Fortunately, Cobb knew that he had the video on his phone. He had seen a clip earlier when he and Garcia had scanned through everything that had been recorded. ‘We have some footage of the grotto, but it’s not that great. Why are you so anxious to see it?’
‘Why?’ Manjani asked as he stopped his pacing and sat beside Cobb to plead his case. ‘Because of the image of Amun in the pictograph! Remember, he’s the god of all gods, and the priests are his disciples. They will do whatever he asks them to do.’
‘Which is what?’ Sarah asked.
‘Think, you two, think! What’s he asking them to do in the message?’
Cobb thought back to the image of Amun on the pictograph. A few seconds later, the answer popped in his head. ‘I’ll be damned. He’s telling them to look at the water.’
‘Exactly!’ Manjani blurted. ‘On one level, he’s warning them about the approaching tsunami. On another, he’s literally telling them to look at the water. And where in the temple would they look at the water?’
‘In the grotto!’ Sarah answered.
Manjani smiled. After all this time, he finally remembered how much he had missed the thrill of the hunt. Still beaming, he turned toward Cobb and laughed. ‘So, does this mean I’ve earned the right to see the footage?’
‘Sure. What the hell.’
Cobb glanced through the files until he found the one that he was looking for. ‘This is everything we have from the steps and grotto.’
As the footage began to play, Manjani stared at the screen. His eyes were glued to the monitor as he watched Sarah make her way up the steps toward the surface. He slid to the edge of his seat as he watched her movement through the darkness, the beam of her flashlight reflecting in the pool just ahead. As she reached the water’s edge, she shined her light upward, illuminating the domed ceiling of the dark cavern.
‘There it is,’ Manjani announced.
Cobb paused the video and stared at the screen. He saw the natural grotto that had been reinforced by elaborate pillars. The ceiling had been chiseled smooth, rounded into the shape of a dome. Though he had seen the image before, he hadn’t given it much thought. And, admittedly, he still didn’t see anything noteworthy. ‘There what is?’
Manjani sat back in his chair. ‘The second half of the message.’
‘You’ll have to do better than that. All I see is a domed cavern.’
‘Look closer. You see the markings across the dome?’
Sarah moved in for a better look. ‘Yeah, what about them?’
Manjani reached for the mouse. ‘May I?’
‘Be my guest,’ Cobb said.
Manjani clicked through the options of the computer program, searching for the right adjustment. With the click of a button, the picture reverted to a negative image. Suddenly, the once black specks now glowed white against a dark background.
He looked at Cobb. ‘Does that help?’
‘Are those supposed to be stars?’
‘Better than that. You’re looking at a star map.’
‘Great,’ Sarah joked, ‘the tomb’s in space.’
‘No,’ Manjani assured her, ‘the tomb is on Earth. The map above will give us a location below. All we need is an archaeoastronomer to read it for us.’
‘An archaeo-what?’
‘An archaeoastronomer is an expert in archaeological astronomy.’
‘You’re making that up.’
‘I swear, it’s a legitimate field! For instance, they would be able to tell you how the position of the sun influenced the placement of the megaliths at Stonehenge, or why the plumed serpent magically appears in Chichen Itza during the equinox.’
Cobb groaned at the thought of an additional expert on his team, particularly one in such a limited field. ‘Let me see if I got this straight: based on the position of the stars in the sky, an archaeoastronomer will be able to use advanced math to give us a specific location on the ground. Is that what you’re saying?’
Manjani nodded. ‘That’s correct.’
‘Couldn’t a regular astronomer do that, or even a computer whiz?’
‘Theoretically, yes, if they had the right software to chart the sky.’
Sarah laughed. ‘In that case, we’re good to go. We have a nerd on staff.’
65
Jasmine should have been frightened by the question.
After all, she had assumed that the person lying in the corner was a corpse. Not only did he smell like a corpse, but he looked like one, too, in the gloom of the dungeon.
Presented with evidence to the contrary, she didn’t know whether to appreciate the company or to fear his presence. Ultimately, her instincts took over and she decided to run to his aid. Or at least she tried to. When the slack pulled taut on her chain, the shackle grabbed her ankle and she crashed clumsily to the floor.
‘Shit!’ she said under her breath.
Despite his condition, the withered old man crawled toward the middle of the room to see if she had hurt herself during her fall. ‘Are you… okay?’
Jasmine sat up and smiled. ‘I’m fine. Are you okay?’
‘I don’t know,’ he said between labored breaths. ‘I feel… strange.’
She knew the sensation. She had felt the same way when she had awoken from her drug-induced slumber. She knew that he was probably suffering from blurred vision, muscle aches, and severe confusion.
‘It will go away,’ she assured him. She grabbed his wrist to check his pulse; it was slow, but strong. His breathing was similarly steady and deep. ‘You’re going to be fine. Just give it time.’
He stared at her with confusion in his eyes. ‘Who are you?’
‘My name is Jasmine.’
‘Kaleem,’ he said as he closed his eyes and lay on the stone floor. His head was still spinning from the drugs. ‘Jasmine, what day is it?’
‘Good question,’ she said with a laugh. Despite their situation, she was trying to stay positive for his sake. ‘If I had to guess, I’d say it’s the fourth of the month. Or maybe the fifth. I’m not sure how long I was unconscious.’
He shook his head in dismay. ‘May fifth? Has it really been twenty-some days?’
His comment roared through her mind like a freight train. The unavoidable truth forced a lump into her throat: it was November, not May. She stared down at him, temporarily unable to speak out of both concern and pity.
To him, he had survived twenty-some days.
In reality, it had been twenty-some weeks.
As hard as it was, he needed to hear the truth.
She grabbed his hand tightly. It was a desperate act of comfort that wouldn’t offset the news she was about to deliver. But at that moment it was the only thing she could offer. ‘I need to tell you something, and it’s going to hurt.’
Kaleem grimaced in anticipation.
‘Spring has passed. We’re well into fall.’
It was the gentlest way she could think of to convey the news.
Tears flooded his eyes as he groaned in pain. Then his body went limp, as if all hope had been sucked out of him. ‘God, just let me die.’
She squeezed his hand. ‘Don’t say that. You’ve survived this long. You’re not going to die in here. My friends are coming to get me. I promise.’
He did not reply. He merely lay there and cried.
Jasmine knew that she needed to do something to bring his mood back around — a distraction of some kind. She decided to engage him in conversation.
‘Tell me about yourself. How did you get here?’
Several seconds passed before the question sank in. When it did, he wiped the tears from his face and began to speak. ‘I was… I am an expert in Egyptian history. I traveled here from Greece as part of an expedition.’ He stared blankly at the light above, as if the memories were not readily available. ‘We were investigating rumors about Alexander’s tomb. We set up a campsite in the valley and started to dig.’