Something was down there, something large, protruding from the bottom. Then the stone on which he stood fell away and he was in the water, with whatever it was, literally forced to sink or swim. Right away he regretted not having ditched his pack. It weighed him down terribly, and what did it even contain that was worth dying for? A few run of the mill Egyptian antiquities that would probably keep him in extra wine for a few weeks, but little else, and some ordinary archaeology dig tools. But it was too late to remove it now. He had to keep kicking, keep flailing his arms, if he didn’t want to drown in this godforsaken pyramid.
Drown in a pyramid? Even as his life was in imminent danger, Selam couldn’t help but wonder how this was possible. Where did all this water come from so close to the Sahara desert? It’s a trap! His desperate mind screamed out. You unleashed it when you pulled the figurine.
He kept swimming toward the exit, but water continued to rush in. He wasn’t getting any closer. He began to panic. Great waves washed all around him and he looked back to see that the last floor stones had slipped below the water.
He swallowed water and began to cough. The water rose rapidly now in the chamber. Recognizing he was only burning his remaining energy by trying to get closer to the exit, he stuck his head underwater and opened his eyes. He still saw something down there, something that looked distinctly manmade. Taking a massive breath, he dove beneath the water and swam toward it. Maybe it somehow offered a way out?
The form was blurry without the aid of a diver’s mask, but still recognizable enough. It was a stone head, a large one, much bigger than the figurine. A human head; even with his blurry underwater vision he could tell that much. The head was toppled over on one side, staring at him unblinking. Salem knew he was staring back it for too long, that he had not a second to spare. But something about the thing transfixed him. He could tell it was special, knew that it was something truly unique and rare.
Only the urge to breathe tore him from his reverie. He kicked his way toward the surface, one hand held up as he went, anticipating breaking through to air so he could breathe, breathe, breathe.
The panic he felt when his fist smashed into stone without leaving the water was all-encompassing.
He was still underwater even though he’d reached the chamber ceiling. He felt the weight of his backpack dragging him back down. He stared across the chamber to the tunnel exit. It sloped upwards, so if he could swim into that, he might have a chance. But it was too far away.
He stopped flailing and looked back down at the body-less head and accepted his fate while making eye contact with the unknown artifact.
Selam Hasim was going to die here.
Chapter 1
Carter Hunt turned a skeptical gaze from behind blue polarized sunglasses to the submersible craft bobbing in the water next to the work barge. A two-person affair with an acrylic dome propped open, looking at it now didn’t exactly fill him with confidence.
“You sure this contraption keeps water out?”
Hunt’s friend, Jayden Takada, stepped up to the rail next to Hunt. “As long as we remember to close the hatch, we’ll stay dry, I promise. Over a thousand dives in these things and the only time I’ve gotten wet is when I spilled my beer.”
“You really have found a way to stay busy after life in the navy, haven’t you?”
Jayden grinned broadly. “Kidding about the beer,” he said, casting a glance about the deck to make sure no one overheard that and took it seriously. “But really, being a submersible pilot’s a good job if you have to work. Not all of us had a rich grandfather who left us a fortune. This is a vacation for you, trust fund baby, but I’ve got a job to do here first before I can have some fun.”
Hunt laughed good-naturedly at the jab. After serving alongside each other in the U.S. Navy for ten years, the two friends could get away with that kind of ribbing. Hunt couldn’t deny Jayden’s point, however. At the age of thirty-two, the ten-year veteran, eight of which were spent as a commissioned officer, suddenly found himself with a whole lot of free time stretching out in front of him. Instead of re-upping after ten years as was expected, he left the service in good standing, disillusioned with some of what he had seen. This action was made possible due to his grandfather’s sudden passing and leaving him a sizable inheritance, a fortune by most people’s standards.
Hunt didn’t intend to idle away his life in a haze of mindless leisure, though. He just didn’t know exactly what he was going to do yet. This trip to Egypt to visit Jayden was intended to be the tail end of his break after leaving the military. When he got back home to the states he was going to set his mind to starting a business of some kind that would help others while allowing him to stay productive. With a college degree in history, he wasn’t sure exactly what that would entail, but in the navy he’d been involved with safeguarding artifacts and historical treasures that had been looted during times of civil upheaval. He had been disgusted at how museums in Iraq and other middle eastern locations had been ransacked of their cultural artifacts. It saddened him that people would place their own interests above others, that they would deprive everyone of being able to see their cultural heritage in order to make a quick buck.
Hunt clapped Jayden on the back. “So, you have room for one more in that thing?”
Jayden nodded. “It’s a two-seater and I don’t need any technical specialists on this dive, so I can take you along as ballast.”
“I knew I was good for something. Run the objective by me again?”
Jayden pointed to the coast of Egypt in the distance, where a city skyline and suburban sprawl were visible on the shoreline. “There’s been a disruption of Internet service, and they suspect it has to do with the submarine cable a couple of thousand feet down here.” He looked down into the water beneath the floating submersible. “So we’re just going to dive down there and take a look, see if we can find a break in the cable.”
Hunt grinned. “Sounds like fun!”
“Remember, Carter, this sub isn’t mine — it’s owned by International Telecom, the ones who contracted me to investigate the cable problem.”
“Okay, so?”
“So don’t mess it up. Don’t touch anything — I mean anything—without asking first. Heads up, here comes the hatch.”
Hunt looked up in time to see a crew member lowering the clear plastic dome onto the sub. He felt a slight pressure in his ears as the latches were fastened in place. “Don’t worry, old friend, the last time I touched a control I wasn’t sure about—“
“Yeah, the C130 over Tikrit. Don’t remind me, okay? The guys were pissed at you for weeks after that, and I told you not to—“
Jayden was interrupted by a voice coming over the sub’s radio speaker. “Topside to Deep Challenger, do you copy, over?”
Hunt eyed Jayden as Hunt moved his hand halfway to the receiver, as if asking permission to pick it up. Jayden shook his head and grabbed it himself. “Topside, this is Deep Challenger, we read you loud and clear. Standing by for the drop, over.”
“Roger that. Support divers are in the water now.”