The Exodus Quest

III

'We're going to die down here,' sobbed Lily. 'We are, aren't we?'

'People will find us,' said Gaille.

'No one will find us.'

'Yes, they will.'

'How can you say that?'

Gaille hesitated. She hadn't mentioned Knox yet, the message she'd tried to send him. It was such a long shot, it seemed unfair to place the burden of expectation on his shoulders. Yet Lily was on the verge of breakdown; she needed hope. 'I have a friend,' she said.

'Oh, you have a friend!' scoffed Lily. 'We're going to be saved because you have a friend!'

'Yes,' said Gaille.

Something in her calmness seemed to soothe Lily, but she wasn't about to let herself be comforted so easily, not while she sensed she could get more. 'And just how is this friend of yours going to help?' she asked. 'Is he psychic or something?'

'I told him where we were.'

'You what?' asked Stafford from the darkness.

'When we were being filmed, I let him know we were in Amarna, not Assiut.'

'How?'

'It's complex.'

Stafford gave a grunt, almost of amusement. 'And you've somewhere else you need to be, have you?'

'There's a portrait of Akhenaten we're both familiar with,' sighed Gaille. 'The way he's sitting is very distinctive.'

'So that's why you shifted position when you were reading out the message?'

'Yes.'

'I don't remember Akhenaten ever being portrayed that way.'

'No?' replied Gaille.

A brief silence fell. Gaille could imagine Stafford's stony expression. 'You really think your friend will deduce our whereabouts from that?' he said. 'From the way you were sitting?'

'Yes. I do.'

Lily touched her arm. 'What's his name, this friend of yours?'

Gaille breathed in deep. It felt strange saying it out loud. Like committing to something. 'Daniel Knox,' she said.

'And people will listen to him, will they? I mean, it's not much use him realizing where we are unless he can convince the authorities? So they know who he is, do they?'

'Oh, yes,' asserted Gaille, glad to be able to say something with absolute conviction. 'They know who he is, all right.'