The Masks of Nyarlathotep: Egypt part 1

The Diary of Dr Eliza Jamieson

 

A Brief Interlude

I have finally succeeded in getting away from the Royal Berkshire. However, where I end up is far from the ideal situation. I was hoping for a job working as a surgeon, instead I am now a full time member of MI13 and while this does involve a fair amount of patching up agents who are returning from their Middle Eastern/ Afghan assignments and surprising amounts of forensic work it is not really what I was looking for.

 

September 9th 2008

Then on the 9th September I was pulled away from my duties by Marmaduke as he needed me to assist Alex Douglas in acquiring access to Roger Carlisle’s documents which if I understood correctly involved several books and other curios Mr Carlisle had acquired before his fateful expedition to Egypt in 2003. Barbara was originally intended to take on this duty but due to issues in regard to her mental stability she is presently on sabbatical with her family in Australia so it fell upon me to take her place. According to the papers that we had been given by Marmaduke, Alex and I would be travelling as Mr and Mrs Daniel Wiltshire so having me step in was probably for the best as Alex and I are of similar age.

 

Ostensibly I would be going along because we wanted to gain access to Doctor Houston’s records and my background and medical experience could prove useful in oiling the wheels to this regard.

 

We were instructed to be very careful and that we were not to mention the attack on the Twin Towers under any circumstances. I thought this seemed wise but rather unnecessary as I had no intention of mentioning the attack. I believed it would likely still be very fresh in the memory of many New Yorkers and as such would be a rather touchy subject.

 

September 10th 2008

So on 10th September Alex and I are taken to Heathrow where we board a British Airways flight bound for New York. I am pleasantly surprised to find we are booked into business class as we have been told on several occasions that funds are tight and we are also warned to expect a reception upon arrival at John F Kennedy.

 

The flight is remarkably pleasant, I am told as I sleep through most of it (I’m not keen on air travel), and we arrive on time (16:00 EST) to find two rather large gentlemen holding up a board with Mr and Mrs Wiltshire written on it. One of the gentlemen is a large African American named Jed Milton while his companion is a Caucasian male by the name of Earl Kowalski. Both men have badges and identification which indicate they are agents working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. (Thought all FBI agents were called Johnson - no relation). Agent Milton accompanies us past customs and informs us that transport and accommodation have been arranged for our stay in New York and that it is the duty of him and his partner to escort us to our hotel.

 

Agent Kowalski in the meantime has moved off to get the car. Our base of operations while in New York is to be the New York Hilton. After checking that we are settled in, Agent Milton takes his leave but not before advising us not to leave the hotel. He also states that he will be back to collect us in the morning. Fortunately the hotel gives us a twin room instead of a double which spares a number of questions and there is nothing much more we can do until the 11th so we choose to have a nice dinner and then work off some of the calories in the hotel gym, all before retiring to our own beds at nine thirty.

 

September 11th 2008

On the 11th we receive a 7:00am alarm call and when we came downstairs we discover Agent Milton already awaiting our appearance in the dining room. Agent Kowalski is not present at this time but he turns up before we set out. Once we finish our breakfast we are escorted by Agents Milton and Kowalski through the front door to a waiting car (a Cadillac with tinted windows I might add). Agent Milton then leaves us in Agent Kowalski’s care. Agent Kowalski holds open the door and indicates that we should get in. Then he closes the door before taking the shotgun seat next to the driver. I notice as we get in the car that it has a partition between the driver and the backseat passengers.

 

Somewhat surprisingly we are not the only passengers in the back of the car as there is a distinguished older gentleman waiting for us within the vehicle. It is hard to judge his height but I estimate he is at least six feet tall and quiet spare in stature. The man has a distinguished look about him and looks to be in his sixties if not older. His hair is cropped quiet close to his skull and grey in colour. His face is also wrinkled but distinguished and he looks to me like he is either a politician or a lawyer. The man is dressed in well-tailored dark suit, white shirt and a dark unpatterned tie. He also wears highly polished black shoes.

 

The man greets us and I note that he speaks with a cultured Boston accent. He introduces himself as Mr Green. Mr Green appears to be aware of the recent Deep One attack in Reading and the mere mention of this implies to me that he knows something about the occult and that we are involved in the same. However he does not make it clear whether he knows exactly how much we have been directly involved in this case.

 

Mr Green then asks us what was the last thing Marmaduke told us before we left for New York, which I recall to be that we should not mention the 9-11 attack. Mr Green nods then asks us how many casualties did we think had perished and when we inform him of the numbers he observes that the initial estimates were rather higher, around 8,000.

 

Mr Green believes that the CIA developed a plan to induce Al-Qaida to attack the World Trade Centre to use the sacrifice for a ritual to protect the United States from occult terrorism. This ritual would need the sacrifice of 5,000 lives. However due to a number of factors the casualties were very much lower than anticipated and in all only 2,996 people perished - hence the ritual was incomplete.

 

Mr Green then goes on to inform us that an incident occurred within the United States some seventy years previously, but in this case it had been within a small Massachusetts town by the name of Innsmouth. The attack resulted in a major action by the Military, treasury agents and members of the BOI (Bureau of Investigation an agency that in nineteen thirty-five would change its name to the FBI), which effectively eradicated all records pertaining to this incident and also removed all reference to Innsmouth. (We of course were already aware of this incident but we chose to keep that information to ourselves).

 

Mr Green then informs us that this action resulted in the creation of a new department with the United States security services, a department that was given the title Delta-Green. It is very unlikely that we would be able to brush the Reading incident under the carpet as easily.

 

Delta Green’s role was very similar to that of MI13 and they were the front line when dealing with occult terrorism out of sight from all regular avenues. In this role they appeared successful in thwarting a number of threats and were very active during the Second World War, all the while keeping their operations hidden.

 

All was going well until the early nineteen sixties when the recently formed Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) began exerting influence over Delta Green’s operations. The CIA had been created in 1947 from the remnants of Office of Strategic Services and at that time was only answerable to the President. With this autonomous power they soon began to take over much of the intelligence gathering operations previously controlled by other departments and it soon became a case of the ‘tail wagging the dog’.

 

This appeared to come to a head during the Vietnam War for Mr Green appeared convinced the whole war was co-ordinated by the CIA. During the war rumours abounded that there was a plan by the North Vietnamese to use the war for an operation of occult significance and Delta Green were detailed to look into this operation. The operation was planned to take place over the border in Cambodia. But in truth it turned out this whole operation was a trap and the evidence a smoke screen arranged by the CIA to trap and discredit Delta Green. In this the operation was completely successful for it resulted in the dissolution of Delta Green and the handing over of all their operations to the CIA.

 

With this in mind Mr Green informs us that we should not turn to the CIA for assistance after which Mr Green states that he must now take his leave but not before he hands Alex a card containing a number which he says we should use should we need to contact him further. The card itself was mostly blank but bears on one side the Greek letter Delta in green and on the reverse is a handwritten telephone number 555-7941.

 

 Mr Green reminds us that this number is only relevant to the United States and should we use this number from another country we must use the prefix 001. Mr Green then leans forward and raps on the partition, the car stops at the next intersection and Mr Green disembarks, while we proceed on to our planned rendezvous with Miss Carlisle.

 

The Carlisle home is very large and impressive is set in well-manicured grounds. Upon our arrival we are greeted by a servant and asked to await Miss Carlisle in an audience room. Unusually we are not offered any refreshments, which indicates to me that we are not welcome visitors.

 

We wait in this area for a good fifteen minutes before Miss Carlisle finally makes her appearance. Miss Carlisle appears to be either in her late twenties or early thirties and dresses very conservatively in a grey business suit. It should be noted that while she is very pretty she has an attitude that implies she is used to getting people to follow her lead. Miss Carlisle is accompanied in the meeting by a large square jawed male who has all the appearance of a bodyguard. The male is not introduced to us so it is safe to assume this is the case.

 

We start by thanking Miss Carlisle for agreeing to see us before we begin to inform her of the information we wish to glean from this interview and it is at this stage that we raise her brother’s case, stating that evidence has recently surfaced that imply some individuals may have actually escaped the massacre in Kenya.

 

Judging from her reaction to this news it appears there was no love lost between Miss Carlisle and her brother. She states that the fate of her brother is not to be questioned as his body together with the rest of his party was found completely dismembered. Insisting that not a single piece of the bodies recovered was larger than her fist, she threatens legal action if we try to claim that someone survived. Even if irrefutable evidence points to this being a fact her insistence here is that they are all dead and that they should remain so and were we to actually find any survivors the best thing we could do for all concerned is put a bullet through their heads.

 

When we press her about her brother’s involvement in the expedition she states that this was just another example of one of her brother’s fads, which in this case had begun approximately a year before they actually set out on the expedition. Her brother apparently had an agent working for him in Egypt called Warren Besart and Miss Carlisle only discovered this after her brother’s untimely demise. When Mr Besart appeared he presented Miss Carlisle with a contract signed by her brother that he claimed required payment, which reluctantly she paid. We inform Miss Carlisle that it may be useful to see what this documentation pertains to and ask if we would be allowed access, Miss Carlisle reluctantly agrees to our request.

 

We then ask about the books we suspect Mr Carlisle to have been in possession of and once again she reluctantly agrees to allow us access. Miss Carlisle asks us to accompany her to Mr Carlisle’s study, which is situated in another part of the house. Once there she moves over to the wall safe and from there she retrieves four tomes.

 

Miss Carlisle informs us that these are the books in question and that they are all presently for sale as is a large amount of the rest of Mr Carlisle’s personal collection which still contains some unusual items. Apparently she does not want to have anything to do with what her brother acquired.

 

It should be noted that the four books from Mr Carlisle’s safe are clearly Mythos related. The first is written in French and even though I am not fluent it does not take me long to recognise what this is, the title is ‘Selections de Livre d'Ivon and it contains a selection of items from the Book of Eibon but is not as complete as the version I have previously read. A further two books are written in English and bear the titles Pnakotic Manuscripts and People of the Monolith, both of which we are aware of at MI13. The final book however is something quiet unique and is titled Life as a God. it appears that this book was the book Mr Carlisle was in the midst of reading before he left as it still contains a bookmark.

 

Ostensibly ‘Life as a God’ is the personal journal of someone named Montgomery Crompton and is dated 1805. When we open the journal at the bookmark we noticed a large section is underlined and this section appears to describe either a dream or the thoughts of a madman. I take a photograph with my Blackberry of this passage but for completeness I also include the text below.

 

Its angles were magnificent and most strange; by their hideous beauty I was enraptured and enthralled, and I thought myself of the daylight fools who adjudged the housing of the room as mistaken. I laughed for the glory they missed. When the six lights lit and the great words said, then He came, in all the grace and splendour of the Higher Planes, and I longed to sever my veins so that my life might flow into his being and make part of me a god!

 

After looking over the books we decide to garner Miss Carlisle’s opinion of the rest of people on the expedition, beginning with Sir Aubrey Penhew.

 

Miss Carlisle is convinced that Sir Aubrey was actually the driving force behind the whole expedition and that her brother’s decisions were all a result of his input. Once again Miss Carlisle emphasised that her brother was weak-willed and easily led. Miss Carlisle also believes her brother was frittering away money funding Sir Aubrey’s hair-brained schemes barely without question.

 

Hypatia Masters is the next person we ask about. Miss Carlisle believes Miss Masters to have been independently wealthy and while she was an excellent fashion photographer she was not really known to be an adventurous type. Thus it appeared somewhat strange to Miss Carlisle that Miss Masters was taken as the official photographer on this expedition.

 

Then there was Dr Houston, whom she herself had introduced to her brother as it appears that Dr Houston had initially been Miss Carlisle’s analyst and at that time she believed him to be a steadying influence. However shortly after he had become Mr Carlisle’s analyst Doctor Houston released all his other patients, including Miss Carlisle. Miss Carlisle was not impressed by this and her opinion of him had evidently changed dramatically as she describes Doctor Houston as a money grabbing quack.

 

Finally there was Mr Jack Brady, who appeared to be the only member of Mr Carlisle’s team that Miss Carlisle had any time for. Mr Brady apparently had a drinking problem and had been on a downward spiral before meeting with Mr Carlisle. However she stated that he was still a good fellow, and it appeared that her brother had helped Brady to dry out. It also appears that Mr Brady had assisted Mr Carlisle in an earlier incident which had involved a death. This incident required Mr Carlisle to hire some quality legal representatives to clear Mr Brady’s name. However despite all of this Miss Carlisle believed Mr Brady could have stopped this foolhardy expedition at source if only he had learned to say no to her brother on occasion.

 

Miss Carlisle also remarked that there was another person involved in Mr Carlisle’s life at this time that we had previously been unaware of. A voodoo woman of Afro-Caribbean descent who appeared to hold great sway over her brother’s decisions much like Sir Aubrey. As Miss Carlisle further stated, shortly after meeting that ‘damned n….r woman’ her brother had begun to experience the dream which is described below and judging from Miss Carlisle’s tone it appears she was not enamoured in any way by this woman and the use of the derogatory indicates a slight racist bent may have been involved in her decision. As to this woman’s name however we have no clue because Miss Carlisle did not care to share or maybe she just never heard it.

 

Mr Carlisle’s dream is reported here second hand by his sister Miss Erika Carlisle and it involved someone calling his name ‘Vane’ (apparently a middle name that he liked to be referred by) and that he was travelling through a thick mist or fog before coming upon a large man with ebony skin with a large inverted ankh burning on his forehead.

 

The dark man then held out his hands, palms up, and on each hand was a figure. The left hand figure was that of a pyramid but the angles were wrong in some way and it appeared crooked. The right hand held miniature version of Mr Carlisle. The Dark Man then asked him to touch his hand and as he did so they flew up into space and here he saw many images of the man but each was different in some way finally the man spoke the words “Come with me and I will make you a God”.

 

This dream appears strikingly similar to the one described in ‘Life as a God’ and I wonder if this was the same dream Mr Jackson claimed to be experiencing before his untimely demise.

It was possible that there was some more evidence in regard to both the mysterious Voodoo woman and this dream in Doctor Houston’s notes. But when Alex requested permission to look at his records Miss Carlisle was very reluctant to allow him access and it was only when I stated that I had medical knowledge (I noted Miss Carlisle was a little taken aback when I revealed that I was not in fact a detective but a doctor) that she agreed to look through his notes and send on any relevant details.

It appears none of the staff who either worked for with Mr Carlisle were retained by his sister, apparently she decided to clean house after her brother’s demise and she saw them as part of the problem.

We thank Miss Carlisle again for her time before returning to London where we are debriefed by Marmaduke. We inform him that we had not been able to acquire much information from Miss Carlisle but we hope that soon she will send us the documents we requested, mind you I am not holding my breath. In my opinion the Mythos tomes she possesses could be a problem were they to be purchased by certain individuals but agreed that our present budget may not stretch far enough to acquire the tomes. However, I certainly believe we may need to acquire ‘Life as a God’ as I feel this book may have a bearing on the investigation.

We also inform Marmaduke about our encounter with Mr Green, upon which Marmaduke inquired as whether his first name is delta which we were unable to confirm, however we do have the business card bearing the green delta. We also told Marmaduke of Mr Green’s suspicions in regard to the attack on the twin towers and his belief in regard to the CIA’s suspected collusion. After telling Marmaduke this he felt this confirmed Mr Green’s statement in regards to dealing with Americans and the CIA in particular. It appears Marmaduke actually believes Delta Green may still have a presence but it clearly has no real power because not only do they need to remain hidden from public view, they also have to stay off the CIA’s radar.

One thing we did discover during our trip was two possible leads and they were the voodoo woman and Mr Carlisle’s agent, Mr Besart. Marmaduke informs us that he would see what he could do about Besart but until we acquired some more information we would have to let the investigation into the voodoo woman cool. It appears Marmaduke has already got someone in place watching Doctor Clive’s party, an SBS man who was not actually attached to MI13 at this time by the name of Syed Hussein, codename ‘Shadowman’. He also arranged for a man with local knowledge named, John Jamil Zwaiter (codename ‘T-Shirt’) to acquire more information in regard to Faraz Najir and Mr Besart. Marmaduke emphasises that these two gentlemen are not members of MI13 so certain elements of this case will need to remain sacrosanct.

Alex, Adam, Captain Wood and I will be travelling to Egypt to take up the investigation but before we set out we have to ensure we were as well prepared as possible, including extra training and checking all our inoculations are up to date.

During this time we are able to acquire some information in regard to Mr Warren Besart, who it appears is a French national of mixed American and French descent. Besart appears to have a chequered past and is renowned for acquiring items that were not normally available so clearly had contacts in either government or the slightly more shady areas of society.

 

The Masks of Nyarlothotep – And Onwards to Egypt

 

Finally in early October we are ready to set out and it is arranged for Mr Zwaiter and Sgt Hussein to meet us at Cairo International. Note: Zwaiter will be using his own name but Sgt Hussein was presently operating undercover and would be operating under the name of Rameses Mamluk (Hawkeye). Just before we leave Marmaduke gives us all false papers which identify us as the following…

 

Alex Douglas is Daniel Wiltshire

Adam Walters becomes Edward Forham

Captain Sandy Wood, Robert Sayle

While my cover name is Stephanie McQueen (Codename - Salome)

 

Upon arrival we are met by our contacts who assist us in bypassing customs. I feel Sgt Hussein is rather easy to recognise as he is a big man and holds himself in a way that indicates military training, but Mr Zwaiter is much more unobtrusive.

 

Hussein drives us to our hotel where we are given the low-down in regard to how the investigation is proceeding. Unfortunately for us the news is not good as it appears that most of the leads we wish to pursue appear to have dried up. I will cover each of these individually below.

 

Starting with the investigation into Faraz Najir’s curio shop which was apparently based on the Street of Jackal’s in the old quarter of the city; Mr Zwaiter reported he found the shop was not only no longer trading but that it was also no longer in existence for it appeared that it had apparently burned down shortly after the remains of the Carlisle expedition had been discovered in Kenya. A charred body was also recovered within the wreckage and this was assumed to be Mr Najir but it was unclear exactly his mode of death and whether he perished before during or after the fire. Mr Najir was apparently only identified by his dental records.

 

Mr Najir was born in Alexandria and it appears has no living relatives. As to the stock within the shop, most items were destroyed during the fire but that does not mean that Mr Najir held all his stock within this property and there may still be another storage area.

 

We then inquired if they had more luck in regard to Mr Carlisle’s agent, Warren Besart, but this was not the case. Apparently Mr Besart is also deceased and while the official record states Mr Besart had been walking down an alleyway when he was set upon and mugged, this is inaccurate as the truth is much more sinister. It seems Mr Besart had been literally beaten to a pulp and most of the long bones of both the arms and legs had suffered considerable damage. It also appears that the clubs were a very unusual design which was believed to have a hook attached at one end which I assume was intended to flense the body of flesh.

 

After looking at the forensic report I decide that in my estimation the wounds inflicted here indicated there was more than one assailant. Besart has got family living in France and the USA but no one seems to have cared enough to have his body flown home and he was buried by the French Embassy in Egypt.

 

Once again this incident occurred in the year following the discovery of the Carlisle Expedition’s remains in Kenya, and this was after Mr Besart had been in contact with Miss Carlisle. It may be useful to discover how much time passed between Miss Carlisle paying him off and his untimely demise.

 

I suspect someone is aware that these people would be very hard to silence so a scorched earth policy was being applied here as the few people remaining with any contact to the expedition have been systematically eradicated.

 

We are of course unable to verify how exactly Mr Najir met his end as his remains were too badly charred in the fire but I suspect we would have found evidence pointing to the same weapon that was used on Mr Besart. Of course this is all supposition and no evidence was found at the scene or in the autopsy to prove this one way or the other so it will only exist here in my personal ramblings.

 

Sgt Hussein meanwhile had maintained a careful watch on the Clive Expedition, posing as a local workman, and he reported that since the theft of the sarcophagus from the site on the twenty-second of June a large military presence has been in evidence and he has found virtually everyone attached to the dig to be extremely tight-lipped in regard to what exactly happened. In fact he had only found one person who was willing to talk to him, a specialist digger by the name of Masoud Sawalha, but he was to suffer a mugging strikingly familiar to that suffered by Mr Besart. (My own thoughts on this is that this weapon could be an updated version of a weapon designed to work like the claw of an animal, for instance a lion.)

 

Sgt Hussein reported that there are two Egyptian archaeologists working the dig as well as Dr Clive’s own people and these are Dr Mahmoud El-Assawi and Ahmed Younis. The news coming out from the dig was that the expedition had discovered a tomb belonging to an Egyptian queen and it was suspected that it was the tomb of Nitiqreti (Nitocris), a queen rumoured to exist in the late sixth dynasty. This has not been conclusively proved of course as some historians believe that this was in fact the name taken by one of the male pharaohs and translated incorrectly.

 

Apparently Dr Clive’s two assistants, Messrs’ Broadmoor and Gardner, rarely leave the camp but the archaeologists have been known to leave the camp in a group to go for a meal about once a week. Dr Clive on the other hand has been more active and has left the camp on a regular basis.

 

Recently Sgt Hussein noticed that the dig has been attracting the attention of at least one prominent figure in the Egyptian government. Gamal Mubarak (the second son of President Hosni Mubarak) has been at the site recently talking with Dr Clive. Sgt Hussein noted that the two men appeared very chatty and while he was unable to get close enough to hear what was being said he did notice that during the conversation Dr Clive pointed off into the desert. He then observed Dr Clive having a long discussion with a member of Mr Mubarak’s party, a distinguished grey haired man. When Mr Mubarak had left, Dr Clive then took a land rover out. Sgt Hussein chose to follow in a hired car and noticed that they were heading in the direction of the Bent and Red Pyramids.

 

Dr Clive drove past the Red Pyramid and headed directly to the Bent Pyramid beyond it. Sgt Hussein decided to park his car and follow in on foot where he noted that there were four heavily armed guards stationed at the Bent Pyramid. Dr Clive approached these soldiers and after a swift chat he then proceeded on entering the Bent Pyramid through a heavy metal security door in the Eastern face of the pyramid. Dr Clive spent some thirty minutes inside the pyramid before re-emerging. He then returned to his car and presumably drove back to the dig. However this is unproven as Sgt Hussein had chosen to hide his car off the road so Dr Clive would not see it when he drove past and unfortunately it became bogged down so Sgt Hussein had to walk back.

 

Some people suspect Van Heuvelen of stealing the sarcophagus. Van Heuvelen was an undergraduate studying under Dr Clive at Liverpool University but has not been seen since he was sacked from the Expedition in June. The young man has not returned to his home in America or to the flat he was living in during his studies. We attempted to ascertain more as to his present location by contacting his parents. He had recently phoned his family in America claiming that he was still enjoying himself in Egypt and that the dig was proceeding well, which was rather odd as he was sacked in June.

 

They seemed willing to give his phone number to us. However when we rang the number we found it to be disconnected. It may be useful to discover this young man’s locale but we do not appear to have a starting point. Unfortunately we do not have his banking details otherwise we could track him via his spending habits as it appears he has no presence on social networking sites.

 

It appears the tomb was only uncovered on the eighteenth of June, the sarcophagus was then stolen on the twenty second of June. Note the sarcophagus was a sizable piece of masonry weighing several tons and would require either a large team of strong backs or specialist lifting apparatus to move it out as these things take some shifting.

 

On the twenty ninth of June the dig team moved from Giza to its present location at Memphis but it is unclear why.

 

In conclusion: following this information it appears we need to find out what the Clive Expedition is up to and also we need to discover what is behind that door in the Bent Pyramid. I certainly would also like to know how they have managed to conceal such a large piece of masonry as this sarcophagus from the authorities but in saying this I am assuming that they are not in on it.

 

Once the debrief is over I decide to try and clear out my thoughts in the hotel gym before dinner and Alex states that he wants to check out the old quarter of the city. Sgt Hussein and Mr Zwaiter both agree to go with him. Captain Wood also left with Alex.

 

Adam meanwhile phones Lionel in hopes that he may be able to give us some insight. However it appears Lionel has been out of the game too long but he is able to furnish Adam with the name of man who may be able to assist us in our mission, Professor Ali Kafour, who is apparently the curator at the Egyptian Museum and Adam then informs us he is off to see Professor Kafour.

 

Later when the group reconvenes it appears to me that Alex was unable to find what he was looking for and is a little down. On the other hand Adam has discovered some rather useful information.

 

It appears Adam had no difficulty getting a meeting with Professor Kafour (Adam describes him as a small spare man with yellow teeth and nicotine stained fingers; he appeared to be of indeterminate age and was wearing a pale suit and red fez - in other words the archetypal Egyptian). When he mentioned Lionel’s name Professor Kafour appears to know of Lionel’s clandestine past for he stated that when Adam contacts Solomon again we should ‘tell Solomon that Jackal wishes him his best’.

 

As Adam tooks this in his stride Professor Kafour then invited Adam back to his office where he said they should be able to talk without any prying eyes. Once there Professor Khafoor ensured his secretary was sent off on some fool errand before beginning their discussions, starting with the curious weapon which has apparently been used to kill both Mr Besart and Mr Sawalha.

 

It appears Professor Kafour knew of such a weapon and that it is a weapon of vengeance used by religious cult for ritualistic murders as the weapon is intended to display the instigators’ capacity for violence. During the ritual the instigator is advised that they should favour the limbs and torso and should at all times avoid blows to the head as that shortens the amount of pain suffered by the recipient. To be honest this is a genuinely nasty weapon that is intended to deliberately inflict pain before death.

 

The organisation most noted for the use of this weapon is the ‘Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh’, which is rumoured to have sprung into existence during the reign of the Black Pharaoh in the third dynasty and it should be noted that ‘Black’ applied only to his colour of his skin as in Ancient Egypt black was symbolic of good. But this pharaoh was notorious because of the evil he wrought upon his people and this is likely to be the reason why very little is recorded of his rule.

 

The weapon has a wooden haft and was topped by a lion’s claw but now it is usually a bent nail or a metal hook. The cult apparently went into hiding upon the death of the Black Pharaoh and spread across much of the African continent, probably to avoid reprisals from the pharaohs who followed.

 

I wonder if the Cult of the Bloody Tongue and the God of the Black Winds were some of these offshoots?

 

It is suspected that the cult may have resurfaced in the 6th dynasty when Nitiqreti took power but once again the records appear vague in regard to this period. Professor Kafour appears to lean towards the side that believes Nitiqreti was a queen in her own right but that her rule, much like that of Black Pharaoh, was tainted by evil and he also believes Nitiqreti attempted and may actually have succeeded in not only finding the tomb of the Black Pharaoh but of actually succeeding in bringing him back to some semblance of life. Whatever the case not much can be found which points one way or the other.

 

Professor Kafour appears extremely concerned that someone is attempting to bring Nitiqreti back to life so they can rediscover the ritual she attempted to create to bring back the Black Pharaoh.

 

This gave us a lot of food for thought and some of the others suggested going out to the dig site but we had no idea what we were looking for. Apparently Dr Clive’s dig site was actually within the Great Pyramid of Cheops itself which would explain the large amount of government involvement.

 

I am personally somewhat surprised to find the government agreed to allow Dr Clive and his party to do what they did for it appears they actually removed a large section of the outer wall of the great pyramid to achieve access to the mysterious fourth chamber they had discovered. This chamber is connected to the so-called ‘Queen’s chamber’ but could only be accessed by the removal of some of the outer blocks as the passageway was only a mere 20 cm high - they could send remote drones but no human could possibly gain access.

 

But if this was the case then how did the Egyptians get the sarcophagus in there in the first place?

 

This method of achieving access does of course answer one question and that is how they actually got the sarcophagus out and that is apparently by use of the cranes used to remove the outer stones of the pyramid.

 

After dinner we convene a meeting where we decide how to proceed for we now have two clear paths. We needed to check out the pyramids themselves and we also needto see Professor Kafour again. In the end we decide that we would check the pyramids first because if we leave it too late we will not be able to gain access within the pyramids as they only allow a few visitors to go inside the pyramids every day.

 

Once the meeting is over Alex states that he wishes to once again visit the old quarter of the city and on this occasion he refuses all offers to accompany him. To be honest, Alex’s behaviour is becoming a little erratic and he appears to be taking unnecessary risks, travelling into a relatively unknown part of a major third world city in the light of day with companions who know the risks is safe enough but doing the same on his own and in the dark appears to me foolhardy. Alex states he knows the risks and can read the signs stating that, after all, he is a policeman. I am not overly convinced as quite recently he was a policeman in Penrith, which is not exactly at hotbed of crime, but far be it from me to criticise.

 

As it turns out Alex returns a few hours later, thankfully none the worse for wear, but I do notice that he appears somewhat disgruntled. I choose not to press him on this and hope he will tell us what this is all about in the fullness of time.

 

So the following morning we set out bright and early with a guide provided for us by Mr Zwaiter. The trip is uneventful as we visit all three of the main chambers. Note: the 4th chamber is still inaccessible to the public. The Queen’s chamber is relatively plain but for the hieroglyphics decorating the walls. We are also able to see the passageway that leads to the mysterious 4th chamber, which apparently lines up perfectly with Sirius the Dog Star. It seems the Egyptians were very much into star gazing and saw much in the formation of the constellations. Still as to why this corridor lines up with Sirius is unclear.

 

Next is the mysterious 3rd chamber, which is rather difficult to get to and, once there, is something of an anti-climax as it ends in a room that appears to have no purpose and as far as I can tell is incomplete.

 

Finally we get to the most important room in the pyramid, the Pharaoh’s chamber itself, which is apparently said to be positioned at the spiritual heart of the entire pyramid. This is quite spectacular but as we enter I notice Adam appears to zone out for about thirty seconds. I am initially a little concerned but as he comes out of it he informs us he was just experiencing the power flowing through the chamber. Adam informs us that what he senses here is raw power but that there are other sources of power below us and at a distance that indicates they could be outside the footprint of the pyramid that are exerting an evil influence.

 

One point however appeared to exert a slightly weaker aura of evil but was much closer, apparently residing behind the Pharaoh’s chamber and corresponding to the mysterious fourth chamber. Our conclusion in regard to this is that it is likely the result of a shadow left by a greater evil that has since been removed.

 

I have, of course, heard all the stories regarding links between the fate of the Egyptians and the stars and have read that some people have a belief linking the position of the pyramids to the relative positioning of the stars in Orion’s belt others say this is just a co-incidence and that they are diametrically opposed but I think it all depends upon which angle you are viewing it from.

 

Alex suggests that the evil Adam detects may have originated from ancient colonies of ghouls but I am not convinced that ghouls would give off such a strong evil aura and I sense it is something far more sinister.

 

Once our tour of the Great Pyramid is over Alex suggests taking a trip to the Red Pyramid, which unlike the other pyramids is made from red sandstone. This is a little unusual as red was apparently seen in Egyptian times as a colour of ill omen. The Red Pyramid is the third largest of all the pyramids and only the Great Pyramids of Khufu and Khafre are larger.

 

As is the case with virtually all the other pyramids the Red Pyramid of Sneferu has three chambers but it appears none were actually used, even though there is apparently evidence of grave robbers infiltrating what would normally have been seen as the Pharaoh’s chamber, displayed by the unevenness of the floor.

 

It is believed the Red Pyramid was the Egyptians’ first attempt at building a smooth sided pyramid and stands approximately one mile to the North of one of Sneferu’s earlier attempts to build a pyramid, the so called Bent Pyramid. But I cannot understand why this was not used for if it was not built to be a tomb then the big question has to be why was it built?

 

Some engineers speculate maybe this was because after Sneferu’s first two attempts to build a pyramid failed it was just an attempt to show he could succeed at building a pyramid. Sneferu’s first attempt apparently collapsed and his second attempt was the so called Bent Pyramid, which was seen initially as unstable and is named as such because of the angles of its inclination which changes radically from fifty four degrees to forty three degrees about half way up, a change that apparently took place during the construction. Engineers have found evidence which indicate there was some shoring up done.

 

However some believe the Red Pyramid may have been built for another purpose entirely and that is that it was intended to serve as an ancient stop sign of some kind.