Jekyll & Hyde Inc.

“How can we get behind this one, when he has his back pressed right up against that sarcophagus?”

“I’ll go out front and distract him.”

“You’ll be making yourself a clear target. Better I do it.”

Tina smiled. “I’m more distracting.”

Daniel couldn’t argue with that. They moved cautiously from one piece of cover to the next until they were close enough, and then Tina stepped out into the light. The guard stepped forward, his gun whipping round to cover her, and Tina smiled and waved happily at him. While the guard was busy deciding what to do about that, Daniel moved in behind him, slipped an arm round his throat, and broke his neck. It was all over very quickly. Daniel lowered the body to the floor, and then quickly let go of it. Tina came over to join him, still smiling cheerfully.

“I thought Hydes didn’t sneak?” said Daniel, to avoid having to say anything else.

“Except for when they do,” said Tina. “But you’re right. It did seem a little unsporting. Never mind! Once we’ve taken care of the mummies, I’m sure we can find some time to go head-to-head with the other guards. Just for the fun of it.”

Daniel shook his head. “You and I have very different ideas about fun.”

“That’s not what you said at my place.”

They moved off through the Egyptian Room and fell silently on the guards, one after the other, like predators in the night. None of the mercenaries even got a chance to put up a fight. Once Daniel and Tina were sure there weren’t any more guards than those detailed in the file, they dumped all the bodies in a convenient storage room.

Daniel was surprised to find he was enjoying himself. The thrill of the hunt, of testing his skills against men who would quite definitely kill him if he failed . . . and it did help that he’d decided he was only killing men who deserved to die. Because of what they’d done, and because of what they served. But when it was all over, he stood in the doorway to the storage room and spent some time staring at the piled-up bodies. Tina came over to join him, but he didn’t look at her.

“Killing shouldn’t be this easy,” he said. “Or so satisfying.”

“You’re entitled to take pride in your work,” said Tina. “You enjoyed killing the crocodiles.”

“That was different.”

“Not really,” said Tina. “A threat is a threat. You think too much, Daniel.”

“And sometimes, you don’t think enough.”

She shrugged. “It gets in the way.”

Daniel shook his head slowly. “This might have been necessary, but it was still wrong to enjoy it.”

“You’re a Hyde now,” said Tina.

And Daniel had no answer to that.

When they finally got to the room where the mummies were holding their annual get-together, they couldn’t even see their targets for all the ancient artifacts that had been brought in from other parts of the Museum. They had to ease their way through a forest of exhibits, using the larger pieces for cover, until they reached an open space surrounded by a circle of standing sarcophagi that immediately reminded Daniel of Stonehenge. Nine small figures were sitting in a semicircle, engulfed in comfortable chairs that were far too big for them. Daniel and Tina crept closer, silent as ghosts among the memories of the past, until they stood watching the mummies from a deep dark shadow between two of the sarcophagi.

“The mummies must have ordered all of this moved here so they could feel at home,” Tina said quietly.

“Why so many sarcophagi?” said Daniel.

“Maybe they’re having a few old friends round.”

“Either that, or it’s a family affair.”

They moved a little closer, pressing right up to the edge of the shadow.

The short and stocky figures were wrapped from head to toe in grubby, discolored bandages. Most wore simple robes, but one had a dressing gown and another a bathrobe. They spoke slowly, in dry, dusty voices, in a language Daniel didn’t recognize. Only their heads moved, turning slowly to follow the conversation as it moved around the circle. There was no hurry in anything they said or did, as though they had all the time in the world.

Daniel put his head next to Tina’s. “Is that ancient Egyptian they’re speaking?”

“How would I know?” Tina murmured. “But what else would they speak among themselves?” She shook her head slowly. “You know their biggest crime? Being so selfish in keeping everything they know to themselves. Think of all the forgotten knowledge they could have shared with the world. All the things they could have told us about the beginnings of human civilization that modern scholars couldn’t even guess at. A society so far removed from ours as to be almost alien. These mummies are time travelers from the distant past, hoarding secrets of unimaginable value—because all they care about is dominating and destroying other people.”