“Of the fifty eight people present when Carter opened the tomb, only eight died in the following years. Six of those could be attributed in some way to disease.” Crouch shrugged. “You make your own theories, my friends.”
“I’m more interested in mummies to be honest,” Alicia said. “Those guys always seem to be angry.”
“Yeah, so Hollywood tells us,” Hayden said. “But if your internal organs were removed, your body washed out with spices, your brain liquefied, all over a period of forty days, and then your dried-out body was wrapped in linen, you wouldn’t exactly be feeling perky now, would you?”
Alicia screwed her face up. “Uh, nope.”
“I have it,” Yorgi said, swiveling the laptop around to face the room.
Crouch stared and then nodded. “That’s it. Meritamun’s tomb, discovered in the nineteenth century. It’s small, insignificant, and came with all the usual objects. Sarcophagi. Canopic jars for internal organs. Amulets. The Book of the Dead. Household furniture of a sort. Ushabti figurines to work for the dead in the afterlife. Food. Wall paintings. Statues and carvings. And, of course, wall-painted spells. Nothing out of the ordinary. Over sixty tombs have been found and most are similar, not unremarkable, but nothing on the scale of Tutankhamun and just a few others. The tomb of Nefertiti has never been found.”
“What are you saying?” Hayden broke in, sensing Crouch might wander off on still another tangent.
“That this tomb, in this place, will have been largely forgotten over the last couple of centuries. It’s dry now. Protected yes, but forgotten. If we looked hard enough we might even find an inventory of tomb photographs online, but I strongly suggest we attend in person.”
“There’s no suggestion about it, pal,” Drake said. “We’re going.”
Hayden watched the team rise up and make ready, and a feeling of pride swelled in her chest. Beaten down as they were, hunted by the most powerful nation on earth, they were still trying their best to work together to save it.
Team SPEAR would never die. Do to it what you would.
“You okay, Hay?” Mano was beside her, looking a bit worried. “You seem out of it.”
“No, no.” She snapped out of it. “Just thinking how, despite everything that’s happening, there are no other people on earth I’d rather be standing in this sweaty room with right now. That’s it.”
Kinimaka smiled. “Me too, Hay. Me too.”
She grinned up at him.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Drake always imagined an Egyptian tomb would come with a sense of awe, of wonder and majesty; just like the first they’d visited, but the tomb of Meritamun was a narrow opening close to the ground. High pillars stood outside, adorning the entrance, but Drake got the sense that nobody really cared anymore.
The day was stifling, a hot, dry wind blowing across the desert. The vista was open to the right, broken by a series of low hills to the left. Their jeeps had left long, conspicuous tire tracks in the relatively short stretch of sand they’d covered since leaving the road. The team wore hiking gear, with as few clothes as possible, but carried all the weapons and tech they had. Nobody expected this to be easy today and a confrontation was all but certain. Everyone wore a hat except Kenzie, the ex-Mossad agent well-used to heat and even complaining that the odd gust of wind raised gooseflesh.
Drake, sweating enough to fill a pint-pot, took the GPS and marked the coordinates. “Well, this is the place. The tomb of Meritamun. Looks peaceful.”
Dahl bared his teeth. “Now that’s a proper dumb thing to say.”
Crouch sized up the entrance. “Let’s get this done quickly. Maybe we can be in and out before company arrives.”
“There again,” Dahl complained. “Inviting disaster.”
“Well personally,” Alicia said. “I’m more worried about heading down a mummy’s black hole. Who knows what we’ll find down there?”
Drake broke out the flashlights and other equipment they might need. The Jeeps stayed where they were, parked behind a series of low mounds but almost impossible to hide. Crouch, unable to conceal his excitement, muscled to the front and headed in first.
Alicia shook her head and followed. The rest filed in after. Kinimaka and Smyth stayed back to guard the entrance and the surrounding area. Kenzie ranged further afield, finding a position to watch the road and the desert.
“Something tells me that girl’s as at home in the desert as a scorpion,” Alicia said. “And still as nasty.”
“I think she likes that,” Dahl said wistfully.
“Being nasty?”
“Yeah.” He paused. “I mean there’s being nasty and then there’s being nasty.” He enunciated both words, one with more feeling than the other.
Alicia sighed. “I remember those days.”
“Until Drake tamed you?” Dahl asked innocently.
“Torstyyyyy . . .” Alicia said in a warning tone. “Any more of that and you’ll be wearing your wedding tackle for earrings.”
Even Drake winced. The tunnel continued at a steady decline, burrowing into the earth, leading them away from the baking heat. Drake felt the sweat turn cool and breathed a little easier. He wondered briefly about the curse and the seven seals. If all this really was leading to some kind of incredible weapon how had it stayed hidden all these years? If it was ancient and apocalyptic, shouldn’t it also be large? Nobody had invented a miniature doomsday device yet. His thoughts drifted directly from there to the splinter cell operating within the American government. It was truly incredible how fast and how completely people’s lives could be destroyed by those in power. Criminal, really. Those that cast aside ‘innocent until proven guilty’ and took the law into their own hands were surely just exacerbating the problem. But he was a soldier through and through; never having many aspirations other than living a good, positive life . . .
And becoming world table tennis champion.
That reminded him—Dahl and he still hadn’t properly concluded their rivalry there. Who was Team SPEAR’s premier ping pong player?
The comms burst into life. “All clear up here,” Kenzie said. “Great day. I can see for miles around.”
Alicia, confronted with a pinprick of light in utter darkness, grunted. “Bitch.”
Soon, the tunnel ended and they reached flat ground. The earth was solid and dry, the walls of the tomb strong. Crouch flicked his flashlight around and so did the others, everyone highlighting something different. Drake saw colorful wall paintings and a place where the sarcophagus had been; recesses in the walls for jars and treasures. He saw empty ledges and vacant spaces and concluded they were standing in one medium-sized hollow void.
“Nothing here,” he said.
“That’s the good thing about murals and hieroglyphics,” Crouch said. “For the most part, they stay in place.”
He moved over to the nearest wall, directing the rest of the team to carefully scan the others, not forgetting the ceiling. Dahl got straight to business, finding the furthest, darkest corner, hoping for a repeat of Amenhotep’s tomb. Within moments the entire team was peering at the wall space and into corners, craning their necks high, all searching for anything that might resemble a capstone.
“You mentioned that you might be able to find photos of this tomb on the Internet,” Alicia grumbled, rising and brushing her knees off. “Next time, Crouchy, let’s do that.”
“I prefer my archaeology first hand,” the ex-Ninth Division boss said distractedly.
“Any agencies are most likely doing just that,” Hayden told Alicia. “I’m pretty sure we would have.”
“And we still can’t be sure who knows what,” Yorgi said.
Hayden and then Mai shouted out a couple of false alarms and then, again, it was Crouch that spotted the motherlode.
“I think I have it.”
Drake was close and inched over. “I can barely see that, mate.”
“Glasses,” Dahl said, then squinted himself. “Whoa, that’s nicely hidden away
.”
The capstone depiction sat at the base of a man’s foot, just below the sole and a few millimeters above the earth. Anyone not looking for the symbol would never have noticed it, and even those cataloguing the tomb would barely have given it a second glance.
“The second seal,” Crouch breathed. “The capstone and the ancient doomsday weapon.”
“What the hell is that?” Drake leaned in even closer.
Alicia leant on his back. “You haven’t see one before? That’s an impressive erection, Drake.”
“It’s an obelisk,” Crouch said. “Built by the Egyptians and a hundred other cultures. Only half of the world’s Egyptian obelisks remain here in Egypt; the rest are scattered from Paris to London and America. This one—” he took several photos with his phone “—I have to assume remains in the country.”
Dahl also took pictures as back up. “Let’s hope so.”
“Can we go now?” Alicia asked.
“Yes. We can identify the obelisk up top.”
“Cool, and look at that: no trouble whatsoever. You know, this freelance game seems easier than working for the government. Less dangerous.”
“Watch her,” Mai said. “She’ll be wanting to bring a picnic along next.”
“Domesticated,” Dahl added, sliding his phone away.
Alicia ignored them, heading now toward the exit and dragging Drake along. It was at that moment, as they all started back, that Kenzie’s voice broke over the comms.
“Oh, no. That’s not good.”
Drake immediately started walking faster and keyed the comms. “What? Say again?”
“Choppers,” Kenzie said bluntly. “Two headed this way and at speed. You have less than three minutes.”
Without a word, they ran.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Drake slipped his Maglite into his mouth and pounded back up the tunnel. The way was worn and strewn with debris; mostly piles of sand. The close-set walls impeded him at every step. Twice he rebounded from left to right. At his back the grunts and groans attested to almost everyone else having a similar problem.
“Have you stopped for takeaway?” Mai asked from the back.
“Shut it.” Drake ran hard, feeling the heat increase with each step. Every instinct screamed at him to pull out a weapon and make it ready but the way up was just too unpredictable, treacherous. He counted a minute of running and then the temperature rose sharply. The tunnel walls lightened.
“Heads up!” he cried and pulled up hard close to the exit.
Kenzie came over the comms. “They’ve seen the Jeeps. Kinimaka and Smyth are already there. Where are you people?”
“Here.” Drake stepped out into the glaring daylight and headed straight for the transport. He could see two helicopters now, diving out of the sky, men hanging out of the sides.
“Taking fire!”
He rolled to the side as the choppers swooped. A burst of gunfire sounded and then a blast of raucous laughter. The second chopper targeted the Jeeps, raking the area with bullets. Kenzie was returning fire from her perch atop a sandy mound, giving both helicopters something to think about. The first veered away sharply, one of its gunners shouting a protest. The second dove even lower behind the mound, slipping lightly over the desert sands, throwing up mini dust-tails in its wake.
Again, the team ran for the Jeeps, everyone firing and giving the choppers full warning of their firepower and how they intended to use it. Bullets pinged off metal and broke windows, some even thudding into seatbacks. Both choppers were in some disarray, probably full of ego-laden mercs and not expecting the retaliation.
Kinimaka and Smyth climbed behind the steering wheels of the Jeeps and started them up, trusting their comrades to keep the gunfire off them. Drake saw the first chopper swinging back around, this time with some serious weapons poking out of it.
He stopped, fell to one knee, and lined the aggressors up.
A line of bullets stitched the ground near his right knee, traveling well past. Alicia dropped to the other side of it, weapon aimed.
“Make ’em count,” she said.
Drake fired without stopping, targeting every face and window he could see. Glass exploded and metal ripped away. Alicia’s bullets hit the mark too, and one man fell out of the chopper and tumbled to the floor. The bird thundered overhead, rotors whirling, a nightmare sound under fire. Drake turned with it, tracking it toward the nearby mounds.
“That’ll make him think twice,” Alicia said.
Drake saw the rest of the tomb’s structure now, not having been in the right place or even particularly interested earlier. It was a rectangular, flat-topped, stone-built structure, at least half of which was crumbled away, but the overall shape was still noticeable. This structure covered the deep shaft leading to the tomb itself. Cut into the bedrock, it would have taken a significant amount of determined men to fashion.
There would be others around. Many of these tombs were built close to one another. A thought to bear in mind.
The second chopper decided to come back around for more. The rest of the team were in position around the Jeeps by now, giving Drake and Alicia time to run up to them. Volleys of gunfire surrounded their arrival. The men in the choppers, despite their height advantage, were being handicapped by the clumsy maneuvering and turbulence, and even by the chopper’s own structure.
“Easy pickings,” Mai said.
The Jeeps were running, primed to go. Drake saw no advantage to leaving, though, whilst the helicopters were in the air. Doing so would only turn the disadvantage right around.
As they waited, Crouch’s phone started to ring. The man ignored it, watching the choppers hovering and trying to figure out what to do.
“Tricky one even if they weren’t packed full of mercs,” Alicia said ungraciously. “It’s mostly flat ground out here. Just those low mounds. We’d be picking each other off for days.”
“Good point,” Crouch said. “A shame we can’t contact them.”
“What? Why?”
“It’s a stalemate. Time for quid pro quo.”
“They will land,” Mai said quietly. “It’s the only sane thing to do.”
Smyth pursed his lips. “They’re mercs. Nothing sane about it.”
“Move the vehicles,” Dahl said, unable to keep the glint from his eyes. “A short way. Then get ready to jump out and finish this.”
Crouch’s phone rang again. He ignored it. Drake gave the Swede a shake of the head. “Crazy idea, pal, but I like it.”
Smyth gunned the first Jeep. “Me too.”
Tires slewed and skidded over the sand as Smyth and Kinimaka flung the vehicles around. Dust mushroomed into the air. All of the windows were open so Drake heard the choppers the moment they started to move.
“Here they come!”
The jeeps rolled forward as most of their occupants rolled out of the side doors. Dahl was first, two rolls and up into a kneeling position. He caught the first chopper as it came after them, nose down. He emptied a clip into the oncoming beast, changed mags in record time, and started on the second. To left and right the rest of the team did the same, a nonstop onslaught of lead. The cockpit glass shattered, the pilots shot several times. Drake saw other men scrambling to take charge of the controls.
But the choppers came on.
The first at a sharp angle, slightly erratic, mercs still trying to get a bead on the enemy. The second swooped to the side, losing altitude very quickly. Mercs leapt out of both sides as it approached the ground. It hit once, bounced, and then hit again, listing badly. Men scrambled out from underneath its bulk, terrified, weapons left behind. After a moment it settled back onto its skids, a broken beast.
The first chopper righted itself in the air and came on, straight along the path the Jeeps had taken. Drake moved his position, aiming along the side. The black mass flew above him again, forcing him to stare into its underbelly. The updraft was huge, forming a small cyclone of sand and dust particles, mixed with rock. Dra
ke dived out of the way, keeping his head down. He coughed, face in the sand.
Now, survivors from the first crash were headed their way.
“Time to leave!” The comms were full of advice these days.
Kenzie had hotfooted it across the mounds and was now approaching from the right, headed for the slow-rolling Jeeps. She jumped in on the fly. Others fired more and more lead at the chopper, making it gain altitude before trying to turn.
“Ammo running low,” Mai said.
“Save it,” Crouch said. “Jump in, people.”
At that moment the chopper above lost control. Maybe it was a random bullet, a pilot error or a fatality, but something vital changed. It literally fell right out of the sky, straight down toward the lead Jeep.
Kinimaka was at the wheel, eyes on the desert ahead and the upcoming roadway. He knew nothing until Kenzie roared out a warning.
“Move it! Move! Sky! Chopper!”
Whatever she meant, it galvanized the Hawaiian. Instantly, his enormous right foot rammed down hard on the gas pedal, making the jeep lurch forward. More sand sprayed. The engine roared. The tires gained traction and the vehicle shot forward. A great shadow hung overhead, falling fast. Drake watched with his heart in his mouth, the blood pounding hard in his ears. A bullet passed close to his ribcage, traveling on into the desert. He never noticed. Everything else was forgotten.
Hayden screamed over the comms. “Move, move, fucking move!”
Kinimaka wrenched the wheel hard, trying to evade. A deafening, all-encompassing roar filled the world of everyone inside the Jeep—Kenzie, Yorgi and Mai. For once, there was nothing any of them could do. This was a game of chance.
“C’mon, Mano,” Alicia breathed again and again. “C’mon, Mano. C’mon.”
As the jeep dodged frantically, the helicopter crashed hard, its heavy structure striking the desert with such force that it shook the earth. Metal shrieked and twisted. Drake, from this vantage point, couldn’t tell whether the Jeep was running on the other side or crushed underneath. A vast sand-curtain billowed up, obscuring everything and everyone.
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