Free The Amulet of Power by Mike Resnick

Lara righted her chair and stood up. She found herself in the company of the two burly Arabs who had been friendly to her in the restaurant. They didn’t look so friendly now. In fact, one of them, the smaller of the two, was pointing a Luger straight at her. The other held a dagger.
    More Mahdists,
she thought. Her hand snaked down toward a pistol.
    “I do not wish to shoot you,” the man with the Luger said. “Raise your hands slowly.”
    She complied. “Who are you?”
    “My name is Hassam,” he said. “And this is Gaafar.”
    Gaafar stared at her intently. “Have you found it?”
    “Have I found what?” she asked innocently.
    “Please don’t pretend to be stupid,” said Gaafar, whose English was somewhat better than Hassam’s. “It is unbecoming. Did you find the Amulet?”
    “No.”
    “Truly?”
    “Truly,” said Lara. “So you see, there’s no reason for you to kill me.”
    Both men looked at her as if she were crazy.
    “Do you know who we are?” asked Gaafar.
    “I know from your accents that you’re Sudanese,” she said. “I assumed you were Mahdists, but now . . .”
    “We are Sudanese,” affirmed Gaafar. “And we don’t want the Sudan, and eventually the world, to be awash in blood. We
oppose
the Mahdists.”
    “I don’t understand,” said Lara. “Didn’t you just ask me about the Amulet?”
    “Yes.”
    “Then you
do
want to find it.”
    “Only to
destroy
it,” answered Gaafar. “The world can never have another Mahdi! The next one might be even worse!”
    She stared at them, trying to decide if they were telling the truth.
    “If you want the Amulet destroyed,” she said at last, “you’re the first.”
    “There are more of us,” Gaafar assured her. “Ever since we have been aware that Colonel Stewart visited the temple at Edfu, it has been our duty to keep watch over it. It had been fully explored and measured and charted over the years, so we knew that if someone of your reputation went there, it was almost certainly to find the Amulet of Mareish.”
    “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but that’s not why I was there. I didn’t even know it existed, and I never saw anything resembling an amulet.”
    Gaafar stared at her for an uncomfortably long moment. “I believe you,” he said at last.
    It was Hassam’s turn to stare at her. Finally he said, “Dare we ask her?”
    Gaafar seemed to consider the question, and then nodded his assent. “We might as well,” he said. “We need her help every bit as much as she needs our protection.”
    “What are you talking about?” she said.
    “Lara Croft,” began Hassam formally, “you have a history of finding that which everyone says cannot be found. Will you help us find the Amulet of Mareish?”
    “You’re joking, right?”
    The two men glanced at each other, puzzled.
    Lara gestured. “You’re asking me to help you . . . at gunpoint?”
    Puzzlement changed to embarrassment. “A thousand pardons, Lara Croft!” cried Gaafar.
    Hassam, meanwhile, handed the Luger to her butt first. “Here, take it.”
    She did. And pointed it at Gaafar. “That knife of yours is still making me nervous.”
    Gaafar slid the offending blade back into his robes. “Now we stand before you empty-handed,” he said. “We ask you humbly: Will you help us find the Amulet and destroy it?”
    “Why should I trust you?”
    “You hold our lives in your hand. We have given you this power. Does this not prove our sincerity?”
    Lara considered for a moment. Whatever they were up to, killing her wasn’t a part of it, or she’d be dead already. She decided to play along for now. If they were trustworthy, fine. If not, she’d make them wish they
had
killed her. She returned the Luger to Hassam, again butt first. “All right, I’ll help you find it,” she said. “But I can’t promise to destroy it.”
    “But you must!” said Hassam. “Its power is too great, too dangerous. . . .”
    “You’ll just have to trust me to do the right