Raiders

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Eva Starling stared at the heavy sarcophagus and realized as Ezra handed her the ankh that her hands were trembling. The draining holes in the base of the thing were clear enough. They had been drilled countless centuries after its original use so someone could use it as an ablutions tank, but the one at the head of the sarcophagus was a slightly different shape to the others.

“It’s different — can you see?”

Mason leaned in. “Not really.”

“What are all these markings?” Ella asked.

“They’re hieroglyphics describing part of what we call the Amduat. It’s a funerary text and means the Book of What is in the Underworld.”

Zara whistled. “Catchy.”

“In this case here, the glyphs referring to the Underworld are directly above the odd-looking drainage hole. It’s a play on words because it’s describing the underworld and the key-hole is directly beneath the glyph referring to under.”

“Who says the ancients didn’t have a sense of humor?” Caleb said.

“I guess this is it, then,” Mason said.

“You really think Parennefer’s codex is inside this thing?” Ella asked.

“The ankh was very clear about it,” Eva said. “It said the codex was sent into Sekhet-Aaru with Nectanebo. Those are the reed fields, or their conceptualization of heaven. There was only one way to send the codex to heaven with the king, and that was by putting it inside this sarcophagus.”

“So, yes, in other words,” Zara said.

Ella sighed. “That’s what she said.”

Zara raised her palms. “Hey, no harm no foul. She’s an academic, right? That means she has to use fifty words when one will do.”

Eva didn’t respond. Her mind was focused on the jewel-encrusted ankh in her hand and how heavy it had started to feel. Not just gold anymore, but the weight of the world.

She knelt down on the hard tiled floor and pushed the ankh inside the hole directly beneath the Underworld glyph. The other holes were perfectly round, but this one had a vague octagonal shape that matched the styling of the ankh. She felt a clunk and then realized the key had slotted into whatever ancient lock mechanism was inside the base of the sarcophagus.

“It’s in,” she said.

“Those dudes from the Young Guns can’t be far behind us,” Zara quietly pointed out. “So, maybe time to crank this up a notch?”

Mason’s eyes flicked from Zara’s calm, confident face to the trembling hands of Dr Eva Starling. “She’s right, Eva. We need to move this along.”

Eva’s reply was to turn the ankh in the hole. She felt an immediate clicking sensation travel up the golden key, and then they all heard a loud clunk.

“What?” Zara whined. “No fireworks?”

“Not yet,” Ezra said.

“Now what?” Virgil asked.

Eva looked crestfallen. “I’m not sure.”

“Let’s have a look,” Mason said, crouching down beside Eva. He moved his hand to the key, brushing the back of her hand. “May I?”

“Be my guest.”

Mason took a firm grip of the ankh and pulled it as hard as he could. The key came out of the hole easily, but pulled behind it a long copper tube around an inch in diameter and twelve inches long.

“Woah!” Zara said. “Now we’re cooking with dynamite, baby.”

“What is that thing?” Ella asked, taking a step closer.

Mason handed it over to Eva. “All yours. Something tells me you’re going to have a better idea about what to do next than me.”

Eva took the copper tube in her hands and blinked as the emergency fire exit lights flashed on its smooth curved surface. She tapped it with her fingernail and a metallic ping echoed in the room. “The codex must be inside.”

She turned the ankh in the hole and it pulled out to reveal an open aperture. “There’s something in here,” she said, her voice growing in excitement.

“So don’t keep us all in suspenders,” Zara said. “Get it out.”

Eva pulled out a single piece of yellowed rolled-up paper, and then they heard the sound of Milo’s voice in their earpieces. “We got company.”

Zara sighed. “Spiders or weirdos in trench coats?”

“Oh, it’s the Lost Boys, all right,” Milo said. “Sorry.”

Mason pulled his Glock 17 from a shoulder holster and pulled a round into the chamber. “Everyone here is going to do as I say, and that way no one gets hurt.”

“Oh my…” Dr Hamilton nearly passed out, and the two security guards took a step back.

“You can’t have that in here!” said one of the guards.

The other spoke up, and extended his hand. “Come on, hand it over.”

They all heard the sound of gunfire.

“What’s going on, Milo?” Mason asked.

“The two policemen at the entrance are down, Jed. I repeat, they’re both down, and so is Dunford.”

“Ken’s dead?” Ezra said. “I don’t believe it.”

The two security guards rushed back toward the main entrance.

“What do they want?” Hamilton asked.

Eva held the rolled paper to her chest. “This,” she said coldly. “And they’ll kill anyone to get it.”

Hamilton fumbled for her phone, but dropped it to the floor with her trembling hands. “We have to call the police!” she said meekly as she picked it back up again.

“No time for that,” Caleb said gruffly. “These guys will be in and out of here long before even the fastest response unit can arrive.”

“Caleb’s right,” Ella said. “We have to deal with them ourselves.”

Mason nodded. “Milo, you still got these guys on the monitors?”

“Sort of.”

“What the hell does sort of mean?” Zara said.

“They’re shooting the CCTV cameras as they make their way toward you.”

“Toward us?” Dr Hamilton fainted and crashed to the floor.

Caleb sighed and picked her up with a fireman’s lift. When she was safely over his shoulder they started to make their way to the exit. “Time to live free or die.”

“Okay, Milo,” Mason said. “We need you to direct us toward you and then we’re all out of here. We need to get out of here and it’s better for everyone if we can do that without a fight.”

Zara looked at him in the dim glow of the museum’s emergency night lighting. “You know, as you get older, Jed…”

“I get more rugged?”

“No, your testosterone levels are dropping, old man,” she said with a shake of her head. “Better without fighting, indeed!”

“I hate to break things up,” said Milo. “But the Lost Boys are nearly on top of you. You guys need to take the exit to your left and start moving or you’re in a war zone.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Mason said.