by Alan Baxter
“Looks like it. And I don’t intend on us being their next victims.”
Rose looked at him sharply. “You think Leonard..?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. But we can only assume he’s gone for help and I don’t imagine that help will be of any benefit to us. Or if he’s not in the Anubis Cult, then whoever is will come back eventually and find us here. Or we’ll never know because we’ve starved to death in the meantime.”
“Jake!”
He smiled, put a hand on her shoulder. “So let’s get out of here, yeah?”
They resumed their search and Crowley tried not to let despair get the better of him. This chamber was a box, made of stone, with one entrance built into that Anubis carving. And the only release for it was the one Leonard had used on the other side. After a good ten minutes of searching, even moving piles of bones to check the floor underneath, he sat back against one wall and put his chin in his hands. Never one to quit, never one to give in. But he was out of ideas.
Rose looked over, his concerns echoed on her features. “What do we do?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe someone will come for us and we’ll have to fight our way out.”
“I don’t think Leonard will make the mistake of underestimating you.”
Crowley winced. She was only being honest, but that cut deeply. He had made a grave error letting his attention waver from Leonard and it might have cost them everything. He tipped his head back against the wall, staring up at nothing.
No, not nothing. The ceiling of the chamber didn’t look quite right. He tipped his head left, then right. “Rose,” he said quietly. “Can you move aside, please?”
She looked at him quizzically, but did as he asked. He pointed his light at the ceiling, then the floor, and a slight smile pushed up his lips.
“What have you seen?” Rose asked.
He pointed up to where the ceiling met the wall on the opposite side of the room. “Look how the ceiling sags there.”
She turned to look, eyebrows creased together. “Yeah, I see it. This place is thousands of years old, after all.”
“Yes, but remember what all the guides keep talking about? It’s built too close to the Nile, there’s ground water, the weight of the pyramid caused it to sink, to crush the underground chambers.”
Rose’s eyes went wide. “You think we can, what, collapse this place? How will that help?”
Crowley laughed. “Well, collapsing it might just help to kill us extra quick. But if this area is subject to some subsidence, then it means the general structure is compromised. We can use that. Look along the side of that block near the middle at the top. See the crack in the mortar? If the walls have shifted, if they’ve sunk, they’ll be loosened, right?”
“I don’t know…”
Crowley picked up a heavy tibia and whacked it hard against the ground, breaking the ball joint of the hip off the end. With the resulting ragged point of bone he reached up high and began digging at the thin line of mortar around a large stone just below ceiling level. He ignored Rose’s concerned scrutiny, working hard at the job, building up a sweat as he went. After a few minutes he’d cleared a fair amount of mortar from the sides and underneath the block. Unable to reach properly to get leverage, he muttered an apology to the long dead and pushed a heap of bones up against the wall to use as a makeshift step. They crunched and cracked as he stepped up on them, but gave him the boost he needed. He scraped more, cleared more mortar. Deciding that might be enough, he leaned back and then slammed both palms hard against block. There was a deep creak and dust rained down all around him.
“Jake!” Rose’s voice was high.
He dug in again, cleared more, then double-palmed the block again. This time it shifted a good half its width out into the chamber beyond. The next block down shifted an inch or two as well and the ceiling rained more debris.
“What if you bring this whole place down?” Rose asked, panic making her speak quickly.
Crowley paused. “I don’t think it’ll collapse entirely. Or we can wait to see who comes.” He watched her, serious about the choices. He would abide by whatever she chose.
She pursed her lips for a moment, then resignation softened her face. “Don’t crush us, please.”
He grinned. “I’ll try.”
He worked more carefully now he’d made a start in the block’s removal. If the structure had been compromised by the slowly sinking edifice, but was still standing, he felt sure removing one block wouldn’t be enough to cause a catastrophic collapse. “We only need one of these out for you to squeeze through,” he said as he cleared more mortar.
“Me?”
“I’m too big.”
After a moment he pushed against the first block, more cautiously this time, and it slid forward then dropped with a dull crack to the floor outside. The ceiling creaked and moaned, dust danced through their flashlight beams as it sifted down. With a sharp crack the large block of ceiling above Crowley shifted and dropped. With a cry he leaped backward, staggering off his bone pile as adrenaline flooded him. The ceiling stone fell at an angle, maybe ten inches below its original level at one end, but still held up by the greater part of the wall at the other. Everything settled.
“Holy crap,” he said quietly. Then he smiled. “But it’s holding. You can get through there, right?”
A deep groan rumbled through the pyramid, seeming to be both far above them and far below at the same time.
Rose blew out an exasperated breath and stepped forward. Crowley cupped his hands together to give her a boost and she went up the wall, arms first through the small hole. It pressed and scraped at her hips and Crowley had a moment of fright thinking she might get stuck there, but another shove against the soles of her feet sent her through. He heard her drop and roll on the other side, grunting with the effort.
Crowley stepped back. “Quickly, pull that mechanism!”
A dull grinding sound filled their ears and the small door at the base of the wall slid up. Crowley shot through and into the main chamber. The carving of Anubis had been marred, his left shoulder fallen to the floor and broken where Crowley had pushed the block out. But he didn’t stop to consider the damage. Maybe some enterprising archaeologist would oversee repairs. For now, he was only concerned with leaving.
“Come on!” Rose said, pulling at his sleeve.
He grinned. “Right behind you.”
Chapter 19
Outside the Black Pyramid, Dahshur, Egypt
Leonard hurried out of the underground chamber, through the dim passage and up the steep incline into the sun. Panic made his heart beat faster along with the physical exercise as he ran for his car, trying not to look suspicious. He kept glancing over his shoulder, fearing the two intruders would escape and come after him. He was no fighter, as their easy humiliation of him had already proven. But he was no fool, and no pushover. They had paid dearly for underestimating him. But it wasn’t over yet.
He glanced back again, certain he’d see that angry face bearing down on him. That woman alongside, beautiful but fearsome, determined to make him suffer for striking her. He didn’t even know their names. She claimed to be the sister of that Iris Brown woman, and certainly looked so alike she couldn’t be lying, but he knew no more than that. And he got the impression that Iris Brown was a fake name. Hadn’t that rough fellow said another name before correcting himself? Lily! That was it. Ah, nothing made any sense, and none of it mattered. He had trapped them in the bone room and there was no way out of there, he knew that for a fact. Enough paranoia, just make the call.
He reached his jeep parked on the far side of the lot and unlocked it, took his phone from the glove box. He hit the quick dial and waited, chewing his lip as it rang, then a gruff voice answered.
“Yes?”
“There’s a problem,” Leonard said.
“What kind of problem?”
“The girl who came last week? Remember her? She has a sister. She just showed u
p asking questions.”
“She came alone?”
Leonard sighed, remembering his impotence to stand against her friend. “No. She came with a big guy. Bigger than me anyway, six foot tall probably, muscular. He had the bearing of a military guy, you know?”
“Military? You know that for sure?”
“No, just the impression I got. He incapacitated me easily, had all the hallmarks of some special forces type.”
A soft chuckle on the other end made Leonard wince. “Okay, if you say so. How much do they know?”
“I can’t say for certain,” Leonard admitted. “They claimed they were looking for the sister, said she was missing, but…” He hesitated, scared. Then he said, “They did ask about the Anubis Cult.”
The person on the other end let out a slow exhale.
“They didn’t seem to know anything about it,” Leonard added quickly. “I had the impression it was just something they’d heard about while searching for the sister. But they’re the kind to cause trouble, I’m sure of that.”
“Anything else?”
Leonard hesitated again, cold sweat prickling his brow, his heart racing. “They asked...” His throat was suddenly dry and he swallowed hard. “They asked about the Anubis Key.”
Silence from the other end of the line. Leonard kept his own peace for several seconds until he began to fear that he’d been cut off. He took the phone away from his ear, glanced at the screen, but the signal was strong, the call connected. “Hello?”
There was a slow sigh from the other end. “Do you know where they went?”
Leonard brightened, finally having something positive to report. “I shut them up in the bone room.”
“Really? I thought you said he incapacitated you.”
Leonard rolled his eyes. “He did, but I turned things around.”
“I’m not sure you know what ‘incapacitate’ means, but all right. Where are you now?”
“In my car,” Leonard said, ignoring the jibe. “I needed a signal.”
“Have you left yet?”
“Not yet.”
The voice on the other end sounded calm now. “Good. Hold tight and keep an eye on the pyramid in case they get out. If they reappear, do not let them out of your sight, understand?”
“They can’t get out, I’m sure of it. You know how that mechanism works.”
“Just in case.”
Leonard’s shoulders sagged. “Okay.”
“And keep me posted on where they are. I’m sending someone right away.”
Leonard began to nod, then thought about the man he had locked in that room. “If you really think there’s a chance they might get out, you might want to send several someones.”
Chapter 20
Outside the Black Pyramid, Dahshur, Egypt
As they made their way back out into the daylight, Rose kept looking back at the pyramid, expecting it to sigh and slump down, collapsing into rubble and clouds of dust, like in the movies. But it didn’t. She didn’t think she’d get the image of that drooping ceiling slab out of her mind for years, if ever. She anticipated it would be front and center of several future nightmares. Had Crowley really been confident his gambit would pay off or was he genuinely gambling with their lives back there? Then again, he had a point about waiting for someone else to come. If Leonard was so concerned by their investigation that he was prepared to brain them and lock them in a sealed chamber, it made sense he wouldn’t have their best interests at heart on his return. Not to mention that poor soul with his heart removed, hidden under the bones. No way could Leonard have missed that, so if he knew about it, surely he had something to do with it.
Regardless, Rose simply wanted to get away. What had Lily got herself into? This whole situation was far more dangerous and complicated than Rose had ever considered. She expected maybe some crooked antiquities dealers, not heart-removing cultists of ancient gods.
“I want to find Leonard,” Crowley said, scanning the area around the pyramid with angry eyes.
Tourists milled around, cars and buses moved nearby, but she couldn’t see the dark-skinned fellow in his pale cliché of a costume.
“Surely he’s long gone,” Rose said.
Crowley scowled, but reluctantly agreed. “Keep an eye out for him, anywhere. Back in Cairo, even. Seriously, if I ever set eyes on that guy again, I want to settle the score.”
He winced as he talked, kept pressing a hand to the dried blood on the side of his head. He had obviously been more seriously hurt than she had. For her, it had been little more than a glancing blow that knocked her down. Crowley had copped a far greater blow. She would have to watch him for signs of concussion.
“So I guess we head to Cairo and try to track down this Kasim,” Crowley said.
Rose began to nod in agreement, then paused, smiling. “Or maybe not.” She pointed.
Across the way a tour bus was parked; bright blue and yellow lettering along the side read Sacred Tours Cairo. A man stood by the door, chatting casually with people as they disembarked.
Crowley laughed. “Short. Fat. Thick mustache. Can’t tell if he’s greasy from this far away, but I’ll bet he is.”
“I’ll let you know,” Rose said. “I think maybe I should talk to him alone.”
“You think because he’s greasy he’ll be sleazy?” Crowley asked with a grin.
“Well, I hadn’t thought of that, actually.” She gestured at his head. “But you know, the blood and all. Might put him off answering any questions.”
“That’s a good point. You’ve quite an impressive lump above your eyebrow too, you know. We should find something to ice it with.”
She smiled. Always trying to look after her, trying to be the provider of care and intel and plans. She knew he didn’t mean it that way, but he could be such an infuriating man at times. “I’ll worry about that later. You go and find somewhere to wash yourself off and I’ll talk to Kasim.”
“Okay. But I’ll be nearby.”
She rolled her eyes, but smiled to show she was only poking fun. Infuriating though he could be, it came from a place of genuine care and she couldn’t hold that against him. “All right. I’ll come and find you soon.”
Rose headed across to Kasim’s bus. From the description she realized she had been expecting someone old and unpleasant, but it was obviously Kenny’s prejudice shining through. Kasim, his identity confirmed by an embroidered patch on the pocket of his shirt, was a young guy. He was overweight, but not morbidly, and had a wide friendly face, set off well by his neatly groomed mustache. He had green eyes that glittered in the sun as he turned to face her. “Hello, can I help you?”
“I hope so. I’m searching for my sister, who’s been missing for a while now. I’m very worried.” She took the photo of Lily from her bag and held it out.
Kasim took the photo and nodded immediately. “Yes, I remember her. Iris Brown. I met her…” He paused, looking up at nothing as he mentally calculated. “Five days ago,” he decided. “At the end of my tour as I was giving the group a last chance for photographs before we boarded the bus again. She had just come from inside the pyramid. Friendly lady, I was enjoying her company. I thought we were hitting it off fairly well, you know? Until her boyfriend showed up.”
“Her boyfriend?”
Kasim shrugged. “Well, I assume it was her boyfriend. Tall, thin, hair tied up on top. The guy was courteous, but he seemed...” Kasim made a circular gesture with his hand as he searched for the word in English. “Possessive? I think that’s the best description.”
“I know the type,” Rose said, a rueful smile on her face.
“Your sister, you say? I can see that.” Kasim looked her up and down, not impolitely. “I don’t know if I can help you find her, though. She asked a lot of intelligent questions about the pyramid at first. I was enjoying the conversation. You can imagine, I have the same superficial conversations a dozen times a day usually.”
“At first?” Rose asked.
�
�Yes. After a few minutes the questions got strange.”
“Strange how?”
“She was asking about things I’d never heard of... far-fetched legends about Anubis worship and sacrifice. I mean, this is my job, yes? I’ve heard about most of the weird things people think about our culture. But her questions were really out there. Then she asked about ancient Egyptian seafaring.”
Rose nearly did a double-take. She hadn’t expected that.
Kasim saw her reaction, smiled. “Exactly! You see what I mean? She got really strange. She specifically wanted to know if they could have crossed the Atlantic.”
“Ancient Egyptians?”
“Yes. When I told her that I had no idea about any of that, she abruptly ended the conversation.”
Rose understood the man’s confusion. What had Lily expected to hear? How had she got from Anubis cults to ancient people crossing such a vast expanse of ocean? And why?
“I’m really worried about my sister,” she said. “I’m desperate to track her down. Do you have any idea where she might have gone?”
“No, not really. I’m sorry.” Kasim paused, then looked up, his expression hopeful. “Although I do remember hearing one thing. As she and her guy friend were walking away, I heard him say, ‘It’s a long flight to Colorado.’ I remember thinking at the time that going from here to Colorado seemed strange given Iris was so obviously British. Her accent English like yours, you know?”
Rose smiled. “That is unusual. I have no idea why she would go to Colorado.”
“Neither do I,” Kasim said. “But then, I know as much about Colorado as I know about the surface of the moon, so perhaps there is a connection.”
Unless that’s the airport Lily mentioned to Leonard, Rose wondered.
“Thank you,” she said. “I appreciate your time.”
“You’re welcome. I hope you find your sister. And maybe you’ll come and take my tour some day? I’m the best there is!”
“Maybe I will.”
She walked away from the nice young man, lost in thought. Colorado? It wasn’t much of a lead, but perhaps it was better than nothing. Crowley was good at thinking about this stuff, maybe he would spot a connection.