The Cult of Osiris

out they didn’t give us all of them.’

An image appeared on the screen. Nina looked more closely, seeing what appeared to be ancient Egyptian papyruses, though the hieroglyphics were too small to read on the LCD display. ‘Are these the pages?’

Macy pointed at the three leftmost pages. ‘These three are. But this one,’ she tapped the one on the right, ‘is something nobody’s seen before. Not at the IHA, anyway. The first three pages talk about what the Hall of Records is and how to find it. This one says what’s actually in it.’

Nina regarded her dubiously. ‘And what is in it?’

‘A map that tells you how to find the Pyramid of Osiris.’

‘What?’ Only the memory of having been at the other end of a similar discussion, trying to convince others of the truth of a legend, stopped Nina from letting out a dismissive laugh. ‘The Pyramid of Osiris? That’s barely even a myth - it’s more like a fairy tale. You could count all the references to it in known ancient Egyptian texts on one hand, and even then it’s only mentioned in connection with the mythology of their gods. It’s not real.’

‘Well, I didn’t think so either,’ said Macy, bristling, ‘but somebody does. Somebody who’s going to dig into the Hall of Records before the IHA and steal the map.’

Now Nina did laugh. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. Someone’s digging under the Sphinx at the same time as the IHA? In the middle of the busiest tourist attraction in the entire country, and nobody notices?’

‘It’s true!’ Macy protested. ‘They’ve dug a shaft at the north end of the Sphinx compound - I saw it!’ She flicked through the images on the camera. ‘I took a picture of the plans, look!’

Nina gave it only a cursory glance. ‘There’s no way they could do that without attracting attention. They’d be arrested the moment they stuck their shovel into the ground.’

‘No, the people in charge, they’re in on it! Gamal, the head of security, and Dr Hamdi - look, see?’ Another picture, this one a blown-out closeup of a man’s startled face. ‘They’re both working for a guy from the Osirian Temple!’

Nina kneaded her forehead. ‘Why are you telling me this? If you really did uncover some conspiracy to rob the site, why didn’t you just tell Dr Berkeley? Or the Egyptian police?’

‘I didn’t know who I could trust. Dr Berkeley might have been in on it too.’

‘Logan Berkeley’s many things,’ said Nina drily, ‘but I don’t think he’s a crook.’

‘He didn’t believe me, anyway. He already had some problem with me, I don’t know why. He’s kind of a jerk.’

Nina couldn’t help a sardonic smile; that was certainly one of the ‘many things’. ‘The police, then. The Egyptians take artefact theft very seriously.’

‘I couldn’t go to the police.’

‘Why not?’

‘They kinda . . . wanted to arrest me. They think I stole a piece of the Sphinx and hit Dr Hamdi.’

‘What?’

‘I didn’t!’ Macy reconsidered that. ‘Okay, I did hit Dr Hamdi . . .’

Nina stood. ‘I think I’ve heard enough.’

‘No, wait, please!’ Macy jumped up; across the room, Joey half rose, watching Nina suspiciously. ‘Look, they chased me, they were going to kill me! I had to get out of Egypt.’

‘So why come to me? Why didn’t you tell the IHA?’

‘Because they wouldn’t listen; they thought I was a thief. I came to you because . . .’ Her expression crumbled to downcast disappointment. ‘Because I really thought you’d believe me.’

Despite herself, Nina felt a pang of sympathy for the young woman. Whether she was paranoid or just the victim of a hyperactive imagination, Macy had still gone through a lot to meet her ‘hero’ - only for the meeting to fall short of her hopes. ‘Look,’ she said, more quietly, ‘right now I don’t exactly have the highest opinion of the IHA, but that doesn’t mean they won’t listen to you. Okay? There aren’t bad guys hiding round every corner - you can go to them and tell them your side of the story.’

‘I . . . suppose,’ said Macy unhappily.

‘You don’t have to do anything right now.’ Nina glanced at Joey, who had relaxed. ‘Go home with your friend, sleep on it, then call the IHA in the morning. I promise, it’ll be okay.’

Macy didn’t appear convinced, but she nodded reluctantly, then moved to meet Joey near the door.

Nina sat again, deciding to wait for them to go before leaving herself. The meeting certainly hadn’t been what she expected, but at least it had been different, a break from blankly vegging out in front of the TV.

Though that was all she had to look forward to when she got back to the apartment. Eddie probably wouldn’t finish work for hours. She sighed.

Macy and Joey turned to go. The door opened before they reached it.

And Macy shrieked.

Nina looked up in surprise. In the doorway was a greasy-looking man in a snakeskin jacket, his straggly goatee twisting as he leered at the young woman.

Macy jerked back. ‘That’s him! He’s one of them!’

‘Hi again, li’l girl,’ said the man, his grin widening unpleasantly as he advanced. Jaw set, Joey stepped in front of him—

And crumpled to the floor, doubled over as the man smashed a punch - and a set of brass knuckles - into his stomach.

The other customers reacted in shock. The man stepped over Joey as Macy fled past Nina to the back of the room.

He followed—

‘Hey!’

He turned towards Nina’s shout - and she flung Macy’s untouched cappuccino into his face. The cup hit his jaw, foaming coffee splashing everywhere.

She kicked a chair at him as he lurched back. ‘Macy! Run!’

4

Macy shoved past a waitress to a door behind the counter, hesitating as she looked back at the moaning Joey. ‘Don’t stop!’ Nina ordered as she ran after her. Macy went through the door. Nina followed. The manager moved to bar her way, but flinched back at her shout of, ‘Not me, him! Call the cops!’

The man in the snakeskin jacket hurled the chair aside. She slammed the door, seeing several large boxes full of bags of coffee beans on shelves. A pull, and a box slammed to the floor.

Macy reached a fire door, barging through it into an alley—

A thick arm lashed out, clotheslining her to the ground.

Snakeskin had set a trap, an associate lying in wait outside.

Another shelf held several hefty Pyrex coffee pots. Nina snatched one up and ran for the fire exit. The door behind her was kicked open. The box crumpled - but the beans inside it absorbed the impact, stopping the door from opening wide enough to get through.

Nina reached the fire exit. Macy lay dazed on her back outside, a doughy, shaven-headed man bending down to grab her—

The coffee pot hit the top of his head with a flat clonk. He let out a surprised grunt of pain, stumbling back. Nina swung the pot again. This time it shattered against his skull, chunky fragments bursting outwards like hailstones. The man fell against a dumpster. Nina reached out to Macy. ‘Come on, get up!’

Pain and fear momentarily replaced by wide-eyed wonder, Macy gazed up at her before grasping her hands. ‘Oh - oh, my God! That was amazing!’

‘You should see me with a teapot. Come on!’ Nina pulled her up, jumping over the bald guy as they ran down the alley.

‘How did he find me?’ Macy cried. ‘I didn’t tell anyone where I was, not even my parents! How’d they know I was in New York?’

‘You told Lola,’ Nina realised. ‘She must have told someone at the IHA, they told Berkeley, he told - whoever those guys work for.’ They reached the street.

‘But how did they know I was meeting you?’