44 B.C. But Dobran couldn’t wait to get his hands on it.”
“Why?” Joe murmured. “It’s exquisite, but why would it mean that much to him?”
Sebak shrugged. “He told me to make sure Caladon cleaned the base carefully so that every engraved hieroglyph was clear. I think he hoped it would be a name, but it wasn’t. Yet he didn’t seem disappointed. When he got the statue back from Caladon, he even had a gold plaque made for the case itself with the same words inscribed.” He gestured to the small rectangular gold plaque inside the case. “And that wasn’t even done in hieroglyphics.”
“No.” Gideon was suddenly pushing forward to shine the beam of his flashlight down on the gold plaque. “It’s ordinary, modern Egyptian script, and it only shows that Dobran is a true collector. He wanted to see the proof, know what he had, every time he came to see her. It was his way of claiming her as his property, bringing her into his world where she didn’t belong.” His gaze was narrowed, focused on the delicate script. Then he abruptly went still. “Shit.” He muttered an oath beneath his breath. “Let’s get to Dobran fast, Quinn. No wonder he put on extra guards. I’m surprised that he’s still alive. We have to get the hell out of here. I think we’ve found out all we need to know.”
“In a minute. I don’t want Sebak around when I’m talking to Dobran.” He pushed Sebak down on the floor and fastened his manacles to the leg of the case. When Sebak started to protest, Joe taped his lips shut again. “And you might have found out all you want, Gideon. But evidently I haven’t,” he said. “I don’t speak Egyptian, much less read it. What does it say? Is it a name?”
“No, Sebak is right, no name.” Gideon turned toward the door. “Just a kind of title.”
“What title?”
“Three words.” He threw open the door. “Great Beloved Wife.”
Chapter
11
Robaku
2:35 A.M.
Take it away.” Eve pushed the bowl of beef soup to one side. “I can’t eat any more, Jill. And if you argue with me, I’ll throw this bowl at you.”
“I’m not arguing.” Jill took the bowl and turned away. “I’m lucky I got that much down you. But you had to eat something, you’ve been on fire all day.” She glanced over her shoulder at the skull. “I can tell he’s waiting for you. Or that you’re waiting for him. Or something…” She shook her head. “He’s blurred. I look at him, and I can’t tell anything about him. Can you?”
Eve nodded. “Like you, I can tell he’s ready and waiting.”
“Are you nervous?” Jill asked.
“No. Yes. I’m a little sick to my stomach, but I need this. I have to know.” She drew a deep breath. “Now be still and let me get back to work. I don’t want to hear from you until I’ve finished.”
“You won’t.” Jill sat down in a chair across the room. “Promise. I won’t even watch what you’re doing. But I do have to be here to watch your back. Okay?”
“Okay,” Eve said absently, as her fingers reached out to tentatively touch the brow bone on the reconstruction. “You have that photo of Varak?”
“In my briefcase under my cot. It’s waiting for you, Eve.”
Waiting.
She sat there gazing at the smooth clay before her. Everything had been waiting for this moment. The measurements had been taken and checked. The initial sculpting done, the part that told her basically nothing but laid the groundwork. Now it was time to make him come alive.
She shuddered. No, she couldn’t think of it like she did other reconstructions. She didn’t want him to come alive. Ever since she’d put that skull on the dais, she had been fighting not to think of the person he could be, so that she could block out all the evil and think only of the work itself.
But now she could no longer do that, she had to accept who and what he was so that she could sculpt that face. Was it her imagination, or did she feel something dark and angry stirring?
She moved her shoulders to release the tension, her gaze never leaving the skull. “Okay, are you ready?” she whispered. “I’m not afraid of you. Be as angry and ugly as you like. I’ll still get what I want from you. You took so much from so many. Now you have to give at least some of it back.”