The Seven Seals of Egypt

CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT

Cairo has become one of the most famous cities in the world and has the largest metropolitan area in the Middle-East. It lies close to Giza, the ancient city of Memphis and the incredible Nile Delta. Pollution, traffic and overcrowding are just a few of its daily demands.

Drake viewed its environs as they closed in. All the way from the last tomb both he and Dahl had been working their magic on Luther and, at this stage, they’d almost given up.

“Even Secretary Crowe?” Dahl put real disbelief in his voice.

“If that was Secretary Crowe. And my orders come from the general. I can’t go committing treason.”

Drake pressed. “Do we act like evildoers to you?”

“Soldier like you should know they come in all forms and sizes, bud. You never drop your guard.”

“He’s right.” Dahl eyed Drake. “Did they teach you that in the SAS?”

“Piss off, Dancing Queen. I don’t know what to do with you, Luther. You’re a bloody brick wall.”

“I like you all. Even you, Drake. But I gotta say: ord—”

“Don’t say it.” Alicia held up a hand. “Orders are orders, right?”

Luther clicked his fingers at her. “You got it, sunshine.”

“Aww, cheers. Now I gotta think of a nice nickname for you.”

Dahl put their case as succinctly as possible. “Decision time. We’re entering Cairo right now and heading for those big, pointy rocks. No doubt, FrameHub’s mercs will be there. Tempest’s agents too. Who else? Maybe the Chinese, the Brits, the CIA. The question is: will you help us?”

Luther looked like he didn’t know whether to help or kill them. Drake kept an eye on the streets, already seeing the signs of a city in chaos. Sidewalks and roads were thronged with people, some running blindly toward danger and some away. Buses and cars were strewn everywhere, most abandoned. Shopfronts were boarded or barred. Screams and yells rang out constantly, like a plaintive chorus of those trapped in Hell. Drake saw men with half-face masks already strutting around.

“It’s gonna get ugly,” he said, “before they turn this around. How does a country recover from this?”

“Depends if it was a Denial of Service attack, or something more sinister,” Hayden said. “Egypt have a world-class IT section. They’ll turn it around pretty quick, but applying that to the real world?” She shook her head. “Months.”

“With FrameHub still out there,” Drake said. “Should we really be turning our attention to Tempest? Feels wrong.”

A rubble-strewn street showed signs of a missile attack, bricks lying in heaps, smoking, with mini-fires all around. Drake stopped the car and ran to help a nearby wandering man, his face so bloody he could not see, and shepherded him along the street to a medic. Dahl forcibly removed a family huddling close to the brick pile, explaining that there might be ruptured gas pipes and other dangers. Luther was quick to jump in too, helping to carry an older woman out of harm’s way.

The team drove on, stopping time and again to help the afflicted. Nobody, not even Crouch with his desperation to reach Giza, not even Smyth with his anger and fear for Lauren, could drive on without helping these uninformed innocents. Twice, Drake and Dahl faced down looters but it was all a mere drop in the ocean. They could not prevent coming atrocities over the next few days.

Another fail, right on the back of the first.

In the end, they could not reach the pyramids by car. They abandoned the vehicles and continued on foot, realizing the distance from outer Cairo to the pyramids was rather more than they’d expected as an hour passed by.

The flames receded and the running people thinned. Out here, groups rested or took stock, fearful of being inside the city now. Drake knew they were waiting for someone to tell them what to do. For an authority figure, for information. He gave as much news as he could, translated by Kenzie, and moved on.

They ran and they walked, Luther at their side, and their rations and weapons were supplemented by the big man.

“Giza,” he’d said. “The last seal. Get to this weapon and then we’ll have our talk.”

Drake had sighed with relief whilst, at the same time, dreading the “talk.” Somehow he didn’t think it’d be a reprimand.

The bright yellow rolling desert surrounded the Giza pyramid complex, a trio of ancient structures the largest of which — the Pyramid Of Khufu — was the oldest of the seven ancient wonders of the world and remained the tallest manmade structure ever built for almost four thousand years. Not a bad final résumé, Drake thought, for a structure that took twenty years to build even if they moved eight hundred tons of stone a day.

To complete the task the builders would have had to move twelve blocks into place, every hour, through day and through night. For twenty years. The math was mesmerizing.

And it certainly looked impressive as they drew closer. Drake knew the outer cladding had been stripped away through the years — once a casing of highly polished white limestone wrapped the entire pyramid, only part of which remained today around the lowest courses.

Crouch shaded his eyes as they approached, the supply of sunglasses running out before they’d reached him. Drake was glad to see his wounds were not affecting him and appeared to be healing nicely. It was the same for them all, although the trauma of the arena would never fade.

“Wait,” Dahl said, gazing hard at the foot of the pyramid.

They paused almost beneath its great shadow. “I see it,” Kenzie said.

Guards lay around the side and at the entrance to the Great Pyramid, and the ground near them was saturated with blood.

“Somebody’s already here,” Mai said.

“Then we’d better be quick,” Crouch said. “Let’s move.”