The Forbidden Tomb

by Chris Kuzneski

  ‘None that I saw, but let me check again.’

  Manjani fast-forwarded the video and studied the final frame of the pictograph, searching for the smallest of clues. In his excitement, he realized it would have been easy to neglect a crucial detail in the coded message about the tomb. He scanned the image slowly and methodically, looking for a symbol that would point them in the right direction, but he found nothing.

  ‘You’re sure this is everything? There were no other carvings on the wall?’

  ‘I’m positive,’ she answered. ‘I looked over every inch of the wall. And Jasmine examined it, too. That’s everything we found.’

  Manjani cursed in Greek, obviously frustrated.

  ‘What’s missing?’ Cobb asked.

  ‘I don’t know – I really don’t – but something. There has to be more. There just has to be. Because this doesn’t make any sense!’

  64

  Manjani leaped to his feet and began to pace around the room. ‘If the priests were abandoning the city, they wouldn’t have left their message so open-ended. They would have been explicit about where they were headed next.’

  ‘Why?’ Sarah asked.

  ‘Because they didn’t have cell phones and they didn’t have e-mail, and they were expecting the city to be swallowed by the sea. This was their one and only chance to get a coded message to their followers, whether it was a priest who was stationed in Thebes or a pilgrim from a faraway land who would read the message ten years later. Keep in mind only those fluent in the priestly language would know how to read the actual message. Everyone else would look at the symbols and think that Amun had spared the priests by warning them about the flood. That alone would have kept the priests safe from harm. No one – not even the Romans – would have risked the wrath of their god by chasing after the priests. This wall bought their freedom.’

  Cobb smiled. ‘Two birds, one stone. It kept the guards away, and it told the followers of Alexander where the priests were relocating to.’

  ‘Exactly!’ Manjani said. ‘Now all we have to do is figure out the location.’

  Sarah, who had more than a little experience when it came to classified information and the acquisition of valuables, viewed things from a different perspective. ‘I concede I know next to nothing about history, but I disagree with your assessment. There’s no way in hell that I would put all of the pieces to the puzzle in one place. I mean, why put your jewels in a safe if you’re going to leave the key in the lock?’

  Manjani considered her statement. ‘You raise an interesting point. Perhaps they hid the key to the safe but kept it nearby. Do you have any film of the other walls?’

  Cobb shook his head. ‘Not on my phone.’

  ‘What kind of key are you looking for?’ she asked.

  Manjani answered. ‘It could be directions, a reference to a landmark, or even the actual name of the place involved. I’m not sure exactly, but I know there’s something missing from the coded message.’

  Sarah shook her head. ‘There was nothing like that further down the tunnel. The only thing I found was a series of steps that led back up toward the surface. That’s where I found the glow stick.’

  ‘On the steps?’

  ‘No, after the steps. It was in the grotto by the water.’

  He nodded excitedly. ‘That’s right! You mentioned that before but we haven’t discussed it. Please tell me everything.’

  Sarah glanced at Cobb, wondering how much she should reveal. A subtle nod gave her permission to continue. ‘At the end of the steps was a grotto with a number of columns that held up the ceiling. The room was connected to the sea by an underwater channel. That’s how I made it out when the bombs went off. I swam to safety.’

  Manjani closed his eyes, as if he were praying while he spoke. ‘Please tell me you have video from the cave. Please.’

  Sarah honestly didn’t know the answer. Her flashlight camera had been working when she looked around the cave, but she was sure that the footage was a low priority for Garcia. Their focus was the wall, not the tunnel beyond.

  Fortunately, Cobb knew that he had the video on his phone. He had seen a clip earlier when he and Garcia had scanned through everything that had been recorded. ‘We have some footage of the grotto, but it’s not that great. Why are you so anxious to see it?’

  ‘Why?’ Manjani asked as he stopped his pacing and sat beside Cobb to plead his case. ‘Because of the image of Amun in the pictograph! Remember, he’s the god of all gods, and the priests are his disciples. They will do whatever he asks them to do.’

  ‘Which is what?’ Sarah asked.

  ‘Think, you two, think! What’s he asking them to do in the message?’

  Cobb thought back to the image of Amun on the pictograph. A few seconds later, the answer popped in his head. ‘I’ll be damned. He’s telling them to look at the water.’

  ‘Exactly!’ Manjani blurted. ‘On one level, he’s warning them about the approaching tsunami. On another, he’s literally telling them to look at the water. And where in the temple would they look at the water?’

  ‘In the grotto!’ Sarah answered.

  Manjani smiled. After all this time, he finally remembered how much he had missed the thrill of the hunt. Still beaming, he turned toward Cobb and laughed. ‘So, does this mean I’ve earned the right to see the footage?’

  ‘Sure. What the hell.’

  Cobb glanced through the files until he found the one that he was looking for. ‘This is everything we have from the steps and grotto.’

  As the footage began to play, Manjani stared at the screen. His eyes were glued to the monitor as he watched Sarah make her way up the steps toward the surface. He slid to the edge of his seat as he watched her movement through the darkness, the beam of her flashlight reflecting in the pool just ahead. As she reached the water’s edge, she shined her light upward, illuminating the domed ceiling of the dark cavern.

  ‘There it is,’ Manjani announced.

  Cobb paused the video and stared at the screen. He saw the natural grotto that had been reinforced by elaborate pillars. The ceiling had been chiseled smooth, rounded into the shape of a dome. Though he had seen the image before, he hadn’t given it much thought. And, admittedly, he still didn’t see anything noteworthy. ‘There what is?’

  Manjani sat back in his chair. ‘The second half of the message.’

  ‘You’ll have to do better than that. All I see is a domed cavern.’

  ‘Look closer. You see the markings across the dome?’

  Sarah moved in for a better look. ‘Yeah, what about them?’

  Manjani reached for the mouse. ‘May I?’

  ‘Be my guest,’ Cobb said.

  Manjani clicked through the options of the computer program, searching for the right adjustment. With the click of a button, the picture reverted to a negative image. Suddenly, the once black specks now glowed white against a dark background.

  He looked at Cobb. ‘Does that help?’

  ‘Are those supposed to be stars?’

  ‘Better than that. You’re looking at a star map.’

  ‘Great,’ Sarah joked, ‘the tomb’s in space.’

  ‘No,’ Manjani assured her, ‘the tomb is on Earth. The map above will give us a location below. All we need is an archaeoastronomer to read it for us.’

  ‘An archaeo-what?’

  ‘An archaeoastronomer is an expert in archaeological astronomy.’

  ‘You’re making that up.’

  ‘I swear, it’s a legitimate field! For instance, they would be able to tell you how the position of the sun influenced the placement of the megaliths at Stonehenge, or why the plumed serpent magically appears in Chichen Itza during the equinox.’

  Cobb groaned at the thought of an additional expert on his team, particularly one in such a limited field. ‘Let me see if I got this straight: based on the position of the stars in the sky, an archaeoastronomer will be able to use advanced math to give us a specific location on the ground.
Is that what you’re saying?’

  Manjani nodded. ‘That’s correct.’

  ‘Couldn’t a regular astronomer do that, or even a computer whiz?’

  ‘Theoretically, yes, if they had the right software to chart the sky.’

  Sarah laughed. ‘In that case, we’re good to go. We have a nerd on staff.’

  65

  Jasmine should have been frightened by the question.

  After all, she had assumed that the person lying in the corner was a corpse. Not only did he smell like a corpse, but he looked like one, too, in the gloom of the dungeon.

  Presented with evidence to the contrary, she didn’t know whether to appreciate the company or to fear his presence. Ultimately, her instincts took over and she decided to run to his aid. Or at least she tried to. When the slack pulled taut on her chain, the shackle grabbed her ankle and she crashed clumsily to the floor.

  ‘Shit!’ she said under her breath.

  Despite his condition, the withered old man crawled toward the middle of the room to see if she had hurt herself during her fall. ‘Are you . . . okay?’

  Jasmine sat up and smiled. ‘I’m fine. Are you okay?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ he said between labored breaths. ‘I feel . . . strange.’

  She knew the sensation. She had felt the same way when she had awoken from her drug-induced slumber. She knew that he was probably suffering from blurred vision, muscle aches, and severe confusion.

  ‘It will go away,’ she assured him. She grabbed his wrist to check his pulse; it was slow, but strong. His breathing was similarly steady and deep. ‘You’re going to be fine. Just give it time.’

  He stared at her with confusion in his eyes. ‘Who are you?’

  ‘My name is Jasmine.’

  ‘Kaleem,’ he said as he closed his eyes and lay on the stone floor. His head was still spinning from the drugs. ‘Jasmine, what day is it?’

  ‘Good question,’ she said with a laugh. Despite their situation, she was trying to stay positive for his sake. ‘If I had to guess, I’d say it’s the fourth of the month. Or maybe the fifth. I’m not sure how long I was unconscious.’

  He shook his head in dismay. ‘May fifth? Has it really been twenty-some days?’

  His comment roared through her mind like a freight train. The unavoidable truth forced a lump into her throat: it was November, not May. She stared down at him, temporarily unable to speak out of both concern and pity.

  To him, he had survived twenty-some days.

  In reality, it had been twenty-some weeks.

  As hard as it was, he needed to hear the truth.

  She grabbed his hand tightly. It was a desperate act of comfort that wouldn’t offset the news she was about to deliver. But at that moment it was the only thing she could offer. ‘I need to tell you something, and it’s going to hurt.’

  Kaleem grimaced in anticipation.

  ‘Spring has passed. We’re well into fall.’

  It was the gentlest way she could think of to convey the news.

  Tears flooded his eyes as he groaned in pain. Then his body went limp, as if all hope had been sucked out of him. ‘God, just let me die.’

  She squeezed his hand. ‘Don’t say that. You’ve survived this long. You’re not going to die in here. My friends are coming to get me. I promise.’

  He did not reply. He merely lay there and cried.

  Jasmine knew that she needed to do something to bring his mood back around – a distraction of some kind. She decided to engage him in conversation.

  ‘Tell me about yourself. How did you get here?’

  Several seconds passed before the question sank in. When it did, he wiped the tears from his face and began to speak. ‘I was . . . I am an expert in Egyptian history. I traveled here from Greece as part of an expedition.’ He stared blankly at the light above, as if the memories were not readily available. ‘We were investigating rumors about Alexander’s tomb. We set up a campsite in the valley and started to dig.’

  ‘Did you find anything?’

  He glanced at her. ‘An entire village buried beneath the sand. It was remarkable. But before we had a chance to excavate the site, they came in the night.’

  ‘They? Who are they?’

  ‘Hooded men in black tunics. They stormed our camp after sunset, wielding ancient swords. We tried to fight back, but they were too strong. The bodies of the others were dragged into the desert . . . For some reason, I was kept alive.’

  Jasmine was familiar with the incident. As a fellow historian, she kept her ears tuned to reports of any developments in her field – good or bad. ‘Your expedition made the news. When your team failed to return, the authorities were sent to find you. They spent days searching the desert.’

  ‘Did they find anyone?’

  She shook her head. ‘All they found was your camp. Everyone was presumed dead. And as far as I remember, there was no mention of an archaeological find.’

  He sighed. ‘The desert hides its secrets quickly.’

  Jasmine knew her next question would sound indelicate, but she also knew it had to be asked. After all, her life was at stake too. ‘I hate to ask you this – I really do – but do you have any idea why they spared your life?’

  He shrugged. ‘I honestly don’t know. Sometimes I wish they hadn’t.’

  ‘Have they questioned you?’

  ‘Repeatedly,’ he answered. ‘And I have told them everything that I know. I was merely there to interpret our discoveries. I was not the team leader.’

  Jasmine nodded. ‘I know the feeling.’

  He looked at her. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘My story is similar,’ she explained. ‘Just like you, the whole reason I was in Egypt was to put my team’s discoveries into the proper historical context. And just like you, we were also looking for Alexander.’

  ‘In which part of the desert?’

  ‘We weren’t in the desert. We were in Alexandria.’

  Kaleem grimaced. ‘My dear, Alexandria has been picked clean. They even have a name for those that search there. They are known as the Fools of Alexander.’

  She nodded. ‘Trust me, I know. I’m very well aware of the reputation. But what if I told you that the fools weren’t so foolish after all?’

  ‘Are you saying that you found Alexander?’

  Jasmine smiled. ‘Not Alexander, no. But we may have found a clue that no one else has seen. We were exploring the tunnels under the city when we came across a wall covered in ancient carvings. It implied that Alexander’s body had been moved long ago.’

  ‘Are you surprised by this message? Because I, for one, am not. Alexander’s whereabouts have been unknown for centuries. It only stands to reason that his body has been transported elsewhere. The question is not if he was moved. It is when? And where? And how?’

  ‘That’s three questions.’

  Kaleem smiled. ‘Yes, I guess it is.’

  Jasmine realized that saying anything more would come dangerously close to revealing the secrets that her team had worked hard to uncover, but she thought it was worth the risk. If their captors had interrogated Kaleem, he would know what type of information they were seeking.

  She lowered her voice to a whisper. ‘What if I told you that I could answer two of those questions?’

  A look of hope spread across his face.

  66

  In case of emergencies, Manjani had memorized a wide variety of escape routes from Amorgos. He knew the schedule of every ferry with service from Katapola and the northern port of Aegiali. He also had the names of a few local fishermen who would be more than willing to take him from the island for the proper compensation.

  And yet none of those was good enough for Cobb.

  Not with so much at stake.

  With a single call to Papineau, he arranged for a seaplane to pick them up near the harbor and whisk them back toward Alexandria. Five hours later, they were touching down in the blue water several miles from the Egyptian coast, whe
re McNutt and the speedboat greeted them. Tired from their journey, few words were spoken until they reached the yacht.

  Manjani stared at the vessel in total disbelief. He was used to canvas tents and broken cots, not multimillion-dollar boats. ‘This is your base of operations?’

  Cobb nodded. ‘Make yourself at home.’

  As they crossed the aft deck Papineau stepped out from the lower lounge to greet them. He was anxious to hear Manjani’s take on things, but he didn’t want to pepper him with questions just yet. ‘I trust the arrangements were satisfactory?’

  Sarah nodded. ‘I have to give you credit: you’re one hell of a travel agent.’

  ‘Thank you, my dear. I’m glad you approved.’

  Cobb patted him on the shoulder. ‘She’s right. Nice work.’

  Papineau smiled. ‘For once, it seems I have done something right. Perhaps the tide is turning, and there are clearer seas ahead.’

  ‘Let’s hope,’ Cobb said with a shrug. ‘In the meantime, I need to hit the head. How does the command center in ten minutes sound?’

  ‘Ten minutes is fine, but let’s meet in the lounge instead. I think that would be better for Hector.’

  Cobb grimaced. He sensed something was wrong.

  Before Cobb had a chance to find out, Papineau extended his hand toward their guest. ‘Dr Manjani, I presume? I am your host, Jean-Marc Papineau. It’s good to have you aboard. Please let me know if I can do anything to make your stay more comfortable.’

  Manjani noticed Papineau’s designer suit and guessed that it cost more than the cottage on Amorgos. ‘Thank you. I appreciate the hospitality.’

  Papineau smiled warmly. ‘Josh, would you please show Dr Manjani to the lounge? I need to have a quick word with Jack before we start our briefing.’

  ‘No problem,’ said McNutt as he took Manjani’s elbow and led him inside. ‘Hey, are you really a doctor? Because I have this rash on my thigh that won’t go away. I can take off my pants, if you’d like.’

  Cobb rolled his eyes but let it pass. For the time being, he was more interested in what Papineau had to say about Garcia than Manjani’s response to McNutt. ‘So, what’s going on with Hector?’