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  I could have stood there taking in the view and letting my mind wonder about the life of an ancient engineer, but we had work to do.

  I tore my gaze away from the view and held up the staff. Slash pulled his flashlight out and aimed the beam at the top. We both took a long look at the way the pyramids lined up in the view, before I replicated it on the staff. I gently tugged on the top, but it held firm.

  “We have to finish the combination,” Slash said. “Those dots have to signify something.”

  “I agree. But what?”

  “It’s got to be some kind of code.”

  I frowned. “I think at this point the code means straight up mathematics. Since some of the most advanced engineering took place at this time, we have to also assume that this will be a sophisticated code.”

  “Agreed.” Slash leaned over, tipping one end of the staff toward him with his gloved fingertips. “At this end, the spot where Arthur retrieved the plague endospores, I don’t see any dots. Only Hebrew characters which Arthur said he used to open that end.”

  “The dots are clearly the clue on this end.”

  “Do you have the paper?”

  I pulled out the long wad of toilet paper from my pocket and two pencils. “Here you go.”

  He laid the paper across the staff and began to gently create a rubbing of the dots.

  “That’s a good idea,” I said. “It will give us a flat, non-skewed look at how they are arranged in their entirety.”

  Slash finished the rubbing and laid it out atop a flat boulder a few steps away. We crouched around the rock, looking at the layout by the beam of the flashlight.

  “Anything leap out at you?” I asked after a few minutes. “I’ve got nothing.”

  Slash studied it and sat back on his heels. “Me neither. Maybe this isn’t the right way to go about this.”

  “Let’s try some basic ciphers to make sure. Just to rule them out.”

  He nodded and we spent the next thirty minutes calculating the possibilities. Finally, Slash stood and tossed his pencil aside in frustration. “Nothing. We’re no closer to opening this staff than when we started. We’re out of time.”

  I rubbed my temples. He was right. We were getting nowhere fast. We had no parameters, no baseline, no starting point. Without those, we couldn’t determine a rhyme or reason for the layout of the dots.

  I still sat cross-legged on ground. I arched my back, staring at the pyramids in the distance. Dawn was in full bloom now. The night lighting of the pyramids had been turned off and now they were cloaked in the first bloom of the pinkish orange hue of the dawn. These amazing structures had lasted thousands of years. How many more puzzles and mysteries did they hide?

  I looked at Slash. He was pacing, which he always did when he was thinking.

  “Let’s go back to the basics,” I said. “We have only one certainty here. Those dots are not randomly placed on that staff. They are precisely and carefully carved.”

  Slash scuffed his foot, stirring up some sand. “You think I don’t know that? Damn it, cara, we need more information. Something to start with.” The fact his voice held a note of desperation concerned me. Maybe he wasn’t as calm as I thought about the fact we had no idea what had happened to Gwen, was happening with the plague, or what Zizi had done or said. That he wasn’t his usual implacable self was worrisome.

  “Maybe we should just try to break it open,” Slash suddenly said.

  “What?” I looked at him appalled. “Did you just suggest we try to break the Rod of God?”

  “If we can’t open it, at this point, it may be our only recourse.”

  “Did you not hear of the legends about what happened to the people who tried to do just that? They died horrible deaths.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Are you, Lexi Carmichael, suggesting myth and legend might be well heeded in this case?”

  “Maybe I am. Look, Slash, religious, spiritual or woo-woo concerns aside, I don’t want anything to happen to you. I don’t want anything to happen to me. We are running on fumes with no food or sleep. But it doesn’t mean we have to abandon common sense. Even though I don’t believe in superstition, we just can’t break this staff. In addition to the fact that it’s clearly an ancient artifact, it could also be holy.”

  Wow. I couldn’t believe I was the one taking a sacred stand here. But here I was, standing up for the holy relic like I was the Pope or something.

  “Did you just say woo-woo?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Secondly. We can’t break the staff because we might damage whatever is inside. You know that. It’s not worth risking.”

  Slash blew out a breath. “I know. It was just frustration speaking.”

  I got a cramp in my lower legs from the way I was crouching, so I sat on my bottom. I was still uncomfortable, so I stretched out on my back, one arm behind my head, the other hand balancing the staff horizontally across my stomach. I stared up at the disappearing night sky and tried to clear my mind. The answer had to be within our grasp, we just needed to know how to find it.

  Hey, God. If you’re up there and this is your staff, a little help here would be great.

  Wonderful. Now I was talking to God like we were long-lost friends or something. I took a couple of deep breaths to relax my mind and body.

  “Okay, Slash, let’s go back to Egyptian times and think like Moses or the person who wrote this code on the staff to protect the endospores inside. What do we know about Egyptian mathematical techniques? What resources did they have that they might have relied upon to create this puzzle?”

  Slash kept pacing. The steady fall of his footsteps calmed me. I wondered if he even realized he paced when he was worried. “It’s no secret the Egyptians were math geniuses. You want me to list some of the overall practices of the time?”

  “Yes, please. I remember some, but I’m tired. Give me a refresher, if you would.”

  There was a pause in his pacing before he resumed. “Well, their number system was based on ten and was additive. They were the first people to use unit fractions and develop a sophisticated measurement system roughly based on the cubit. Multiplication for them was a binary sort of arithmetic, a constant doubling of those things that needed to be added. They used algebra, geometry and quadratic equations, surprisingly, much in the same way we still do today. How’s that for an overview?”

  “Good. How did they tell time?”

  “Sundials. Obelisks. Merkhets.”

  I leaned on one elbow, looking up at him in surprise. “Merkhets? Are those the devices used by early astronomers to tell time at night?”

  “Si. A merkhet had a weight with a pointed tip that was suspended from a string and used as a vertical reference line. In order to tell time, two merkhets had to be in operation at the same time. One was the base measurement and was aligned with Polaris, the North Star. They created a north-south meridian.”

  “That’s right. I remember now. How did they measure time from that?”

  “They observed certain stars and constellations as they crossed into the meridian and became aligned with the merkhets. There are some merkhets on display at the Egyptian Museum. It’s thought they were likely used in the construction of the pyramids.”

  I stared at the sky, trying to imagine how that worked when suddenly I sat up. “Slash, I think I’ve got it.”

  Slash knelt down beside me, careful not to knock the staff. “Got what? Cara, what are you thinking?”

  I smiled up at him. “The stars, Slash. The dots are the stars. It’s a celestial map.”

  Chapter Forty

  Slash stared at me, clearly not quite seeing the whole picture yet. “How does the merkhet play into that?”

  “They used it to tell time. The dots are the location of the constellations and the stars from the southern pers
pective at a certain time. When those are aligned properly on the staff, it should open.”

  He sat on the ground next to me, taking the staff from my hand. “It’s as good a theory as any. It might work, except how do we know at what time we’re supposed to calculate the position of the stars?”

  “That... I’m not sure.” I rested a hand on his shoulder and looked down at the staff, clicking on the flashlight. In a few minutes we wouldn’t need it. Dawn would be in full bloom by then.

  I pointed at the small figure of Ra. “Look where the sun is situated in comparison to Ra.”

  “It’s not above his head like it would be at midday,” Slash observed. “It’s lower.”

  “Sunset, then?”

  Slash turned his head and looked at me intently. “Or sunrise.”

  I glanced up at the sky. We could still see the stars, but not for long. “Let’s map it and see what happens. But we have to hurry.”

  Slash grabbed his rubbing of the dots and smoothed it out on top of the boulder. He looked up at the stars and then down at the rubbing. “Let’s start with the first dot sequence. Polaris is here.” He did a few rotations and stopped, glancing between the stars and the staff. “This is the one.” He clicked it into place behind the southern configuration of the pyramids.

  I had worked ahead and was ready with the second dot configuration. “This one looks like Argo, the boat. Well, at least it was called Argo by the Greeks. I’m not sure what the Egyptians called it.”

  “As long as it lines up, I don’t care what it’s called.”

  “Agreed.”

  There were four more configurations. Aries, Cassiopeia, Eridanus, and Leo, at least those were their Greek names. Slash and I each worked two and then rotated the correct configuration into line.

  I slid the final one into place under the others. “Done. Fittingly, and perhaps not coincidentally, the last constellation was Leo, better known as the Sphinx to the Egyptians.” I glanced over at the real Sphinx that had started to shimmer golden in the exploding dawn sky. “It seems fitting somehow.”

  I glanced over at Slash. “Do we try to open it now?”

  Slash nodded, but first he slipped the gold cross out from beneath his shirt and kissed it. My hand rested on the knob on top of the staff. Slash placed his hand over mine. It was warm, strong and determined.

  My rock. My partner in crime. Literally.

  “As we open it, hold your breath, okay?” he said.

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know what’s in there and I don’t want either of us inhaling spores if they are loose.”

  “Okay. Shall we do it?”

  He leaned forward and pressed a kiss on my forehead. As he pulled back, he murmured something in Italian.

  “What did you say?” I asked.

  His cheeks and chin had dark stubble, and his brown eyes were shadowed and tired. Yet, as he looked at me, he smiled. “I thanked God for bringing you to me in case He’s watching right now. Ready?”

  “Ready.”

  I inhaled a deep breath, holding it. Together we turned the knob and gently tugged upward. Nothing happened. Slash glanced at me and nodded. We tugged a little harder and this time the knob at the top popped off right into my hand.

  A strange whooshing sound that sounded like a sigh, or perhaps an exhale of breath, released just as a weird sweep of static electricity shot through me, causing my hands and toes to tingle. At that same moment, bells started going off across the town although it was far too early for a call to morning prayers.

  I released the staff, leaving it in Slash’s hand. Still holding the top, I staggered back a few steps, then bent over and gasped in air. After a few seconds, I straightened. Nothing was on fire, I was breathing normally and I hadn’t broken out into oozing pus-filled sores.

  Alive and in one piece...at least for the moment.

  The bells had stopped. I glanced at Slash. “Did you hear those bells or was it in my head?”

  “I heard them.”

  Slash tipped the staff sideways holding out his gloved hand. After a few gentle shakes, something fell into his hand. Our eyes met and then he lightly prodded the item with a fingertip. It was a long, thin bundle wrapped in something white.

  “What is it?” I murmured, moving closer again.

  “I don’t know and I don’t dare unwrap it here. But I think we’ve found the antidote.”

  I stared in wonder at the object cradled in his gloved hand. “You think there are spores in there?”

  “I have no idea.”

  I took a closer look. “What’s that white thing?”

  “It looks like a papyrus. It’s sealing whatever is inside. But look here, cara, there is something on it.”

  Even though the sun had started to rise, I trained my flashlight on it. “It’s a leaf.”

  “What kind of leaf?”

  “I don’t know. Take a closer look.”

  Slash peered at it and shook his head. “It’s not familiar to me. But it must be part of the antidote.”

  I considered the significance. Was that small bundle the answer to preventing a global pandemic?

  Who had put it in the staff? God? Moses?

  Did it really matter?

  A swell of protectiveness rose inside me. No. It didn’t matter who had placed the endospores in the staff. It was up to us to make sure it was well protected. That meant getting whatever was inside that bundle into the hands of people who could use it in the way it was intended—to save lives.

  Slash and I watched as the sun peeked over the horizon, bathing us, the bundle and the rod in a golden glow. As the rays of the sun fell upon the staff, it seemed ablaze with an inner light.

  “What are we going to do now?” I asked Slash in a hushed voice.

  Slash looked down at the hidden treasure. “Make sure we protect it.”

  * * *

  “Are you sure about this?” I asked for the millionth time as we stepped into the lobby of the Marriott Hotel.

  “I’m sure. We hold all the cards at this point.”

  I was grateful for his patience as he answered my repeated questions. But it didn’t make me any less nervous. I looked around expecting someone to jump out at us any second and drag us off to prison.

  Thankfully, no one had—yet—so I followed Slash to the elevators, trying not to look as nervous and guilty as I felt.

  We climbed into a waiting elevator and went to our floor. When we got to our suite, Slash knocked a few times on the door. I slid my hand into his and he squeezed it. I heard movement on the other side of the door and presumed someone was looking out.

  A squeal and then the door was flung open. I was tackled into the hall wall behind me with Gwen throwing her arms around me, crying. “You’re okay, Lexi. Oh my God. You’re alive.”

  Relief flooded through me that she was unharmed and obviously not in police custody. I tried to untangle myself from her grip. “I’m fine, Gwen. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

  Gwen stepped back, pushing her red hair from her shoulders. A relieved smile crossed her face. “I knew it. I told them you’d be fine. Lexi Carmichael is always fine. It says so on your forum.”

  Slash shot out a hand and grabbed us both by the upper arm. He pulled us into the room and closed the door behind us. Elvis rose from behind the laptop looking at us in relief. Arthur rose to his feet as well, his appearance gaunt, his expression distraught.

  “Lexi,” Elvis said, coming around the desk to pull me into a hug. “Slash. Wow, am I glad to see you. Are you guys okay? What happened in the museum? We were so worried.”

  Before I could answer, Zizi stepped out of the bathroom. Her eyes fell immediately on Slash and then me. “It’s about time. What took you so long?”

  Slash walked ov
er to Zizi, took her hand and kissed it. “We had some things to take care of. Apparently, I owe you a debt of gratitude for rescuing Gwen. Were you detected?”

  “No.” Zizi’s eyes flicked over our shoulder. “Where’s the staff?”

  I didn’t give Slash time to answer as I stepped up beside him. “How did you get her out?”

  “She found me crouching behind the statue where you guys left me,” Gwen interrupted. “I was lucky no one had discovered me yet. When Zizi found me, I almost passed out I was so frightened.”

  Slash put a hand on Gwen’s shoulder. “I’m sorry to have put you through that. You did great. You’ve got the temperament of a field agent. I would have come back for you, but I wanted to get the staff out first. Running into Zizi was a stroke of luck. I knew she was in a better position to help you. It looks like I was right.”

  “You were right,” Zizi said.

  Gwen beamed, still stuck on Slash’s compliment. “Thank goodness, Zizi is on our side. Hey, Lexi, did you hear that? I’ve got the makings of a field agent. Gwen Sinclair 007. I may have to change my online moniker.”

  Slash grinned and turned toward Zizi. “How did you do it?”

  “I waited until there was enough distraction inside the museum to remove her from a side entrance—the same one you exited from, to be exact. She was not discovered. Elvis assures me the cameras will not reflect my participation whatsoever in that effort. That apparently is also true for the entrance card you stole from my purse.” She gave Slash a long, hard stare.

  He bowed his head. “Please accept my deepest apologies, Zizi. It was done for the greater good and in a good faith effort to protect you.” He reached into his pocket and handed her back the card. “You have been an invaluable partner in this rescue.”

  She took it and stuck it in her purse. “You’d better be right.” She frowned. “I don’t like that you excluded me on this.”