The Tomb of Eternity (Joe Hawke Book 3)

by Rob Jones

  Eden stepped forward, coffee in hand. “Who?”

  “He was a French scholar who specialized in ancient Egypt. He spent half his life exploring Egypt back in the nineteenth century – the Giza pyramids, the Karnak Temple, the Necropolis, the Valley of the Kings – you name it, he went there.”

  “He liked sunny holidays then?” Lexi said.

  Ryan rolled his eyes. “Champollion was a specialist in hieroglyphics – in fact it’s broadly accepted that back in his day he was the only person in the whole world who could read them.”

  “Talk about a skill in demand.”

  Ryan ignored her. “It all started with the Dendera Zodiac, a famous carving found on the ceiling of an ancient chapel. Today, the carving is in the Louvre in Paris, but it originated in Dendera, a small town on the Nile in central Egypt. Its function was to map the sky, and in fact even today it remains the only full portrayal of an ancient sky.”

  “Fascinating,” Lexi said, “but… what all started with this zodiac thing?”

  “Ah, yes. Champollion was the only man to date the thing correctly. When everyone else said it belonged to the New Kingdom, he claimed it was much earlier in the Greco-Roman period, and he was able to do this because of his incredible understanding of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. As I said, he was pretty much one of a kind. He discovered a cartouche which proved Egyptian civilization predated the Biblical flood story.”

  Scarlet sniffed. “I bet that went down well.”

  “Actually, no one ever knew – he kept it a secret for the rest of his life rather than publicly challenge the entire Christian belief structure.”

  “Heavy stuff.”

  “It gets better – Giovanni Mazzarro claims to have discovered some previously unknown work by Champollion about the City of the Dead at Saqqara, which was where they buried their dead in Memphis.”

  “We’re not talking about Elvis here, are we?” Scarlet said.

  “Hardly. We’re talking about the place where the first pyramid was ever built – constructed by Imhotep.”

  “Oh – the guy from The Mummy?”

  “If you must, Scarlet… Anyway, what really interests me now though is that according to Mazzarro he also found previously unknown information in the Valley of the Kings written in Coptic on a vase dedicated to Osiris.”

  Lexi leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. “And Coptic is what?”

  “Oh, sure… It’s the last version of the ancient Egyptian language. Anyway, as you know, the Valley of the Kings is basically the biggest graveyard in the world – all of the tombs of the pharaohs were put there to keep them safe from tomb raiders.”

  Scarlet sighed. “We tomb raiders always get such a bad press.”

  “So what was this new stuff Mazzarro claims to have found?” Lexi said, ignoring Scarlet’s remark.

  Ryan ignored her and pointed at the notes again, turning to Alex. “This one here is very similar to akhmet, the hieroglyph for the horizon, see?”

  Alex nodded enthusiastically. “I see, yeah! Old Mazzarro must have spent forever on this.”

  “Ryan!” Scarlet said. “Lexi asked you a question.”

  “Oh sorry, Lexi – what did you say?”

  “I asked what’s the new stuff Mazzarro claims to have found?”

  Ryan shook his head. “I’m not sure yet, but it could be the key to everything. He claims Champollion’s undiscovered work contained similar glyphs to the ones on the map and that they seem to be referring to the death of Osiris and something called the Tomb of Eternity.”

  “That sounds ominous.”

  “Going by the sketches in the notes, the hieroglyphs in Champollion’s mysterious, unknown work are definitely different from the rest of his stuff and Mazzarro claims that they predate the oldest glyphs ever found in Egypt.”

  “Impressive stuff,” Eden said.

  “That’s only half the story – he makes a reference here, if my Italian is correct, to how the glyphs in question could well be older than Sumerian cuneiform.”

  Eden’s eyes widened. “Hand it over.”

  Ryan gave him the notes and Eden read them for a few seconds. “Good God… the implications of this are astounding… and yes, your Italian is perfectly correct.”

  “And what are the implications?” Lexi asked.

  Ryan took the notes from Eden and replied to Lexi. “The entire history of humanity is based on the fact that we started written communication around ten thousand years ago. It all started when the ancient Sumerians began making simple pictographs on clay tablets in order to communicate messages about trade goods. By around five thousand years ago they were using a reed stylus to make the symbols and this left a very particular wedge shape in the clay. Cuneiform is from the Latin cuneus, which just means wedge.”

  “Interesting, boy, but Lexi asked what the implications are. She wasn’t just giving you a chance to prattle on aimlessly about old bits of pottery.”

  “I would have thought,” Ryan replied haughtily, “that the implications for humanity were easily inferred.”

  “He means, I think,” Alex said, stepping in to diffuse the tension once again, “that if the glyphs Champollion found are older than those found in ancient Sumer, all of human history just changed right before our eyes.”

  “Quite,” Eden said coolly. “If it’s true, then that raises further questions, not least of which who wrote them? What civilization were they from?”

  Ryan took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes. “Well…whatever they are and whoever made them, they look like they’re pointing to this Tomb of Eternity, anyway.”

  “And that sounds like a good place to avoid,” Scarlet said. “The Tomb of Gold, I could get excited about, or even the Tomb of Emeralds, but the Tomb of Eternity… not so much. I can’t sell eternity on the black market.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Alex said. “I think maybe this tomb has the greatest treasure of all within its walls.”

  “As far as I can tell,” Ryan said, “it’s called that because some kind of ancient god predating even Osiris and Poseidon was buried in secret there. They called it the Tomb of Eternity because the buried god would be launched into eternity from it into the night sky – the same principle as the pyramids.”

  Lexi sighed. “The pyramids? I thought that was all still a mystery.”

  “Nope. The pyramids were basically like giant submarine torpedo tubes aimed at the stars. They built tunnels leading from the burial chamber at the heart of the pyramid all the way to the outside wall where they were lined up with the Indestructibles.”

  “The what?”

  “Ikhemu-Sek in Egyptian – it means ‘those who do not know destruction’ and referred to what today we call the circumpolar stars, as in those stars around the Little and Big Dippers.”

  “Why those stars?” Scarlet asked with genuine interest.

  “Because the other stars revolved around them, which is why we call them the circumpolar stars. The ancient Egyptians believed that because the other stars circled these particular stars that they must be heaven itself.”

  “I see… now it’s beginning to make sense.”

  “Right – and that’s why they built the pyramids to align north in this way – so the ka, which was what they believed was the soul, or the vital spark, could be reunited with the ba, or personality, and transmute into the akh, and enter the afterlife as a kind of reincarnated, or immortal being.

  “Is he still speaking English?” Lexi said.

  Alex smirked. “Sorry, but yes.”

  Scarlet stepped up, less amused. “So what does all this mean, Ryan? You’re starting to give me a headache.”

  “Sadly… it means we still don’t know enough about these glyphs to translate them properly.”

  Alex sipped her coffee. “But it also means that we’re probably talking about Thebes.”

  Lexi looked confused. “Was Thebes another god or something?”

  Ryan offered a condescending smir
k. “Hardly, Thebes is a place – or was a place, more like.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Today it’s called Luxor,” Alex said.

  “Luxor is a city in Upper Egypt, and back when it was Thebes it was the capital. It’s where they buried the kings during the New Kingdom.”

  “I know where Luxor is, Ryan,” Lexi said.

  “Sorry, but you don’t look like you’d know,” he said, straight-faced.

  Lexi looked at him sharply. “You want a slap, is that it?”

  “Hey!” Scarlet said. “No one talks to Ryan like that except me.”

  Ryan ignored the comment. “Our only clue so far is the reference to Osiris. Over the last few years there have been several tombs discovered supposedly connected to him, one in Giza at the turn of the century, and one more recently in Thebes where they found a large underground complex with a wall relief of a knife-wielding demon and an impressive carving of Osiris himself.”

  Lexi looked concerned. “Demons?”

  “They’re to protect the body.”

  “Body? So Osiris really was real, just like Poseidon?” Scarlet asked.

  Ryan nodded. “Ancient Egyptian legends have long told of Osiris having a tomb, and the one located in Thebes is a miniature version of the temple dedicated to the god in Abydos. Considering all available evidence, I would say Thebes – or Luxor was our best bet, but first we need to know what we’re looking for when we get there, and that means back to the drawing board with these damned glyphs.”

  “But this tomb you say they found,” Scarlet asked. “that’s not our place?”

  Ryan shook his head. “Nope – it was actually just a kind of initiation chamber.”

  “What about the Temple of Osiris at Karnak?” Alex asked. “That’s in Luxor.”

  Ryan sighed and shook his head. “Sorry, but I don’t think so – this glyph here specifically says tomb not temple – I don’t think it can be referring to the temple you’re talking about.”

  “So like you say, back to the drawing board, right?”

  “Sorry, but yeah.”

  Eden sighed and ran his hands through his hair. “We need to go faster on this, everyone. We don’t know what the hell Vetrov is doing to Lea or Brad at the moment and the only way we can get to them is by getting to the tomb before those bastards get there.”

  The words hung in the air like smoke. Everyone knew what Vetrov had done to Alex, and now he had Lea and Karlsson. The pressure to save their lives was building.

  “I’m sure Lea’s fine,” Scarlet said. “She can look after herself. She’s probably already killed Vetrov and is escaping as we speak. Pretty soon she’ll just be hanging around somewhere, chilling, and waiting for us to pick her up.”

  “Let’s hope you’re right,” Eden said. “But she hasn’t made contact, so I don’t share your optimism.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  From her position over Kosma’s shoulder, Lea could do nothing as the giant carried her out of Vetrov’s office and down the long, plush corridor running outside it. He opened an internal door and began to descend down a metal staircase into another corridor. There was a low-light and it was much colder down here.

  She realized they were taking her into the hold of the enormous aircraft and when they got there she saw where they had kept Mazzarro just a few moments ago – ropes and a blindfold left on the floor beside a large metal crate. From her upside-down view of things, she could see Vetrov himself behind Kosma. He was holding a gun on Mazzarro who he was forcing to walk a few yards ahead of him with his hands raised.

  They stopped and she was spun around and dumped on the floor. She landed with a loud crack on the cold metal sheeting and rolled on her front. She tried to spin over, but Vetrov put his boot on her back where her hands were tied and pushed down on her wrists, making her cry out.

  Ahead of her she watched the heavy boots of Kosma Zhuravlev as he diligently followed out his boss’s commands and yanked something off the wall. It took her a few seconds to realize what it was, but then she saw – a parachute.

  Kosma opened it up and stretched out the rigging. He pulled the canopy away and then laid out the steering lines and risers in neat lines. He worked with the casual diligence of someone erecting a tent, but she knew whatever he was doing would have a much grimmer purpose.

  Some more Russian followed between the two men, and then a short burst of laughter from Vetrov. Kosma was unmoved by the joke, and simply plodded on, arranging the parachute for some purpose they had not yet shared with her, but she knew it was coming and she started to feel sick about it.

  Another command from Vetrov and Kosma picked Lea up and lowered her into the harness, tying her into the steering lines and risers so she was completely unable to move. Then he lashed the other end of the steering lines and the canopy haphazardly around the heavy metal container.

  There followed a few moments of discussion where Kosma tugged on the knots and tested the lines. Her fate was clear when Kosma slowly opened the front port cargo hatch opposite the container box and pushed Lea over to the edge with his boot.

  Mazzarro looked on, horrified.

  Cold air rushed into the hold, but the lack of altitude meant the aircraft was no longer pressurized, and there was no danger of being sucked out.

  Only pushed out.

  At last, Vetrov spoke.

  “Dr Mazzarro. You see what your intransigence has driven me to. You will now start work on the map translation or Miss Donovan here goes over the side. Let me remind you we are cruising at a little over eight thousand feet, doctor. That is two and a half kilometers. If she falls from here she will hit the surface of the ocean at two hundred kilometers an hour just thirty seconds after leaving the aircraft. She will have just enough time to consider her fate, but not enough time for anyone to do anything about it.” He laughed again, proud of his ingenuity.

  “You’re a monster!” Mazzarro cried out, reaching desperately for something to cling to as he staggered away from the open door.

  Lea’s eyes bulged as she strained in the ropes, unable to cry out because of the gag. She was good at getting out of tricky situations, but this time she knew she was out of luck.

  “A monster who will kill everyone you have ever known, starting with this pathetic Irish troublemaker. Will you translate the map?”

  “I…I already told you that I can’t…”

  “Wrong answer!”

  Vetrov snapped his fingers and Kosma booted Lea in the ribs, sending her flying out the open cargo hatch. She felt her stomach turn as she tumbled out of the aircraft and began to plummet toward the water, but then the steering lines lashed to the container inside the plane went suddenly taut and arrested her fall.

  She swung violently beneath the aircraft and smashed into the underside of the main body. Then she swung back again like a human pendulum before the force of the aircraft’s forward motion swept her back in mid-air where she stayed, hanging behind the cargo door just a few dozen meters in front of the inner port engine. It growled hungrily in the distance. The blades raced at over three thousand revs per minute, and the white spiral painted on the fan hub was now just a blur. She felt sick and confused.

  “Oh my God!” Mazzarro screamed, pointing at Lea. “Bring her in! Bring her in now, please.”

  “The map, Doctor Mazzarro. You will begin translating it, or…”

  He nodded at Kosma, and the giant pulled an old Soviet combat knife from his belt and began to hack away at one of the steering lines.

  “What are you doing! She will fall to her death!”

  Vetrov peered out the cargo door. “I hope so, Dario, because if she goes into engine Number Two I’ll have to get the pilot to shut it off.”

  The academic recoiled with fear as he watched Lea suspended in the parachute canopy.

  “Please, Dr Mazzarro,” Vetrov said gently. “I beg you to reconsider your position.”

  The line Kosma was cutting broke, and twanged violently apart
under the pressure. Lea slipped a little closer to the whirring engine’s fans blades.

  Vetrov beamed. “There are not many more lines to cut through, as you see.”

  Mazzarro broke. “All right, all right – I can’t stand it any more… bring me the map.”

  Leaving Lea dangling from the aircraft, Vetrov ordered Kosma to fetch the map, and when he returned Mazzarro got to work. He translated the first few glyphs in less than twenty minutes.

  “Well, doctor?” Vetrov asked.

  “Yes… yes! I’ve done as you ask – please bring the girl back in!”

  “What have you found?” the Russian asked him,

  Mazzarro looked nervously from Lea to Vetrov. “The hieroglyphics on the map tell a story… They tell a story… it’s about Poseidon and Osiris warring over the source of eternal life. They tore the map in half – what you have in your hands is the half Poseidon kept for himself. Without the other half it is useless…”

  Without Mazzarro explaining another word, a crooked smile spread on Vetrov’s lips. “Of course… and the other half is buried with Osiris!”

  Mazzarro looked once again at Lea, lashed in the steering lines of the chute outside the plane. “Please, will God and the world forgive me…”

  Vetrov turned to leave the hold. “Kosma, order the pilot to fly on to Luxor. We’re going on an excavation…oh, and pull our Irish friend back into the plane. She can die later on, the way the gods intended.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Hawke and Snowcat emerged from the hotel on the eastern side and found themselves opposite a busy marina on the west bank of the Nile. The sun shone powerfully on the river’s broad surface, and the smell of exhaust fumes hung heavy in the air. The street was quiet with only a few taxis and the occasional delivery truck, but this was the up-market part of the city where the authorities liked to sweep any trouble out of sight.

  “This way!” the Russian agent said, pulling on Hawke’s arm.

  “Oh please, no more rivers!” Hawke said, thinking about Venice.