AUTHORS NOTE: I published this story 8 years ago, though it was never completed. As my craft has improved since then, this is a refreshed look at something I wrote so long ago. Hope you enjoy!

Dr Olivia Clarke studied the amulet carefully, her green eyes sparkling, as she gently ran her fingers over the gemstones. It was definitely Osiris, which was clear from the hieroglyphics on the front. What was unusual though, was the second set of glyphs that weren't quite the same dialect as the others. Maybe an older dialect of Ancient Egyptian? Olivia furrowed her brow. She had a doctorate in archaeology, specialising in Ancient Egyptian culture; the fact that this inscription was eluding her, frustrated her no end.

Grabbing a few books off the shelf, she rifled through them to see if she could find anything she'd perhaps forgotten or missed, though the search turned out to be fruitless. Not content in letting it go, Olivia decided to take the amulet down to Dr Jordan to have a second pair of eyes look over it. If anyone would know, it would be him.

When Olivia wandered into the lab, Dr Jordan was hunched over something, studying it closely. Noticing her, he looked up and smiled, a magnifier stuck in his left eye. Olivia giggled.

"Hello, Dr Clarke. How's the day treating you?" his jovial voice asked.

"Well, to be honest sir, I've been puzzling over this amulet for the last 2 hours, trying to work out the other dialect next to the hieroglyphs. It looks like Ancient Egyptian though it doesn't match exactly to anything I have ever seen. I was hoping you could take a look and point out to me, no doubt quite obviously, what I've missed," she said with a smirk.

Dr Jordan chuckled lightly. "We'll see, shall we?" he said, and held the amulet up to his magnifier.

Olivia watched Dr Jordan study the artifact, though he seemed to be as puzzled as she did. "You don't know either, do you."

"I'm afraid I don't."

"Maybe it pre-dates the Ancient Egyptians? I mean, I know that sounds a little out there. What else could it be?"

"What else could what be?" a voice called from the doorway.

Dr Jordan and Olivia looked up to find Steven Rayner making his way over to them. Steven was a promising student, though Olivia didn't have a lot of time for him. He was cocky and she felt his intentions for finding ancient artifacts were more out of greed & notoriety than scientific advancement.

"Hello, Steven," Dr Jordan said politely. "Dr Clarke and I were trying to work out the dialect on this amulet here. I certainly don't recognise it."

"Really? Mind if I take a look?"

"Be my guest." Dr Jordan handed the amulet to Steven. Olivia eyed him derisively. He was always trying to show her up, though it usually didn't work. If Dr Jordan didn't know, the chances of Steven knowing would be next to none.

"No, I don't know either."

"What a surprise," Olivia mumbled.

Steven glared at her.

Dr Jordan looked down at the amulet again. "I'll get Nick to run a carbon test on it. It'll give us more of an idea where to start looking. If this pre-dates Ancient Egypt…" Dr Jordan trailed off and looked up at his protégés. Olivia knew what he wasn't saying. If it did pre-date the Ancient Egyptians, it would be the find of the century.

"Uh…how about I get this down to Nick and see what he turns up?" Steven offered.

"Thank you, Steven, I'd appreciate that," Dr Jordan said. "I want to finish going through a few things here.

Steven smiled, giving Olivia a smug look before he turned and headed out.

Olivia narrowed her eyes, wondering what Steven was up to. No matter, she was the senior archaeologist under Dr Jordan. Nick would send her the results.

A few nights later, Olivia was pacing her office. Could this really be it? A chance to prove that there was life before the Ancient Egyptians or that their civilisation was older than was originally thought? As she sank into her chair, Olivia realised something else. If this was true, she knew of a certain someone who would be eager to know as well. She smiled sadly at the thought.

Walking back to her desk for what seemed like the hundredth time that hour, she clicked 'Send/Receive' on her email. To her utter delight, there was finally an email from Nick. She skimmed over all the preliminary junk, scrolling through to what she wanted to read most.

"Oh my god…" she whispered, her eyes not able to leave the screen. Olivia grabbed her bag, tearing out of her office and down to Dr Jordan's office to see if he was still there. He wasn't. He was probably in the test lab with Nick. She felt as though her feet wouldn't carry her fast enough. Dr Nick Almeida smiled at her as she walked in, his eyes wide with excitement.

"I can't believe it, Liv! This is…just…I can't even find words to describe it," he said in whispered tones, his whole face red with excitement.

"Nick, why are we whispering?" Olivia whispered back, almost laughing.

Nick shrugged and looked at Olivia conspiratorially. "Come on, this is not the sort of news you want to scream out just yet, right?"

Olivia rolled her eyes and laughed. "You watch too much TV, Nick. You haven't seen Dr Jordan have you?"

"No, I haven't. He was supposed to come by so we could discuss all of today's results, especially this one, but that was half an hour ago."

"Weird. That's a little unlike him."

Nick nodded in agreement. "Guess he's just tied up with something."

Olivia bit her lip. "OK, I'm going to see if he's back in his office. I'll be back in a sec." Olivia turned to head out, though quickly changed her mind and picked up the amulet. She wrapped it carefully in its cloth and nodded to Nick. "I might take this to Dr Jordan."

Heading back down the hallway, Olivia poked her head into Dr Jordan's empty office. No sign of him. Just as she was about to leave, she noticed his cell phone sitting on his desk. Dr Jordan always had his phone with him. What was going on? Frustrated, Olivia headed out and back down toward Nick's lab. Rushing in, she was horrified to see Nick unconscious on the ground. She knelt down beside him and checked his pulse. He was still alive, just out cold. Papers were strewn everywhere, tools were on the floor or tipped over & drawers had been opened & dropped onto the floor. It was clear that someone had been looking for something. Didn't take a rocket scientist to work out what…

What the hell was going on? Dr Jordan wasn't in any of the labs, his office or anywhere close by that she'd seen. His cell phone was still sitting on his desk and Nick was unconscious. Olivia felt her stomach turn. This was so not good.

Olivia carefully tucked the amulet into her bag. Until she had more information and who she could trust, she wanted to keep it safe. This was going to be big news pretty soon and someone wanted it pretty badly.

As she turned to head out, she noticed Steven in the doorway, gun in hand, aimed straight at her. Olivia sucked in a breath, jumping in fright.

"Steven, what the hell are you doing?"

"Give it to me, Olivia and I won't hurt you."

"Give you what?"

"Don't play dumb, Clarke. You know very well what! I am not going to allow you to take credit for this. It's my turn, dammit! No more walking in the shadows."

Olivia knew exactly whose shadow he was desperate to overtake.

"Tell me Steven, how much are they paying you, hmm? I mean, I sure as hell know you don't have the balls to pull something like this off on your own."

Steven's lip curled as he advanced toward her. It was clear he wasn't confident with the gun and the fact he didn't deny her accusation told her all she needed to know.

"Hand it over, Clarke and you'll live to see another day," he said, his hand shaking and body sweating.

Olivia rolled her eyes. "God, you watch more crime shows than Nick does!" she said, trying to rattle his confidence. "I don't have it, Steven. I gave it back to Dr Jordan."

"Then why are you here?"

"I just came to say goodbye to Nick on my way home, alright?" she said, keeping her voice calm and even, looking innocently at him.

Steven clenched his teeth, holding her gaze for a few moments. He began backing away before tearing off down the hall toward Dr Jordan's office.

As soon as he was out of sight, Olivia tore off in the other direction. She knew she didn't have much time before Steven realised she'd deceived him. She wanted to alert security, though if she did, there'd be questions asked, bags searched and she'd have to give up the amulet. No, Olivia was going to have to take things into her own hands.

The problem was, where to go? She knew she couldn't go home. That would be one of the first places he'd look. There was one chance. One hope. It would be a long shot, but it was better than the options she had right now.

Not wanting to arouse suspicion, Olivia calmly walked out the front door of the building, two men passing her on the way in. She didn't recognise them and it certainly seemed strange that they'd turn up at this hour, so she deduced they were the ones working with Steven. Olivia kept her cool and held tightly to her satchel as she headed out. At the sign of the first cab, she tore across the road.

"TAXI!" she screamed and jumped in, noticing just as she did, Steven and the two men coming out of the building. "GO, please!" They tried chasing after her but the taxi was too fast. Olivia turned around and faced the front, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Where to, miss?"

"Airport, please. Quick as you can." Grabbing her cell, she flipped it open and began scrolling through to find the name she wanted. Olivia thought they may try to trace her cell, given that Steven was prepared to point a gun at her, so she wasn't going to take any chances. She'd have to ditch it. Quickly writing down the number she needed plus a few others just in case, Olivia threw her phone out the window.

Paying the cab driver once she'd reached the airport, Olivia held tightly to her bag and walked in. If Steven and the two men didn't go to Olivia's home first, the airport was the next place they'd look, so she had to move fast. She headed toward the first cell phone dealer she saw, quickly chose and paid for a phone and a pre-paid card.

Moving to a nearby wall, out of sight as much as possible, Olivia pulled out the piece of paper with the number she needed. Her heart beat faster, praying he'd pick up. She had no idea if he even had the same cell number anymore, though she prayed silently he would. He was the only one she trusted with this, other than Dr Jordan, but he was nowhere to be found, and who knows if he was even involved? Olivia doubted it, though she hadn't exactly expected Steven to pull a gun on her either.

Carefully, she punched the number into the keypad and waited.