Free Keystone by Luke Talbot Page B

engineer’s head vanish down the hole.
    “Is this
normal?” George said out loud to no one in particular.
    “The last tomb
to be excavated in Egypt was over thirty years ago.   And the last before that was over a hundred
years ago.” Gail answered. “With that track record, normal probably means breaking in, stealing all the gold and taking
the finds out of the country. So no, this isn’t normal.”
    George looked
at his wife and shook his head. “That’s not quite what I meant, honey.”
    “I do not know
if it is normal,” Ben said. “But it is annoying. I want to know what is down
there!”
    Gail looked at
him and summoned the courage to ask him the question she had been reciting in
her head. “Ben, Mamdouh has suggested that when he gets back, I go down the
steps first on my own, followed by you and the other students,” she said. There
was a brief pause. “Do you want to come with me first instead?”
    Ben looked at
her with a smile. “Gail, this is your find, I merely sat on it to keep it
warm.”
    “But you were
with me, we found it together,” she was almost pleading with him. She felt bad
for wanting to leave Ben and be alone, it was not a sign of a competitive
streak, she convinced herself, if she tried to make him come with her. But deep
down inside she knew that she would not have asked him, but told him to come
with her first, had she not wanted to go down alone.
    “I wanted to
turn back before we got to the top of the cliff, Gail, you did not,” he
explained. “If it wasn’t for my requirement to pass this year, I would probably
be in Cairo still. You came from England to be here, and climbed over many
rocks against my judgement. This is your find.”
    “Thank you,
Ben,” Gail said, the emotion rising in her throat.
    There was an
awkward silence during which they all looked towards the steps.
    “How was
Karnak?” Ben suddenly asked George, changing the subject.
    He smiled and
pointed at his hat. “ That good,” he
replied. “Is anyone else hungry?” Saying this, he opened his backpack and
removed a couple of packets of biscuits and a large bottle of water.  
    They shared
the snacks around, though almost everyone was too excited to eat, and did their
best to enjoy tourist anecdotes for the next fifteen minutes, making sure to
keep an eye on the trench for signs of the Professor and the three engineers.  
    It was while
Ben was interesting everyone with a story of an overzealous border guard in
Algeria, translating into English at the same time, that the Professor finally
emerged from the hole.  
    Within seconds
everyone had crowding round him.
    Mamdouh looked
up at them all seriously for several long moments before breaking into a huge
grin, his white teeth shining in the afternoon sun. He said a short sentence in
Arabic and received a great cheer in reply, while the photographer’s camera
flashed crazily in the background.  
    “Mamdouh?”
Gail asked over the sound of a hundred questions being asked at the same time
in Arabic.
    He turned
towards her and laughed out loud. “Gail,” he sounded relaxed and enthused, in
complete contrast to his behaviour before descending the steps half an hour
earlier. “I said you had enough to start your thesis with what we have seen
since you arrived, didn’t I?”
    “Yes, you
did.”
    “I am sorry,
Gail, I was wrong.” He put his hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes.
“Gail, with what you have found here in Amarna, you have enough for your entire
career!”
    Gail’s heart
missed a beat. “Is Nefertiti down there?”
    “We don’t know
yet, we can’t tell.”
    “So what is
it?” she urged.

Chapter 10
     
    Gail took her first step
cautiously.   She now understood what
Mamdouh had meant, talking about Carter and entering a tomb for the first time;
no amount of science and studying could have prepared her for the sheer
excitement of knowing that apart from four men within the past hour, she was
the first person in over