Author's Note
This is the third installment in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles vs. Amset-Ra series. The first two can be found in the FanFiction archives under the titles "The Egyptian Job" and "Breakneck Breakout."
As with the previous installments, the settings and characters are partially inspired by Lego sets. The Dark Ninja is found in "Turtle Lair Attack." Though that character is supposed to be Chris Bradford before he mutates into Dogpound, in this series I have made him into a unique character. Professor Archibald Q. Hale, owner of the Hale Gallery and Egyptologist at NYU, is found in the Pharaoh's Quest set "The Scorpion Pyramid."
The settings are inspired by four Pharaoh's Quest sets: "Scarab Attack," "Flying Mummy Attack," "Cursed Cobra Statue," and "Rise of the Sphinx."
As always, enjoy. Feel free to leave any comments or feedback for me below. Any and all comments are welcome.
The Dark Ninja cinched up his parachute, and signaled for the Foot Soldiers under his command to do the same. Altogether, there were a dozen Foot Soldiers and they queued up by the plane's open door awaiting Dark Ninja's jump signal, for they had reached the first spot marked on the map.
In all, there were five spots. The legend said that the peasants grabbed five of the six treasures. Amset-Ra had held on to one of the treasures. The Dark Ninja selected this spot because there were three clustered in walking distance.
He made a downward stroke with his hand, resembling a karate chop, in midair.
One by one, the Foot Soldiers leaped out of the plane, hurtling at top speed to the ground, but drifting lazily far enough away from each other to deploy their chutes safely.
As chute upon chute opened, Dark Ninja himself leaped into the cloudless, impossibly sapphire sky. Rushing to meet him was the rocky, tan earth that spread infinitely in all directions below. The uneven landscape of the desert sands that filled Dark Ninja's field of vision was the reverse of a sailor at sea, who sees nothing but the rolling seas spreading around him. To look around here, one might think that there is nothing but a barren, but breathtaking, wasteland on this planet.
As Dark Ninja landed on the scorching sands, he was suddenly aware of the oppressive sun glaring down from overhead. He felt beads of sweat under his wrap-around mask, the light material of his dogi suddenly felt cloying.
The desert was not to be trifled with.
Fortunately, the Dark Ninja had landed very close to his destination. He moved at a trot, with all twelve of his Foot Soldiers behind him, toward an obelisk with a giant stone snake coiled around it. The top of the obelisk supported the snake's open mouth, with razor-sharp fangs as long as a man's forearm. A cobra's hood fanned menacingly from its head, colored in alternating bands of blue and gold.
Below the snake's mouth was a shiny golden shield, shaped like a scarab. This was the object that the Dark Ninja sought: the Golden Scarab Shield of Amset-Ra.
At the foot of the obelisk was another mummy, motionless against the desert sand and heat, wearing a burnt gold nemes inscribed with bright green snakes. It clutched a staff shaped like a snake. Sheathed in its belt was a scimitar.
When Dark Ninja came within earshot of the mummy, it pointed the staff threateningly at him. "Come no further," it said in a voice as dry and as thin as the dust blanketing the statue and the obelisk.
Dark Ninja drew both of his slick, obsidian-bladed katanas and approached defiantly.
The mummy lifted its snake-shaped staff and spoke something in its thin voice. The ground shook as the mummy finished its incantation, throwing a few Foot Soldiers to the ground. Dark Ninja maintained his balance, but stopped advancing. He waited. It was the mummy's move.
The statue hissed, and unwrapped its posterior from the obelisk. It slithered forward, toward a group of fallen Foot Soldiers on the left, and reared back to strike. Once stone, the statue had now morphed into a 45-foot cobra with long, venomous fangs and its only purpose was to guard the Golden Scarab Shield.
Good move, mummy.
"Grenades!" Dark Ninja shouted.
The group of Foot Soldiers under the hood of the cobra reacted. Three of them removed hand grenades from their belts, while the five at the edge of the impending strike scrambled to their feet.
The five who tried to right themselves reached for their grenades then, and saw that they made the right choice. The cobra, mouth open, fangs dripping, struck the other Foot Soldiers. It impaled two, one on each fang, while crushing the third.
By the obelisk, two Foot Soldiers approached cautiously. The mummy propelled itself in the air, discarding its staff and drawing the imposing scimitar as it crested high above the ground. It free fell and swung across the two Foot Soldiers' chests. Four halves of two Foot Soldiers plopped unceremoniously on the desert sands. The mummy leaped again, a smaller one this time, cresting over the fallen Foot Soldiers and landed a few feet in front of the bodies, ready to face another wave.
Three more Foot Soldiers drew double-edged tsurugis. The Mummy raised its scimitar.
On the ground, the cobra slid with speed and ferocity, striking at two of the Foot Soldiers, who were forced to drop their grenades. It recoiled, then shot out again at the remaining three before they could flank it. They, too, were forced back. It recoiled once again, and waited. Its forked, pink tongue darted out of its mouth and disappeared back in. And again. The snake leered at the ninjas, wavering side to side, never still. It was daring its opponents to move first.
One of the Foot Soldiers broke the stand-off. From the cobra's left, one of the ninjas from the group of three charged, pulling the pin from his hand grenade. As the snake looked at him, the Foot Soldier lofted the hand grenade at the giant's mouth.
The small grenade flew straight into the snake's open mouth, and the snake snapped its jaws shut, unsure of what just happened.
The mummy swung its scmitar against the first tsurugi. A second, from another angle, caught the mummy's free arm in a quick downstoke and lopped the entire arm off just below the shoulder. The mummy sliced sideways, only to be parried by the Foot Soldier's tsurugi. The second Foot Soldier went for the mummy's head.
The mummy ducked from the blow and took a strategic retreat. It brought its scimitar around, swinging like a baseball bat, and buried the blade in the Foot Soldier's torso. Meanwhile, it jumped backwards to clear a second tsurguri strike from the Foot Soldier in front of it.
It gripped the scimitar's handle once again, and yanked the blade clear of the second Foot Soldier's body. Down went the second Foot Soldier. The mummy swung another semicircle with its scimitar, and the remaining Foot Soldier parried the blow. The mummy swung low and cut another Foot Soldier's leg off above the boot. That soldier went down screaming as the scimitar took his head clean off.
The mummy turned and swung its scimitar, only to be parried again by the first Foot Soldier.
The snake, meanwhile, spit the grenade out. A perfect bullet pass, complete with football-like spiral, connected with the stomach of the Foot Soldier that threw it. That ninja, off balance, reeled backwards into the middle of two other Foot Soldiers as the grenade exploded.
Shrapnel dug against vital organs, starting painful death throes that would last for at least two hours before concluding. Some shrapnel bored clean through his body and ejected out the back, now embedded in the other Foot Soldiers. These guys had mercifully quick demises as the shrapnel tore through their foreheads and pierced their brains.
The snake drew back and threatened to strike the remaining two Foot Soldiers. One lofted another grenade while the other charged with a naginata pointed at the body of the creature.
The snake didn't react quickly enough this time.
The grenade lodged in the creature's throat as the second Foot Soldier plunged the naginata through the underbelly of the creature. He flipped the blade to face the snake's head and lifted quickly up, tearing a wide hole the snake's narrow abdomen.
The snake shrieked an unearthly, hollow cry of pain as the hand grenade exploded, shrapnel escaping the top of the snake's head, out the bottom of its jaw, and piercing its eyes from the inside.
The Foot Soldier faced the naginata blade to the ground and opened more of the snake's abdomen with a vicious downward stroke. The creature reeled around in ever-widening circles before crashing to the ground in a heap. Dead. Defeated.
The snake-charming mummy brought three more quick cuts with its scimitar from various angles, and each was met by the Foot Soldier's tsurugi. The Foot Soldier took a swing and the mummy jumped back, leaped into the air and launched a quick side kick at another ninja approaching from the left. That Foot Soldier flew helplessly through the air, landing in a heap several yards away. The mummy landed and poked right with its scimitar, plunging the blade into an approaching Foot Soldier.
It turned back to the one it thought of as its primary opponent just in time to parry a strike from the deadly tsurugi. The mummy spun a full 360 degrees and launched a quick strike, parried again by the broadsword. It swung the scimitar from the left and met a sword, then the right and was blocked again. It feigned right and the Foot Soldier blocked... nothing. The mummy brought a killing blow from the left, but the ninja was faster and blocked again.
This time, the ferocity of its own blow knocked the mummy off balance just enough that the ninja was able to pierce the mummy's torso, loosening some bandages, before the mummy was able to right itself and jog a short distance to its left.
With the snake dead and the snake-charming mummy occupied by one of his best men, the Dark Ninja darted for the obelisk. He reached it unmolested and climbed the steps to the Golden Scarab Shield. He plucked the shield from its base and he felt the electricity surge through him once again. He was becoming more powerful.
Meanwhile, the Foot Soldier and the snake-charming mummy attacked and blocked with a rapid-fire series of swipes and counterstrikes too fast for the unaided eye. The Foot Soldier kicked the mummy and sent the creature reeling backwards, its scimitar hitting the sand in a cloud of dust out of immediate reach.
The mummy ran to the scimitar, and the Foot Soldier headed it off. He swiped at the mummy, who ducked and moved in quickly to deliver a strong blow with the heel of its hand to the Foot Soldier's solar plexus. The ninja was lifted off his feet, arms and legs flailing, backwards several feet and landed on the ground with a groan.
The mummy had its scimitar back, and approached the fallen Foot Soldier with malice in its eyes. The ninja sprung to his feet, tsurguri ready. He spun it twice in his hands, and moved in a circle opposite to the mummy. The two charged each other at the same time, and their blades met with a sharp clang. And another. And another.
Sensing another presence, the mummy turned and brought the scimitar down. It was deflected by the Golden Scarab Shield. The mummy looked horrified.
The Foot Soldier sliced the mummy's back, and the Dark Ninja cut from the opposite side – right shoulder to left hip. The snake-charming mummy evaporated in a hail of sand.
"Good bye, Armon," the Dark Ninja sneered.
The Foot Soldier looked at his master disapprovingly. Then shook his head.
"I know, I know," Dark Ninja said. "No one watched that stupid show because it was too much like the one with the gargoyles."
Often, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles needed to talk to humans when conducting their investigations. Humans, of course, weren't very calm or easy to interview when faced with a five-and-a-half foot talking, anthropomorphic turtle. April O'Neil, therefore, often served as a warm-up act. She would go in first and warn whoever the turtles needed to see of what was about to happen.
Today, April had an appointment with Professor Archibald Q. Hale, Egyptologist and owner of the Hale Gallery. The turtles had foiled a robbery there the previous night and hoped that would make Prof. Hale more willing to help them figure out what was going on with the six treasures of Amset-Ra.
April walked into Hale's office at NYU. He greeted her warmly. "Good afternoon, Miss O'Neil. Please, take a seat." His office was sparsely decorated. No pictures adorned the pure white walls. The only furniture was Hale's tiny desk with a large, faux leather office chair, and a small, plastic chair for visitors. "You're not a student at the University, much less in any of my classes. So I'm curious as to why you wanted to visit me."
Hale was a stocky little man much younger than April expected. He had long sideburns and small patch of goatee on the tip of his chin. He wore a bushy, meticulously combed mustache but paradoxically neglected to shave his cheeks.
"Well," April said, "I have a friend who wants to ask you a few questions. First, there was a robbery last night at your gallery?"
"That's right," Hale said. "It was halted by those ninja vigilantes. Or so the police say."
"Right. The ninja vigilantes. Um, what if they thought that the robbers weren't done? That maybe they wanted something else?"
"Like what?" Hale asked, raising one eyebrow.
"Well, they might have found a map to the six treasures of Amset-Ra."
"In the statue that got broken during the robbery," Hale blew out an exasperated sigh. "Why do the vigilantes not ask me themselves, Miss O'Neil?"
"They want to, but they aren't... well... they need me to... um..."
"I'm very busy, Miss O'Neil."
"Look, the vigilantes take some... preparation to stomach. I know. They scared me. I thought they were freaks. But they saved my life."
"Okay. How bad is it?"
"Well, they're turtles."
"Have a good day, Miss O'Neil." Hale reached for the buzzer on his intercom. "I don't have time for games." Suddenly, a flash of purple smoke erupted in the middle of the room.
When the smoke cleared, Donnie stood next to April. "She's not messing around, sir."
Hale sat transfixed for a moment, just staring at Donnie.
"My name is Donatello, sir," Donnie said, extending his hand in friendship. "I have a few questions to ask you about Amset-Ra."
The Golden Sword was less than a day's hike from the recovery point of the Golden Scarab Shield, so the Dark Ninja ordered the entourage to walk. The battle with the snake had wearied the group, so when the temple holding the sword first peeked its sinister gaze over the horizon, Dark Ninja declared that they would camp for the night. That way, they could meet this challenge fresh.
With brutal efficiency, the Foot Soldiers had pitched four tents and had a fire going within 15 minutes. They ate military-grade rations in all their glorious cardboard taste, then lights out. Everyone except for the two unlucky ninjas that had drawn first watch settled into their tents for rest.
When the sun had at last dipped below the horizon, the fire was nothing more than a few embers, and the perfect pinpoints of the stars were the only light, the Foot Soldiers on guard duty thought that guard duty itself was a waste of time. But the Dark Ninja had a reason to order the rotating guard duty. Three marks clustered very near to this spot; the obelisk with the snake and the temple just over the horizon were just two of them. The third one was in this area, too; but it was on the move.
The first indication that something was wrong was a soft burrowing sound under the earth. A mound traced its way between the monolithic rocks that dotted the landscape, and headed toward The Foot Clan's camp. One of the Foot Soldiers spotted it as it approached, and roused the other from semi-slumber.
The one so woke watched as the mound stopped moving about twenty feet from his perch. The way it wound lazily through the landscape reminded him of watching Bugs Bunny cartoons in his youth, and he humorously thought that maybe this thing forgot to take that left turn at Albuquerque.
It didn't move for several minutes. During that time, the two Foot Soldiers tried to figure out what to do. Inevitably, one would have to approach it and investigate.
But who?
One Foot Soldier balled his hand into a fist and extended it in front of him. The other did likewise. In unison, they raised their forearms until their fists were shoulder-height, then dropped them quickly until they were level again. Once.
Twice.
On the third drop, one soldier flattened his fist out, palm down. The other made a V with his index and middle fingers. The one who made the V then mimed "cutting" the first ninja's flat hand. The loser balled his hand into another fist and punched the air, growling slightly under his breath.
He drew his katana and approached the spot where the mound had stopped moving. Cautiously, he inched forward step by agonizing step, all of his senses on high alert.
When he stood over the exact spot where the mound had stopped moving, he studied it from every angle. He poked at it with the tip of his katana. Nothing. Just dirt.
He relaxed.
Just then, a giant blue beetle emerged from the mound. The investigating soldier was startled, and jumped back. He almost lost his balance, but regained his composure in time to see the beetle trying to grab him in its pincers.
He sliced at the creature with his katana, but the beetle grabbed the sword in its maw and ate it.
The Foot Soldier ran back toward camp.
Meanwhile, the other soldier had his own katana drawn and flanked the beetle. He sliced and scored a hit on the beetle's shiny carapace. The carapace was dented, but no other damage was evident. The beetle now turned to the new threat, pincers opening and closing and the deadly maw ready to eat dinner.
The second Foot Soldier brought the tip of his sword up underneath the beetle and pierced the tender underbelly. The creature reared back and screeched an odd, unearthly sound.
By now, the first Foot Soldier had roused the camp. Dark Ninja ordered his followers to arm themselves with the bows and arrows, and to aim for the underbelly. He already knew what the second Foot Soldier just discovered – that this thing was vulnerable underneath.
Still engaged in battle, the Foot Soldier poked at the beetle's thorax with his katana. The giant was able to fend most blows with one of its legs or with its deadly pincers, but the few that hit were taking their toll on the creature. It was weakening as a sickly yellow pus poured from the open wounds.
Finally, the rest of the camp took positions about thirty feet from the battle. They shot arrows at the underbelly, as Dark Ninja ordered. Many arrows bounced off the carapace. A few narrowly missed the Foot Soldier currently engaged in battle. But a handful hit their mark, causing the beetle to rear up in pain and shriek in that unearthly way.
With the underbelly fully exposed, the closest Foot Soldier buried his katana in it and sliced the beetle open. Both halves fell in a sickly slump.
Dark Ninja ordered the archers to cease fire. He approached the body.
"Giant scarab," he said. Dark Ninja routed in the remains and pulled something from it, dripped in that sticky yellow pus. He wiped it clean, revealing the glowing Golden Crystal of Amset-Ra. He held it triumphantly aloft, feeling the power surge into him.
Prof. Hale studied his visitor. An anthropomorphic turtle. Wow. Hale wanted to ask how this was possible; how this happened. What sort of evolutionary track did this turtle follow? And how long have these sorts of creatures existed without mankind knowing they did?
But he pushed all of those questions aside for the greater good – preventing an evil clan of ninjas from obtaining the six treasures of Amset-Ra. This turtle, Donatello, was apparently the brainiac of the band and therefore was elected to talk to the Egyptologist.
"Well, Amset-Ra isn't the best known of the Egyptian pharaohs," Prof. Hale began. "For a long time, he was known only as a name from the Palermo Stone. Until recently, that is."
"I remember reading about this," Donnie said. "After they found King Tut's tomb, every Egyptologist raced to find the next one. I think they found inscriptions mentioning Amset-Ra or something."
"Something like that," Hale said. "Amset-Ra only ruled for a few years, but he was the most despotic of all of Egypt's ancient pharaohs. He was obsessed with conquering death and living on, beyond his years. He wanted to join the gods in immortality.
"The tablets found in the tomb of Amset-Ra's successor told of a reign marked by myriads of human sacrifices and dark magic rituals that would make H.P. Lovecraft squeamish. I want to make this clear: Amset-Ra's reign wasn't terminated by his death, Donatello."
"You can call me Donnie."
"He was deposed. The people accused him of blasphemy for his attempts at immortality. They sealed him – alive – in his tomb, the lost Scorpion Pyramid."
Bad rest was better than no rest at all, the Dark Ninja reasoned. So after a couple more hours in the camp, he ordered The Foot to hike that mile and a half to the temple.
Their destination looked like a smaller version of the Great Sphinx on the Giza Plateau elsewhere in Egypt. The Great Sphinx, however, had the face of a man. This creature looked more like a beast of Set, with a long, narrow black muzzle set below two blazing red. Two pointed ears sat almost on top of its head. It wore a blue nemes.
The body of the animal enclosed a small temple.
"Be ready for anything," the Dark Ninja cautioned.
Two Foot Soldiers ascended the steps to the door of the temple. They set small C4 charges in strategic spots, and then ran away. Everyone else had already taken cover, and moments later the charges exploded, ripping a hole in the stone facade.
Then, the stone sphinx stood up, chomping its great jaws. It made a massive, threatening growl.
"This madness ends now," Dark Ninja said. He motioned for one of the remaining explosive charges. A Foot Soldier obediently handed it too him. He stuck the charge into a handful of the clay-like plastic. He looked the great stone sphinx in its eyes. He waited for the beast to open its jaws. Then, with pinpoint accuracy, Dark Ninja hurled the lump of plastic right at the beast's open maw.
It stuck in the corner of the creature's mouth, like forgotten chewing gum.
"Now," Dark Ninja commanded.
The Foot Soldier that handed Dark Ninja the detonator pushed a button on his small remote control. The sphinx's head exploded, and the body dissolved into a million bricks and stones, as if a child had dumped every Lego he owned on to an empty floor.
Dark Ninja walked triumphantly toward the remaining temple, bounding up the stairs and into the darkness. Moments later, he emerged with the Golden Sword of Amset-Ra.
"Radio the plane," he ordered. "One last treasure to collect."
"What did he do to deserve being buried alive?" April asked. April figured that once she prepped the professor for Donnie, that she would fade into the background. But she was wrong. She was as intrigued by this story as Donnie.
"Well, that's really why you two came," Hale answered. "He had all of the most powerful sorcerers of Egypt create six – I believe Dungeons & Dragons players call them 'artifacts,' powerful magic items – that together could dominate and enslave the entire world."
Donnie and April stared in disbelief.
"What were the treasures?" Donnie asked.
"The Golden Sword," the professor touched his index fingers together at the tip. "It channels the battle prowess and military strategy of all of Egypt's generals into the bearer."
The professor touched his index finger to the tip of his opposite middle finger, continuing do this as he named each treasure. "The Soul Diamond gave the bearer the power to create mirages.
"The Golden Crystal would grant the bearer the ability to control the beasts of the desert. The pharaoh would have had the very animals at his beck and call.
"The Golden Scarab Shield mystically shields its bearer from all attacks, magical or otherwise.
"The Golden Staff makes all soldiers serving under the owner stronger and tireless in battle.
"Finally, the Golden Nemes grants the one who wears it the power to see the future."
"None of those things grant immortality," April said.
"Not a D&D player, I see," the professor chuckled. "Artifacts can be made to have resonating powers – powers that activate when they are near other artifacts. When all of these items are in the possession of one person, that person becomes immortal."
"Immortals can usually die in battle," Donnie said. "Like Highlander. Of course, the concept predates that movie. I think the first known reference is in ..."
"Donnie!" April chided.
"All true, and Amset-Ra thought of that," Prof. Hale said.
"The Golden Scarab Shield!" April exclaimed. "It shields you from all attacks!"
The more treasures he collected, the more he understood about life, the universe, and everything.
Dark Ninja knew, somehow, that the Soul Diamond wouldn't be accessible from the ground. So he had the pilot take a small plane with a grappling hook.
When they got close to the place indicated on the map, Dark Ninja spotted a very tall obelisk. It wouldn't be possible to scale it, and their goal sat on the very top.
As the small plane circled the obelisk, Dark Ninja opened the side door and readied a grappling hook. Suddenly, a massive pain shot through his arm and he fell backwards.
A spear had embedded itself in his bicep.
Dark Ninja looked out of the plane and saw them – flying mummies. He didn't think it was possible, but there they were. Instead of the standard blue nemes, these undead each wore a headdress shaped like a great eagle. It was the Egyptian god Horus, the successor to the great sun god Ra. The mummies somehow channeled Horus's spirit and that enabled them to fly, maneuvering with the wings that sprouted from their backs.
And they were armed with spears.
Dark Ninja scrambled to his feet and took cover to the side of the door. No way those spears would be able to penetrate the metal of the plane. He was safe so long as a mummy didn't get the right angle on him.
He didn't intend to stay idle, however.
Dark Ninja retrieved a small submachine gun from the weapons rack near him. He checked to make sure it was loaded, and released the safety catch. He peered carefully out of the plane, and spotted one of the flying mummies. He stepped full on in the doorway and opened fire before the mummy had a chance to react. Bullets ripped through the mummy's rotting corpse and tore apart the wings of Horus, sending the creature spiraling to the ground.
He exploded in a mighty puff of sand long before the ground became an issue.
Another spear whizzed by, nearly clipping the Dark Ninja's good arm. Dark Ninja ducked behind the door again, and tried to spot the remaining flying mummy.
"Get a bead on that thing," Dark Ninja yelled at the pilot.
"Can't see him, sir," the pilot said. He craned his neck everywhere, searching the sky for the missing mummy.
Dark Ninja cautiously peered out the door, and a spear narrowly missed impaling his head. It clanged harmlessly on the fuselage next to him.
Dark Ninja looked up to see the source of the shot, and spotted the mummy. He opened fire, bullets tearing through the mummy and the wings, sending the undead menace plunging toward the ground. He erupted in a cloud of sand.
With that handled, the Dark Ninja picked up the grappling hook once again. He ordered the pilot to circle the obelisk as close as the plane can get. He looked for the aquamarine colored Soul Diamond, which should sit atop the obelisk. He looked again, seeing only an empty platform. He tried to focus his weary eyes, but kept looking at an empty platform.
Someone else already obtained it.
Where would he even begin to look for it? You can't take a Craigslist ad for something like this!
And then the thought hit him. The gem Shredder originally wanted him to get. It was in the Egyptian Wing of the Hale Gallery. It was aquamarine colored. It was priceless. The doctor had obtained it on a dig in Egypt.
It all fit. It was all right in front of him the whole time.
"So you really think that these treasures will grant someone immortality?" Donnie asked.
"I do," Prof. Hale said matter-of-factly.
It was all too much fantasy and mythology for Donnie's super-scientific brain to grasp. Donnie trained himself to think in terms of evidence and logic, and religion didn't usually fit into that paradigm. Gods, leprechauns, unicorns, fairies – they were all the same to him.
"Well, if The Foot somehow found this map you think was in that statue, then they have a tremendous head start on finding all of those treasures."
Hale nodded.
"Too bad we don't have any of them."
"We do, actually," Hale said. "An adventurer I hired, a real Indiana Jones-type named Raines, he found one of the treasures. I displayed it in my gallery."
"That diamond that those burglars were after ..."
"... is the infamous Soul Diamond," Prof. Hale finished.
TO BE CONTINUED . . .