Free The Sphinx Project by Kate Hawkings Page A

since, and I didn't know what to say to put her at ease. She didn't raise the subject and I didn't know how to without scaring everyone more than they already were.
    "We need to find a place to stay," Nicole said.
    "There's only shops here though," Briana replied, turning in a full circle.
    "Let's ask in there." We had stopped in front of a big shop, overflowing with touristy things. The counter was manned by an elderly couple; a younger man was breaking down boxes at the back of the store.
    "Oh yes," the woman said, answering our question. "There's a hostel up there." She pointed through the roof at an angle.
    "How do we get there?" Nicole asked.
    I'd seen the buildings that extended past the first-floor shops, but hadn't been sure what was in them.
    "Josh!" the woman hollered at the top of her voice.
    The younger man jumped, making his way to the front of the store.
    "You want to show them how to get to the hostel?" she asked him.
    "Sure," he said with an easy smile.
    After we had thanked the woman, Josh, who had ginger hair and a lobster-like sunburn, led the way around the back of the buildings to a steep flight of stairs. If regular girls were following a stranger into dingy-looking building, I'd have told them they were crazy, but if he tried anything we wouldn't be the ones in trouble.
    As we reached the top of the stairs, a huge mural stretched down the wall. The point right in front of us displayed dark-skinned men and women in tribal skirts with facial tattoos, surrounded by swirling ferns. I recognized the people as being New Zealand Maori; I'd seen pictures of them in a book at the lab once. Down the hall we could also see pictures of wallabies, a sort of marsupial from Australia and soccer players wearing white and blue.
    Josh led us to a small office containing a desk and a chair, in which a dark-skinned girl with short black hair sat. Her eyes momentarily flicked up from what she was doing before she carried on, tapping away at her laptop.
    "Have you got a reservation?" she asked with a very proper British accent.
    "No, but do you have four beds available?" I replied, trying my best not to do some stupid imitation of her voice. One of the few lessons I'd enjoyed in the labs was studying languages. I loved imitating noises and pretending I was someone else from some far-off place. That's probably why I'd been assigned languages as my specialty.
    She pulled out another drawer and flipped through a card index. "We have four beds left in an eight-berth dormitory on the third floor. Twenty-five a night each. You want it?"
    "Yeah, sure, we'll take that." We couldn't afford luxury; we had to make our money last.
    We paid in cash for two nights, took the key and climbed two more flights of stairs before walking to the door at the end of the hall on the right-hand side. The room wasn't too shabby, but the bunks did remind me uncomfortably of the beds back at the labs.
    One of the beds was occupied, and a second girl sat in the middle of the floor organizing her pack. Belongings were strewn everywhere and a towel hung over the end of the bunks. Her finger shot to her lip as we entered, warning us to stay quiet.
    Pulling the blinds open, I could see that this was a corner room, with views over the pedestrian road, the pier, and beach.
    "What a hole," Briana moaned, sparing no thought for the sleeping girl.
    The others wanted to relax and shower before getting some dinner, but I was itching to get outside while it was still light.
    "I'm going for a walk," I said.
    "Make sure you're carrying," Nicole reminded me, as if I would forget.
    I stepped into the en suite bathroom and strapped a shoulder holster into place. I positioned one of the SIG Sauers in it and slid my arms into my new jacket. We'd each bought one during the drive after we'd realized we couldn't easily conceal our weapons under the sweatshirts.
    I checked that the gun was completely covered before stepping back into the dormitory. The sleeper had woken and was