Re: Alexandria
In reply to Prof. Ralph T. Fulty (msg # 14):
Outside, in the heat of the crowded train platform, Alexander led Ralph to the first class rail cars. They climbed the removable elaborately painted wooden steps that were placed to assist passengers in boarding the train.
"We will have time on the train to catch up. First, some drinks in the club car."
They had a private car to themselves and that's where their carry-on bags were stored. In the first-class cars the passage swarmed with various staff and some well-dressed travellers, some Europeans but mostly wealthy Egyptians. As they waited for the conductor to take their ticket, they caught up. (As Ralph went through the following, he was the one who related this to Alexander.)
Basically, the main thing that had happened in England was the uncovering of an Egyptian-themed cult, the Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh. The Brotherhood had been using a club, the Blue Nile, to regularly kidnap victims in London for sacrifices. The Blue Nike kidnappings, and in fact similar crimes all around the UK, had been carried out by Tewfik al-Sayid, a spice dealer for Cairo and a regular Egyptian guide for the Penhew foundation. The new director of the Penhew Foundation after Lord Penhew's alleged death, Edward Gavigan, had been the leader of the Brotherhood in the UK and Tewfik had been operating under his orders.
Finally, the group, along with some allies, had mounted an assault on the cult's HQ in Gavigan's Essex estate, al-Misr House. There, all the cultists present for the sacrifices had died (although Tewfik had escaped). The cost was high. Howard Lampton and Phil Webley had been earlier kidnapped by the cult and had been sacrificed. There was nothing they could do. Major Storm and Perkins' brother had been killed by some kind of fantastic flying beasts summoned by the cultists. Imram Singh disappeared in the battle, likely spirited away somewhere unknown by Tewfik al-Sayid. Their police allies had helped cover up the carnage with coincidental stories of traffic and boating accidents.
A great deal of cult-related material had been recovered. Books, statuettes, scrolls, artefacts (a mirror, powders, ankhs, etc.). As well, they had bought an odd painting of some kind of African ceremony.