Pyramid of the Gods (2 page)

Chapter Two

“Get up!”

Ishi’s voice forced me from a troubling dream, his Tawankan accent giving me the rope necessary to pull me out. Despite trying to desperately cling to fleeting images, the dream was gone before I wiped my eyes. My Honduran buddy grinned mischievously as he stood in the doorway to Marie’s and my tent. Startled, she quickly pulled up the bedroll to cover her nakedness.

“What time is it, man?” My mouth felt like sandpaper.

“
Time to get going—that’s what time it is!” said Akiiki, peering over Ishi’s shoulder. His dark ebony features were obscured in the early morning dimness. But his light blue eyes bore a discernible glint of mischief enhanced by his pearly whites. “We told you, Mr. Nick, we would come to wake you at dawn...so here we are!”

“
So it seems.” I looked over at Marie, pulling the bedroll up around her neck, as if it would make her any less naked beneath the covers. I wanted to ravish her right then—sans the audience, of course. “How much time do we have before you two become a bigger nuisance?” I asked them.

“
Meaning what, Boss?” said Ishi, feigning a wound to his feelings. “Perhaps we should leave you two here and come get you once we find the site, eh?”

“
We’re coming!”

Marie and I looked at each other, chuckling after responding in near unison.

“Good. Akiiki and I will cook breakfast.”

The pair disappeared from view, allowing the dawn’s faint light to creep into the tent.

“Christ, what time is it?” I asked her, while hurriedly pulling on my trousers and reaching for my shirt.

“
I’ve got eleven minutes past five,” she replied, after checking the time on her latest iPhone. An expensive paperweight, since the telephone guys had yet to put a single cell tower in this part of the desert. Yeah, a little cynicism to start the day off right. “And if we’re going to get out of here by six, then we’ll need to get a move on it!”

“
Fine, fine. You don’t have to yell.” I grabbed the new tan fedora she’d bought me in Cairo. How Indy of her. “See you in a few.”

“
You’re not waiting for me?” She sounded alarmed, and yet looked adorable in the glow of the flashlight by her pillow. She was losing the fight to shelter her breasts, and motioned for me to turn around. “I hate being the only one walking into someplace late!”

“
Then I suggest you hurry, darlin’,” I smiled playfully at her. “Yesterday’s clothes will do, and no need to powder up, since it’s just a campfire we’re attending.”

She threw a sandal at me, but her terrible aim brought only more chuckles. I waited for her outside the tent, and, after contributing what I could to the desert’s near nonexistent ecosystem, I enjoyed the coming sunrise with the day’s first cigarette.

“So, Mr. Nick...Ishi tells me you don’t think the previous place you looked for the Hittites’ gold is the correct one,” said Akiiki, once we finished eating in silence. The sun crept into the eastern horizon, and as it did so, the temperature felt like it rose twenty degrees. It would be a scorcher by mid-morning. “We are within two miles of that point, according to your map and what the ministry confirmed Leonardo laid claim to, nearly twelve years ago. But you wish to pursue another course?”

Akiiki Mubarek carried a quiet confidence that kept me waiting to see if he was as adept a guide as Marie had asserted he was, two days ago, when we first arrived in Cairo. Or, was he just a refined bullshitter, who had honed his skills for years on unsuspecting tourists in the region? Marie told Ishi and me that Akiiki once worked for her father. She met him as a young girl, when her father made a purchase on behalf of the Museum of Science in Boston, where they lived at the time.

Akiiki later aided Antonio Da Vinci, Marie’s father, on several expeditions in the northern Egyptian deserts, as well as procuring the best values available in the antiquities black market. Yet, as impressive as the man’s resume seemed, his most unique quality was in his appearance. Marie told us Akiiki was pushing sixty, and yet his hair remained jet black, and I could only detect slight laugh-lines in his youthful face. He could pass for a man half that age.

Must be some formaldehyde in that unfiltered Nile water,
I mused, looking at him again.

“
Yes, I do,” I told him. “Mario and I never looked beyond the marker to see if anything else could pass for the site. And, as far as I know, Leo never found the gold.”

“
But he had the map at one time, correct?”

“
He had a
copy
of the map, as the only smart thing we did was leave the original hidden with our bags at the hotel.” I found myself hating this conversation, as it threatened to reopen unhealed wounds. “If Leo Da Vinci had the brains and foresight to kill me back then, he likely would’ve recovered the original map at some point. Regardless, I believe he never found the gold. Otherwise, I doubt I would’ve had the good fortune to watch him die in Honduras.”

“
In the Temple of the Jaguar?”

“
Yes.”

We packed up our gear and headed deeper into the desert, our Jeep’s wheels repeatedly getting stuck in the shifting sand. It happened enough times to where Ishi joked traveling by camel would’ve been a better option.

But the worse part was trying to survey what amounted to sixty square miles looking for the right place to begin our excavation. Hell, we didn’t find mine and Mario’s fateful locale until well after lunch. The original locale.

“
And you’re sure this isn’t it, Nick?” asked Marie, wiping sweat from her brow that fed several tiny streams on either side of her face. “Uncle Leo carried a keen sense for buried treasure.”

“
Maybe he did...but he was wrong this time,” I assured her, moving back to the truck and climbing into the driver’s seat. The sun’s anger greeted my perturbed expression when I glanced in the rearview mirror. I hadn’t shaved in nearly a week, and the chipped emeralds gazing back from my reflection warned that my fuse was wearing thin. “Mario and I weren’t entirely sure we found the right place, either. We figured we had another mile or so to go in order to find the tip of the capstone. But when we saw something jutting out of the sand here, we thought it likely was the right spot, and the map was incorrect.”

I almost couldn’t remove my eyes from it...the limestone post marking the tunnel first dug by Mario and me. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the post looked as it did twelve years ago. In the least, I figured it would be weather-worn by now, and maybe it was a little. But a merciless feeling of nostalgia ripped through me. I knew I couldn’t stick around for long. When Leo and his men let me go, I remained far too upset for years to consider that perhaps we hadn’t found the right place. Not until Mr. Da Vinci set out to murder his niece and me in Honduras.

The amount of gold to be had in this desert, to whomever finds Sekhmet’s temple, would be far greater a coup than even The Temple of the Jaguar’s treasure, which had been massive. If the unscrupulous Leonardo Da Vinci Leo had found it, he would have retired in style—and never bothered transporting his ass down to the Honduran jungles. Especially not in search of treasure worth one-tenth the prize lying beneath these shifting Egyptian sands.

“
Well, where should we search next?” asked Ishi, walking up to mine and Marie’s Jeep and wiping the sweat dripping from his face into his shirt. Despite being as worn by the weather as Marie, his tone and smile remained upbeat, and his deep brown eyes twinkled with mirth. “Sadly, I don’t believe a dowsing rod will help.”

“
Hmmm, that’s true, but it gives me an idea,” I said. “Something about the large dune to the west of us keeps pulling my attention. It’s about half a mile from here, and seems to fit what the map shows.”

I pulled said map out from my pocket and unrolled it. The lower right quadrant, where an ‘X’ marked a spot, seemed to correspond to the dune. I was certain of it and felt excitement as I calculated the likely distance between the abandoned dig site and the mark on the map. Maybe not a perfect match, but the large sand dune in the distance, with the top folded over like a hooked finger, appeared close enough.

Close enough to take a look.

“
And, if this doesn’t pan out, what then?” asked Marie. She sounded worried, which wasn’t like her.

“
Well, darlin’, it will be your turn to pick the section of this god-forsaken desert to try next.”

“
That’s your plan?”

“
That’s my Plan B.”

“
Then let’s hope Plan A pans out,” muttered Ishi, before he and Akiiki headed for their truck, both chuckling.

“
I heard that!”

“
Ah, children, keep to the task at hand.” I shot Marie a playful look while watching her stomp to the passenger side and climb in. She must’ve been more irritated than I sensed, as she tossed my laptop into the back seat.

“
Well, you had better be right about this, Nick Caine.”

“
And if I’m not?”

“
Let’s not even go there,” she said, as I pulled in the lead, careful to avoid the drifts as I bee-lined for the hooked sand dune beginning to look more like a giant birdy directed at us. “I guess we’ll have to backtrack if we find out this next place is a waste of time.”

I couldn’t agree less. There were too many negative factors regarding the original site to lend it validity at this point. Not to mention, reliving my last moments with Mario wasn’t exactly the healthiest way to spend the afternoon.

“First things first,” I said, determined to sound calm and collected. “If we find it, great. And, if not, I’ll step aside and you can run this expedition from here on out. Deal?”

This wasn’t a ploy to get her to back down. Marie Da Vinci might be a princess in many ways, but a pushover she is not. Being in control is something the lady covets, whether we’re talking Scrabble, sex, or running the show when searching for buried treasure.

We soon reached the unusual sand structure. As we exited the Jeeps, it seemed likely Marie was right. The top of the overhang wasn’t a sand dune after all; instead, it was a natural rock outcropping. It would make a great photograph, the four of us hamming it up below with the caption: “Greetings from Bumfuck, Egypt!” But, it seemed too obvious to mark the long lost pyramid temple of Sekhmet. The next twenty minutes surveying the area proved futile, and I was ready to pack it in. We all were.

But that would’ve been a big mistake.

As the late afternoon shadows crept along the edge of the sandstone formation’s top, Ishi spotted something protruding from the ground, roughly fifty feet away. We headed over to it, and my heart began to race when we were within ten feet of the damned thing. Scarcely believing we’d find the capstone depicted in the map, it didn’t stop me from praying we did.

“
Holy shit,” whispered Marie, reverently. “I think this is
it
...I
think we found it!”

Akiiki and Ishi used their dusters to clear away enough sand to reveal the top portion of several glyphs. Some of the symbols were gone, after centuries of abusive winds. However, our guide could still confirm the basic message of the glyphs arrangement. Old enough to accurately represent the time period we sought, official confirmation would only come after digging deep enough in the sand to find a tunnel. But all signs pointed to this being as good a spot as any. Hopefully, what lay below us was the Hittites’ legendary gold.

Chapter Three

We set up camp beneath the sandstone overhang to keep the temperature cooler inside the tents. When dusk arrived, we ate from our rations and sat around a modest fire while Akiiki shared his favorite myths and theories surrounding the legendary temple we sought.

“
My people believe Sekhmet is not only real, but she still lives,” said Akiiki, continuing to talk about her, despite the polite nods from the three of us steadily dwindling to a standstill. “You don’t want to believe it? That’s okay...But if we have found her temple, and we are sitting above her throne chamber as we eat, drink, and share friendly conversation, don’t be surprised if your disrespect awakens her, and inspires her anger.”

He smiled as he said this, but the elfin glint in his eyes dimmed. Sure as shit, the guy believed every word spewing from his mouth.

“Come on, man...You seem level-headed and smart, even though you almost got us lost by missing the turnoff at El Kharaga,” I teased. “What gives with the horseshit? You no more believe a five-thousand-year-old goddess is lying in wait beneath the sand than I believe we won’t be getting a visit from the ministry before we leave here.”

“
Yassir Ali and his men won’t come,” he said confidently, maintaining his smile as if my jest had been harmless, and deflecting my verbal barbs a simple matter. “When they talked among themselves before we left, more than one agreed you and Ms. Marie are...how do you Americans say it? Missing a few screws upstairs? They say something like that, correct?”

Marie and I exchanged glances. I smiled at the humorous dig, while she scowled.

Marie, who’d been in a foul mood all day, snapped: “Do you think we’re crazy for coming out here, too?”

“
No, ma-am, I don’t think either of you are crazy,” he said, chuckling indifferently to her angry response. Then again, I doubted Akiiki would ever call anyone who paid him as much as we paid him crazy to their faces. He went on: “But Ali’s men certainly think you’re not right in the head, and you all carry a death wish by exploring this forgotten wasteland in summer heat.
That’s
why they won’t be dropping by for a visit.”

More nods, and my urge for a smoke became a bigger distraction by the moment. In truth, I would’ve lit up sooner, if not for a promise to Marie to try and ration my vices until we finished our desert business. Her worry that I might become a jittery pain in the ass, if the booze and cigarettes were gone before we claimed our prize, wasn’t completely unfounded.

“And where did you first hear Sekhmet’s pyramid was more like the ones in South America?” asked Ishi, directing his question to Akiiki when the silence became uncomfortable.

I wondered when Akiiki mentioned local pyramid design to my buddy. Likely, as they traded bedtime stories in the dark while Marie and I...well, while Marie and I shared a more naughty kind of pillow talk.

“Around here, it is common knowledge. After all, were you aware that the oldest pyramids in Egypt share more in common with those in the Americas than they do with those gracing the postcards sold at the Museum of Cairo?” asked Akiiki, rising to his feet. He stretched his back after dusting off sand from his trousers. “Yes, I know everyone is aware most pyramid temples have a step design to them, since it was the easiest way to construct them. However, it might surprise some that these older pyramids’ rough exteriors were not entirely due to erosion, as is commonly believed. Nations long forgotten were in existence before the Nile’s delta attracted the peoples destined to raise the grand Egyptian culture of ancient times. These other nations sprang up from the same source, and were located throughout the world. You’ve seen evidence of their glorious monuments from Bosnia to Korea, and throughout both American continents. The greatest of these still standing are the temples later occupied by, and attributed to, the Mayans and Incas.”

I tried not to laugh. Really I did. But I couldn’t contain a snicker.

Akiiki looked at me calmly. “So, Mr. Nick, you don’t believe in anything new? Still clinging to what you’ve already seen and formed opinions about? There’s no room for debate or new ideas?”

“
Yep, pretty much,” I said. “All the reliable evidence available in the scientific community tells us the pyramids in
this
country are the oldest in the world. At least the structures that are truly pyramids, and not something else, like the crumbling temples in places like Turkey or Iraq.”

“
So, you discount your own experiences then...including those experiences defying prior scientific knowledge?”

“
Meaning what?” I was beginning to hate Akiiki’s glib responses.

“
Ishi told me about the half-man, half-serpent creature you encountered in Honduras,” he said. “Such anomalies were once common throughout the world, especially when this region was a fertile basin where lush vegetation covered the landscape...I can tell from the look in your eye you think I’m full of bullshit, Mr. Nick. Same for Ms. Marie...and to a degree, you as well, Ishi. But, if it turns out the capstone belongs to the Temple of Sekhmet, it would be wise not to forget your prior experiences.”

Despite the urge to continue being a smartass, I held off. Instead, I turned my gaze to Ishi, who shrugged. Surely he hadn’t expected his tentmate to reveal details of their late night conversations...at least not like this.

“Since we should begin digging at daybreak, I will leave you to consider our discussion tonight. ‘Night, Mr. Nick and Ms. Marie. Ishi...I will leave the flashlight with you.”

“
Tawankans have eyes and a danger sense like marsupials,” I said. “He’ll have a much easier time avoiding scorpions and vipers than the rest of us...including you, Akiiki.”

Our guide looked impressed, nodding thoughtfully as he turned to leave. We didn’t pick up the conversation until after Akiiki retired inside his and Ishi’s tent, and had turned on a lamp.

“What in the hell was that all about?” I whispered to Ishi.

“
I don’t know,” my friend said. “I guess I told him too much, no?”

“
Maybe. But you need to tell me what else was discussed, so we can avoid unwanted surprises.”

Ishi took his leave of us, and, after answering nature’s call, he rejoined Akiiki, who I assumed was still awake since a soft glow emanated from the tent.

“I could really use a drink and a smoke,” I told Marie, when it was just the two of us. “But you know what? I’ll hold off for tonight.”

That seemed to make her happy. We stood, and I pulled her closer. Leading the way to our tent, an irony occurred to me. On the eve of finally getting a little restitution for Mario, I was also ready to share my heart with a woman who had feelings for me.

I prayed neither move was a mistake.