In the Headlights

At the other side of the valley a jeep's headlights light up the sand dune behind which a pair of shadowy figures are waiting.

"Mirabel. Are the headlights absolutely necessary? We might be seen here." The man whispers and the red haired woman looks up at him while juggling a large knife. "And what? Stay in the dark? Are you mad? What if a scorpion would crawl out of the sand? A crocodile could sneak up to us. Ha... n-no way."

The man looks at the woman not believing it and crosses his arms: "Am I hearing that right? Mirabel Barlow is afraid of the dark." The woman scowls and throws the knife at the feet of the man, the blade digging into the sand just between his legs. "Not the dark, dumbass. What's in the dark. I don't want to get ambushed cuz I didn't know it was coming, you know?" She hops off the side of the jeep and walks over to the man and looks up tensely.

The man looks down smirking and nods: "You gonna bend down to take that knife. You dropped it at an unfortunate spot, didn't you?" The girl sighs and squats down and gives a look at the man's bulge at her eye level: "Fair enough. If you want to play it like that..." She picks the knife up and raises it between the man's legs which makes him gasp and shout: "Wh-! C-crazy bitch! Stop that!"

Mirabel teases the knife on his crotch and then puts it away and gets up: "Relax. I'm just playing. And judging by the size of that... maybe we could play something else back at main camp, hmm? What do you say Stuart?" He grimaces and looks past the woman to sees a man running down the dune. It's their contact from the dig site.

"Lamar. Good to see you. I assume there is something to give us, no?" Stuart smiles and greets the bearded worker. He has a terrified look on his face and drops on his knees panting. "F-forgive me... they found it in my desk. I-I have it no longer, they took it! Please, forgive me. I had to run, they would find out! Please, good sir, forgive me!"

The man's pleas fall on deaf ears as the bald one looks down at the worker disappointed: "You... lost it? You had it and you lost the damn piercing? How? How could you not hide it? How are you this incompetent?!" The big bald man pulls the worker up from his collar and lifts him up as he moans. "Do they know? Tell me! Do they know the secret of the Ka?! You worthless pig!" The bald man shakes him and the Egyptian cries and shakes his head: "N-no! I don't know! They kick me out, I don't know anything! I-I'm sorry..."

The man throws Lamar on the sand and pulls a pistol from its holster: "Did you talk about us? Did you mention working for us? I'm getting tilted here! I told you. You don't want to see me tilted!" The man covers his face and whines pathetically as Mirabel walks up with her knife. "Hey, Lamar. It's fine. Really. We didn't need it. It's fine." She squats next to the man who looks at her terrified and stammers: "Y-you didn't? But t-that was m-my job, I... will you let me go? Please, you will never see me again, I promise!"

The woman sushes him and makes him look into her eyes: "Yes. Of course. We have a plan B. It would've been just... hmm... convenient if you did it. It would've been a little easier on us, but it's totally fine. So you don't have to worry. Don't mind my friend. He has some issues. It's fine." She calms him and he sighs in relief and looks at her more relaxed: "Oh, thank you so much! You are a merciful woman, thank-"

His sentence is cut as Miranda slams the knife at the side of his head, digging it through his temple bone into his brain, killing him instantly. "Fuck! Oh yeah. Been too long since I did that, phew." She gets up excited and the man puts his gun away and spits: "You're fucked up for doing that, you know? Why give them hope? Better just kill them." The woman places her boot on the side of Lamar's petrified face and pulls the knife out and cleans it on his turban. "Because..."

She hops off and smiles and looks at the corpse: "Better die believing a beautiful lie than the ugly truth, wouldn't you say?" The man shrugs and takes the dead man by the ankles and starts dragging him: "Then what was that about not wanting to be in the dark you said earlier? Was that just bullshit?"

The girl swirls her knife and puts it away finally and lifts the man from the shoulders: "No... I just know the second I get one pulled over me, I'm dead." The two carry the corpse to the side of the Nile and fill his clothes with rocks and push Lamar's cold body into the streaming abyss. After that they return to the jeep and drive into the night.