‘I keep meaning to learn,’ he replied, releasing her harness, then reaching over her to open the door.
She gaped at him. ‘What’re you doing?’
‘We’ll have to jump.’
‘But we’re miles up!’
‘Not for long.’ The klaxons were overpowered by a grinding from the engine compartment. ‘When I tell you to—’
The driveshaft sheared apart. Broken metal clanged against the bulkhead like hailstones.
The helicopter fell.
‘Jump! Jump! Jump!’ Eddie roared. The rotor was still turning, slowing the fall - but with no power and no pilot, the EC130’s death plunge would only last a few seconds. He shoved the shrieking Macy out and leapt after her.
They dropped, ten feet, twenty—
And hit the pyramid’s sloping side.
The toughened glass cracked - but didn’t break. Every nerve on fire from the hard landing, Eddie slithered down the structure, Macy tumbling alongside him.
Shaban turned the lid, needing only one more small movement to open the container . . .
And froze as his pain-dulled eyes saw the helicopter plunging at him.
He screamed—
The EC130 slammed down on top of the pyramid - and continued through it, falling into the laboratory amidst pulverised glass and shredded metal. It hit the floor and exploded, a searing shockwave pounding through the chamber.
Reaching the hidden C-4.
The explosive detonated, ripping apart the gas tank. The lab was consumed by a colossal wave of fire, the entire top third of the pyramid blowing apart like the eruption of a glass volcano.
Eddie and Macy were already over halfway down. Below, Eddie saw Nina running from the blast, the Mitsubishi half buried in the wall—
‘Jump!’ he cried.
Despite her pain, Macy managed to slam her heels against the glass as Eddie did the same. He went left, she went right, passing on each side of the Shogun—
They hit the ground.
More pain exploded in Eddie’s legs as he rolled and bounced across the courtyard. He heard Macy scream again and threw himself at her, shielding her against the rain of glass with his body. More windows shattered as flying debris arced down.
The noise faded.
Bruised and bleeding, Eddie raised his head, wincing at the pain throughout his body. The pyramid’s top had gone, swallowed by boiling flames. The deadly spores were destroyed.
‘Eddie!’ More pain as he looked round, but it was slightly soothed by the sight of Nina running towards him. ‘Jesus! Are you okay?’
‘I’ll tell you when I work out if my legs are still attached,’ he rasped. ‘Macy, you all right?’
‘No,’ she said, very quietly. Nina and Eddie shared a worried look. ‘But . . . I think I will be. Eventually.’
Eddie tried to laugh, but it turned into a cough. ‘Another fucking exploding helicopter. Feels like I’m in one of Grant’s movies. Is he okay?’
‘Looks like it,’ said Nina, seeing the actor rounding the pyramid with Assad and one of the ASPS. She waved, then looked up at the building’s burning summit. ‘That’s one way to take care of a yeast infection. Kind of overkill, but looks like it worked.’
‘Bloody well better have,’ Eddie grumbled, lifting himself off Macy. ‘A pack of C-4 and a chopper blowing up? Anything in there ought to be toast.’
Nina raised her eyebrows. ‘Oh . . .’
‘What?’
‘I just realised. You took out Shaban’s spores . . . but you also toasted the bread of Osiris. The source of eternal life.’ She pondered that for a moment. ‘Still, who wants to live for ever?’
Eddie staggered upright and put his arm round her. ‘Depends who you’re living with.’
Epilogue
New York City: Three Weeks Later
Nina gazed up at the dark glass slab of the UN’s Secretariat Building as she stepped from the limo. Unlike her last visit, she had no feelings of trepidation. Quite the opposite. This time, she and Eddie were there to be honoured.
The ceremony had come about thanks to the Egyptian government. The discovery of a pyramid in the Western Desert - and the revelation that it contained the tomb of Osiris himself, turning studies of the country’s ancient mythology on their head - meant that Egyptology would become the hottest field of archaeology for the next several years. At the very least, the tourist trade was about to see a huge boom.
So the Egyptians had petitioned the UN to recognise Nina and Eddie’s achievement in uncovering the Pyramid of Osiris . . . as well as their role in stopping Shaban.
There was a distinct irony, Nina thought, to the fact that her interactions with the IHA had come full circle. The agency had been established in large part to keep the truth about attempted murder on an unimaginable scale from the public; now, the same organisation that had summarily dismissed her eight months earlier was forced to grovel for her co-operation in the investigation of another genocidal scheme.
Despite this, she still hesitated at the entrance. ‘You okay?’ Eddie asked.
‘Yeah. It’s just . . . the last two times I came to the UN, I got torn a new one by Maureen Rothschild.’
‘The only thing she’ll be doing to your arse today is kissing it,’ he assured her.
‘Good point,’ said Nina, grinning. ‘Would it be bad manners if I really rubbed it in that I was right and she was wrong?’
‘Probably. But I say bollocks to manners!’
Nina kissed him, and then they went inside.
As it turned out, she didn’t get the opportunity to say anything to Rothschild, bad-mannered or otherwise. Although Nina recognised several senior IHA staff among the UN representatives and officials in the invited audience, along with Professor Hogarth, the agency’s director was conspicuous by her absence.
But she quickly forgot the snub as the Egyptian ambassador to the United Nations, accompanied by Dr Ismail Assad, sang her praises. ‘And thanks to Dr Wilde and her husband,’ he concluded, ‘the most incredible archaeological find in Egypt in a hundred years was not only discovered, but protected.’ He nodded at some large photo blow-ups of the tomb’s interior; the mummy had been returned to its rightful resting place inside the sarcophagus, and Osir’s crushed body removed. ‘The tomb of Osiris unfortunately sustained some damage, but its contents remained unlooted. In time, the entire world will be able to see these incredible national treasures. So again, Dr Wilde, Mr Chase - on behalf of the people of Egypt, I thank you.’
Applause rippled through the room as the ambassador shook Nina’s and Eddie’s hands. ‘Thank you,’ said Nina as she stood at the microphone. ‘Thank you, Mr Ambassador, Dr Assad - and the people of Egypt, of course!’ The audience chuckled politely. ‘There’s somebody else who should be thanked, because without her bravery and determination we would never even have known the Pyramid of Osiris existed. So, Macy,’ she said, pointing her out, ‘Macy Sharif, can you stand up, please?’
Macy was in the second row, flanked by her parents; the normally shameless young woman blushed at the applause.
‘If the IHA’s Egyptology department is hiring when she graduates,’ Nina went on, ‘then she’d certainly get my recommendation, for what that’s worth!’ As the clapping subsided, Macy sat down with relief. Nina addressed the audience again. ‘But what this whole affair shows is how careful we have to be as archaeologists and historians. When we make these amazing discoveries, it’s very easy to be affected by the prospect of fame and fortune - and yes, I’ll admit to having gone down that road myself. But what happened here was because it became all about money . . . no, not money, about the prize. Somebody wanted something so badly, they cut corners to get it. And that nearly led to disaster. So I hope it will act as a warning about what happens when you put money ahead of science.’