“Yes, where is she, Rose?”
Being extremely close to Bast, it was only natural that Ramses would direct his question directly to her. “I didn’t say anything earlier as I didn’t want to spoil the day … though that has now happened anyway.”
“Say what?”
“Well, Ramses, it would appear that that little problem we had at Dendera is in danger of flaring up again.”
“Oh, that! So, that is where she has gone. She will soon sort it out. She is good at that sort of thing.”
Rose had only led Ramses to that conclusion. He, however inaccurately, had joined the dots. Yes, there was a simmering problem at Dendera, yes, Bast had gone, though she most certainly had not gone to Dendera.
Chapter 14
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Connecting the Dots
“I thought that they would never go.” Kate flopped onto the sofa opposite Alex. “I also thought Gadeem looked really worried.”
“If they gave out Nobel prizes for looking worried, I would imagine that he would have a very large collection by now.”
Kate looked to Alex as she chuckled. “Perhaps that’s what you eventually look like when you are a deep thinker, so let that be a warning to you!”
“Don’t either of you think that what Ramses did was barbaric? It was wrong!” Cairo was sound asleep, so Emmy could only address her indignation to Kate and Alex.
“It …” Kate paused, as she too felt that it had been barbaric, though there was no way that she was going to agree with Emmy as, in Kate’s eyes, she had been a real pain all evening. On the one hand, Ramses’ action of calling in a soldier only to slash at him with his sword, removing the soldier’s arm in one swift movement, had been extremely brutal, on the other hand, it had also removed, in the shortest possible time, any doubts that Hathor, the Hathor whom he and his troops relied on, was still there for them. “It was exceptionally effective,” Kate said firmly.
“How can you describe cutting a man’s arm off as effective?”
“Because it was! And if you are too stupid to see it, then that’s not my fault!”
Alex should have interrupted them, calmed them, pulled the situation back from the edge of confrontation, but he was far too busy fighting with his own thoughts. He had watched whilst a tall slender woman, with the head of a cow, had suckled the soldier back to health. He had ever since argued with himself as to whether his feelings had been natural or not. He was still no closer to arriving at a conclusion as he became aware of both Kate and Emmy glaring at him, looking for him to take sides, though, having been so totally in a world of his own, he did not have the faintest idea what they had been talking about.
“Well?” Kate said.
“Well?” Emmy said.
‘Well what?’ Alex wanted to ask, and he would have, if their looks had not been so serious. “It’s late,” he said as he went to check the time on his mobile, fumbling through all his pockets before remembering its fate. “It’s late,” he repeated, not that he could get to sleep if he wanted to. Before sleep would come to him he had things he needed to discus with Kate. He was still being stared at, so he had to say something, yet he could not think of a single thing to say that would not land him in trouble. He was in a no-win situation.
“See, he supports Ramses’ actions. It was the wise thing to do.”
Kate gave Alex the first clue as to what he was being asked to adjudicate on. “Emmy, can I talk to you outside?”
“I think that we need to, that we should.” She immediately stood and headed for the door.
“I’ll just sit here then!”
“Please, Kate … thanks,” Alex said, leaving the room first after being gestured to do so by Emmy.
“Goodbye, Kate … look after him,” Emmy said, before shutting the door behind her.
Alex returned sometime later to find Kate and Cairo in deep conversation. There were several sheets of paper strewn across the coffee table, whilst cold coffee and warm tamar-hindi sat untouched upon trays on the floor.
“Emmy has gone, and she will not be coming back,” he said in a matter of fact, almost disassociated way, though his eyes were red. He had shed tears … they both had.
“We have an idea of what we need to do; several in fact,” Kate said.
The certain knowledge that Kate understood exactly what had transpired between him and Emmy was written clearly upon her face.
Cairo was less circumspect: “Papa says it fogs us, blocks us from ‘seeing’.”
Three was right, love was not an option if they wanted to continue to ‘see’, if they wanted to keep their focus.
The year Alex had spent with Emmy studying under Dr Margretti, at the British Museum, had dulled him, he had lost his edge, but, since returning to Luxor, it had become clear to him that London had not been the sole cause. The closer he was to Emmy, the more he loved her, the less clearly he was able to ‘see’.
What had taken Alex by surprise, as they had talked on the veranda, was that, despite their strong love for each other, perhaps because of it, they had both come to realise that their gift, their ability to ‘see’, was the most crucial thing in their lives. They could love each other, even if they could not be close to each other, but once their ability to ‘see’ had gone it had gone for good. Would losing that, in time, cause them to lose their love, become resentful that they had given up something so precious?
Emmy explained that she also felt so much more in control of her ancient memories whenever she was away from him. Whilst in Dendera with Cairo she had felt far more assertive, in control of her emotions – both ancient and modern – and had the confidence to make decisions. Though they had strong feelings for each other, Alex and Emmy were now both well aware that if they wished to continue to ‘see’, they had to be permanently away from each other. He had not known how to put his feeling into words, she had never found the right time.
Earlier, whilst Alex had been with Kate and Helios in the lounge, Rose had mentioned to Emmy that Henuttawy – Emmy’s ancient relative, as well as her exact double – was heading to Dendera first thing in the morning. There was an unspecified problem between ancients and she would, in future, be permanently based there. Immediately, Emmy had expressed her wish to leave with Henuttawy as well as be based there with her. This was exactly what Rose, Ramses, Nakhtifi and Gadeem had hoped for.
They had parted on the best of terms and the worst of feelings.
In the library, Alex’s thoughts were quickly focussing towards the problem at hand. Kate had experienced an extreme version of what he and Emmy were experiencing, though the thought that everything with Kate tended to be extreme raised a smile. Cairo, having failed to impress one of Inky’s three daughters, had yet to experience a love stronger than that of his love for his mother. They were friends whose ancient memories complimented each other, gelled with each other, worked well with each other; it was as tough an energy had returned to the room that had been missing for far too long.
“What have you got here?” Alex asked whilst trying to make sense of all the squiggles, arrows and dotted lines on the various pieces of paper.
“Come around and sit here, so we are all looking the same way.” Kate shuffled along the sofa as Alex sat between her and Cairo. “We attempted to build a picture of recent events.” Kate pointed out Cairo Airport, the sphinx, the Nile and Ankhtifi’s tomb, amongst others.
“What have you come up with?”
Kate asked Cairo: “Do you want to tell him, or shall I?”
Cairo rocked his head from side to side before saying: “You tell him.”
“Well, what have you come up with? What have these sketches shown you?” Alex really wanted to know.
“Nothing … absolutely nothing. Total and utter waste of time.”
Cairo rocked back and forth as he laughed, clapping his hands as he did. Even Kate failed to hold the laughter back. Alex really did not want to, but soon they were all laughing.
“So, you have nothing,” Al
ex said some minutes later as he flopped back into his favourite chair.
“Oh no, we have something, haven’t we Cairo.”
“Yes, Mr Alex, we have.”
“It’s just that drawing out all this,” Kate pointed to the sheets of paper on the coffee table, as well as a few crumpled sheets on the floor that Alex had failed to notice, “didn’t add anything. It didn’t help in the slightest.”
“I think I need a coffee. Would either of you like anything?” Drinks and sandwiches ordered, Alex swept the paper from the table before placing a closed book in front of him. “Do we have Ramses’ army surrounding us?”
“Yes,” Cairo confirmed. “But he gone with his elite soldiers.”
This was exactly as Alex had suspected. They were protected, whilst, with the shabti smashed, whoever was spying on them would be under the impression that Ramses and the others were still with them, when, in fact, they were off trying to make sense of who would want to spy on them, and for what purpose. He looked to Kate.
“Well, there are these.” She placed the two daggers on the table. Their blades were long and thin, but it was the gem encrusted handles that they were all focussed on. “Obviously well beyond what anybody working in a kitchen could afford.”
“Clearly,” Alex said as he picked one up to confirm his thoughts.
“It same as on that gold priest thing.”
“Yes, Cairo, it’s the symbol of the High Priest of Ra.” Alex placed the dagger back on the table. “Rahotep couldn’t have chased me through time just because I borrowed his gold bling. That makes no sense at all.”
Kate agreed. “But, you must admit, it is too much of a coincidence. There is a message here that we are not seeing.”
Alex struggled with coincidences at the best of times, and these were not the best of times. Kate was right, there was a link that was not yet clear to them. “What else have you come up with?”
“That we need to get back into Leonie’s tomb.”
Alex agreed.
Cairo also agreed, even if he was momentarily distracted by the arrival of freshly made, thickly cut, sandwiches. They were just the way he liked them.
“In her tomb, it wasn’t her name written on that wall, she pointed to something we needed to know about, that, for whatever reason, she couldn’t tell us.” Kate picked up a sandwich, though before taking a bite added: “And Bast did not go off to Dendera. She’s an ancient goddess, Ramses’ Bast, that just wouldn’t make any sense.”
Cairo looked a little confused, though it did not stop him munching away.
“Think about it, Cairo,” Kate said as she gulped down her first bite. “An Egyptian goddess arrives to solve a minor problem between ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans; what would happen next?”
Alex helped Cairo out: “The Greeks would call their gods, the Romans theirs, and the whole problem would escalate. You know how fearful Bast is of a war between the gods.”
Cairo did, and he confirmed that he did before taking a bite out of another sandwich.
“We need to get Rose here now. We need to know where Bast has gone.”
“What! We can’t do that now. Really, Alex, have you got any idea what time it is?
“Not really, but I have a feeling she will be expecting a call.”
“Then you had better call her, because I’m not,” Kate checked her mobile, “it’s three thirty in the morning.”
Alex used their landline, an extension from the Winter Palace, to call Rose’s mobile.
Answered on its second ring, Rose confirmed that she was just outside with Helios and a few of Ramses’ soldiers.
Alex went silent. He was not sure which had confused him most, the fact that Rose was just outside, or that she was answering her mobile in an area with no mobile reception.
“Are you still there, Alex?”
“Yes … yes. You’re outside and you’re on your mobile?”
“How do you think you received my text at El Moalla?”
To be honest, he had not thought about it; he had never questioned it.
Rose very quickly explained that thanks to Dr Margretti and his whizz team, the Volvo had been fitted with a rather special mobile radio aerial. She knocked at their door as she disconnected from Alex.
Whilst sharing Alex’s coffee, Rose, without any prompting, said: “I received some garbled news from Cairo Airport about Leonie, along with Celina and her parents, missing their flight.” Vague concern came across the faces of the youngsters. Vague, because Cairo was a long way from Luxor, and, because many tourists missed their connecting flights. Egypt was that sort of country, one where travellers reached their destination … eventually!
“You were concerned enough to send Bast?”
“Nobody sends Bast anywhere, but yes, Kate, I asked her to go and check things out … in cat form of course.”
“And what did she find out?”
“That they had been ready to board their flight when there was a bomb scare. The airport had to be evacuated. This is where it becomes worrying. In the race to leave the airport, Celina’s mother appeared to suffer a massive heart attack.”
“Does she have a heart problem?” Alex asked.
“She did when it stopped beating.”
Alex flushed: “Point taken. But is she dead?”
“When is anything ever as simple as that?”
“For us … never!” Kate said.
“Let me tell you the events very quickly.” Rose took a sip of Alex’s coffee before continuing. “Okay, picture Celina’s mother collapsed on the pavement just outside the doors of the airport. Everybody is running from the building as they feared that a bomb may go off at any second. So, there was shouting, screaming, total mayhem. Celina’s father stepped off the kerb to direct the arriving ambulance to his wife, not noticing the taxi arriving in the opposite direction. And why would he. It was travelling in the wrong direction, didn’t stop, and immediately afterwards left the airport.”
“So, he dead,” Cairo said.
“Not yet! The arriving ambulance took him, rather than his wife, to hospital. A second ambulance took his wife, though to a completely different hospital. They ended up on opposite sides of the city.”
“Where they both died.”
“No, Cairo, not yet, because whoever staged this needed them both to be alive.”
“They needed the confusion of live people in hospitals on opposite sides of the city, rather than two bodies, in one truck, on a slow trip to the morgue.”
“Yes, Kate, that is also the conclusion Bast came to. Create the maximum confusion possible, to cover what you are really up to; and it worked! Nobody has any idea where Celina or Leonie are.”
“Were they picked up on any cameras?” Alex asked.
“For a short while. Bast says that once they were amongst the mass of people standing outside, the low quality extremely grainy images are no use. Any one of a hundred or more blurred blobs could have been either of them. The airport having reopened, and with everyone back inside, there was no sign of them.”
“I think that one of them may have ‘seen’. Perhaps both have, though I would think that unlikely having met them. Celina couldn’t take her eyes off her phone. She had no idea what was going on around her.” Alex asked which way the girls were heading when they were last seen on camera.
Rose explained their known route. Though she knew that Alex thought things through carefully, she seriously doubted that either of the girls were capable of ‘seeing’.
“I’m sure Alex is right. In fact, I’m fairly convinced that he is. They can’t be found, because they are both in the past.” Where the cameras had lost them was almost exactly where Kate and Alex had stepped back into ancient Egypt, where they had entered the time of Ankhtifi.
Rose had heard the full story, only she had not been aware of the exact location until now. “All things considered, it looks like you could be right, Alex.”
“I don’t want to be right, because if I am
that means we have a massive problem on our hands.”
“You know something, something that is in that book.” Kate pointed to the closed book on the coffee table, directly in front of Alex.
“Yes, but it is a bit of a leap … or … at least it was. Tell me,” Alex directed his question to Kate, “what do you think of the girl, whose tomb you were in, wanting to be called Leonie?”
“Then you will tell us what you have found out.”
“Of course; yes.”
“Well,” Kate said, thinking out loud, “if that writing on the wall is not her name, then she might have a really nice short name. She could even have a really nice longer name, though nowhere near that long.” Kate was waffling. She knew that her thoughts wanted to take her somewhere, she just could not work out where. “Why, when she could have picked any name, any one of a thousand names, did she chose Leonie … why? It’s not even a name of her time.”
Alex felt confident, so confident that he offered to give Kate a hint, a helpful push in the right direction.
Rose and Cairo braced themselves for her outburst, but, much to their surprise, Kate simply nodded before saying, “Okay, let me have it.”
“Twenty-seventh of July is the day that I suspect all hell breaks out.”
“Oh, that’s great,” Kate said, now looking as though she might explode, “so it’s all my fault. Aggie was flung out of a window on my birthday, and this year it’s the end of the world.” She calmed a little. “I had better ask for my presents early?”
“I never said that it was your fault. It’s a hint, nothing more. Try this then: what are you?”
“A girl, you idiot!”
“No … what is your star sign?”
Kate’s fog lifted. She now saw with absolute clarity. “I’m a Leo! She didn’t take Leonie as her name, she used it to warn us, and I totally missed it.”
“We totally missed it,” Alex added.
Ankhtifi's Papyrus Page 13
