Dec cursed. He’d known Anders wouldn’t be far away.
Morgan cleared her throat. “And a couple of tourists, young women from Germany, were found murdered in a back alley. They’d been tortured. Multiple cuts and stab wounds.”
Dec’s jaw tightened. It sounded like Anders’ MO. Fuck. Dec’s hands curled into fists. Two young lives lost, and even though it was Anders who had done the deed, Dec felt the weight of guilt settle over him.
If he’d done the right thing and stopped Anders all those years ago, those girls wouldn’t be dead.
The bastard had to be stopped.
Dec stared at the dunes around them. Wondering if Anders was out there, watching them.
“Change up our guard patrols. If Anders is watching us, he’ll be trying to learn our routines and find a weak spot. A way in.” Dec looked down the hill at Layne again. “We aren’t going to give him one.”
Chapter Seven
Layne took a long drink of water, stretched her aching shoulders, and glanced over at her tired team. They were sitting around near the tents, drinking, joking.
They’d been so shorthanded in the main part of the dig, she’d ended up hauling buckets of sand to clear a new area. Not only were many of her workers tossing up everything in their bellies, but a few local workers had blamed it on the curse and had left. She sighed and rubbed her forehead. She’d lost count of how many buckets she’d carried, but her achy, tired muscles were the payback. She closed her eyes and dreamed of a nice hot bath.
Yeah, that wasn’t happening any time soon.
“Looks like you need this.”
Declan’s voice made her open her eyes. He was holding out a bottle.
“A Diet Coke!” She snatched it, cracked the lid and took a sweet sip. “The real stuff. Where did you get this?”
“Security secret. Busy day?”
“You could say that.” She pulled a face. “Lots of people are sick and I’ve had workers leave. They say the curse of the mummy is to blame for our bad luck.”
“Yeah, I heard.”
She rubbed her forehead. She was pretty sure she had dust smeared all over her face. “I’m planning to work on the scroll again this evening.”
He reached out and rubbed her cheek. “You’re working too hard, Rush.”
God, every time he touched her it set her belly jumping. “We’re behind.”
“Anders was spotted in Dakhla.”
The bottom of her stomach dropped away.
Declan’s face was grim. “Two young women, tourists, were found dead.”
“Oh.” Layne pressed a hand to her stomach. She felt sick.
“Get the scroll decoded, Rush, then I suggest we move it and any other valuables to Cairo.”
She nodded. “I’m heading to the work tent right now.”
In the tent, Layne set her Coke down on the workbench, and carefully pulled the scroll out of her pocket.
God, it was stunning. Looking at it, her shoulders loosened. Staring at this magnificent piece of history filled her with awe and fascination. The troubles of the day faded away.
Her mom and dad would have gotten a huge kick to see it. To see their daughter in charge of finding it and taking care of it. Layne’s hands shook and she pressed them to the workbench. She breathed in deep of the warm desert air, the scent nothing like the frigid chill of that long ago snowy day when she’d come home and found them dead.
She glanced over at the gold sarcophagus nearby. She wanted this dig to go well. It was the only way she knew to honor the parents who’d been taken too soon.
She turned back to the scroll. She needed to go over her translations again. She wasn’t going to let this beat her. She’d made a mistake somewhere, and she was going to solve it. She set to work, meticulously transcribing her notes down in her notebook.
Layne had no idea how many hours had passed. Outside the work tent, everything was quiet, except for the gentle sound of the desert wind blowing.
Ugh, it was all gibberish. She sat back on her stool and pressed the heels of her hands to her tired eyes. All she had were small fragments talking about birds and the desert. It just didn’t make sense.
She sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. It was late. She’d translated as much as she could and now her eyes were crossing. She needed some sleep.
Unable to stop herself, she reached out and stroked the center of the scroll, where there was the empty space and that lone glyph for fierce protector. It was almost like text was missing from here. She touched the strange grooves that Declan had commented on.
The empty space was about the size of her palm. She stared at the little grooves, and then she frowned, tilting her head.
They almost looked like…a dog.