through the document, text skimming across the screen faster than Ben could read it. ‘Nothing new here so far,’ Kirby muttered. ‘This is all stuff we already know.’ He took his finger off the key and an image froze on the screen. Ben peered at it. It looked like some ancient document, covered in old script that meant nothing to him.
‘This is a high-resolution scan of the Wenkaura papyrus,’ Kirby said. ‘You can see how aged some of the inscriptions are. We had a hell of a time deciphering it.’ He gazed at it for a moment longer, and went on scrolling down, staring hard at the screen.
Ben moved away from the desk, parted the blinds with his fingers and glanced cautiously out of the window. The street below was deserted.
Kirby clicked his tongue, shook his head. ‘All this stuff is exactly what I already have. There’s nothing new. What I want is to see if Morgan added anything at the bottom. That last entry could be-’
He broke off mid-sentence, craned his neck forward. ‘Oh, shit.’
‘What?’ Ben asked, stepping back to the desk.
‘I don’t fucking believe it.’
‘What?’
Kirby looked up from the screen. ‘Sahure,’ he breathed. ‘Sahure. Of course. What an idiot I was, not to get that.’
‘Sahure?’ Ben echoed.
‘So you didn’t learn about him in Bible class?’
‘Theology. And no, I didn’t.’
Kirby was giggling to himself, clenching his fist in triumph. ‘Morgan, you were a frigging genius.’
‘Are you going to explain this to me, or do I have to beat it out of you?’ Ben resisted the urge to grab Kirby’s throat and drag him across the desk.
Kirby stopped giggling, and looked serious. He tapped the screen. ‘Look here. The final entry, right at the bottom. Morgan worked it out. It’s the first clue.’ He smirked.
‘Explain.’
‘You remember that the clue was the tomb of “He who is close to Re”?’ Kirby said. ‘Well, get this. “He who is close to Re” is the literal meaning of the ancient Egyptian name, Sahure. And Sahure was the second ruler of Egypt’s Fifth Dynasty. He reigned from 2487 to 2475 BC and is buried at the pyramid complex at Abusir, just south of Cairo on the edge of the desert. Which means we know for sure that’s where Morgan found the second clue.’
‘Do we?’
Kirby’s eyes twinkled. ‘Absolutely.’ He prodded the screen enthusiastically. ‘And it gets even better two lines lower down. Morgan’s added to his notes that he also found out that Sahure was a distant ancestor of Wenkaura. And the High Priest Sanep, to whom the papyrus was intended to be delivered, would have known that about his former master. He would have picked up on the clue right away. See how perfect it is? There’s no doubt whatsoever that we’re on the right track.’
Ben nodded. ‘OK. It sounds plausible.’
‘Happy you met me?’
‘I can barely contain my joy.’
Kirby’s smirk widened into a grin. ‘What a team. The brain and the brawn. An intellectual genius and a soldier boy. We’re going to find the treasure in no time.’
Ben looked at him. ‘Hold on. Were going to find the treasure?’
Kirby nodded. ‘You and me. You don’t think I’m not coming along, do you?’
‘Not a chance,’ Ben said.
Kirby looked crestfallen. ‘Why?’
‘Lots of reasons. The main one being that it’s dangerous.’
‘Seems to me it’s pretty damned dangerous if I stay here,’ Kirby protested, flushing bright red. Apparently my life just went up in smoke. I can’t go home any more.’
‘So you want to team up with me.’
‘You’re a soldier. I’ve seen what you can do. You’re exactly the kind of person Morgan and I could have done with sooner. I need you, and you need me. It’s perfect.’
Ben shook his head. ‘I’m not going to nanny you all the way round Egypt. I’m going to do this my way. Alone.’
‘Really? Can you read hieroglyphics? Decipher clues that are thousands of years old? Because if you can, I’ll be impressed.’
Ben didn’t reply.
‘Here’s the bottom line,’ Kirby said. ‘If you want to find the heretic’s treasure, you bring me along. Let’s face it. Alone, you’ve got no chance.’
‘Say we find this thing together. I can’t let you have it. I told you, I need it.’
‘I’ll settle for academic stardom,’ Kirby said. ‘And maybe a trinket or two, so I can prove to my esteemed cretinous peers that they were dead wrong and Morgan and I were the superior scholars. That’s all I want. I’ll tell the boffins that the tomb robbers got there first. That’ll rub it in even more. Come on. You know it makes sense.’
‘What about your passport? We’re not going back to the house for your things.’
Kirby smiled. ‘No need for that. I keep all my important personal documents right here in my office.’ He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at a lockable steel filing cabinet behind the desk. ‘Including my passport. It’s the only place I wouldn’t lose them. That big old house just swallows things up.’
Ben was quiet for a long moment. Thirty seconds went by, then a full minute. Then he made a decision. ‘All right, Kirby. You can come with me to Egypt. We’ll head back south to Edinburgh and see if we can catch a late flight that’ll get us into Cairo by morning.’
‘Now you’re talking,’ Kirby said.
‘But when we get there, you’ll do as I say. You’ll give me no trouble, won’t slow me down. I’m going to move hard and fast. One peep out of you, get under my feet just once, and you’ll be on the first plane back.’
Kirby beamed. ‘You won’t even know I’m there.’
Chapter Forty-One
Dawn was breaking over the Mediterranean as Ben reclined in the business-class armchair, sipped on an espresso and watched the sunrise from above the clouds. They’d been lucky to grab the last-minute seats on the night flight. It would be early morning in Cairo when they landed.
He felt weak with fatigue. His eyes were burning, his head was throbbing with worry and lack of sleep, and his heart palpitated every time he thought of Zara and what was happening to her. But he knew he had to keep moving forwards, stay alert and see this thing through to the end. He couldn’t even begin to contemplate what would happen if he failed.
At his left elbow, Kirby was awake, sitting with earphones on and watching the in-flight movie. Every so often his podgy hand would dip into the packet of potato crisps he was eating for breakfast, and he would jam a pile of them in his mouth and chew loudly.
Ben gazed back out of the window and took another sip of the hot coffee. He could only hope he was doing the right thing. He wondered again where Zara was, and how she was. He remembered their time together in Paris. Then his thoughts drifted off into darkness, and the nightmare image of the three severed heads of Valentine, Wolff and Harrison came flashing back to him. He thought for a long time about what he was going to do to Harry Paxton when this was over. So much had changed, so fast.
Finally his exhaustion caught up with him, and he gave in to sleep. His dreams were unsettled and frightening. He was roused from them by the sound of Kirby’s voice asking him something.
‘What?’ he said sleepily.
‘I said, how long were you a soldier?’
‘You woke me up to ask me that? Long enough.’
