The Eye of Ra, #1 by Ben Gartner

Author:Ben Gartner [Gartner, Ben]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Crescent Vista Press

CHAPTER NINE

Traitors Among Us

JOHN

John didn’t think twice, though maybe he should have. He burst from their hiding place around the corner of the pyramid and walked with quick, firm steps through the sand toward the saboteur, pointing, yelling, “Hey! Stop!”

The thief didn’t hear him and disappeared into the tunnel.

John ran after the thief.

“John!” his sister hissed. “Careful!” He could hear her close behind him.

With no regard for what lay inside, and no oil lamp to light his way—he realized too late he’d left it sitting on the wall outside when they came up for air—John plunged into the darkness of the pyramid.

He had to slow down after only a few steps lest he smash his face into a wall in the pitch black. Using his hand to guide his way, he moved downward.

“Up ahead,” Sarah whispered. “Light.”

Sure enough, the glimmer of an oil lamp. As they approached, they could see the robber crouched down and fiddling with the stolen art in the sack of cloth. There was another burlap bag, smaller, on the ground.

When the thief stood up to walk away, John shouted, “Hey!”

The thief, startled, turned abruptly and looked toward John and Sarah, but the face was still shrouded in darkness. The light cast by the oil lamp threw long shadows across the ceiling of the small tunnel.

Now that John had gotten the thief’s attention, he wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. Thinking quickly on his feet, he said, “The police are on their way. Don’t move!”

“Ha, nice try,” the thief spoke, a male’s voice, but low and gravelly as if he were trying to disguise it. “They call them guards here, not police.” The thief stood, the severed head at his feet, the other smaller burlap sack in his hand. He untied the strings holding the small bag closed.

“Sarah, let the guards outside know we’ve caught the thief.”

“He’s right, you know,” Sarah said. “The police are right outside.”

“Then why don’t you get them?” the thief croaked.

“Maybe I will!” Sarah huffed.

“Maybe this will slow you down.” The thief tossed the sack toward them. It landed close to John, with Sarah right behind him.

Springing from the sack, a dozen agitated scorpions skittered across the floor toward John and Sarah.

Sarah shrieked. John’s breath stuck in his throat and he couldn’t say anything, but he shuffled his feet backward until he ran into Sarah.

“Move!” John yelled as the deadly scorpions neared, their claws pinching the air, their stingers bobbing on their tails like they were hungry for a fight.

Sarah grabbed John’s wrist and they both started running.

John skidded to a halt and wriggled out of Sarah’s grasp. She stopped too, looking back at him, then down to the ground at the scorpions. They moved dreadfully fast for such small creatures.

“What’re you doing?” she pleaded. “Let’s go!”

“Get help,” John said. He turned around, his back to Sarah.

“What’re you doing?” Sarah repeated, louder, intense fear and confusion in her voice.

Without an answer, John ran toward the scorpion horde blocking the hall. As

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