Winter Legacy -20-

Claus was excited to show Jaylee Egypt, but he had to run off as soon as he got her settled at Base Camp.

Tahiya Shalut had given Claus a contact for a man who had connections to MorcuCorp. 

"Shalom Claus Winter." The man greeted him cheerily. Claus had no idea what this man's name was, he was given a location and the man was called Person X. 

"Hi, do you have the information?"

"Information? Oh no, no, no, I do not have information. I am to grant you entry to my house, please feel free to look around." That was when Claus realized that he and Person X were given different information. 

"Uh...okay, thanks."

Jaylee hated Egypt immediately. Her skin was very sensitive to the sun, and there was far too much of that in Egypt. Inside the tents were too hot so she decided to sit under a tree and catch up on her reading, but she was uncomfortable no matter where she was.

"Allo." A man with a thick French accent plopped himself down in front of her. 

"Hi." Jaylee folded the book to give him her attention.

"My name is Andre Lefebvre, I could not help but notice you sitting over here by yourself. How is it that a beautiful woman like you finds herself traveling alone."

Jaylee smirked. "I'm actually not traveling alone, I'm here with a friend."

"Where is she?"

"He is somewhere around Al Simhara."

"Well until he returns, I shall keep you company."

Claus was exploring the house, trying to find a secret passage way. He had no luck when he searched the book shelf. In fact, he had no luck inside the house at all.

However, when he went out back he found a switch, nearly hidden among the loose stones that made up the walk way. After inspecting the switch and toying with it a bit, some of the stones fell away to reveal a staircase.

Claus went downstairs and found a library hidden away beneath the walkway. "Interesting." He mumbled, the place was too beautifully decorated and clean, he was sure that it was still in use, which meant that he had only a short time to search the place for a relic that Tahiya Shalut said was hidden somewhere inside the underground library.

Claus found that more than just a library was hidden beneath the house. There were numerous passageways and rooms.

 Whatever the relic was, was quite important to MorcuCorp as Claus had to do quite a bit of searching to find the chest that it was hidden in, he even fell for a couple of decoys before he found the correct chest.

As if she were watching him, Tahiya Shalut rang Claus' cell phone. "Hello."

"Claus, I need you to leave immediately, I've got a call from a friend of mine saying that someone from MorcuCorp is on their way there. Get out now."

Claus didn't have to be told to leave twice. He bolted, not even leaving the way he'd come in, the last thing he needed was for people to start asking questions, especially people from MorcuCorp.

"I know what you are Jaylee Darling. You are everything I want, and everything I want to be."

Jaylee gave Andre a bored look. "If you know what I am, then you know that I can't help you to become like me, that would be suicide."

"Fair enough, but please, allow me to be your escort. I do know my way around Egypt, and it would not be fair for you to sit at Base Camp the entire time you are here."

"Alright, I did want to see more of this place."

A disturbance at the other side of camp caught Jaylee's and Andre's attention. A woman was screaming at Claus in a mix of French and English. She raised her arm and tried to slap him but he caught her wrist, gave her an indifferent look and crawled inside a tent.

Jaylee found Claus at a table having breakfast the next morning. "What was that about? You know, last night."

Claus shrugged. "Girl I used to date."

Jaylee sat down at the table and opened her book although she didn't bother to read. "She was really angry."

"Apparently she thought I was going to marry her." Claus stood. "I have to go."

Jaylee waited all day for Claus to return. Somebody started a fire and Jaylee found herself sitting there, roasting vegetables she wasn't going to eat. She wanted to ask more questions, but she couldn't find the woman. Andre told her that the woman's name was Charlotte Dubois, she'd made the mistake of falling in love with Claus Winter, she asked if they'd ever get married, he said no and left her without so much as a goodbye. 

"Charlotte and I live in the same neighborhood." Andre said. "Do not fool yourself into believing that he will marry you Jaylee, you are a nice woman, you deserve somebody who will love you just the same as you love them."

"Who said anything about loving Claus?" She questioned. 

Claus had been avoiding Jaylee, he did not want to talk about Charlotte, and Jaylee had started giving him that look which made him believe that she already knew what was on his mind. Night was just falling when Claus received a text message giving him another location.

When he'd gotten to the location a woman waved him over. "Who are you?" He asked her.

"I am Tahiya Shalut."