Around the World in 80 Men Boxed Set 31-35 (32 page)

“
What
kind of...surprises? Please tell me you're not talking about
scorpions.” Morgan rubbed her behind and winced at the memory
of the night before. It was still tender, but not nearly as bad.

“
No,”
Mustafa laughed. Another gust of wind blew, and the man quickly
looked to the ground.

“
Should
I be looking for something?” Morgan crouched down beside
Mustafa, and stared at the ground, unsure of what she was supposed to
find.

“
There,”
Mustafa pointed at a black rock, and Morgan picked it up.

“
Whoa!
That is
not
a rock!
What is it?” She held up the sharp
rock
and
examined it closely.

“
What
do you think?” Mustafa stood and walked to the other side of
the tree and dug into the sand a few inches.

“
Looks
like a shark took. A very, very large shark.” Morgan giggled,
knowing it couldn't be a shark.

“
Close.”
Mustafa stood again and brushed the sand off his pants. “That
one looks to be crocodile. There are fossils all over this place!
When I was a kid, I found a stegosaurus tooth.”

“
Wow!”
Morgan looked down at the large tooth, then back up to Mustafa and
held it out for him. He only shook his head, and wrapped her fingers
back around it, and told her to keep it. “Are you sure?”
He nodded and Morgan went to work on taking pictures of her new
treasure. “Oh shit!” Another strong gust of wind nearly
knocked Morgan off of her balance, but Mustafa caught her.

“
I
think we better get to our next camp, Morgan. I'm sorry, I didn't
expect this kind of wind today.”

“
No,
don't apologize! This is amazing, thank you!” She agreed they
should make it to their camp for the night, and the two set off on
their camels again. It was two miles until they arrived, and
hopefully the weather would cooperate until then.

*****

How
long is this going to take?
John
dropped to the sand beside Finlay, who had already consumed at least
four full shots of whiskey. He didn't know much about the weather in
Morocco, but it was obvious that the winds had picked up and an
electricity had filled the air. John was torn between getting back on
his ride and attempting to find a safe place to wait out whatever was
brewing, and finishing the job of getting Finlay drunk enough to
talk. It was becoming painfully clear that the Scot could hold more
liquor than John anticipated.

“
Thanks
for the wee drink, mate... but,” Finlay stood and looked out as
far as the eye could see, “I think we're in for a storm. We
should find a place to ride it out, aye?” John nodded, clearly
defeated in his attempt to get information, and both men mounted
their camels.

“
If
my map is correct,” John pulled a wrinkled sheet of paper from
his back pocket, “then we should find a dried river basin
straight ahead. Should be some large rocks around that
area....hopefully...,”

“
Aye.
Big rocks should work.” The men picked up their pace, and
quickly made their way to the river basin to find cover.

*****

“
We
have to stop!” Mustafa shouted over the wind, holding a scarf
over his mouth as he directed them to the last of the red rocks that
surrounded the basin.

They
had only managed thirty minutes through the growing sand storm before
Mustafa realized that riding through the open desert to their camp
wasn't going to work. “Here?!” Morgan heard his voice,
but couldn't make out his words. He jumped from Clyde and reigned in
a frantic Bonnie with Morgan still on her back.

“
Come
here!” He stood at Bonnie's side and reached for Morgan who
quickly slid from her seat. Mustafa wrapped his arm around her waist
and nearly picked Morgan from the ground as he ran her to the middle
of three large jagged rocks that seemed to form a natural pyramid
around them. Morgan dropped to the ground dead center of their
hideout, and her eyes grew wide at the sound of the storm swirling
around them. “It's okay!” Mustafa shouted that he would
be right back, but Morgan couldn't hear his words once again. She
knew, however, that he was most likely securing the camels someplace
safe when he left the covering.

“
Shit!”
Morgan's butt scooted through the sand, pushing herself backwards
until her back reached a rock. “Oh my god!” The wind
howled around her, forcing her hands to cover her ears in a feeble
attempt to block out the deafening sound. All she could think about
was Angel, and how she wished she were in a hotel with her best
friend right then, drinking Moscato and talking bad about Gio's
girlfriend. “I want Angel! I want my Mothafuckin' Angel!”

“
Who
is mothafuckin' Angel?!” Mustafa plopped down hard beside
Morgan and smiled as he brought her hands down from her ears. Morgan
stared into his golden eyes, wondering what in the world could make
the man smile when they were about to swept away in a storm from
hell. “Tell me about Angel!” He shouted, just inches from
her face, and nodded for her to answer him. She shook her head in
confusion. Right then wasn't a good time to have a friendly chat
about her friend. “We have nothing else to do!” He moved
closer, waiting for her tell him. Morgan let out a long sigh, that
she herself couldn't even hear, and began.

“
My
best friend!” Her lips nearly touched his cheek as she shouted
her answer. His hand come up between them and his finger rolled in a
circle, telling her to continue. “He's... he's great! He's
funny!”

“
What?!”

Morgan
took another deep breath and smiled. “He's mothafuckin' funny!”
Mustafa laughed and wrapped an arm around Morgan's body.

“
I'd
like to meet your funny mothafuckin' friend!” Morgan giggled
and leaned her head against his shoulder. The smile remained, knowing
that Mustafa had just taken her fear and made her relax enough to
trust that he would take care of them.

With
only a whisper that was taken by the storm as the words left her
lips, Morgan replied. “Thank you, Mustafa.”

*****

John
and Finlay battled the winds, holding tightly to their reigns to stay
seated on the animals. They had passed rock after rock, but nothing
large enough to accommodate them. They had given up trying to
communicate, and relied on hand gestures which had only consisted of
waving off the small rocks and to continue moving forward. They were,
as fate would have it, not fifty feet from where Mustafa and Morgan
were settled in. The natural
pyramid
came
into view for both men at the same time, and they gave a thumbs up at
making their move to the area.

They
picked up their pace as much as the camels would allow and were
closing in on the rock formation. “What the bloody hell?!”
A black Jeep passed them, throwing even more sand on the duo. Finlay
and John moved to the side, now knowing if more vehicles would
follow. The camels ran behind the first row of rocks without
encouragement from the riders, and kept going to another row that was
hidden by the storm. “Stop! Ye fookin' camel! Stop!”
Finlay couldn't be heard, nor would the camel have cared what the
rider had to say. Both men were carried to a large formation and
Finlay was dumped to the ground. John watched as his camel began to
kneel, and he quickly jumped from his back. Both men were on the
ground as they watched their camels nearly burrow into the sand
behind the natural barrier. Finlay was about to attempt to make his
camel stand again when he noticed the lights from the Jeep up ahead.
He motioned for John to look, and both men shielded their eyes as
they watched two people climb into the vehicle before it sped away.
“Morgan.” Finlay's word rolled from his lips before John
pulled the large Scot between the two rocks that their camels were in
front of.

*****

“
How
did they find us?” Morgan was covered from head to toe in sand,
and she sat as still as she could so that it didn't create another
sand storm inside of the vehicle. Mustafa laughed and shook his head,
doing exactly what Morgan tried not to do. “Jerk!” The
driver coughed and made both of them laugh before Mustafa could
answer.

“
I
pay them to take care of things. They're good at what they do.”
Morgan nodded, and leaned back into the seat as she waited to see
where they would be taken to wait out the storm.

“What
about Bonnie and Clyde?” Morgan realized the Jeep wouldn't be
bringing them anywhere, and they certainly couldn't leave them there
through the storm.
“They'll be taken to camp, don't worry.”
Mustafa gave Morgan a wink, ensuring her the big furballs would be
safe and sound.
*****
“Get down!”
John pulled at Finlay's shirt, and tried to bring the Scot to the
ground beside him.
Finlay had been preoccupied, trying to follow
where the Jeep, and Morgan, were headed, but the vehicle was quickly
out of sight. The two things still in view though, quickly made him
think of a new plan. “Their fookin' camels!” He didn't
bother with telling John, and pulled his shirt over his face before
moving from the rock barrier.
“Where are you going? Are
you fucking mad?” John yelled, but his words were lost in the
howling wind. Through squinted eyes, protected by his hand, he
watched Finlay slowly walk to Salazar and grab his bag from the back
of the camel. “You're not thinking of walking!?”
Still,
Finlay did not answer, and threw his bag over his shoulder. He bent
over, making himself shorter and braced himself against the wall of
wind and sand. One slow step at a time, he made his way to the
pyramid of rocks Morgan had just been hiding within. He knew, if
someone had picked up Morgan and her client, someone was sure to pick
up their camels.
Ten minutes passed, and things only got worse.
Finlay had the better shelter, and it wasn't long before John had
joined him. The clouds above were darkening, and the wind howled
louder. Finlay hoped he was right.
*****
“Oh, this is wonderful!” Morgan shook her
clothing before stepping into the small cafe. It was a common place
that locals, and tourists, would stop if they needed refreshment or
wait out a storm. As nothing else was nearby, Morgan thought it was a
brilliant idea of the owners to set up shop on the edge of town.
“This place has been here for years,” Mustafa spoke
as he opened the door. He didn't bother shaking off his clothes,
since he already had. The entire floor of the cafe was covered in
sand, and when Morgan saw the two dozen sand-covered people huddled
in the back half of the cafe, she figured out where it had all come
from.

“I
remember stopping here as a kid. Similar situation, but nothing like
this.”
Morgan nodded, not really listening. Her eyes
scanned the cafe, as her hand dug into her bag and grabbed her
camera. “This is so neat!” There were no chairs to speak
of in the entire place. Instead, there was what looked like wooden
boxes, stacked all along the sides of the cafe, and some in the
middle. Each box a different height, and all of them adorned in
bright red and gold cushions and pillows. Even on the floor, there
were large cushions, surrounding hookahs of various shaped and sizes.
The walls were covered in brightly colored plates with Arabic writing
and gorgeous paintings. She was still taking pictures, when Mustafa
took her hand and led her to to a nearby seat.
“Tea?”
Mustafa rubbed some sand off his legs as they sat down.
“Actually,”
Morgan sat down beside him, and rubbed a finger under each eye to
remove sand from her face. It felt like sand paper against her skin
and she decided to just wash her face later. “I'd like some
coffee. And maybe...” She smiled sheepishly, “something a
bit stronger?”
“Do you like beer?”
*****
“I fookin' knew it!” Just as the
men had noticed another massive cloud of sand approaching, Finlay was
able to make out another vehicle headed their way, and it was a large
one.
“I'll be damned.” The vehicle stopped right in
front of the pyramid of rocks, and with a few commands, they had all
four camels secured in the back of their trailer. “Uh...excuse
me?” One of the two men looked to John and silently motioned
for he and Finlay to climb into the back of the trailer with the
camels. The men assumed that John and Finlay were part of the tour
group that was in the area, and had lost their way in the storm. They
planned to take the men back to the group safely, and then take
Bonnie and Clyde to the camp area that still needed set up for
Mustafa. It would be hours before the storm would pass, and their job
would be complete.