Curse of the Pharaoh: A Brock Stone Adventure

Yineput cried out, tried to rally her troops, but the tide had turned against her minions. Stone could practically sense her desperation as she hurled spears of darkness at the Crocodile god. But all of her missiles evaporated in the glow of Sobek’s sun disc.

“I think this is our chance,” Stone said. “Run!”

They skirted the temple at a full sprint. None of the warriors paid them any mind. The fighting had ceased as the troops watched Sobek mount the temple. The Night Queen shrieked and gesticulated, ordering her troops to fight, but none were willing to face a god.

As they entered the tunnel, Stone stole a glance back. Sobek had Yineput trapped in his jaws. Her screams drowned in blood as she was slowly crushed. With a jerk of his head, Sobek flung her limp body aside. Her broken body tumbled down the pyramid and lay still.

The pyramid turned from blood red to brilliant green. Sobek raised his scepter and hissed. All the warriors, crocodile and jackal alike, genuflected before him.

“Stop staring,” Trinity said. “Let’s get out of here before he decides to purge the rest of the unwanted intruders.”

They made their way unimpeded out of the temple. Alex and Constance were waiting for them.

“Where is Hawk?” Stone asked.

“He cut the leads on all of Kane’s camels and is driving them away,” Alex said. “Any of their lot who escape will have to do so on foot.”

“Have you seen Kane or Fischer?” Stone asked.

“Kane got out ahead of us. We saw him riding away,” Constance said.

“And Fischer?”

“She is right here.”

Stone froze, turned slowly to see Magda Fischer holding a knife to Trinity’s throat. Stone drew his Webley.

“Don’t!” Fischer warned as she pressed her knife into Trinity’s flesh. A trickle of blood oozed down Trinity’s neck. “If I press any harder, she dies.”

“It’s over,” Stone said. “The Night Queen is gone. Your plan has failed.”

“You think so?” Fischer’s laugh was like a blizzard in summertime. “How little you understand.”

“What do you want?” Stone said.

“I want the tablet. I wanted the Night Queen’s army, but Sobek’s forces will do just as well.”

“Don’t let her have it,” Trinity said. “I’ll gladly trade my life for the thousands she and her fascist friends will slaughter.”

“He won’t kill me,” Fischer said. “I have it on good authority that your friend has a problem killing women.”

Visions of Rose flashed through Stone’s mind. He remembered the moment as if it were yesterday.

His pistol was aimed at her heart. Squeeze the trigger and his mission was complete. He must have flinched at the last instant, missed her heart by inches. He had failed to kill her, and he wasn’t sorry, because in the end, it was he who had unknowingly been doing the Illuminati’s work.

Today was a different story.

“That is where you’re wrong,” Stone said. “Rose was a friend. You, however, are the face of evil.”

His bullet took Fischer in her right eye. She spun away and fell flat on her face.

Trinity ran to him and caught him in a tight squeeze. “You did the right thing,” she whispered. “She was terrible.”

“I know, but I still don’t feel good about it.”

Hawk returned a few minutes later and they journeyed back to where they had left their camels and pack mule, mounted up, and began the slow trek to civilization. Stone didn’t talk much on the way back. He was grappling with feelings too deep for words. He had long ago accepted the fact that taking a life was sometimes necessary, but it came with a cost to all but the most hardened sociopath.

He was still brooding when they checked into the Winter Palace Hotel in Luxor. When they reached their rooms, Trinity pulled him aside.

“Stop being so hard on yourself,” she said. “You did the right thing.”

“Then why does it feel wrong?”

“Sometimes the right thing feels like the wrong thing. That’s why we have to trust our brain and our heart.” She gave him a squeeze and he felt himself relax for the first time in days.

“What is your heart telling you right now?” he asked.

Trinity grinned. “It’s telling me I want to take the longest bath in recorded history.”

28 Epilogue

New York City

Six Weeks Later

The offices of Kane Industries were strangely quiet when John Kane entered. His employees, who normally greeted him warmly, cast nervous glances in his direction and said only a few words before hurrying away. His footsteps echoed down the quiet hall as he walked to his office. It was odd. He had only been gone for a few months, but they treated him like a stranger.

Patricia, his longtime secretary, nearly jumped out of her skin when he stepped through the door. “Mister Kane! It’s you!”

“Who else would it be?” He tried and failed to flash his trademark confident smile, but it fizzled.