"Arrangements involving an insanely large wad of cash?"

"We won't talk about that. Listen, I'll be belowground and out of cell-phone range when I'm in the tomb. Before I go in, does Jonesy have any last pieces of information for me?"

"Yes. And Simon talked to Professor Azi for some clarification on a few things we couldn't interpret or understand. Here's what we have: 'Lady Peseshet is a guest of the gracious Donkor, maker of fine clothing for the Pharaoh.' "

"Tavak was able to read that much himself. Donkor's tomb was discovered in the 1940s, north of the Djojer Pyramid. I'm looking at it right now."

"It says Peseshet waits behind the sun for her journey to the afterlife."

"Behind the sun?"

"That's what it says. It says that those who wish to bring Peseshet's secrets to the world may do so, but they must also leave it with her to assure her safe passage. But here's something interesting. It says that anyone who breaks the seal will only be given a quarter of a summer hour to visit the great Peseshet."

"A summer hour?"

"I don't know. That's all it says."

"Okay. Thanks for your help, Val. Thanks to Simon, too."

"We'll be here if you need us."

"I'll call you when we get back up topside. Wish us luck." Rachel cut the connection.

Val pulled off her headset and turned to Simon. "Rachel is about to go in."

"Maybe Jonesy can come up with the name of a good lawyer when she gets herself arrested. I'm going to the snack bar. You want anything?"

"No, thanks."

Simon left the lab. Val launched the allocation protocol and began the task of restoring Jonesy's processing duties to the various projects. Outages were not all that uncommon due to system maintenance, upgrades, and the like, and none of the project managers had even called to complain. Val didn't think it was necessary to inform Rachel of the drastic measures she had taken, but she would note the interruption in the logs they kept for-—

What the hell?

Val leaned forward and studied the screen. In the years she had been working with Jonesy, she'd thought she had seen everything.

She had never seen this.

SAQQARA, EGYPT

Tavak shined his flashlight into the tomb of Donkor. "Here we go. Time to visit the Lady."

Nuri reached over and switched off Tavak's flashlight. "Please. The Tourism and Antiquities Police were quite agreeable, but they made me promise we wouldn't turn on any flashlights or lanterns outside the tomb. We would be too easy for their superiors to spot."

"You're right," Tavak said. "My apologies." He turned to Rachel. "So according to Jonesy, Peseshet is waiting for us on the other side of the sun?"

"That's what the message says. And apparently, our invitation is only good for less than an hour."

"What do you mean?"

"The exact words were 'quarter of a summer hour.' After that, we're no longer welcome in her tomb."

"A summer hour? What the hell does that mean?" Allie asked.

Tavak led them into the tomb. "The ancient Egyptians were one of the first societies with a twenty-four-hour day. The catch is, their hours were different lengths, depending what time of year it was. During the summer, hours were more like eighty minutes."

"So we'll wear out our welcome in twenty minutes," Demanski said. "Got it."

He and Allie set off down the narrow corridor.

"Oba, Meti." Nuri gestured to the entrance. "Stay and guard here."

Tavak shook his head. "If you don't mind, they may be more useful someplace else. I've already discussed it with them while we were waiting for you."

Nuri frowned. "Where?"

Tavak produced a hand-drawn map and handed it to Oba.

Nuri glanced at the map in bewilderment. "This is a half mile from here. Are you sure this is where you want them?"

"That's where I want them." He turned to Rachel. "Do you agree?"

Rachel nodded. "Absolutely."

He smiled at her. "Thank you." He stood aside and gestured for her to precede him into Donkor's tomb. "Shall we go to see the Lady?"

The Lady Peseshet. Are you here? Are you waiting for us?

Darkness.

The flashlights cast patches of light on the walls, but the narrow path was serpentine, and they could only see for a short distance ahead of them.

She could hear Allie and Demanski ahead of them, but she couldn't see them.

Age.

Stone.

Dampness.

Flashlight beams played across the stone floors and over the carved reliefs that told the story of Donkor's life and family. Rust-colored hieroglyphics covered almost every square inch of the walls.

It had been hot outside, but Rachel was cold now.

"Okay?" Tavak was suddenly beside her.

She nodded jerkily. "It's just strange down here. I… feel… "

"What?"

She couldn't explain. It wasn't fear, but a sort of chill expectation. "Nothing."

Then suddenly they turned the corner and were in a large offering room. Demanski and Allie were standing there gazing at reliefs carved on the walls, depicting a funeral feast for the gods.

"Look how distinctively the people are dressed in these reliefs," Rachel said. "Beautiful draping."

Tavak shined his flashlight on the wall. "Donkor designed and made clothing for the Pharaoh and other wealthy citizens. These designs were probably part of his offering to the gods. A couple of these wouldn't be that out of place in department-store windows on Fifth Avenue."

"Except that one." Allie directed her flashlight at a relief of a bare-chested man with a falcon head.

"That's Horus," Tavak said. He smiled as the realization hit him. "He was the sun in the sky."

Rachel swung her flashlight toward it. "The other side of the sun… "

Allie and Demanski were running their hands over the wall below the relief, feeling for a seam. Demanski turned back. "There's no doorway here. It's solid."

"Of course it is," Rachel said. "It was never meant to be discovered. If the Pharaoh knew that Donkor had constructed a tomb for Peseshet, it would have been dangerous for him and his family. He must have felt he owed her a great debt, so he constructed hidden chambers for her at the same time he built his own."

"We have to get through that wall," Tavak said. "Abu."

Abu slung a canvas bag from his shoulder and upended it, dropping half a dozen sledgehammers onto the ground. "Help yourselves."

As they picked up their sledgehammers, Nuri moved to the wall and drew an imaginary outline with his hand. "You want to start high and work your way down. As you dislodge the higher portions of the wall, gravity will help bring down the rest."

Allie turned toward Demanski. "Why do I get the feeling he's done this kind of thing before?"

Tavak hefted his sledgehammer and turned back to Rachel. "We don't have time to be delicate. We've talked about this. Are we still on the same page?"

Rachel knew he was speaking of the balance between possibly destroying artifacts of the past to gain the medical miracles for the future.

She didn't hesitate. She took aim with her sledgehammer and cracked the blank sandstone wall.

Tavak nodded. "Good."

They swung at the wall with their sledgehammers, and in a few minutes they had created an opening through which they could peer inside.