The next day was filled with Evy fussing about the deal they had made with mister O'Connell. Rosie felt like she was going to go insane if she had to hear another word about him. She carried her suitcase and bag filled with things they would need for the desert. She wore a different outfit that gave a lot of stares since it wasn't what a woman would normally wear. She wore a pair of tan pants with a simple green button-down shirt with the sleeve rolled up to her elbows and brown work boots that reached her calves. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail to keep it out of her face. This was her normal attire when she went out in the field. Of course, she liked dresses but she often preferred to have a pair of pants to wear when working. None of her siblings made a fuss about it, once Evy had in the past when Rosie first started working and it ended in a huge argument that Johnathan preferred to have stayed out of. Why should others fuss about what women wear? It was a subject Rosie felt strongly about and also the topic of women's rights in general.

          With each look she got from others passing by she simply ignored it. As they got to their destination Evy spoke up again about her worries, "Do you really think that he will show up Rosie?" she asked and looked at her, Rosie sighed and nodded "yes sis, he will". Jonathan patted her shoulder "Don't worry Eves I know the breed! Cowboys don't go back on their word" he said confidently. "Personally I think he is filthy, rude and a complete scoundrel. I don't like him one bit". Evy huffed in anger, still a bit miffed about that kiss. "We don't have to like him, we just need to work with him to get to the destination. And plus if he tries anything you have me so don't worry". Rosie said and smiled at her sister. Evy smiled back agreeing and then her expressions changed looking at someone behind her sister. "Is that guy anyone I know?" The familiar voice made Rosie cringe, realizing she messed up. She turned around and her jaw dropped slightly at the huge change in Rick's appearance. He was now clean and had a fresh haircut and shaved that long beard off. He looked nice. But what shocked her the most was she finally recognized him. "Well shit.." she blurted out and almost dropped the bag in her hand. Rick helped her out and grabbed the bag. "Here let me take that," he said and she let him take it, not really knowing what to say. Evy on the other hand looked pleased with what she was seeing. 

           "Oh um...hello uh" she looked dazed at the hunk in front of her. Rosie stepped to the side and Johnathan clapped, trying to be friendly with him. "Ha! Smashing day for an adventure, eh, O'connell?" he smiled and held out a hand for Rick to shake. It wasn't taken and Rick made sure to check his pockets. "Uh yeah sure Nathan" He replied, Jonathan pulled his hand back awkwardly and mumbled "It's Johnathan actually old chap" Rick nodded "Johnathan got it". Rick relaxed when he found his wallet intact. Evy and Rosie watched the whole thing. Evy stepped up to talk, "Mister O'Connell, can you look me in the eye, and guarantee me this is not some sort of flimflam? Because if it is I'm warning you --" she was cut off by Rick stepping closer, invading her space and Rosie tensed a bit not liking how close he got to her, ready to step in. Evy held up a hand to say it was ok. Rosie still was ready. "All I can tell you, miss, is that my Colonel found that map in an ancient fortress and the whole damn garrison believed in it so much that without orders, we marched halfway across Libya, and into Egypt to find that city. Like I told ya, all I saw was sand. Everybody else was wiped out by Tuareg warriors. I'll take your bags." he took Evy's bags along with Rosies. Leaving Johnathan to carry his own. 

             He left the trio, walking up the gangplank to the boat. Evy looked star-struck and her eyes followed him until he was out of sight. She was clearly smitten with him. Rosie on the other hand was cursing at herself. How could she have not noticed who he was!? Jonathan saw the two very different reactions his sisters had. "Yes, Yes, you're right, filthy, rude, a complete scoundrel, nothing to like at all" he teased and grinned at his siblings. Earning a smack from Rosie. "Hey ow!" he rubbed his arm. Suddenly the Warden came brushing past them, fixing his hat on his head and carrying his bags. "A bright good morning to you all!" he said and tipped his hat. "Oh no no what are you doing here?" Evy asked and looked disappointed to see him. The warden started to walk up the gangplank to get on the boat and he called back at them "I am here to protect my investment thank you very much!" and with that, he was on the boat ready to join them on their adventure to Hamunaptra. Rosie and her siblings shared a look and then she shrugged and headed to the boat with them in tow. "This is going to be eventful" she muttered.

                                                                                           -----

  As they set off down the river, the day began to come to a close. Sunset slowly descended and there was a beautiful pink sky. In the brush on the side of the river were the Madjai and the hooked man. They got into their small canoes and paddled quietly following the boat as night fell. All the while Johnathan was playing poker with the Americans named Daniels, Burns, and Henderson. Rick walked past them carrying a sack on his shoulder. John smiled and called to him "O'Connell! Sit down, we could use another good player". Rick shook his head and answered "I only gamble with my life, never with my money" It was hard to tell if he was being serious or just sarcastic. Daniels chuckled at him, "Never? What if I were to wager five hundred dollars that we would get to Hamunaptra before you?" he was looking at him with a cocky grin on his face, which Rick mirrored. "Yer on" Rick said. The lanky man named Burns cleaned his bifocals but no matter what remained scratched at messy, he placed them back on and looked at Rick. "What makes you so confident sir?" he asked curiously. Henderson sat back in his chair watching and spit his wad of tobacco into a spittoon. Which made Johnathan cringe in disgust slightly. "We got us a man who's actually been there" Henderson said with a sly grin. Rick's face dropped slightly, suddenly not so confident. Jonathan was in the same boat as Rick and looked slightly nervous. "I say- what a coincidence- why--" He was cut off with a hard hit to the ribs from the end of Rick's bag, causing him to grunt. "Oops my bad" Rick said and sent him a fake smile. Jonathan recovered and gave him a look then kept talking. "Whose deal is it? Is it my deal? I thought I just dealt" Completely changing the conversation. And easily distracting the Amercians. Rick walked away to the side of the boat.

Evy and Rosie both sat at a quiet table. Evy was reading while Rosie looked over some tools she had on the table that overlooked the riverside. Both women looked engrossed in what they were doing. Rick dropped his own back on the other side of the table causing them both to nearly jump out of their skin. Rosie sent him a glare. "Oh sorry didn't mean to scare ya'll" he said. Eveyln scoffed and closed her book holding the page with her finger that was holding the book. "The only thing that scares me is your manners mister O'Connell". Once again Rosie felt like she really shouldn't be sitting in between the two as they spoke to each other. Rick on the other hand was glad he had finally found Rosie. He had actually been looking for her this whole time so that he could talk to her. "Still angry I kissed ya?" he deduced and raised an eyebrow. Evy laughed "Yes, if you can even call it that" she shot back at him. Rick opened his sack and started pulling out guns and ammo. Rosie looked at them and admired one of the sleeker looking ones. Evy on the other hand looked confused. "Did I miss something? Are we going into battle?" she asked. "Eves you always need to be armed on an expedition you never know who may be out there ready to steal or worse harm you" Rosie said. Rick definitely agreed. "Yeah but also..last time I was at that place. Everybody I was with died". This brought the smile off Evelyn's face. Rosie frowned. "I'm sorry" Rosie said and Rick looked back at her simply nodding. It wasn't something he liked to talk about. Sometimes he could still hear their screams when he was asleep. "There is something out there, you know, there is something in that sand." he said and started to take apart one of the guns. Cleaning the parts. Evy perked up and smiled a bit "yes I'm hoping to find a certain artifact there, it's a book actually." she said. "Yeah John thinks there is treasure too. I think there might be nothing..." Rosie said and Evy sent her an annoyed look "Why are you so negative about this, this could be a great breakthrough." she said "It feels wrong and too dangerous, I told you we should have just listened to the Curator about it." Rosie said and Evy rolled her eyes. Moving on to talk to Rick "What about you Mister O'Connell, What do you think is out there?" she asked. "I'm in the same boat as Rose, there is just evil out there. The Tuaregs and the Bedouin believe that Hamunaptra is cursed, they call it 'the doorway to hell'". Rosie got goosebumps at the name. "It is.." she muttered, not really realizing she said that. Rick caught it but didn't say anything.

"Ahmar is Ossirion. "Passageway to the Underworld", actually" she said and formed a know-it-all grin on her face. "I dont believe in fairy tales and hokum, Mister O'Connell, but I do believe that one of the most famous books in history is buried out there, The Book of the Living. It's what first interested me in Egypt as a child. It's why I Came here, sort of a life's pursuit." she said in an excited tone. Rosie watched and then looked back down at her tools. She fiddled with her bow compass. "And the fact that it's made out of pure gold means nothing right?" Rick said and Evy looked surprised by his knowledge about the book. "You know your history" she said and he returned with "I know my treasure". Evy then stands up holding her book securely. Rosie looked up "You leaving?" she asked and evy nodded "Yes I am going to my room..." she said but then slowly stopped walking away and turned around looking at Rick "By the way..why did you kiss me?" she asked. Rosie made a face and suddenly her Compass looked very interesting. Rick was still cleaning his guns and then shrugged. "I was about to be hanged, which seemed like a good idea at the time."
Both Rosie and Evy's eyes widened. Evy looked furious and stormed off. Rick looked confused "What did I say?" he asked Rosie. Rosie shook her head. "O'Connell there is much you still need to learn about women." she said and then sat back. Rick sighed and looked back at his guns. "So...how did you even end up in prison..." she asked and he shrugged. "I honestly can't remember, but I do remember what I was doing a few days before" he hinted. She screamed on the inside. He knew. "Ah yeah about that...if you remembered why didn't you say something at the bloody prison?" she said, sounding annoyed. "Eh, I wanted to see if you would remember," he said and smiled a bit. "It took me a second, it was hard to recognise you with that nasty beard" Rick chuckled. "Yeah, not my best look" he said and then stopped what he was doing to look at her. "So can we talk about it? I mean we spent three days together and then poof you were gone." he said. Rosie sighed and sat on the chair with her legs folded over another, her feet hanging off the sides of the chair. "I don't know, I just...I had to go, you know how it is" She said, not sure how to say that she literally had no idea why she left him hanging there, she had no memory of leaving. "It wasn't me right I mean I was good right--" Rosie cut him off and shook her head "Nonono you were amazing um..no it was just me. Trust me" she gave him a shy look "stupendous I swear" she said. Rick smirked and then said. "Right, Stupendous...so what are we then? Friends, not friends? Lovers? What is it" he asked and Rosie took a long pause "Um..friends? I would like to start over. Just promise me you wont tell anyone, especially my siblings, please" Rick nodded "Yeah sure I won't. Friends then" he said and Rosie nodded "Friends".

"So your sister, uh did I mess that up?" He asked as he put one of his guns back together. Rosie laughed "Yes you did, quite the charmer you are. 'Seemed like a good idea at the time'" She put on a deep voice that was supposed to sound like Rick and it made him cringe. "Yeah yeah ok, I messed up. Should I apologize?" He asked and Rosie smacked his arm "Yes! That is the last thing a woman wants to hear that they were only kissed because "Oh it seemed like a good bloody option"" she put in quotes with her fingers. "You seem surprisingly ok that I kissed your sister though" Rosie snorted "Hah! Oh no i wanted to kill you" She said and crossed her arms. "Or maybe you secretly wanted it to be you?" Rick added. And Rosie blushed hard. "No! Not at all" she said and stood up gathering her things. "I'm not that desperate O'Connell" she snapped and walked off to her room. "Aaandd I did it again" he muttered.

There was a small sound of snickering behind the crates near Rick and his head snapped to them. He stood up and quietly walked over to find a skinny looking man with a thin moostash and sunken brown eyes laughing at the conversation he just heard. Rick pulled him up roughly causing the man to cry out. It was a member of O'Connells garrison that left him for dead. Beni. "Ah my very good friend! What a surprise!" he said and struggled in Rick's grip. "Why if it ain't my buddy Beni. I outta kill you" He said with anger in his voice. O'Connell pulled a knife from his belt and held it to Beni's throat causing the small man to swallow hard and look at the knife in fear. He wiggled, spreading a grin on his face, stuttering "You never were very good with the ladies, O'Connell". It didn't really work, and then Rick connected the dots. "So you are the one leading the Americans, I should have figured...So what's the scam? You get them out in the middle of the desert and leave them to rot?" he asked. Beni chuckled nervously and shook his head "Haha no, Unfortunately...these Americans are smart, they pay me only half now, half when I get them back to Cario, so I must go all the way" he explained. Rick then pulled away his knife and Beni Rubbed his neck, relaxing.

He looked at O'Connell confused. "You never believed in Hamunaptra, O'Connell. Why are you going back? The devil himself lives out there". There was a faint yelp as Evy was off looking at the camels in the stable. She pet one on the head and narrowly avoided getting bitten by it. She looked embarrassed and walked away, hoping no one saw that. Rick grinned and then said. "The girl saved my life, figured it was the least i could do, keep her out of trouble". Beni watched Evy leave. He looked back at Rick "You always did have more balls than brains, and also there might be something or someone else to motivate you from what I heard" he said. Rick glared at him. "Don't talk about her...hey, I know, let's make us even Beni." Beni raised his eyebrows "Even?" And suddenly Rick grabbed him like a ragdoll and chucked him into the River with a splash. Rick put his guns in his bag and walked away leaving Beni. Beni sputtered and coughed as he resurfaced the water. "O'Connell!!! I will kill you for this!!" he yelled. Rick humed as he walked "That sounds familiar" he said. And that is when he spots wet footprints in front of him. He looked at them confused, looking back to see Beni struggling to get back onto the boat. Rick saw that they were headed towards Evy's room and went on alert and headed that way.