Chapter 28 – Trapped Inside
"I don't understand," Robert said despairingly, gazing at the empty dock where his father's yacht was usually tied up when he was in Thebes. "If he isn't here, I can't imagine where he is."
Rick and Ardeth exchanged glances. "I've got some contacts here," Rick said, "and I'm sure you do too." Ardeth nodded. "We'll be able to find out if Varne was ever here."
"Master Robert?" The men looked up to see a stout woman several feet behind them. "Master Robert? What are you doing here?"
"Mrs. Waverly?" Robert rushed over and took her hands. "I'm looking for my father's yacht, I expected him to be here."
"Oh no," Mrs. Waverly answered warmly. "He docked on the west bank this time. Heavens knows why," she chuckled.
Robert glanced quickly at Rick and Ardeth who had come up to stand a few feet behind him. "Tell me, Mrs. Waverly. Does Father have any guests aboard?"
"Why yes," she said, "Two very pretty young ladies. Mrs. O'Connell dined with Sir Randolph every evening, but Miss DeWitt was unwell and spent all her time in her room. Motion sickness, you know," she confided.
"Marvelous," Robert said. "The west bank you say?"
"Yes, Master Robert. I'm just over here buying supplies. You know how your father likes his dinner."
"Indeed I do," he said with a smile. As the woman moved off, he explained to his companions. "She does the cooking aboard the yacht."
"So the women are aboard," Rick said with relief.
Ardeth wasted no time. A quick conversation with the owner of a small fishing boat resulted in the man agreeing to ferry them across the Nile. "Y'Allah. Let's go."
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Sir Randolph's driver stopped the car as close as he could get to the tomb of Ramses II. Sir Randolph got out and headed for the tomb, motioning for his driver to follow. As he had half expected, the door was ajar. She was here, he thought savagely. The ungrateful bitch! "Guard the door," he snapped at the driver. "Make sure no one comes out until I get back." Striking a match, he lit the torch he'd brought and entered the tomb.
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Evie and Tia slowly walked along the third long corridor and started up the staircase that led to the Chariot room. "We'll have to try to get to my dig site near the Valley of Queens," Evie said, "I've got clothes there and some money."
Tia nodded. She started to speak, but broke off abruptly. "Evie, do you hear that?"
"Someone's coming," Evie hissed. "Dear God, it must be Varne. He must have found me missing."
"What are we going to do now?"
As Sir Randolph stalked down the corridor, he caught a faint glimpse of the glow of Evie's lantern. "Nefertari? You faithless bitch!" A string of curses in ancient Egyptian followed.
"Come on," Evie hissed, grasping Tia by the arm. "There's another way out."
The two women ran down the stairs and back down the third corridor back through the antechamber into the burial chamber. "What do you mean another way out?" Tia gasped.
Evie made for the first small annex on the right. "This tomb is prone to flooding. The workmen made an escape tunnel just in case they were trapped in here. I caught them at it when I was here to oversee preparations for one of the funerals. Ramses never knew about it. I never told him, he would have been furious." She yanked Tia after her into the annex. "If I can just find the catch." Her fingers ran swiftly over the wall. "It's got to be here somewhere." Finally she felt the small lever hidden in the carvings. "Here it is." She pulled the latch and shoved the door open. "Quickly!"
Tia saw the glow of Sir Randolph's torch enter the burial chamber. "Too late!"
"Not for you," Evie said in a fierce whisper. She shoved Tia through the door and shut it behind her. Then she kicked over her lantern, plunging the small room into darkness.
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Tia stood for a moment in pitch darkness in shock, and then she frantically searched the wall in front of her for the catch to open the door. Damn it! Why did she always end up on the wrong side of locked doors? Nothing. That figures, she thought. They'd need the escape route to get out. They wouldn't want anyone else, like grave robbers, to be able to get in. There would be no getting back into the tomb. The only thing to do was to find the way to the outside, then come back in the entrance to help Evie.
She groped at the walls all around her. She seemed to be in a tiny room, about two and a half feet square. Now what? Then her fingers found the indentations in the wall to her right. Cut into the rock at regular intervals were long niches, perhaps eight inches wide and two inches deep. She put her fingers into one. It felt like the rung of a ladder. Of course! The escape tunnel went up. The workmen had carved a ladder into the rock wall. Hitching up her satin skirt, she started to climb, praying that the tunnel was still intact all the way to the surface.
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Evie crouched in the darkness, watching the flickering light from Sir Randolph's torch as it crossed the main burial chamber. He was headed for the secondary burial chamber where he'd left Tia. Good. Once he disappeared into that annex she should be able to sneak past into the corridor again.
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When the three men had reached the yacht, they'd found it nearly abandoned, except for Sir Randolph's manservant.
"Jensen, where's my father?" Robert demanded.
Jensen flinched visibly. "I think he must have gone to the tomb again," he said in a quavering voice.
"What tomb," Ardeth asked icily.
"Ramses II," Jensen replied, visibly shrinking away from the Medjai.
"Why would he go there?" Ardeth said, his voice even colder than before.
"Well, because that's where the women are, I think." Jensen looked beseechingly at Robert. "He's gone mad, Master Robert. I don't know what to do!"
"Not to worry, Jensen, " Robert said. "We'll take care of it." He turned to Rick. "Do you know where the tomb is?"
"Yes." Rick said quickly. "I've been there before."
"Right then. Let's go."
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Author's Note:
The escape tunnel is also my invention, but Ramses's tomb IS prone to flooding, which is one of the reasons there is very little left. Most of the paintings have at least partially flaked off the walls.
Thank you ephona and mrsblonde1503. I'm pleased you like the story enough to keep checking for the updates. Mommints, I'm glad you're back after a long absence. I just got your reviews for Chapters 3 & 4; I hope you read the rest. Welcome Shahrezadi! I'm flattered.