“Want some?” Emma asked Leila, mid-chew.
Leila glanced at the pizza, tempted. “Actually, I need to go call my grandma before I forget again. I promised I would for Thanksgiving. I can grab something later.”
“Just take a piece with you upstairs. Napkins are in the kitchen.” Emma bit into the pizza again, drawing back with a trail of melted cheese stretching from her clamped teeth.
Leila obliged. A secret search for an ancient Egyptian queen and pizza. Forget Xander. This day couldn’t get any better.
“Thanks,” she said, slice in hand, as she spun around to go upstairs to the room she shared with Emma. First things first: call Grandma.
“Wait, Leila!” Karl called. “Can you check my Excel list before I email it to Soliman?”
She stopped in the doorway. Her grandma had been waiting for weeks for a phone call. Leila didn’t want to make her worry more than she already did, having already lost both her son and daughter-in-law while they were overseas. Her grandma was also still reeling from the more recent loss of Leila’s grandfather.
She sighed. Checking the list for Karl would probably only take a few minutes.
She rejoined them, and Karl handed her his laptop. Pizza in one hand, she plopped down next to Emma on the sofa. Emma now donned large, heavy-framed eyeglasses as she examined the pictures she had taken that day on her camera, occasionally frowning and turning the device to get a better view. Karl had already settled back into his seat and had whipped out his phone, typing away. Leila focused on the computer screen, eager to finish.
It took her ten minutes to read the list through, and after making one small correction, everything seemed to be in order.
“Tell your grandma I said hi,” Emma called as Leila headed for the staircase, phone in hand.
“Will do,” Leila promised with a laugh then bounded up the steps, scrolling to find her grandma’s phone number on the screen.
“Hey, Grandma, how’s it going?” Leila said cheerfully as she nudged the door to her room. Her grandma’s warm, friendly voice greeted her, briefly chiding her for taking so long to call before going on about her average, Midwestern day. Leila listened, a blissful smile spreading over her face.
“Really? That sounds amazing right now. I bet the house smells like cinnamon.” She scanned the bedroom and came to a stop, her heart leaping into her throat. “Um, sorry, but I’m going to have to call you back in ten minutes.”
The phone call ended, and she lowered her hand, unable to stop her mouth from dropping open as she took in the scene in front of her.
The drawers had been ripped from the dresser. The closet doors stood wide open. Emma’s camera bags had been hauled from under the bed and the contents emptied. The hinged windows thudded against the wall as a soft breeze rustled the thin, white curtains.
Her eyes fell on a book in the middle of the floor. The Bible her father had given her had been tossed to the ground. She narrowed her eyes and picked it up.
Hugging the brown leather book to her chest, she chewed on her lip. Emma hadn’t mentioned anything about this downstairs—she was probably unaware. Before Leila could decide what to do, a footstep came from behind her and she glanced over her shoulder.
A masked man in dark clothing leaped toward her. Unable to dodge his swinging fist, a sharp pain burst through her skull, and she stumbled to the floor. Before she could find her feet again, or make sense of what was going on, an arm wrapped around her neck and squeezed. Her breaths came out in frantic gasps. She kicked and clawed as pain rose up in her chest, her lungs desperate for air.
This was it. He was killing her.
She tried to hold onto consciousness, to scream for help. Then everything went black.
Chapter Five
Leila’s eyes fluttered open.
“She’s awake,” came Emma’s relieved voice from somewhere among the swirls of color. “Are you okay?”
It took a few more moments until Leila’s vision came into focus. She lay on the bottom bunk, the room now full of people, every one of them gawking at her, including Soliman, and Hamza and Mariam, the brother and sister duo. Karl stood among them, gaping while he fiddled with a black band on one of his right-hand fingers.
“What happened? Do you need a doctor?” Emma asked as she knelt by the side of the bed.
Leila grimaced and tried to sit up, but her head began to throb unmercifully and her throat burned.
“Oh, my head.” She combed her fingers gingerly along her forehead until she came to the sore spot on her temple. After a fleeting glance at her fingertips, she breathed a sigh of relief. No blood.
“We heard you scream after you had gone upstairs, and we all ran up here,” Emma went on.
It all came rushing back like an electric jolt to Leila’s heart. “Someone was in here,” she gasped. “Emma, make sure all of your camera equipment is still there. I think we got robbed.”
Emma’s mouth dropped open for a moment. Then she blinked and shook her head. “I’ll worry about the cameras later. What do you mean? Who was in here? Someone from the dig?”
Leila squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed her temples. “A man. Dark clothes.” She opened her eyes again and raised her shoulders. “That’s all I can remember.”
Soliman motioned to Karl and Mariam to follow. “You two can search for anyone suspicious. I’ll inform the police.” The three then filed from the room.
“How’s your head?” Emma asked, turning back to Leila.
“Sore.” She put her feet on the floor, but Emma shoved her back down.
“Stay there. Will somebody please get some ice?” Emma called over her shoulder at the people milling around in the hallway, casting curious glances into the room.
Neal strode in with an ice pack in his hand. “Way ahead of you, Emma.”
“Thanks, Neal.” She took the ice pack and passed it to Leila. “Do you want to go to the ER? You got knocked out—”
“I wasn’t hit that hard.” Leaning back into her pillow, Leila held the ice gingerly against the sore spot. The blow had hurt, but that wasn’t what knocked her out.
Neal picked up the desk chair and set it near the bed. He took a seat and leaned toward her, touching his fingertips together between his legs. “Leila, can you tell me exactly what happened?”
