“Speak.”
Matthias licked his lips. “Kiya says they are in the American Embassy, Lion.”
Kranz’s voice purred like a sated beast’s. “I see. Where is the Bride now?”
“She and the surviving Raven are waiting outside the embassy as instructed.”
“Good. Kiya is a loyal acolyte, but if she fails me again she will be terminated.”
Matthias gave a shallow nod. “She desires her promotion a great deal. I’m certain she will not fail us.”
“Fail me, not us, Matthias. If she fails then it is I who must answer for it to the Persian.”
“I understand, Lion.”
Kranz doubted that the young Austrian Soldier understood at all. Members of the Order down at Matthias’s level were not privy to the sort of ruthless business conducted higher up the ladder. They would never recruit anyone if the sort of darkness he had witnessed ever became common knowledge among the lower levels. It was the sort of thing that might keep most people up at night, but Kranz had long learned to deal with it.
“I want to know the second they leave the embassy. There is no way this mission can be allowed to fail, Matthias. If she secures the Book of Thoth then our initiations into the higher ranks of the Order are guaranteed. If she fails, we are all dead.”
“Yes, Lion.”
Both men were silent for a long time. Outside, the sun was now gone. It had slipped beneath the sandy, western horizon while Kranz was dreaming of his promotion. Now, a new night had fallen over the land, and the darkness it brought with it was reflected in the cold, bitter heart beating in his chest.
It was unfortunate that Mason and his team had stumbled into such a terrible conflict, but such was the way of things. If he had turned Haven down and minded his own business, he and his team would live a long life in their asset recovery business, but instead they had made the suicidal decision to challenge the might of the world’s oldest and most powerful Order. They had decided to wade into a war older than they could understand, and they would be punished for it, savagely.
Alexandria, he thought once again with a smile. Of course.
Back when this place had become the Patriarchate of Alexandria in 42 AD, the ancient religions had been driven out by the Christians. The priest must have hidden the Book of Spells to protect it, he thought, and then secreted the codex in Nectanebo’s sarcophagus as a final, mocking twist.
But then Parennefer was in the Hidden Hand, after all.
The Raiders had done well, but now was the time to fight back and finish them.
“You are dismissed, Matthias. Inform me when they leave the embassy.”
“Yes, sir.”
The Lion closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was so close to the ancient Book of Spells he could almost reach out and touch it, and yet… Kiya would track Mason and the Raiders to the book’s location, and then he would take it from them personally before ordering their execution.
Nothing would please Amadeus more.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
“I thought we would at least have to solve an ancient riddle about the gods or something,” Ella said. “But a storm drain?”
“Milo says this is the place,” Mason said with an apologetic look at the others. “And Milo’s….well, Milo. He’s never wrong, right?”
“That’s about the size of it,” Milo said. “Sorry.”
“So how do we get the grate off?” Eva said.
Mason looked at the CIA man. “Got anything to tow with in the Escalade, Garrett?”
The American nodded. “Sure. Length of tow chain.” He took a closer look at the storm drain, wobbling the loose grate with his hand. “Ought to pop that open as easy as pie.”
It popped open easy as pie the second Garrett hit the throttle and drove the Escalade forward a couple of meters. Even though it was after nightfall, Mason and the others had formed a ring around the offending article to stop any rubberneckers seeing what was going on, and seconds later their handiwork had successfully revealed the entrance beneath the famous pillar.
They kept lookout while members of the team lowered themselves into the storm drain one by one, and when they were all inside, they saw a large metal door built into the interior of the drain.
“Looks like the entrance to the catacombs all right,” Eva said. “I’d say fifth dynasty.”
“Very funny,” Mason said, running his hands over the lock. Without uttering another word, he pulled his Glock and blasted the lock to pieces, releasing the old door.
Ikard’s voice crackled over the radio. “I hate to break up the party, guys, but you’ve got company.”
“Who?” Mason said.
“Your starter for ten,” Ikard said. “Even in the Egyptian heat, they’re wearing black trench coats.”
“Huh?” Mason was dumbfounded. “How they hell are they tracking us?”
“And that’s the good news, the bad news is there are now three of them.”
“Three?” Eva said. “This just gets better.”
Mason shook his head and cursed himself for sending so many of the team south to the dam. He was sure no one else knew about the tomb’s location, but now he saw he had made a terrible error.
“Who’s the third, Chuck?” Garrett said.
“No idea. Average height, receding hairline, definitely not the type to kick back with a couple of blunts and the best of Miles Davis.”
“That’s not helping me picture him, Chuck.” Garrett said.
Mason faced the team. “The presence of the Hidden Hand means that things are now time critical. We have to find the tomb and the book and get out of here before they do.”
They cautiously made their way inside the new entrance, and began to descend down a dusty spiral staircase cut into the stone. Garret closed the door behind them and plunged them all into darkness. He rolled a boulder behind it and dusted his hands off. “That should keep them busy for a while.”
Mason switched on his flashlight and the narrow tunnel was instantly illuminated in a ghostly white light. “Well, here goes nothing, I guess,” he said, and started to lead the others down the steep tunnel.
A little under five hundred meters later, they reached a narrow archway which led into the part of the catacombs, but not before they had to blast another door open to give them access. “The authorities really don’t want anyone coming in this way,” Milo said. “Must be trying to hide the location of the tomb from the world.”
“Their main concerns are vandals and thieves,” Eva said. “Not archaeologists searching for the tomb of Cleopatra.”
Way after closing time, the catacombs were empty and silent, and the Raiders had them entirely to themselves. Located in Alexandria’s Karmouz district, the Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa are considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages. The words meant Mound of Shards in English in reference to the vast quantities of smashed pottery fragments to be found in the vicinity.
“This is amazing,” Ella said in hushed tones.
Eva agreed. “The whole place is cut directly out of the rock and is pretty much a cave really.”
“How many levels are there?” Milo asked.
“Three. They’re accessed via a central spiral staircase in the rotunda. They lead to a banquet hall, an antechamber and various burial chambers.”
“Sounds like my kind of place,” Milo said with a casual laugh. “Reminds me a bit of the Christian catacombs in Rome.”
“Except this place was basically a private Roman cemetery,” Eva said, her voice echoing weirdly off the damp walls towering above them. “It goes down into the earth to a depth the equivalent of a five story building and contains around three hundred corpses.”
“Delicious,” Milo said. “How did they get the corpses down here? These goddam stairs are a nightmare.”