The Nightmare Beneath the Sand

The Nightmare Beneath the Sand 7

As Leon and Alaric stared at the seal as it was carefully broken by two workers highly trained in doing such things, a man stood in front of a window, gazing out over the sleepping city. It was just after three in the morning for them, but he knew that it was just after nine am where the team was breaking the first seal of the tomb.

The man smirked to himself as the soft clack of heeled shoes walking on expensive flooring floated through the office. He turned to greet his companion, tilting his head at the woman. She was beautiful, dressed to enhance her slim body and darkly colored skin, hair carefully controlled and styled while she stared at him with a raised eyebrow.

"You are thinking hard thoughts," she drawled, a tinge of a Brooklyn accent in her voice. It would disappear the moment they weren't alone but the two had been friends for so many years that he didn't care to stand on societal demand when it was just them.

"I am thinking happy thoughts, my dear Alex. I would have thought that you would be resting in your bed, not in the office. Coming to see me," he teased, Alex smirking.

"Mark, when have you known me to leave at a decent hour?" she asked, moving over to his coffee station. With quick, knowing movements, she had two cups of coffee prepared to their liking and carried one over to her friend, handing it over. "Anyways, tonight is a good night. Over there, the being that our families followed as high priests and priestesses is being unsealed while we wait and watch. In just a few hours we must gather and head over there. We must greet him properly after all."

He chuckled, tasting his tea, lips curling in pleasure. "I can tell you now, the best find we have ever come across was that young man, Leon. I wonder if he will fight or bow down."

"He will fight." Alex shifted. "I did some digging. His father was one of the hidden ones. He's not around and he told Leon's mother a fake name when he was there, but he is a hidden one."

The man grunted, sneering as he turned back to stare out over the city. "Of course he is. That's how they work. They come in, seduce some poor woman, and leave her with the child while they once more disappear into the ether."

"It seems as if she knew what she was getting into," Alex said, shrugging. "I didn't go into much detail, but it looks like she knew about their MO, and she wanted to have him. He's quite powerful for the family."

"The most powerful. Especially placed in Egypt, or anywhere in Africa," he mused. "The museum and university have made quite the pretty penny with our backing and the finds that he has pulled in."

"It really is to bad that he will fight against us. And our God," Alex sneered. "He would make a good head of archeological finds. We still need to find the other tablets yet after all. Find out where that bastard sealed Their mate. Are you sure we can't just collar him, Mark?"

"Yes, I'm sure, I've been looking into that," Mark said, turning from the window towards a small door that lead off the office. The other door held the personal bathroom for his office but this other door lead into a smaller office where he kept his research. One wall held a large white board covered in pictures from various digs while two full walls had built in bookshelves. A one-way, hidden mirror sat next to the door, allowing him to see who came into his office.

Striding over to the desk, Mark found the binder that he wanted as Alex followed him with her teacup in hand. She took his cup from him with an amused smile, allowing him to flip open the binder, and pointing to some translations that had been sent to them by the various teams that they used.

"Here. I think she was hidden in a tomb meant for Nefertiti, but used for another King, Nefertiti instead being hidden from the world," Mark said, Alex looking over the translations with a frown.

"Behind a wall of prayer, She was moved and placed to keep her from her lover and being returned from the Land of the Dead," Alex read. "The guy who translated says that it's possible she's in one of four tombs, two freestanding and two in the Valley of the Kings. Or that it's meant to mislead and she's buried in some tomb of a high priest if the Egyptians of that era worried that she would come back," she said. She placed her cup down to use her finger to read the lines.

"If anything, they will have placed a body there to keep up the ruse. It would be easy to find out if She is there or not," Mark replied. "We'd just need to go for a little...private tour with Karla and her necklace."

"I hate that we have to bring her with us. She's still to damn young for all of this. She damn well hasn't learned the in and outs of being us," Alex muttered, shaking her head before checking the time. "Have you gotten any calls from Kran?" she asked.

Looking to his own watch, Mark grunted. "Not yet. Soon I expect." As soon as he said that, the phone on his desk rang. Pressing two buttons and putting it onto speaker, he sat down in the chair, Alex keeping her mouth shut. "Yes?" he greeted.

"We're in. We're not going in today but rather going to do some needed exploration with a drone before we set foot in there," came from the phone, Kran's voice sounding staticky and distant. "There's a bit of a windstorm coming in so we're sending most of the workers back to camp with the students. The rest of us are moving tents and the finds back to main camp since there's no real outcropping to protect them."

"I understand," Mark said, scowling but keeping his anger out of his voice. "There was no loss of life? Nothing to worry about?"

"A lot of musty air and the distinct scent of shit, but no, nothing else," Kran replied. The sound of wind on tent walls filtered through the phone. "We'll be going in with full masks and pants and sleeves when we do go in until we figure out what is going on. For today though we're setting up the tents close to the sand walls and the walls of the complex to protect them from the high winds. The guards have already said that it'll be a light one but because of the equipment we need to protect most of it."

"Very well. Send me video from the drone once you send it in," Mark instructed. "And keep your people safe. I do not want to have to deal with dead workers, much less dead employees," he warned.

Kran snorted. "We're taking all available cautions," he promised before someone called out that they were ready to start with the drone. "I have to go. Leon and Alaric are ready to send in their drones. And apparently some new wheeled thing."

"Good luck," Mark said, hanging up on the man before smirking. "It seems as if things are going very well for all of us." Mark snickered as she gathered up the coffee cups to rinse out and put away.

"Indeed," she drawled. "Come, we must get ready for our thirteen hour-plus flight," Alex said, heading for the bathroom. Mark closed up the secondary office, placed a reminder for his secretary that he would be out of the country for a few days, and then left with his friend to drop off his car at his house and be picked up by the waiting chauffer.