Mummies & Daddies (WAYHAUGHT)

Chapter 9

Waverly held out her pass, the guard in charge taking it, studying it, returning it, picking up the phone. The three waited for what seemed forever, Waverly repeatedly insisting she needed to visit the tomb, the guard smiling while at the same time shaking his head, barring them entry to the site. Robert appeared waving them through speaking in Arabic to the guards. "Sorry, sorry, it's gone crazy here today."

"What's happened?" Waverly asked, following him at a pace towards the opening to the tomb. "Is everything alright?"

"We had a raid, last night, while we were at the club. Or, might have been in the early hours. Really can't be sure."

"Did they take anything?"

"It's what they did. Theft is one thing, it's the wilful desecration of sacred sites that kills me."

"Is my section okay? Did they get to it?"

"Hacked a hole through the wall I've been informed. All the writing, the paintings destroyed."

"No, it can't be. I need to see for myself."

"We're not allowed in. The local investigators are inside with their team. Much good that will do."

"Was anything disturbed in the antechamber?"

Robert let out a frustrated sigh. "More than likely."

"I'm the only one who will know what's missing."

"No going in while the site is under investigation."

Jeremy approached. "They're looking for you."

"I'd better go. I'll try to take photos if I'm permitted. I suggest you return to the complex. We'll catch up once I've finished here."

Waverly waited for Robert and Jeremy to move off, turning away, tears coming. "They were looking for what I found, I know it."

"This isn't your fault," Nicole replied, wary of comforting her in front of the guards. "You didn't do this."

"But, my notes. Whoever took my notes and my laptop knew we were close. They knew I'd found something."

"They did," Wynonna added. "But Haught's right, this isn't your problem. I'll be glad when I leave this god awful place."

"All my work. Everything I've dreamed of achieving."

"Let's go get a beer," her sister offered.

"I can't. First you, now this."

"Your sister's right, let's go find a bar somewhere. We can speak to Robert when he's back at the complex."

Returning to the bar from the previous evening, the three sat nursing beers, Waverly devastated this should have happened on her watch. Her third Middle East excavation, her first with this team, she wanted to make a good impression, wanted to make a name for herself in the world of Egyptology. She had been so careful, Robert praising her meticulous notes and handling of her assigned area. She had done everything by the book, everything to honour the memory of a long-dead queen and still it wasn't enough to preserve an ancient site.

Nicole held her hand under the table, rubbing her thumb across the back occasionally, reassuring her none of this was her fault, or her responsibility. "You weren't to know."

"They've probably taken the jars and the coins," Waverly said, running through a list of artifacts in her head. "The wooden boxes too. God, I hope they've left the throne. The chariot, it was one of a kind."

"Reckon the bandages have vamoosed," Wynonna added, Nicole shaking her head. "I would, if I was-"

"Wynonna," Nicole said, eyes bearing into her. "Really not helping."