“They look like they were painted yesterday,” Leila said. The colors appeared more brilliant than she remembered.
“If the corridor is this intricately adorned, what must the tomb itself be like?” Xander stopped in front of the door. After a moment of examining the only barrier between them and the tomb, he tugged on a latex glove to feel along the sides of the heavy stone.
“No noticeable cracks or imperfections. It doesn’t look like it’s ever been tampered with. The seal is intact,” he muttered as he crouched on his haunches to examine the lower part of the door. “We’ll need more time for this. A lot of time.”
“We need photos and samples for analysis before we decide how to get in there,” Leila said, squatting down next to him. “There’s no way we can do all this on our own. We’ll need to bring in a whole team at some point.”
“But how to do it quietly? The Dahshur robbery was painful enough. The grave robbers were bold. If they get wind of this…” He lowered himself to the floor and stretched his arms out behind him, leaning on his hands. They sat without speaking for a few minutes, their flashlights set upright between them. Their eyes stayed glued to the door as if expecting Neferkheri herself to walk out any moment.
The only sound in the stagnant air was their own breathing. After a few minutes passed, Xander tilted his head and gazed sideways at her. “So, how does it feel?”
She wrinkled her nose and scrutinized the tunnel. “Dirty and stuffy?”
One corner of his mouth tugged upward. “No. I mean to have found one of the biggest discoveries in Egypt?”
Leila bit one side of her bottom lip. That aspect had never crossed her mind.
She picked at a small flake of stone clinging to her sweater. “Technically, it was an accident I found it at all. Soliman wanted to bring in the radars, remember? He would have found it.”
“But technically, you’re the one who saw it first.”
She couldn’t argue with that. Her eyes slid shut as she tried to recapture the moment she came down this tunnel for the first time, excitement and fear fluttering in her chest. The walls gleamed with gold, hieroglyphics full of color teasing her with hints of the secrets behind the sealed doors. It was like stepping back three thousand years in time. Any moment a procession of ancient Egyptians would march down the hall, carrying gifts of gold, jewelry, vases, and furniture the late Queen would need to be comfortable in the afterlife.
“Magical.” The word slipped from her mouth in a soft breath. She could almost smell the musky incense burning from golden kettles and hear the wails of the mourning crowd.
“That sounds right.”
Xander’s voice brought her back to the present. She opened her eyes and met his gaze.
“And how does it feel to be second?” Matching his posture, she stretched out her legs and placed her hands behind her, her fingertips brushing against his. A jolt surged up her arm and vibrated in her chest, stealing her breath away. It took all of her willpower to pretend she hadn’t noticed, to keep her focus on him.
But his dark eyes left hers for a moment, lingering on her face. They flickered over the scratches above her eyebrows, the bruise on her temple, then down to the bandage on her cheek.
“Astonishing,” he whispered, his gaze coming back up to rest on hers.
She wasn’t sure how to read the look on his face. The soft half-smile, the deep, unwavering gaze. Whatever it was, it held her captive. Unable to help herself, she wondered what it would be like to kiss him.
I bet it’s nice. The buzzing in her chest solidified into a rock. Son of a monkey, I’m losing my mind. While she should absolutely not be thinking about kissing him, there was no denying that, down here, things felt different. More simple. It was just them and ancient Egypt. But once they resurfaced, all the uncertainties would come rushing back. If there was a good way to really complicate things, that would be it.
Clearing her throat, she tilted her head toward the doors. “We should get some pictures and some samples while we’re here.”
“Right.”
Leila took photos and measurements and Xander collected samples to use for dating. He ended up scratching dust particles from the underside of the seal into a small Ziploc, which was then safely tucked into a pocket in his bag.
By the time they finished, they were both ready to call it a night. As they weaved their way back through the tunnel, Leila was certain she would fall asleep on the spot. She would have to be up and ready for another day of digging in three hours. The camel waited patiently where they had left him, his eyes half-closed and cud thoroughly chewed.
They mounted and rode toward town. Leila kept her arms crossed and her legs tight against the camel. As tired as she was, she doubted the sleep would be restful that night. Not when images of an untouched tomb below the sand vividly played on repeat in her mind. Between visions of hieroglyphs and clay seals, Xander’s face haunted her, the way he looked at her. Who was she kidding? It probably meant nothing. It was just the excitement of the tomb making her see things that weren’t really there.
Xander tugged on the reins and the camel slowed to a stop.
“What’s wrong—” Leila started, but Xander half turned toward her and held a finger to his lips.
Brows pinched together, Leila scanned the dunes, gray under the moonlight. The step pyramid rose like a black mountain behind them, the lights from Saqqara twinkling in the distance ahead. The stillness stretched on for several seconds before Leila heard it—a horse whinny, somewhere beyond a dune. Shouts echoed among the furrows of the necropolis. Xander stiffened as the sound of muffled hoofbeats pounded toward them.
Three horsemen appeared at the top of the dune before them and came to a halt, the gleam of the moonlight illuminating their silhouettes from behind. The horses tossed their heads and the men glanced back and forth between each other. One shouted an order, and they descended the dune.
“I don’t suppose all they want is some baklava.” Xander tugged on the reins to turn the camel around. Leila slipped her hand into her bag and found her pepper spray as Xander urged the beast into a faster pace.
The horsemen caught up and pounded along either side of the camel, hooves flinging sand in all directions. The blood rushed out of Leila’s face. The men all carried guns—large ones—across their backs.
One of the riders aligned himself with the camel, a scarf covering his face, leaving only his dark eyes exposed. Leila shrieked when the rider whisked out a knife and slashed at Xander’s leg. Growling, Xander kicked at him while Leila held on for dear life. She had to do something. She couldn’t just hang on and watch. Her finger slid over the trigger of her pepper spray.
“Hey!” Leila shouted. The assailant gawked up at her, and she emptied the contents of the canister of capsaicin into his eyes. The man cried out and fell from the horse, his hands covering his face. He kneeled on the ground, doubled over in a coughing fit of phlegm and tears.
Another horseman galloped forward and took his comrade’s place next to the camel. Urging the beast to turn, Xander yanked on the reins, but the newcomer slipped a knife under the saddle strap and sliced through the leather. The saddle slid to the side, dumping Leila and Xander to the ground.
Pain shot through her chest, her lungs emptying on the impact. Leila gasped and her throat filled with sand.
Xander landed beside her and rolled onto his back. He jumped to his feet, a handgun appearing in his hands, a triumphant look on his face.
The two remaining horsemen paced, calculating, poised to chase anyone who attempted to flee.
“Get the camel and go.” Xander gripped her forearm with his free hand and hauled her to her feet.
Holding a palm to her aching chest, Leila gaped at him. “But what about you? What are you going to do?” She cast a nervous glance toward the marauder crawling on the ground, who now held his gun tightly in his hands, inching closer.
“I’ll keep them busy.” Xander lifted his gun and prised back the slide release to chamber the first round.
