Mummies & Daddies (WAYHAUGHT)

Chapter 5

Nicole laughed. "I meant buying drinks for the team. What's with the salt in the beer?"

"Hot climate, keeps you hydrated. It's not as bad as it sounds. You should try it."

Nicole accepted the salt cellar in Robin's hand, adding a pinch to her glass. "How did you get into all this?"

Robin gave her a quizzical look. "I just do my job, write my reports, the rest is up to whoever takes over after we leave."

"Egyptology. I meant here...Waves is the first person I've met who loves this kind of thing."

"Who wouldn't," Robin replied, adding another pinch of salt to his own beer. "It's got everything. Okay, fine, I'll let you into a secret, Indiana Jones had me hooked the first time I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark. That's who I wanted to be."

"Never watched it. More a Harry Potter fan."

"It's not like the film," Robin continued. "Sure, some of it is exciting. Most of the tombs we find have already been stripped of anything valuable, thousands of years before we arrive."

"Must be frustrating."

"There's a huge market. You'd be surprised."

"Go on, surprise me."

Robin drew nearer, glancing quickly at the others. "The linen on mummies."

"Okay. Why?"

"Several thousand dollars a piece on the black market for the best ones. Especially if it's known who was wrapped in them."

"Why would anyone want that?"

Robin shrugged. "Medicine. Weird shit. Some guy tried smuggling five jars of linens into the States. Customs found them in a Canadian mail truck."

"Seriously? You're right, that's some weird shit."

"Not just the wrapping, bones, coins, jewellery. Cut the coffins up, send them back in pieces. It all happens. They buy it all."

"They."

"It's our job to keep it safe. Get it to the museums before they get to it."

"Who's they?"

"Local guys. Any poor guy looking to make money. Look around, this ain't New York baby."

Waverly pulled up a chair beside Nicole. "What are you two whispering about?"

"Indiana Jones," Nicole replied.

"Oh my God, so loved that film. I wanted to be him."

Robin winked at Nicole. "Perhaps if you had seen it you'd be doing this too. Catch you later."

"Did you know there's a market for mummies?" Nicole said, her eyes still on Robin as he headed towards the exit.

Waverly nodded. "Biggest problem we have. Actually no, that's not strictly true. Getting permission to dig sites is a huge problem. We're only here at the invite of the American University in Cairo. Robert teaches there with Professor Salima Ikram. She's my hero."

"But, there's a market for this. People buy what you find."

"Oh sure. We have to be really careful with what we do and who we tell in case a tomb is raided."

"Which explains the armed guards at the excavation site. Makes more sense."

"Since the Arab uprising it's got worse. We're lucky our site is so well protected. I know one researcher was killed while excavating in Abydos."