Kingdom of Darkness

6

‘The thing with the Alexander Romance,’ said Nina, gesticulating with one hand while she stabbed a fork at her plate with the other, ‘is that it’s impossible to know which parts are the original and which were added by later authors. Even the so-called “A-text”, which is the earliest known complete recension, comes from at least five hundred years after Alexander’s death. We don’t even know the identity of the original author — it’s usually accredited to a figure known as “pseudo-Callisthenes”, the real Callisthenes being a historian who accompanied Alexander on his campaigns. But Alexander had him executed,’ she chopped her fork and the piece of lamb impaled upon it through the air to illustrate, ‘five years before his own death, and besides, the writing style doesn’t match. So we know it wasn’t—’

Macy, whose eyes had begun to flicker wearily during the meal, slumped forward in her seat, snapping awake just in time to prevent herself from face-planting into her tahini salad. ‘Guh! Sorry, it’s okay, I was listening,’ she mumbled apologetically. ‘What was that about the A-Team?’

Eddie laughed. ‘Now you know how I feel every time Nina goes off on one.’ Deyab, who had eventually been cajoled into joining the group for dinner, tried to hide his amusement.

‘It’s not my fault if you don’t want to pay attention,’ Nina objected. ‘But even though the more fantastical elements of the Romance aren’t included in the A-text, that doesn’t necessarily mean they were added later. They could have been excised precisely because they felt out of place in what that particular version’s editor considered a serious account of Alexander’s life… Eddie, you’re not funny.’

Her husband had lolled back in his chair, tongue hanging from the side of his mouth. He straightened and gave her a devilish grin. ‘Couldn’t resist, love. But seriously, we’re knackered after flying halfway around the world. Give the archaeology stuff a break, at least until morning. Once they open the tomb, if they find that horse statue you can tell Banna “I told you so” as much as you like.’

‘Oh, all right,’ she said irritably.

Eddie picked up on her mood, but didn’t comment on it. ‘Are you sure you’re okay, Macy?’ he asked instead.

The younger woman rubbed her eyes. ‘I’m fine, but… yeah, I’m really tired.’

‘Jet lag and two glasses of wine, not a good mix,’ Eddie told her. ‘You should go to bed.’ He looked out at the street. Darkness had fallen, but figures were still milling on the busy thoroughfare outside the restaurant. ‘Deyab, will she be okay going back to the hotel by herself?’

‘I’ll be fine,’ Macy protested, through a yawn.

The bodyguard was less certain. ‘It would be better if I went with her. A young woman on her own at night could attract bad attention — especially an American woman. But you have not finished your food yet, and I am supposed to stay with you…’

‘We’ll be all right,’ Nina assured him. ‘Take Macy to the hotel.’

‘You will wait for me here?’

‘Yeah, yeah,’ Eddie said with a nod. ‘Go on, Macy, we’ll see you tomorrow.’

With a mixture of reluctance and relief, Macy stood. Deyab accompanied her. ‘I will be back as fast as I can,’ he assured them.

‘Make sure you wake me up,’ Macy said over her shoulder. ‘Don’t let them open the tomb without me!’

‘I’m sure you’ll be there,’ Nina called out. She waited for the door to close, then added to Eddie: ‘I doubt I could get rid of her if I tried! Jeez, I couldn’t believe it when we got off the plane and she was waiting for us.’

‘She’s keen, I’ll give her that,’ Eddie replied. ‘Is that why you’re in a mood? Because Macy’s here?’

‘I’m not in a mood.’ She gulped down the forkful of lamb.

‘Yeah, you are. You got all stroppy just now. I didn’t want to say anything about it ’cause we had company.’

‘But now we’re on our own, it’s fine?’

‘See, you’re getting stroppy again. What’s up?’

‘Nothing’s up!’ Nina insisted. ‘I was just… Okay, I enjoyed getting to talk shop again. It was great to go down into the tomb, even if that kid Banna was a condescending little asshole. How old is he anyway? Twelve?’

‘Twenty-six,’ said Eddie. ‘I asked Assad.’

She was surprised. ‘Only twenty-six? Wow, he’s even younger than I was when I got my PhD. And they put him in charge of a dig this big already? There must be some nepotism there.’

‘Or maybe he’s just really smart as well as being a bell-end. I mean, you were only twenty-eight when you found Atlantis.’

‘Yeah, and now I’m thirty-four, and… and I’m probably not going to see thirty-five.’ She sighed, a deep expression of gloom. ‘This is the last archaeological dig I’ll ever be involved in. And I’ve missed it, Eddie. I miss the work. I miss the IHA, and the discovery — and I really miss being able to talk about it with people who actually care.’

She put more sharpness than she had intended into those last words, and Eddie bristled. ‘Just ’cause I’m not an archaeologist doesn’t mean I don’t care,’ he snapped. ‘I care about it because you care. But we agreed, Nina. We were going to do more with however much time you’ve got left than let you hide in some hole in the ground.’

‘I’m not hiding! It’s what I do, Eddie. It’s my passion — it’s my life.’

‘Your life is more than your bloody work, Nina!’ he said, loudly enough to draw the attention of other patrons. ‘I’m part of your life too, remember? And I want to spend the time we’ve still got together with you, not getting dragged back into working for the IHA or listening to you drone on about Callisthenics the Boring or whatever the fuck his name was.’

Nina stood, snapping her fingers to draw a waiter’s attention. ‘Cheque, please.’

‘Okay, bad choice of words, I didn’t mean “drone”,’ Eddie hurriedly backpedalled, but by now his wife was heading for the door. ‘Bollocks! Okay, how much was that?’ he asked the waiter, fumbling for his wallet and counting out Egyptian banknotes until the man nodded. He handed over the money and hurried after her. ‘Fuck’s sake, I could probably have bought an entire flock of sheep for that. Nina, wait!’

‘Not boring you, am I?’ she said frostily as he caught up outside.

‘No, but you’re worrying me. They gave us a bodyguard for a reason, remember?’ He surveyed the street. Nobody appeared to be paying the couple any untoward attention, but that didn’t mean they weren’t being watched. ‘We should have waited for Deyab.’

‘I wasn’t going to sit around in there until he got back. The atmosphere had suddenly gotten rather unpleasant.’

‘Okay, okay. I’m sorry, all right? That’s not what I meant.’ They walked on for some distance before he spoke again. ‘Look, you know I’m not exactly William Shakespeare when it comes to stringing words together — I could have phrased that better.’

‘No shit,’ Nina replied.

‘But still, you know what I meant. The whole point of us going away and seeing the world — the world now, not the one from thousands of years ago — was because we didn’t know how much longer we’d have together. And now…’ He looked mournfully down at her side, where the tumours were hidden beneath her clothing. ‘It might be less time than we’d thought. And I don’t want to waste any of it.’

‘That’s just it, though. I don’t think this is wasting it. I’m… I’m achieving something, Eddie,’ she said. ‘It’s important to me. Maybe I’m not going to go on any more expeditions, and I’m never going to make another find like Atlantis or the Garden of Eden or any of the others. But at least I’ll have helped protect someone else’s discovery — even if that person is a jerk like Banna.’ She stopped and faced him, tears glistening in her eyes. ‘We’ve been together for six years, Eddie; you must know me fairly well by now.’

‘I like to think so.’

‘Then you also know that yes, there is more to my life than my work — there’s you, for a start. You mean more to me than anything. But ever since my parents died, and even before then, archaeology has been what’s driven me. It’s… it’s defined me, Eddie. I can’t just give it up, any more than you could give up being British. You understand that, don’t you?’

He looked back at her, drawing a long breath before answering. ‘I can understand it, yeah. It doesn’t mean I like it or agree with it, though. I want the time we’ve got to be about us, not people who died centuries ago. You understand that, right?’

‘I do, Eddie. I do. But this… It’ll be over tomorrow, after they open the burial chamber. One more day, okay? Please? Let me see this last thing through.’

Eddie sighed, but reluctantly nodded. ‘Okay, yeah. One more day.’

‘Thank you, Eddie. Thank you. I really—’ She broke off, sensing a sudden change in his bearing. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘We should have waited for Deyab,’ he said quietly, taking hold of her arm. ‘Come on, we need to move.’

‘What is it?’ she asked, worried.

‘Someone’s following us.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Two blokes. They’re not Egyptians. I saw ’em when we came out of the restaurant — they started following us, then stopped when we did.’

Fear prickled through Nina’s body. ‘Who are they?’

‘Don’t know — one young guy, one older one.’ He looked through the pedestrians at the crawling traffic ahead. ‘Shit, no taxis. We need to get off this road.’

‘They wouldn’t try anything with so many people around, surely?’

‘They did in LA. This alley coming up on the right, we’re going down it.’

The side street was narrow, and dark. ‘Are you sure?’

‘If they’re going to try and kill us, they’ll do it wherever we are. At least down here there won’t be any civvies in the way.’

They turned to enter a trash-strewn warren of alleyways between run-down tenement buildings. The only light came from a few windows on higher floors. ‘Eddie, I don’t like this,’ said Nina, her fear deepening. ‘They’ll know we’ve seen them now — and we don’t even know if there’s a way out of here!’

‘We’ll get out, even if we have to go through them.’ He guided her into another passage to the right, looking back as he made the turn. The two men appeared at the end of the side street, having increased their pace to catch up.

‘They’re definitely after us,’ he warned Nina. A television blared from an open window somewhere above. ‘You keep going.’ He released her arm and pushed her onwards.

‘What are you doing?’ she demanded, ignoring the prompt and turning to see him duck into the shadows beside an overflowing garbage bin.

‘I’m going to have words with ’em. Go on, move!’

‘Eddie, no! We need to—’

‘Go!’ With deep reluctance, Nina hurried away into the darkness.

Eddie watched until she turned a corner, then hunched down. Over the sound of the TV he picked out the scuffle of footsteps. Two sets, moving at a brisk jog.

The first man rounded the turn, hesitating as he found that his targets had disappeared. He was ten feet away. Eddie clenched both fists into tight balls, ready to strike.

Whispered words from the leading man to his companion as he caught up, then the former set off again. He reached the bin—

Eddie sprang up, whirling to drive a fist into his pursuer’s face.

It didn’t connect.

The young man dodged reflexively, snapping sideways to avoid the blow. With all his weight behind the swing, Eddie was suddenly unbalanced, having braced himself for an impact that didn’t come. He staggered as he tried to correct for his mistake—

The edge of a palm knifed at the Englishman’s throat.

He glimpsed the pale blur rushing at him, but with one arm outstretched and the other thrown back as a counterweight, all he could do to protect his windpipe was jam his chin down hard against his chest. The blow hit his mouth. He tasted blood.

His attacker’s hand drew back, then whipped at his face again—

The Yorkshireman twisted, taking a painful blow to his jaw — then, with a roar, charged and tackled his opponent.

Both men crashed against the bin, scattering garbage. Eddie pressed his attack, driving a fist into his assailant’s abdomen. It was a hard blow, and even though the other man’s muscles were solid as stone, he still grunted in pain. Eddie shoulder-barged him against the wall, pulling back his arm to deliver another punch—

The edge of a boot slammed against his shin, grinding agonisingly down the bone to knock his leg out from under him. Eddie tried to grab his adversary’s clothing for support, but it was too late. His knee barked against the ground, and he fell.

The man loomed above him, raising a foot to stamp on his face—

‘Chadal!’

The descending boot froze an inch from the tip of Eddie’s nose before swinging away. The attacker drew back, almost standing at attention. The second of the two pursuers came into view, a faint wash of light from a window above revealing concern on the older man’s face.

He reached down. ‘Mr Chase, my apologies. Are you okay?’

Eddie glared at him. ‘Who the fuck are you?’

‘A friend — although I can understand why you wouldn’t believe me. But trust me, I am on your side. Here, let me help you.’

The Yorkshireman ignored the proffered hand and pushed himself upright. ‘What the fuck’s going on?’ he demanded, recognising the man’s accent. ‘You’re Israeli?’

‘Benjamin Falk.’ He tipped his head in greeting before indicating his younger companion. ‘My overzealous associate here is Jared Zane.’

‘Eddie?’ called Nina, peering nervously around the corner. ‘What’s happening? Are you okay?’

Her husband spat out a red glob, forcing himself not to show any discomfort as he straightened his leg and felt a raw pain where Zane’s boot had scraped down it. ‘I’ll live.’

‘Is it safe? Who are these guys?’

‘You are quite safe with us, Dr Wilde,’ said Falk.

She drew back, disconcerted. ‘You know who I am?’

‘Course they know who we are,’ growled Eddie. ‘They know who everyone is. They’re from fucking Mossad.’

‘The Mossad?’ Nina echoed. She knew of the Israeli intelligence agency by fearsome reputation, but had never encountered anyone who worked for it; at least not that she had been aware of.

Zane was surprised to have been identified. ‘How did you know that?’

‘That Krav Maga martial arts bollocks you were doing, I’ve seen it before. I met Mossad agents when I was in the forces. Bunch of arrogant fucking twats.’

The young man scowled at him. ‘What did you say?’

Falk held up a hand. ‘Jared.’ Zane’s offended frown remained, but he made an effort to lower his hackles. ‘We should get back on to the main street, or your bodyguard might miss you when he returns from escorting Miss Sharif to your hotel.’

Nina warily joined her husband as he brushed dirt off his leather jacket. ‘I guess you really do know who we are. So why are you following us?’

The Israelis started back towards the street. Eddie and Nina followed cautiously. ‘You encountered a man named Maximilian Jaekel in Los Angeles,’ said Falk.

‘If by “encountered” you mean “were shot at by”, then yeah,’ she replied.

‘Jaekel was an escaped Nazi, although I’m sure you already know that,’ Falk went on. ‘But the Mossad has an… arrangement with both Interpol and the American government — the British government too,’ he added, glancing at Eddie. ‘The moment his fingerprints were identified, we were alerted. It didn’t seem possible — the dead man appeared far too young. But fingerprints do not lie. So my unit was reactivated to investigate.’

‘Reactivated?’ said Eddie.

Falk nodded. ‘My current role at the Mossad is irrelevant, but I was formerly in charge of the Criminal Sanctions Unit. The reason the CSU had been deactivated was simple: it had run out of criminals to pursue.’

‘War criminals,’ said Nina, realising the unit’s true function. ‘You’re Nazi hunters?’

‘Yes.’ They reached the street and the two Israelis stopped under a light, giving Nina and Eddie their first clear view of the pair. Zane was in his mid twenties, tall and lean in both face and figure, with a neat mane of tight black curls framing his intense features. Falk was a good three decades older, his hair and bristling moustache gone to grey. Despite his age, however, he seemed as fit as his younger companion. ‘The CSU has not had a field operation in almost seven years — until now. As former head of the unit, I was recalled from my other duties.’

‘And him?’ Eddie asked, jerking a thumb at Zane. ‘He doesn’t look like he’d even have finished school seven years ago.’

‘I’ve got personal reasons for wanting to join the CSU for this operation,’ said Zane, dark eyes regarding the Englishman coldly. ‘My family comes from Greece, from Macedonia. Most of them were slaughtered by the Nazis. Jaekel was one of the men responsible. If he survived, others from his SS unit may have too. If they did, I want them to see justice.’

‘Well, can’t argue with you on that one.’

‘So okay, you’re hunting for the rest of these Nazis,’ said Nina. ‘Then why are you following us around Alexandria? And why did you attack Eddie?’

‘He attacked me,’ Zane pointed out brusquely, putting a hand to his stomach where Eddie had punched him.

‘We have been observing you ever since you arrived in Egypt,’ said Falk as the group started walking again. ‘We knew you were coming, so I decided to keep watch on you. Just in case.’

Nina regarded him warily. ‘Just in case of what?’

‘We’re their fucking bait,’ Eddie realised. ‘They think that since one Nazi went after us in LA, another might take a pop at us here — and they want to catch him if he does. That’s it, isn’t it? That’s the only reason you’re keeping an eye on us — to see if someone tries to kill us!’

‘We would do as much as we could to stop them,’ Falk said, not exactly reassuring the couple. ‘But yes, that is why we are here. Whoever Jaekel was working with wants to obtain the horse statue from inside Alexander’s tomb, very badly — and they believe you are a threat to their plans. Since you are now here, they may make another attempt — and we will be waiting.’

‘How did you know about the statue?’ Nina demanded, before the answer came to her. ‘This arrangement you’ve got with the US government — the Mossad gets access to more than just fingerprints, doesn’t it? How high up does it go?’ Falk and his partner remained silent, though the former had a faint smile that suggested any level Nina imagined would not be as high as the truth.

Eddie’s expression was anything but smiling. ‘You got us out of jail, didn’t you? You had words with somebody at the Justice Department, because you knew that if Nina came to Egypt, you’d be able to use her as your fucking canary. And if you knew anything about her at all, you also knew that she would come out here.’ He gave his wife an I told you so look, which was not well received.

‘Yes, we expedited your release,’ confirmed Falk amiably. ‘Ideally, you would never even have known we were here, but unfortunately you chose a restaurant that limited our options for observing you covertly. It’s hard to run a surveillance operation with just two people.’

Eddie made a sarcastic sound. ‘Short-staffed, are you? Mossad’s murder squads using up all the budget?’

Again Zane bristled at the insult to his organisation, but Falk took it in his stride. ‘Even the Mossad has its limits — although we prefer that our enemies don’t realise it. But don’t worry. You won’t see us again… unless we’re needed.’

‘We don’t need you,’ Eddie said firmly. ‘You want some friendly advice? Fuck off and don’t come back.’

‘Any time you want to finish what we started, Chase…’ rumbled Zane, stepping closer.

Falk sighed and shook his head. ‘Young men and their machismo! They learn, in time — if they don’t get themselves killed first.’ He spoke to his companion in muted Hebrew, causing Zane to retreat and lower his head, then addressed the couple again. ‘Anyway, I can see your bodyguard coming back, so we shall leave you in peace. Until we meet again, Dr Wilde, Mr Chase.’ He gave them a cheery wave, then headed away down the street, Zane at his side.

Nina watched them go, still slightly bewildered by events, then looked around at Deyab’s slightly alarmed voice. ‘Dr Wilde! You said you would wait at the restaurant.’

‘Change of plan,’ Eddie told him. He gave the street’s other denizens a cautious once-over, Falk’s revelations now weighing on his mind, but nobody showed the remotest interest in the two foreigners. ‘Did you get Macy back to the hotel?’

‘Yes,’ Deyab assured him. ‘But you should have waited for me. I could get into trouble for leaving you—’

‘It’s okay, we won’t tell anyone,’ Nina assured him. ‘And nothing happened.’ She noticed that he was staring at the dirt on Eddie’s jacket. ‘Except that Eddie had too much beer and tripped on the sidewalk.’

Deyab looked perturbed. ‘But you only had two drinks.’

‘Guess I can’t take my booze,’ said Eddie. ‘Come on, then. Now you’ve found us, let’s go back to the hotel.’

‘Good idea,’ said Nina. As they set off, she glanced back for any sign of Falk and Zane, but the two Mossad agents had vanished into the crowd.