Pyramid of the Gods Read Free

playful look while watching her stomp to the passenger side and climb in. She must’ve been more irritated than I sensed, as she tossed my laptop into the back seat.
    “ Well, you had better be right about this, Nick Caine.”
    “ And if I’m not?”
    “ Let’s not even go there,” she said, as I pulled in the lead, careful to avoid the drifts as I bee-lined for the hooked sand dune beginning to look more like a giant birdy directed at us. “I guess we’ll have to backtrack if we find out this next place is a waste of time.”
    I couldn’t agree less. There were too many negative factors regarding the original site to lend it validity at this point. Not to mention, reliving my last moments with Mario wasn’t exactly the healthiest way to spend the afternoon.
    “First things first,” I said, determined to sound calm and collected. “If we find it, great. And, if not, I’ll step aside and you can run this expedition from here on out. Deal?”
    This wasn’t a ploy to get her to back down. Marie Da Vinci might be a princess in many ways, but a pushover she is not. Being in control is something the lady covets, whether we’re talking Scrabble, sex, or running the show when searching for buried treasure.
    We soon reached the unusual sand structure. As we exited the Jeeps, it seemed likely Marie was right. The top of the overhang wasn’t a sand dune after all; instead, it was a natural rock outcropping. It would make a great photograph, the four of us hamming it up below with the caption: “Greetings from Bumfuck, Egypt!” But, it seemed too obvious to mark the long lost pyramid temple of Sekhmet. The next twenty minutes surveying the area proved futile, and I was ready to pack it in. We all were.
    But that would’ve been a big mistake.
    As the late afternoon shadows crept along the edge of the sandstone formation’s top, Ishi spotted something protruding from the ground, roughly fifty feet away. We headed over to it, and my heart began to race when we were within ten feet of the damned thing. Scarcely believing we’d find the capstone depicted in the map, it didn’t stop me from praying we did.
    “ Holy shit,” whispered Marie, reverently. “I think this is it ...I think we found it!”
    Akiiki and Ishi used their dusters to clear away enough sand to reveal the top portion of several glyphs. Some of the symbols were gone, after centuries of abusive winds. However, our guide could still confirm the basic message of the glyphs arrangement. Old enough to accurately represent the time period we sought, official confirmation would only come after digging deep enough in the sand to find a tunnel. But all signs pointed to this being as good a spot as any. Hopefully, what lay below us was the Hittites’ legendary gold.
     
     

 
    Chapter Three
     
     
    We set up camp beneath the sandstone overhang to keep the temperature cooler inside the tents. When dusk arrived, we ate from our rations and sat around a modest fire while Akiiki shared his favorite myths and theories surrounding the legendary temple we sought.
    “ My people believe Sekhmet is not only real, but she still lives,” said Akiiki, continuing to talk about her, despite the polite nods from the three of us steadily dwindling to a standstill. “You don’t want to believe it? That’s okay...But if we have found her temple, and we are sitting above her throne chamber as we eat, drink, and share friendly conversation, don’t be surprised if your disrespect awakens her, and inspires her anger.”
    He smiled as he said this, but the elfin glint in his eyes dimmed. Sure as shit, the guy believed every word spewing from his mouth.
    “Come on, man...You seem level-headed and smart, even though you almost got us lost by missing the turnoff at El Kharaga,” I teased. “What gives with the horseshit? You no more believe a five-thousand-year-old goddess is lying in wait beneath the sand than I believe we won’t be getting a visit from the ministry before