The Metro Mummy

Chapter 1

Mother of Cities, Golden City, City of a Hundred Towers, City of Stone - Prague has many names. An ancient city, it is the home of many a story - some tragic, some comic, some mysterious, some deadly, some fantastic. And some are all of this at once. The story about to be told is a story of murder and compassion, of freedom and captivity, of desire and loathing, of friends and foes, traitors and lovers.

Welcome to the immortal city of Prague - let the story unveil ...

***

The phone rang at half past fife. Drowsily, Larissa Khek reached to her bedside table for her cell phone.

'What?' she snapped, eyes still closed hoping she'd go back to sleep again in a second.

'Ahoj, beautiful. Up and at it? See the water?'

The voice seemed familiar. A pleasant, warm voice. A man. Beautiful... yes. Only one person she knew used this silly accost.

'Good grief, Robin, you better have a good reason to kick me out of bed at this ungodly hour'. She peeked at her bedside clock and moaned. 'What water am I supposed to see, anyway?'

'What water, she asks! THE WATER! We got served with a thousand-year-flood, lovely. Thousand-year-flood.' Robins voice was catchy and happy and his pronunciation very precise. He could have been a radio announcer or voice actor, instead he was a firefighter with all the enthusiasm of a true adventurer.

'Wait, gotta take a look', she groaned.

Larissa crawled out of bed, slipped into a t-shirt she had dropped on the floor the night before and shuffled to the living room window. The view from her fourth floor apartment did not look like doomsday at all and even less like flood. Instead, Prague presented itself in spectacular beauty. The roofs of Malá strana sparkled like red carnelian in the early morning sun, Petřín hill opposite the castle was clad in an appealing rich green frock, on top of the hill the little Eiffel-Tower peeked through the trees and the Hradčín-castle high above the Vltava river, probably the most photographed building in the city, was impeccable as always. The panorama was magnificent - also as always.

No water. Nowhere.

'No water. You got water?' she inquired. Her eyes half closed she went back to her bed and crawled under the warm sheets.

'Yep. Unfortunately. It's been flooding the city for hours.'

Water. Flood. Finally, the last remnants of her sleepiness drained from her brain. Damn it. She had slept through the most interesting part of all this. Like a scalded cat she jumped out of bed. Thank goodness for Robin!

'Where are you, anyway?' she asked, suddenly wide awake. She ran across her bedroom and grabbed some underwear and a t-shirt from a chest of drawers. He couldn't possibly be at home. All firefighters had to be out there to save what could be saved. She took a pair of jeans from her ward robe but reconsidered, remembering the glaring sun. She picked a pair of light cotton pants instead.

'I'm down town, we're working on the flood barriers. Just grabbed a cup of coffee and called you to make sure our gorgeous star reporter doesn't miss the most interesting piece of news since 1989.'

'Thanks a million. What about the metro?' The reporter was finally awake and kicking. The word had been the metro would resist a hundred-year flood but Robin had mentioned a thousand-year one. How did people come up with such bizarre comparisons?

'The metro's full to the gills. There was a leakage somewhere and the water made its way into all three tunnels. There's nothing going down town, but they got all the trams from the depots. The bridges are closed, too.'

'Robin, you're a sweetheart! I've got to get dressed and get going. Will you have a break sometime today?'

'You kiddin'?' He laughed.

'Let me know if anything interesting happens. And - thanks again!' She sent him a kiss and hung up. Grabbing her clothes she sped into the bathroom.