“I would have thought,” Ryan replied haughtily, “that the implications for humanity were easily inferred.”
“He means, I think,” Alex said, stepping in to diffuse the tension once again, “that if the glyphs Champollion found are older than those found in ancient Sumer, all of human history just changed right before our eyes.”
“Quite,” Eden said coolly. “If it’s true, then that raises further questions, not least of which who wrote them? What civilization were they from?”
Ryan took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes. “Well…whatever they are and whoever made them, they look like they’re pointing to this Tomb of Eternity, anyway.”
“And that sounds like a good place to avoid,” Scarlet said. “The Tomb of Gold, I could get excited about, or even the Tomb of Emeralds, but the Tomb of Eternity… not so much. I can’t sell eternity on the black market.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Alex said. “I think maybe this tomb has the greatest treasure of all within its walls.”
“As far as I can tell,” Ryan said, “it’s called that because some kind of ancient god predating even Osiris and Poseidon was buried in secret there. They called it the Tomb of Eternity because the buried god would be launched into eternity from it into the night sky — the same principle as the pyramids.”
Lexi sighed. “The pyramids? I thought that was all still a mystery.”
“Nope. The pyramids were basically like giant submarine torpedo tubes aimed at the stars. They built tunnels leading from the burial chamber at the heart of the pyramid all the way to the outside wall where they were lined up with the Indestructibles.”
“The what?”
“Ikhemu-Sek in Egyptian — it means ‘those who do not know destruction’ and referred to what today we call the circumpolar stars, as in those stars around the Little and Big Dippers.”
“Why those stars?” Scarlet asked with genuine interest.
“Because the other stars revolved around them, which is why we call them the circumpolar stars. The ancient Egyptians believed that because the other stars circled these particular stars that they must be heaven itself.”
“I see… now it’s beginning to make sense.”
“Right — and that’s why they built the pyramids to align north in this way — so the ka, which was what they believed was the soul, or the vital spark, could be reunited with the ba, or personality, and transmute into the akh, and enter the afterlife as a kind of reincarnated, or immortal being.
“Is he still speaking English?” Lexi said.
Alex smirked. “Sorry, but yes.”
Scarlet stepped up, less amused. “So what does all this mean, Ryan? You’re starting to give me a headache.”
“Sadly… it means we still don’t know enough about these glyphs to translate them properly.”
Alex sipped her coffee. “But it also means that we’re probably talking about Thebes.”
Lexi looked confused. “Was Thebes another god or something?”
Ryan offered a condescending smirk. “Hardly, Thebes is a place — or was a place, more like.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Today it’s called Luxor,” Alex said.
“Luxor is a city in Upper Egypt, and back when it was Thebes it was the capital. It’s where they buried the kings during the New Kingdom.”
“I know where Luxor is, Ryan,” Lexi said.
“Sorry, but you don’t look like you’d know,” he said, straight-faced.
Lexi looked at him sharply. “You want a slap, is that it?”
“Hey!” Scarlet said. “No one talks to Ryan like that except me.”
Ryan ignored the comment. “Our only clue so far is the reference to Osiris. Over the last few years there have been several tombs discovered supposedly connected to him, one in Giza at the turn of the century, and one more recently in Thebes where they found a large underground complex with a wall relief of a knife-wielding demon and an impressive carving of Osiris himself.”
Lexi looked concerned. “Demons?”
“They’re to protect the body.”
“Body? So Osiris really was real, just like Poseidon?” Scarlet asked.
Ryan nodded. “Ancient Egyptian legends have long told of Osiris having a tomb, and the one located in Thebes is a miniature version of the temple dedicated to the god in Abydos. Considering all available evidence, I would say Thebes — or Luxor was our best bet, but first we need to know what we’re looking for when we get there, and that means back to the drawing board with these damned glyphs.”
“But this tomb you say they found,” Scarlet asked. “that’s not our place?”
Ryan shook his head. “Nope — it was actually just a kind of initiation chamber.”
“What about the Temple of Osiris at Karnak?” Alex asked. “That’s in Luxor.”
Ryan sighed and shook his head. “Sorry, but I don’t think so — this glyph here specifically says tomb not temple — I don’t think it can be referring to the temple you’re talking about.”
“So like you say, back to the drawing board, right?”
“Sorry, but yeah.”
Eden sighed and ran his hands through his hair. “We need to go faster on this, everyone. We don’t know what the hell Vetrov is doing to Lea or Brad at the moment and the only way we can get to them is by getting to the tomb before those bastards get there.”
The words hung in the air like smoke. Everyone knew what Vetrov had done to Alex, and now he had Lea and Karlsson. The pressure to save their lives was building.
“I’m sure Lea’s fine,” Scarlet said. “She can look after herself. She’s probably already killed Vetrov and is escaping as we speak. Pretty soon she’ll just be hanging around somewhere, chilling, and waiting for us to pick her up.”
“Let’s hope you’re right,” Eden said. “But she hasn’t made contact, so I don’t share your optimism.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
From her position over Kosma’s shoulder, Lea could do nothing as the giant carried her out of Vetrov’s office and down the long, plush corridor running outside it. He opened an internal door and began to descend down a metal staircase into another corridor. There was a low-light and it was much colder down here.
She realized they were taking her into the hold of the enormous aircraft and when they got there she saw where they had kept Mazzarro just a few moments ago — ropes and a blindfold left on the floor beside a large metal crate. From her upside-down view of things, she could see Vetrov himself behind Kosma. He was holding a gun on Mazzarro who he was forcing to walk a few yards ahead of him with his hands raised.
They stopped and she was spun around and dumped on the floor. She landed with a loud crack on the cold metal sheeting and rolled on her front. She tried to spin over, but Vetrov put his boot on her back where her hands were tied and pushed down on her wrists, making her cry out.
Ahead of her she watched the heavy boots of Kosma Zhuravlev as he diligently followed out his boss’s commands and yanked something off the wall. It took her a few seconds to realize what it was, but then she saw — a parachute.
Kosma opened it up and stretched out the rigging. He pulled the canopy away and then laid out the steering lines and risers in neat lines. He worked with the casual diligence of someone erecting a tent, but she knew whatever he was doing would have a much grimmer purpose.
Some more Russian followed between the two men, and then a short burst of laughter from Vetrov. Kosma was unmoved by the joke, and simply plodded on, arranging the parachute for some purpose they had not yet shared with her, but she knew it was coming and she started to feel sick about it.