Authors: Julian Noyce
“
You
’
re dead right,
”
Dennis replied for her.
Von Werner pointed the gun in Dennis
’
face.
“
Dead being the appropriate word.
”
“
You
’
re missing one thing Herr Werner.
”
The gun never wavered.
“
And what is that?
”
“
It
’
s not the right sarcophagus.
”
The eyebrows, sighting down the pistol, both went up.
“
What?
”
“
It
’
s not Alexander
’
s sarcophagus,
”
Natalie cut in.
“
Is this some sort of trick?
”
“
Look at it,
”
Natalie invited.
“
It has to be the one,
”
Von Werner lowered the gun,
“
You took it from the
’
Tangipito
’
. It has to be the one.
”
“
We did take it from the
’
Tangipito
’
but it
’
s the wrong sarcophagus. It was made for a Nectanebo. He was either a lesser pharaoh or just someone important but it
’
s not Alexander.
”
Von Werner was shaking his head.
“
You
’
re lying.
”
“
Why would I lie. You already have it. What would I gain for lying? You
’
re going to kill us for something that
’
s worthless.
”
“
Enough! Now you die!
”
There was a sudden burst of machine gun fire and one of his men at the top of the steps from the middle deck went down, his chest riddled with bullets. A voice coming through a megaphone cut across the deck.
“
This is the Tunisian navy. You are surrounded. Prepare to be boarded. Throw down your weapons.
”
The Lynx helicopter hovered in low, carrying the last crate of shells from the
’
Volante.
’
It stopped directly above Von Werner. The 20mm cannons suddenly burst into life, strafing the top of the steps where Tunisian seals were preparing to ascend.
Von Werner was backing slowly away from Dennis and Natalie. He looked at the sarcophagus. He couldn
’
t believe his ears.
“
Listen to her!
”
Dennis was shouting above the noise of the Lynx,
“
It
’
s not the right one!
”
Von Werner was thinking of his grandfather.
“
You poor man! You didn
’
t find it!
”
The Lynx fired its machine guns again.
No one heard or saw the sidewinder missile that caught the Lynx in mid-air. The two jets screamed past again. The helicopter exploded and plummeted to the deck. Dennis grabbed Natalie and they dived for cover in the nick of time. The Lynx landed on the crate of shells and they exploded blasting Von Werner burning and screaming into the sea. The Tunisian seals rushed up the stairs and moved into formation.
“
This is major Al-Assad. Throw down your weapons,
”
their officer said through his loudhailer.
Von Werner
’
s men did as they were told. They were quickly surrounded and the
’
Wavecrest
’
was made secure by more marines who stormed through the ship. A group of them rushed to tackle the burning Lynx. Jim Hutchinson suddenly appeared at the top of the steps. Dennis saw him first and he turned Natalie
’
s head. Her face broke into a large grin. They made their way to him and he met them halfway. He embraced them both.
“
Are you both all right?
”
Dennis kissed Natalie on the lips. Right there in front of everyone.
“
I know I am,
”
he said.
They all laughed.
“
It
’
s good to see you Jim.
”
“
What I don
’
t understand,
”
Dennis said,
“
Is that Von Werner called the authorities. How did you get here?
”
“
One of Ali
’
s men had a stomach upset and he was, well I don
’
t want to go into too much detail, coming out of the lavatory. He confronted one of Von Werner
’
s men. There were only a few left on board you see the others already having left. A fight ensued and our man was able to knock his opponent out and take his gun. He took another by surprise and gained another gun. With these the rest of the crew were able to overpower the rest. This done Captain Ali was able to sound the alarm using their equipment and divert Major Al-Assad
’
s task force to the
’
Volante.
’
Once we filled him in with the relevant details of what had happened he came to take the
‘
Wavecrest
’”
Another officer came on board. He was wearing military fatigues like his men. Unlike his men he was wearing a red beret and sunglasses. On his shoulders the rank of General. Major Al-Assad rushed up to him, saluted, and made his report. The General listened without interrupting then nodded when Al-Assad finished.
“
Good work Major. Take these men into custody. Take this ship back to Gabes. Make arrangements for the other ship to be towed in if it can
’
t be repaired at sea. The crew may stay on it if they wish. Arrange hotel accommodation for them if necessary. We
’
d better keep them until the interior minister has spoken to them. Dismissed.
”
Al-Assad saluted and rushed off to carry out his orders. The General glanced around the deck, his arms folded behind his back. Then he lowered his head and looked out over the top of his sunglasses. His eyes lit up and a huge grin spread across his face. He headed towards the group of three.
“
Jim,
”
he called.
Hutchinson turned.
“
Ben! Ben I don
’
t believe it.
”
He shook the General
’
s hand vigorously.
Hutchinson saw the looks from Dennis and Natalie.
“
Oh I
’
m sorry. Natalie. Peter. This is my friend Ben Rashid Al-Din. We were at university together.
”
Al-Din nodded at Dennis and flashed strong white teeth at Natalie. Von Werner
’
s body was brought up on deck and dumped at the General
’
s feet. The skin had been burnt to a crisp and was now soaked. Where the skin was broken it bled. The once elegant white suit was blackened. Natalie couldn
’
t bear to look at the corpse and she turned her face away. General Ben Rashid Al-Din gazed down at the corpse. He nodded at one of his men to search the body.
“
Do we know who he is?
”
“
His name is Count Otto Brest Von Werner. This is his ship.
”
The man frisking the body reached inside the jacket and pulled out the brown leather bound book and handed it to the General.
“
What
’
s this?
”
Al-Din said turning it over and undoing the little popper that held it shut. He thumbed through the pages.
“
It
’
s mine,
”
Dennis said,
“
He took it from me,
”
he lied.
Al-Din studied the writing and sketches briefly and then handed it to the journalist.
“
Very well Mr?
”
“
Peter Dennis General.
”
Al-Din looked over the top of his sunglasses again.
“
I believe I have heard your name.
”
“
Really?
”
Dennis doubted it.
“
Yes it was
…
.
”
The General glanced up at the sky in thought,
“…
.Now I remember. There was an article in the Tunisian national newspapers about a Peter Dennis who said the tomb of Alexander the Macedonian was buried in my country. It was two days ago. Tell me have you found it yet?
”
Hutchinson laughed. He clapped a hand on the General
’
s shoulder.
“
That my friend is another story.
”
Dennis watched Hutchinson and the General leave. He walked over to the sarcophagus.
’
So many people have fought and died over this,
’
he said to himself,
’
and it was all for nothing. The Romans, the Germans, the British, Wurtz, Koenig, young Johnny Larder, Von Brest, Von Werner, my grandfather Alfred Dennis.
’
For a moment he could almost hear his grandfather
’
s laughter. Natalie appeared alongside him and took his hand.
“
Peter are you coming?
”
He turned and smiled at her.
“
Yes.
”
Arm in arm they walked across the deck and down the stairs to the boat waiting below.
EPILOGUE
THE WESTERN DESERT, TUNISIA
Peter Dennis removed his hat and wiped a sleeve across his forehead. His skin sore from the mixture of sand, dust, sweat and sunburn. Men all around him working, digging, scraping, carrying. They had relocated to a point on the map left as a clue by Doctor von Brest more than sixty years before. Dennis unscrewed a plastic bottle top and drained the last of his water. He crushed the bottle and replaced the top to minimise the waste and trudged over to a makeshift workstation.
Natalie sat at a table alone. She was working with a laptop protected by plastic sheeting. Despite this she still had to blow frequently to clear dust from its keys. Dennis put his hand on her shoulder and gently massaged her neck. She closed her eyes and pushed her shoulders up to her ears, stretching aching muscles. It felt good. She looked up at him and he bent down and kissed her briefly on the lips.
“
How
’
s it going?
”
she asked.
“
Well we
’
re no nearer to finding it. We just need one thing, the smallest clue, just one glimpse of anything other than sand,
”
he replied looking at the points on the laptop screen,
“
Are these the areas we
’
ve already searched?
”
“
Yes the green dot is our current location. The red are the failed ones. Now look if I superimpose the map of 1942 over it you can now see where the Germans dug slightly to the West.
”
“
Are we absolutely sure of this position?
”
“
Yes look,
”
she said picking up a photocopy of a sheet of paper
“
Von Brest was adamant that this would be the last location. This is translated from ancient hieroglyphs. It was recorded by Napoleon
’
s army over two hundred years ago. It describes the desert as having a crescent cut into its floor. Now I know that is nowhere to be seen but it also describes the mountains as having a bowl cut out of them,
”
she pointed ahead to where a semi-circular depression could clearly be seen on the skyline,
“
That has to be it.
”
“
But the crescent in the floor,
”
Dennis said.
“
Has got to be here somewhere,
”
Hutchinson said. He had joined them and was standing to Peter
’
s left. Natalie clicked on documents and brought up an image from Google. The picture on the screen was a drawing from the time of Napoleon
’
s army. It clearly showed a crescent shape in the desert floor.
“
Then that has to be directly ahead of us somewhere,
”
Dennis said to the screen.