The Cult of Osiris

really want to make sure you don’t tell anyone about it.’

‘So what do we do?’ Macy asked.

‘We tell someone about it,’ said Eddie. ‘Duh.’

She pouted. ‘I tried. Nobody in Egypt would listen to me. When I phoned Dr Berkeley, he just told me to turn myself in to the police.’

‘How did you get out of Egypt if the police were looking for you?’ asked Nina.

‘Through Jordan. I heard him,’ she indicated Shaban, ‘say to watch the airports, so I couldn’t get out that way. But I had my passport and some money with me, so once I got back into Cairo I took a bus to this little town out on the east coast, and persuaded some guy to take me across to Jordan in his boat. Then I got another bus to Amman, flew back to America, and here I am!’

Macy was more resourceful than she seemed, Nina decided. Even Eddie appeared mildly impressed that she had evaded the authorities. ‘And then, out of everybody you could have turned to, you came to me.’

‘Because I knew you could help. And you did. If you hadn’t saved me, that guy would have killed me. So, thanks!’

‘Not a problem,’ Nina replied. Eddie grunted sarcastically. ‘But now you’re safe—’

‘I hope,’ Macy cut in, glancing warily at the door.

‘I think that after last night’s little debacle, the bad guys will be trying to get as far away from New York as possible. But since you’re hopefully safe, and we’ve got the pictures, we can tell the IHA what’s happened.’ She gave Eddie an uncertain look. ‘That’s assuming Maureen Rothschild will even speak to me.’

Persuading Lola to ask Rothschild if she would take a call from Nina was easy. Actually getting Rothschild to answer proved harder. It took three attempts, Nina telling Lola to relay increasingly hyperbolic pleas before the older woman finally, and resentfully, picked up.

‘Well, this should be interesting, Nina,’ she snapped. ‘After last night, I’m surprised you’re not calling me from prison. From what I saw on the news, there were two dead, several injured, a colossal amount of property damage and half the city thrown into chaos. Just another day for you, isn’t it?’

Nina held back an acidic reply, forcing herself to remain diplomatic. ‘Maureen, this is very important. It’s about the dig at the Sphinx.’

‘What about it?’

‘Someone’s trying to rob the Hall of Records before Logan can open it.’

There was a brief silence before Rothschild’s disbelieving, explosive, ‘What?’

‘The Osirian Temple - they’re behind it. They used a fourth page of the Gaza scrolls that they didn’t give to the IHA to locate a second entrance. They’re digging into it right now.’

Another pause. Then, to Nina’s anger, a mocking laugh. ‘Thank you, Nina, for confirming my theory - you have gone completely insane. I thought claiming to discover the Garden of Eden was outrageous enough, but this? Why would the Osirian Temple carry out a second dig when they’re already helping pay for the first one?’

‘Maybe you should ask them,’ Nina growled. ‘But I’ve got a picture right here of the fourth scroll, as well as a plan of the tunnel.’

‘And where did you get these pictures? One of those websites that claims there are flying saucers recorded in Egyptian hieroglyphics?’

‘No, from Macy Sharif.’

‘Macy Sharif? You mean the intern?’

‘That’s right.’

‘The intern who’s wanted by the Egyptian police for assault and antiquities theft?’

Nina glanced at Macy, who was watching anxiously. ‘I think she was framed. Everything that happened last night was because they were trying to kill her, so she couldn’t tell anyone what she’d discovered.’

Rothschild’s voice turned cold. ‘Nina, I really do not have the time to listen to paranoid conspiracy theories. Don’t call me again.’

‘At least look at the pictures. I’ll send them to you—’

‘Don’t bother.’ She hung up.

‘God damn it,’ Nina muttered. She emailed the pictures anyway, then called Lola once more.

‘I’m guessing it didn’t go well,’ said Lola. ‘Professor Rothschild just told me never to put you through to her again.’

‘Yeah, I thought she might. Listen, I just sent her an email with some photos attached - she’ll probably delete it without even looking, but I’m going to send it to you as well. Can you print them out and put them in her in-tray or something? It’s really important that she at least looks at them.’

‘I’ll see what I can do. Hey, did you see what happened in Times Square last night?’

‘I might have heard something,’ said Nina, deadpan. ‘Bye, Lola.’ She sent a second copy of the email to Lola, then slumped in her chair. ‘God, this is so frustrating! If I’d still been at the IHA I could have had someone check it out in five minutes.’

‘There’s got to be something else you can do,’ Macy protested. ‘If these guys get their hands on the zodiac, they’ll work out how to find the Pyramid of Osiris and go rob it - and nobody else will ever know that they’ve done it. The whole place’ll be lost for ever! Is that what you want?’

‘Of course it’s not what I want,’ Nina snapped. ‘But there’s not really much I can do about it, is there? Unless we actually go to Egypt and catch them red-handed . . .’ She tailed off.

Eddie recognised her look. ‘No,’ he said in a warning tone.

‘We could go to Egypt.’

‘No, we couldn’t.’

‘Yes, we could.’

‘We don’t have visas.’

‘Our UN visas are still valid.’

‘We’ve got no bloody money!’

‘We’ve got credit cards.’

‘That are almost maxed out!’

‘I’ve got a credit card,’ offered Macy. ‘I’ll pay.’

Nina gave the nineteen year old an incredulous look. ‘Are you serious?’

‘Sure! I’ve got tons of credit.’

‘Must be nice,’ Eddie muttered.

Nina was still dubious. ‘I don’t know how much it costs to fly to Egypt, but I’m pretty sure it’s not cheap. We can cover it ourselves.’

He made a face. ‘If we sell a kidney or two.’

‘It’s not a problem, I can afford it,’ said Macy. ‘Well, my mom and dad can, but same diff. My dad’s a plastic surgeon and my mom’s a psychiatrist, they’re really rich. They pay for all my stuff anyway.’

‘Wait a minute,’ said Nina. ‘Macy, have you actually told your parents about any of this?’

She looked sheepish. ‘Ah, that would be no. They don’t even know I’m back in the country.’

Nina was horrified. ‘Oh, my God! How could you not tell them?’

‘I was trying to protect them! That scar-faced guy said he was going to send people to watch our house and tap the phones, so they could find me. If Mom and Dad didn’t know anything was wrong, they wouldn’t get worried, and they couldn’t give me away.’

‘Well, they’ll know something’s wrong now,’ Nina told her. ‘Even if the IHA didn’t contact them after you got in trouble - which I’m pretty sure they would have done - I had to tell the police about meeting you last night. They’ll have got your parents’ details from the IHA, and called them.’

Macy went pale. ‘Oh. I . . . didn’t think of that.’

Nina indicated the phone. ‘Call them, right now. Let them know you’re okay.’

She picked it up and dialled. ‘Mom, hi! Mom? Mom, calm down - I’m okay, I’m fine. Yes, I’m okay, really! Oh,