The Cult of Osiris (16 page)

Looks about to cave in,' said Eddie, passing warily beneath them.

Nina looked more closely. 'Maybe it already did - looks like they had to rebuild the roof to get through. They must have been working here for weeks - what are you doing?'

Macy raised her camera. Getting proof of everything.'

You can't use the flash in here, they might see it''

I know that, duh! I'm recording a video.' She fiddled with the controls, then filmed the ceiling. Eddie and Nina moved on. 'Hey, wait!'

Eddie approached the end of the passage. Sand-crusted pillars, ornate carvings discernible beneath the grit, marked the entrance to a chamber. The echoing grind of the power tool was louder here.

He peered into the room. The ceiling bulbs were replaced by banks of brilliant lights mounted on heavy-duty tripods, illuminating the western half of a large rectangular chamber. There was nobody in sight, but the noise was coming from beyond an opening in the west wall, where more lights were visible. He entered, signalling for Nina and Macy to follow.

Nina could barely contain her amazement. 'My God,' she whispered, taking in the two rows of hieroglyph-covered cylindrical pillars running along the room's length, the further symbols on the walls, the ranks of niches containing lidded clay containers to protect the papyrus scrolls inside . . .

The Hall of Records. Until recently, believed to be nothing more than a myth - but now very real. And she was one of the first people to enter it in millennia.

Not
the
first, though. The modern artefacts amongst the ancient were proof enough of that. A large block was propped up on wheeled jacks by the entrance - the stone that had once

sealed it, ready to be moved back into place once the robbers were done. The floor was covered in dust, numerous bootprints passing to and fro through the room.

Ay up,' said Eddie, spotting a familiar item of clothing draped over a workbench near the entrance. T recognise that.'

So do I,' said Nina, seeing the snakeskin jacket. She looked past it into the shadows of the chamber's eastern end. On the far wall, more pillars marked another entrance: the one through which Berkeley and his team would enter.

Macy, meanwhile, went to the other end of the room, passing a chugging compressor and an electrical junction box. Power cables and a hose ran from them into the short passage to the next chamber. She was about to go through when Eddie waved her back. Over here.' He went to a darkened opening directly opposite the royal entrance.

Nina joined him, noticing that there were almost no footprints outside the area between the entrance and the next illuminated chamber. The robbers were only interested in one specific part of the Hall of Records, completely ignoring the rest. 'What's in there?

Egyptian stuff.' She made a sarcastic face. 'But I think it goes round and joins back up. I can see some light at the far end.' He took out a small penlight and swept its beam across the new room. Though smaller than the chamber in which they stood, it contained just as much ancient knowledge. This room had sustained damage, however, possibly from an earthquake; one pillar had partly collapsed, leaving large chunks lying on the floor.

Eddie moved inside. Nina followed, Macy behind her, camera in hand. A rectangle of dim light in the west wall marked the entrance to a fourth chamber; crossing to it, they saw the back of another lighting rig in the exit at its northwestern corner. They entered the new chamber and crept along the wall to the lights, which illuminated a flight of steps.

Nina looked round the tripod. The broad stone stairs led upwards - into, she realised with a thrill, the body of the Sphinx itself. The room at the top had been carved directly out of the heart of the great statue.

And over the sound of the power tools she heard voices.

What're you doing?' Eddie demanded as she tried to push past him. I want to see what's up there/ Yeah, and they'll see you!'

No, they won't - there'll be too much glare from these lights.' He frowned, but backed up.

The chamber Macy had almost entered earlier was across the bottom of the stairs, more light stands within. The trail of dusty footprints ran from it up the steps. Nina leaned out to see what was at the top - and felt another adrenalin shot of discovery.

Mixed with fear.

Several figures were visible in the upper chamber, and even without his snakeskin jacket she recognised the man from New York, who Macy had said was called Diamondback. She also spotted Hamdi, talking to someone outside her narrow field of view. But it was the object of their attention that had also grabbed hers.

It was on the ceiling - a zodiac, a star map about six feet in diameter, the constellations carved into the stone in the form of the ancient Egyptian gods. Nina knew of others - there was one in the Louvre in Paris - but unlike them this was still painted, as its creators had intended.

But it was no longer complete. It had been dismantled, desecrated. Only one part remained on the ceiling, a roughly triangular section running from its southern edge to just past the centre. She could see the circular outline of where the rest had been clearly enough; power tools had carved away the surrounding stone, then pieces had been carefully and precisely cut from the ceiling. A man wearing goggles, a facemask and ear protectors was using a circular saw to free the final piece.

Another masked man was also working on the ceiling, but with much less sophisticated tools - a hammer and chisel. Nina was puzzled, before realising what he was doing: knocking dents into the perfectly flat swathes cut by the saw. All he had to do to remove any evidence that the zodiac had ever been there was roughen the newly exposed circle to match the limestone ceiling. With so many other treasures in the Hall of Records, nobody would pay any

attention to a discolouration of the roof. She appreciated the ingenuity of the operation . . . even as she was utterly appalled by it.

The man Hamdi was addressing stepped into Nina's view. She recognised him from his picture.

Sebak Shaban.

She also saw that Macy hadn't been exaggerating about his facial scar, which dominated the right side of his face from the top lip to the nub of the ear. She couldn't help cringing at the thought of the pain he must have endured.

But that didn't earn him her sympathy. He was still a thief, stealing one of the world's greatest archaeological treasures.

The saw's screech died down, its user gesturing to a third man - Gamal, who had helped to carry the case from the tent. Now she was sure what it had contained: a piece of the zodiac. The cramped vertical shaft made it impossible to remove the map intact, so it had been cut into more manageable sections.

That, and the care being taken not to damage the last piece, suggested the thieves intended to reassemble it. Maybe it could still be restored.

But for that to happen, the conspirators would have to be caught.

Give me your camera,' she whispered to Macy, who passed it to her. 'How does it record?' Just press the button, then press it again when you want to stop/

Okay.' Nina held the camera out past the lighting rig and started recording, watching the image on the LCD screen. To her annoyance, Shaban and Hamdi had turned to regard the zodiac, only the backs of their heads visible. Turn round, dammit,' she hissed. If she could get a clear shot of their faces, they would be heading to prison for a very long time.

Eddie crept alongside her, straining to hear what they were saying. The discussion was in Arabic; he could make out some words, but not enough to understand the entire conversation. Is that the zodiac?'

What's left of it.' And the last section would soon be gone. Gamal moved a piece of equipment into position beneath it - a support frame, padded bars mounted on a pneumatic jack. He operated a control, and a piercing hiss of compressed air echoed round the chamber as the jack slowly extended. Hamdi put his fingers to his ears and backed out of the camera's view.

Shaban remained focused on the jack. The frame rose until it was just below the zodiac, then slowed, advancing step by tiny step until the pads touched the ancient carving.

The jack's hiss stopped - but was quickly replaced by the whine of the circular saw as the masked man cut into the stone once more. With the jack supporting it, the last piece of the zodiac could be safely cut free of the ceiling.

Diamondback said something to Shaban, and both men moved out of sight. Nina cursed. But at least the camera now had a clear view of the zodiac as it was being stolen. That would hopefully be enough to convince the Egyptian authorities—

Movement forced her to duck back into the darkened room. A muscular Caucasian man with close-cropped grey hair started down the stairs. He was carrying what looked like a chainsaw, though its heavy teeth set it apart from the average lumberjack's tool: a piece of specialised stonecutting equipment. As he descended, he coiled up the saw's power cable, following it into the illuminated chamber.

Looks like they're about to sod off,' Eddie whispered once he was out of sight.

We probably should too,' said Nina. She stopped the recording, and they retreated through the two dark chambers - only to stop at the entrance to the first room.

Buggeration,' Eddie muttered. The man was checking the jacks supporting the stone slab.

We could just run past him,' Macy suggested.

Yeah, but if he's got a gun, he'll have an easy shot at us in that tunnel. We need to get out without anyone seeing us.

But that soon became even less likely. Diamondback swaggered into the entrance chamber, wiping dust from his beard. The saw's noise died away, replaced by the hiss of the jack lowering. Before long, Gamal and the other man brought another case into the room, Shaban and Hamdi close behind them.

That everything?' asked Diamondback. So what now?'

Now,' said Shaban, 'we clean up.' He looked at his watch, then indicated the eastern entrance. 'We have just over five hours before the IHA open that door. Lorenz, how long will it take to seal the royal entrance?

The grey-haired man looked up from the jacks. 'Once we've got everything out of here, about an hour to move the block back into position,' he said, his accent Dutch.

There can't be so much as a footprint left behind,' Hamdi said, nervously regarding the tracks on the dusty floor.

There won't be.' Shaban indicated some gas cylinders beside the compressor. We'll use compressed air to clear the floors - by the time the IHA get in, the dust will have settled.' A nod to the man standing with Gamal. 'Broma, get started.

Shit,' Eddie whispered. 'We'll have to make a run for it after all. Soon as they go back upstairs for their gear, we'll leg it.

They waited in the darkness as Broma began erasing stray footprints with blasts of compressed air. The other men moved away from the swirling dust clouds.

Should we risk it?' said Nina.

There's still that bloke by the door,' Eddie said, watching Lorenz check the jacks. When he moves away . . .'

Broma suddenly stopped working, peering with a puzzled expression at the floor near the entrance to the dark chamber. Eddie immediately knew why.

He had seen their footprints, freshly made in the dust.

Back, back, back!' Eddie hissed. Broma followed the new tracks to the entrance. He squinted into the shadows.

Eddie and Nina ducked down behind a section of the ruined pillar. Macy crouched beside a smaller hunk of broken stone as Broma swept a torch beam across the floor. He fixed the circle of light on one set of tracks and followed them.

To Macy's hiding place.

Frightened, she hunched lower - and crunched a small piece of debris under her sole. It was only a faint scrape, but it was enough to make Broma twitch. The torch beam locked on to the fallen pillar. He put down the air cylinder . . . and drew a knife.

Macy froze. The beam exposed more of the pillar as he approached . . . then found the young woman hiding behind it.

The knife snapped up—

Crack!

A five-thousand-year-old piece of pottery exploded into fragments as Eddie smashed it over Broma's head. The man fell to his knees against Macy's hiding place - and Eddie kicked the back of his head, cracking him face first against the stone. Broma slumped unconscious to the floor.

In the entrance chamber, Shaban looked round sharply at the noise. 'Broma?' he called. No reply. He gestured to Lorenz. Check it.' Lorenz grabbed a pickaxe and hurried to investigate.

Ninajumped up. 'Come on,' said Eddie, grabbing Macy's hand and quickly following Nina to the other doorway.

Lorenz entered the room, seeing Broma's fallen torch - and the body slumped beside it. He looked round in alarm, spotting fleeing silhouettes in the faint rectangle of light across the room. 'Hey!

Shit!' Nina gasped. She raced through the next darkened room, passing the light stand and glancing up the stairs. Nobody in the zodiac chamber, but there was no way out either. Instead

she ran into the last room, a smaller repository of records with four supporting pillars lit by two more light stands. An opening in the east wall led back into the entrance chamber

Through it, she saw Gamal running towards her with a hammer in one hand. Backing up, she almost collided with Eddie at the bottom of the stairs. 'This way's blocked!'

So's that way!' Macy cried, pointing behind her as Lorenz charged after them.

Up!' Eddie yelled, taking the steps three at a time. Nina and Macy dashed after him.

Gamal and Lorenz reached the bottom of the stairs simultaneously, rushing up them to catch their cornered prey . . .

Only to run back down even faster as a screaming Eddie pursued
them,
the circular saw shrilling in his hands. 'Come on, you fuck-sticks! ' he bellowed as he chased them into the illuminated room. Who wants some?'

Gamal clearly didn't, sprinting back into the entrance chamber, but Lorenz turned to face him. He swung the pickaxe, trying to smash the saw from Eddie's grip. Eddie jerked back -and another swipe brought the sharp point alarmingly close to his head. Whoa!'