The driver suddenly shouted, bringing them back to windows of the cab. With the driver smiling and pointing, they drove past the mammoth Red Square, dominated by the Kremlin and the extravagantly colored domes of St. Basil's Cathedral. Michael and Anna were mesmerized by the breath-taking view. The Kremlin, the residence of the Russian rulers, was one of the finest architectural works in the world. The first of its walls were built back in the twelfth century.
The cab pulled over in front of a high-rise building. “Looks like a nice place,” said Michael. As they walked inside the grand entrance, the cab sped away, the driver proudly holding a crisp new 20 EUR banknote.
“This hotel is beautiful,” Michael commented as he walked inside the building rolling both his duffel bag and a piece of Anna’s luggage.
“Hello, welcome to Holiday Inn Suschevskiy!” Exclaimed the lady at the front desk. “Are you here for business or pleasure?”
“Pleasure,” Anna replied.
“I can recommend you visit GUM, our supreme department store. Also if you need any tickets to any Moscow’s concerts, ballets and shows just let me know.”
“Thank you.”
After checking in, Michael and Anna took the elevator to the fifth floor to their room. Anna decided she needed to freshen up properly and change her clothes, so she excused herself and went into the bathroom. Michael unpacked his duffel bag, setting aside his toiletry bag and a set of clean clothes for after his shower.
He went to the window and found that it faced so many buildings he was unable to see past them. He spent a few minutes watching the Russian traffic and people. After a while, he sat on the sofa and started slowly flipping through the TV channels. He clicked through channel after channel hearing only Russian, but just as he was about to turn the TV off, his ears heard the beautiful sound of the English language. Strangely enough, it was one of his favorite movies, The Mummy, accompanied by captioning in Russian. It was at the part where the two main characters, Evelyn and O’Connell were inside the Hamunaptra, the City of the Dead. They had just found the ancient sarcophagus with the mummy of the high priest, Imhotep. Carved inside the sarcophagus were the ominous words, ‘Death is only the beginning.’
Michael had watched that movie many times, but that phrase suddenly made him realize something. He started thinking about Pharaoh Khufu’s soul trapped within his sarcophagus, waiting impatiently to get out. The reincarnated mummy in the movie was looking to exact revenge on everybody who disturbed his peace: definitely not a pleasant fate to experience. Michael mused that he and Anna were getting closer to solving one of the greatest mysteries of the Great Pyramid, which meant they would have to disturb Pharaoh Khufu’s final resting place. Perhaps the ending result might not be a pleasant one for both of them. After all, at least one person was already dead and now the Medjay and his accomplice were hunting them down.
“Michael!”
Startled and roused from his thoughts, Michael turned and looked up at Anna.
“I think I know what you’re thinking,” she said quietly.
Michael looked at her steadfastly, not breathing.
“I’ve watched this movie before. I’ve heard the stories of the Pharaohs’ curses that started when Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun. Most of the people in his crew died unnaturally either from diseases contracted by a mysterious illnesses or by accidents surrounded by strange circumstances.”
“You’re absolutely right,” he nodded solemnly. “Aren’t we exposing ourselves to a greater risk by trying to uncover the Great Pyramid’s secrets that have been hidden for ages?” He paused, and then continued slowly, “and maybe these secrets should be remained hidden. I mean, after all, your father died inside the Great Pyramid, which most definitely is cursed. In addition, you were kidnapped in Germany, and it’s a miracle that you escaped unharmed from those thugs.”
“Michael, I understand you are worried. I’m worried. But, if you are afraid of some ancient curses, consider this: Howard Carter died in 1939 at the age of 64 of natural causes, some seventeen years after discovering the tomb, despite being in charge of the expedition.”
“Wow, how do you know that?” he asked in amazement.
“When I was growing up, my father told me many stories about the ancient Egyptians,” she replied. “Many of his stories and fairytales I have forgotten, but some I still remember. The saga of Tutankhamun, the boy king, was certainly one of my favorites. So, to put your mind at ease and consider this,” Anna sat on the couch next to him, “Howard Carter’s natural death is the great confirmation that contradicts the idea of a so-called curse of the pharaohs that might have plagued his expedition.”
Michael remained quiet. “I hope you right, Anna,” he finally whispered.
“I know I’m right! Come on, look around,” Anna got up and approached the window “here we are in the twenty-first century, for goodness sake. There is little room for superstitions.”
“OK, ok,” Michael got up and approached the window, “you’ve convinced me. It’s just the events of the past several days combined with the scenes from that movie.” His voice trailed off as they both looked at the TV screen where O’Connell was defeating the evil Imhotep by forcing him into the River of Death.
“You know,” said Anna grinning, “In every fairytale, good always defeats evil.”
“Yeah,” Michael chuckled, “that’s why they are called fairytales.”
Anna laughed, “I think it’s time for you to hit the shower.”
“Right,” Michael replied as he headed to the bathroom with his things. The bathroom was clean, neat and stacked with toiletries. Even though the shower was equipped with a German-made showerhead, Michael got no more than lukewarm water. After only about ten minutes he gave up on getting a hot shower. It felt good to get clean, though.
Soon they were downstairs walking into the restaurant. Once inside, they greeted the hostess in English, hoping she spoke English as well. They were delighted when the young lady, wearing thick glasses and sporting a black-haired ponytail, responded to them in English. Then, she asked them politely whether they had ordered their lunch that morning. Michael and Anna glanced at each other in astonishment.
“I’m sorry,” said Michael, amazed, but hoping the hostess had misspoken. “Did I hear you correctly?”
To their surprise the hostess had stated her request correctly. They soon found out that in order to get lunch, the restaurant’s patrons had to order it during their breakfast. In fact, to get dinner they needed to order it during lunchtime. The hostess was surprised that they were surprised.
“You should have ordered lunch in the morning,” the hostess informed them with a tone of strong disapproval as she attempted to impress on them how ridiculous it was to expect a lunch without ordering it in advance. It was only after a lengthy discussion, one which eventually involved the manager of the hotel, that the wait staff understood that neither Michael nor Anna could have ordered lunch in advance simply because they had just arrived to the hotel a mere one hour before.
Michael watched in amazement as the manager used some forcibly spoken words in Russian that quickly persuaded the cooking staff of the restaurant to serve his desirable foreign hotel guests. The Russian chefs had no choice but to fix a simple meal from supplies taken straight out of the refrigerator. Soon Michael and Anna were enjoying chicken sandwiches made in record time. Anna thought that if the representatives from the world famous Guinness Book of World Records were present they would have witnessed a new record in sandwich making history.
“‘You should have ordered your lunch while eating your breakfast’ is gonna be my new slogan,” announced Michael as he and Anna stood in front of the hotel trying to wave down a taxi.
Anna grinned.
“Oh, come on!” Michael laughed at his own witticism. “You know that’s even funnier than a Saturday Night Live monologues.”
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Anna looked over at him and started laughing as well, getting caught up in Michael’s contagious laugh. When a cab stopped next to them, Anna dug in her purse for her iPhone with the life-saving translation app, but Michael quickly discovered that the taxi driver spoke fluent English. As soon as Michael showed him Kirilov’s address, the cab driver nodded and stepped on the gas pedal. After twenty minutes they were pulling in front of a seventeen-story blue building.
“There it is,” the driver announced. “Voronezhskaya Street, building 4.”
Commending the cabby for the smooth and fast driving, they quickly emerged from the cab and walked into the sought-after building.
Could this be it? was on their minds as they waited inside the lobby for the elevator. When the elevator stopped on the seventh floor, Anna said, “I’ll check the left side, and you check the right,” as she started walking away.
“Found it,” Michael exclaimed ten seconds later. “Number ten, third door on the right.”
As Anna approached the apartment door, it was almost as if her heart would jump out of her chest. She stood still for several seconds, catching her breath and trying in vain to slow down her heart rate. Her anticipation was becoming almost too great. Just as she was no longer able to handle her overwhelming feelings, she reached out and rang the doorbell.
Chapter 30
Belorusskaya Railway station, Moscow, Russia
Saturday, September 23
9:30 a.m.
It was half past nine o’clock in the morning as Hannover HBF–Moscow passenger train #447 approached Moscow’s Belorusskaya Railway Station.
“We are now approaching our final destination, the Belorusskaya Railway station in Moscow, the capital of Russia. Please remain seated until we come to a complete stop,” the pleasant female voice announced first in German, then in English. Completely ignoring the announcement, most of the passengers were already standing up and crowding the aisles in anticipation, eagerly gawking out the windows.
Seth motioned for the Medjay to come stand by him at the door. After the long train ride, he now knew the tight-lipped Medjay’s first name: Asim. Asim had located Anna and Michael’s compartment earlier in the trip. He hoped Asim had not slipped up and been spotted. He watched in disgust as the Medjay rudely pushed past the passengers and glared at them menacingly. Soon Asim was at the head of the line with Seth.
The train pulled slowly into the station. When the doors opened, with Seth and Asim first in line at their door, the passengers poured onto the platform into the massive human pool with everyone swimming to the exits. Their first objective was to locate Anna and Michael in the crowds and follow them to their hotel without being seen.
With some difficulty, Seth made his way to the Information booth in the railway station. The stoic lady at the window quickly ascertained that her new customer with the hard face was a difficult one. Seth attempted to describe Anna and Michael in broken English to her. The lady had no idea what this nasty man was talking about and stopped caring after a few moments. She had a line backing up at her booth and this man was bothering her. After the third attempt, he finally decided that his efforts to find out anything about Anna and Michael were useless. Before stepping away from the window, he angrily cursed at her. Obviously, this had no meaning whatsoever for her as the only language she knew was her native Russian. She deftly ignored him and nodded at her next customer.
As soon as he turned away from the information booth, Seth noticed Asim standing on a bench in the distance, waving both arms in air, trying to get his attention. He began zealously running and jostling his way through the crowd to the Medjay warrior. Asim quickly reported that he had just observed Schulze’s daughter and the American get into a taxi. Not wanting to waste any precious time, Seth started briskly pushing through the last of the crowd, his luggage banging into the unlucky people who did not get out of his way quickly enough. When Asim caught up to him, Seth had already flagged down a taxi and was jumping inside. Luckily for Seth, the driver spoke decent German, so Seth was able to instruct him to follow the cab a few vehicles in front of them. They both sighed with relief that it had taken Anna and her American accomplice extra time for their taxi to start moving. Seth began telling the taxi driver an elaborate story about how they had spotted some colleagues from home and wanted to catch up to them as a surprise. As Seth chattered on, Asim began to reflect on the events of the past several days.
His mind dwelled on Thursday, and his hopes for quickly obtaining the package Schulze had sent to his daughter. Initially, the plan was to stay at Seth’s apartment for a few days, as this was the amount of time Asim had projected it would take to obtain the package. Seth had reassured Asim that the package would be found that day and that Anna herself would deliver it to them.
As he ate a couple of sandwiches and drank some strong coffee for his breakfast early that morning, he envisioned holding that package in one hand and in his other hand the phone, pressed up to his left ear, with his great chief praising him for the success of the whole operation.
He prepared himself for his mission by remembering the last words of his beloved chief, “Asim, my fearless warrior, trust Seth as he knows everything necessary to retrieve the package.” This put his mind at ease. He wholly trusted Seth’s logic and intuitions, even though Seth’s accomplice, Layla, had returned empty handed and two break-ins into Anna’s apartment had also proved to be fruitless. These failures meant only one of two things: either Anna knew everything and was cleverly hiding the package or it was just pure bad luck on Seth’s part that the package could not be found.
Relying on Seth’s intimate information about Anna’s whereabouts, Asim was pleased when he and Seth laid in wait outside her apartment building and nabbed her, completely unnoticed by anyone. The interrogation inside the car was successful. While watching for Anna to reappear out of her apartment, his mind was already returning to Egypt and the tribal life to which he was accustomed. Here in Germany he was a stranger, helpless against the German language, customs and laws of which he did not know or understand. Back at home in Egypt, Asim only relied on himself and trusted no one, except his wise chief. The more Asim dealt with Seth, the more he wished he did not have to rely on him.
After employing his ‘smooth interrogation techniques’, as Seth defined them, Anna never returned with the package. Worse yet, as they waited for her at one end of her building, they observed a cab arriving and stopping at the other end of her building. Asim could not believe his eyes when he saw Anna and her American friend suddenly leap out from behind a door and escape.
Seth followed the cab at a distance and managed to remain undetected. When Anna and her American friend were dropped off in front of the German Archaeological Institute, Seth parked the car near the front entrance. When Seth translated the welcome sign for him, Asim’s heart sank. The word archaeology gave him goose bumps. It meant the German female and her American accomplice not only had the package, but also realized its importance. Her father sent her the map to the location of the stele, Asim suddenly realized.
After a couple of phone calls, Seth abruptly left Asim in the car, swiftly entering the two-story building. Returning, he informed Asim that the front door was the only entrance to the building. When Schulze’s daughter and the American exited the building, they planned to nab them.
At first, the hot-blooded Asim wanted to go inside the building and forcibly grab the map, but Seth talked him out of it. After all, they were not in Egypt where such activities might be overlooked. Seth explained that since they did not own a firearm, by using Asim’s dagger they would essentially be bringing a knife to a gun battle. If the German security guard took into the account Asim’s exotic look and outfit, complimented by his traditional white cloak, arrest by the police was exactly what was awaiting both of them at the end of an attempt to a hand-to-hand fight. They had no choice but to wait right in front of the Institute and catc
h their victims by surprise.
But their decision backfired. Seth caught a glimpse of Anna and her American accomplice as they left the building. Unfortunately, the American caught a glimpse of Seth as well. Seth was just about to leap out of his car when the fire alarm went off. Later, the receptionist at the German Archeological Institute told Seth that she saw Anna walking away from the fire alarm and realized that she had staged a false fire alarm.
But the ruse worked beautifully for Anna and her American friend. The alarm forced everybody outside, not only creating a crowd of people on the sidewalk, but also bringing the police, who forced them to drive away. They lost Anna and Michael.
At that point, Asim grimaced as he remembered how frustrated and angry he was with Seth and the entire situation. As they had driven around looking for Anna and her American friend, Asim became angrier and angrier.
Then they finally spotted Anna and Michael at the entrance of a café getting into a cab. He reported to Seth that the cab was turning into an alley. Seth quickly made a few maneuvers and soon they were behind Anna and Michael’s cab. Asim was starting to think that Seth had a special touch to following people when Anna’s cab burst into action: they had been discovered. Zipping, turning and accelerating at terrifying speeds, Seth stayed on their tail, giving a spectacular vehicular pursuit. Despite his skills, they were outsmarted by the cab driver, who managed to make his cab disappear. As they hunted the unfamiliar neighborhood that twisted and wound back upon itself, Asim roared in anger, pummeling his fists against the interior of the car.
Four Ways to Pharaoh Khufu Page 21