Drake heard the outer shell at work and ignored it. Dahl called back inside whilst nobody could see his face.
“We are not together, Kenzie. We never will be.”
“Now I know that’s not true. You wouldn’t lead me on all this time.”
Drake heard the warning note in her voice and how Dahl fell suddenly silent. A taut silence filled the car.
“Did I lead you on?” the Swede finally asked.
“Stop it with the jokes. You’re scaring me.”
Drake frowned at the tone of her voice and the heat in her eyes. Kenzie had proven she could care and that she could fit in with the good guys. He hoped this wasn’t some kind of degeneration.
Smyth, driving the car, spoke up then out of nowhere. “It was me,” he said. “Luther? It was me, anyway. You shouldn’t be chasing these guys.”
Drake both saw and heard the guilt. “Shut up, mate. This isn’t the time.”
“I’m willing to accept any judgment.”
“There were circumstances,” Drake said. “And the guy was a murderer. Nobody should ever shoulder another man’s sins.”
“This is interesting,” Luther grumbled. “But what are you talking about?”
“Nothing,” Drake said. “Sunstroke has made the dumb American delirious.”
“Ah, great. And we’re good with him driving the car?”
Crouch stepped in, seeing a chance to gloss over it all. “The fifth seal is the pyramid and we must go there in all haste. There’s a lot of ground to cover. Of course, these tombs are still being excavated. Almost eight million dog mummies were found a few years ago. Who knows what else lies beneath those sands?”
The car slowed as they reached the outskirts of a town. Drake thought this might be the perfect chance to procure an extra vehicle and maybe dump Luther and his two comrades. In all honesty though, what he wanted was something entirely different.
“Luther,” he said. “I hate to tell you that you’re working for the bad guys. I hate to tell you that there’s a rogue cell in the American government searching for terrible weapons. I hate to see your loyalty, your faith and your training betrayed at the highest level. So I’ll say this — find someone you trust in DC and ask them to check. Stick with us whilst it happens. Call a truce. And if, at the end of it you still think we’re all guilty of treason, then we will come quietly. You have my word.”
Drake held his hand out.
Alicia practically squawked a rebuttal. Dahl tried to wriggle back inside but couldn’t get near. Drake had chosen the perfect time.
Luther considered it. “We stick with you? We have full weapons? Alone time?”
“Yes, but no communications. We don’t want have the Air Force dropping down on us.”
“I always go dark,” Luther reminded him. “Only chatter is between the team.”
CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR
The Pyramid of Djosser, built in the 27th century BCE, was fashioned by the great Egyptian architect, Imhotep. It stands at the center of an immense mortuary complex surrounded by grand structures and ritual adornments. By building this, Imhotep himself was laying the groundwork for all those greater structures that came in later dynasties, including the Great Pyramids of Giza.
Three cars arrived, all air-conditioned and with extremely grateful and weary soldiers resting inside. When the vehicles pulled up to a tire-grinding halt nobody moved for an entire minute. About an hour ago they had pulled over to the side of the road, nursing and cleaning cuts and wounds, tending to bruises. Their injuries were painful, but not debilitating.
“Oh, my legs,” Alicia groaned, having just finished off a sandwich and a Pepsi, wedged in the front seat. “I can hardly open them.”
Kenzie snorted comically. “A new first for the English harlot.”
Drake was with Alicia, nursing a dozen aches and pains, and still nowhere near fully recovered. They had weapons, and bullets were in good supply but T-shirt and camo-trousers would have to fulfil the dress code.
“We must be extra careful,” Hayden told them. “These injuries will affect our reaction time, our range of movement and, hell, our pure damn skill. Take care out there.”
Crouch was out first, a testament to the man’s desire for the job. Drake struggled to follow but had the fun job of yanking Alicia out of the passenger seat.
“Ow, ow, be bloody careful! Kenz, is that my ass or your face? Never can tell. Whoa, steady Drakey!”
“You’d think dehydration and hunger would shut her up for a while.” Dahl stared at her speculatively. “Maybe a day at least.”
“There’s a reason they called her Taz.” Mai laughed and mimed a spinning devil, never stopping, always moving, even though it had no idea where it was headed.
Alicia offered to help Kenzie out of the car, face neutral. Surprisingly, the Israeli refused and pulled and pushed herself out.
The team gathered in the heat, to the front of the parking area and with Djosser’s pyramid in plain sight. It was large, stepped and flat-topped, different to the pyramids common in modern culture. Drake raised his face to the breeze, enjoying the coolness on his skin and the chance to slow down for just a moment.
“Let’s reccy the tomb,” Hayden said, and the moment was gone.
From afar, splitting and acting like tourists, they viewed the pyramid from every angle. Drake and Dahl walked with Luther, Pine and Carey; Mai close behind to help watch for any sign of trouble. So far, the conventional crusader had taken it easy, watching and taking no sidebars with his colleagues. The entire team met around the front of the tomb and compared notes.
“We’re good,” Crouch decided. “I’m headed inside.”
Drake went with him as Hayden assigned Smyth, Mai and Kinimaka to stay outside with Luther and his soldiers. Luther declined the offer, wanting in, but acquiesced to Pine and Carey staying back. Crouch was already inside, Yorgi and Kenzie trying to keep up. Drake studied the dark entrance to the tomb, checked around with suspicion once more and then ducked inside.
It would be good to have five on the outside. Safer.
Crouch was searching by flashlight, scanning the inner walls of the pyramid and wandering toward the funerary chamber. Yorgi backed him up with Kenzie checking ahead. It was quiet down here, cooler and secluded. An atmosphere of ancient repose filled the passageways, as if this place might see humanity out and then the next upstarts. A fitting resting place for what some may once have seen as a god.
Drake knew all about men elevated to the status of gods. He’d come across it and proved it during the Odin thing, and later by discovering more tombs and more evidence. Did it disprove the theory of real gods?
No, not really. But maybe they went the same way as the people with real wealth and power. Nobody ever knew who they were.
“I have it,” Crouch said at length. “Just down here.”
“You have what?” Luther asked. “Let me see.”
Drake was pleased he was taking an interest. Crouch took a picture and then let Luther in. Drake stared at the image.
“What is that?”
“The capstone,” Crouch affirmed. “And a coffin laid by the banks of the River Nile. I think the contours here—” he pointed at a peculiar bend in the river crowned by a peak “—tell us the location.”
“And they’ve all been like this?” Luther asked, still staring. “I guess they’re clearly timeworn, of Egyptian origin and potentially indicative. You guys managed to follow four of these already?”
Drake nodded. “And now five, once we decipher this picture. Mate, I was cynical at first too. The only reason I came was because Michael here — he has a reputation and is rarely wrong. Now, it doesn’t sound unreasonable that the Egyptians left a trail for someone to find, does it?”