Izzy

"This is the magic carpet?" Evy asked Rick a little upset about where in the hell we were. I did have to admit, Izzy's airfield was in the middle of nowhere with a wooden sign saying 'the Magic Carpet.' It looked less than luxury.

"It'll be fine. He's a professional." Rick replied pretty sure of himself. I on the other hand was not amused. Izzy was nice but kind of unreliable and quite frankly a pussy. Just then the man of the hour walked through the giant doors that separated us from the airfield whistling to himself, unaware that we were awaiting his arrival.

"Izzy!" Rick greeted him warmly. Izzy spun in a circle and ran back through the gate promptly locking it and keeping us from getting through. As if that would work, if I knew my husband at all, locks were never a problem for him, whether it be picking one or shooting it, he would find a way through.

"Hey!" Rick said, a frown crossing his features.

"He definitely remembers you." Evy said sarcastically, she was not in the mood to be fucked with.

"He's a little shy." Rick explained as he walked towards the door. "Jonathan, get our bags." Rick demanded, I knew he was feeling the same way I was, that this was our fault for roping our family into this. But so far we were making decent time to get to Alex before it was too late.

"Oh, my hands are full." Jon made a bullshit excuse as always.

"Now!" I yelled grabbing the gold stick from his hands. I'd been fed up the entire trip back down to Egypt. I was on edge, we just needed to find Alex.

"Right. I'll get the bags." Jon said afraid of my temper, giving me a look that asked 'what the hell Joe?'

"I'll deal with the flight details." Rick said as he shot the lock off the door and kicked it open. What did I say? I knew him too well.

"Honey, you're not a subtle man." I berated him, walking in step behind him.

"We don't have time for subtle." He defended himself, I laughed, very true. I threw him the gold stick knowing it would help in our negotiations with Izzy if need be. Rick caught it with ease.

"Izzy, come here." Rick said as he went to go get Izzy as he ran away saying 'no, no, no.' under his breath.

"Doesn't look happy to see you." Evy said to Rick.

"Never turned me down yet." Rick said looking at her sideways.

"Whatever it is, whatever you need, I don't care." Izzy told Rick while grabbing some maps. "Forget it, O'Connell. Every time I hook up with you, I get shot. Last time I got shot in the ass. I'm in mourning for my ass." He lifted some sleeping drunks head and dropped it unsparingly. "Remember that bank job in Marrakesh?" He went on.

"Bank job?" Evy asked Rick as she looked at me in the process, I just shrugged. I knew what he was talking about. Oh Rick was a wild man in the old days, however, I did not know all the stories, I didn't want to.

"It's not like it sounds." Rick defended himself as we all followed Izzy to a makeshift tent made with sticks.

"It's exactly how it sounds. I'm flying high, hiding in the sun. The white boy here flags me down, so I fly in low for the pick-up. The next thing you know, I get shot. I'm lying in the middle of the road with my spleen hanging out... And I see him waltzing up with some belly dancer girl." Izzy explained the story although I remembered Rick telling it differently. I sighed, trying not to get angry.

"Belly dancer girl?" Evy asked looking back to me. I gave her a glance that said 'not sure, I will find out.'

"Not how I heard it. Izzy I think you and I need to have another chat." I piped up.

"As long as I don't get shot." He said to me while looking at me. "Joe, is that you??" Izzy asked unbelievingly so. "Oh my god I thought you were dead!!" Izzy continued, clearly happy the news wasn't true. "I've been reading about you since the day you resurfaced." I smiled at him.

"Well I'm upset the papers think I'm dead. We'll talk later doll." I said to him as Rick wanted to get on with the plans. He looked at me oddly, he quickly hid his doubt that haphazardly crossed his face.

"Quit your whining. You're gonna get paid this time." Rick said throwing money at him. Izzy looked at it amazed at first but quickly muddled his expression.

"O'Connell, have you looked around here any? What do I need money for? What the hell am I gonna spend it on?" Izzy said pocketing the money anyway. Of course, another Jonathan type. I forgot about that character trait in Izzy.

"I'm gonna keep this short. Her little boys out there. I'm gonna do whatever it takes to get him back." He said gesturing to Evy and waving the gold stick near his face. I saw Evy look back at something and followed her gaze to see some guy bathing in a tub reading a newspaper with what looked like Rick and I's face on the front page. The things you see... Rick moved the stick around and noticed Izzy looking at it.

"If you give me that gold stick, you can shave my head... wax my legs and use me for a surfboard." Rick threw the stick at him. Surprisingly he caught the stick and dropped all his charts.

"Didn't we do that in Tripoli? Say, by the way, when did you lose your eye?" Rick asked him cutting his attitude down a tad. Izzy laughed a little lifting the eye patch as he did so.

"I didn't. I just thought it made me look more dashing." Rick didn't seem to like the response so he pulled the eye patch off his eye and threw it to the ground. Oh my husband, so rash.

"Come on. Get to work." He said waving his hand around like he owned the place. Pointing in the direction Izzy should go.

"You're not catching me at my best." Izzy said as he walked away to prepare his plane talking to Evy as he did so.

"Oh, I'm sure I am." Evy said as she caught up to me walking a little ahead. We were met with Ardeth and his herd of Medjai he had rounded up. I guess that's where he had got to. He dashed away from London real quick before we had booked our own details to get to Egypt.

"I knew it. I'm gonna get shot." Izzy said under his breath as he saw the "intruders".

"These are the commanders of the 12 tribes of the Medjai." Ardeth explained hopping off his horse and walking up to us. "Horus." A beautiful falcon swooped down to meet his arm perching on it.

"Pet bird." Jon spoke up smiling at it a little, he always used to beg Mum for one when he was a young lad. His admiration for them was almost more than his obsession with treasure.

"My best and most clever friend. He will let the commanders know of our progress so that they may follow." He explained more, stroking Horus as he did so. Evy walked up to him petting the bird as well. I'm sure she was very happy to be reunited with her husband. We had been venturing without him for a couple days. Rick seeing the couple back together took a step back and put his arm around me. I snuggled into him. It'd been a while since we were... intimate. I'd been worried sick for losing Alex and felt absolutely terrible about it.

"Allah hu mana" Ardeth said making a gesture towards his herd. They mirrored him and rode off into the desert.

"If the Army of Anubis arises... They will do all they can to stop it." Ardeth said to us hopeful. I knew Rick and I were very determined to get Alex back, maybe even more so than his parents. Izzy stole a glance at us and looked at me questioningly before gesturing our gaggle to move towards where he had prepared a... Balloon. A giant fucking balloon.

"Isn't she beautiful?" Izzy said proud of his balloon.

"Its a balloon." Rick said to him pointing out the obvious. Unwinding his arm from around my form.

"Its a dirigible." Izzy said a little laughing at Rick.

"Where's your airplane?" Rick asked absolutely pissed, oh shit, I knew that tone.

"Airplanes are a thing of the past." Izzy replied to him still happy.

"Izzy, you were right." Rick said.

"Rick..." I warned him my tone low and menacing.

"I was?" Izzy asked having no idea what was coming.

"Yeah, you're gonna get shot." Rick said pulling out his gun and racking the slide.

"RICK!" I yelled. He stopped his action and looked at me.

"Whoa whoa whoa, she's faster than she looks. And she's real quiet. Perfect for sneaking up on people, which is a very good thing. Unless, of course, we go with your approach-- barging in face first, guns blazing, gettin' your friends shot in the ass." Izzy replied to him feeling the need to explain himself.

"Why can't you people ever keep your feet on the ground?" Ardeth asked no one in particular. We all boarded the dirigible and sooner than we knew it day turned to night. We had a beautiful sunset with the pyramids in the background. I looked over the edge of the ship and stayed there, wondering what was awaiting us. I heard Jon and Ardeth get into a conversation but blocked them out promptly. Evy walked up to me.

"You know it's not your fault Josephine." She said standing next to me.

"No Eves, it is. I feel so terrible, I'm so sorry." I went on to apologize but she stopped me.

"It isn't, Joe, Alex put the bracelet on himself. Getting captured, now that's a different story for later." She tried to reason with me. Just then I heard Jon and Izzy get into a tussle over the gold stick. I looked behind me.

"Jonathan!" I shouted to him. He immediately let go, Izzy smiling in the process. He backed away from the controls and sauntered up to Evelyn and myself.

"So Joe, this your family?" He asked me, I nodded. I met Izzy in the Royal Air Corps. I did a job with him a while ago when I first started drifting away from home. By happenstance I briefly met Rick on that trip. I nodded at him answering the question.

"Yes, this is Evy, Evelyn Car-... Bay now." I corrected myself. Still wasn't used to it.

"My younger sister... And that idiot over there who was fighting you over the gold stick is my brother Jonathan." I explained to him.

"And where does Rick fit into all this?" He asked looking at the rock on my finger.

"Well, we reconnected when I joined the French Foreign Legions, not together at this point. I posed as a man to get in. It was quite an adventure. We ended up in Hamunaptra and well I lost him... A couple years later he resurfaced and I found him in a Cario prison where my family and I were going to go back to Hamunaptra. You know what, it's a long story about what happened there, I'll tell you some other time. But eventually we just kinda fell together and I married him." Evy laughed a little about how I skipped the details. It wasn't time to tell him about what happened at Hamunaptra.

"She's short selling it, it was very romantic and altogether the perfect love story." Evy told Izzy smacking me on the arm as she did so.

"Well thank goodness for that, you two make a wonderful couple. I always knew he liked you." Izzy smiled at me approvingly. I smiled back. He walked back to the controls and guided us towards where we needed to go.

"He's quite a character." Evelyn pointed out. I laughed, oh she had no idea.