Brandt gave the nod for the point man to open it. With a heave, the door slid across the uneven ground, grinding and protesting the whole way. Why wouldn't it? It had been shut for how many generations?
Levont took a decisive step into the next room. "What the...?"
Lopez was next and gave a whoop. Talli walked in, his jaw dropping.
Rebecca followed closely behind. "Oh. My. God."
However, it was Lopez who summarized it best.
"In your face, Geraldo!" he announced to the camera. "This is how you open up a chamber!"
CHAPTER 18.
Undisclosed Location 3:01 p.m. (EST) Bunny nearly jumped out of her skin when the click came over the line.
"Yes?" she answered. Silence stretched. Hope faded. Davidson didn't have any new information. He was checking in to see if they did. "Sorry. Nothing more."
Her eyes scanned the dozens of newscasts that Stark pulled up. Sure, theories were rampant. However, not a one had identified Brandt and the others. Which was probably a good thing. However, not having word from them for nearly a half hour was not such a good thing.
The longer they dallied, the greater the chances the Egyptians discovered the hidden tunnel. Okay, so Rebecca and the others probably weren't dallying, but still.
"Let him know the extraction team is nearly to the area," Emily stated. "He should be looking for a large van. Blue. Windowless."
Bunny nodded and repeated the information. She got a click in response.
It was a little hard to gauge Davidson's mental status through a series of clicks, but still. Something felt off. Wrong.
"Are you okay?"
That click came back way too fast.
"Something's wrong," Bunny said, glancing over the news feeds again. Everything seemed quiet on the eastern front. Then it had to be something with Davidson himself.
Prenner frowned. "But he just said he was fine."
The lieutenant didn't know Davidson like she did. Like the sniper would admit anything was wrong.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Bunny asked.
No response. So her hunch was right.
"Except, of course," Bunny continued, "for us to pray."
A click was her answer.
Davidson turned off the sat phone and shook out his right hand. That Bunny was a little too insightful for her own good.
He willed his fingers to loosen, but they had seized down into a knot. A minor wound like the one he'd taken in the alley never would have affected him, but the damaged nerves in his hand had something else to say about it.
A sniper kind of needed his fingers to work. It was one of those deal-breaker kinds of things.
Lying flat on his belly again, Davidson tried to relax. Maybe if he could convince his body that he was on a nice hot Bahamas beach rather than a grungy Giza rooftop. A grungy tin rooftop. He'd had to abandon all of the residential rooftops since, well, most of the occupants were out on them. With all the sirens and police activity, it had roused everyone from their apartments.
Not exactly ideal conditions for a stealthy extraction.
Trying to ignore the cramping of his fingers, Davidson did a perimeter sweep, again. Besides the constant influx of police and army vehicles, there was nothing to prove that Bunny had been correct in her assessment. He could be sitting on the wrong side of the pyramids for all he knew.
Or the others were all dead.
Davidson shook his head, sending a spray of sweat off his forehead. He couldn't let the nauseating pain get to him. An equally likely scenario had him placed within only minutes from Brandt's reappearance.
Okay, maybe equally likely wasn't correct, but even if there was the slimmest of chances, Davidson would wait out the week for them.
Not like this, though.
Pulling his hand away from his rifle, he had to admit he couldn't shoot. At least not with his right hand.
Jerking the rifle's butt up, Davidson positioned it against his other shoulder. He was trained to cross-shoot. However, being trained in it and actually doing it were two different things.
Yeah, their best-case scenario now required that Brandt and the rest had survived in a cave under a pyramid, somehow made their way to the Sphinx, broken out, then threaded the needle of hundreds of enemy forces, all with the support of their sniper, shooting left-handed.
Nope. Nothing to go wrong there.
Brandt tried hard not to be impressed or overwhelmed or shocked. He failed on all three accounts.
The chamber alcoves lined the walls, filled with urns. Tables overflowed with artifacts.
Thank God there hadn't been any threat in here since Levont had flat-out forgot to clear the room. Brandt had barely remembered to remind him. And Rebecca? Forget about it. The woman dragged her finger along objects circumventing the room. It was like her brain was trying to upload all the objects and categorize them.
Lopez was filming the whole thing, of course. Along with commentating. The only sound in the room was his voice.
"This is like King Tut's tomb on steroids, RJ..."
And the corporal wasn't wrong. There was a statue of an ibis that must have stood seven feet tall. The top of its head brushed up against the ceiling. Vakasa picked up a cobra circlet and put it on over her head scarf.
She then mimicked the "Walk Like An Egyptian" dance, looking very unlike a messiah.
The only English Vakasa seemed to know was American idioms. It was pretty damn cute.
After nearly tripping on a jackal vase, Brandt stopped.
"What is this place?" he asked.
Rebecca turned to him, wonder softening her tired features. "Anything that would come out of my mouth would just be a guess." She looked to Vakasa, who was trying to incorporate a moonwalk with her strutting. "Maybe she can help us translate some of the tablets..."
Ah, yes, the tablets. Brandt couldn't even count how many tablets were scattered around the room. He was no Egyptologist, but he would bet this doubled the known amount of knowledge about ancient Egypt.
"Guys," Levont breathed out, his eyes wide with delight. "I think...I think this is just the antechamber."
"Get out of here!" Lopez exclaimed. Even Talli looked impressed.
Levont seemed spot-on, though, as they all made their way to the far end of the room.
"I think these panels slide apart."
The point man was right. Those panels covered in hieroglyphics did look like they slid.
"Rebecca?"
She stepped up to the entrance, then put her hand out for Vakasa to come forward. The young girl cocked her head, studying the symbols. Then she reached out and opened them. Everyone scrambled back.
Okay, that was one way to do it.
"Levont, this time let's try and clear the room by the book," Brandt reminded the point man before they all got excited about the next discovery.
"You go it, Sarge."
However, as they entered the new chamber, all thoughts of the enemy vanished.
Rebecca wanted to breathe. Her lungs wanted air. Her brain wanted oxygen. They would all have to wait.
The sight before her was...staggering. The cavern was predominated by a huge pedestal, which served as the base for possibly the largest sarcophagus she'd ever seen. Dark-blue lapis lazuli had been laid into the sides. The stone was considered a precious gem, given it's swirled mineral pattern. Each piece completely unique. And there were hundreds, if not thousands, used to adorn the stone coffin.
It was the only adornment, though. This tomb was so ancient it predated Egypt's fascination with gold.
"There's more," Levont shouted from up ahead.
How could there be more?
But there were more. Dozens, as a matter of fact. Dozens upon dozens of "smaller" sarcophagi. And by smaller, Rebecca meant they were only seven feet long and four feet across.
"Whose tomb is this?" Talli asked as they found the back of the cavern, then made their way back to the main sarcophagus.
That was a great question. Rebecca surveyed the hieroglyphics they passed. There was a lot of chatter about the upper and lower kingdoms. About the two becoming one. That event, the unification of Egypt, was perhaps one of the single most important joinings in history. After the two kingdoms merged, a true golden age of humanity began. But maybe all this hype about the unification wasn't just talk. Rebecca put all of this into perspective, given the timeline they had built regarding the Sphinx.
Rebecca clasped her hands over her mouth.
"What?" Brandt asked.
Rebecca backed away from the tomb. It couldn't be.
Yet there it was. She read the cartouche. There was no mistake.
"I think..." Rebecca had a hard time speaking. "I think we've found the first pharaoh's tomb."
Lopez whooped, although Rebecca wasn't quite sure even he understood the magnitude of the find.
"Narmer?" Talli asked in a much more measured tone.
Rebecca shook her head. "No." She pointed to the cartouche. "I think this is the Scorpion King."
"The one the Rock played?" Lopez asked, looking very skeptical.
"No," Rebecca hurried on. "The movie totally twisted history, but there was a rumored Scorpion King-Selk was his given name-but most historians dismissed the story out of hand."
"Guess they didn't see this," Levont commented.
Again, Rebecca couldn't help but laugh. "No, I guess they didn't."
To say this was the find of the century was an understatement of an understatement.
"This is the man that singlehandedly birthed nearly everything we know of Western civilization..."
"Which is great and all..." Brandt stated.
Rebecca tried to shake off her awe and turned to him. "But how does this get us out of here? I have no idea." She pointed to the towering sarcophagus. "Come on, though, it is pretty cool."
Brandt graced her with a rare in-combat smile. "I will give you that."
"The Sphinx wasn't just a random, catchall protector of Egypt," Rebecca rushed on. "It was protecting this tomb. The tomb of Egypt's first, unified ruler."
Vakasa ran up to the coffin, putting her arms around a corner. "Babushka!"
"Grandmother," Brandt translated, although he wasn't sure if he really needed to.
Rebecca tried to get the girl away from the sarcophagus. "Honey, your body oils are going to stain the surface."
However, Vakasa wouldn't budge. No wonder, given that explanation.
"Babushka," she murmured, resting her face against the cool stone.
"Wait..." Rebecca said, backing away from the girl, cocking her head, studying the hieroglyphics.