The Adventurer & The Librarian

Chapter 6: Assassins

Bonnie shoved Beni into the luggage and he yelped again as she aimed the pistol at his chest, a dangerous expression on her face.

"What a surprise!" the man in the fez hat said.  "My good friend, you're alive!  I was so very, very worried!"

Bonnie's face tightened as she got more angry, remembering this little jerk left her to die at Hamunaptra.  "Well, if it ain't my little buddy Beni," she snarled.  "I think I'll kill you."

She raised the gun to his face and Beni looked even more horrified.  "Think of my children," Beni pleaded.

"You don't have any children," Bonnie argued in disbelief.

"Someday I might," the Hungarian whimpered out.

Bonnie jerked him, squinting her eyes.  "Shut up.  So you're the one who's leading the Americans.  I might have known.  So what's the scam, Beni?  You take them out into the middle of the desert, and then you leave 'em to rot?"

"Unfortunately, no," Beni said with disappointment on his face.  "These Americans are smart.  They pay me only half now, half when I get them back to Cairo.  So this time I must go all the way."

Bonnie sighed, believing the man.  She always knew when Beni was lying and he wasn't lying now.  "Them's the breaks, huh?" the American woman said, releasing him and tucking her pistol into her belt.

"You never believed in Hamunaptra, O'Connell," Beni said curiously.  "Why are you going back?"

Bonnie heard a grumble and she looked over by the boat stables to see William petting a camel.  "You see that guy?  He saved my neck," she replied.

William looked over at Bonnie and Beni with an expression of umbridge.  The American sighed a little as William went walking away.  "You always did have more balls than brains," Beni said, slapping a hand on Bonnie's shoulder and chuckling

Bonnie made a fake laugh and put an arm around the man, leading him over to the side of the boat before saying goodbye and tossing him over the railing.  He screamed and hit the water with a loud splash.  Bonnie did not feel the least bit sorry for the sneaky little coward.  She went back to her guns as Beni screamed for Bonnie to help him, but she ignored it.  As she started rolling up her gun bag, Bonnie noticed wet footprints on the deck, giving her pause.  She quickly looked over the side, still seeing Beni splashing around.  The footprints led to where William had gone.

"Damn," she said before gathering up her guns and bag quickly.

Bonnie hurried after the prints, stashing her bag to the side before entering a hallway.  Eventually she came to William's room and could hear the sounds of a brawl going on.

"I was just about to sleep, you meddling bastard!" she heard William shout.

With her revolvers in hand, she kicked the door open and aimed at an assassin being beat up by William, all dressed for bed in plaid pajamas.  The librarian knocked the bad guy unconscious and Bonnie smirked a little.  A flame from a candle flickered and Bonnie turned just as another desert assassin burst through the deck door.  Bonnie shot him multiple times, hitting the lantern that was on the wall and setting the sofa aflame.  William ducked behind Bonnie and she shot another assassin who came rushing in, then Bonnie helped William exit the room.  He rushed a few steps through the hallway then stopped as Bonnie reloaded her guns.

"The map!  The map" he yelled hysterically as he turned back to the room.  "I forgot the map!"

Without even looking up, Bonnie grabbed William by the arm.  "Relax, I'm the map," she said before dragging him down the hallway and pointing to her temple.  "It's all up here."

"Oh, that's comforting!" William replied sarcastically.

"Beggars can't be choosers," Bonnie retorted dryly.

They made their way back down the hallway and through the door, and Bonnie could see that the entire boat had broke out in chaos from assassins and fire.  She really hated being right, sometimes.

"Here!" she said, handing her bag to William. 

Bonnie began reloading her revolvers as shots fired around them and she retreated closer into the corner with William behind her.  Suddenly she was yanked closer to him just as bullets went zooming by her head.  Bonnie glanced at him with a thankful expression, pulled out her colt pistol and handed it to him.

William slung the bag over his shoulder and followed Bonnie as she slammed the chambers closed and shot at anyone dressed in black desert clothing.  Enemies were everywhere but Bonnie made quick work to protect William from getting shot himself.  All she had to do was make it to the side of the boat.  They dodged and shot, avoiding panicking people and frightened horses.  But they stuck together and Bonnie was impressed at his marksmanship.

"Can you swim?!" Bonnie yelled as she holstered her guns, grabbing the bag from him.

"Of course I can swim if the occasion calls for it!" William snapped at her.

"Trust me!  It calls for it!" Bonnie yelled before knocking William off the boat.

She reached down for her bag and was just about to join William when an assassin came up and tackled her to the deck.  They got up and Bonnie was punched a few times in the face, knocking her into a pole.  As the man attempted to strangle her, Bonnie knocked his arms down and gave him a rough headbutt.  She went on the offense, decking him in the face and stomach with right and left hooks and jabs before kicking him into a burning room.

"O'Connell!  O'Connell!" Hassad yelled as he ran over.  Bonnie picked up her bag as he screamed at her frantically, asking her what to do.

She grabbed the warden by the shoulders.  "Wait here!  I'll go get help!"

"Right!"

Bonnie, with her bag, jumped over the side.  As she waded through the water, trying to find William, she noticed others were jumping ship.  She hoped Jonathan had made it out of that mess.  From a distance, Bonnie could see William swimming and she caught up to him, pointing him to the right side of the river as others went to the other side with all the horses and camels.

"Shit," she thought as Hassad and Jonathan caught up with them.

They clambered to shore, all completely drenched.  "We've lost everything!" William yelled.  "All of our tools, all the equipment!"

"O'Connell!" Bonnie heard Beni screeching from the other shore and turned to look at him.  "Hey, O'Connell!  It looks to me like I've got all the horses!"

Bonnie smirked and took a couple steps back to the water. "Hey Beni!  Looks to me like you're in the wrong side of the river!" she shouted in response.

It only took a few seconds for Beni to get visibly flustered.  That was all Bonnie needed to know that she still had the upper hand.

"What do we do now?" Jonathan asked, still breathing heavily as he was hunched over.

"Someone will see the smoke rising from the river," Bonnie explained as she pulled out both her revolvers.  "They might send reinforcements.  We need to move."

Bonnie turned and walked off, the group of men following her.  William caught up to her and held out the colt pistol he still had.  Bonnie eyed it and took out the clip, replaced it with a loaded one and handed it back to him.

"You don't want the gun back?" William asked.

"I trust you know how to use it.  And I'm not giving a gun to those two knuckleheads," she said nonchalantly, picking up the pace to get away from the river.