The Forbidden Tomb (44 page)

‘Like what?’ Cobb wondered.

‘They decided to steal his body.’

Based on the revelation about Alexander’s body, Cobb decided to play additional footage for Manjani, starting with the video of the pictograph.

Needless to say, it left him speechless. He simply stared at the screen as the camera moved down the length of wall. An occasional gasp escaped his lips as he studied the symbols. This continued until they reached the end of the clip.

Manjani glanced at Cobb. ‘Please show me again.’

‘Only if you speak this time.’

‘Yes, of course.’

The second time through, Manjani couldn’t contain his glee – or his words – as he watched the footage. ‘Do you know what this is?’

Sarah nodded. ‘It’s a timeline of the city, from its creation until Alexander’s body was smuggled out to sea. Our historian told me that before she was taken.’

Manjani shook his head. ‘Close, but not quite right. I understand her interpretation, I really do, but I’m sorry to say that she was mistaken.’

‘Mistaken how?’ Cobb demanded.

‘The symbols were meant to resemble the traditional markings of the era, but there were subtle alterations that changed the translation. It’s like an embedded code – a form of communication meant only for those who were familiar with it. The high priests did this frequently, just in case an outsider stumbled across one of their messages. The outsider would interpret it one way, and the priests would view it another.’

‘But you can read it?’

‘Yes,’ he assured them, ‘I am quite familiar with the basics. I studied the language for many months in preparation for my last expedition. Ultimately, it was a message like this that led us to the discovery of the settlement.’

‘Really?’ Cobb grunted, somewhat surprised. ‘I guess we got that wrong. We were under the impression that you were looking for Alexander’s tomb.’

‘That’s correct. We were searching for his tomb.’

‘Hold on just a second.’ Cobb was starting to get confused. He hit the
PAUSE
button so Manjani would concentrate on his questions instead of the footage. ‘Let’s back up and start over. When you assembled your team, what were you looking for?’

‘We were looking for Alexander’s tomb.’

‘But you found the settlement instead.’

‘Exactly!’ Manjani said. ‘On its own, the settlement was a very nice discovery. Not nearly as glamorous as Alexander’s tomb, but still a solid find. My students, most of whom were light in fieldwork, were absolutely elated.’

‘But not you.’

He shook his head. ‘When you’re hunting for Moby Dick, a shark won’t suffice.’

Cobb smiled. ‘Good point.’

Sarah used the moment to reenter the conversation. ‘Out of curiosity, what led you to believe that the tomb was where you were digging?’

Manjani glanced at her. ‘Are you familiar with the Bahariya Oasis in the Western Desert? It is home to a modern archaeological site known as the Valley of the Golden Mummies. Since its discovery in 1996, hundreds of bodies have been uncovered there, and I believe thousands more will be discovered – all followers of Alexander.’

Cobb connected the dots. ‘You thought the body was moved to Bahariya?’

‘It was a working theory,’ Manjani said with a shrug. ‘You see, the Temple of Alexander is located in Bahariya. It is the only such temple in all of Egypt to honor him. Although there is no tomb inside, we found several records of travelers who asked to be buried near the temple in the belief that it would bring them closer to Alexander. That might not seem like much, but these messages weren’t the scribbled notes of commoners. They were written by the personal scribes of noblemen from Egypt, Greece, Rome, and beyond. These people left their homelands to be buried in the middle of the desert, and we thought the reason was Alexander.’

‘What about now?’ Sarah wondered.

‘Now?’ he asked, confused.

‘You said the tomb’s presence in Bahariya
was
a working theory. I noticed that you used the past tense,
was
. Does that mean you’ve changed your mind?’

He shrugged. ‘I suppose I have.’

‘Why?’ she asked.

‘Pardon the pun, but I saw the writing on the wall.’

The look on her face said that she wasn’t amused.

‘Just hear me out,’ Manjani said as he pointed at the image frozen on the screen. ‘These three symbols of the spindle, the scroll, and the shears represent the Fates. It means that a prophecy was foretold by the oracle. This square, here, is Pandora’s box. Whatever the prophecy was, it wasn’t good news. And look here – the horned man inside the block that these people are carrying? That’s Alexander. They’re moving his tomb.’

Sarah had heard all of this before from Jasmine. ‘Right. They evacuated Alexander to a waiting ship. Isn’t that what the ram’s head on the boat means?’

Manjani shook his head. ‘In the language of the priests, the ram’s head on a man refers to Alexander. The ram’s head by itself refers to his father, Amun. The boat with the symbol of Amun simply tells us that he was directing their attention to the water. You have to understand the context to appreciate what he was trying to convey.’

She was getting impatient. ‘What did he say?’

‘It’s a warning, telling the priests to fear the water. It implores them to remove Alexander’s body from the city, because something terrible was coming from the sea. If I had to guess, I’d say it refers to the tsunami in 365 that nearly wiped out the city. Unfortunately for me, the accounts that led us to Bahariya were all written at least a hundred and fifty years
before
the tsunami. That means we were wrong about the Valley of the Golden Mummies because Alexander’s tomb was still in Alexandria for more than a century after the noblemen asked to be buried near the oasis.’

‘Good,’ Cobb said. ‘I don’t mean to sound insensitive, but that’s one less place that we have to check. What else does the wall say? Does it give us a location?’

‘None that I saw, but let me check again.’

Manjani fast-forwarded the video and studied the final frame of the pictograph, searching for the smallest of clues. In his excitement, he realized it would have been easy to neglect a crucial detail in the coded message about the tomb. He scanned the image slowly and methodically, looking for a symbol that would point them in the right direction, but he found nothing.

‘You’re
sure
this is everything? There were no other carvings on the wall?’

‘I’m positive,’ she answered. ‘I looked over every inch of the wall. And Jasmine examined it, too. That’s everything we found.’

Manjani cursed in Greek, obviously frustrated.

‘What’s missing?’ Cobb asked.

‘I don’t know – I really don’t – but
something
. There has to be more. There just has to be. Because this doesn’t make any sense!’

Manjani leaped to his feet and began to pace around the room. ‘If the priests were abandoning the city, they wouldn’t have left their message so open-ended. They would have been explicit about where they were headed next.’

‘Why?’ Sarah asked.

‘Because they didn’t have cell phones and they didn’t have e-mail, and they were expecting the city to be swallowed by the sea. This was their one and only chance to get a coded message to their followers, whether it was a priest who was stationed in Thebes or a pilgrim from a faraway land who would read the message ten years later. Keep in mind only those fluent in the priestly language would know how to read the
actual
message. Everyone else would look at the symbols and think that Amun had spared the priests by warning them about the flood. That alone would have kept the priests safe from harm. No one – not even the Romans – would have risked the wrath of their god by chasing after the priests. This wall bought their freedom.’

Cobb smiled. ‘Two birds, one stone. It kept the guards away, and it told the followers of Alexander where the priests were relocating to.’

‘Exactly!’ Manjani said. ‘Now all we have to do is figure out the location.’

Sarah, who had more than a little experience when it came to classified information and the acquisition of valuables, viewed things from a different perspective. ‘I concede I know next to nothing about history, but I disagree with your assessment. There’s no way in hell that I would put all of the pieces to the puzzle in one place. I mean, why put your jewels in a safe if you’re going to leave the key in the lock?’

Manjani considered her statement. ‘You raise an interesting point. Perhaps they hid the key to the safe but kept it nearby. Do you have any film of the other walls?’

Cobb shook his head. ‘Not on my phone.’

‘What kind of key are you looking for?’ she asked.

Manjani answered. ‘It could be directions, a reference to a landmark, or even the actual name of the place involved. I’m not sure exactly, but I know there’s something missing from the coded message.’

Sarah shook her head. ‘There was nothing like that further down the tunnel. The only thing I found was a series of steps that led back up toward the surface. That’s where I found the glow stick.’

‘On the steps?’

‘No, after the steps. It was in the grotto by the water.’

He nodded excitedly. ‘That’s right! You mentioned that before but we haven’t discussed it. Please tell me everything.’

Sarah glanced at Cobb, wondering how much she should reveal. A subtle nod gave her permission to continue. ‘At the end of the steps was a grotto with a number of columns that held up the ceiling. The room was connected to the sea by an underwater channel. That’s how I made it out when the bombs went off. I swam to safety.’

Manjani closed his eyes, as if he were praying while he spoke. ‘Please tell me you have video from the cave.
Please
.’

Sarah honestly didn’t know the answer. Her flashlight camera had been working when she looked around the cave, but she was sure that the footage was a low priority for Garcia. Their focus was the wall, not the tunnel beyond.

Fortunately, Cobb knew that he had the video on his phone. He had seen a clip earlier when he and Garcia had scanned through everything that had been recorded. ‘We have some footage of the grotto, but it’s not that great. Why are you so anxious to see it?’

‘Why?’ Manjani asked as he stopped his pacing and sat beside Cobb to plead his case. ‘Because of the image of Amun in the pictograph! Remember, he’s the god of all gods, and the priests are his disciples. They will do whatever he asks them to do.’

‘Which is what?’ Sarah asked.

‘Think, you two, think! What’s he asking them to do in the message?’

Cobb thought back to the image of Amun on the pictograph. A few seconds later, the answer popped in his head. ‘I’ll be damned. He’s telling them to look at the water.’

‘Exactly!’ Manjani blurted. ‘On one level, he’s warning them about the approaching tsunami. On another, he’s literally telling them to look at the water. And where in the temple would they look at the water?’

‘In the grotto!’ Sarah answered.

Manjani smiled. After all this time, he finally remembered how much he had missed the thrill of the hunt. Still beaming, he turned toward Cobb and laughed. ‘So, does this mean I’ve earned the right to see the footage?’

‘Sure. What the hell.’

Cobb glanced through the files until he found the one that he was looking for. ‘This is everything we have from the steps and grotto.’

As the footage began to play, Manjani stared at the screen. His eyes were glued to the monitor as he watched Sarah make her way up the steps toward the surface. He slid to the edge of his seat as he watched her movement through the darkness, the beam of her flashlight reflecting in the pool just ahead. As she reached the water’s edge, she shined her light upward, illuminating the domed ceiling of the dark cavern.

‘There it is,’ Manjani announced.

Cobb paused the video and stared at the screen. He saw the natural grotto that had been reinforced by elaborate pillars. The ceiling had been chiseled smooth, rounded into the shape of a dome. Though he had seen the image before, he hadn’t given it much thought. And, admittedly, he still didn’t see anything noteworthy. ‘There what is?’

Manjani sat back in his chair. ‘The second half of the message.’

‘You’ll have to do better than that. All I see is a domed cavern.’

‘Look closer. You see the markings across the dome?’

Sarah moved in for a better look. ‘Yeah, what about them?’

Manjani reached for the mouse. ‘May I?’

‘Be my guest,’ Cobb said.

Manjani clicked through the options of the computer program, searching for the right adjustment. With the click of a button, the picture reverted to a negative image. Suddenly, the once black specks now glowed white against a dark background.

He looked at Cobb. ‘Does that help?’

‘Are those supposed to be stars?’

‘Better than that. You’re looking at a star
map
.’

‘Great,’ Sarah joked, ‘the tomb’s in space.’

‘No,’ Manjani assured her, ‘the tomb is on Earth. The map above will give us a location below. All we need is an archaeoastronomer to read it for us.’

‘An archaeo-what?’

‘An archaeoastronomer is an expert in archaeological astronomy.’

‘You’re making that up.’

‘I swear, it’s a legitimate field! For instance, they would be able to tell you how the position of the sun influenced the placement of the megaliths at Stonehenge, or why the plumed serpent magically appears in Chichen Itza during the equinox.’

Cobb groaned at the thought of an
additional
expert on his team, particularly one in such a limited field. ‘Let me see if I got this straight: based on the position of the stars in the sky, an archaeoastronomer will be able to use advanced math to give us a specific location on the ground. Is that what you’re saying?’

Manjani nodded. ‘That’s correct.’

‘Couldn’t a regular astronomer do that, or even a computer whiz?’

‘Theoretically, yes, if they had the right software to chart the sky.’

Sarah laughed. ‘In that case, we’re good to go. We have a nerd on staff.’