Who had killed her parents,
Tears blurred her vision. She blinked them away, feeling them turn cold as they ran down her cheeks. Qobras swam back into sharp focus, still regarding her icily.
Her finger tightened on the trigger. The pistol’s hammer drew back slowly, only the tiniest amount of extra pressure needed to fire…
Then it stopped.
Eyes brimming with tears once more, Nina stepped back, lowering the weapon.
“I don’t know who you think I am,” she whispered, “but you’re
To her surprise, Frost’s tone was light. “Well of course you can’t!” he exclaimed, taking the pistol back. “I didn’t think you could. But just in case you surprised me… it’s not even loaded.”
“What do you…” Nina gaped. “You were
“I’m sorry. But I wanted to be sure of the kind of person you really are.”
Kari hurried over to Nina, standing almost defensively between her and Frost. “You had no right to do that to her! How could you not trust my judgment?”
“I’m sorry,” he repeated. “As I said, I wanted to be sure.”
The screech of the saw ceased abruptly. A moment later came a heavy bang as the section cut out of the wall fell to the ground.
“Watch them,” Frost ordered his men of the prisoners, before crossing to the wall and peering through the new gap. He took a flashlight from the blond man, then clambered through the narrow hole and looked back at Kari and Nina. “Come on.”
Sharing a look, the two women slipped through after him. Chase followed without being asked, which Nina noticed earned him a somewhat irritated frown from Frost. Schenk then entered, the blond man moving in front of the hole as if guarding it.
Frost hurried up the steps into the temple. By the time Nina caught up, he was already examining the lid of the king’s sarcophagus, probing for gaps. “Help me with this,” he ordered. Schenk pushed past her, wielding a crowbar. Chase joined them to heave at the top of the sarcophagus.
The three men strained, Schenk pulling down on the crowbar with all his weight. The lid shifted slightly.
“Come on, you bugger!” Chase groaned. “One, two,
They all strained again-and this time the lid lifted enough for them to slide it aside. Another push and the interior of the coffin was exposed; a third, and the stone slab crashed to the floor of the temple and broke in two. Nina winced at the destruction.
Frost picked up his flashlight and leaned eagerly over the side of the sarcophagus. “My God, look at it!”
Nina and Kari joined him. Nina felt an involuntary flash of fear at the sight, a literal face of death staring up at her like a refugee from a nightmare. The body inside the sarcophagus, sealed in the stone container for thousands of years, was blackened and shriveled, the remains of the long-rotted lips twisted back into a malevolent sneer around jutting teeth.
“Hello, mummy,” Chase whispered, grinning. Nina jabbed him with her elbow.
Frost examined the corpse more closely. “The last king of the Atlanteans… still intact.” He took a small pouch from his coat and removed a needlelike probe from it, poking carefully at the wizened skin. “Open the other one, quickly,” he told Schenk and Chase.
“What’s the rush?” asked Chase. “It’s not like they’re going anywhere.”
“Just do it,” Frost snapped. He switched the probe to his other hand, taking a scalpel from the pouch and bending down over the dead king’s face like a surgeon about to operate.
“What are you doing?” Nina asked, concerned. “This isn’t anything like standard practice.”
“I need to get a DNA sample,” said Frost, as if that explained everything. The faint scrape of the scalpel cutting through the mummified flesh was drowned out by the crunch of stone against stone as Chase and Schenk lifted the lid of the other sarcophagus.
“But really, we should…” Nina cringed again as the second lid slammed to the ground. She went to look inside while Frost was still engrossed with the first corpse, teasing a piece of the king’s curled lips into a plastic container.
Queen Calea was in much the same state as her husband, only the tattered remains of the clothing providing any immediate indication that the body was that of a woman. “It’s Camilla Parker-Bowles!” Chase exclaimed jovially as he peered into the sarcophagus.
“Will you shut up?” Nina demanded.
“Kari,” said Frost, not looking up from his “operation,” “I think it might be safer if you took Nina back to the helicopter.”
Kari looked puzzled. “Safer? I’m sure Josef’s men can keep Qobras’s people under control.”
“I want to be sure. Go on, Kari.”
“But there’s still so much to do. We haven’t even started to explore the other temples yet,” Nina objected.
“Once the site is secured, we can return to it at any time. This was a rescue mission, not an archaeological survey-we don’t have any of the necessary equipment.”
“Except for your surgical kit, apparently…”
Frost fixed her with a stern look. “I’m not prepared to argue about this. Kari, you told me her safety was your first concern. You can make sure she stays safe by taking her back to the helicopter. Go.”
Kari seemed about to object, but then gave in. “Yes, Far,” she said. “Come on, Nina.”
“What about Qobras?” Nina asked dubiously.
“We’ll turn him and his men over to the Chinese authorities,” said Frost, snapping his sample container closed and moving to the second sarcophagus. “He committed murder on their territory, they can handle him.”
“Might be hard to prove after all this time,” said Chase. “And I thought you said he was above the law.”
“I have some influence with the Chinese.” Frost looked up at Kari and Nina. “Please, go to the helicopter. I’ll take care of things here.”
“Okay…” said Kari with a little reluctance, taking Nina’s hand. Considerably more reluctantly, Nina allowed herself to be led out of the temple. Chase waved at her. She returned the gesture.
“He’s right,” said Kari. “It’s safer, at least until we can secure the site.”
“You don’t sound convinced,” Nina observed.
“I’m… disappointed,” she admitted. “I wanted to explore this place as much as you do. But…” She looked at the black-clad guards around the prisoners. “Father’s right, it’s not safe.”
She told two of Frost’s men to escort her and Nina back to the helicopter, and they began the trek out of the vast cavern.
“Got it,” said Frost, closing a second plastic container. He carefully placed it next to its twin in the pouch, then slipped it back inside his coat. “That’s it. Everything I came for.”
“I thought you came here to rescue Nina?” Chase said pointedly. Frost ignored him, leaving the temple. Schenk went with him. Chase made a face, then jogged down the steps after them.
He clambered through the hole and took in the scene. Nina and Kari had gone, but Qobras and his surviving companions were still on their knees surrounded by guards. Frost and Schenk were talking quietly.
He decided to check the bomb again. Its timer was paused at just over five minutes to detonation. “Shouldn’t we disarm this thing?” he called to Frost.
“It will be fine for the moment, Mr. Chase,” Frost replied, before resuming his muted conversation.
Chase shrugged, then walked over to the prisoners. He stood before the kneeling Starkman, who still had his hands behind his head. “So, Jason. Now that we can actually have a proper chat, you mind telling me why you betrayed your mates and joined up with this twat?” He jabbed a thumb at Qobras.
“Because he’s the good guy, Eddie,” said Starkman, his eye glittering in the flashlight’s beam.
“Murdering innocent people, blowing stuff up, sinking ships-yeah, he sounds like a right Samaritan to me.”
“It’s for the greater good, believe me. You know me-”
