The Forbidden Tomb

61

After leaving the café, Manjani led Sarah and Cobb to a barren stretch of coastline near the harbor, where they could talk in private. Sensing anger and distrust from Manjani, Sarah knew she had to repair some of the damage she had caused by her deceit in the restaurant. She wasn’t planning to reveal classified details regarding her past, but she felt that she needed to be truthful about some basics in order to gain his trust.

‘Dr Manjani, my name is Sarah.’ She motioned toward Cobb, who was lagging behind while searching for any signs of trouble. ‘And that’s Jack.’

‘Let me guess: he’s not your boyfriend.’

Sarah shook her head. ‘No, he’s not my boyfriend.’

‘Bodyguard?’ Manjani asked.

‘I’m her colleague,’ Cobb answered. They didn’t have time to explain the nuances of their relationship; and even if they did, he didn’t see a reason to tell Manjani any more details than were absolutely necessary. ‘Sorry about dropping in unannounced, but we’re in a bit of a hurry.’

‘Are you working for the Archives?’ Manjani asked.

‘No,’ Cobb replied, ‘Petr Ulster is merely a friend. He offered to help us out when the shit hit the fan. I guess we have that in common.’

Manjani nodded but said nothing.

Sarah took it from there. ‘Considering what you went through, I can understand your reluctance to talk about the incident in the desert. Still, anything that you can tell us about your expedition will be helpful to our cause.’

Manjani remained quiet as they walked along the edge of the water. They could tell from his sluggish pace that events from the past weighed heavily on his mind. The only question was whether or not he’d be willing to share the details.

Eventually, they came across a decrepit wooden bench that looked older than the ground itself, as if the bench was the seed from which the island had grown. Despite its sagging boards and weathered exterior, Manjani looked at it like it was an old friend. When he sat, the bench groaned and creaked but its form held true.

‘Sometimes I come here to think,’ he said to himself as much as the others. ‘And when I do my mind invariably drifts back to that day.’

Sarah was tempted to sit next to him for support but ultimately decided against it — not only to give him some room to breathe, but also for the short-term health of the bench. She honestly didn’t know if it could handle additional weight.

Manjani stared at the ripples on the water as he slowly opened up about the past. ‘It was our third week in the field when we made an important discovery: a small settlement that had been completely buried in the sand. At first, we assumed the village had been abandoned and that the Sahara had gradually reclaimed the terrain, as the desert was apt to do. And yet, as we dug deeper, we soon realized the village was completely intact, including several male skeletons huddled in the corners of the rooms.’

‘A sandstorm?’ she asked gently.

‘Undoubtedly,’ he answered while keeping his gaze frozen ahead. ‘Although it was a horrible tragedy for those we found — and I can think of few worse fates than being swallowed by sand — it was a remarkable discovery for me and my team because it gave us an ancient snapshot of a forgotten culture, right down to their archaic swords.’

Cobb winced when he heard mention of the blades.

From that alone, he could guess the rest.

Still, he allowed Manjani to fill in the details.

‘Two nights later, I needed some time alone to ponder the significance of our discovery. So I grabbed my GPS and a backpack full of supplies and headed to the top of a nearby dune. I know it’s foolish to head off into the desert on one’s own — trust me, I would never let my students be so careless — but I have spent the past twenty years in the Sahara looking for tombs and pharaohs, so I know a thing or two about navigation.’

‘How long were you gone?’ Sarah asked.

‘Ninety minutes. I even timed it to be sure. Fifteen minutes out, an hour to eat and think about the discovery, and fifteen minutes back. As long as I kept my pace and my direction was true, I would end up in the same place that I started.’

‘Did it work?’

‘Of course it worked,’ he replied. ‘As I mentioned, I’m a seasoned veteran when it comes to the desert, and it’s a good thing, too, because the wind really started to pick up on my way back to the campsite. So much so, my tracks were completely erased.’

He paused, recalling the horror that followed. ‘When I crested the last dune, I could see my team being slaughtered in the valley below. The shadows simply cut them down where they stood… I couldn’t hear their screams over the gusting of the wind, but I could see them… They were reaching out to me, begging for help.’

He swallowed hard, fighting back his tears. ‘There was one student in particular, a brilliant scholar by the name of Marissa. She was the youngest one in the group. She had this smile that could light up a room… Everyone adored her, even me. I could see her there in the campsite… She was right there… For a minute, I thought maybe, just maybe, I could run down the dune and save her, but before I could…’

His voice faded into sobs of grief.

And Cobb felt his pain.

He knew from experience that the worst thing that could happen on a battlefield wasn’t death; it was watching someone you cared about suffer. That feeling of hopelessness never went away. In fact, sometimes it worsened. Over the years, Cobb had awoken to his own screams in a tangle of damp sheets more times than he could count, and the lingering nightmare in his head always focused on the soldiers under his command that he wasn’t able to save and the family members they left behind.

Those were the images that haunted him.

Not his own death, but the agony of others.

‘Trust me, there’s nothing you could have done to save her. Absolutely nothing. If you had charged in, you would be dead, too.’

Manjani nodded as he wiped away his tears. In his heart he had known the truth for months, but it was nice to have someone agree with him.

‘What happened next?’ Cobb asked.

‘When it was over, I watched the shadows drag the bodies into the swirling haze of the approaching storm, knowing that I would never see my team again, knowing that the desert would be their grave. So I wrapped a towel around my face, lowered my head into the wind, and tried to escape.’

‘How did you make it out?’ she asked.

‘Fortunately for me, the sandstorm erased my trail as I made my way toward el-Bawiti. My wallet, my phone, and most of my equipment were still at the camp. I hoped that no one would look for me if they thought I was dead. Eventually, I met a Bedouin caravan kind enough to help me to the coast. From there, I traded my watch to a fisherman in exchange for passage to Crete. Once you’ve made it that far, you have the whole Aegean to get lost in. I ultimately ended up here.’

Cobb knew that a man of Manjani’s intellect would have no trouble finding well-paying work, especially in his native Greece. ‘Why did you send the map to the Archives?’

Manjani forced a smile. ‘I knew I wasn’t going to use it, but a small part of me felt that finding Alexander’s tomb would mean my students hadn’t died in vain. I guess I was hoping that someone might pick up the trail where I jumped off.’

‘Which is where we come in,’ said Cobb, who hoped to tie Manjani’s efforts directly to Jasmine’s disappearance. Not to be cruel, but to guarantee his full participation. ‘We followed your map into the tunnels beneath the city. That’s when we were attacked. There was something under Alexandria that the bombers were trying to protect — something so valuable that they blew up a city block in order to hide it.’

Manjani nodded knowingly. ‘When I saw the reports, I somehow knew it was them. I didn’t believe the claims that it was an accident. That didn’t make sense to me. The men used swords in the desert, but I could tell they were willing to do anything to accomplish their goals. Tell me, how many people did you lose?’

‘Just our historian. They grabbed her before the blast.’

‘But why?’ Manjani asked. ‘I don’t mean to sound indelicate, but why would they take her when they were so intent on killing my team? Why would they save her and then kill hundreds on the streets above?’

Cobb shrugged. He had asked himself the same questions over and over again and had yet to think of a reasonable answer. ‘I don’t know why she was taken. Even worse, I don’t know where to find her. All I know for sure is that we came a long way to find you. With your knowledge of the map, we were hoping you could help us.’

Manjani glanced at him. ‘With what?’

‘The map made note of “the gift of Neptune”. Our historian believed this referred to a well that Caesar had dug to ensure that his drinking water couldn’t be poisoned.’

Manjani nodded approvingly. ‘Ptolemy Theos Philopator and the Battle of the Nile. I’m familiar with the tale. Please, continue.’

‘She believed the fortress that was built to protect the well eventually became a Roman temple. She also believed that the priests used the temple to hide evidence of Alexander’s tomb when the emperor demanded that the records be destroyed.’

Manjani smiled. ‘That’s actually quite brilliant.’

Sarah took the compliment on Jasmine’s behalf. ‘We’d like to think so. That’s why we thoroughly explored the cisterns and the temple. Unfortunately, we didn’t find any evidence of the tomb’s location. All we found were the symbols on the wall and the secret grotto. We were hoping you could shed some light on their significance.’

‘I’d love to,’ he admitted, ‘but I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about. What symbols? And what grotto?’

Until that moment, Sarah had been confident that Manjani was a guilt-ridden victim who would do whatever he could to help save Jasmine. But now, she wasn’t so sure.

‘You know,’ she said angrily, ‘there are few things in life that I hate more than a liar. So we’ll give you one more chance to change your story before we start to get mean. What can you tell us about the grotto?’

‘Nothing!’ he assured her. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about! I swear to God, I’m telling you the truth! I haven’t lied about anything!’

‘Bullshit!’ she growled. ‘We know you were there. I found a glow stick in the grotto, and we traced it back to you. You bought it in Piraeus before your expedition!’

‘A glow stick?’ he stuttered, completely confused. ‘Yes, I bought a case of them in Piraeus, but we only used a few in the desert. I left the rest of them with my equipment at the campsite. For all I know, the whole box is still there!’

Sarah stared at him, searching for any glance or twitch that might indicate deceit on his part, but she saw nothing of the sort. That meant the men who slaughtered Manjani’s team most likely raided the equipment before they disposed of the bodies and used the glow sticks in the cisterns. ‘You’re telling me that you know nothing about a grotto?’

‘No!’ Manjani shouted.

‘Or a pictograph?’

‘A pictograph? You found a pictograph? Where?’

‘Inside the temple. It was written in ancient symbols.’

‘Wait,’ blurted Manjani, who was trying to make sense of things. ‘You found an ancient pictograph inside of a Roman temple next to a hidden grotto?’

Cobb nodded. ‘Yeah. That about sums it up.’

Manjani suddenly smiled. ‘Please show me everything!’