The Cult of Osiris

In the entrance chamber, Shaban looked round sharply at the noise. ‘Broma?’ he called. No reply. He gestured to Lorenz. ‘Check it.’ Lorenz grabbed a pickaxe and hurried to investigate.

Nina jumped up. ‘Come on,’ said Eddie, grabbing Macy’s hand and quickly following Nina to the other doorway.

Lorenz entered the room, seeing Broma’s fallen torch - and the body slumped beside it. He looked round in alarm, spotting fleeing silhouettes in the faint rectangle of light across the room. ‘Hey!’

‘Shit!’ Nina gasped. She raced through the next darkened room, passing the light stand and glancing up the stairs. Nobody in the zodiac chamber, but there was no way out either. Instead she ran into the last room, a smaller repository of records with four supporting pillars lit by two more light stands. An opening in the east wall led back into the entrance chamber.

Through it, she saw Gamal running towards her with a hammer in one hand. Backing up, she almost collided with Eddie at the bottom of the stairs. ‘This way’s blocked!’

‘So’s that way!’ Macy cried, pointing behind her as Lorenz charged after them.

‘Up!’ Eddie yelled, taking the steps three at a time. Nina and Macy dashed after him.

Gamal and Lorenz reached the bottom of the stairs simultaneously, rushing up them to catch their cornered prey . . .

Only to run back down even faster as a screaming Eddie pursued them, the circular saw shrilling in his hands. ‘Come on, you fuck-sticks! ’ he bellowed as he chased them into the illuminated room. ‘Who wants some?’

Gamal clearly didn’t, sprinting back into the entrance chamber, but Lorenz turned to face him. He swung the pickaxe, trying to smash the saw from Eddie’s grip. Eddie jerked back - and another swipe brought the sharp point alarmingly close to his head. ‘Whoa!’

The spinning blade was producing a gyroscopic effect, making the bulky and heavy saw even more awkward to wield. Sweeping its trailing power cable out from under his feet, Eddie hefted it, watching Lorenz’s movements closely as the two men circled. He would have to be fast.

Lorenz lunged—

Eddie twisted away from the metal spike - and jerked the saw upwards. There was a brief skzzt! as the blade sliced effortlessly through the pickaxe handle, the head flying across the room. He grunted, annoyed. He’d been aiming for Lorenz’s hands.

It had the desired effect, though. Lorenz dropped the handle’s stump and rapidly retreated into the entrance chamber. Eddie glanced back at Macy and Nina. ‘Think I’ve got this under control!’ he shouted over the noise of the whirling saw. ‘You two get ready to run, I’ll - oh, shit!’

Through the passage he saw Diamondback at the workbench, donning his snakeskin jacket and drawing a revolver from inside it - but the more immediate danger was Gamal, running back past Lorenz with the chainsaw in his hands!

8

Eddie scuttled backwards as Gamal ran into the room, his weapon’s cable whipping behind him. The chainsaw was smaller and lighter than the circular saw - and its blade was much longer. ‘Go round the other way!’ he shouted to the women, only to realise they had separated. Nina was at the doorway to the stairs, but Macy had jumped the gun and was halfway round the room before she froze as she saw the new threat. Eddie was now between them - and with Gamal coming straight for him, Macy was cut off.

Gamal thrust the chainsaw at Eddie’s stomach. He swung his clumsy weapon downwards to protect himself, and the two blades clashed against each other. The circular saw was almost wrenched from Eddie’s hands as the edge of his blade momentarily caught in the chainsaw’s teeth, spinning metal coming perilously close to his leg. With a strained roar, he hauled the saw back up - as Gamal stabbed at him again.

Sparks sprayed as Eddie’s weapon rasped along the chainsaw’s flat blade before snagging in its teeth once more. The jarring impact knocked him backwards, and he almost tripped over the jack’s air hose. Gamal advanced.

Lorenz re-entered the chamber. He saw Macy trapped in the corner and moved towards her, fists raised. ‘Uh, little help?’ she cried.

Nina was about to try to reach her when she saw Diamondback running towards the room, gun raised. She dived back to the foot of the stairs as a bullet shattered a scroll container.

Macy backed towards the light stand as Lorenz closed in. Eddie moved to interpose himself, but if he tried to attack Lorenz, Gamal would be able to get a clear strike with the chainsaw.

The hose—

He swung the saw - not at Lorenz, but at the floor, slicing through the air line. There was a ringing shrill as his blade carved a groove into the stone, but it was nothing compared to the earsplitting hiss as compressed air surged from the hose’s severed end, sending it whipping insanely about the chamber.

It lashed Lorenz, opening a deep cut in his cheek as it struck him and blasted gritty air into his eyes. He screamed, staggering blindly away from Macy - to smack head first into a pillar. He dropped to his knees, groaning.

Gamal backed away from the demented hose - blocking Diamondback’s aim. ‘Turn off the compressor!’ the Egyptian shouted.

‘Go round, get out!’ Eddie told Nina, gesturing for her to escape through the darkened chambers.

‘Not without you!’

‘I’ll catch up, just go!’

The writhing hose abruptly died, slapping lifelessly to the floor. Diamondback had shut down the compressor. Nina saw him dart back to the doorway, gun at the ready. She turned and ran as another Magnum round smacked into the wall.

Gamal went back on the attack. Eddie swung his saw defensively, the blades grinding with another shower of sparks. Macy shrieked and took cover behind a pillar as the two men passed, Gamal driving his opponent into a corner.

Something brushed her foot. She looked down, seeing the saws’ power cables shifting as their wielders moved. A memory from the entrance chamber flashed through her mind - the junction box, equipment plugged into it.

Including the chainsaw . . .

Both cables were orange - but the chainsaw’s seemed a deeper shade. She grabbed the darker of the two lines at her feet and reeled it in.

Diamondback was about to pursue Nina when his attention was caught by the saw fight. He took aim at the Englishman - but Gamal, back to him, unwittingly obscured his sight as he lunged at Eddie once more. The American released the trigger, impatiently waiting for another opportunity to fire.

Eddie tried to slash at Gamal’s arm, but the uniformed man easily countered, the chainsaw bitting a chunk out of the circular saw’s casing. Eddie flinched as plastic fragments spat into his face. The sheer mass of the machine was rapidly wearing him down - and behind his adversary he saw Diamondback, revolver tracking him. Gamal jabbed the chainsaw, forcing him back. He could feel the heat of the lamps on the back of his head.

Cornered—

Macy felt the cord pull taut. She yanked it as hard as she could.

In the next chamber, the plug popped out of the junction box . . .

And Eddie’s saw fell silent.

The chainsaw’s electrical flex wasn’t darker. It was just dirty - and she had taken hold of a similarly grubby section of the circular saw’s power cable.

‘What the fuck?’ Eddie yelped. He looked at Macy, crouched with the cable in her hands and a guilty expression. ‘Macy!’

The blade was still spinning, but slowing - and Gamal had already seen his opportunity, stabbing the chainsaw at him. He jerked up the dead power tool like a shield—

The chainsaw’s teeth ripped through its casing and smashed the blade’s axle assembly. The steel disc shot across the room like a lethal Frisbee. It clanged off a pillar, whipping at the passage - and forcing Diamondback to dive backwards to avoid being decapitated. The blade shot over him and bounced off another pillar in the entrance