The Cult of Osiris

his life a few times now, so we call it square.’

‘Cool,’ said Macy, now even more impressed by Nina’s husband. ‘So . . . does he have a younger brother or something?’

Eddie came back. ‘Don’t know how long they’ll be knocked out,’ he said, ‘but I think we need to do this pretty sharpish anyway.’

‘Definitely,’ Nina agreed. She went to the tent, listening for any indication of life inside before opening the flap. It was empty - but as Macy had described, there was a wooden cubicle occupying one end.

‘Crap,’ Macy muttered, finding only an empty table at the other. ‘This is where the plans were, but they’ve taken them!’ She looked back. ‘One of those guys carrying that box was Gamal, the security chief. Maybe they’ve almost finished - what if we’re too late?’

‘Let’s find out.’ Nina opened the cubicle door.

Macy had been right: there was indeed a shaft descending into the plateau. The sound of a generator came from somewhere below . . . as did another, more distant noise, the screech of a power tool. She went to the ladder, but before climbing on to it she tied her hair into a ponytail.

‘She’s back, baby, yeah!’ said Eddie, grinning. Macy smiled too, touching her own matching hairstyle as Nina started down the ladder.

7

The shaft descended over twenty feet to a gently sloping, stone-walled tunnel. Nina checked that nobody was waiting at the bottom before dropping down. The way north was blocked by compacted sand, but to the south had been dug out to re-open a passage not used for thousands of years. Light bulbs were hung from the ceiling every fifteen feet, stretching off into the distance.

Towards the Sphinx.

The blueprint Macy had shown her was accurate. The Hall of Records had two entrances - the one on the east side that the IHA team would shortly open, and another to the north, reserved for royalty. Only the conspirators of the Osirian Temple knew about the latter . . . and Berkeley hadn’t looked for any other ways in. With a deadline to meet and his eyes filled with stars, he had rushed straight for the obvious target, not even considering that there might be another.

It was a mistake that could cost dearly.

Eddie jumped down beside her. He sniffed. ‘Smells like they’re cutting stone.’

Nina picked up a faint burning odour. ‘That’s what that is?’

‘Yeah. I had a summer job at a monumental mason’s once - they used power saws to cut the gravestones. Smelled like that.’

‘You used to make gravestones? I learn something new about you every day.’

He smiled. ‘Man of mystery, love.’

Macy hopped from the ladder, looking round in wonder. ‘Oh, my God. This is awesome!’ She rubbed the sand coating one wall to reveal darker stone beneath. ‘Pink granite - probably from Aswan. This is definitely a royals-only way in. It was too expensive for anyone else.’

‘You know your stuff,’ said Eddie.

‘Of course I do!’ Then, more self-conscious: ‘The Egyptian stuff, anyway. I’m not as hot on the rest . . . Can we get going now?’

‘Behind me,’ Eddie said firmly, moving in front of her. ‘We don’t know what’s down here.’

They discovered one thing about two-thirds of the way down the tunnel - a petrol-powered generator, its exhaust hose leading back to the surface. Just past it, the passage showed signs of major damage: the ceiling was propped up by hefty wooden beams.

‘Looks about to cave in,’ said Eddie, passing warily beneath them.

Nina looked more closely. ‘Maybe it already did - looks like they had to rebuild the roof to get through. They must have been working here for weeks - what are you doing?’

Macy raised her camera. ‘Getting proof of everything.’

‘You can’t use the flash in here, they might see it!’

‘I know that, duh! I’m recording a video.’ She fiddled with the controls, then filmed the ceiling. Eddie and Nina moved on. ‘Hey, wait!’

Eddie approached the end of the passage. Sand-crusted pillars, ornate carvings discernible beneath the grit, marked the entrance to a chamber. The echoing grind of the power tool was louder here.

He peered into the room. The ceiling bulbs were replaced by banks of brilliant lights mounted on heavy-duty tripods, illuminating the western half of a large rectangular chamber. There was nobody in sight, but the noise was coming from beyond an opening in the west wall, where more lights were visible. He entered, signalling for Nina and Macy to follow.

Nina could barely contain her amazement. ‘My God,’ she whispered, taking in the two rows of hieroglyph- covered cylindrical pillars running along the room’s length, the further symbols on the walls, the ranks of niches containing lidded clay containers to protect the papyrus scrolls inside . . .

The Hall of Records. Until recently, believed to be nothing more than a myth - but now very real. And she was one of the first people to enter it in millennia.

Not the first, though. The modern artefacts amongst the ancient were proof enough of that. A large block was propped up on wheeled jacks by the entrance - the stone that had once sealed it, ready to be moved back into place once the robbers were done. The floor was covered in dust, numerous bootprints passing to and fro through the room.

‘Ay up,’ said Eddie, spotting a familiar item of clothing draped over a workbench near the entrance. ‘I recognise that.’

‘So do I,’ said Nina, seeing the snakeskin jacket. She looked past it into the shadows of the chamber’s eastern end. On the far wall, more pillars marked another entrance: the one through which Berkeley and his team would enter.

Macy, meanwhile, went to the other end of the room, passing a chugging compressor and an electrical junction box. Power cables and a hose ran from them into the short passage to the next chamber. She was about to go through when Eddie waved her back. ‘Over here.’ He went to a darkened opening directly opposite the royal entrance.

Nina joined him, noticing that there were almost no footprints outside the area between the entrance and the next illuminated chamber. The robbers were only interested in one specific part of the Hall of Records, completely ignoring the rest. ‘What’s in there?’

‘Egyptian stuff.’ She made a sarcastic face. ‘But I think it goes round and joins back up. I can see some light at the far end.’ He took out a small penlight and swept its beam across the new room. Though smaller than the chamber in which they stood, it contained just as much ancient knowledge. This room had sustained damage, however, possibly from an earthquake; one pillar had partly collapsed, leaving large chunks lying on the floor.

Eddie moved inside. Nina followed, Macy behind her, camera in hand. A rectangle of dim light in the west wall marked the entrance to a fourth chamber; crossing to it, they saw the back of another lighting rig in the exit at its northwestern corner. They entered the new chamber and crept along the wall to the lights, which illuminated a flight of steps.

Nina looked round the tripod. The broad stone stairs led upwards - into, she realised with a thrill, the body of the Sphinx itself. The room at the top had been carved directly out of the heart of the great statue.

And over the sound of the power tools she heard voices.

‘What’re you doing?’ Eddie demanded as she tried to push past him.

‘I want to see what’s up there.’

‘Yeah, and they’ll see you!’

‘No, they won’t - there’ll be too much glare from these lights.’ He frowned, but backed up.

The chamber Macy had almost entered earlier was across the bottom of the stairs, more light stands within. The trail of dusty footprints ran from it up the steps. Nina leaned out to see what was at the top - and felt another adrenalin shot of discovery.

Mixed with fear.

Several figures were visible in the upper chamber, and even without his snakeskin jacket she recognised the