like to introduce you to my friend, Anna Schulze.”

“Miss Schulze,” said the Inspector, bowing slightly, “Inspector Suliman.”

“Nice to meet you Inspector.”

“I believe you already met Detective Hussein back at the airport, right?” asked the Inspector.

“Yes, sir, he saved our lives, and we’re grateful for that, but my father−”

“Miss Schulze,” the Inspector gently interrupted her, “let me first offer my sincere apologies to Mister Doyle and specifically to you.”

Anna and Michael looked at each other in complete shock.

“Your father,” continued the Inspector “is not a thief as we initially thought when we first received this case. We now have the real thief in our custody.”

“Wonderful!” Anna exclaimed, embracing Michael joyfully. “I knew it all along!”

“I’m so relieved!” Michael said, tightly embracing Anna as tears of joy welled up in her beautiful eyes.

“Even though we suspected your father stole the ancient stele,” continued the Inspector, “during our investigation we encountered a very peculiar twist in this case. The real criminal was another German engineer working for the same company, AirCo. I’m pretty sure by now you know who that might be.”

“Fischer!” Anna exclaimed.

“Yes,” sighed the Inspector. “Fisher was the one who found the stele, which, by the way, belonged to the ancestral tribe of the ancient Egyptian Medjay warriors,” said the Inspector, pausing to look at them closely. “Have you ever heard of them?” he asked.

“No,” Michael replied immediately, looking frankly at Anna.

The Inspector looked at Anna. “What about you?” he asked.

“Never heard of them,” Anna firmly replied, shaking her head.