Dr. Abdulkarim’s dark eyelashes and eyebrows blended with his deeply tanned skin. He stood up after Sean untied him from a wooden chair. He rubbed his wrists as he spoke with a heavy Egyptian accent. “We have been at this site for the last few weeks. We have a permit from the Egyptian government to do light excavations for ninety days.” The portly archaeologist was sweating through his white cotton button-up, and his thick gray hair was a soaked mess. “I have never seen those men before in my life. They came into our tents, dressed in black, carrying assault rifles. Then they tied up the whole group. I thought they were going to kill us. After around an hour or so, though, they just left. The guards in the tent with us simply walked out and never looked back.”
Sean scratched the back of his head. “I wonder where they went,” he said in a low voice, almost to himself.
“And why they left so quickly,” Adriana added.
Firth had been silent, standing near the entrance to the tent for the last few minutes. He finally decided to speak up. “Would it be alright if we examine the ruins in the cave? I am a professor working out of the university in Cairo. We will not disturb the site. But perhaps we can find a clue as to what these people were doing here and what they were looking for.”
The Egyptian man looked around and his younger assistants. They all appeared to be college kids, young women and men from universities in the U.K. and U.S. He nodded. “Certainly. If there is anything we can do to assist you in finding these men, I would be happy to help. So, please, do whatever you need. You will need lights, though. We haven’t run any lamps up there since most of our work has been outside the temple area.”
“Thank you,” Sean offered then turned his attention to Firth. “Professor, lead the way.”
The group exited the tent and followed Firth up the slight hill towards the cave entrance. En route, they all grabbed some flashlights out of black duffel bags Sahid had brought. They reached the edge of the rock formation and continued over the threshold, into the darkness of the cave’s atrium. When the professor entered the room, he scanned it carefully, as if he were seeing it for the first time, while the others waited patiently behind.
His flashlight stopped at a spot on the floor off to the side. He became instantly perplexed. Firth took a few long strides across the stone floor and reached the spot that had caught his attention. Abdulkarim stood just behind him, looking over his shoulder staring at an indention in the floor.
“This wasn’t here before,” Firth remarked in a surprised tone. His Egyptian counterpart shook his head in agreement.
Sean and Adriana had moved further into the chamber and were standing near the far wall. “Where does this go?” Sean asked, shining his light into a narrow doorway.
Abdulkarim and Firth looked up at what had caught their interest. A perplexed frown washed over their faces. “I don’t understand. That passageway, this recession in the floor, neither were here before,” the Egyptian stated, confused.
“He’s right, Sean,” Firth confirmed in a baffled tone. “I have been to this location at least half a dozen times. That was never here.” He jabbed his index finger at the opening to emphasize his point.
Adriana shone her beam into the black corridor and, without hesitation, stepped through the portal.
“Are you certain that’s safe?” Firth asked, concerned.
Sean grinned at him. “Pretty sure she knows what she’s doin’, Doc.” Sean disappeared into the darkness right behind her.
The two professors looked at each other and then at Sahid and decided they should follow along as well.
“I’m going to stay outside,” Sahid said tentatively. He clearly had no interest in going into the forbidding passageway.
The two archaeologists didn’t acknowledge his comment and carefully passed through the door into the ancient tunnel.
“I cannot believe that all the times I have been to Nekhen, I never knew this corridor existed,” Firth remarked as they followed Sean and Adriana around a sharp corner.
“I have been here many times as well,” Abdulkarim commented in a reverent voice. “I wonder how they knew about it? Or how the door opened?”
The group plunged ahead, winding their way into the mountain until they reached a point where the path began to slope down more dramatically. Sean and Adriana both shone their lights down the long shaft, carefully watching for anything suspicious or potentially dangerous. After a few minutes of creeping down the corridor, they reached the end.
Sean’s eyes narrowed as he saw a chest of gold and jewels on the floor. His eyes scanned forward, seeing the other two chests in the room. He cast his beam on the wall at the end and noticed the ancient writing. Adriana stopped at a hole in the floor and flashed her beam into it.
“Another chamber,” she stated and set a black backpack on the ground next to the cavity.
She knelt down on one knee and peered into the darkness below as Firth and Abdulkarim eased their way past the first treasure chest. The two men’s eyes were wide at the site.
“It isn’t that far down,” she stated. “Let’s tie off this rope to the stone boxes and see what we can find.”
“I’m not going down there,” Firth protested. His face contorted in disapproval.
Adriana had already pulled a climbing rope out of her bag and was hurriedly tying it around the two closest stone chests.
“You don’t have to, Professor,” Sean said. “This is what we do at IAA.” He helped their female companion finish testing out the rope then hooked his flashlight onto his belt and repelled down the rope into the darkness.
Adriana copied his movements and descended just as quickly below. The two archaeologists stared at each other for a moment in disbelief then rushed over to the hole and got down on their bellies to peer through the opening.
Sean was standing on the floor shining his light around the room. The visual the four were treated to was nothing less than spectacular. Gold panels covered the walls around the entire chamber. Each piece of the shiny metal was engraved with ancient writing and pictographs.
“What do you see?” Firth shouted down into the lower level.
“The walls are covered in plated gold, just like the ones we saw in the other chambers.” At this report, Firth leaned his head forward and twisted his head around. His eyes were huge as the beams of the flashlights bounced off of the yellow element.
“It’s breath taking,” Firth commented reverently. “I’ve never seen anything like it in all my life. How did they do it?”
The Egyptian archaeologist had poked his head through as well and was enamored by the sight. “All these years I have worked this area and never realized what lie beneath my feet.” He shook his head.
Sean moved quickly through the room towards a pedestal he’d illuminated with his flashlight. When he arrived at the stone structure, he became immediately disconcerted.
“It’s not here,” he sighed. “I was afraid of that.” He ran his hands along the sides, hoping there might be a hidden button or something their predecessors may have missed, but he found nothing.
Adriana leaned her head around on both sides of the object, but likewise found nothing of note.
“I can’t believe they beat us to it,” Sean was exasperated.
“What’s going on? What are you looking at over there?” Firth shouted from the other end of the room.
“Lindsey and his group have already been here,” Sean replied. “And they got the only clue that can lead us to the next chamber.” He lowered his voice and stared at Adriana. “We’ve lost the trail.”
Chapter 12
Lindsey’s caravan of vehicles sped along the desert road leading back to Cairo. DeGard sat silently, staring out the window into vast, empty landscape. He’d not said much since they had left the Nekhen Temple. It seemed the incident where his employer pointed a gun at him had resulted in an adverse effect.