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Max squeaked for a second time. He really couldn’t control himself when it came to his work. “I do!”
“You do? You know?”
The room fell deathly quiet. There was only the faint hum of the air conditioner and the fan for the refrigerator in the next room making noise. “I know where it is. We’re going to Thebes.” He stopped and shook his head. “I mean, Luxor. I always thought we’d be going there, but I have it narrowed to two locations. One has an eighty-five percent likelihood of being the correct place. The other has a sixty-eight percent chance. But I’m feeling really good about the first location. It’s just south of—”
Ed clamped his left hand over Max’s mouth just as Will finished applying tape to the gauze covering the stitches. “Don’t say it out loud. Write it down if you have to, but burn that piece of paper after you’ve shown us.”
Max stared at him, wide-eyed for a second, his heart hammering in his chest. He nodded a couple of times, and Ed lowered his hand back to his side.
“Sorry. You’re right. I need to be more careful. You were hurt today because of me,” Max mumbled, his eyes straying to the white bandage shining brightly against his dark skin.
“No, I got hurt today because those fuckers are assholes, and Soren is getting slow in his old age,” Ed countered.
“Fuck you,” Soren sang from the doorway.
Max ignored their bickering and turned his attention to Ed. “Only one person knows the exact locations that I’ve identified, and that’s Janet Jones. I trust her with my life. Or more importantly, my life’s work. She would never sell me out.”
Kairo grunted and dropped behind his laptop on the other side of the table. “I sneaked into her computer and tightened up her security. No one is getting access to what you’ve been sending her.”
“From here, we just need to head to Luxor. Planes fly there constantly, so it shouldn’t be a problem. Oh, and we’ll need to get the government paperwork in order before I can officially hire the team.”
“Team? What team?” Charlie chimed in.
Max turned slightly in Ed’s arms so that he could face the leader of the mercenaries. He wanted to laugh when Ed’s hand tightened on his waist as if the man was afraid that he was going to suddenly get up from this comfy spot. “I need to hire a surveying professional to check out the area that I’ve identified as a place for a potential discovery. It’s usually just a two- or three-person team with some specialized equipment that can safely send sound waves down through the rock to search for an opening.”
“It’s sensitive enough to be able to discern between natural fissures in the rocks and man-made openings,” Ed added, and Max’s heart might have somersaulted. He was in so much trouble. He was falling for a man who supported his passion. How could he not go weak over something like that?
“Once we can confirm that there is in fact an opening in the earth that could possibly be a tomb, it’s back to the government for more paperwork that says we can officially form a dig team. Only then can we begin to look for a possible opening and make plans, but the government will mark off the region and give me exclusive rights to it for that next dig period, which won’t be until next summer.” Max gave a little shrug. “With most of the other Egyptologists at their universities to teach fall semester classes, the area will be relatively quiet. If we can get some agreeable paper pushers, I might be able to get permission to form a dig this fall for a week or two, but it’s doubtful. The government likes to keep a close eye on all the archeologists.”
“You can pull something together that quickly?” Will asked, stopping in the middle of pulling off his blood-smeared gloves.
“Normally, no, but I’ve got some friends in the field who are dying to be involved in the discovery of the Tomb of Kazemde. Over the years, this has become the most fabled tomb. What we find in it, or even what we don’t find, could answer a lot of questions about what really happened with the Harem Conspiracy, the end of Ramesses the Third’s life, and the beginning of Ramesses the Fourth’s reign.” Max held up his left hand, his thumb and forefinger less than an inch apart. “We are this close to finding out the truth, and there’s no way I’m going to stop now.”
When he looked at Ed, it was to see the excitement fall from his face. He glanced around the room, to find everyone seemed pained and awkward.
Something had happened while he was working on his research. Something other than Ed being grazed. They needed to discuss this meeting with Mironov.
