Candice Cushing and the Lost Tomb of Cleopatra by Georgette Kaplan

Author:Georgette Kaplan [Kaplan, Georgette]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783963240713
Published: 2020-01-09T11:11:46+00:00

“Maybe we could make a quick round-trip to Faya, put it in a safety deposit box, then fill out a will—”

“ Candice! ” Nevada took a deep, fuming breath. “C’mon. It’s really hot out here.”

Candice coughed. “I’ll just… yeah. It says… well, it’s the directions from before, and now it says they went north.”

“North,” Nevada repeated.

“North. About a hundred and fifty miles.”

Nevada sagged against the side of the pit they’d dug. “I swear, I hope the Egyptians got it right with all their afterlife crap, because when I kick off, I really wanna find everyone who planned this little field trip and—I mean, it doesn’t even make sense! Why go a thousand miles west, then turn north all of a sudden? Shortest distance, two points, straight line. Even I know that. You’d think the pyramid boys could’ve figured it out…”

“Maybe not…” Candice noticed Usama offering his hand to help her out of the pit. She took it, the tablet cradled under her other arm, and let herself be pulled up. “In fact, it makes perfect sense. Thousands of years ago, Lake Chad was over a hundred and fifty thousand square miles in size. It was actually a paleolake called Lake Mega-Chad.”

“Okay, hilarious.” Nevada got a running start and pulled herself out of the pit. “What’s that have to do with the price of tea in China? Wait, what’s the price of tea in China have to do with anything ?”

Candice ignored her. “Mega-Chad shrank, the Sahara grew, but before it got to where it is today, some academics believe there was a river network linking Chad, the Sudan, Nigeria, maybe even the Nile. The Egyptians could’ve been moving your treasure by boat, and this was the only point where the river turned north. That would actually explain these checkpoints. They could’ve left them at forks in the river to mark which path they took, either for when they made a return voyage or for someone following after them.”

“So what we seek is a boat in the middle of the desert?” Usama asked.

“Possibly. Going north takes us straight to the Tibesti Mountains, and water doesn’t flow uphill. Could be they ditched the boat to finish the journey on foot.”

“Please tell me we’re not going to have to climb a mountain,” Nevada moaned.

“I doubt it. The Tibesti is a mountain range about nine, ten thousand feet tall, guarded by Toubou warriors. At that height, to desert dwellers like the Egyptians, it’d be like swimming in liquid nitrogen. No, I think they’d stop there, in the foothills.”

Nevada wore a half-grin. “Is that a hunch, college girl?”

Candice bit her lip to keep from smiling back. “Call it an educated guess.”

Nevada took out her satphone. “Well, if it’s a hunch from you, I’ll take it. And I still have a signal, so this seems like a good time to call the home office and let them know to get their checkbook ready. I’m not finding this damned thing and getting told that all their assets are tied up in craft beer.

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