Page 127 of Sands of Sirocco
She prayed that he had.Noah was stubborn, and he had to know the odds were stacked against them.How else would he survive this?
The gun at Ginger’s waistband weighed heavily.
As they drew closer to the necropolis, sickness curdled in Ginger’s throat.Her exhaustion made her feel sluggish, but she had to press forward.She had dealt with less sleep than this before.
They’d been forced to leave Jack, who was still fading in and out of consciousness, though his fever had improved remarkably.
Near the Serapeum, Sarah gave Ginger a sidelong glance.“Are you ready?”They dismounted the camels, then found a stump of a pillar to tie them to.From there, they approached the entrance to the Serapeum, a large doorway that would lead them underground.
Ginger sucked in a breath.She reached into her medical bag slung over one shoulder.Her fingers brushed against the cold metal.
The entrance seemed unremarkable, as though they were heading into a cellar.Sarah had explained that, like so many archeological discoveries, the locals had paid little attention to the treasure beneath their feet until a French archeologist had blasted through with dynamite, causing irreversible damage to the site.
A few men waited by building the entrance, along with Osborne.Their faces were in shadow, lit only by the glow of an oil lamp held by a man further inside.
Ginger’s heart beat faster.Noah had given Osborne her message, it seemed.
Please be alive, Noah.
Osborne stepped out toward them.“Both hands where I can see them, Lady Virginia.I’ll have to take those pistols, of course.”
Ginger’s hand tightened, fisting around the hand grenade in her medical bag.She pulled it out and lifted her chin.As she leveled her gaze with Osborne, his eyes widened.
She slipped her finger into the ring and pulled the pin, the metal of the ring tugging into the back of her pointer finger as she pulled.
Osborne’s men dropped back, one covering his head.
The slightest hint of a smile touched Sarah’s lips.
Ginger’s hand was tight around the grenade, holding down the lever.She drew closer to him.Somehow her hand remained steady, despite the pounding of her heart in her ears.“I don’t trust you, Osborne.So we’ve made our own plans.We’re going inside, and once Noah Benson is released safely we will give you the concession paperwork.Shoot Sarah and you won’t get your paperwork.Shoot me and this grenade will fall with me.We’ll all die.”
Osborne stepped toward her, and she held her hand up.“Or I could throw this at you and your men now, if you’d like.”
“Do that and you risk trapping your lover underground.”
He was right.But digging Noah out was a possibility she’d had to consider when they’d come up with this mad plan.“As long as it kills you, I’ll take that chance.”
“And Mrs.Hanover?How do you know I won’t shoot her?”
Ginger shrugged.“Shoot her and you won’t get the concession papers.Jack Darby remembered the cipher you gave her and let her have a try with it.As it turns out, she’s the only one who knows how to find the papers.And they’re right here in the Serapeum.”
Osborne’s eyes narrowed.At last, he nodded.As he turned toward his frightened men, the yellow lamp light gave her a glimpse of the redness on his face.
He’s furious.
She held back a smile.
Osborne’s men shifted nervously.Osborne barked an order at them, then led them inside the ancient temple.
The cool temperatures of the underground structure in the desert did little to stop Ginger’s shivers.The lever of the grenade dug into her hand, a hard-edged reminder of how little lay between her and certain death.A slight slip of her hand would cause detonation.In a tunnel like this, the fragmentation and explosion would kill them all.
Their footsteps echoed, but with only the men’s torches for light, she couldn’t see far into the carved walkways of stone.Sarah had explained that archeologists believed the structure had been intended by the Apis cult as a burial place, but that all the tombs had been empty.
While normally that would fascinate Ginger, right now she found it terrifying.They were surrounded by death.
Deep in the labyrinth, the reverberation of their footsteps filled the chambers.Bile tinged her throat as Noah came into view.Ginger’s heart lurched.
He was alive.His hands were tied behind his back, attached to a rope that had been thrown over and tied to a large wooden beam, forcing his arms up behind his back—at an uncomfortable angle.
