Eddie crept alongside her, straining to hear what they were saying. The discussion was in Arabic; he could make out some words, but not enough to understand the entire conversation. ‘Is that the zodiac?’
‘What’s left of it.’ And the last section would soon be gone. Gamal moved a piece of equipment into position beneath it - a support frame, padded bars mounted on a pneumatic jack. He operated a control, and a piercing hiss of compressed air echoed round the chamber as the jack slowly extended. Hamdi put his fingers to his ears and backed out of the camera’s view.
Shaban remained focused on the jack. The frame rose until it was just below the zodiac, then slowed, advancing step by tiny step until the pads touched the ancient carving.
The jack’s hiss stopped - but was quickly replaced by the whine of the circular saw as the masked man cut into the stone once more. With the jack supporting it, the last piece of the zodiac could be safely cut free of the ceiling.
Diamondback said something to Shaban, and both men moved out of sight. Nina cursed. But at least the camera now had a clear view of the zodiac as it was being stolen. That would hopefully be enough to convince the Egyptian authorities—
Movement forced her to duck back into the darkened room. A muscular Caucasian man with close-cropped grey hair started down the stairs. He was carrying what looked like a chainsaw, though its heavy teeth set it apart from the average lumberjack’s tooclass="underline" a piece of specialised stonecutting equipment. As he descended, he coiled up the saw’s power cable, following it into the illuminated chamber.
‘Looks like they’re about to sod off,’ Eddie whispered once he was out of sight.
‘We probably should too,’ said Nina. She stopped the recording, and they retreated through the two dark chambers - only to stop at the entrance to the first room.
‘Buggeration,’ Eddie muttered. The man was checking the jacks supporting the stone slab.
‘We could just run past him,’ Macy suggested.
‘Yeah, but if he’s got a gun, he’ll have an easy shot at us in that tunnel. We need to get out without anyone seeing us.’
But that soon became even less likely. Diamondback swaggered into the entrance chamber, wiping dust from his beard. The saw’s noise died away, replaced by the hiss of the jack lowering. Before long, Gamal and the other man brought another case into the room, Shaban and Hamdi close behind them.
‘That everything?’ asked Diamondback. ‘So what now?’
‘Now,’ said Shaban, ‘we clean up.’ He looked at his watch, then indicated the eastern entrance. ‘We have just over five hours before the IHA open that door. Lorenz, how long will it take to seal the royal entrance?’
The grey-haired man looked up from the jacks. ‘Once we’ve got everything out of here, about an hour to move the block back into position,’ he said, his accent Dutch.
‘There can’t be so much as a footprint left behind,’ Hamdi said, nervously regarding the tracks on the dusty floor.
‘There won’t be.’ Shaban indicated some gas cylinders beside the compressor. ‘We’ll use compressed air to clear the floors - by the time the IHA get in, the dust will have settled.’ A nod to the man standing with Gamal. ‘Broma, get started.’
‘Shit,’ Eddie whispered. ‘We’ll have to make a run for it after all. Soon as they go back upstairs for their gear, we’ll leg it.’
They waited in the darkness as Broma began erasing stray footprints with blasts of compressed air. The other men moved away from the swirling dust clouds.
‘Should we risk it?’ said Nina.
‘There’s still that bloke by the door,’ Eddie said, watching Lorenz check the jacks. ‘When he moves away . . .’
Broma suddenly stopped working, peering with a puzzled expression at the floor near the entrance to the dark chamber. Eddie immediately knew why.
He had seen their footprints, freshly made in the dust.
‘Back, back, back!’ Eddie hissed. Broma followed the new tracks to the entrance. He squinted into the shadows.
Eddie and Nina ducked down behind a section of the ruined pillar. Macy crouched beside a smaller hunk of broken stone as Broma swept a torch beam across the floor. He fixed the circle of light on one set of tracks and followed them.
To Macy’s hiding place.
Frightened, she hunched lower - and crunched a small piece of debris under her sole. It was only a faint scrape, but it was enough to make Broma twitch. The torch beam locked on to the fallen pillar. He put down the air cylinder . . . and drew a knife.
Macy froze. The beam exposed more of the pillar as he approached . . . then found the young woman hiding behind it.
The knife snapped up—
Crack!
A five-thousand-year-old piece of pottery exploded into fragments as Eddie smashed it over Broma’s head. The man fell to his knees against Macy’s hiding place - and Eddie kicked the back of his head, cracking him face first against the stone. Broma slumped unconscious to the floor.
In the entrance chamber, Shaban looked round sharply at the noise. ‘Broma?’ he called. No reply. He gestured to Lorenz. ‘Check it.’ Lorenz grabbed a pickaxe and hurried to investigate.
Nina jumped up. ‘Come on,’ said Eddie, grabbing Macy’s hand and quickly following Nina to the other doorway.
Lorenz entered the room, seeing Broma’s fallen torch - and the body slumped beside it. He looked round in alarm, spotting fleeing silhouettes in the faint rectangle of light across the room. ‘Hey!’
‘Shit!’ Nina gasped. She raced through the next darkened room, passing the light stand and glancing up the stairs. Nobody in the zodiac chamber, but there was no way out either. Instead she ran into the last room, a smaller repository of records with four supporting pillars lit by two more light stands. An opening in the east wall led back into the entrance chamber.
Through it, she saw Gamal running towards her with a hammer in one hand. Backing up, she almost collided with Eddie at the bottom of the stairs. ‘This way’s blocked!’
‘So’s that way!’ Macy cried, pointing behind her as Lorenz charged after them.
‘Up!’ Eddie yelled, taking the steps three at a time. Nina and Macy dashed after him.
Gamal and Lorenz reached the bottom of the stairs simultaneously, rushing up them to catch their cornered prey . . .
Only to run back down even faster as a screaming Eddie pursued them, the circular saw shrilling in his hands. ‘Come on, you fuck-sticks! ’ he bellowed as he chased them into the illuminated room. ‘Who wants some?’
Gamal clearly didn’t, sprinting back into the entrance chamber, but Lorenz turned to face him. He swung the pickaxe, trying to smash the saw from Eddie’s grip. Eddie jerked back - and another swipe brought the sharp point alarmingly close to his head. ‘Whoa!’
The spinning blade was producing a gyroscopic effect, making the bulky and heavy saw even more awkward to wield. Sweeping its trailing power cable out from under his feet, Eddie hefted it, watching Lorenz’s movements closely as the two men circled. He would have to be fast.
Lorenz lunged—
Eddie twisted away from the metal spike - and jerked the saw upwards. There was a brief skzzt! as the blade sliced effortlessly through the pickaxe handle, the head flying across the room. He grunted, annoyed. He’d been aiming for Lorenz’s hands.
It had the desired effect, though. Lorenz dropped the handle’s stump and rapidly retreated into the entrance chamber. Eddie glanced back at Macy and Nina. ‘Think I’ve got this under control!’ he shouted over the noise of the whirling saw. ‘You two get ready to run, I’ll - oh, shit!’