The Mummy: The Tomb Robbers' Secret

From Minya to Cairo to Danger?

Roma was wearing a skirt and a pink shirt. "You look nice," he told her, "I have never seen you..."

"Dressed like a woman?" she suggested, "We're meeting Rick and Evelyn for lunch so I thought I'd make a good impression. It felt good to take a bath and change, I couldn't wait until I returned home. I think it will be nice to have the O'Connell's staying with us. I will have more support now when I confront Father. I want him to tell me why he was using us to smuggle those jewels to Cairo. You and Rick are imposing enough that he might feel obligated to tell the truth."

The "Pharaoh" was not a luxurious boat but offered its passengers some measure of comfort. One of the ways it did this was to employ an excellent cook. There was not much European fare on the menu but delicious confections of lamb, poultry, and couscous more than made up for it.

Evelyn O'Connell was looking as lovely as ever, Ardeth decided, with her dark mane of hair and brown eyes she formed a pleasant contrast to Roma's short golden hair and grey eyes. As he looked surreptitiously from one to the other, he could not make up his mind who was more beautiful.

He and O'Connell discussed his trip from the Valley to Minya, but he was not yet ready to discuss the incidents that happened to them in the deep desert, that would wait until they reached the safety of Roma's house in Cairo.

Evelyn was filling Roma in on the details of Howard Carter's progress. "Carter pushed the workers to clear the passage, which they were more than willing to do just to get a glimpse of a Pharaoh's tomb. There was another doorway with the seal of the necropolis and when they broke through, they were met with the sight of gold everywhere. "

Can you imagine that?" Evelyn said, "And that's only the first chamber! It will take ten years at least to clear the tomb and properly preserve the artifacts!"

"He will be lucky if he gets to complete it ," Roma responded, "He is always at odds with Lacau who has little love for him, and I can't blame him. Carter is arrogant, he's one of the best but insists on everything being done his way and will not tolerate interference from anyone. And if I know Carter and Carnarvon they are going to try to steal as much of the contents as they can for themselves. Carter had better watch himself."

"Yes, that is rather unfortunate, isn't it? Egypt's treasure belongs to the Egyptians, that is only right. It's too bad some people get so greedy and lose their perspective. We're here to help the Egyptians, not steal from them."

The boat docked after dinner in the soft, velvet Egyptian night. Rick and Ardeth made arrangements to stable the camels, relieving them of their loads and engaging a truck to take their baggage to the villa the Wilkes-Emberly's owned on the outskirts of Cairo. The women were loaded into a cab, along with their luggage, and driven to the quiet neighborhood where Roma lived with her father.

The house was old, having been remodeled from a Turkish villa that dated back to the time of the Ottomans. The ceilings with their fans were high and the walls thick enough to keep it cool in the summer and, with the help of fireplaces, warm in the winter.

Roma was glad to be home, but something felt wrong. Where was her father? Excusing herself she ran to the garage where she and her father kept their vehicles, but there was no sign of her father's truck, or that he had been there recently.

"Is everything all right?" asked Evelyn but Roma shook her head.

"No, Father's truck is not here, and there is no indication that he has returned."

Ardeth and Rick entered the foyer and she ran to Ardeth and put her arms around him. "Ardeth, Father is not here. His truck is gone and it looks as though he hasn't been here."

"Have you talked to the servants? Maybe he only stepped out for a while," he said, but the look on her face told him that the news would not be good.

They questioned the servants in their rapid Arabic and Rick saw the troubled looks on their faces and knew. Emberley hadn't returned from the Valley of the Kings.

Ardeth guided her to a seat on a sofa and Evelyn sat next to her and took her hand. "Is it possible that he was delayed?" she asked gently.

"Oh, it's possible but unlikely. He should have been here before us. The servants say he hasn't been here although he was expected much earlier. If he was delayed, he would have left word for me in Minya." A servant came and handed her a glass of brandy which she drank gratefully. "Oh, I'm sorry, I should have asked if you wanted any." She looked around, confused, suddenly no longer the confident English woman but a confused young girl.

Rick and Evelyn accepted a brandy, Ardeth declined and took a cup of tea. They drank in silence until Roma interrupted saying, "We've got to go back to the Valley of the Kings and look for Father. I need to find out what happened to him!"

"It would do you no good," Rick said as kindly as he could, "Unless you know which route he took. If he took the main road out of the valley and headed for Cairo he should be here by now. If his vehicle broke down, anything could have happened. He could have been beset by bandits or he might have taken shelter with the local Bedouin. Either way, it is not looking very good. You should check with the police in Luxor to find out if they have any word.

"And you have to meet with Lacau at the museum," Ardeth added, he looked at her, then at the O'Connells. Should I tell them his look said?

She dismissed the servants, then turned out all the lights, save those in the living room. She retrieved her saddlebags, then drew out the two canvas-wrapped packages.

"I have something to show you, but you must tell no one what you saw." They looked at her and nodded, then she opened first one bundle, then the other.

Evelyn drew in a sharp intake of breath, Rick whistled and said, "Oh my god—are those real?"

Evelyn picked up a bracelet and held it to the light, "This is exquisite, the workmanship and the quality of the gold." She examined one piece after another, "There is a fortune here if a price could even be put on it. Where did it come from?"

"My father told me nothing but I suspect he found them stashed here and there in the Valley of the Kings, and Deir El Medina. He believes there are caches that the tomb robbers hid and intended to come back for later. He thinks there may be caches like this hidden in the valley, but with Carter working there he can't search it. I think he didn't intend to turn these over to the museum but lined up a private buyer. And probably intended to receive a large sum of money."

"This is Egypt's heritage; it should not be taken out of the country. Look at this sech-ed diadem, there is no other in existence. These scarabs and jewelry are from the New Kingdom. He had Ardeth and me smuggle it out without telling us what we were carrying."

"I don't know where my father is, or if he's even alive. There are so many unscrupulous people in this business that he could have gotten himself into trouble that he didn't foresee. I wonder if his buyers were expecting to retrieve these jewels here in Cairo, if so, I don't feel very safe."

"Ardeth and I can protect you for now," said Rick, pulling a pistol from a holster on his hip. He spun the chamber and then replaced it. The danger is that you don't know who you are dealing with, do you?"

"No," she shook her head, "That's why I want to get these jewels to Lacau as soon as possible. I don't know if I should remain here or not. We have a house in Luxor, maybe I should go there. Do you think that would be safer?"

Ardeth took her hand, "One step at a time, if the O'Connells can go with us, I can help to protect you." He looked at Rick who gave a faint nod of his head.

The boy was looking for a goat that had strayed from the herd. He made a bleating noise, trying to attract it when he saw something that looked like a bundle of rags lying on the sand. Thinking it might contain something useful, he trotted towards it, then as he grew closer realized it was not rags at all.

The man was English, his face burned red by the sun and his hair bleached whiter than the sands. The man licked his cracked, bleeding lips, then croaked, "Help me," then drew his last breath.