Wunderkind

1.21-Cigar Cutter

CAIRO

2013

" Now when he was a young man,

He never thought he'd see

People stand in line to see the boy king.

King Tut, How'd you get so funky?

Funky Tut, Did you do the monkey?"

Jack knows it's a bit childish, but really, he can't help it. The damn song is stuck in his head. And if he has to suffer, so does Riley.

"I don't remember the rest of the words. There was something about a condo made of stone though...or was that Spongebob?"

"That's a pineapple under the sea." Riley pries the lid off another crate and swipes a small device she rigged up on the plane over it. "Nope, nothing here but cat statues. I think they're fakes, but we're not exactly here to blow the whistle on artifact counterfeiters."

"What's the deal with all the cats?" Jack asks.

"They were sacred to Egyptian society. Sometimes supposedly incarnations of gods and goddesses."

"So that's where they get the attitude from." Jack's always been a dog person himself. Not that he didn't have a soft spot for the little grey runt he found abandoned behind the barn. Jack thinks he's got a thing for strays.

Sometimes Riley still reminds him of that skittish kitten; she's stopped flinching when Jack claps her on the shoulder, but he sees a haunted look in her eyes after some missions.

Jack tugs on the edge of a sarcophagus. When it falls open, he jumps back as a bandage-wrapped corpse tumbles out at him. He catches it, and a cloud of dust engulfs him. Jack shudders in disgust and pushes the nasty thing back into the coffin.

"Oh man, Riley, we gotta get outta here. There's a mummy."

"So?"

"You know those things are always frickin cursed! It's probably gonna come to life and kill us." Jack slams the sarcophagus closed.

"Jack, now is not the time for getting superstitious. We have a real, actual problem, and it's a lot more plausible than a three thousand year old zombie." Riley swipes her phone over another crate, and stops. "I'm getting a reading. I think we got it."

"Riley, don't touch that one. It looks like the ark of the covenant."

"Jack, the ark would have been a lot smaller than this." He shakes his head. She's wrecking all his jokes today. And yes, they are here after a pretty nasty target, but all the more reason to keep it light.

"I just don't want our faces to melt off." Riley starts pushing the lid off anyway. "Your funeral..." Jack mumbles.

"No. It's all our funerals." Riley's little gadget is going wild now. Jack steps up and takes a look inside the box.

"Dirty bomb. Just like intel said." He's seen his share of these things. And this one looks like a doozy.

There's a beeping buzz, and Jack flinches. Did opening the box trigger a countdown? I told Riley she shouldn't do that. The sound continues, and Riley fishes her phone out of her pocket, glancing at the screen.

"It's my mom."

"Well, answer it! It might be important!" Jack shakes his head. The last time Riley's mom called on a mission, she was letting Riley know a kidnapper was holding her for ransom.