Sphinx Read Free Page A

blows over?’
    ‘No. Oliver, you don’t understand—’ She broke off, staring into the distance. I decided to change my argument.
    ‘I’m assuming you have back-up with you - some of the French archaeologists, the Italians?’
    Apart from an English archaeologist called Amelia Lynhurst, and a new young French academic who had just set up offices near the Stadium, marine archaeology was virtually unheard of in Alexandria, despite rumours of Cleopatra’s sunken palace in the bay. Up until recently the political situation, dealing with poverty and the needs of Alexandria’s citizens, had taken precedence.
    Isabella smiled wryly. ‘I’m afraid it’s only me and Faakhir.’
    Faakhir Alsayla was a young diver with whom Isabella had been working over the past few months. Although he was trustworthy and enthusiastic as well as a great diver, the young Arab was not an archaeologist.
    ‘Christ, Isabella.’ I would have preferred her to be part of an authorised team. It was dangerous to dive illegally in Egypt, a country understandably nervous of both clandestine military surveillance from its enemies and of further plundering of its ancient underwater treasures. The only way to do it legally was to be accompanied by an Egyptian official and a recognised team of foreign archaeologists, rules by which Isabella never really abided. She was a rebel in her own field and was not liked for it. But whatever her professional standing she was often lucky in her chosen sites. A mixed blessing, it was this mysterious accuracy that was the cause of both suspicion and fear from her peers.
    We seemed to share this gift of divination, something I refused to discuss. I’d always felt that to have acknowledged this shared intuition meant I would be undermining not just my scientific training but also the fierce atheism I had adopted in reaction against my strict Catholic upbringing.
    ‘Let’s talk about it later.’ I tried to pull Isabella back towards the bed, with no success.
    ‘Oliver, I have to dive today! It’s all planned. We’ve found the site of a Ra shipwreck that I’m sure belongs to Cleopatra. It dates from the Battle of Actium. The astrarium could have been on board - the Greek historian Siculus mentions such an object being given to Cleopatra at her coronation.’
    ‘What’s the rush? You’ve waited years. Surely it can wait a few days?’
    ‘I don’t have a few days.’ Her desperation seemed to have reached new heights and I didn’t fully understand the nature of her distress: all I knew was that Isabella could easily become intractable. I looked at her, searching for another tactic.
    ‘Sweetheart, the whole area’s a military zone.’ I slipped an arm around her waist.
    ‘I’ve made provisions. There’ll be an official on the boat.’
    ‘Really? Or is this some dubious character you’ve bribed?’
    She shrugged off my arm. ‘I’m making that dive, no matter what!’
    But under her anger I thought she looked apprehensive. Perhaps about us, the marriage, our careers. But, if I hadn’t known her better, I might have assumed it was fear.
    ‘So you really believe the astrarium was aboard this ship?’ I asked, more conciliatory. ‘Why would Cleopatra take it into the middle of a raging sea battle?’
    ‘She was desperate. The political alliances of the time had shifted, putting her and Mark Antony into a dangerous position while Octavian tried to establish his power. She knew that Mark Antony was delusional about his military supremacy. She also knew that if Octavian won, he would murder her lover and sacrifice their children. This was a woman who had staked all on winning. Siculus described the astrarium as a powerful weapon that could predict when to sail and when to attack. She must have taken it to help her lover.’
    I struggled to keep my expression neutral. I believed in a world of cause and effect: crushed carbon made diamonds; crushed limestone, marble; compressed organic material, oil. This