“When we say back-up, we’re talking about…”
“Between fifteen and twenty soldiers from the Field HQ of the Southern Military Region in Assiut.”
Hawke nodded, always grateful for back-up. It often made all the difference.
“Commander?”
“Man named Koura. He’s a naqib, or captain, which makes you the ranking officer in command of the mission.”
“I was a sergeant, Rich.”
Eden gave him a knowing glance. “We both know you were a major before you got demoted. You’ll carry that rank today.”
“Come off it, no one’s going to take orders from a burned-out English Special Forces sergeant out here.” He looked up at the Egyptian sun. “Koura can lead his own men.”
“Naturally, but he knows literally nothing about what’s going on here, Hawke. No idea of the big picture at all. I’m not arguing the point with you. You’re the OC today and that’s the end of it.”
Hawke backed down. Maybe he could lay some other ghosts to rest today as well — like the day those bastards knocked him down to sergeant. But something was bothering him. “Why this Arafa bloke? Why not just call Henderson?”
“We’ll talk about that later.” Eden put his hands in his pocket.
“Looks like there’s going to be a lot of talking later.”
Eden’s reply was short and clipped, in his usual style.
“If we survive the day, yes.”
Hawke laughed. “I mean it, Richard. I want answers.”
“And you’ll get them but for now we’re behind Vetrov, so let’s get on with it.”
They clambered into a couple of hired SUVs and went their separate ways. Sir Richard Eden, Alex, Ryan and Maria went to the Hilton Luxor to set up a base camp while Hawke, Scarlet and Lexi tooled up and headed straight to the Karnak Temple.
It was time to say hello to Osiris.
Maxim Vetrov watched eagerly as Kosma placed the explosives on the ancient wall. With Dario Mazzarro’s help, it hadn’t taken long to work out that the other half of the map was in a secret chamber beneath the Tomb of Osiris in the Karnak Temple. They were now standing at the entrance to this chamber, sealed up countless centuries ago by unknown hands.
Kosma finished his work while Kodiak kept Lea and Karlsson covered with a compact machine pistol. He wanted to kill them, and had told them so, but Vetrov had ordered him to keep them alive. They may turn out to be useful, he had said.
“Do it!” barked Vetrov, sensing his destiny drawing ever closer. “Blow the wall!”
Kosma obeyed and detonated the explosives, blasting the ancient stones to smithereens with the modern technology. When the dust settled, they made their way into the hidden recess behind the wall and descended into the darkness.
The tunnel quickly narrowed and the ceiling grew ever lower until they had to crouch to make their way through to the end. The walls were covered in glyphs and constructed of solid blocks of limestone, perfectly fitted together in a way even modern tools would struggle to replicate. Vetrov slid his hand along them in awe as he studied the workmanship and the hieroglyphs.
He could feel his fate racing toward him like a new dawn. Here, deep beneath the surface of Luxor, far below the Temple of Amun, was the Tomb of Osiris — a real man-god who walked the earth for countless millennia. But like Poseidon, he had been killed and his powerful rule brought to an end, and Vetrov knew who had done it.
The Athanatoi.
They were the ones responsible for Poseidon’s death, and they too had killed Osiris, and all the others.
But not him.
He would never let them kill him, because he knew who they were, and the power they wielded. He also knew he was about to seize that power for himself. Dealing with the Athanatoi would be a pleasure he would savor, but it could keep for now. Now, he had more urgent concerns, like securing the final piece of this most ancient of puzzles from Osiris’s cadaverous grasp, and sacrificing Donovan and Karlsson to the real gods. Those who had to be appeased.
After that Hawke and his pathetic, indigent army of drop-outs and mavericks could easily be wiped out. Then there would be nothing between him and the greatest destiny any mortal man could ever dream of.
Nothing.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Hawke scanned the area around the main temple at Karnak. He had never seen anything like it before in his entire life. The site was immense — the ruins he was looking at were all that was left of the ancient city of Thebes, and included the great Temple of Amon. To the west he saw the Nile Quay, which once stretched out into the river when the Nile was higher. Today, the Nile was half a kilometer away through the suburbs of Luxor.
The sandstone and red granite of the ruins was a bright orange in the sunset, and the heat of the day drifted in shimmers into the early twilight. It was late now, and they had arrived at the site as fast as they could, but judging by the dead security guards, it wasn’t fast enough and Vetrov was already inside the hidden chamber.
“We have to get in there,” he said, still surveying the surrounding area for useful strategic points that might come in handy during the fight. “There’s still no sign of Lea and Brad, but while there’s a chance they’re still alive we can’t waste any time. What’s the quickest way there?”
“Through there,” Scarlet said, pointing at the Precinct of Amun-Ra. “If we go that way there’s natural cover, and then we just cut through the east part of the complex and we’re in the fight.” She lit a cigarette and cocked her pistol.
Lexi turned to Scarlet. “Do you have to smoke those damn things all the time?”
“Why don’t you…”
“Listen,” Hawke said, cutting Scarlet’s reply dead. “We don’t have time for arguments. We’re going to get Lea and Brad back and take Vetrov out. Everyone clear on that?”
They readied their weapons and moved forward. The usual silence fell on their conversation as they prepared for the fight, each thinking things through in their minds to avoid any mistakes.
They made their way through the dusty ruins, now bereft of the usual horde of tourists because of the late hour. Hawke watched Scarlet and Lexi with pride as they put their differences away and worked together. Lexi’s commitment to the mission since her arrival in Venice was clear, and he had decided to take her word for what happened in Xian. He knew Scarlet was less convinced, but then that was her — always the cynic.
They rounded the east wall of the Temple of Ramasses II and then sprinted between the Sacred Lake and the south wall of the great Festival Hall of Thutmose III as they approached the Temple of Taharka.
“It’s just through there, Scarlet said, jabbing the muzzle of her gun toward an immense wall covered in Egyptian hieroglyphics. “That’s the Cachette Court, and just through there is the part of the complex we’re after — the Ramasses III Temple.”
“And you know this, how?” Lexi asked.
“Because I studied a map of the place on the way here. It’s called pre-mission planning and the SAS are rather good at it. We’re not all just guns and smoke grenades you realize, Lex.”
Hawke suppressed a smile, and not just at the thought of Cairo Sloane studying maps of the Karnak Temple Complex. Despite their superficial differences, he knew they were a lot more like each other than either would ever admit.
As they drew closer to the Amun Temple they heard a loud explosion and felt the ground rock beneath their feet. The shockwave was so great it toppled some of the stones at the top of one of the ruins and they came crashing down into the colonnaded courtyard.