He said a silent goodbye and started to exit the plane. Then he remembered something. He stepped back over to the gurney and searched Tommy’s pockets. The only thing he found was his cell phone, hotel key, and wallet. Sean’s face became immediately concerned. The stone was missing. He thought for sure Tommy would have brought it with him to the museum. He must have left it in the room. That, or their only clue to locating the third chamber had been stolen.
In his head, Sean ran through the short list of possibilities as to where the object could be. Nothing added up. And he was fairly certain Tommy had the stone with him when he’d left the hotel room.
That meant only one thing. Someone had taken it off of him after the explosion. Sean realized maybe the explosion hadn’t been too early. It had happened exactly when it needed to. The timing had been perfect. If Tommy had been in the car, retrieving the stone would have been nearly impossible. He shook off the theory, still choosing to believe that maybe they had just been lucky.
The point still lurked in the back of his head, though. Someone was trying to kill them, and would do whatever it took to find the last chamber.
Chapter 4
The Frenchman snatched the stone away from Will and held it up to the light. He examined one side of it, and then the other, carefully inspecting the inscription.
“I have seen this writing before,” he announced. “And the image on the other side has only been discovered in one place.”
Lindsey seemed hopeful. “And where is that, Doctor DeGard?”
DeGard smiled. His crooked teeth made his grin appear more like a crocodile’s than a human’s. “It’s a temple, to the south. I’ve been there one time on a dig. It must have been twenty years ago. But I have no doubts that the images on this stone are an exact match for what I saw there.”
Lindsey moved closer. He wasn’t entirely convinced. “How can you be sure? You must have seen tens of thousands of hieroglyphs and ancient writings. Yet you’re telling me you remember these from twenty years ago, after just one glance?”
DeGard shrugged. “I can take you to the site or you can pay me my money and I will return to London. I don’t care about your little treasure hunt. As I remember it, there wasn’t anything significant about that location. We unearthed a few clay jars, but the temple had been stripped of any treasures long before we arrived.”
Lindsey seemed to consider it for a moment. They could ill afford to waste precious time on the Frenchman’s hunch. But it was all DeGard had to go on. And he was the only expert in the room on the subject.
“Fine,” he said at last. “Take us to the location. If you are right, I’ll give you another ten thousand.” He eyed the birdlike man suspiciously. “However, if you have wasted our time, my men will bury you there in the desert.”
DeGard raised an eyebrow. “I assure you it is the correct place, Monsieur Lindsey.”
“Will,” Lindsey turned to the younger man. “Get the others ready. We will leave at once.”
Will nodded and started to leave the room, but Lindsey stopped him. “Wait.” Lindsey turned and pressed for one more answer from DeGard. “Is there anyone else you know of, who knows about the temple or could decipher the language from that disc?”
DeGard thought for a moment. “I can only think of a few people with such knowledge. One of them is in Cambridge, England. I believe there is one other, here, in Cairo. He could have been the one your enemies were going to visit today.”
“What is his name?” Lindsey asked intently.
“His name is Richard Firth. He does a great deal of work for the Museum of Antiquities.”
Lindsey glanced at Will. “Take care of it. Send the rest with us.” Will nodded and left the room.
Then Lindsey returned his attention back to DeGard. “I pray, dear Doctor, that you are right.”
DeGard shrugged again. His demeanor was either certain or arrogant. “You think threatening my life will motivate me, Monsieur Lindsey? The only thing that motivates me is money. So, you keep writing the checks and I’ll show you where you want to go. Bien?”
“We shall see.”
Chapter 5
Adriana sat in the corner of Sean’s hotel room, watching him go through his things. Jolian had driven the two of them back to their hotel after leaving Tommy at the airport. The ride had been a silent one, save for their driver asking where they needed to go. Adriana had kept quiet, knowing that Sean was trying to think. He’d appreciated that about her. She seemed to know when he needed to process things.
Now, he was looking frantically around the room for any sign of the stone they had found in Ecuador. Their expedition to South America led to the discovery of a second golden chamber. But they’d had to leave quickly, and barely managed to escape with their lives. Before exiting the chamber, though, they’d taken the stone disc that would lead them to the next marker, and hopefully, the final clue to the location of the final chamber. The disc was missing, however, and Sean feared the worst.
He found a piece of paper in one of Tommy’s bags and unfolded it. On it, were etchings from both sides of the stone disc.
“What is it?” Adriana asked. She stood up next to him to get a better view of what he’d found.
“It’s a drawing of the stone. We make precise copies or document every artifact we find in case something happens to the original. Everything appears to be on it in exact detail.” He examined the sheet of paper closely.
“That’s good, right?”
“It’s a start,” he answered. “But Tommy said that the person we were meeting at the Museum could help us find the next chamber, based on the clues from the stone.”
“It sounds to me like we need to find that person before someone else does,” her comment was right in line with his thoughts.
“Yeah. And I’m guessing we don’t have a whole lot of time.”
He picked up his phone from the workstation in the corner and pressed the screen. After a few rings, a tired-sounding Emily answered.
“Sean, I heard Tommy arrived safely in Athens. Looks like he’s going to be okay. The doctors said he’s regained consciousness but still doesn’t remember what happened.”
“That’s good news, Em,” Sean said. He didn’t try to hide the relief in his voice. “But, I have another favor to ask, though.”
“Two in one day?” she laughed. “What’s this one?”
“We were supposed to meet a man at the museum by the name of Richard Firth. He’s an Egyptologist living in the area. Can you get us the address?”
He could hear her punching her keys in the background. “Didn’t realize I was running an information center here,” she said sarcastically. “Ever heard of Google?” Sean gritted his teeth but didn’t respond.
“I got him,” she said, finally. “Sending the directions to your phone now.”
“Thanks again, Em. I owe you two.”
“Don’t think I’ll forget,” she responded jokingly. “We still have a position open here at the agency if you ever consider coming out of retirement.” She’d not stopped pestering him about returning to his former job since the day he’d quit several years ago.
He snorted a quick laugh and ended the call abruptly. A few seconds later, a new message popped up on the screen.
“I’ve got the address,” he said to Adriana. “We need to get there now. I just hope it isn’t too late.”