Free The Navigator by Clive Cussler, Paul Kemprecos Page B

Iceberg Alley, gentlemen.”

     
CHAPTER 7
     

    SAXON PICKED UP HIS rental car at the Cairo Airport and plunged into the automotive anarchy that passed for traffic flow in the ancient city of the Pyramids. The cacophony of beeping horns and the choking impact of dust and car exhaust was a strong antidote to weeks spent traveling in the lonely deserts of Yemen.

    He drove to the outskirts of Cairo and parked on the
Sharia Sudan
. Pungent barnyard smells and inhuman sounds came from a nearby fenced-in area, the
Souq al-Gamaal.
The old Cairo camel market. The corrals that had once been surrounded by green fields were hemmed in by apartment houses.

    Saxon had suggested the rendezvous. He wanted to meet Hassan in a public place for security. The dung-spattered oasis of old Egypt appealed to his sense of drama as well.

    Saxon paid the small entrance fee required of non-Egyptians and strolled among the corrals. Hundreds of camels brought up from the Sudan awaited the slaughterhouse or an even worse fate carrying overweight tourists at the Pyramids.

    Saxon paused to watch a protesting dromedary being loaded into the back of a compact pickup truck. He felt a gentle tug at his hand. One of the dirty-faced urchins who haunted the market begging for
baksheesh
was trying to get his attention.

    Saxon followed the boy’s pointing finger. A man was standing under a makeshift awning near a group of haggling camel buyers. Saxon gave the boy a tip and walked across the corral. The man had a café au lait complexion typical of many Egyptians, and a neatly trimmed beard decorated his chin. He wore a circular knit cap and a matching white
gallibaya,
the long cotton gown favored by many Egyptian men.

    “Sabaah ilkheer,”
Saxon said. Good morning.

    “
Sabaah innuur,
Mr. Saxon. I am Hassan.”

    “Thank you for coming.”

    “You want to do business?” Hassan said. The offer should have made Saxon suspicious. Egyptians liked to linger over tea before talking business. But his eagerness overpowered his judgment.

    “I’m told you might be able to help me find a certain lost property.”

    “Maybe,” Hassan said. “If you can pay the price.”

    “I will pay whatever is reasonable,” Saxon said. “When might I see this property?”

    “I can show it to you now. I have a car. Come with me.”

    Saxon hesitated. The Cairo underworld sometimes had ties to shadowy political groups. He thought it prudent to size Hassan up before he put himself in the stranger’s hands.

    “Let’s go to Fishawi’s. We can talk and get to know each other,” he suggested. The popular outdoor café was near Cairo’s main bazaar and its oldest mosque.

    Hassan frowned. “Too many people.”

    “Yes, I
know,
” Saxon said.

    Hassan nodded. He led the way out of the market to a battered white Fiat that was drawn up to the curb. He opened the door for Saxon.

    “I’ll follow you in my car,” Saxon said.

    He walked across the street and slipped behind the wheel of his rental car. He inserted the key in the ignition to start the engine just as another car squealed to a stop next to his.

    Two men in black suits jumped out of the car and bulled their way into his vehicle. One sat in the back and the other next to Saxon. Both leveled guns at Saxon’s head.

    “Drive,”
said the man in the front passenger seat.

    Saxon’s innards turned to ice water. But he reacted with characteristic calm. He had experienced many close calls in his years as an explorer and adventurer. He started the car, pulled away from the curb, and obeyed the order to follow Hassan’s car. He kept his mouth shut. Questions would only antagonize his uninvited passengers.

    The Fiat drove across the traffic-snarled city toward the Citadel, a complex of mosques and military buildings. Saxon’s heart fell. An army would not be able to find him in the labyrinth of narrow streets around the Citadel.

    Hassan’s car pulled up to the entrance of a nondescript building. The sign out