As Robert parked his car and started to walk up to the Great Pyramid, he wondered why he was being called here. Things like this had happened to him before. He became involved with the centuries old cult of the Illuminati because the scientists at CERN had found Leonardo Vetra with the symbol of the Illuminati in his chest. Then through his symbology, he became involved with the Priory of Sion and the Holy Grail. Now, through his symbology links again, he was involved with another murder. He saw a torch light shine in the darkness. He walked up to the light, and he was surprised at what he saw.
"Mr Langdon? I'm Dr. Haseid." He stared in amazement at what he saw. Dr A. Haseid was a young woman; dressed in sandy covered clothes. Her long blonde hair was tied in a long plait, and her dark eyes seemed to absorb all the light. She had bronze coloured skin. Quite frankly, she was not at all what Robert expected.
"Dr Haseid, I do not really understand why I am here, but I am pleased to meet you. You are not really what I expected."
"My father was closely connected to the Egyptian government. When I graduated from university, he got me a job here. Then I worked hard at what I did, and got promoted to this position."
"You do not look like any Egyptian I have ever met, if you do not mind me saying, Dr. Haseid."
"My father was an Egyptian, my mother was an Englishwoman. I get my hair and my name from her. Amelia."
"Thank you for putting my mind at rest for that, Dr Haseid. Can you take me to the body?" Robert asked. Dr Amelia Haseid led Robert up to the entrance of the Great Pyramid. It was not actually the real entrance of the Pyramid. Than was several courses up the Pyramid itself. The body was situated in front of the tunnel which Caliph al-Mamun made when he broke into the Great Pyramid to find out if the stories he had heard were true. Unfortunately for the young Caliph they were not. They had reached the entrance of the tunnel, and Robert stared at the carnage in front if him.
The body had indeed been hacked to pieces, and blood was everywhere. What was more disturbing were the hieroglyphs written in the mans' blood.
"What do they mean?" asked Langdon.
"There is a chest of flint in the building called "Inventory" in On. It is in that chest…" said Amelia Haseid, looking at the first line of hieroglyphs, then she read the second line of Arabic. "It was in the flint chest. The Chambers of Thoth have been opened." Amelia looked at the stunned face on Robert's face. "You know what it means don't you?"
Robert nodded slowly. "Partly." He read the line of hieroglyphs. "I was doing some research into the symbology of legends across the world, and after a long period of time, I was able to gain access to the 'Westcar Papyrus' which is just labelled 'No. 3033' in the underground vaults of the Antiquities Museum in East Berlin. It tells the story of Djedi the Magician in the time of King Khufu. He was a learned scholar and Mage, and according to the papyrus he knew "the number of the secret chambers of the sanctuary of Thoth." I have tried to find out what this means, but to know avail. There seems to be no mention of the Sanctuary of Thoth anywhere, apart from scraps of documents." He looked up, and he saw that Amelia was stiff and staring at the body. "Do you know anything about what I have just said, or what the murderer wrote in the blood?"
"My father mentioned something about the Sanctuary of Thoth when I was a child. I would ask my father about it. I would ask him, but I cannot."
"Why is that?"
"Because that is my father, Dr. Mohammed Haseid." She pointed at the mangled and chopped up body, and the ever-thirsty sand of the desert soaked up a single tear.