Kathlyn Trent, Marcus Burton 01 - Valley of the Shadow (6 page)

“Everything. I’ve never seen you so emotional. You were beginning to warm up to her and now that you think she’s betrayed you, your bitterness is obvious.”

Marcus exhaled sharply. “This isn’t about some high school crush, Jobe. This is about a disruptive element in my project.”

McGrath laughed softly. “That disruptive element is human attraction, plain and simple.”

Marcus wouldn’t respond. Frankly, he was afraid to. McGrath was very perceptive and Marcus didn’t like that at all. McGrath saw that, of course, and took pity on him by changing the subject.

“Where are Lynn and Dennis?” he asked.

Marcus waved a careless hand. “After Trent’s team brought her down from the slope, I had them stay behind to see what she had been up to.”

“She had been digging with her bare hands, as I understand it.”

“She was. I had them poke around to see if she’d found anything.”

McGrath sat back in his chair. “Marcus, you’re a goddamn hypocrite. You don’t believe a word she says, yet you’re not too proud to horn in on a test hole she had been digging.”

“I don’t know why I did it. There’s nothing there. She’s a quack, I tell you.”

Where had he heard that before? McGrath shook his head. Opening up a small refrigerator under the table, he popped open an alcohol free beer and offered one to Burton. Marcus refused. After a few minutes of silence, Lynn came stumbling into the tent, covered with dust.

“Marcus,” he was breathing heavily, as if he had run a great distance. “You’d better come quick.”

“Why? What’s happened?” Marcus demanded.

Lynn’s expression was glazed with disbelief. Or ecstasy, no one could be sure. “We found something.”

“You've got to be kidding."

"I wouldn't shit you about something like this. Your crazy Dr. Trent was right on the mark."

Marcus could hardly dare to hope. "What did you find?”

Lynn didn’t say anything for a moment. Then he smiled a wide, toothy grin. “Dennis hit stone,” he said. Reaching out, he grabbed Marcus’ arm. “Four and a half feet down, right where she was digging, we hit a step.”

***

“I can’t believe you did that,” Juliana finished wrapping the last of the gauze around Kathlyn’s hands. “Your hands are ripped to shreds.”

Kathlyn grimaced as the bandage was tightened. “Enough already. I heard you the first hundred times.”

"How could you be so stupid?"

"It's a character trait."

It was past dusk, past the evening meal, and the workers had left the camp for home long ago. Kathlyn sat in her tent with Juliana and Debra Jo having her raw hands tended.  The rocks on the slope had cut into her flesh like razors and with the fury of digging she had been doing, it hadn’t been long before they were cut to pieces. Even then, ignoring the pain, she had continued to dig, unwilling and unable to wait for permission or core drills or anything else. Something was there and she had to find it.

Burton didn't believe her and she was overwhelmed with the urge to prove it to him.  Only when a security guard said something to a dig worker, who in turn said something to his foreman, who then in turn said something to Dr. Reams, did Kathlyn’s team come running for her.

She had been bloody to the elbows. It had been a struggle to get her away from the hillside and she agreed to leave only when Mark convinced her that she was creating a scene. While Debra Jo washed, Juliana had wrapped. Half a tube of antibiotic ointment later, her hands were swathed, appropriately, like a mummy.  McGrath had called a doctor from the resorts on the other side of the Nile in Luxor but the man couldn’t come out until the next morning, which was fine with Kathlyn. She didn’t want to see anyone, anyway. All she wanted to do was sleep and forget.

“Mark and the guys want to come in and see how you’re doing,” Juliana said after the last white strip had been laid. “That’s okay, isn’t it?”

Kathlyn shook her head, lying down on her cot. “I just want to sleep. Tell them I’ll see them in the morning.”

Juliana stood over her, hands on her slender hips. “They feel really bad, Kat. Like they should have been there to either help you or prevent you.”

Kathlyn laid a bandaged hand across her forehead. “They couldn’t do either. It was a spur of the moment thing.”

“Burton pissed you off that bad?”

She didn’t say anything. Then, she rolled onto her side and exhaled as if the weight of the world was pressing on her. “I don’t know what’s happening to me. I’m usually so much more level headed about things. We go all over the world doing things that take nerves of steel and I’m just fine. Then I come to the Valley of the Kings, the most picked-over archaeological site in the world, and I come apart at the seams. I must be losing what’s left of my mind.”

Debra Jo sat on the ground beside her. She, too, had known Juliana and Kathlyn since high school. The three of them used to sit around in the ninth grade and plot what they were going to do for the rest of their lives. Debra Jo had been the brains, Juliana had been the dreamer, and Kathlyn had been the mover. What had once been a teenage dream of a hair and beauty salon business had turned into one of the most ground-breaking archaeological teams in recent history. Debra Jo was still the brains, Juliana was still the great dreamer, and Kathlyn moved so much that she soared.

“Look,” Debra Jo began. “I’ve been sitting with my nose crammed into a computer screen for the past two days, so I’m not sure what’s going on in the field, but I’ll tell you this - Marcus Burton seems to be the common denominator for all of your woes.  It’s like he brings out the very worst and the very best in you, and you’ve only known the guy forty-eight hours. What’s going to happen to you if you spend any length of time here?”

Kathlyn knew that. As much as she tried to ignore, obey or provoke him, Burton weighed heavy on her. He had since the moment they met and she had no idea why. He was like a monkey on her back she couldn’t shake, a shadow she didn’t want to be rid of. The situation was, at best, baffling.

“This isn’t healthy for me,” she said after a moment. “I've got to get out of this place. It’s making me crazy.”

“What about the tomb?” Debra Jo asked.

Kathlyn shrugged. “I’ve done my job. I can guarantee it’s under that slope, or at least something is. If Burton wants to dig there, that’s fine. If not, that’s his loss. I was only asked to locate it, not excavate it.”

“They’re going to want proof before they let you off the hook.”

“Keep digging where I was digging and they’ll find it. They’ll find something.”

Juliana was still standing over her, hands on her hips. “So we leave?”

“McGrath has his equipment coming in three days. Burton can direct the earth sampling if he wants to. I don’t have to be here for it. I know what they’ll find.”

“So where are we going?”

Kathlyn thought of a distant pacific shore. “Home,” she said. “I need to rest awhile.”

The thought agreed with all of them. Debra Jo had a son she hadn’t seen in a few months, and Juliana had visions of stock car racing that she’d been away from far too long.  Home was a good destination and they were secretly relieved.

Juliana snapped off one of the lights and pulled a sheet up over Kathlyn. As she and Debra Jo settled down for the night, the tent flap suddenly brushed aside and Burton filled the tent with his great hulking presence. The women yelped with outrage.

“Dr. Burton!” Juliana put herself between Kathlyn and Burton. “What in the hell are you doing?”

Burton didn’t have time to argue. He had just run all the way from the East Valley. “I need Dr. Trent.”

Kathlyn rolled over, eyeing him. “Get out, Burton. I have no desire to…”

He moved around Juliana as carefully as he could without bulldozing her over. Kneeling beside Kathlyn’s bed, there was a sense of urgency about his manner that was unlike him. Kathlyn didn’t notice it, however; she was too exhausted, too emotionally drained to care.

“I don’t have time to explain, but I need you to come with me, now.” He wanted to pull her to her feet but he didn’t want to hurt her hands. “Please, Kathlyn. It’s important.”

She just lay there, staring at him, not at all impressed that he had just called her by her given name. He'd always called her by her title until now. “I’m exhausted. Whatever it is, you can handle it, I’m sure. Leave me alone.”

He exhaled sharply, his hands hovering above her as if not quite sure where he could grab her without hurting her. He wanted her up and moving.

“I know I said a lot of things this afternoon that I shouldn’t have and I’m sorry,” he rushed his apology, though it was clear that it was sincere. “I was just pissed off because you’ve made more progress in two days than I’ve made in three seasons. But you were right. You were absolutely right and God forgive me for doubting you. Dennis and Lynn did some digging after you left and they came up with something. I need you to come and take a look.”

Juliana and Debra Jo forgot their outrage. Even Kathlyn perked up. “What did they find?” she asked.

He couldn’t keep the awe, and irony, from his voice. “A step. So far, we’ve uncovered five.”

Kathlyn sat bolt upright in bed. “Five steps?” she repeated, incredulous. "Descending into the slope?”

He was smiling. “No. Ascending up the hill.”

She caught his excitement. "My God,” she gasped. “No wonder the ground scans didn't pick it up. If the tomb is located up the hill...."

"Nothing short of good old fashioned digging or drilling straight into the side of the hill would have discovered it."

She clapped her bandaged hands in delight. "I knew it! I just knew it!"

He looked at her, studying her bright smile, her overall joy. No conceit, no gloating, just pure excitement. "By damn, if you didn't. Mind telling me how?"

"That hocus-pocus you were talking about."

He didn't have a snappy reply. It took the three of them to help get her socks, boots and sweatshirt on. After that, she beat them to the site.

CHAPTER FIVE

Five weeks later

Kathlyn emerged from her tent into the dawn of a new day. The sun was barely up, ribbons of pink and gold bleeding across the eastern horizon.  She stretched and yawned, giving Juliana an indignant look when the woman exited the tent and plowed into her. But Juliana needed her coffee and was heading to the mess tent, and Kathlyn needed to get to the dig site. Dressed in a pair of denim shorts, a white shirt, her trademark duster and big boots, she marched her way through the rousing camp towards the east valley.

Already, work was going on in the dig area, an excavation site now known as KV65.  So far, thirty-one steps had been uncovered, leading to a shaft forty-three feet above the valley floor that was blocked by big boulders and other debris.  Using ropes, pulleys and a good deal of manpower, Marcus and his team had managed to remove seven massive boulders weighing about four tons a piece. The shaft itself stood nearly ten feet high. 

Kathlyn had watched the digging and removal for a little over three weeks, agreeing with Marcus on one very obvious thing; there was no way ancient grave robbers could have removed the boulders to get to the tomb. If the tomb had been plundered another way, then it would have taken someone of superhuman strength and intelligence to do it.   Although she had completed her task and located the tomb, she had asked to stay on until the tomb was officially identified. This was as exciting for her as it was for Marcus, probably more so.

Their relationship seemed to have gotten over its rocky start.  He would include her in on any strategic discussions and generally treat her like one of the crew. Marcus had, in fact, been very nice to her, but there had been no more impulsive embraces or moments alone together. They had been so busy that there hadn't been time. Kathlyn had gone about her extracurricular duties with the SCA, filming some of the narrative for this exciting tomb discovery and insisting, over the protests of the documentary's director, that Marcus receive all of the credit for it. World Geographic Magazine was frantic to do a spread, but that missive came through McGrath and bore the stipulation that Kathlyn should do the write up on it. McGrath deferred to Kathlyn in all media matters and she handled them like the professional that she was. She could flatly refuse their request and charm the hell out of them all in the same breath.

The dust was already billowing into the early morning sky by the time she reached the site. The SCA had to do some rearranging of the access to the east Valley of the Kings since the new KV65 site blocked off most of the main entrance. News of the find had been leaked to the news people within the first week and the entire world was enthralled with the discovery. Helicopters now roared overhead in the crystal blue skies with media from around the globe. One day an entire busload of Japanese tourists had pulled up and the people had spent the entire day, in the heat and the flies, standing behind the barricades taking pictures. 

That had been the day that Kathlyn had taken a header on the lose rock and ended up with a gash in her knee that required seven stitches. The Japanese had clicked away furiously on their digital Nikons as Marcus picked her up and carried her, with blood streaming down her leg and onto her boots, back to camp.  On newspapers all over the world, the picture of the two of them appeared with a caption reading 'Mummy's Curse Strikes Again?’. In response, Andy and Larry had wrapped themselves up in old sheets and moaned and groaned around the mess tent that night, pretending they were killing people as they ate. Even Marcus had laughed at them.

But there was no curse on this dig, at least not yet. The last of the boulders was about to be moved this morning, which would reveal, hopefully, a sealed entry.  Marcus, Lynn, Dennis and Ed were in the shaft, positioning the jacks and pulleys that would extract the rock from the shaft.  Even though Marcus had an undergrad in Physics and usually acted as his own engineer, Ed had a doctorate in Mechanical Engineering and had designed an extremely effective removal system. Marcus recognized genius when he saw it. A series of mercury vapor lights were set up to illuminate the tunnel, which cut back into the hill at about a 3 percent grade and grew fairly dark, fairly quickly.

"Hello!" Kathlyn called back into the shaft, letting them know, for safety's sake, that she was there before she went in. "Anybody home?"

The men were already a sweaty, dusty mess.  Dennis barely waved at her, concentrating on the correct position of his lever. Lynn, wearing heavy boots, heavy jeans, a tank top that said "World Gym" and massive leather gloves, gave her a toothy grin.

"Why, it's Dr. Barbie," he said happily. The two of them had developed a genuine like for one another. "Where's your pal Skipper and the rest of the gang?"

She smiled at him. "Except for Ed, they're all getting their coffee. They're a bunch of malcontents when they haven't had their caffeine. Where's your fearless leader?"

"I'm here," Marcus was on his back, wedged back behind Lynn so that she hadn't seen him. He was trying to position the heavy rope that would help pull the boulder free. "What's up?"

Kathlyn climbed back in behind Lynn, who pretended to squish her against the wall in the close quarters. She smacked him on the shoulder, kneeling down beside Marcus as he struggled with the rope.

"How's it going this morning?"

He looked up at her, covered with filth, his dark brown hair wet and spiky. Even so, he was still the most gorgeous man she had ever seen. "We're about ready to move this damn thing soon, hopefully."

She nodded, taking a closer look at the series of ropes, anchors and levers placed around the rock. "I hate to tell you this, but I just realized from all of the people outside that I did exactly what you warned me not to do.”

“What’s that?”

“Turn your dig into a circus. Are you going to kick me out now?”

He struggled not to grin. He fussed with the ropes, pretending to be busy. “Probably not.  I’m going to punish you by keeping you around to deal with it on a daily basis.”

She laughed softly. “You’re too kind, doctor,” she said. “Seriously, the SCA wants to begin filming. They want me to record an introduction and I wanted to make sure you were okay with that."

"What exactly do they want to film?"

"Like they did before,” she indicated the boulder. “They want to film the method in which you are securing this boulder and they want to film as its being pulled out.  For some reason, they have an idea about linking it with the way the stones were moved about when they built the pyramids."

Marcus pursed his lips irritably. "This isn't the same thing."

"I know that. But you know how they have to tie everything in Egypt to Giza." She ran a delicate finger over one of the ropes, very close to Marcus' hand. "I know I've asked you this before, and there's been much speculation about this, but how do you really suppose they got these things in here? I could include that in my monologue."

He sat up, his hand conveniently brushing hers. Removing his thick gloves, he wiped the sweat from where it had run down into his ears.

"With rollers, I'm sure. It must have taken an army of them to do it." He craned his neck up, inspecting the great boulder. "It must have been a real feat of engineering for them to pack them in so tightly. As it was, it took jackhammers for us to carve away enough of the rock to have the room to work around them. This one's still wedged up against that plaster entry good and tight."

"Have you been able to take a closer look at it?"

He shook his head. "No way. The boulder's right up against it. We can make out an un-breached line, but no cartouches yet."

She nodded, with really nothing more to say about it. Everything would come to light once they removed the rock. "Well, if it's okay, I'll go ahead and give the film crew the go-ahead."

"It's all right. But I don't want them coming down this shaft until I say so."

"It's still okay for Larry and Andy to be in here filming, right?"

"Sure. They're documenting the find. And Dennis will be taking stills, so we'll have an excellent record."

She smiled at him. "Thank you, doctor."

"No sweat, Barbie."

She laughed softly and ran a finger along his wet forehead. "Oh, I wouldn't say that."

He could feel the trial left by her finger across his head as if it was seared into his scalp. "Christ, wipe that finger off on something. It's running down to your hand."

She looked at him, all sweaty and grimy, and a thought occurred to her. She didn't care if Lynn was watching or not.

"I don't want to mess up my clothes by having a big wet streak on them." She ran the finger across her tongue to lick off the sweat, winked at him, and left.

Marcus thought he hadn't seen right for moment. He just couldn't believe it.  Stunned, he sat there until Lynn caught his attention.

"Marcus!" Lynn snapped softly at him. "What's wrong? What did she say?"

"Say? Nothing, really."

"Then what are you smiling about?"

He hadn't realized he was. But he couldn't seem to stop. Lying back down so Lynn couldn't see his face, he went back to securing the ropes.

"Are we ready to go? I'm all secure down here."

Lynn looked at him a long, hard moment. The man was deliberately ignoring him, but he let it go. Being the nosy person that he was, he'd find out what it was all about later on when the time was right.

"Yes," he turned back to his own work. "We're ready to go when you are, boss."

***

They prepared to remove the eighth and final boulder the same way they had removed the previous seven; the ropes that Marcus, Lynn, Dennis, Ed, and a couple of foremen had secured to the rock via big lead spikes that had been driven into the rock like anchors, were secured to a series of pulleys and then connected to two small bulldozer located at the base of the hill. All along the path, workmen stood with big poles to help wedge the boulder along. Once they got it to the entrance, they shifted it over to a small landing that had been carved out from the slope specifically for that purpose so they could re-secure the ropes and lower it down to the valley floor without damaging the thirty-one steps or the entrance to KV2, a mere ten feet from the base of the stairs. In all, it was a tedious, dangerous process that normally took a few days. Marcus was extremely careful and nothing escaped his scrutiny. He wasn't going to sacrifice safety in the name of expediency.

This boulder, however, seemed to be more stubborn than the others. With the workmen chanting and the bulldozers revving their engines, shooting puffs of black smoke into the sky, the massive rocked slipped inch by inch toward the shaft opening. Marcus was in the shaft making sure everything went according to plan as Dennis sat on the back of one of the bulldozers, listening to Marcus over a short-wave headset and relaying the directions to the bulldozer operators. The operators were two of Kathlyn's roadies.

Kathlyn, Debra Jo and Juliana stood at the bottom of the slope near KV2, watching the organized chaos. Andy, Larry, Otis and Mark were up in the shaft with Marcus, Lynn and Ed. The valley had been closed this day so the excavation could proceed without any restrictions. As the morning progressed and the movement of the boulder slowed, the workers began to grow increasingly weary. The heat was rising and apparently, up in the shaft, the boulder had fallen into some sort of depression left by the other heavy rocks and was having a difficult time getting out of it.

Kathlyn could hear Marcus roaring from where she stood. For as nasty and intimidating as he could be, the man rarely raised his voice above a normal speaking tone and she knew his yelling was from frustration and not fury. The bulldozers were losing traction in the soft earth as they strained to pull without snapping the heavy nylon ropes.  Finally, Marcus gave the order to cease and Kathlyn took the opportunity to rush up to the site.

The shaft was filled with dust. The workers toiling inside spilled out into the fresh air, coughing and sweating. She choked on the dust as she stumbled down the tunnel, her eyes becoming accustomed to the dim light. Lynn walked past her, shouting something at the workers, and she could see by his expression that all was not well. As she drew near the boulder, she could see that Marcus and Ed were conferring.

"What's wrong?" she coughed, waving her hand in front of her face to swish away the dust cloud.  "Are we stuck?"

Marcus looked at her. "Not really." He pointed to an obvious indent in the floor, the width of the shaft and about four feet in length. "We're going to fill this with sand and hopefully the rock will slide right over it. Lynn is going to get a chain gang going, bringing baskets of sand up here."

"Can I help?"

"Not unless you want to be a cheerleader and get the workers moving faster. On second thought, maybe you'd better not."

He was teasing her. Making a face at him, she peered around at the boulder, trying to catch a glimpse of what lay beyond. The thing was so big it filled up nearly the entire shaft, but not all. There was some clearance up at the very top.

She pointed up at the gap. "If you lift me up, I can probably squeeze through that."

He glanced up, shaking his head. "I hope you're not serious."