Map of the Dead: A mystery thriller that's a page turner

by Murray Bailey

  “Good morning,” Marek said in a friendly voice as though nothing had happened. He sat in the passenger’s seat and breathed out smoke into the already dense atmosphere.

  Alex coughed. “Where’s Vanessa?”

  Marek gave a slight chuckle and indicated with his thumb. “She’s in the hotel. My friend Joachim is keeping her company.”

  Alex said, “You bastard. If you hurt her, I’ll—”

  “Then you had better hope we can follow your map. My friend has a very bad temper and he always gets his way.”

  Alex stared out of the window towards the hotel and then back at the man he knew as Marek.

  “Who are you?” Alex asked.

  “My real name—Wael.”

  “You seem to know a great deal.”

  “I am a real Egyptologist.”

  “Did you kill Marek?”

  “No.”

  “Who did?”

  At that moment, the side door jerked open and the BMW man, Joachim, took hold of Alex’s collar and pulled him out. “Enough chat.” When the three of them were standing beside a Land Rover, Joachim gripped Alex’s shoulder.

  “The girl has told me it is the temple on this hill we are interested in.”

  “You bastard,” Alex hissed, fighting against the bindings. “If you’ve hurt her—”

  The man slapped him. “Don’t worry about what I’ve done, worry about what I will do. If you don’t help us then I shall just have to have some fun, won’t I?”

  Wael said, “Who is keeping an eye on her?”

  “Ahmed,” Joachim said dismissively. He took a piece of paper from a pocket and showed a diagram to Wael and then Alex.

  Wael said, “Why this temple, Alex?”

  “The dimensions.”

  Wael shrugged. “And that means?”

  “The short end is twenty-two and a half metres long. The side is thirty metres and if I draw a diagonal line across the temple, the triangle I have is fifty metres,” Alex said, proudly unable to restrain himself. “It’s in the ratio three, four and five.”

  “So it’s the magical ratio of numbers we are looking for.” Wael grinned for a moment then frowned. “This helps us how?”

  “Why should I tell you?”

  The other man growled, “Because of the girl.”

  Wael pulled the other man aside. Alex couldn’t understand what they said, but it was urgent and angry. He could tell the men despised one another. Could he use that to his advantage somehow?

  They stopped talking and Wael turned to Alex and spoke calmly. “It is for your professional pride, Alex. My people only want the treasure that is here. If you want, you can have the all the glory. Perhaps we may allow you to keep something valuable.”

  Alex thought, but there seemed no option but to cooperate.

  He said, “All right. Let’s go up to the temple, but I have two conditions. Firstly you cut these bindings—after all, I won’t be able to walk with my legs tied and I need my hands to draw.”

  Joachim cut the bindings with a knife and returned it to a sheath on his belt. All the time he kept his cold eyes on Alex, like a snake trying to mesmerize a trapped rodent.

  “All right,” Wael said. “See, we are reasonable. What is your second condition?”

  Alex said, “Let Vanessa go.”

  “You are in no position to bargain,” Joachim scoffed, but then he waved towards the hotel. Back to Alex, he said, “I will let her join us. Perhaps it will add to the incentive.”

  Vanessa appeared at the entrance, her hands tied in front of her. Ahmed had hold of her arm, but when he let go she ran to Alex. He put his arms around her. “Are you all right?”

  She nodded and he told her everything was going to be all right.

  “Let’s go,” Joachim said, and pointed up the hill.

  They walked up the sand and gravel path to the summit. Wael led the way. Ahmed and Joachim walked behind them.

  “Marek’s real name is Wael. Claims he’s an Egyptologist,” Alex said to Vanessa. Then, calling to Wael, “The mummy research in Cairo was fake—to convince us you were genuine, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “But when we asked for you at the museum…” Alex nodded at the sudden realization. “You paid the security guard.”

  “Of course.” Wael stopped and pointed to the ground where paths converged. Most of the area was bald, but there were a few stones to depict the ruins.

  Alex was dismayed. “You know this is impossible! How can I possibly make sense of this? Where are the forty columns? Where are the geese?”

  Joachim placed his arm across Vanessa’s chest, pulling her close and placing his gun against her temple. “I think you know how to read the map. You are a smart guy. I suggest you think hard and work it out.”

  Alex took the paper from Wael and studied it. Immediately north of the temple was believed to have been an offering area, beyond that another temple. The walls of the second, smaller temple were less regular and his thoughts were that this was from a much earlier period. This location was the focal point of the area. There should only have been one temple. He walked to the south-eastern corner and looked around and then studied the diagram. The previous night he had realized this was not just a series of walls with the magical triangular ratio, the walls weren’t symmetrical—they were deliberately different lengths.

  He asked, “How long was an Egyptian standard measure?”

  “A cubit was the standard measure. It is the length of a forearm to the fingertip,” Wael said. “Not very standard.”

  Alex knelt and measured the smallest gap with his arm, then the next biggest. Then he walked around and estimated the rest and laughed.

  Wael joined him. “What is it, my friend?”

  Alex returned to the south-eastern corner of the ruined temple. “What do four hoops—heel bones—mean?”

  “Forty.” Wael shrugged as if it were obvious. “And then the pillar. We agreed we are looking for the forty pillars.”

  Alex shook his head. “No. The coiled rope usually means the number ten. Here the coil relates to the triangle not the pillar.”

  Wael said nothing.

  “And the spiral means one hundred. But Ellen either didn’t recognize it or knew it wasn’t a number but a…” Alex drew a spiral in the dirt. Under different circumstances he would have grinned.

  Joachim snapped, “What?”

  “More double meaning. The spiral doesn’t just represent one hundred, it also shows—”

  “The Fibonacci sequence?” Wael asked.

  “Precisely! And what does the Fibonacci sequence do?” Alex paused a beat before answering his own question. “It gives us sectio aurea—the golden section. In the Fibonacci sequence the ratio of two consecutive numbers tends towards phi. 1.61803399. So it’s similar to pi.”

  Joachim huffed but Wael held up a hand to stop him interrupting.

  Wael said, “Go on, Alex.”

  “The proportions of the Parthenon are famously based on this ratio. This temple’s proportions aren’t perfect, perhaps something is missing from the diagram, perhaps we need the full 3D effect, but this is very clever. The proportions here are both the three-four-five ratio and close to the Fibonacci sequence.”

  Joachim said, “I don’t care what it means. Just get on with it!”

  Wael glared at his companion and immediately said, “And that helps us how, Alex?”

  “Well, I think of Fibonacci as squares rather than a spiral. The squares have sides 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 and so on. The same is true for golden rectangles. You know A0 folds in half to form A1, which folds to form A2 and so on.” In the dirt he drew a rectangle and then one on top of the first like an upside-down L.

  He said, “The second rectangle here has its length that is twice the width of the first rectangle.” Adjacent to the second, he drew a third rectangle. “This is like the A2, if my first rectangle was A4 and then I draw another—A1—that connects us back to the first.”

  The fina
l series looked like this:

  Wael said, “All right, I get the point.”

  “Well, now draw a diagonal line across one of these and you get a triangle.”

  “Naturally.”

  Alex drew a line bisecting the first rectangle. “And the amazing thing is the triangle is approximately three, four, five in dimensions. It’s a golden triangle equivalent and the progression is like a Fibonacci sequence—maybe even more special!”

  Alex continued to convert his sequence of four rectangles into triangles. “See, a Fibonacci-type spiral appears.”

  Joachim shook his head, unimpressed.

  Wael prompted, “So this means…?”

  “Four hoops didn’t mean forty. They weren’t heel bones. They were deliberately rotated to mean four stages of the sequence. The pillar relates to a circle on the temple layout. It indicates the Isis throne.” He added the throne to the diagram and then walked to the bottom right-hand corner of the temple.

  “It’s the origin. It’s where the first triangle is, the start of the sequence.” He indicated a line from the middle of the base to the top end of where the throne would fit. “That would be the hypotenuse. It aligns with the north, yes?”

  He didn’t wait for a response, but walked the length of the first triangle, counting his paces. When he stopped he indicated a triangle following the line of the temple wall. “The second triangle starts here, goes to the top right corner and finishes top left. The third triangle brings us back.” He pointed left, along the line of the base. “It ends at a point the width of the temple on the far side.”

  Then he started walking again, counting his paces to the top wall of the temple and returned to the bottom corner. “The fourth triangle comes right round and will end over there, the length of the temple away.” Pointing south-east, he set off walking in line with the side wall, counting the paces.

  When Alex had counted the same number of paces as the length of the temple, he stopped. “The first triangle had sides of three and four. The fourth triangle is eight and twelve. Twelve again. And the eight in the code confirms this is right.” He looked back to make sure his line was straight, adjusted slightly then pointed to the ground. “This is where the Map-Stone points to. Whatever it is, is buried here.” He looked at Wael, shrugged and half smiled. “I’m afraid there’s no access, the dig hasn’t covered this area.”

  In the corner of his eye he saw Joachim advance. Alex turned just in time to see the man lash out, pistol-whipping him into oblivion.

  SIXTY-THREE

  The mini digger had been brought up the hill and now rumbled and belched diesel fumes. A second Land Rover was parked beside the other outside the hotel. A man Alex hadn’t seen before operated the machine, excavating the area known as Temple IV quickly and without care for preserving anything but the now clearly defined walls.

  Vanessa cradled Alex’s head in her lap, her hands still tied. His hands were also tied, although neither of them had bound legs. Ahmed watched them, a gun pointed casually in their direction. Wael stood close by and Joachim was nearer the hole, directing the dig.

  Alex looked at the hasty excavation and then at Wael. “Call yourself an archaeologist? Do you approve of this?”

  Wael said nothing, although his eyes held concern.

  Vanessa gave Alex a drink from a water bottle as he sat up and looked at the cleared area. There was a central area with steps descending to a door. The final restraining earth was scooped away and Joachim signalled for the digger to move back. He walked into the excavated area, over to the steps and down. It was clearly a tomb entrance.

  Wael joined him at the stone door, looked back excitedly and called, “Geese, one in each corner—the four geese!”

  Joachim shouldered the other man aside, felt around the stone doorway and then stepped back. The two men spoke animatedly before Wael retreated and Joachim signalled the operator to move the digger. The scoop was positioned in front of the stone door and thrust forward. There was a clap like thunder and they felt it reverberate underground.

  Alex said, “If you are expecting treasure, I think you’re mistaken.”

  Wael looked surprised.

  “Just so we’re clear, the gold on the Map-Stone,” Alex started, “I don’t think it literally meant there is gold in the tomb. I think it just referred to the geometric progression to identify the temple: the golden triangles.”

  Wael looked scornful. “Perhaps, but our interest is not really gold.”

  The scoop jarred against the stone door once more. The door tilted. The digger struck again and a gap, wide enough for a man to clamber through, opened up.

  As the digger backed up, Wael darted forward. At the doorway he shone a torch in. After a brief hesitation he disappeared inside. A few moments later he came out and called to the prisoners. “You were right. It looks like a maze in here.” He disappeared inside once more.

  Alex nodded to Vanessa. She’d been the one to realize the lines on the ceremonial block looked like a maze.

  Joachim told Ahmed to keep his gun trained on them and then he darted inside the tomb.

  Vanessa whispered something so quietly Alex didn’t catch it. He followed her eyes and saw that the digger operator was about to climb out—on the far side.

  Just as Alex looked up at Ahmed beside them, the man reeled sideways. Vanessa had swept his legs away. In a smooth movement, she was on her feet and standing on the man’s gun hand. Alex realized she must have managed to get her hands untied, because in the next move she had the gun.

  She pointed it at the surprised digger operator and beckoned him over. She instructed Ahmed to untie Alex. Then she made Ahmed and the other man walk down the hill to the cars, prodding them in the back, urging them on.

  Alex followed. He glanced behind again and again but the others didn’t appear from the tomb.

  At the car, Vanessa got the car keys and told Alex to tie the prisoners’ hands. She made them climb into the rear, locked the doors from the front and threw the keys away. Then she jumped into the driver’s seat of the second Land Rover. Alex sat beside her.

  After fumbling with the ignition she punched the gears into reverse and shot out of the town. A few faces watched them from the security of their houses and Alex wondered whether their lack of response was because they were used to crazy archaeologists or they recognized trouble.

  She came out onto a main road and turned left. At a junction she turned right and then right onto a dual carriageway. “I don’t know where I’m going!” she said, and then laughed with relief.

  His heart felt like a small bird trapped by the cage of his ribs. He took deep breaths and let himself sink into the seat.

  At a service stop, Vanessa pulled around the back and went into the building. They cleaned up in the bathrooms, reunited in the restaurant and ordered coffee. They decided against eating, but after ten minutes recovering and lured by the smell of food, they realized just how hungry they were. They ordered large portions and ate slowly, savouring every mouthful like it was their last meal.

  They ate in silence, each locked in their own thoughts. When they had both finished, Alex realized he had been staring out of the window. “We’ve got to go back,” he said.

  “No, we need to inform the authorities.”

  “We experienced the so-called authorities before. We’re foreigners, without passports and associated with trouble. The response will be to lock us up—arrest, then question. I don’t want to see the inside of a cell again.”

  “So we go back?”

  “Hold on.” He disappeared for a few minutes and returned with a book. He opened it up. A map of the region.

  He said, “We wait till dark. And find another way around. We make sure they’re not there and then we take a look.” He pointed to an area just south of Port Said. “We’re about here on this road. There’re a thousand roads through this delta. We can go around here.” He traced a line, zigzagging west and then south. “We can come around to the north and sto
p at the buildings to the west of the site.”

  “So, we’ll check it out from a distance and won’t go near if they’re still at the site?”

  “You got it.”

  Vanessa agreed and they decided to drive on to the city of Port Said. By the time they got there she’d managed to persuade him they should get a hotel and wait a day before returning. It would be infuriating for them to drive back only to find the men still there.

  Alex realized her logic was good. Wael didn’t know everything about the map, but they probably wouldn’t give up straight away. Alex knew he certainly wouldn’t.

  Without passports they decided to find a small hotel and were relieved they weren’t asked to produce them. They checked into separate rooms and both sunk into relaxing baths. After, they walked to the beach and watched the sun go down from a bar. With a couple of beers inside him, Alex began to feel less tense.

  He said, “I still can’t get over it.”

  “What?”

  “The golden ratio, phi, it’s very similar to pi. It can’t be a coincidence that the Bible refers to the area where the temple is as Pi-Ramesses. Phi is attributed to the Greeks, but they must have got it from the Egyptians. And the pyramids are generally thought to be built based on pi, but it’ll be the golden ratio again.”

  Alex noticed Vanessa didn’t seem to share his excitement at the discovery. “Don’t you find it amazing?” he asked her.

  She forced a smile. “Not really. I’m more interested in whose tomb it is. Who do you think?”

  “Must be Nefertiti’s. I think Meryra either built the tomb or helped with the design and created the Map-Stone. I don’t understand why the block was in Amarna though.”

  “Are you certain Lord Carnarvon didn’t take it from King Tut’s tomb? Wouldn’t that make more sense since you think Meryra took other things there including documents.”