Page 197 of Tomb of the Sun King

The sword ignited. Blue flames illuminated the look of utter shock on Neil’s face.

Julian’s jaw dropped. “But you’re nobody!” he exclaimed with wild disbelief. “How can you possibly make it burn!”

“Because he’s worthy, you twit!” Constance shot back.

Closer by, Jacobs’ expression twisted with frustration and rage as he loomed over Adam. “You and your woman have been making my life exceedingly difficult,” he bit out dangerously.

Ellie had reached them. She skidded to a stop a step away, her eyes moving from Jacobs’ rifle to Adam’s face. He could read the naked, desperate fear in her expression.

“Then why didn’t you shoot the pair of us in Luxor when you had the chance?” Adam pushed back.

Jacobs’ jaw was tense. His eyes flashed with a dark, tight fury. “I am starting to wonder about that myself,” he replied in a hiss. “Killing the pair of youmightjust be worth the consequences.”

The uncharacteristically bald words gave Adam a spark of hope. Somethingwasholding Jacobs back from murdering them. If that was the case, then there might just be a way for Adam to get him and Ellie out of this without any bullet holes… if he could guess just how far Jacobs’ hesitation would extend.

Which was, quite frankly, a complete and terrifying shot in the dark.

“The consequences from your employers, you mean,” Ellie retorted.

Adam suspected Ellie’s taunt was aimed at reminding Jacobs of any orders he might have received to refrain from leaving a trail of bodies behind him… considering that it was most likely Adam’s body that would be at the top of that list.

Jacobs moved his acid glare to her. “You think those soft, entitled dogs have any power overme?”

“Julian Forster-Mowbray has been reining you in all week,” Ellie shot back deliberately.

The rifle barrel was a tidy black zero hovering less than a foot from Adam’s head. Thirty degrees to the right, and it’d be pointing atEllie’shead. Which was an increasingly likely outcome if she kept on baiting the man.

“You have noideawhat you’re talking about,” Jacobs seethed.

“Then why don’t you enlighten us?” Adam cut in, hoping to recapture his attention. “If it’s not your bosses stopping you, then what is it? Because we know it’s sure as hell not your conscience.”

“Not your employers. Not your conscience.” Ellie murmured the words automatically.

Adam could practically see her mind whirring like a well-tuned clock—and then her eyes went wide with a clear, perfect surprise.

“The Smoking Mirror,” she blurted, the words falling like stones into the night air—and the chaos of the ridge went utterly, perfectly still.

Jacobs looked as though he had been carved from ice. His gaze shifted from Adam to Ellie, pinning her with that same twisted mix of frustration and fury—only now the look was utterly unveiled, exposed against his pale features.

“Your desire—yourjustice,” Ellie went on, the words spilling out of her in a torrent of horrified inspiration. “We’re part of it somehow. That’s why you haven’t been able to kill us even though we keep getting in your way.”

Jacobs didn’t answer. He didn’t speak. He was as still and rigid as a statue—and yet Adam could read the truth of Ellie’s words in every tormented line of his body.

“Holy hell,” he breathed out as shock washed over him like a wave.

On the other side of the ridge, Muscles snatched Zeinab up by the waist, forcing the scalpel from her hand with a twist of her arm.

Jemmahor ran at them, throwing rocks and screaming in Coptic, but Ears mustered a burst of courage and tackled the girl, pinning her to the ground.

Gaps fumblingly pointed his remaining rifle at Neil, shouting for him to drop the sword. Constance glared up at Julian from the ground as the pistol shook in his hand.

None of it looked good.

A deeper, wilder rage blackened Jacobs’ eyes. His look hardened—as did his grip on the rifle.

“Maybe I can’t kill you,” he agreed in a tone that snapped with electric tension. “But I think I might like to see just how much I can make youhurt.”

The gun shifted to Ellie.

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