Curse of the Pharaoh: A Brock Stone Adventure

“The Eye of Providence,” he said. “The symbol of the Illuminati.” He pressed the brick and a section of wall slid down into the ground. Dusty stairsteps wound upward.

“Want me to wait here for you?” Moses asked.

“I’d like for you to go back to Riverbend and keep an eye on Trinity in case Kane is foolish enough to send his goons after us again.”

They bade one another goodbye, then Stone and Alex climbed the stairs. After a short climb, they found themselves at a trapdoor.

“What do you think is on the other side?” Alex asked. “What happens if we pop up in the middle of some weird ritual?”

“If that happens, we play dumb, say we got lost in an underground passageway. Should that not work, you hightail it out of there and I’ll cover your back. But it’s the middle of the night. Hopefully, the temple will be empty.”

He gave the door a push.

Nothing.

A little more force and with a rusty squeak that sounded like a scream in the quiet night, the trapdoor opened. Alex flicked on his flashlight to reveal stacks of old crates, coated in a layer of dust.

“It’s some kind of storeroom, but it looks like it hasn’t been touched for some time,” Stone said.

“All the better for us.”

The storeroom door opened into a small office. When they stepped inside and closed the door, they discovered it was cleverly hidden behind a bookcase that moved on invisible wheels as the door swung back. With a click, the door locked into place.

“Why conceal a storeroom entrance?” Alex asked.

“The Freemasons love secrets and mysteries. Perhaps someone installed it for their own amusement.” Stone scratched his chin, thinking. “The House of the Temple is not quite twenty years old. That means someone knew about the secret passageway and installed the trapdoor for access.”

“Elements of the Illuminati within the ranks of the Masons?” Alex asked.

“That’s what I’m thinking.”

Despite their stealth, their footsteps echoed in the marble-lined hallways. They passed through the Temple Room. Moonlight shone through the oculus a hundred feet above them, illuminating the altar at the center of the chamber. They reached the library in short order. The door was locked but Alex picked it with ease.

The numbers Lincoln had overheard led them to a shelf in the back corner. The book in question was titled Gods and Kings of Ancient Egypt. Alex flipped through it.

“I don’t see anything in here. I guess they aren’t call numbers after all.”

Stone climbed up, examined the spot where the book had been. He saw nothing. He rapped on it but it felt solid. He frowned. If they aren’t call numbers, what are they?

He closed his eyes and carefully ran his fingers across the smooth wooden shelf. When he had first been taken to the monastery, he had been locked in a pitch-black room, where he was trained to utilize his other senses. They had been sharpened to a fine point. He had refined his sense of touch until he could make out a word inscribed on a single grain of rice.

There it was! The slightest imperfection in the surface. It was a raised circle no larger than a penny. He shined his light on it and saw it was expertly camouflaged by a knot in the wood. He pressed it, and a tiny compartment opened in the wall behind the shelf. He removed a small object wrapped in cloth. He removed the cloth to reveal a tiny marble figurine carved in exquisite detail. It had the body of a human and the head of a crocodile. It clutched a knife and flail in its clawed hands.

“What is it?” Alex asked.

“It’s an ushabti,” Stone said. “A figurine placed in an Egyptian tomb to act as a servant in the afterlife.”

“Why would Orion put it here instead of leaving it in his secret office?”

“Maybe he suspected his secret office wasn’t so secret.” Stone scratched his chin. “But who was he hiding it from?”

10 Cornered

A distant sound caught Stone’s attention. He turned toward the door and frowned. Someone was unlocking a door somewhere in the temple.

“Something wrong?” Alex instinctively lowered his voice to a whisper.

“Someone’s inside the building. I heard a door and now footsteps. More than one person. Three or four would be my guess.”

“You and your supersonic hearing. I swear you have bat ears. What do you say we make like dynamite and blow this joint?”

They left the library and crept along the dark hallway. The footsteps were coming closer. Stone grimaced. The newcomers were blocking the way to the storeroom that led to the passageway. Perhaps that meant the front door was unguarded.

They hurried away in the other direction. Alex glanced back over his shoulder.

“Kane just turned the corner. He’s got a couple of brunos with him.”

Stone grabbed his friend by the arm and hauled him into the nearest room. He handed him the object they had found in the library.

“I’ll lead them away. Hide here until they’re out of sight, then make your way back to the passageway.”

“I’ll never find my way back,” Alex said.

“The front door, then. Just wait for me to cause a distraction.”