OUTSIDE DASHUR, THE TAXI headed north into the vast necropolis of Saqqara, the largest burial ground of ancient Egypt, an area five miles long and a quarter mile wide, running along the river. Here, in the desert, there were literally hundreds of pyramids and mastabas, the underground tombs of court officials.
Barnaby sat in the front seat, a large map on his knees. He shined a flashlight onto it and directed Nikos.
“That’s the pyramid of Shepseskaf up ahead,” he said. “Bear left around it.”
They were no longer on a road. The Fiat ground through hard sand.
“Now right, toward the pyramid over there. That’s Pepi II.”
Pierce sat in the back seat, holding one of the boxes.
“Is this place guarded at night?”
“Yes,” Barnaby said. “What time is it?”
“Nearly midnight.”
“There’s an armed patrol at midnight. They go around in a Land Rover,” Barnaby said. “Better turn out your lights.”
“I’ll have to go slow.”
“Use your parking lights,” Pierce said.
The Fiat slowed.
“Almost there,” Barnaby said. “Another few hundred yards.” Shortly after, he said, “Pull behind that sand dune up there. We can stop now.”
The engine was silent. They heard the wind.
Barnaby got out of the car and looked around. “It’s over there,” he said, pointing west.
“I don’t see anything,” Conway said, squinting.
“There isn’t a lot to see. An old Coptic monastery was built here, on the desert edge of Saqqara, in the fifth century A.D. It’s collapsed now.”
“So?”
“The underground storerooms are still intact.”
They collected the boxes and trudged forward across the desert. Until he was quite close, Pierce saw no evidence of ruins. Then, he distinguished the remains of a foundation, a bit of wall. It had originally been built of mud brick.
“Nobody comes here anymore,” Barnaby said. “There are better monasteries around, and this one was very small and unimportant. Follow me.”
He led the way through the rooms to a small passage, where sandy steps led down into the earth. He shined his flashlight down.
“We’d better go one at a time,” he said. “The place could collapse at any time,”
“I’ll go,” Conway said. “I’m fearless. It’s well known,”
“When you get down there, you’ll find a large room. Put the boxes near the stairs and cover them with sand.”
“Okay.”
“And watch out for snakes,”
“I’ll charm them,” Conway said. He took the flashlight and went down.
“Homey,” he said. Then silence. A few minutes later he came back up, took Pierce’s box, and carried it down. Pierce returned to the taxi to get the final box.
He opened the trunk and groped in the dark for the carton.
Then he saw the lights.
On the horizon, to the east. Bouncing, occasionally lifting to send twin beams stabbing into the night. He heard, faintly, the sound of an engine.
The police.