Chapter 3

Johnny was up the next morning eager to get busy at the dig site. The long, involved dream from the night before had him motivated to see the underground facilities of the Cult of Amun Ra. After his morning physical training he was sitting at a picnic table under the dining tent enjoying a cup of Egyptian Coffee with Mister Gamil. Gamil had introduced him to the potent coffee a couple of days ago and now he had Hala brewing it for him on a hot plate in the dispensary. Egyptian (sometimes called Turkish) Coffee was a mixture of very finely ground coffee and sugar that was slowly heated in a small, long-handled pot. Gamil prepared the coffee for them himself this morning as they discussed the new dig. Gamil was unhappy about Mahmoud Bashar being the first person to enter their find.

“Bashar is lazy jurad (rat), Tabib Johnny. He sell fake...” Hany struggled to find the English word he was looking for and finally went with Arabic, “’atharun muqadas (relics of the past), yet honor will be his for what you discover.”

Johnny smiled and clapped Hany on the back.

“You mean what Doctor Stone discovered. All I’ve discovered is a liking for you, Hala and Egyptian Coffee,” Johnny said.

Mister Gamil’s demeanor brightened over what Johnny said.

“Hala is excellent cook, nice looks, make lucky man good wife,” he said.

Johnny laughed and said, “I will keep that in mind my friend.”

Before the conversation with Hany could take another turn, Rachael and Mia sat down across the table from them. The girls were fresh from the shower and obviously excited.

“Mister Gamil, may we borrow Johnny a minute? We need to speak with him,” Rachael said.

Hany nodded, excused himself and wandered off.

“We have got to get those caverns uncovered Johnny,” Rachael said urgently. “The dream last night was the most amazing thing I’ve ever experienced, and we need to explore that further.”

Mia was nodding along with Rachael, so Johnny stood up and said. “I wasn’t hungry anyway, so let’s go move some rocks.”

By seven-thirty that morning the students, hired workers, Mia, Stone and Johnny were working under the shade tent covering the excavation. The team and crew were clearing debris from the stairway. Hala was manning the aid tent while Johnny worked beside the others. The rocks they removed this day were not being cataloged. Instead, they were being stacked next to the dig. They would be checked later. The two groups formed an efficient bucket brigade and the rocks were cleared quickly. The team would stop for a water break every half hour so sand could be swept up and removed from the steps.

Johnny was at the bottom of the stairwell lifting out stones when he uncovered something with a coppery sheen. As they worked down into the hole the shiny metal turned into a copper clad door, the copper shiny from being scoured by sand over the millennia. When the door was completely uncovered, Johnny slipped the edge of the knife blade of his Leatherman between the door and jamb. He went around the door with his blade and amazingly the door was not wedged into the opening. Johnny looked at Rachael expectantly, his hand on the circular brass pull. He was ready to pull the door open for Doctor Stone when she shook her head and reluctantly called Mahmoud Bashar with the news.

Bashar showed up and hour later with an entourage of photographers. With great pomp the bureaucrat pulled open the door as flashes strobed and cameras clicked and whirred. As soon as the door opened, Bashar stepped through, a large flashlight in his hand. Johnny use his size to nudge aside a couple of photographers so Doctor Stone could peek through the door.

Everyone was thunderstruck when they saw the door opened into a five meter by five-meter room, the only occupants two orderly rows of large pottery jars with lids sealed with what looked like beeswax. The walls were partially covered in crude hieroglyphs.

Bashar hid his chagrin and started giving orders. “Photograph everything but do not disturb anything,” he said needlessly. “I will collect containers and send them to Cairo.”

He spun on his heels and stalked up the stairs.

Johnny looked around and tried to put a happy face on this disaster. He didn’t need to though, because Rachael was trying to suppress a grin. She winked at Johnny and replied to Bashar’s retreating back, “of course Professor Bashar, it will be as you direct.”

Once the Functionary was up the stairs and on his way. Rachael actually giggled, it was a sound Johnny thought she was incapable of making.

“What’s so funny Doctor Stone?” Johnny asked.

“We are friends enough that you can call me Rachael,” she replied, “and what’s funny is Bashar did not recognize this room for the decoy I suspect it is. A decoy room is often used in tomb complexes to fool grave robbers. These pottery containers are merely camouflage.”

“So what now?” Johnny asked, “and what do these glyphs say?”

Rachael giggled again and Johnny was starting to suspect there was something in the air.

“Rachael held up her hand, “Sorry, sorry, but when I get excited, I get the giggles.” She took a breath, composed herself and continued. “First of all, the hieroglyphics are graffiti.”

She pointed to one of the better examples. “This one says ‘Masudah is rear of donkey’. Second, we simply have to find the right place to break through the wall.”

Somehow, what Rachael said resonated with both Mia and Johnny. “So how do we find the real entrance?” Mia asked.

Rachael sent Mister Gamil for a pickaxe, a sledgehammer and some different shaped rock chisels.

I know exactly what you need,” Gamil said excitedly. Then he bolted up the stairs.

Mia, Rachael and Johnny each took a wall to examine.

Johnny ended up with the wall to the right of the stairs. He walked up close and, starting halfway down the wall on the left-hand side. He started halfway down because he figured the opening wouldn’t be at the top of the wall. He was at the other corner without finding anything out of the ordinary. He was about to start back when he noticed a slight crack on the stairway wall, a foot from the corner and two feet up. That wall was the absolute last place anyone would have looked. Johnny called the women over to have them check his idea.

When Mister Gamil returned with two men and a bunch of tools, Rachael had mapped out an area to break through the wall, so Johnny attacked the crack he found with a cold chisel and a two-pound hammer. It took about five minutes of careful chiseling to loosen up the stone next to the crack. Then Johnny took the sledge and with a couple of John Henry type swings he blasted the one foot square piece of stone through the wall.

Rachael whooped when the stone fell backwards, “Move over and let me look, she said.”

Rachael shined her light through the hole; on the other side was a low tunnel that went for a meter then turned sharply left. “Yesss,” she hissed.

Rachael looked at her watch, eager to continue opening the wall. She was surprised it was after four and almost time to release the workers for the day. After some discussion, they decided to stop for the day. Johnny volunteered to stand guard through the night and hustled back to the compound for an air mattress, bedding and the .40 caliber Sig Sauer 2022 that came in country with his medical supplies. He wasn’t sure about modern day tomb robbers, but he was going to be prepared regardless. He also packed an LED battery powered lantern and a Lee Childs novel in his already loaded ruck sack. His bathroom needs were covered by the fancy port-a-potties beside the outer wall installed for the convenience of the paying tourists.

Johnny used a foot pump to inflate the full-sized air mattress, he was pleasantly surprised that the air mattress was one of the tall models: it was almost as comfortable as his bed in the dispensary.

Johnny was removing the pick-axe head from its handle so he could use the hickory shaft as a weapon when Mia came down the stairs carrying a sack of food and a bottle of water.

“I didn’t see you at supper, so I had the cook whip you up a couple of sandwiches,” she said.

Johnny had a couple of MREs in his rucksack, but the sandwiches were much better; he thanked her for her thoughtfulness. She sat next to him on the mattress as he ate, and they talked about tomorrow and what they might find. Johnny finished the meal and the conversation awkwardly lagged.

Johnny was unprepared when Mia launched herself across the mattress and knocked him sprawling flat on his back. Sitting on his stomach, she bent at the waist and laid a scorching kiss on him, her agile tongue squirming between his lips. She sat up and whipped the blue polo shirt over her head; her medium sized breasts were encased in a satiny pink bra. When she bent to kiss him again, he caught her shoulders in his hands and held her off.

“Whoa-whoa-whoa!” he exclaimed. “Slow down, at least let me go shower.”

“You aren’t going anywhere,” she growled as she deftly twisted her arms behind her back and unfastened her bra. She flung the bra behind her and her breast were perky with ski-jump nipples. “I’ve been trying to find a way to get you alone for three days. Now get that shirt off, I want my skin glued to yours.”

And so it went. Mia was an active and demanding lover, but she gave as good as she got. Opposite her reserved demeanor Mia liked her sex sweaty and semi-rough. She finally took mercy on him an hour later. Johnny was gasping for breath when she let up on him, yet she wasn’t even breathing hard. Johnny was flat on his back on the air mattress and Mia was draped on him like a second skin; she could not seem to get enough touching him. Johnny asked if she was okay.

“I’m better than okay Doc,” she cooed, “you fixed what ailed me, but Rachael and Hala are gonna be pissed I got to you first.”

Johnny laughed at that, “in my dreams,” he said. “Doctor Stone can barely tolerate me away from this spot. And Hala is a shy and sweet girl, sleeping with me is probably the last thing on her mind.”

It was Mia’s turn to laugh, “Rachael Stone would seduce you in a minute if she knew how, and little Nurse Innocent,” she said making air quotes, “is in lust with you worse than me.”

Johnny and Mia talked and cuddled some more, then the day caught up with Johnny and he fell asleep. It felt as if he had just nodded off when Mia shook him awake and, in a frightened voice whispered in his ear, “someone is outside.”

Johnny was instantly wide awake, his combat instincts on high alert. He gave her a nod and pointed to the ground on the far side of the air mattress; Mia scrambled off the bed and hid behind it. Johnny started to pull his pistol from his rucksack when he realized that firing rounds inside the stone room was a very bad idea. The sound would deafen him, the muzzle flash blind him and ricocheting rounds might hit him or Mia. So instead, he grabbed the axe handle, crept up to the door and waited for it to open.

Light from a gibbous moon illuminated the four men standing single file on the stairs. The first man through the door got the surprise of his life when his flashlight lit up a very large, very angry and very naked man holding an axe handle as if it were a baseball bat. His surprise turned into pain as Johnny whack the flashlight out of his hand then butt stroked him under the chin. Johnny was pulling his swings to keep from killing anyone but hitting them with authority. The second man through the door joined the first in a crumpled heap in the doorway. The other two men reversed up the stairs and ran away as fast as their legs could propel them.