Date: Sat, 15 Nov 2014 21:36:55 -0800 From: John Black Subject: Library of Alexandria, Chapter 2 Library of Alexandria Chapter 2 Michael and John worked out every weekday morning before heading off to work at Mr. Asquith's estate. As they walked through the door of the fitness gym, they were greeted by one of the trainers. He checked them in and told them that Paul was looking for them. "He just went back into the changing room," the trainer said. "He has a client in five minutes, though," he added with a smirk. This was probably the gayest gym in town. It was well known as a place to pick up men who were into other men. Paul was someone that Michael had met on his first day there. Paul had showed him around, demonstrated some of the equipment, and showered with Michael, making it very clear that Paul wanted to get fucked by Michael's big, Italian dick. All the while, Paul was pushing Michael to join. The facility was good, the equipment was new, and Paul was stunning. His bodybuilder physique didn't have that overdone look to it, and Michael checked for the telltale signs of steroid abuse, but saw none. And Paul had a fantastic ass. So, Michael joined. The next time he went into the gym, Paul spent additional free time with Michael and acted as spotter for some of the weight lifting. When Michael went to the showers, Paul joined him. One thing led to another and Michael rimmed and fucked Paul's amazing ass twice, dumping big loads from his thick, Italian sausage up Paul's hungry ass. Paul tried to tell him that he didn't get fucked very much, but Michael knew better. Someone who infrequently got fucked didn't take a big dick like his that easily without lube. However, Michael didn't care. He loved Paul's ass and didn't mind at all giving the bodybuilder what they both wanted. This was a purely physical relationship. Paul wanted to be a bodybuilder with no other aspirations. Michael wanted to finish his master's degree in ancient languages. They had little in common, other than the hot sex. Michael invited Paul to his condo several times to play for the night. Both of them took advantage of each other during those times, leaving Paul's ass and Michael's dick sore from all the friction. Whenever they were at the gym at the same time, Michael would service Paul and leave both of them satisfied. Once in a while, Michael would blow Paul, but that wasn't very often. But today, Paul made it very clear that he was in need of a double breeding right after he finished with his client. He asked if the two men would be available in an hour. They assured him that they would be. Michael and John finished their legs and back workout in about an hour and headed to the locker room. They nodded to Paul who smiled as they walked by him. At their lockers, Michael stripped off his sweaty togs and glanced over at John. Immediately, his dick started to rise and lengthen. "Every time I look at your bare ass or your huge dick, I get a hard-on," he smiled. John glanced over at him and smiled. "And you love it!" John laughed. "Yeah, I do. I'm always pleased that I can still get a `rise' out of you after three years," John said. "And it isn't like you don't have an impact on me," he added, waving his expanding dick in Michael's direction. "If we hadn't promised Paul that we'd fuck him, I'd take you on right here, right now!" "Smooth talker," Michael smiled. He turned around and bent over, offering up his ass to John's huge, black dick. "That dick goes in my ass, not yours," Paul smiled down on Michael. He looked up and grinned. "I was just tantalizing him for you, Paul," he lied. "Yeah, sure," he replied, not believing Michael one bit. "Let's shower up and get this breeding started. I checked the sauna and steam room. Only the sauna is vacant." We showered quickly, grabbed our towels and headed for the sauna. As Paul had said, it was deserted. Paul bent over and offered up his ass. John knelt behind him and stuck his face between Paul's hard ass cheeks. He spread them with his big hands and shoved his tongue between Paul's ass lips. "Oh, fuck yeah," Paul moaned. "I so need to get bred," he crooned. Michael's dick was down Paul's throat, getting it wet enough to fuck Paul. A minute later, John and Michael swapped places. Michael quickly swiped his tongue over Paul's asshole, and then stood up and pushed his hard, dripping dick inside Paul. Paul groaned with pleasure and backed on to Michael. John pushed his dick farther down Paul's throat as if they were attempting to meet in the middle. "That's one sweet hole, Man!" Michael whispered over Paul's back. John leaned in and kissed him as he face-fucked Paul. "You're gonna make me nutt too soon," Michael complained. However, Paul didn't care and neither did Michael. With rapid thrusts, Michael sprayed his creamy load as deeply as his dick would reach. "Swap places with me, Mike," John croaked. "I'm so close!" Quickly, Michael pulled out of Paul's ass and switched places with John. He pushed his monstrous, black dick up Paul's ass in one long thrust. "Fuck! You're so fuckin' big!" Paul winced. "I don't think I'll ever get used to how big you are." Michael put a stop to his complaints by shoving his dick into Paul's mouth. He greedily sucked his slowly shrinking, cum slathered dick. "Always delicious," he praised, when Michael let him breathe. He was beating his dick furiously. This was going to be one of those rare events when Paul wanted to shoot a load, too. "Oh, Man! I'm gonna nut!" John announced. Paul stood up and flailed on his dick, but continued to push back against John's hard thrusts. "Fuck ME!" Paul roared. Michael quickly squatted in front of him and sucked the head of Paul's dick into his mouth. Paul released his dick and alternately fucked himself on John's big dick and shoved his climaxing dick into Michael's mouth. In unison, the two men blasted out their loads, the climax waves in near synchronous sprays. John continued to pound Paul's muscular ass as he held on to Paul's massive shoulders. Michael did his best to keep Paul's average dick in his mouth to get the last drops of his cream. Paul's dick quickly wilted and he pushed Michael away, but didn't pull away from John. He did love that big, black dick up his ass. After another shower, Michael and John dressed and left for Mr. Asquith's estate. "Did you ever think of Paul as a potential mate?" John asked out of the blue. "Only as a fuck buddy," Michael said looking over at him. "We have only sex in common. What about you? Would you have gone for him, if I hadn't come along?" "Nah," John replied. "He's really hot sex as he's demonstrated several times at the gym and a few times at our condo, but he's not a lot more. He seems to be very focused on his bodybuilding and not much interested in anything else, other than sex." "Yeah, I noticed that, too." At the mansion, they immediately went to the lab. Mr. Asquith was already there. He smiled a greeting and then turned back to what he was doing. "This translation that you've done," he indicated pointing to a computer screen, "is very enlightening. I have no idea who these other people are that the bibliography says there is a history for. I've never heard of them. Have you?" The other men shook their heads to the negative. "I've searched on-line for any reference to the translated name of these early people, but the only thing I found was a few obscure words that are similar, but not the same. I suppose that even the version we have is a phonetic transcription of their true name." Again, they nodded, not sure where he was going with this. "On a more positive note, I've definitely located the cave." "Wonderful!" John nearly shouted. "When do we leave?" Mr. Asquith laughed at John's eagerness. "Well, we should get permits to search for the cave and its contents. However, if we do that, the find will likely be confiscated and we'll have nothing to show for our work. I'm afraid they may destroy some or all of it if it doesn't comport with their religious views of the world's creation and the Holy Bible version." Michael spoke up. "As Arabic is my specialty and Saudi Arabia is very conservative, I can assure you that from a cultural perspective, you're very likely right, Mr. Asquith. However, we can't exactly sneak in there and abscond with all those writings without being noticed." "I've been thinking about that, Michael," Mr. Asquith said. "I don't want to burn any bridges with my Arab friends in the Ministry of Antiquities in Saudi Arabia, but I may not have a choice." "Could you ask for permission and then give them only a small sample of what's there and leave with the rest?" John suggested. Mr. Asquith smiled. "You have larceny in your soul, Mr. Sinclair. However, I've thought of that, too. It would get us the majority of the really important finds, assuming that this bibliography is accurate and complete, and that the documents are still there. But, how do we go about explaining to the world where we got these amazing documents? Where did we discover them? At some point, it would come out that they were from this cave in Saudi Arabia. The Saudis would NOT be happy with us." "Aren't you involved in a dig in Italy, near Rome?" Michael asked. Mr. Asquith nodded. "Well, these records are probably in Latin, if they were translated by scribes from the Library of Alexandria. It would be reasonable to think that copies were made for Rome." "You are nefarious!" Mr. Asquith laughed. "Both of you! But, that's not a bad idea." "Thank you, Sir," they replied in unison with big smiles. "Now, we need to figure out how we're going to smuggle them out of Saudi Arabia under their very noses and not get caught," Mr. Asquith mused. "But, we need to know just how big the find is before we can determine how much transportation we'll need." He pulled out a map and ran his finger down the west coast of Saudi Arabia. "We could land a plane at Jeddah at the King Abdulaziz airport and then get a truck or trucks to drive down the coast until we get to Highway 4040. That highway will take us into the interior just beyond Ghomygah where I think the cave is located." "As I speak Arabic, I should be the one to go and scout out the cave," Michael volunteered. "And I need to go with you to smooth out the visas," Mr. Asquith added. "John can go to Rome and work with the archeologists there. You'll need to find a place at the dig site where we can say we found all these relics. The Minister of Antiquities for Italy is an old acquaintance of mine. I think I can convince him to, uh, `cooperate' with us on that dig. John, while you're in Rome, see if you can rent a few large trucks and some tall barriers that can't be seen through. I have an idea how we'll get the new `find' out of Italy." "How many and how big are the trucks and how much barrier will I need to get?" John asked. "I'll text you with the specifics, once we know the size of the find in Saudi Arabia. However, I'll leave it to you to decide how much barrier we'll need after you get to the dig outside Rome. It'll need to be enough for a corridor from the dig to the truck, both sides of the corridor, of course," Mr. Asquith directed. "Of course," John smiled. "Well, we have sort of a plan," Mr. Asquith said. "After you translate the rest of the bibliography, I think we'll have a better idea of the size of the find. However, some will be many pages or tablets; others will be less than a page or only a paragraph. And we don't know if they'll be in jugs or amphorae or some other storage vessel. While you translate, I'll line-up an aircraft that is configured for shipping containers." They looked blankly at him. "Not the kind of shipping containers you see on ships, but the ones that fit nicely in the cargo holds of aircraft." Now, that made much more sense and they smiled their acknowledgements. Michael and John were translating for the entire week as well into most of the following week. The translations were remarkably consistent with each other. Michael noticed that some of the items were repeats from earlier sections that they'd translated. Evidently, that meant that the scrolls or tablets covered several subjects. The bibliography was attempting to give a researcher a chance to find what he was looking for, even though what he was pointed to would include much more than his research topic. Michael pointed that out to John and Mr. Asquith. "Perhaps, that will make the find less voluminous," Mr. Asquith opined. "In one sense, that makes it easier to get a smaller cache of records out of Saudi Arabia. On the other hand, it would make the find less significant." "No matter the volume, this will be the archeological find of the millennium," Michael observed. The other two men nodded their agreement. Within two more weeks, they had their visas for Saudi Arabia. John left for Italy on the same day the others flew to Jeddah. On the plane, Mr. Asquith told Michael that they had three planes standing by to spirit away the hoped for treasure. He had also leased two large trucks and 60 foot trailers that could accommodate the requisite shipping containers. Also at their disposal were two 4X4 vehicles to get the ancient texts from the cave to the highway and then on to Al Lith where the semis was waiting at a warehouse. They landed at Jeddah, made it through customs and immigration and picked up the 4X4 vehicles. They drove down the divided highway to Al Lith before turning east on the 4040 toward Ghomygah. Michael followed Mr. Asquith's vehicle. He had the GPS and the probable coordinates of the cave. A few miles ahead, they pulled off the road and headed up the gently sloping hill. They knew it couldn't be far from the Red Sea, because the people who put the items in the cave wouldn't want to make a long journey to hide them. Mr. Asquith stopped his vehicle and looked up the hill. He motioned for Michael to follow him. With occasional glances at the GPS, they climbed slowly to where Michael could see a notch in the hillside. Desert shrubbery was scattered about, providing good cover for any cave that would be up there as well as their vehicles. Clearly, the cave wasn't noticeable from the highway. And given the terrain, it was likely the locals hadn't stumbled upon it. Less than 100 feet from the road, Michael spied an odd topographical feature. It didn't look natural to him. The closer they got to it, the more it looked like someone had skim-coated over a pile of rocks to conceal something behind it. Granted, the skim-coating was crumbling away, but it was likely what they were looking for. Using their hands and a small pick, they pulled the stacked rocks away. They would have to put them back later. Meanwhile, they stacked them behind the nearby vegetation to hide the "excavation" efforts. Michael looked inside and clicked on a high-intensity flashlight. "Wow!" he whispered. Mr. Asquith muttered, "My Gawd! Look at that!" They stared in awe at the collection of amphorae, stacks of books, clay tablets, chests, and mounds of scrolls. Michael couldn't see the back of the cave, despite the intensity of the light beam. "How will we get all of this out of there and into the vehicles?" Michael wondered aloud. "Who else do we know that we can swear to secrecy that can help us?" he asked. Mr. Asquith had to think about the question for a few moments. "First, we have to get John a visa and get him to help us. Rome can wait. Second, there are several graduate students that I could call upon whom I know are trustworthy. And they'd be delighted to help us catalogue and translate all this material." He was smiling like a kid in a candy shop. So was Michael. "Let me make some phone calls and get the ball rolling," he said. "Meanwhile, you should start at the entrance and start pulling out as much as you can as fast as you can and get it into the back of your 4X4. If I'm not done with the phone calls before your vehicle is full, start loading up mine." Michael started on the left side and gathered up a couple bundles of scrolls, being extra careful in handling them. He left the cave and walked slowly down the hill, taking care with his steps. The hill wasn't steep, but it could be treacherous without watching where he was going. On succeeding trips, he scouted out easier or less hazardous paths to and from the cave. He found one that suited him well. He thought that Mr. Asquith would negotiate it as easily as he had. After filling up his 4X4, he started working on the other vehicle. He was glad that the windows were darkly tinted and that the air conditioning was working in both vehicles. Even though it was winter in Saudi Arabia, it was still warm. They had parked far enough off the road that someone on the road wouldn't notice what they were doing. With the back of both 4X4 vehicles loaded to the roof with scrolls, Michael filled the passenger seats and the foot wells of both with clay tablets. He let Mr. Asquith know that they needed to get to the warehouse in Al Lith immediately, so they could take several more trips before it got too dark. He nodded his agreement and came down the slope with Michael. He glanced inside both vehicles and said, "You did a good job filling them up. And I have good news about the grad students and John. All are willing to come help us. The only problem is the visas. I'm also asking them to fly into different airports and rent additional vehicles like ours. We don't want to give away what's going on here. Also, I asked all of them to wear appropriate thobe dishdashas and keffiyehs." Michael knew that meant Arabic robes and headwear. "And I told them to check the internet for prayer times when they get here. They need to be off the road and in the warehouse or in the cave at those times. If they are in the open, make sure that they face east toward Mecca which is just down the road from Jeddah. However, from Al Lith and Ghomygah, Mecca will be north." "Do you think we can get the visas quicker than two weeks?" Michael asked. "Doubtful," he replied. "So, that makes it just the two of us getting as much into containers as we can before they arrive. I'm going to accompany the plane that takes the first load back. John should come here at the same time, assuming he has his visa, and help you. I think both of you would best serve the expedition by being the ones to pack the artifacts in the containers. Let the others pull the stuff out of the cave and get it to you in the warehouse. I'll take care of the offloading in the States and getting them stored on the estate. And I'll make sure that the plane returns in time to take the next load of items. I think we'll need only one plane and one truck and semi-trailer to go with it, instead of several planes and trucks. I've asked several of my female grad students to help unload the containers and catalogue the artifacts at home. Being a woman over here, especially a foreigner, is not a good idea." So, back to the warehouse they drove. The trip was less than ten minutes. Luckily, Mr. Asquith had the foresight to get a warehouse that they could drive into and unload the cargo in secret. But, their immediate problem was trying to figure out how to load the cargo containers. Michael suggested that the clay tablet should line the bottom of the container and the scrolls be laid in carefully atop them. The books that they'd seen would also go on the bottom. But, the amphorae would have to stand up in the containers and get packed in tightly. We needed some excelsior to cushion them, so they wouldn't crash into each other on a turbulent flight. Again with amazing foresight, Mr. Asquith had the two loads of excelsior delivered by one truck and semi-trailer before they arrived at the warehouse. With the excelsior stashed in the corner of the warehouse, we carefully placed the few clay tablets into the bottom of one of the containers, added a layer of excelsior and then placed the scrolls atop that. Our two 4X4s didn't even begin to fill one of the containers. I peered inside after we'd loaded it. "We'll need more containers," Michael observed. "We do have a lot of material in the cave. I couldn't even see the back of it," Mr. Asquith noted. "Let's get back to the cave and pull out more artifacts. I think we should try to create a path that goes to the back of the cave as we load the 4X4s. That will give us a better idea of how many more containers and flights we'll need to book to get it all. When the last plane leaves, I think you'd be the better man to go to Italy as you speak fluent Italian. I'll smooth the way for you when we get closer to the end. Of course, we'll talk to John to see what he's arranged already." For the next two weeks, they labored diligently, rushing back and forth between the cave and the warehouse. It would have gone so much faster if they'd had more hands to empty the vehicles and pack the artifacts into the shipping containers. But, it was only the two of them. The distance between the warehouse and the cave was short, so that wasn't the time waster. It was the time it took to carefully pull things from the cave and place them into the vehicles, and the time it took to unload the vehicles at the warehouse and carefully place them in the containers. They really needed more hands and more hours in the day. They had nearly half a plane full of containers by the time the first of the graduate students arrived. With another three days of more hands to do the work, the plane was full. Mr. Asquith left with the plane and John arrived a day later. They began filling additional containers as fast as the 4X4s arrived loaded down with more artifacts. With another week behind them, they had a full complement of workers. John and Michael were kept busy from dawn until dusk filling shipping containers and layering in more excelsior. Michael cautioned the grad students to not turn off the road to the cave if there were any other vehicles within sight. He wanted this to be as clandestine as possible. At the end of that week, they had enough containers to fill another plane. He sent Mr. Asquith a coded message about their progress. The plane arrived at noon the next day. By the end of the day, another fully loaded plane departed for the States. Michael asked one of the post doctorate men how much more there was to pull out of the cave. He assured him that they could easily fill another plane and at least part of another one. Fearful that their activities would soon be noticed, they pushed harder to get more done faster. After the third plane departed, Michael rode up to the cave with one of the students. He was very pleased at the progress that they'd made. There were only amphorae, chests, and some books left, plus a large area full of clay tablets. He guessed that they would fill another plane, give or take. It would all depend on how well the chests fit and how many amphorae that he and John could squeeze into each container. Michael asked the next men that delivered artifacts to the warehouse to bring a load of clay tablets and the next 4X4 to bring only chests and as many clay tablets as they could squeeze in. John and Michael put the clay tablets in the bottom of the containers, but not the ones that had the chests. Those chests were too heavy and might crush the tablets. Amphorae would be better for that. Books could rest atop the chests with the proper amount of excelsior cushion spread between them. As the end of the fourth week approached, Michael was seeing more smiles on the faces of the students. "We're getting close to the end," he kept hearing. He began sending home the first students who had arrived in Saudi Arabia. Their flights were already paid for. All they had to do was turn in their vehicles and board their planes. It went like clockwork. The final 4X4 arrived and they loaded up the last container and put it in the semi-trailer. There was enough room to put the forklift that they'd been using in the trailer as well. They didn't want to leave it behind if they could avoid it. There was room on the last plane out to accommodate the forklift as well. The pilot of the last plane asked them if we wanted to ride along rather than take a commercial flight out. They turned in their rented 4X4s and boarded the last container flight. "There won't be any food service, I'm afraid," the pilot smiled, "or beverage service. However, we brought aboard enough food and drink for probably a dozen people, so you're welcome to share." They thanked him for his generosity. The plane wasn't as quiet as a commercial liner, but with ear protectors, John and Michael didn't care. John was exhausted from his two weeks of packing containers, and Michael even more tired from the four weeks of pulling artifacts from the cave and packing. They slept fitfully for most of the first leg of the trip. They landed in Amsterdam for fuel and a quick run into the airport for a fresh supply of food and drink. An hour later, they were in the air, headed for the States. Once more, they slept badly on this ten hour leg, too excited about that they'd just accomplished. The pilot woke them up for the final approach into their home town. The plane landed on the commercial strip away from the regular airport and taxied to a hanger. The doors closed behind it. Slowly, the containers were pulled out of the cargo hold and placed in a semi-trailer. After filling four trailers, they met a limousine that Mr. Asquith had sent for them and followed the trucks to the estate. The car pulled into the mansion driveway, but the trucks diverted to a large outbuilding to the west of the main house. The warehouse type structure was ablaze with lights, even though it was mid-day. Mr. Asquith's butler greeted them at the door and led them into the library where the boss awaited. With a big smile, he greeted them warmly and embraced them. He'd never so much as touched them before. Evidently, he was in a very good mood. "You won't believe what we've found," he began, "and we've only begun to catalogue what you've dragged out of that cave. Truly astounding what we've discovered. I know that you saw that some of the amphorae and books and chests had tags on them. The others were probably tagged, too, but they fell away over the last two millennia. The ladies and now the men have been working night and day on sorting and listing all the goodies that we've discovered. Now that the men are devoting full time to this effort instead of pulling artifacts from a cave, we should have even more discoveries." "I assume that all the items are being photographed as they are being catalogued?" I asked. "Twice," Mr. Asquith smiled. "And I have two people reviewing the photos for clarity and completeness. We don't want to have any issues in case a tablet gets broken or scrolls get misplaced or misfiled." "Do you need us today?" John asked. "We're pretty jetlagged." "Go home and get some sleep. But, Michael, I'll need to you fly back to Italy tomorrow," he cautioned. "I know you'd much rather be home, but I need you there. Besides, you don't want to recover from jetlag twice, do you?" he smiled. Michael sighed and saw the wisdom in what Mr. Asquith said. "Of course, Sir," Michael replied with a tried smile. "And you might as well go with him, John," Mr. Asquith added. "We'll need another three or four of your helpers from Saudi Arabia besides you two to help complete this hoax. Be sure you have it set up for the corridor to be opaque, too. And with that many men helping, it should go really quickly. I'd say you need about ten days to make it seem real to anyone who happens to stumble upon what you're doing. I've already arranged for empty shipping containers to be on four large trucks. They have instructions to go to the airport and pull into a private hanger. They're to wait there for an hour before they return to the `dig site' where you'll be." John smiled. "And when you talk to the graduate students who are coming with us, be sure to mention that we'll have plastic amphorae for them to take to the truck. They'll have them resting on their shoulders on the way to the truck. When they return to the dig, they should just carry them in their arms. That way, it will truly look like they are pulling amphorae from the dig. They will still have to carry some books, which will just mean that they walk back and forth without anything in their hands. We have wheelbarrows set aside to bring the `clay tablets' to the truck, too. Again, they will be empty. They just have to remember to labor on the way to the truck and scamper when they return to the dig." "Brilliant, absolutely brilliant!" Mr. Asquith exulted. "I knew I'd chosen the right men for the Italian part of this caper." They turned to leave and John whispered to Michael, "And I chose the right man, too." "And that man is going to fuck your brains out tonight," Michael replied with a leering smile. "We won't be separated for ten days, so we'll have to fuck like the Italian men do when we're in Italy. Lots of good pasta before a dessert course of fucking." "Use me as many times as you need before our flight leaves tomorrow," John replied. "And if you think that I'm the only one who'll get bred tonight just because you're the foreman on this gig, you're in fantasy land." "I love the way you think," Michael smiled as they got into the limousine to take them to their shared condo. "And I expect you to deliver the goods in sufficient quantities that I'll have enough `remembrance' to last me until we get to Italy." "Likewise, I'm sure," John countered with a smile and a kiss. "What time does our flight leave tomorrow?" Michael consulted the itinerary that Mr. Asquith had pressed into his hand. "It doesn't leave until 1:30 in the afternoon. That leaves us lots of time to make babies," he added lustily. From that afternoon until nearly noon the next day, Michael and John connected many times in a most pleasurable manner. They didn't get much sleep, but neither of them cared. They might be able to sleep on the plane, but right now, they didn't care if they slept at the dig site. They just wanted some quality fucking time with each other. Their business class tickets gave them very comfortable seats that completely reclined. The cabin window shades were lowered as well as the lights as they flew into the night. Despite his sworn inability to sleep on an airplane, Michael got at least six hours of uninterrupted snoozing. He wasn't totally refreshed, but it did make up for the lack of sleep over the last two days. But, one of those days was spent in John's arms, so he didn't begrudge that afternoon and night without sleep. John slept a little worse. He was taller, so the flattened seat wasn't quite long enough for him. They had to change planes in Amsterdam for the two plus hour flight to Rome. The layover was nearly two hours in Amsterdam, but they spent several minutes of that in the men's room enjoying a sexual encounter. John taunted him with his naked body, round, firm ass, and big, hard, black dick. Michael was about ready to nutt in his pants by the time John allowed him to pull out his dick and fuck his husband. When Michael's climax allowed him to pull out, John turned him around and pounded a big, creamy load up the Italian's ass. When they got to their hotel, they'd have to pound out more loads, Italian style. Both of them looked forward to that. They pulled up their pants and walked to the gate for their flight to Rome. The smiles on their faces were puzzling to everyone around them. The next morning, they met the six man crew at the dig site that Mr. Asquith had sent over to help them. Michael briefed them on what was expected of them over the next ten days. He reiterated the need to play act the entire time. They were to look exhausted at the end of each day. They would only work during daylight hours; but considering it was nearly winter, those days would be short. The first truck arrived with shipping containers inside. Within the containers were two wheelbarrows, several plastic amphorae, bales of excelsior, and the necessary tall curtains to keep interlopers from spying upon them. The truck was able to back up to within 20 feet of the dig. "If we do this right, we might be able to shave a couple of days off our work," Michael said. "We can load the truck must faster when it is so close to where the artifacts were found. Mr. Asquith has already requested additional trucks to take the artifacts to the airport for transport home. The drivers are courtesy of the Minister of Antiquities. Just be sure that the containers are securely sealed before you close the truck back door. The man unloading them at the airport will recycle them on to another truck after the delivery of artifacts. He has promised that the `empty' containers will never be on the same truck back to us, until later in the week. Any questions?" Michael inquired. There were none. "Okay, let's get to it." By the time they "loaded" the first truck, two hours had passed. The next truck was parked nearby and was ready to take the place of the first one. Each load thereafter took about two hours to load. The men were doing a very good acting job. They ran back to the dig site, but walked slowly back to the truck. Anyone casually glancing at them would not think anything of what they were doing. As the days passed, they no longer ran back to the dig as they were all `tired' of all the lifting and carrying. But, by the eighth straight day of work, they had finished their "extractions" and were ready to head home. Michael didn't know how the containers were being shipped out on planes, but knew that Mr. Asquith had thought of everything and wouldn't leave something as obvious as that not attended to. The students left on different flights to go home. Michael finished up with the rental agency for the trucks and boarded his flight for home with John. This time, they went by way of Atlanta, but it was business class all the way. As they were flying during the day, they didn't feel a need for sleep. When they headed for home, they stopped and bought dinners at the local deli and took them home. But, after dinner, they were ready for bed by early evening. It had been a very long day for them. They had some pretty wild sex before it was obvious that they were exhausted and needed a good night of sleep. Of course, they woke up at four in the morning, because they were still on Italian time. And Michael made sure that John knew he was awake by mounting and breeding him as gently as he could. They made love for an hour before Michael got out of bed and let John sleep. Mr. Asquith had left them with a summary of what the sorting and cataloguing teams had found so far. It was fascinating reading. They made notes of what they wanted to talk to their boss about when went back to the estate on Monday. If any of the findings were earthshattering, they were sure that Mr. Asquith would have called them, even on the weekend. But, they had only been gone ten days and the people working at the estate were still unloading the shipping containers; and still sorting, photographing, and cataloguing the artifacts. This story is fiction. Your life isn't. Always play safe. 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