The Cult of Osiris (3 page)

Macy could hear other shouts, though. Her pursuers were in the temple.

And she was in a dead end.

The shouts got closer.

The inner wall facing the gate was somewhat lower than the others - and in the light shining through the bars she could pick out footholds. She scrambled up. All the past hours of gym practice for the cheerleading squad no longer seemed such a chore.

She looked over the top of the wall - to see the guy in the snakeskin jacket only ten feet away on the other side, other men spreading out across the temple floor. One ran into the entrance to the passage.

Trapped—

She pulled herself up and lay flat along the wall's top, holding her breath as her heart pounded. The running man rounded the corner, reached the gate, looked through it. Nobody fleeing the temple, just tourists gawping at the display.

Does anyone see her?' called the American, shining a tiny but bright LED flashlight between the ruined pillars. The shouted replies were all negative.

Hamdi and Shaban hurried to him. 'She can't have got out,' said Hamdi, one hand clutched to his nose. 'The entrances on this side are all blocked/

Who is she?' Shaban demanded angrily.

One of the IHA team. Macy Sharif. She's just a student.'

Student or not, she could ruin the entire plan if she gets out of here,' said Shaban. We gotta find her,' the American added. Fast.

What are you going to do with her, Mr Diamondback?' asked Hamdi.

Whaddya think?' There was a metallic sound that froze Macy's blood. A gun's hammer being cocked.

You're going to . . .' Hamdi tailed off, shocked.

I'm sure as hell not spendin' the next twenty years in an Egyptian jail 'cause of some li'l whore of a
student.

Dr Hamdi,' said Shaban, 'if she gets away, you and Gamal will have to handle Berkeley. Bobby, we need to send people to watch her hotel, the airport, anyone she might go to for help. She's American?' Hamdi nodded. 'Use our contacts there to find out where she lives -and where her family lives. Send people to watch their homes, tap their phones. We
have
to silence her.'

Count on it,' said Diamondback. A second click - another gun.

Macy trembled, a terrified nausea churning within her. They were going to
kill
her! Every instinct told her to run, but she didn't dare move.

One of the guards called out from the temple's southern end, reporting that the other entrance passage was empty. Diamondback shone his light across the courtyard. What about those stones there, by the wall? Could she climb em?' He walked towards them, the heels of his cowboy boots clip-clopping on the stone flags.

Go with him,' said Shaban. For a moment, Macy thought he was talking to Hamdi, before realising it was one of the guards.

The one who had come into the passage after her.

There was nobody between her and the east wall—

Adrenalin overcame her fear. She sprang up and ran along the wall, jumping up to a higher block.

Hey!

Diamondback had seen her.

Macy gasped in fright, expecting a gunshot - but it didn't come. The sound and light show was ending, and a shot would be heard by hundreds of people. She climbed another block, finding herself at the edge of the east wall. The ground was over twenty feet below.

Diamondback scaled the wall on which she'd been hiding as effortlessly as a lizard. The guard ran back into the passage. Macy turned, crouched - and dropped. Fingers clutching the weathered stone, she slithered down the wall, toes rasping for purchase.

She let go—

More pain as she hit the ground and fell on her back, but she was too scared to let it stop her. She rolled and took off across the dusty expanse. The audience was dispersing, milling towards the nearby exit in the outer fence.

Behind her, the guard climbed the metal gate as Diamondback reached the highest part of the wall, eyes scanning for her, locking on - then losing her again as she shoved into the crowd. Someone hollered in protest, but Macy ignored him and ducked low, weaving between the clumps of tourists. If she could reach the exit, the edge of Cairo's urban sprawl was just yards beyond the fence . . .

The guard was over the gate. Diamondback landed beside him. More men ran along the walkway above the temple. Macy moved faster, knocking people aside in her desperation to

reach the exit. There were two white-uniformed members of the Tourist Police at the gate, but they hadn't yet been alerted to the chase.
Come on, move—

Diamondback and the guard were running. The guard shouted to the policemen, who looked round. Some of the tourists did too, stopping to see the cause of the commotion.

A gap opened up. Macy took it, rushing through the gate before either cop could react. By the time one started after her, she was already halfway to the dark alley between the nearest buildings. She raced into the shadows. A junction; she went right, deeper into the maze. Clattering footsteps echoed behind her. Left, right again.
Don't be a dead end, don't—

A low, narrow gap in one wall just before an intersection. On some wild instinct she squeezed through it. She found herself in a small yard behind a house, faint light coming from a window above. The only other exit was a door into the house itself.

She pressed against the wall, eyes wide in fear as the footsteps drew closer - then passed, slowing at the intersection. More men ran up.
Clip-clop.
Diamondback. She held her breath. If one of them noticed the little gap . . .

They ran again, splitting up to follow each of the alleyways. The footsteps quickly faded into the night.

Macy slumped, panting.

She stayed in the yard for almost twenty minutes, waiting until she was absolutely certain nobody was nearby before creeping back through the hole. The alley was empty, silent. Getting her bearings, she headed deeper into the sprawl.

After ten nerve-racking minutes, she reached a small square. Muffled music came from a cafe on the far side, but all she cared about was the battered yellow box of a payphone on a

pole nearby. Warily watching the street, she fumbled for her remaining change, then made a call.

Macy? Is that you?' Berkeley sounded even angrier than before.

Yes,' she said, voice low. 'They're going to rob the Hall of Records! There's another tunnel, they're digging—'

He wasn't listening. 'Macy, come back here and turn yourself in to the police
right now.

What - what do you mean, turn myself in? I haven't—'

Dr Hamdi has agreed not to press charges for assault, but only if you give yourself up and return the piece you took immediately/

What piece?' Macy protested, confused. Ididn'ttake anything!'

Macy, Dr Hamdi and Mr Gamal both saw you chip a piece off the Sphinx! Do you have any idea how serious that is? People have been sentenced to ten years in jail for less] Running away has just made it worse, but if you come back now, I'll do what I can to placate the authorities—'

Look,
listen
to me!' she cried. 'Hamdi's part of it, and so's Gamal! Go and look for yourself, there's—'

Macy!' barked Berkeley. 'Get back to the dig,
now
_r
and give yourself up. If you don't, there's nothing I can do to help you. Just—'

Macy slammed down the receiver, fear and panic back in full force. What the hell was she going to do? Shaban had sent people to stake out the hotel. She couldn't even collect her belongings. All she had were the clothes she was wearing and whatever she had in her pockets.

Which wasn't much. Her camera, a small wad of Egyptian pounds, about a hundred US dollars. At least she still had her passport and credit cards; there was no way she would have left them unattended in her hotel room.

She weighed up her options. Whether she turned herself in or the police caught her, Hamdi and no doubt a parade of others would be ready to testify against her. And if Shaban's people caught her...

The mere thought set her heart thudding again. They wanted her
dead
And even if she got out of Egypt, they would be waiting for her to go home, watching her parents. She couldn't risk getting them involved.

Then there was Shaban's plan itself. If he got out with whatever he planned to steal before the IHA team opened the Hall of Records, nobody would even know they had done it, since Berkeley would be seen by millions as the first person to enter the chamber in thousands of years. She had to warn someone. But if Berkeley wouldn't listen, she had to find someone else - someone more likely to believe her,
mid
convince others to take action.

Macy stepped away from the phone, unconsciously adjusting her ponytail . . . and that triggered a thought.

She reached back into her pocket. There was something else with her passport: folded pages from a magazine. When she opened them, the face of an attractive woman, red hair in a ponytail much like Macy's, smiled up at her.

Dr Nina Wilde. The discover of Atlantis, and more. Macy's inspiration, the woman who had given her the determination to get here in the first place.

And a woman whose claims had been utterly disbelieved . . . before being proved spectacularly right.

She regarded the picture. It was a long shot; Dr Wilde was no longer with the IHA after some controversy the previous year. Macy had been disappointed at not getting the chance to meet her. But surely she still had enough influence to help . . .

If she could reach her. As far as she knew, Dr Wilde was in New York. And Macy was still less than a quarter of a mile from the Sphinx.

One step at a time,
she decided, setting off for central Cairo.

1 New York City

12

Three Days Later

Nina Wilde struggled to wakefulness, fighting simultaneously through the smothering sheets and the remnants of a cloying alcoholic fug to look at the bedside clock. It was well after ten a.m. 'Crap,' she mumbled, about to chastise herself for oversleeping . . . before remembering that she had nothing to get up for.

She almost pulled the sheets back up in the hope of returning to sleep, but even a brief glimpse of the small and ugly bedroom was enough to make her want to get out of it. Not that the rest of the apartment was much better, but it represented a least-worst option.

She put on a vest and a pair of sw eatpants, ran her fingers through her unkempt hair, then padded into the other room. 'Eddie?' she called, yawning. 'You here?'

No reply. Her husband was out, though he had left a note on the small counter separating the kitchen area from the rest of the cramped living room. As usual, it was as terse as a military communique.
Gone to work. Will call later. Probably out until late. Love Eddie x. PS We need more milk.

'Great,' she sighed, picking up the small pile of mail beside the note. Credit card bill, probably large. Other credit card bill, almost certainly even larger. Junk, junk—

The last envelope had the name of a university printed in one corner.

Despite herself, she felt a flutter of hope, and hurriedly tore it open. Maybe
this
one was the way out of their miserable life of the past several months .. .

It wasn't. She only needed to see the words
We regret
to know it was another rejection. The academic world had turned its back on her. Once someone was labelled a crank, it was a tag that was almost impossible to remove - even if that person had been right all along.

Nina put down the letter, then slumped on the creaking couch and sighed again. A smear campaign by a powerful enemy had not only cost her her job, but also left her regarded as a nut, on the same level as those who claimed to have found Noah's Ark or El Dorado or Bigfoot. Her previous world-shaking finds - Atlantis, the tombs of Hercules and King Arthur - suddenly counted for nothing, academia as prone as any other field to having only a short-term memory:
what have you done For us lately?

So now she was out of a job, out of prospects . . . and perilously close to being out of money. All she had was Eddie.

Except she didn't, because the demands of his work meant he was almost never there.

A baby started crying in one of the neighbouring apartments, the thin walls doing little to muffle the noise. 'God damn it,' she muttered, putting her hands over her face.

Eddie Chase emerged from the East Side brownstone building, glancing up and down the street before descending the steps.

I saw that,' said a woman's voice behind him.

Eddie looked round at her. 'Saw what?'

You, checking there wasn't anybody outside who might know you.' Amy Martin came down the steps, her dark bob bouncing, and squeezed the balding Englishman's waist. 'You're

so cute/

It's not exactly something I want getting back to Nina, is it?' he told the younger woman. Til tell her myself, when the timing's right. And I don't want anyone else to find out, either.'

Amy grinned. You enjoy it, though. Don't deny it.' She went to the kerb, looking for a cab. So, you wanna do this again tomorrow?'

Yeah, if I can make it,' Eddie told her. 'Depends if Grant Thorn needs me or not.'

She grinned again, shaking her head. 'I still can't believe you get to hang out with a movie star.'

I'm not exactly "hanging out'' with him. I'm his bodyguard, not his best mate. And he's, well . . . kind of a prat.'

But one with a Lamborghini, right? That's pretty cook

Bit of a waste, though. He never drives it faster than ten miles an hour 'cause he wants everyone to see him inside it/

You guarding his body today?' A cab approached; Amy waved it down.

Yeah, picking him up in a bit. He wants to buy a suit for some charity bash this evening, so I've got to keep an eye on him. Cause Fifth Avenue's such a dangerous place.'

The cab stopped as Eddie's phone rang. He looked at the screen: Nina. Well, have fun with your Hollywood buddies!' Amy said as she got in.