The Pharaoh's Secret (NUMA Files 13)

The roles reversed for a moment and Paul turned as sharply as he dared. The boats crashed together once more, but they didn’t link up and the impact knocked Paul’s hand from the grip of the throttle.

By the time he’d grabbed it again, the small outboard was sputtering. He twisted it open, but all that did was flood the motor with fuel, killing it. The boat’s pace slackened with a terrible sinking sensation.

Paul grabbed the starter cord and yanked on it with great ferocity.

“Hurry!” Gamay shouted.

The other boat was speeding off. Paul jerked the starter cord a second time and then a third. The outboard sputtered to life and they picked up speed again, but the other boat was far ahead and leaving them behind. They soon lost it in the mist.

“Can you see them?” Paul asked.

“No,” Gamay replied, straining to look through the fog.

A few minutes later, they came upon the boat. It was empty and abandoned, floating beside the right bank of the river.

“They’re gone,” Paul said, stating the obvious. “We’ve lost them.”

Gamay swore under her breath and then looked at Paul. “We need to call the police and the paramedics and send them to the museum.”

“And have them check on Madame Duchene as well,” Paul said.

He guided the small boat ahead until they found a flight of stairs and a landing by the canal’s edge. They got out together and ran to the first open business they could find. Gamay was soon on the phone and the police were on their way.

There was nothing they could do now but wait.

58

Cairo

Tariq Shakir sat in the darkened control room, waiting for news. There were no radio reports, no buzzing walkie-talkies, only the hardwired phone and the data line that ran the length of the pipeline tunnel back to the Osiris hydroelectric plant. Through these wires came the news that his plan was coming to fruition.

Emergency meetings were being called in Libya. Shakir’s man, the opposition leader, was getting favorable press. Money had bought that, but sentiment was turning against the existing government. And that was priceless. Riots were going on in every city. The leaders continued promising more water, but the thrum of the pumps in Shakir’s subterranean cavern told him that would never happen. He doubted the existing government would last another twenty-four hours.

Meanwhile, across the Mediterranean, Alberto Piola was back in Rome, holding middle-of-the-night meetings and rallying Italian politicians to his side. He reported that they were ready to acknowledge the new government in Libya the instant it became official and to pledge their support for an Egyptian initiative of stabilization and assistance. The French would follow and both the Algerian and Libyan coups would be well on their way to legitimacy.

The only thing that concerned him was the American NUMA operatives and the Italian intelligence agent. They’d escaped his grasp five hours ago. They still hadn’t been seen.

A knock on the door disturbed his train of thought. “Come in,” he commanded.

The door opened and Hassan stepped through.

“I expect to hear of success,” Shakir said.

“Scorpion has just returned from France. His men intercepted the American couple. They had to leave a few bodies behind, but they took what the Americans were after.”

“Was it of value?”

“Limited,” Hassan admitted. “The notes of Villeneuve read like a madman’s writings. The artwork is just as bad. According to Scorpion, the Americans seemed to think they’d find something hidden in the paintings, but he and his men have gone through the paintings and torn them apart. They found nothing inside, no hidden notes, no secret messages. If Villeneuve or D’Campion ever learned the truth behind the Black Mist and the antidote, it’s been lost to history.”

Shakir was pleased but not totally convinced. “What happened to the Americans?”

“No word. They may have escaped.”

“Have the men find and eliminate them,” Shakir said.

“I think that will expose us to unnecessary—”

“It’s not your place to think,” Shakir scolded. “Now, what about our intruders? Any sign of them?”