Cursed 
The Treasure
of Mount Sinai

(Fiction)

---

All Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV).
                                                                                 
There was a treasure at Mount Sinai.
“[T]herefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee. And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb. And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation.”
 (Exodus 33:5-7)
 
This treasure was buried at the Tabernacle.
“And now put thy accustomed ornaments from thee, that it may be manifest before Me what I may do to thee. And the sons of Israel were deprived of their usual adornments, on which was written and set forth the great Name; and which had been given them, a gift from Mount Horeb. And Mosheh took and hid them in his tabernacle of instruction.”
(Targum Pseudo-Jonathan – Pentateuch, Exodus 33, 1892 translation by J. W. Etheridge)  
 
It was the largest treasure in the world!
“And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children.”
(Exodus 12:37)
“But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians.” (Exodus 3:22, both the women and the men did this, Exodus 11:2) Six hundred thousand men, plus women and children with ornaments (at least two million), would easily make it the world’s largest treasure. 

 
Table of Contents
 
Chapter One
Recurring Nightmare
Chapter Two
Transitions
Chapter Three
 Out on the Desert
Chapter Four
I Was Not Free
Chapter Five
 A Sign
Chapter Six
The Valley of the Kings
Chapter Seven
Suspicious
Chapter Eight
Welcome to Egypt!
Chapter Nine
Meeting My Nightmare.
Chapter Ten
 Jesus Delivered Ann
Chapter Eleven
Everyone Gets Introduced
Chapter Twelve
 God is Great!
 
 
Chapter One
Recurring Nightmare
 
        When I was five years old something happened one day that caused me to have my only recurring nightmare. There is not much I remember before I was five, but I remember several things that happened that day. My friend and his mom, plus about six other boys and girls and their moms, went on a field trip to the state capital. We were going to see Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, followed by a side trip to the State Museum.
        I enjoyed going places, and with the other children all excited as I was about our trip, it seemed like it would be a perfect day. We first went to this old-style movie theater, which to me, as a five-year-old, seemed huge. It had two staircases going up to the balconies, and under each was a concession stand. I was captivated by the architecture. Some of the other children were running around, and some were waiting in line to spend their coins at the snack bar. But I was standing almost in the middle of the entry hall, trying to remember its detail. I had never seen anything like it and I loved it!
      After the film, we crammed into the three cars we had come in and set off for the State Museum. Everyone, except maybe the moms, seemed excited, but I did not even know what a museum was. I didn’t talk to anyone in the car but kept going over in my mind about Snow White and her seven dwarfs and the architecture of the theater.
     When we arrived at the museum, there were many things to see—things that I had never even heard the names of before. A number of times, my friend’s mom hollered at me, “Bret, keep up with the rest of the group.” I was trying to take it all in, but it was just not possible. So, I decided to just look and hoped someday I could come back and take the time to examine everything till my curiosity was satisfied.
        There were four things that stood out to me that afternoon at the museum. The first was an ant case on a landing of the stairs that went up to the second floor. This case sat on the windowsill and was about an inch thick, with glass on both sides so you could look into the ants’ world with their tunnels and miniature caverns. It seems odd now, but the thing that was the most interesting to me in the museum, which was filled with foreign artifacts and artwork, was the ant case, which was all by itself on the landing of the stairs between the first and second floors. I became separated from the rest of the group because I was spending too much time watching the ants. But I could hear the other children making a lot of noise at the top of the stairs. I thought I would catch up, and see what all the excitement was about.
        The other boys and girls were all holding hands in a circle, jumping up and down and screaming, especially the girls. There were also some other children there I did not recognize. One of them said I should try it. “Try what?” I asked “Hold hands in our circle,” someone said. I did, and the next thing I knew I was shocked! There was this electric crank on the wall that produced low voltages of electricity with two wires hanging off it. We formed a circle, with those on the two ends each holding one of the wires, while another cranked. Everyone thought it was fun, but I could not stand it. I was the first to let go. They were upset that I did not hang on longer, so they could get a bigger shock.
        I was determined to try one more time, especially because I did not like the thought of them being able to resist the shock longer than I could. So again, I held their hands and again I was the first to let go. (I do not know if it is true, but I have been told that the one who is in the middle, where I was standing, will get the biggest shock.) I did not like it at all and could not understand how they could all be laughing about it.
        I left them there and began to walk down the halls of the museum by myself, which was a mistake. I didn’t know where the moms were, perhaps having a coffee break. But I decided to “explore.” A few minutes later, I found myself in the middle of a hall with masks of different countries on both sides. Looking back now, it seems these masks must have been from Africa. They all had scary faces, and I thought they were all staring at me! I could no longer hear the boys and girls giving out screams from the electrical shock and I felt all alone with those scary masks.
        I did my best to look straight ahead, staying in the middle of the hall and walking fast so I could get out of there. This hall with the masks was the third thing I remember about the museum, and I liked it less than getting the electrical shock. But the fourth thing that stands out to me about that museum was the next thing I saw, and it was unexpected.
       I had hurried down that hall passed the masks to an opening in the middle of the hallway and was glad that the masks were now behind me. The opening was to my right. In the middle of it sat this large black stone statue of a man’s body but with the head of a dog. I could hardly believe I was seeing it. It was larger than life size, or at least that is how it seemed to me, at five years of age. But I could not understand why such a thing had been made. Why would anyone even want to make it? People did not look like that with animal heads, nor were there animals with human bodies. It was the ugliest and strangest thing I had ever seen. I later found out it was an idol named Anubis, one of the idols in the pantheon of Egyptian gods. To me it was both hideous and curious. Yet I walked up to it to get a better look. That’s when something happened that was even harder to understand than why someone would make such an object.
    I started to feel a tingling sensation around my heart; it was similar to the electrical shock I had just received with the other children. But I was not holding anyone’s hand with electrical current going through it. I was in fact the only one in that area, just me and the idol. I put my hands up to my heart and the sensation was still there. I was totally unable to understand all this. It seemed to be coming from the statue. I took a step forward toward the idol and the tingling sensation became even stronger. There was no longer any doubt where it was coming from; this scared me, and I quickly walked off. I must have gone about ten steps down the hallway when I stopped and asked myself, “How is all this possible?” A stone cannot possibly do anything like this, can it? I was determined to go back and look at it again, just as I had been determined to try and hold hands one more time with the boys and girls who received the electrical shock.
       Up to the idol I came, and again the tingling sensation was all around my heart. But I pressed forward, asking myself again, “How could this possibly be?” The electrical shock, or something like an electrical shock, was definitely around the area of my heart and it was strong; I ran away!
        Thus, began a cycle of the only recurring nightmare I have ever had. Asleep in my room I would begin to dream about a background noise coming from boys and girls, and then walking down a hallway with masks that seemed to come off the wall and stare at me. Before I came to the opening where the idol was, I already knew in advance there was something there I did not want to see. In my dream I found myself trying to hide from it. I would sometimes wake up in the night after having this dream, afraid to go back to sleep, lest I dreamed it again. I told my mom about it and she said, “Just forget it, you will get over it.”
     In third grade my class took a field trip, again to the State Museum. But the bus broke down on the way. Because of the time needed for repairs, we changed plans and visited another place closer by. I had forgotten about the museum being the source of my nightmare. A couple of times I have reflected on how fortunate I was that the bus had broken down. For I was too inquisitive for my own good; “Curiosity killed the cat.” I could imagine myself trying to figure out again why such a statue existed. And then getting even closer to it, and therefore worsening my reoccurring nightmare. 
       As I grew older, I heard about séances and cultic practices. I asked my mom about them and she said, “It’s all foolishness; none of it is true.” Though I now believe she was only partly right, still I am glad she told me that, for it kept me from being too interested in such things. I never liked scary movies. Which was good for me as they seemed to affect me more than others. But my recurring nightmare would come about three or four times a year. In my teen years this nightmare was less and in my early twenties it went away. It has been about three years since I last had the nightmare. And it now seems I am free from it.
  
                            
                        
Chapter Two
Transitions
 
       I was standing outside a bar, waiting for my friend, Eric, to get my coat, which I had left inside. I had been in a fight which had been broken up twice already, and Eric told me to wait outside while he got my coat, rather than take a chance the fight might get started up again. While I was waiting, out came a friend of the guy I had been in a fight with, and he told me to leave.
        I said, “Not until I get my coat.”
       And then he said, “I ought to fight you myself.”
      “Well, here I am,” I said, and got ready to fight. He just looked down at the ground and went back inside.
       Out of the bar came Eric, without my coat.
      “Where’s my coat?” I asked.
      “We are not getting it; we got to go Bret!” he replied.
       I told him, “I’m getting my coat,” and he said, “No, you’re not!  They are all coming out after us!” And he grabbed me by the arm and turned me down the street in the direction he was going. Then out they came, there were four of them, and two of them were bigger than we were. The one I had fought, who was the biggest, was in the back, so I figured he was hurt. Down the street we went, walking fast! The one who had told me to leave was leading them and he had the biggest mouth. He was encouraged with his buddies in back of him, trying to get us all in a fight. They were cursing us and calling us names. The one with the mouth said, “Say you eat dirt, and we will let you alone!”       
       My friend Eric turned around and said, “Yeah, I eat dirt.” But that was not good enough. The guy with the mouth said, “What about the other guy? (referring to me) He has to say it!” I turned around while I was walking and with a defiant face shook my head no!  I then turned back and kept up the fast pace. I was thinking, “We are not going to get out of this.”
       I looked for the best place to fight. There was a row of shops on our right and a row of cars on our left. There was also a palm tree about 20 feet in front of us, and it seemed like the best place to take a stand. The sidewalk narrowed there by the palm tree and would only allow two of them at a time to get to us. I ran up the few feet to the palm tree and turned around and got ready to fight. Eric also turned. But to my surprise he said, “Hey, guys, count me out of this.”
       So, my “good buddy” was leaving me there to get beat up! I gave him the dirtiest look I have ever given anyone. The four that were pursuing us all laughed and seemed content with that, and they turned and went back to the bar. I turned and walked off in the direction Eric had taken. He wasn’t going to help with this fight, but at least he did not let me go back into the bar to get my coat, for it would have been a bad situation for me. I had been foolish to get in the fight in the first place, and perhaps Eric thought, “Why should I get in a fight I did not start?” However, I decided I was going to get a new friend!
       About a week before, I had run into one of my old navy buddies, Jim. He had told me about a job overseas with good pay. But I turned him down because he was a Christian. He was likeable, but I felt convicted being around him, because he was living for God, and I was living for myself. Now I decided to give him a call and to meet with him and discuss the job. We met at a coffee shop and he told me the job was in Egypt. He also talked about the good pay. Both of these things I already knew, but I wanted to know more.
        “What exactly would we be doing?” I asked.
        Jim said, “We get to look for ancient artifacts and we get bonuses for each one we find! It will be fun!”
       “But we are not archaeologists! Why would they want us?”
     His countenance changed when I asked him that and he said, “Because they don’t want archaeologists or anyone who is an Egyptian working with them.” He could read the look on my face, which was, “Why?”
        He said, “Look, there is a possibility that the area we will be searching may have been where the children of Israel were during their exodus out of Egypt. And they don’t want it getting out till they are sure. There is an American archaeologist who will oversee the excavation and everything will be done with proper permission. But the man who is in charge has a lead, and he told me that until he is sure, he does not want people snooping around.”
        I stared at him for a moment and said, “Jim, you know I believe there is a God, but I know nothing of the Bible.”
        He sat back in his chair and said, “It’s a good opportunity. Do you want in or not?”
      I did want “in,” and traveling to Egypt seemed like an adventure to me. But, before I could respond, a waitress walked up to our table. She was not the waitress who had served us, and I recognized her immediately. It was Ann, a friend of Jim’s. 
        “Hi, Ann!” I said. “Remember me? I saw you here last week with your boyfriend, Jim.”
        She laughed and said, “Jim is not my boyfriend. And yes, I do remember you, Bret.” I liked her, though I had only talked to her once before. I was glad to hear Jim was not her boyfriend and she remembered my name.
      “Jim is telling me about a job in Egypt where we get to look for ancient artifacts.” When I said that, Jim was smiling, glad to hear I was going.
       "Sounds interesting,” she said and added, “Two of my girlfriends are planning a trip there to Cairo to see the pyramids.”
       I was going to make a big deal out of it, to try and impress her. But before I could explain what we would be doing, Jim interrupted and said, “Yeah, we get to help out on some surveys in the desert for a few weeks. And then we will be back.”  
       “I will pray for you, Jim! You too, Bret! I have to go now. There are tables waiting on me!” and she rushed off.
       I liked the idea of her praying for me. I thought how nice it would be to have a girlfriend who knew the Lord and would pray for you. And besides being nice to look at, she had a chaste look about her. After she walked off I said to Jim, “So, we are doing surveys now?”  
       “We will be surveying the site for artifacts,” he said.
       “It sounds secretive,” and I added, “What is this about them not wanting Egyptians to work the site?”
        Jim said, “There is a concern that they will talk to those who might be interested and make it harder to get the proper paperwork. Because those who give the permission do not even believe Israel was ever in Egypt. Our boss does not want to wait forever for them to sign off on this.” He added, “It is like the military, just do your job, and don’t talk about what we are doing. But in this case, we get paid well!”
       When he said that, I thought about Jim’s pastor, Mr. Brown. He had talked to me one time, and had asked what I wanted out of life. I had said, “Money, and lots of it.”
        Pastor Brown laughed and said, “Well you know what they say, ‘Money isn’t everything.’”
        I half-jokingly said, “Well, it is way ahead of whatever is in second place.”
      My thoughts changed as I looked over at Ann serving tables. She was smiling at those she was waiting on. And I was smiling looking at her. “Bret! Hey, Bret!” Jim said.
        “Yeah, what?” I said as he got my attention.
        “We fly out tomorrow! But before we do, the boss, his name is Mr. Dusty Carter, will need to talk to you.”
        While driving to go see Mr. Carter, I asked him about Ann and what she was like. He told me she was a Christian and went to his church. Jim also said he had already told Mr. Carter I would probably say yes to going on this job, and that he had built me up as a good worker, and because I had been in the navy, I could take orders. We met Mr. Carter outside his home. He had just said goodbye to a man who had bought some items we would need for the trip. Jim introduced us, and Mr. Carter said I could call him, “Dusty.”
       He said to me, “Well Bret, Jim has told me a lot about you. You’re ‘one lean mean machine’ if I heard it right?” We all laughed. “I understand you had a security clearance while in the navy, is that correct?”
      “Yes, we both did,” I said.
    “Well, that is good. I am sure Jim has told you we want to keep a low profile and not draw any attention to ourselves.” He then paused and waited for me to respond.
       I said, “Yes, I understand.”
       “Good,” he said, and added, “Here is what we are doing in a nutshell. Not sure if you know, but there are presently over 20 possible sites for Mount Sinai. At one of these sites, an artifact has recently been found. It was a sort of armband made out of onyx stones. On one of these stones was found written the name ZPRH. This was written in something called Paleo-Hebrew, which is believed to be an ancient form of the Hebrew language, and the language the Israelites would have used during the Exodus.” He went on and explained the ancient Egyptian and Hebrew languages were written without vowels, and that ZPRH is believed to be the consonantal spelling for Zipporah, who was the wife of Moses. Then he added, “It’s not much to go on, Bret, but then you don’t get much in these types of digs. Well, do you want to go?”
        I said, “I’m going now to pack my bags!”
 
 
 
Chapter Three
Out on the Desert

        On the flight to Egypt, I found myself thinking about Ann. She had come to the airport to see us off. At first, I had imagined she was doing it for me. She had point-blank asked me at the airport if I was a Christian. I told her I went to church, my usual response for those I considered “fanatics.” But I did not consider her a fanatic, yet I knew nothing else to say. I remembered Jim had said she only dates Christians, but I was hoping she would let me have a date with her. She followed up her question with another. “Do you know how to be saved?” Ann seemed genuinely concerned for my soul. How can you be rude to someone like that? “You trust Jesus Christ, God’s son, and He will save you,” she said.      
        I thought, “How ridiculous! I am just to trust Jesus and I get to go to heaven?”
        But I said, “Yeah, I believe in God.”
       She then gave me a booklet about salvation and asked me to read it while I was in Egypt, adding she would be asking me what I thought about it when I returned. She seemed thorough in what she was trying to do, not giving me any way to get off the hook. During our trip to Egypt, Jim had asked me if I was thinking about Ann. He seemed to enjoy teasing me about her. I said, “No. Besides, she’s not interested in me.”
       We landed in Hurghada, Egypt, known as the Red Sea Riviera. There were five-star hotels and lots of giant swimming pools. But we were not to stay at any of them. Mr. Carter, or Dusty as he asked to be called, wanted us all to stay out on the desert together, so as not to mix with the local population and take the chance we might inadvertently give out what we were doing there, which all seemed overcautious to me. In the airport, we were met by a girl named Miss Allison. She knew Dusty and said she had the supplies he had asked for. She also had rented a four-wheel drive for the trip to our desert encampment. She was attractive and I was hoping to get her attention. She walked up to us and said, “You two must be Bret and Jim, right?” She then handed us each an envelope with some spending money in it, in Egyptian pounds. She also gave us her phone number and said if we had any problems we were to call her. This was the first hint we had that Dusty was not in charge, perhaps just the man who oversaw the work site.
       We then walked outside the airport to our four-wheel drive vehicle. It was hot which felt good, especially compared to the climate we had just come from. Miss Allison knew I was watching her, and I thought she liked the attention. But when she handed the keys to Dusty, she only smiled and said, “Have fun out on the desert, boys.”
       It was a three-hour trip in our four-wheel drive, and only one hour of it was on the road. The last two hours we traveled only 25 miles on the desert sand and gravel. There were countless dry creek beds, “wadys” they were called, we had to cross. And it made the going slow. On the way out there, Dusty filled us in on the reasons why the mountain we were going to was believed to be Mount Sinai and he told us its present name was Gebel Gharib. He also informed us we would meet three other people at the campsite. One was an American archaeologist named Scotty, second, the Bedouin, who had originally found the bracelet with the name of Zipporah on it; and third, a translator for both the Arabic and Bedouin languages.
      The campsite was nestled in a gully that came down from the mountain. I had done a lot of hiking when I was a kid, and this mountain was impressive! Growing up in the mountains I used to love camping and exploring. For me, I was right at home, except for the desert sand in place of the forest.
       We first met the translator who was at the camp-site. His name was Abraham, which we shortened to Abe. He had a nice smile, friendly and willing to help. The Bedouin spoke no English and apparently little Arabic (the Bedouin language is not the same as Arabic). He could neither read nor write, but he carried a cell phone. Even some of the Bedouins who rode camels carried cell phones, even though most of the desert had no coverage.
      Then we met Scotty. He was not at all what I thought an archaeologist would be. He was really a mixed bag. Scotty liked to tell jokes, and when he was not telling a joke, he liked to argue some theory of archeology. These theories were mostly his own. And some of his fellow archaeologists have named him the Heretic for his radical ideas. But Dusty liked Scotty, saying he could think outside the box, and that he could get us both special equipment and governmental permission in a short time.
       Scotty was tall, almost six foot three, overweight and balding on top, which he told us was because his “brains were pushing up.” He also had a handlebar mustache, which he liked to curl when he was making some point about archaeology. And he wore these Coke-bottle thick glasses, which made his eyes look bigger than they actually were. Jim had said that God must have taken all the leftover parts when he made mankind, and then formed Scotty. He also had a couple of bad habits. For one thing, he liked to make loud entrances, charging into rooms with his chest stuck out and wearing a big smile. I guess he wanted everyone to know he was there, and everyone knew it. And when he told the punch line to one of his joke, he would either slap you on the back or poke you in the ribs to get you to laugh with him. This usually had the opposite effect on the person he did this to. He got away with this partly because of his size, and partly because he really meant no harm. Those who knew him would take a step back when he told a joke, watching the expression of the unsuspecting person who would receive Scotty’s elbow. And then laugh, not at the joke, but at the expression of the one who was hit.
      There were the six of us: Dusty, Jim, Scotty, Abe, the Bedouin and myself. Then there was one more person whom we were told was the man in charge, a Mr. Moshe. He seemed in a hurry and wanted to talk alone to Dusty and Scotty in the largest of the tents. Dusty had told us to get unpacked and get settled in our tents. When we were done, Jim and I looked around at the scenery, and it was beautiful! The mountain was almost entirely of red granite and the desert has its own beauty. I was beginning to think I would enjoy this more than I had thought.    
        A couple of times I was distracted by what I thought were raised voices coming from the tent where Mr. Moshe, Dusty and Scotty were. But no one was coming out, so we continued to look around. A few minutes passed, and we heard someone coming up behind us. We turned around to meet Mr. Moshe. He was by himself, and he shook our hands and introduced himself. I had never before met anyone like him. I had known some people in the military who seemed to command respect as they say, but Mr. Moshe went beyond that. He was short, only about five foot six, yet his demeanor and tone of voice told you immediately he was in charge, and he seemed to lack any fear. One would have to have listened to him talk to appreciate what I mean, and I found myself wanting to gain his respect. He wanted to know if we had met Miss Allison and received the money from her. He told us Scotty was getting things lined up for us, and that if we had any problems, to tell Dusty. Or, if we could not get hold of Dusty, to contact Miss Allison. He then went off in the direction of the translator’s tent, where he stayed a few minutes. Then he and his chauffeur drove off in another four-wheel drive.  
        Later, when Jim and I were alone, I asked, “All we are supposed to be doing is looking for artifacts? Right?”
       “Yes,” Jim said slowly, and then asked, “Why?”
      “Because I never met anyone like that guy Moshe. He doesn’t seem like the type of person who would be interested in a few old artifacts.” Jim gave no response.
 

 
Chapter Four      
I Was Not Free
 
        That night, Dusty met with us all and organized us into groups of two persons each, telling us we would split up the next day to get more done. Later, I found out from Scotty what the raised voices were about that I had overheard in the tent, when he, Dusty, and Mr. Moshe met. Mr. Moshe was upset that everything was not as ready as he had been led to believe. The translator was to go and find more workers for the excavation. But Mr. Moshe wanted them to be only other Bedouins who lived out on the desert, again to prevent the possibility of spreading around what we were doing.
        Jim was to stay at the campsite and help Dusty set up some more tents and equipment, while Scotty and I were to go to Cairo and get something called “ground-penetrating radar.” We were told it has the ability to see what is under the ground up to a few yards deep and thus save us from digging in the wrong area. We also still needed the final permission from the Egyptian government for the excavation. We were told Miss Allison should have it waiting for us once we arrived in Cairo. I wasn’t sure how I would get along with Scotty, but the idea of seeing Cairo and Miss Allison appealed to me. Scotty said we might need to split up while we were in Cairo. He then handed me a cell phone in case we needed to contact each other.
       The next morning, Scotty and I left before sunrise. We drove out a different direction from the one we had come in on. Within half an hour, the sun was coming up and it was quite a sight. The mountains we were driving between rose up straight out of the desert floor: some to a few hundred feet, and some to a few thousand. Between these rocky hills and mountains were flatbeds of sand, some as much as a mile wide and other places as little as a few feet. In a few spots there was just enough room to drive between the hills. There were fewer wadys on this new way we were on, and in some places, it was possible to drive up to forty miles per hour out on these sand beds, which seemed faster than it was, and I was enjoying it. All this was done with no roads, no signs, and only a few camel paths. Thankfully, Scotty seemed to know right where to go. Within a couple of hours, we made it to a road going straight across from the Gulf of Suez to the Nile, which had several checkpoints on it, apparently, to check for terrorists.
      On the way, Scotty wanted to tell me some of his jokes. Then he filled me in on what to expect at Cairo. He said we would be stopping at a conference of archaeologists during their lunch break because he needed to make a few contacts there. Surprisingly, he called the archaeologists at the conference a “bunch of stuffed shirts.” I thought this odd, since he was an archaeologist. He said they were full of “intellectual pride,” still, he admitted, “But there are some smart ones.”
        He paused for a few seconds and said, “And a few of them I like.”
       “OK.” I said, trying not to laugh. I could tell it meant a lot to him to be accepted by this group of archaeologists.
      He told me that after the meeting we would have to split up to make the best use of our time. He would go after the ground-penetrating radar, while I was to meet Miss Allison at the Cairo Museum, to get the final paperwork she had for what he called “the dig.” I thought this might not be a bad day. I was looking forward to seeing Miss Allison, and going to a conference of archaeologists sounded interesting. Especially because Scotty said we were going to “get them!”
        Scotty could hardly wait to get to the conference. When we arrived, he hurriedly parked our vehicle and rushed in. I followed him into the conference hall, where there were more than a hundred people standing around in little groups. They were fellowshipping one with another, and there was a large banquet table spread with all sorts of food and beverages. Scotty was beaming, grinning from ear to ear. He was like a kid in a sandbox. As we came in, I heard someone say, “Oh no, look who’s here.”
       Scotty walked right up to the first group of four men who were nearest us. They were discussing the higher cost of everything, from equipment to taxes. A couple of them shook hands with Scotty, but the other two barely acknowledged his presence.
The one man, whom he had interrupted, started speaking again. “As I was saying, everything costs more. It costs to be born, and it costs to die. And in fact, it costs even more to die.” Scotty interrupted and said, “Well, in that case, it would be better if we don’t die!” He then let out a big belly laugh and slapped the man on the back who was talking. The man had been bringing his pipe to his mouth to puff on it, but Scotty’s slap on his back caused him to drop the pipe, which resulted in Scotty laughing even more. Needless to say, the man he slapped on the back was not laughing. His eyes were bugged out, and another man standing next to him looked indignant. But the two other bystanders could not keep themselves from laughing. And with this, off went Scotty to “get” someone else.
       I went over to the table for some refreshments and looked around to see who Scotty was “getting.” But he looked like he was having a normal conversation with some men. Scotty actually had an intellectual look about him, he was curling his mustache, but in a few minutes, he was raising his voice. I thought it might be good to go over, lest he got carried away with his emotions.
       They were arguing over the Sphinx, with Scotty saying the head of the Sphinx was not made out of the same stone the body was carved from. But those in this group were not agreeing with him. He even got a few more to come around and listen to his new theory. Scotty said it was obvious the head of the Sphinx was made out of a different stone, as it was a different color and hardness. But they were telling him this was normal at a rock quarry because when you dig farther down, the stone becomes softer.
        However, Scotty insisted. “If you just look at the Sphinx, you can see that the lighter-colored stone goes from the paws all the way up to the neck of the Sphinx, while the headdress of the Sphinx and the face itself, are of the same darker color.” He went on to explain that if this was only a matter of softer stone the deeper down one dug, then why would the lighter-color stone fit so neatly inside the headdress? And he added, “The head of the Sphinx is above the Giza Plateau! Are we to believe that the whole Giza Plateau had been quarried down to the neck of the Sphinx?” A couple of them were listening but most were not buying it. And it occurred to me this might be the reason he was so frustrated with them, because they were not agreeing with his theories.
       I wandered off to look around. Later, Scotty came up to me and announced in a huff, “We’re going!” On the way to the museum, he managed to shake off his frustration. He began to talk about the importance of the paperwork I was to get from Miss Allison. “Don’t lose it,” he said, “and if there are any problems, call me immediately.” He added, “Miss Allison is cute, isn’t she?” It was funny how he could change the subject so quickly, but I was enjoying listening to him.
      “Yeah, she is cute,” I said. He told me that after he was done with his errands, he would meet me later at the apartment we had rented in Cairo. “With a little luck, you might get Miss Allison to take you there. If not, take a cab.” Scotty dropped me off at the Cairo Museum. He told me I could find Miss Allison at the information desk in the main lobby.
        Something happened that afternoon that made me wish I was still back home in the States. A woman at the information desk said she had a note from Miss Allison. It read, “I have been delayed but will come as soon as I can. Enjoy the museum! Miss Allison.”
        I thought I would look around. There was an endless supply of pharaohs and gods (idols). I was surprised how many of them had animal heads. For a moment I thought of Anubis, who had caused my childhood nightmare. But I was not afraid, priding myself in overcoming that dream.
       There were so many things to look at. I found myself being mesmerized by the golden mask from King Tot’s tomb. On the second floor, I approached an opening that was to my left, where there was a display of all the artifacts that had been found from one particular dynasty. Before I came into the opening, I saw what looked like the toe of a boot sticking out from around the corner, but it was at the height of my head. I was curious to see what it could be. But I heard my name called out. “Bret! It’s me! Miss Allison.”
       I turned toward her as she walked up to me with a nice smile, and she asked, “Enjoying yourself?”
     “Yes.” I said. “But I would rather look at you.”
     “All right now.” she said. “Maybe the hot desert sun was too much for you.” And she handed me a packet with the paperwork in it from the Ministry of Antiquities. I asked her what she was doing that afternoon and she said, “Sorry, I’ve got to go now. But I would love to spend some time with you. Perhaps next time you’re in Cairo?”
       I said, “Whoa, what’s the rush?”
      “I have to run more errands for Mr. Moshe, but we will see each other again.”
And she added, “Make sure you give this packet to Dusty Carter.”
       “Yeah, Scotty was concerned about it also. I get the feeling it is more important than I am.”
        She just laughed and said, “Without this permission, they would consider us treasure hunters. And there are big fines for that.”
        “By the way, what are we really doing out there? I mean, it seems like a big to-do about nothing,” I said.
        “Does it really matter?” she said this with a coy smile.
        I looked right in her face and repeated her words back but with more emphasis, “Does it matter?”
        She stepped up closer to me and said, “You’re getting paid, and you have the paperwork to show it’s legal. What else is there?”
      She was studying my face to see if I had any problem with it. I had started down this path, and I figured I could get out of it if I really wanted to. I said, “Sure.” I smiled at her, as if I was more interested in her than what we were doing. But the truth was, at that moment I had lost all interest in her.
       “Good, Bret.” she said. She gave me one last glance, then turned around and went down the stairway, smiling.
       I tucked all that away in the back of my mind, thinking I might need to be a little more careful about looking out for myself and the questions I asked. As far as any uncertainty about what we were doing, well, I prided myself in being able to get out of bad situations. Just then I remembered the boot, or what looked like a boot, sticking out around the corner. I turned to see what it was, and I was staring at Anubis!
       After my childhood experience with Anubis, I had seen a couple of pictures of this idol in a textbook and knew what it was. I had even covered the picture of it up quickly, as it bothered me, but I had not seen another statue of it since I was standing before it as a five-year-old at the State Museum. I was only a couple of feet from its face. In fact, the whole time I had been talking to Miss Allison, it had been right in back of my head, staring at me. It was all jet black and had these huge ugly ears that pointed straight up. The “toe of the boot” that I thought I saw was its snout, which was pointed right at my face, and I felt like its eyes were staring right inside me.
      I was completely in fear and began immediately to walk backward. But I first bumped into a lady who said something to me in Arabic. I looked momentarily at her but turned back to face Anubis, still walking backward when I knocked a small girl on the ground, who began to cry out for her mother. It was all I could do not to step on her as I tried to keep one eye on Anubis. Someone hollered at me to be more careful. I spun around and with both hands grabbed hold of the railing that led to the stairs, almost falling over it, half tripping, half skipping over steps as I went down to the ground floor.
      At the bottom of the stairs, I thought I could look up, but now it seemed every idol in the museum was looking at me and they were all around. I had to look down at the ground just to get out of there. Once outside, I tried to gather my composure and headed for the road. I would have gone right out into the street without looking, but a taxi driver asked, “Want a ride?” I got in and found myself unable to talk properly. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a card from the hotel where we were staying, and handed it to the taxi driver.
       At the hotel, I got to my room and locked the door. I sat on my bed telling myself, “It’s just a piece of stone!” I could not understand why it had such an effect on me. It was not doing this to anyone else in the museum. That’s when my cell phone rang, and it was Scotty. “Bret, you there?” he asked.
      I was still not talking properly but managed to say “Yeah” as best I could. He began to tell me he would be late and perhaps not show up till the morning. He was having a problem with the equipment he was securing. And then he said, “Just hang on to the paperwork!” and hung up.
      I thought myself lucky not to have had to carry on a conversation with him, but was annoyed that I was being treated as a child about their precious paperwork. That’s when I realized, to my horror: I didn't have it! “Oh no!” I said out loud. I looked quickly around the room, but the paperwork was not there. I thought, “I must have left it in the taxi.” Though I was worried about the packet, I still felt relieved that the fear of Anubis had momentarily left me, like a great stone had been rolled off me. I could live with this problem of the packet because, I told myself, “I will find it.” And as for Anubis, I was sure it was just some crazy thing and, “It will pass.”
       I hurriedly began to look in my wallet for the card of the cab company. Then I realized where the packet really was. I sat on the bed again and the fear that had left me came back, but even stronger. I had left the packet at the museum! I had put both hands on the railing at the museum so I must have dropped the packed just before then when I had knocked the little girl to the ground. And I then remembered seeing it there on the floor. But the fear of that deaf and dumb stone idol had captivated all my attention, so that I was only interested in one thing: getting out of there and I could not imagine myself going back there to face Anubis.
      I liked getting a job done no matter how hard it was, but this was a simple task, and they were all expecting me with the packet tomorrow morning. How could I explain to them that I was afraid of a stone? I was still sitting on the bed and staring at the wall wondering how this problem could have happened, and more importantly, how I was going to get out of it, when the thought came to me. “Maybe I will begin to have that nightmare again.” I had felt so on top of the world this morning, but now I was afraid, afraid to go out of my room or even to fall asleep!
       I was barely alert to the ringing of the phone in my apartment. I’m not sure why I did not go over and answer it. I just looked at it and it seemed to get louder and it just kept ringing. Finally, I picked up the receiver. I heard a voice I never thought I would hear on the other end. “Bret, is that you?” It was Ann!
      “Yes.” I said. I loved her voice. I had no idea how she got my room number, especially here in Cairo. I only knew I did not want her to stop talking to me.
      “Bret, are you okay?” she asked.
      “Yeah.” I stumbled a little as I spoke. But the more she talked, and the more I tried to talk, the better it was.
      “You’re okay?” she asked again.
      “Yes, sure. Why?” I responded. I could not bring myself to tell her, or anyone, I was backed down by a statue.
    “You just came to my mind, and I felt like God wanted me to call you. I got the number of the hotel from Jim. They said at the reception desk that the only Americans were in room forty-three. So well, here I am calling Cairo. I feel stupid calling you if it wasn’t needed.” While she was talking, I was choked up. “You still there, Bret?”
    “Yeah, I’m here.” Saying it in the best voice I could manage. We talked for about five minutes, with me telling her how good her voiced sounded to me and that I was only having some small troubles with work.
       When she said good-bye, she told me she was going to pray for me. I said “Good.” It was the best phone call I had ever had! I was still afraid of Anubis, but with more composure, and with Ann’s concern for me, it was as if someone was trying to throw me a life preserver. I wanted to go back over her words, as they helped so much. But I still had a real problem. No packet! I tried to work this out through the phone, but the operators spoke Arabic. Finally, one of the operators spoke English and called the museum for me. They told me they had not found any such packet, but would look for it. The operator had told them my room number and how to get hold of me. I was not sure I could trust all this, but what was I to do? I could not go back there. Then the phone in the room rang again.
       This time I went right over to it, expecting to hear Ann’s voice. But it was Pastor Brown. Jim’s pastor back in the states. And he asked me the same thing Ann did
“Bret, are you okay?”
       I hesitated for a minute, but answered, “Pastor Brown, I do not know why you called. But I’m glad you did. I guess I am having some sort of problem.” That was the best I could bring myself to explain it. “But I must ask you something. How did you get my number? Have you talked to Ann?”
        “No.” he replied.
        “Well, sir, how could you know I was having a problem?”
      He told me he had been praying in his daily devotions and my face came to his mind. He said that when something like this happened, there was always some need. So he called me. He had found my number the same way Ann did, through Jim. Here were two people, who I had only met a few times, concerned for me. And somehow knowing I had a real need! I thought, “This is God. Only He could have done something like this.”
       I figured I could trust this preacher with my problems. So I said, “If you will give me a few minutes, I’ll try and explain it.” I gave him a short version of what had happened. And I told him about my experience as a child with Anubis. He asked me about the tingling sensation I had felt around my heart as a five-year-old. He wanted to know if I felt that today at the museum. I told him, “No.”  It was not the same, at least in that respect. He went on to explain that the Bible said idols have no power in themselves to do good or bad, regardless if they are made out of stone, wood, or plastic (Jeremiah 10:5). He said it was possible that when I was a child, there may have been an evil spirit or spirits lingering around that idol, possibly to possess someone. He then said, “Bret, you need Jesus Christ!”
        I asked, “Do you think I am possessed?”
       “No, I didn't mean that. Unless you gave yourself over to them, it’s not likely. And you said you fled from it.” He ended up giving me some Bible verses to look up. He told me I needed to start reading the Bible. He also prayed for me over the phone. When he prayed, he actually talked to God not like some of the ministers in my old church who only read prayers from a book.
        I was so impressed that Ann and her pastor had called. For a few minutes I forgot about my problem and fear. I did not know how my problem with the packet would end, but somehow, I believed it would end up all right. I liked the idea that Pastor Brown had about reading the Bible but I had no Bible. Then I remembered that the Gideons place Bibles in hotel rooms and thought, “Could it be possible that here in a country that was 90 percent Muslim, I would find a Bible right in my room?” But right there in the top drawer was a Bible! I opened it up, but it was in Arabic. I thumbed through it, and in the back of the book, the last half was in English, and it was the New Testament. I started in the book of John because Pastor Brown had told me that was a good place to start. That night, I fell asleep reading the Bible.
 
 
 
Chapter Five
 A Sign
 
        That morning, I was awakened early by Scotty. “Wake up!  We got to go!” Then he said, “I didn’t know you read the Bible?”
        “What?” I said, and I saw the Bible lying on my chest. “Well, I don’t read the Bible, not usually.”
        “So what were you doing with it? Using it as a pillow? By the way, that was good thinking putting that packet in the hotel safe!”
        “The hotel safe?” I said.
        “Yes, the man at the reception desk gave it to me as I walked in.”
       “Oh, good,” I said. I had no idea how it got there, but he was holding it in his hand. And I was not in trouble, or at least I hoped I wasn’t.
        We got in our four-wheel drive and headed to the campsite. I had expected Scotty to ask me what I was thinking about, but he seemed as preoccupied as I was. I was going over in my mind the events of yesterday. And I thought maybe some of the “lucky” things that had happened in my life were not accidents, and that I had taken credit for things that had worked out well, when it was really God’s doing. Though I was still in turmoil about what had happened at the museum, I couldn’t get over the fact that both Ann and her pastor had called and right when I needed it. 
        At the work site, things were busy, even if unorganized. About twenty Bedouins had showed up wearing their turbans and robes, some of them were only teenagers. Abe, the translator, was trying to communicate to the Bedouins what Dusty wanted them to do. They were told they would receive a bonus for every artifact they brought him. Scotty told me they would pay the going rate, for the Bedouins knew what they could get on the black market, and if they felt cheated, they would hold back their finds. They were not told about the possibility of finding any artifact from the time of Moses or the children of Israel. Only that another Bedouin had found the bracelet.
        But before Scotty talked to the Bedouins, he told them one of his jokes. The joke ended up being a joke in itself. Telling a funny story in another language is one thing, but a joke with a punch line is something else. If one tells a joke to the translator beforehand, he will think about how to say it in his language. Otherwise, the translator will give word for word what one says. But because of the grammar difference, the punch line and meaning as well as the timing will not work, and a play on words is simply not possible. But Scotty was determined to do this in spite of the translator telling him he felt it best not to. So all the Bedouins had to listen to Scotty tell them the same joke three times! And of course, Scotty hit unsuspecting Abe on his back the first time he told the joke. The second and third time he tried to tell his joke, Abe had kept his distance from him, even holding out his hand one time to motion Scotty to stay where he was.  
        The teenage Bedouins were the first to laugh, followed by Jim and I.  Soon, all the Bedouins began laughing, not laughing at the joke but at watching Abe getting frustrated at Scotty! And Scotty getting furious at Abe and said, “You’re not telling my joke right!” Later that same day, it was necessary for Scotty to talk to them all again about the excavation. But, before he started talking, one of the teenage Bedouins stood up and said something to Abe the translator. Then all the Bedouins laughed out loud. Scotty wanted to know why they were laughing. Abe, sheepishly, said to Scotty, “They want you to tell them another joke.”
        There was a problem determining exactly where the bracelet that the Bedouin had found had been buried originally, because a wady had cut through the gravel and sand deposits from the runoff of the mountain. It rarely rains in the Eastern Desert of Egypt but when it does, it pours. And three months before there had been a storm. It was after that the Bedouin had found the bracelet. It had taken that long for the find, and what was written on it, to circulate around till somebody who was interested enough to make an investment got the project moving forward. The problem with finding the bracelet was they were not sure at what depth it had been washed into the wady. And the surrounding deposits of gravel were too deep to effectively use the ground-penetrating radar.
      Jim, Abe the translator, and I had been told to get the Bedouins moving sand and gravel from the area most likely where the bracelet had been washed into the wady. The first day was mostly guesswork as to what area we should be digging in, and we tried to get everyone into to some sort of organized groups.     
        They told us that night they had ordered some tractors. They would be brought in on a flatbed truck first thing in the morning to help move the sand. I had doubted they would come so quickly, but the next morning the tractors came in over the desert by themselves, as the flatbed truck had gotten stuck in some soft sand. I was impressed with how fast they could get things to this location, especially because there were no roads there. One of the things Dusty had was a satellite phone which was very useful because our cell phones could get no reception. 
     Work must be therapeutic, because it helped with my anxiety over Anubis. And being out on the desert all day away from civilization gave me more time to reflect. I was not able to communicate with the Bedouins except for a few words. Mostly just pointing to what I wanted done, saving problem situations for Abe. When I had talked to Jim’s pastor over the phone, he told me that because of my encounter as a child with Anubis and possibly evil spirits, I should avoid being around anything that might trigger this again, especially Anubis, which I was happy to do. But I was not sure what I would say if called upon to go back to the museum.
        I also found myself enjoying reading the Bible and asking Jim questions about certain passages. Jim was glad I had started to read the Bible. And because he had given both Ann and his pastor our hotel phone number, he knew they would have been the ones who encouraged me to read it. But he did not know about what had happened at the museum. And surprisingly, he did not ask about why Ann and his pastor were concerned for me. But, just as surprisingly, Jim wanted to know if I was getting along with Miss Allison. I could tell he did not mean whether I liked her or not. I said, “Fine, why?” His only response was, “Just wondering.”
      On the second and third day at the campsite, lots of gravel and sand was moved, because of the tractors. Both Dusty and Scotty seemed happy with the results, even though nothing had been found. Jim and I had already gotten the impression that this was not going to be a normal excavation. Not like using brooms and spoons to pick through the rubble, but of moving the topsoil and doing it fast. Scotty and Dusty had been using the ground radar each day at different locations, hoping to pick something up, leaving little red flags at different locations that seemed promising. It seemed they had found something, as they kept going back to this one area. They were having lengthy conversations about what they had picked up on the ground radar.
       At the end of the third day’s dig, they were still out on the sand testing this one area. They had brought in one of the tractors to clear away the sand from around this location. After that, Jim and I brought some Bedouins to help us clear away the sand, first by shovel and then by hand. And we found something! What they called a “stele”, a flat stone with writing on it. Both Dusty and Scotty were excited about it, though neither one could read it. Dusty got right on his satellite phone and called Mr. Moshe. And he got out his textbooks of ancient writing, trying to decipher the stele, but not having much luck. The only thing they knew for sure was that it was written in Paleo-Hebrew, the same language used on the bracelet. I heard Scotty tell Dusty, “We are going to be famous!” And I was happy for Scotty.
        About 11:00 am the next morning, Mr. Moshe and three other men arrived at the campsite. One was a Jewish priest, one in office clothes and a Kippah, a Jewish head covering, and the third was a field archaeologist who Scotty knew. All of them were excited to see this stele and started immediately to decipher the stone. 
       It was not long before they were no longer excited. I saw Scotty leave the tent where they were working, wearing a sober face, which I had not seen on him before. He went to his tent and brought back some books to where the others were with the stele. I had tried to go into the tent, but was asked to wait outside.
        In a few hours, they were ready to leave. But they left the stele, only taking pictures of it. They also made some calls on the satellite phone. I overheard Mr. Moshe tell Dusty he would send some men to help watch the stele. He said he would be back as soon as he learned something. When they left, Jim and I walked into the tent where Dusty, Scotty, and the stele were. They both just looked at us and said nothing. “What’s going on?” I said. And Jim asked, “Were you able to translate the stele?”
       Dusty responded that they still needed to do some more studying to confirm their translation. I said, “All of them were speaking another language when they left here, including Mr. Moshe. It sounded like Hebrew to me.” And I added, “They are all going to Israel, aren’t they?”
      “Yes, they’re going to Israel,” Scotty said. And with that, Dusty walked over to the tent door and looked around. He then zipped it shut and came back and said, “We’re not trying to confirm if Mount Gharib is Mount Sinai; we already believe that. But we’re here looking for the treasure that Moses buried.”
 
 
 
Chapter Six
The Valley of the Kings
 
        Scotty grabbed the satellite phone and made a call. Dusty took us and the stele to his tent, where he started telling us the story of the treasure of Moses. He shared three references about it, two right out of the Bible. “And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb” (Exodus 33:6). He explained to us that there had been 600,000 men, plus women and children. And that they had taken plenty of gold, silver, and precious stones from the Egyptians (Genesis 15:14). He said Bible commentaries say this construction in the original language means “from Mount Sinai”. The idea being that they ceased to wear them again, and therefore, we should still find them at Mount Sinai.
       He showed us a translation from an ancient Jewish text, Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, which said, “And Mosheh took and hid them [their ornaments] in his tabernacle of instruction.” It was explained that the tabernacle, where the treasure was buried, was believed to be Moses’s own tent. For it had been moved outside the congregation (Exodus 33:7), and this was done before they had built the main tabernacle in Exodus 35.
       Dusty told us that such a treasure would be by far the largest ever found! He estimated that even if each person’s ornaments could be wadded up into a three-inch cube, times two million (which he said was a conservative number), that it would take an area of 35 feet by 35 feet by 25 feet deep, filled solid, to hold it all! He added that just the antiquity value of it would be priceless! While he was talking, I was thinking about my heart’s desire to be rich, and now I was only a short distance away from the largest treasure ever found and my heart was racing. That’s when Jim asked a question that brought me back to reality. “Why wasn’t everyone happy, then?”
       “That’s right!” I said, and added, “When Moshe and the others left, all your excitement was gone.”
       “Moses placed a curse on it. That’s what was on the stele.”
        Jim and I both said, “A curse?”   
       “Yes, a curse.” he repeated and said, “You can’t say anything to the translator or the Bedouins about this, especially about the curse.”
        I was still gasping, trying to take all this in, when I asked, “But you don’t believe in a curse, do you?”
     Dusty did not respond immediately but pointed to the Bible and said, “There is a passage (Joshua 6:26) that talks about Joshua cursing the city of Jericho, saying that whoever rebuilt the city would lose both his first-born and last-born son, then years later, it happened” (I Kings 16:34). Then he added, “And I believe that if Moses cursed something, it is cursed. There was speculation that such a treasure would have been stolen before now by those of the area who could have known of it, or even some of the Israelites who would have gone back for it. But because it was cursed this may be the reason the treasure has remained till today. At any rate whatever is underneath that stone is cursed!”
         Jim said, “So, that’s it? We can‘t get to it?”
      “The stele had some sort of riddle on it that might give us an open door, if we could understand it. We need further work on the translation, but as we understand it now, it was, “I MOSES, DECLARE A BLESSING TO THOSE WHO ARE WORTHY TO TAKE THESE ORNAMENTS AND A CURSE TO THOSE WHO ARE NOT WORTHY. THE WORTHY ONES ARE THOSE WHO HAVE WALKED ON THE LAND THAT HAS NEVER SEEN THE SUN SHINE.”
      “So whoever takes it gets cursed, unless as it said, he is worthy. Until we are sure what all this means, we will not go forward on removing it. No one wants to be the first person to touch that treasure and be cursed.”    
       “That’s it, we are a few feet away from all that treasure and we are going to sit here?” I said.
      “But what is this about people who have never seen sunshine?” Jim asked.         
      “No,” Dusty said. “That’s not what it said. It said the only people who were worthy are those who walked on the 'land' that never saw the sun shine. Some land where the sun has never shined.”
      “Where is that?” I said, exasperated. “The sun shines everywhere!”
      “We don’t know,” he said. “Neither do the archaeologists and priest who were here, and until we do, we are not putting in one more shovel.”
       “Figure it out later,” I said, “but for now, let’s go see what it is that’s waiting for us under that sand!”
       Dusty said, “Bret, how would you like to be cursed by Moses?” I was thinking about Anubis when he said that, but I just turned around and went for the tent door. Dusty hollered at me, “Bret, remember what I said about not talking to anyone on this!” I just nodded and walked over to where Scotty was.
        When I came into Scotty’s tent, he was reading a textbook and looked up, but said nothing. I blurted out, “You don’t really believe in curses, do you?”
       “The ancient Egyptians did.” Scotty answered.
      “Yes,” I said, “and they also worshiped animals. Look, if all that treasure is there-”
        But Scotty cut me off and said, “Get your bag. We are leaving to go to Luxor. You will have to help me drive as it will take all night.”
       “Where is this we’re going?” I asked. 
        Scotty said, “It is a town by the Valley of the Kings. Where King Tut’s tomb was found.”
       “Scotty, is there any treasure there for us? No!”  I said, “So what are we doing leaving here?”
        But Scotty just grabbed my arm and pushed me out the door. I threw my arm up to shake his hand off me and turned toward him, but then he stuck his face in my face and said, “Get your bag!” Then he turned around and went back to his tent. Ten minutes later, we were driving through the desert.
       It was an all-night drive to Luxor. It wasn’t till the sun came up that we crossed the bridge over the Nile nearby the Valley of the Kings. But we had not been more than a few minutes from the camp when I started telling Scotty what I thought of all this. “So let me get this straight. We are doing all this so we can give it all away to Israel? Is that right? Nothing against them, but why should they get it all? They’re not the ones out here on the desert doing anything.”
       “Look, kid!  It’s Israel that is paying for all this!” Scotty said.
       “Thanks for telling me, gramps!”
        Scotty got mad and turned toward me instead of looking down the road. “Don’t call me gramps!
       I shot back. “Don’t call me kid!” He was steaming but looked back down the road and said nothing. I didn’t care. I just looked out the window.
      Before long, Scotty said, “The reason you and Jim and Dusty, as well as myself, were chosen was because we are all Americans. Even if I could have gotten the permission for the Israelis to do the dig, it would have taken forever. And they would have wanted to know why they were here.”
       “What do the Egyptians care about the Jews?” I asked.
        Scotty responded, “Were you born stupid, or do you have to work at it? They are enemies! Didn’t you know they have had wars?”
        Now I was mad and stared out the window. A few minutes went by, and I started to laugh. Scotty looked at me as if to say, “What?”
       “I loved that joke of yours!” I said.
       “Really, which one?”
       “The one that the translator was never able to explain to the Bedouins!”
        He was still embarrassed by it but started to laugh also. And he said sarcastically,
       “You must be right! They wanted me to tell them another one!”
        We both laughed. And I asked Scotty, “Don’t get upset, but what are you getting out of this?”
     “Well, in a word, a name. Many of those archaeologists do not even believe Israel was ever in Egypt. I can hardly wait to tell them that I found the oldest known Hebrew writing in existence! And it was written by Moses himself! Plus, I can have part credit for finding the largest treasure ever. My name will be larger than Howard Carter's.” 
       “Who?” (Howard Carter discovered King Tut’s tomb.)
       “Never mind.” Scotty said.
        Being famous was as important to Scotty as being rich was to me. I was starting to feel better now. The fear of Anubis seemed like a thing of the past, though the whole thing of the treasure was now bothering me. I asked Scotty about the Egyptian government, if they would not be upset once they found out. His response was, “According to the Bible, they gave all that treasure to the Israelites when they left Egypt (Exodus 3:21-22, and 11:1-2), and at that time the Eastern desert was not part of Egypt. Besides, it’s got a curse on it and would not help them, not help anyone, except the Israelis.” He said it was his opinion, as well as others’, that God had given the spoil to Israel for all their years of free labor as slaves to the Egyptians.
       “You're assuming then that Israel walked on the land that has never seen the sunshine?”
       Scotty responded, “It makes sense to me that God would want them to have it. After all, it was theirs to begin with and who else would God want to have it?”     
        “Yeah, but Scotty, the sun shines in Israel!”
        He halfway laughed and said, “Well, of course we have to figure that out first.” And he asked, “Who do you think it means?”
      “I don’t care. It’s nothing but a bunch of hocus-pocus.” And I said, “Hard to believe all this came about from an armband with the possible name of Zipporah on it.” Then to my surprise, Scotty started telling me this story about something else that was found here, something he had kept to himself. And he was as excited about it as the stele they had found. He told me about some blue material he said was connected to the tabernacle that was in the wilderness from the time of Moses. I had not seen his face light up like this before. Scotty said, “There was a special blue material made for the wilderness tabernacle and for the garment that the high priest wore (“robe of the ephod” Exodus 28:31). Which was said to be thick at the edges, with twined lined and then a covering. The edges were thick so not to tear, and the ephod was said to be of one color, blue.”
        “And that is the big proof?” I said.
       But Scotty responded, “Have you seen anything of color around here? The nearest Bedouins are over five miles from here, and none of them wear anything with color except gray, tan, or black. I saw it below where I was standing smashed between two large boulders—the boulders were so big I could not put my arms around them. It looked so out of placed there with this bright-blue color. There was a side of the mountain that had come down where I found this, evidently from an earthquake. So, I later searched the records for earthquakes on the Red Sea coast, but from the time they have been keeping records of earthquakes, none seemed large enough to have brought down part of the mountain.”
       “What has this got to do with anything?” I asked.
      Scotty responded, “It was so thick and stiff that I at first thought it had wicker for a backing, but it was this very old twined material.”
       “Stop.” I said. “You said it was bright blue, yes? So how could it be from the time of Moses. It would have faded, right? That would be over three thousand years ago?”
      “Actually, it is closer to three thousand five hundred years old. But here is the best part. Jewish tradition teaches that it was a special blue dye called ‘tekhelet,’ which they used that would not fade!” (Menachot 43a, Hilchot Ttsitsit, 2:1). When I shared all this to the Israeli Antiquities Department, I got their attention, let me tell you. They gave me real respect! There is no other ancient dye that could have lasted that long without fading.”
       I could not help but ask, though it seemed off the subject, and my words came out slowly. “Why do you need their respect, Scotty?”
        “Why do you want riches?” he responded. I gave no answer, for I had never been able to justify it. 
        “Do you understand the implications of all this? There are legends of Jeremiah the prophet burying the tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant at Mount Sinai before the destruction of Jerusalem by King Nebuchadnezzar.”
        “Slow down, Scotty, I heard there are legends of the Ark being buried everywhere.”
      Then the countenance of his face changed, and he clenched his teeth and said, “They won’t give me back that blue material I found!”
        I asked him, “What are you telling me? Are we here for something other than ornaments?”
        Scotty still had this frustrated look on his face and said, “They are here for the ornaments or for what they can get out of them, but not me! And they won’t give me back that blue cloth I found. When I showed them where I had found the garment, they took it out from between the two boulders and kept that also. They made a search for other possible artifacts from the tabernacle but found nothing. But I am telling you there is something else here, and when I find it, the whole world is going
to know about me!”        
       “So, Scotty,” I said, “this is all about you getting recognition?”
      “Why not?! You think you can buy happiness with riches!” We both thought each other was living for something that was pointless. And the thought occurred to me, maybe we were both walking down a dead-end street.
        “Anyhow,” he said with a grin. “When they get what they came for, I am coming back and looking for what I really want.”
        “And what would you do if you did find the Ark of the Covenant?” I asked.
       “It belongs to Israel. Any person or other country that knowingly had it would be plagued like the Philistines were when they had it” (I Samuel 5). “Maybe Israel will set up a tabernacle for it until they build a temple, like King David did until the temple of Solomon was built” (I Chronicles 16:1). I stared at him for a moment and then said sarcastically, “Well, I am happy for you, Scotty.”
        After that, we traded off driving so we each could get some sleep before we arrived at Luxor. When we arrived at the Valley of the Kings, Scotty went off to find an archaeologist he knew while I waited for him. It had not occurred to me to ask why we were making this trip. I waited an hour before Scotty came back. He introduced me to an archaeologist that he said was an expert on spells. Then off we went to one of the sixty-three known tombs or tunnels in the Valley of the Kings. We entered into one that went back two-hundred yards in the mountain and was sectioned off because of falling rock. So I really don’t know how far back in it went.
        The only thing in it was this gigantic sarcophagus made out of granite, sitting most of the way down the tunnel. Because of its size, everyone had left it there, from the grave robbers, who had plundered this tomb, to the archaeologists who discovered it. It was taller than my head by about two and a half feet, with the width and the length being longer. The lid of this stone coffin had never been taken off, not even by the grave robbers. It was simply too heavy. Instead, they entered in through the side of the sarcophagus, busting through the wall of it with sledgehammers till they had a large enough opening to bring out the inner casket. Other than that, there was nothing in this tomb except hieroglyphics on the wall. And, what seemed out of place, a red fire extinguisher in the corner.
      The archaeologist pointed to some hieroglyphics, and Scotty seemed to be able to read them. Then he showed us some Phoenician letters that looked as though they had been made by the hand of those who carved the hieroglyphics. The archaeologist said these writings were spells against snakes which the ancient Egyptians had gotten from the Phoenicians. It was believed that these spells would keep out the snakes, yet this tomb was filled with drawings of snakes.
        The whole thing of spells and curses seemed silly to me. Scotty asked the other archeologist why the spells were in Phoenician and not Egyptian hieroglyphics, and I interrupted and said, “Maybe the snakes can only read Phoenician.” Scotty gave me an irritated look, but the archaeologist said it was believed the spells had more power if left in their original language. Then Scotty asked how one would go about breaking a spell, and the archaeologist gave his theories.
        I had walked off and started looking at all the writings on the walls of the tomb, when I came face to face with a large carving of Anubis! I had not overcome my problem. For my fear was back, though not as bad. Still, it was only a carving on the wall, not a statue. The anxiety made me want to do only one thing, leave! Which I did. Over an hour went by, and when Scotty came out, he was having an argument with the archaeologist, all the way back to our four-wheel-drive, not about spells or curses, but about the Queen of Punt.
        Apparently, her picture was carved on the Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut. The Queen of Punt was an obese woman with a hip problem. Scotty insisted this was Queen Hatshepsut. The archaeologist said the clothes of this lady were not the clothes of an Egyptian queen, and that it was now believed by some that this lady was only a drawing to represent people of all countries. Scotty said, “I have never seen any such person in all my life, have you?”
         The archaeologist said, “But, we know what Queen Hatshepsut looked like from the statues of her we have found.”
      Scotty responded, “Those are from when she was younger. In 2007 they opened up Queen Hatshepsut’s coffin and made a positive ID by a tooth fragment they had found in a canopic jar (a small vase), and they made two comments about her body. Do you know what they were?”
        “No, please tell me.” the archaeologist said sarcastically.
        Scotty answered, “That Queen Hatshepsut was obese and had a hip problem!” The archaeologist seemed to be listing to him. “By the way, next time you’re at Queen Hatshepsut temple look at the wall carving there of the Queen of Punt. There are chisel marks on her backside, exactly where the bulls tail (the symbol of a pharaoh’s authority) would have been.”
        The archaeologist sarcastically said, “Well, Scotty, that is all very interesting.” And then we left.
      I asked Scotty to drive, saying I did not feel well. I do not know if Scotty had learned anything of any value, but I was more concerned about where my fear and anxiety would lead. He needed a way around this curse of Moses, and I needed to get over Anubis. This whole trip to Egypt had turned into an emotional roller coaster for me. All I wanted to do was to get back to normal. To make matters worse, there was no one I could talk to about it, except God. Which was what I was thinking about doing.
 
 

 
Chapter Seven
 Suspicious
        It was after sunset when we got to the camp and we met three new men at the site, all of them from Israel. They were there to guard the stele. They were not wearing military uniforms but gave the appearance of being in the military, short haircuts, young and sturdy. They had a metal suitcase that they said would help them communicate with Mr. Moshe on a daily basis. Jim thought it curious, as we had a satellite phone already. I was wondering how they had got that equipment onto a plane and off at the airport without drawing attention to themselves.
        But the camp was strangely quiet with no activity. Abe the translator and all the Bedouins were gone! Scotty asked about them, and we were told someone had let slip that there was a curse on the stele, and they all took off. And Abe had been let go, as his services were no longer necessary without the Bedouins.
        Jim and I walked to where they had found the stele. The tractors had cleared away a larger area around that location and dug it out a meter deeper in depth. There were four tractors in all, and they were parked by the area they had been clearing. I asked Jim where the drivers were, and he replied, “Dusty sent them off till we need them again. There is nothing we can do until they get some answers to that curse that was on the stele.”
        I told Jim about my trip to Luxor. I thought for a moment about telling him of the problem I was having, but I was afraid he would think I was nuts. That’s when Scotty came out to the site and looked around and started talking about the “stars and moon.” As soon as he said that, Jim started laughing. He asked him what great theory he had for us about the universe. Scotty was trying to explain to us about the crescent moon that the Arabs used for their symbol - that it was lying on its bottom, not on its side, as we see the moon in the states. He explained that in this part of the world, the moon was on its bottom, and all the stars were rotated into different locations. He pointed to the constellation Orion and said, “Look,” showing us it was on its side, not standing upright as we would see it from our hemisphere. He explained, “Everything down here is catawampus,” but that it was “right in America.” I could not tell if he was serious, but he was funny.
        Jim said to Scotty, “I was thinking about the stele and what it said about some place where the sun has never shined, and couldn’t that be like a cave?”
        But Scotty didn’t think so and said, “It was talking about a 'people,' and the archeologist said that word meant a race of people, like a nation. No room in a cave for a nation.”  
        Jim jokingly said, “Do you want to hear my other theory? I thought it might be extraterrestrials. Think about it. Where in the world does the sun not shine? It shines everywhere. So maybe these ETs had their sun burn out and they came to earth to enjoy the sunshine. What do you think?” And we all laughed.
        After that I was tired and left them there and went off to my tent, but before I could get there, Dusty came up to me and handed me a message. It was from Ann! I was to contact her immediately. He let me use the satellite phone, but with the usual “Hurry up. It is costing us and I am expecting a call from Mr. Moshe.” He said.
        I was glad for the message but hoped there was nothing wrong with Ann. When I called, she asked how I was doing and I said I was doing fine. I asked if she had talked to Pastor Brown, and she said no. When I asked why she called, she said excited, “I would like to see you. I will be coming to Egypt, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to get together.”
        I said, “But I thought you only dated Christians?”
       She replied, “I do not date at all. Two other girls will be with me, and I wanted to give you the address of where we will be staying.” I took it down but told her I was not sure I could get off from my job, though I definitely wanted to see her.
       When I turned around to go into the tent, Dusty was standing behind me with the keys to the four-wheel drive. “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help but overhear you talking to your girl. And until we hear back from Mr. Moshe, we have little to do here. And, I would like you to do something for me in Cairo. Give this packet to Miss Allison.”
        He told me to be sure and check in each day by phone and that I would probably have at least two days off, if not more. This was a dream come true after the nightmare of the week I had gone through. I was no longer tired but excited about seeing Ann and gathered my things and left a note for Jim. I took off that night without any sleep, as Ann’s flight was due in that next morning.
       I arrived at the Cairo Airport a few minutes before Ann’s flight, and while waiting I unexpectedly spotted Miss Allison. She was coming out of the arrival section with three men, none of whom I recognized, and she was leading them. I was curious to see what she was doing, so I watched them from a distance. They entered a lounge area and sat down. Miss Allison handed one man a packet, which he opened and pulled out what looked like a map. I thought perhaps Moshe had sent them, as he did the three men to watch the stele. But they did not give the appearance of being military and they did not seem the types who would be doing our excavation at Mount Gharib.
        They talked for a few minutes, and the man who received the packet from Miss Allison reached for his briefcase. He opened it up, pulled out an envelope, and handed it to her. She opened the envelope but pulled nothing out. The look on her face was not a happy one. She asked something and the man made a reply, but whatever they had talked about had made Miss Allison visibly upset. While the man with the map was sitting back in his lounge chair smoking, she stood up, said some last few words, and walked off briskly.  
       I thought it best to give her the packet I had from Dusty while she was still here. I waited till she rounded the corner and then came around the other way, so as not to give the impression I had seen her. When I walked up to her, I could tell she was still upset. She would have gone by me without noticing me had I not said something. I was going over in my mind what could have made her so upset. And I was interested to see how she would respond to seeing me unexpectedly, right after speaking to those men. I said, “Miss Allison, it’s good finding you here.”
        It was obvious she was shocked to see me. She immediately looked back to the corner she had just rounded, then back to me. “Bret, what a surprise. How did you know to find me here?”
        “Well, I didn’t. It just happened that I’m meeting someone from the states here.”
        “Oh, who? And in the same breath she asked, “How long have you been waiting here?” It was funny to see her so off-balance.
        “I just got here.” I said.
        She was studying my face to see if I was telling the truth. She made a funny face and said, “Oh.”  She took one step toward me. I remembered her doing the same thing at the Cairo Museum, but now she had a nice smile on her face. She almost got me with it; she was acting like she was interested in me. Just like when I was at the museum, doing the same thing to her. The thought occurred to me, if I knew she was not interested in me, perhaps she knew I was no longer interested in her. She placed her hand on my arm. I almost laughed, knowing she did not care for me. But what she said next opened my eyes. “I’m the one who saved you.”
        “What?” I asked.
       “The packet, remember?” And I reached for the packet that Dusty had given me to give her. She looked at it and took it, but said, “No, not that one. The one you dropped at the Cairo Museum. You remember that one, don’t you?” She was no longer giving me a nice little smile but a creepy look, and for a moment I thought it had something to do with Anubis.
        “You found the packet?”
        “Who else?” she responded.
        I had thought perhaps the museum staff brought it to the hotel where I was. But it was clear now that she had done it. She asked, “Why were you so afraid when you almost tripped down the stairs?” She had put the emphasis on “tripped,” giggling as she said it.
        “You saw me?”
       “Everyone saw you, Bret.” She was belittling me. It was as if she wanted me to know she had something on me and said, “But we won’t let your phobias interfere with our relationship, will we?” And she even blew me a kiss, which meant as much to her as our nonexistent relationship did. She smiled one last time at me, as if to say, “There are still possibilities between us,” and she walked off.
      I think I must have had my mouth open while she was talking to me; what she had said was so unexpected and it got me in trouble. For directly behind where she had been standing were Ann and her two friends. And none of them were smiling. One could see they all thought Miss Allison was my girlfriend, as she had just blown me a kiss, talking about our “relationship.”
 
 
 
Chapter Eight
Welcome to Egypt!

       “There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not: The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid” (Proverbs 30:18-19).
        I walked up immediately to Ann and her friends and said, “Glad you’re here! Welcome to Egypt!” I also told Ann, in the hearing of her friends, that Miss Allison was somebody I worked with.
        Ann said, “From the sound of it, I thought you were having a lovers’ quarrel.” I assured her there was nothing between us, and that we just did not get along. I took a step toward her, and she shoved a book in my stomach with a good deal of force.    
        “This is for you,” she said bluntly.   
        “Hmmm,” was my response. Obviously, she still thought there was some relationship between me and Miss Allison.
        The book Ann gave me was another Christian booklet, a little bigger than the last one, which I still had not read. I said, “Look, you are all here. And I have a vehicle I can get you around in. Plus, I also have at least a couple of days to be your own personal chauffeur. There must be some sights you would like to see? Have you ever been to the Great Pyramid? I have been told they actually let you go inside of it! And the tickets are on me. It will be fun, Please?” The two girls liked the idea. But Ann was not sure. I walked over to their bags and took two of them. “I’m taking you someplace to eat. Come on, let’s go!”
        On the way to the restaurant, I teased Ann about being jealous of me with Miss Allison. She told me not to flatter myself. At any rate, she seemed better with the plans I had made for the day. But she said, “This is a trip we girls had planned. Well, actually they planned it first but then invited me just the other day. Don’t take any offense, Bret, but the girls and I are planning on spending most of our time on our own.” I assured her, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” She laughed, but the ice was broken, and we ended up having a good time that afternoon.
        The Great Pyramid lived up to its name: “Great!” We all were impressed! There were tunnels and chambers, including the King’s Chamber, with a booby-trapped entrance. Most impressive was the Grand Gallery. It was 150 feet long, 28 feet tall, about 7 feet wide, and all at a 30-degree angle. And this was in the middle of the Great Pyramid.
        That evening, Ann wanted to know if I had read the last booklet she gave me. I told her the truth. But I also said I had started to read the Bible. Then she asked, “What was the problem with work that you had?” That afternoon with Ann and her two friends, I had almost forgotten about Anubis and my anxiety. I still did not want to tell her, especially with her friends being with us. She seemed to plan every situation or place we stopped so we would not be alone together.
        I changed the subject and said, “I understand you do not want me to get the wrong idea about us.” She had a smirk on her face, wondering where I was going with this. “But when you called me from the States and asked me to come see you in Cairo, why didn’t you ask for Jim to come along also?”
        She fumbled for an answer and then said, “Well, it was only out of concern for you.”
     “Thanks, but I already have a mom.” Then I added, “But I am glad to hear you didn’t have any ideas about us.” She looked away quickly, but I saw a grin on her face. 
      The girls all wanted to make calls home, and the two girls walked to the front desk to ask the clerk how much it cost to call the States, but Ann stayed with me in the lobby. She opened her Bible and asked, “May I share a few verse with you, Bret?”
      “Okay” I said. And she read a verse that said, “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” When she said the word “cursed,” it got my attention because of the stele. She was going to read another verse but I interrupted and said, “According to what that verse said, would not everyone would be cursed? Because it said we are to continue in all things and no one has always kept all the Bible’s commandments all the time.”
      “Well yes, you're right. We are all sinners and we all need a Savior.”
       She went on reading in Galatians Chapter 3, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” She said, “The curse is lifted from anyone who puts their trust in Him because Christ paid our debt he suffered for our misdeeds.” 
       “Why would He do that?” I asked.
      “He loves us,” Ann said. And with that her two friends came back. I walked them to their room, but I was not invited in. I had a room two floors away, where I stayed by myself and thought about Ann, Jesus Christ, the curse, Anubis, and Anubis’ “sister”: Miss Allison. I went over what she had said to me and thought about the three men she had met at the airport. Some things were obvious. Miss Allison definitely had a bad meeting with them. She was concerned I might have known about it. She also took pleasure in telling me I made a fool out of myself at the Cairo Museum. Perhaps there was no connection to our campsite, but the map she gave those three men, and her concern about me possibly knowing, could only make me suspicious that there was a connection. And it could not be a good one. 
        I awoke to the phone ringing in my room. I was so deep in sleep it took me a few seconds to know where I was. On the phone was Ann’s voice telling me to meet downstairs for breakfast so we could plan our day. The girls wanted to go shopping, not my idea of a fun day. I told them I would get back with them after I made a call to our work site. Jim answered my phone call and told me that Miss Allison had called this morning and specifically asked for me. She said she had some things for Dusty that I needed to take back to the campsite. So I would have to leave the girls.
        I called Miss Allison and she told me where to meet her, at a warehouse that had archaeological equipment. When I arrived, she explained what all the new equipment was for. There were some tubular thin pipes that were to be used for a core sample, which Miss Allison said was “to see what we found.”
        There was also some video equipment with a fiber-optic cable that she explained we could use inside the pipes and see what was buried there “without taking it out.”
      “So, you’ve been told about the curse?” I said. She raised her eyebrows and said nothing. I plainly asked her, “Do you believe in curses?”
        “I believe in money!” She continued, “Scotty told me you want to be rich as badly as he wants to be famous. Is that so?”
        I was thinking about my desire to have wealth and lots of it, but also of my fear of Anubis. It was odd, but just then I thought about the booklet that Ann had shoved in my stomach. It was as though God was trying to get hold of my attention. Then I said, “Yes, I would like to have that, but why?”
        “Yesterday morning at the airport, you had not just come in off the street when we met, had you?”
        “No,” I answered.
        She asked, “Tell me, what did you see just before we met?”
      “You were talking to those three men in the lounge.” She stiffened when I said that, but she had learned what she wanted to find out.
        Then she said, “How would you like a share?”
        “Sorry to be ignorant, but I want to be sure we are talking about the same thing. What share?”
       “You know what I am talking about, all that treasure. It’s stupid to give it all away!”
       That was basically what I had said to Scotty two nights before on our way to Luxor. And now that same sentiment came out the mouth of someone I could not stand. Was I like her?
        She continued, “Scotty can’t keep his mouth shut. It won’t be long before every treasure hunter in the world will be coming to that campsite of yours. A treasure of that size will never leave here the normal way. And Scotty doesn’t care about it! All he wants is for everyone to know he found it. That and the stele with the curse on it.” Then she said, “Do you believe in curses? Well, I don’t! What about you?”
        I only said, “I never did before.” But I knew that the finding of that stele was proof. Proof that Israel had been there, and Moses. And that according to what was written on the stele, it would end up being worse to have that treasure than to not have it. I asked her, “Why were you upset with those three men?”
      “They did not give me all the money they had promised me. They know I will not go to the authorities, as I would be implicated myself after having received what I did. I can get the rest after I help them with some things. But they want proof first. I gave them the same type of tubular pipes for a core sample that you have. Only they are not concerned about any curse, so they did not need a fiber-optic cable.”
        “You said you needed to help them with something else?” I asked.
        “That’s where you come in. Tomorrow night when they are ready, you will have to distract Dusty, Scotty, and Jim. You do not have to do anything. Just keep them occupied. Have them in a tent and talk to them so they are all facing the same way, away from the area of the treasure. And the grave robbers will do the rest.” And she added, “Don’t worry. They won’t hurt them, just tie them up. Will you help?”
        I was in a position where I had to at least seem to agree. I pretended I was willing and said, “You were talking about my share?”
       “I will give you 15 percent of what they give me.”
       I argued over the percentage so it would not seem too easy, and we finally settled on 20 percent. I asked her, “How can we trust them to deliver?”
       She said with a smile, “There are people I know who can detain them if they don’t give me the rest.”
       My signal to distract them was to be her calling on the satellite phone we had at the camp and asking to speak to me. After I would talk to her, I would tell Dusty, Scotty, and Jim, what Miss Allison had shared with me. That Scotty was telling other archaeologists about our find. She said this would make Scotty upset and get his attention. When I left, I felt as though I had talked to the idol Anubis and wanted to get out of there. I wanted nothing to do with her plan or those men who would take the treasure; I was sure they could not be trusted any more than Miss Allison. 
 
 
 
 
Chapter Nine
Meeting My Nightmare.

       “But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (I Timothy 6:9-10).
 
       I took off to our site in the desert by Mount Gharib, going over in my mind about what I should do. I remembered that Miss Allison said to distract Jim, Scotty, and Dusty, but nothing about the three men who were watching the stele. I wondered how she could not know about them, as she was the contact person for us when we came into the country and should have been for them also. And for a moment I had a crazy idea that somehow, they were working with the treasure hunters and Miss Allison, but that did not seem possible either.
       When I finally got to the campsite, I went to see if Scotty had returned from collecting information on the curse. He was in his tent, and I asked him who Miss Allison was working for and how long he had known her. He told me he was the one who had introduced her to Mr. Moshe. He said she had a job working with archaeologists, getting them equipment, but she had only started the job about a year ago, and he had not known her before that. He asked, “So you’re interested in her? She is into you, I can tell you. The other day she had several questions about you. What you like, what you don’t like. She even wanted to know if there was anything you were afraid of.”
       “There is,” I said bothered. “I’m afraid of her!”
        I turned around and walked to Dusty’s tent. I told him I had something he would want to hear. I basically told him everything Miss Allison had said. He seemed speechless. I asked Dusty if there was some way those three men who were watching the stele could have come into Egypt without Miss Allison knowing. “There is,” he said. “They came in by a small boat and swam to shore in wet suits and snorkels, along with a watertight bag for their clothes and the metal briefcase. Once ashore, it was easy to blend into the tourists at El Gouna, where they came ashore and where they rented a vehicle to come out here.”
        “Why so secretive?” I asked.
        “How do you think we are getting this treasure out of here? They are not going to let us take it out at the airport, so we are taking it out by sea. Those three men are Israeli military and they do special ops.” We spent some time talking the whole situation over. Though we believed Scotty could be trusted, he was letting things slip. We thought it best for the time being to keep it just between us, except to inform the three Israelis who guarded the stele.
        I went and found Jim and asked him why he had wanted to know the day before how I was getting along with Miss Allison? He told me she said I was acting strangely at the museum, and she wanted to know if there was some problem she should beware of. Then Dusty came in with one of the Israeli soldiers and told Jim they were going to see if the treasure was really there or not, and to come with them. Off they went with the equipment I had brought to where they had dug up the stele.
        But before Dusty left he gave me another list of things for Miss Allison to get, but I was not looking forward to seeing her again. He thought it best to keep up a front with her so she would think it was all going according to her plan. So back to Cairo I went, the whole way dreading meeting again with Miss Allison. When I got within cell phone coverage, I called her and told her I had another list of things from Dusty. She wanted to know how everything was going. “It's fine, nothing to worry about,” I said.
        We met at the warehouse where I had picked up the equipment. Miss Allison came out front to meet me and said, “A couple of the men from the airport are here to meet you. They don’t know that you saw them there, but only think I brought you in to help. It means more money for us.” I was not at all happy about this, but she said there was no way out of it and it would only take a few minutes. I asked her about the men, if perhaps there were more now than just the original three at the airport. She said, “I think so, but it does not matter. It’s their business. Maybe they need some more help driving out for the treasure.” 
        Miss Allison brought me into a small office inside the warehouse. She introduced me to the man I had seen her talking to at the airport, calling him only “Tom.” She then left to get the items on the list that Dusty had given me. The other man with us was also at the airport, but had remained silent during the conversation.    
        “So, I understand you would like to help us?” Tom said.
        “I could use the money.”
        “Yes, money is a friend to all of us. Do you know what your part is?” he asked.
         I went over with him what Miss Allison had said and then asked, “But nothing is going to happen to the three that are out there at the site, right?”
         He assured me I had nothing to worry about, and he said, “And I have nothing to worry about from you.” His statement caught me off guard. I was seated right up next to the desk he was sitting at, and he reached down and brought up a rather large bag and said, “Miss Allison told me this was a friend of yours.” With that, he pulled out a two-foot-tall statue of Anubis and stuck it in my face!
        The chair I was in went over back-ward and I hit the back wall. The other man in the room went over and stood by the door, so I had no exit. Tom walked over to me, holding Anubis in his hand. “I thought Anubis was a friend of yours?”
        I tried to talk, but all I got out was “I…” Fear had gripped me as he kept putting Anubis in my face.
       “There is not going to be any problem, is there?” I shook my head no. “Good, because if there is, you’re going to be wearing Anubis around your neck!”
      The other man was laughing at me and opened the door as I stumbled outside, where Miss Allison had collected what was on Dusty’s list and had placed it all in a box. When she saw how shaken I was, she giggled and said, “It’s embarrassing to see you like this, Bret. Enjoy your trip back to the camp site.” She handed me the box and then left me standing there.
 
 
 

Chapter Ten
 Jesus Delivered Ann

        I managed to drive off, but only a few blocks. I was afraid I might get in an accident in the condition I was in. I pulled off the road and parked under some trees and got my composure back. I was upset with them, especially Miss Allison, who made fun of me, but what could I do? I waited there about twenty minutes, and then I saw Miss Allison and the two men I had just talked to drive by in a car. I decided to follow them, and they led me to their hotel, which was not far from where Ann, her friends, and I were staying.
       I waited a few minutes in the hotel parking lot before walking into the lobby from the restaurant entrance. I looked around for them, but they had gone to their rooms. However, I did see the other man who was at the airport originally with Miss Allison, and he was talking to three other men. I went outside, thinking it was not safe for me to loiter around the lobby, and waited in my vehicle. In a few minutes, the three new men, came out and got in their car and drove off. I did manage to write down their license plate number, and I left and went to see Ann.
       It was getting late, but I called Ann’s room anyway from the hotel front desk. She answered half-asleep, and said she was tired from shopping.
      “You said one time you were concerned about me?” I waited for a response, but she said nothing. “Well if you are, then come down. I have a problem.” She came down in a hurry to find out what my problem was. I said, “You look nice.” and she did. We went into the hotel restaurant and sat in a booth, where for the next three hours we talked about everything except Anubis. I must have looked shaken to her, though I was trying to hide it. Ann listened to everything. I also told her about the stele and the curse that was on it. I said the only people the curse would not have an effect on were the ones who had walked on land “that the sun had never shined on.”
         She asked, “Where is that?”
        “There is no such place,” I said.    
         She answered and said, “But in the Bible, there were times when the sun stopped shining.”
        “No, it’s not talking about that. But someplace where the sun has never shined, it said.”
       “Well, what do the others say about it?” I told her what Scotty said, that he thought it referred to Israel. Ann agreed and thought we should try and solve it.
        “It’s never going to get solved,” I said.
         But she responded, “Not if we don’t try.”
       “The sun shines everywhere Ann, including Israel.”
        “But they were not always in their land. They used to be in Egypt, and then in their wandering in the desert for forty years.”
         I had a frown on my face and said, “Ann, the sun shines even more in the desert.”
        She stopped talking and just looked at me. She was disappointed in me for not trying, and I did appreciate her wanting to help, but what was the point. Then she said, “Bret, I know what it is!” She lit up with a big smile on her face, “It’s the sea, the Red Sea. When Israel crossed it, the sun didn't shine there! And the Bible said they crossed on “dry land!” (Exodus 14:29).
        I hesitated for a moment, and said, “How could the sun not have shined there? I mean, it would have had to been wide enough for the entire multitude to cross there. There would have been room between those two walls of water for the sun to shine on the ground, even if it was only for that one day.”     
        “But they didn’t cross the sea during the day.” She said. “It was a night crossing!” (Exodus 14:20, 24, 27).
        “Are you sure about that?” I responded.
     “Yes! The people of Israel are the only ones who ever walked on the land that never saw the sun shine!” I was smiling now and amazed she had figured it out; no one else had, including the archaeologists and the priest. And she added, “Now you do not have to worry about the curse.” I stopped smiling, and she asked, “What wrong?”
     “You remember the other curse you told me about when we were in the hotel lobby the other day?” Ann nodded. “Well, I have been thinking about that. Ann, how can you be so sure that Jesus would save me?”
       “Because He promised He would.”
        To my surprise, she started telling me a story about when she was a young teenager and a recurring nightmare she had. Mind you, I had said nothing to her about my nightmare, and she had my complete attention.
        “When I was little, I used to have this dream, a nightmare. I would have it every so often. And there was nothing I could do to stop it.”
        I interrupted her, amazed that she had had a problem similar to mine. I said, “You used to have nightmares?”
     “Well, up until I was fourteen years old I did. I was going to church but had never asked Christ to save me. I never trusted Him for Heaven. Then one Sunday after church, my mom must have known something was not right. Because everyone else thought I was saved, but she said to me out in the church’s parking lot, ‘You’re not saved, are you?’ I cried, but she took me by the hand and brought me to our car. There she explained my need of the Savior. I knew my mom was a Christian, and somehow I felt that was good enough for me also, but her salvation would not save me. You know what she told me, Bret?” I only shrugged my shoulders, and she began to explain what she called “spiritual laws.”
      “My mom told me we are all sinners. And that though I was young, I still had sins that needed to be forgiven. She said that Jesus had to suffer, even for my sins. My mom asked me if I believed Jesus Christ rose from the dead. I did and told her so. Then she said there was only one thing I needed to do, and that was to call upon Jesus myself. I told her I did pray sometimes for things, but that was not good enough for Mom. She said, ‘We are not praying for things this time. We are going to pray for you, so you can go to heaven.'”
       “I prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, I ask you to forgive me of my sins, and I thank you for dying for me.’ My mom wanted me to repeat after her at that point, and ask Christ to take me to heaven when I died. And help me live for Him, and I did.” Ann was smiling while she told me this and I was smiling just looking at the joy on her face. But I said, “Tell me about your nightmare.”
      “Oh yes, my dream.” she said. “Well, it would be at night. And I was always swimming in the same lake, but it was cold and so dark. I would be afraid. There was always this full moon. And in the middle of the lake, I had an even greater fear come over me. Then something would always grab my leg and start to pull me under the water. I would woke up then and was afraid to go back to sleep.” I asked her what happened after that in her dream. She answered, “As I said, I always woke up at the same place, sometimes crying out, afraid to go back to bed thinking I would have the nightmare again.”    
       “But, Bret,” she said, “that is what I wanted to tell you. Four months after I received Christ, I had the same dream again. And again, it was dark and cold. And again, the moon was full. And in the middle of the lake, I got even more scared, just as before. And when that hand, or whatever it was, grabbed my foot, and started to pull me under the water, guess what?”
      “What?” I asked. She had all my attention.
      “While I was still dreaming in my sleep, I cried out to Jesus to save me. And whatever it was that had my foot, let go! Do you know what happened next? That night in my dream, for the first time, I made it to the other side of the lake. I had never made it there before. I’m not afraid of that nightmare anymore and I never had it again.”
        She was beaming with happiness when she told me that, and I said, “I want Jesus!”
        Ann looked at me for a moment, as if she was not sure she believed what she heard. “You do?” I nodded and said, “Yes, I do!”
       “I have been praying for you to get saved.” She was all excited, and I had to calm her down.
        And I said, “But I want to get saved now. Right now!”
      She showed me a Bible promise. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).  She asked me, “Do you believe that? If you ask Jesus Christ to save you, do you believe He will do what was said in this verse?” I nodded my head yes. “Then, according to this verse, if you ask Jesus from your heart to save you, what will happen?”
       “I will be saved,” I said. “And I believe He can do it.”
       “Yes, and that means all your sins will be forgiven and He will give you His gift of eternal life.”
       I told her I did not know what to say to the Lord. But she led me in a prayer like her mom had done for her. And I asked Christ to come into my heart and be my Savior. At that moment, I took my faith and placed it in Jesus Christ for Heaven. I had no special feeling, but I was glad I had done this. It was good to trust someone other than myself. And I did not trust just anyone. I was trusting God’s Son! I asked Ann if she thought Jesus could help me with another problem, and that was Anubis.  This was the first time I had mentioned that part of my problem to her. And I began to explain how I had told her pastor, and he had prayed for me. And it did help, but the problem was still there.
        Ann said, “You trusted the Lord Jesus Christ for Heaven just now. Surely you can trust Him with your enemies and an idol.”
        I said with joy, “Yes, I believe He can be trusted for that also.”
       “Just avoid contact with them, because it is something that the devil has used in your life. But, if it can’t be avoided, tell the Lord He must help you, and leave your request with Him.” Then she added, “I am going to fast for you. Till this gets resolved, I won’t even drink water or chew gum.” We both laughed when she said “chew gum.” I could tell she was sincere about fasting which meant a lot to me. There was a momentary pause, and we found ourselves both looking at each other. Then she rose quickly, and I got up, and she said, “Just do one thing for me?”
        “Anything!” I said.
       “When this is over, call me and tell me. And, if you are somewhere where there is no phone coverage, then as soon as possible, let me know, okay?” I told her if I had to walk all the way back, she would be the first to know. She was smiling and she was happy. “Good-bye, Bret. The Lord is with you now.”
 
 

Chapter Eleven
Everyone Is Introduced

        I woke late the next morning. I had been exhausted from all that had happened. And my fear had drained me of my energy. But before I rushed out the door, I reflected on what I had done the night before - calling on Christ to save me and to be with me. I stopped for a few minutes and prayed by the side of my bed. I received such a wonderful peace, and I told the Lord I always wanted to have this feeling.
      I got up and grabbed my things, when I saw the Bible the Gideons had left. I put my things down and reached for the Bible. I opened it up and I was looking at Proverbs 3:6. “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” I had to get out to the work site and inform Dusty of what had happened. But I prayed again before I rushed out. “Lord guide and direct.” I remembered what Ann said, that she would be praying and fasting for me, and I was encouraged.
        I had to pass a number of checkpoints that are between the Nile and the Red Sea coast. And it came to my mind that it might slow down the treasure hunters if I could leave word with the guards about them and have them stopped. Still, I thought it best to check with Dusty first. When I made it to our campsite, I shared this with him along with the other things that had happened. I gave Dusty the license plate number of the car with the three men I saw leave from the hotel where Miss Allison was staying. And I told him what Miss Allison had said about there possibly being drivers to remove the treasure. Dusty decided it would not hurt to inform the police to be on the lookout for them, and hopefully stop them before they came out to us. He later called in an anonymous tip.
       “Oh, and there is one more thing,” I said. “Last night my girlfriend solved the riddle of that stele!”   
       “Your girlfriend is in Cairo?” Dusty asked.
       “Well, she doesn’t know she is my girlfriend yet.”
       “What?” Dusty said, “Hey, you’re not to be talking about this to anyone!”
       “But Dusty, she solved it!” I explained to him what Ann had said.
        He had a big smile and said, “I am going to call them in Israel.”
        Jim came to Dusty’s tent and said, almost shouting, “Have you heard the news? It’s gold and jewelry! And there is lots of it!”
        I had wanted to tell Jim about what I had found out from Miss Allison and her plans for the gold. But Dusty gave me a look as if to say, “No, not now.”
        Dusty made a call to Israel while Scotty set up the video equipment and showed some of their findings. It was impressive! He told me they had dug in four different spots, and the treasure was in an area even larger than they had thought. They wanted me to look at all the different video shots of the finds they had made.
        Dusty sent Jim to get the items that I had brought from Miss Allison. While he was gone, Dusty said he did not want me telling Jim or Scotty about the treasure hunter. He thought it was enough to just have the soldiers informed. And because we expected the treasure hunters to come that night, it would not be a problem. He said, “Mr. Moshe is going to be here tonight, and the treasure will be extracted with plenty of help. If the treasure hunters show up, they will find more than us and the three Israel soldiers.”
        I walked to the place where the stele had been found. While I was there, I heard my name called out. It was Jim, who said I had a call from Miss Allison. Jim still did not know of her plans, and he handed me the satellite phone. I said, “Hello.”
        It was Miss Allison and she said, “It’s on!”
       “Okay, I will be ready when you call me,” I replied.
        Miss Allison said, “I’m calling you now! We have moved things up, and we are here now.”
       “You are?” I asked.
       “Yes.” she said, adding, “I’m looking at you right now.”
        I started to look around, and she said, “Don’t look around! Are you dumb? It will only draw attention to you and us. Now get them all into one tent.” But then she said, “Wait! Bret, who are those other two men?” She had seen the guards who were watching the stele.
        I said, “They were brought in to watch the stele.”
       “How long have they been here?” she asked.    
       “I never talked to them,” I said.
      “Perhaps I need to talk to you. Send Jim off and walk over to the back of the tractors.” I gave Jim the satellite phone, wanting to say something to him, but they were watching me. He immediately took the phone and went back to the tent. I stalled, trying to think of what to do as Jim walked off. I heard my name being called, and it was Tom, the treasure hunter. He had the bag in his hand that had held Anubis, and he was reaching into it.
        I put my hand out in the direction of the bag and said, “Okay, I got the point yesterday.”
      He put the bag down, and I walked behind the tractor with him. There was Miss Allison with the other two men who were at the airport.
       One said to me, “You’re not double-crossing us, are you?”
      “I had nothing to do with them being here.” I said. Miss Allison was studying my face again, as she liked to do when I responded to some question. At this point, I was frustrated and a little tired of the whole thing. Somehow, they did not look so brave hiding out behind the tractors.
       Miss Allison asked, “Do they have guns?”
       “I don’t know,” I said, and at that moment I saw that the three men with her did have guns.
        One of the men pulled out his gun and pointed it at me. But Miss Allison said it would be better with “our friend, Anubis.”
        I raised my voice at them saying, “I don’t need your friend Anubis! And I don’t know if they have guns. I never saw them with any.”
     They were not sure what to do at this point. But they were committed, and I knew they would not give up. I said, “You have something bigger than guns to worry about. There is the curse of Moses.”
        “Are you believing that?” Miss Allison asked.
        I said, “They have been sitting here for three days, not sure what to do. And they even had a Jewish priest out here trying to figure out a way around it. By the way, it’s real. At least the gold and treasure is.”
       “Yes, we know.” Miss Allison said. “Scotty called me last night. I told you he could not keep a secret.”
      The other two men who came with Tom looked concerned about the curse. And Tom said, “No curse of the pharaohs ever stopped their graves from being robbed. Now Bret, get over there and call them all into one tent! We will do the rest.”
       I left immediately, not wanting to stay any longer, but what was I to do? Pray - that was the only thing that came to my mind. “Lord, you have to help me. I do not know what to do.”
       I thought that as long as I tried to do what God wanted, He would be with me. The thought came to my mind that Miss Allison had only mentioned seeing the two guards, so she did not know about the third one. I walked to the camp and motioned the two Israeli soldiers over to me. I did not want them to call their other guard, and said, “I got a phone call and I need to share it with you.” They followed me over to the tent where Jim had gone. Once there, I sent Jim to where Dusty and Scotty were, to get them. But I did not tell him what was going on. I did not want him to possibly give something away to the treasure hunters who would be watching.
       When Jim left, I told the two soldiers that the treasure hunters had come early and with guns, and they were watching us. I asked if they had any weapons. They said they did, but they were in their tent. I saw the satellite phone. “Is your phone working in your tent?” They said yes. “Then call your partner and have him ready.”
        They wanted to know how many there were and what direction they would come from. Just then, Jim, Scotty, and Dusty walked in the tent door, and one of the soldiers went out under the back of the tent, while the other called the third soldier on the satellite phone.
       “What’s going on?” Dusty asked.
       I quickly explained to Dusty, with Jim and Scotty standing there listening in amazement. Dusty wanted to know if Miss Allison was with them and I said, “Yes.” Then I looked over to Scotty's shocked expression. “Do you have any weapons here?” I asked. Scotty then stuck his fist in the air. I said, “Scotty, they have guns!” I had to tell them not to look out the door, as the robbers would be watching it.
        The Israeli who had been talking on the satellite phone put it down and said, “My partner is getting ready.”
      “Listen,” I said, “they are expecting you to all be facing me, as I am supposed to distract you, so if you play along, I might still be able to have their confidence so as to take advantage of them.” They turned with their backs to the tent door, and just then Tom and one of his friends came in with their guns pulled out.
       “Well done, Bret,” Tom said.
       “Thanks.”
        Everyone had turned around, facing the treasure hunters whose guns were pointing at them. I took a quick look at Jim as if to say, “Be ready!” Tom told the other man to start tying them up one at a time, while I watched. That’s when Miss Allison walked in and started strutting around the room.
       “Gentlemen,” she said, “you will only be tied up until the Israelis get here. Let’s see, Scotty, didn’t you say that would be some time after dark?”
        Scotty blurted out, “I never would have thought you to be a grave robber!” 
        She said, “Yes Scotty, that’s your problem. You never have thought.” That’s when Tom noticed one of the soldiers was missing, and he told Miss Allison.
       “Yes, where is the other one? Bret, you told them?”
        Tom looked at me and said, “Where is he?” He started toward me with his gun pointed at me.
       But Miss Allison said, “Wait, I will get it out of him.” She grabbed the bag with Anubis in it and walked up to me and said, “You know what is going to happen now.”
 


 Chapter Twelve
 God is great! 

        Miss Allison was shaking the bag that held Anubis. “So, where is he?” she said emphatically, but I didn’t answer.
        “Fine,” she said and pulled out Anubis. Tom and the other man were smiling, but no one else in the room understood what they were doing or that I had a phobic fear of that idol. She stuck it in my face and said, “Where is he?!”
        I looked over to Scotty and said, “She’s not only a grave robber, but she thinks she can scare people with idols. Isn’t that crazy?”     
       She pulled back the idol to check if perhaps she had the wrong one, but it was Anubis. She looked to Tom, but he did not know what to say. She looked back at me, and I said, “You’re too big to play with idols and dolls.” Her countenance fell, not knowing what to make of it, and I said, “It’s embarrassing to see you like this, Miss Allison!”
       That’s when one of the soldier’s voices from outside said, “We got your friend out here, so you want to come out, or should we use him for target practice?”
      Fear washed over the other two treasure hunters as well as Miss Allison. The other treasure hunter had just finished tying up Jim, but not the other solider who was with us. This treasure hunter took his gun and came around to the front toward Tom. But as he passed Scotty, Scotty lifted his foot and tripped him. There was no time to waste in a situation like that. Tom turned in the direction of his friend who had fallen on the ground, and started to take a step towards him while I kicked his foot out from under him before he put it down. It is a simple move that I had learned it in the navy. If you time it right, the person will end up with his back toward you and will also let go of whatever is in his hand, since he will try and brace himself as he falls backward.
        Tom’s gun went flying as he spun around. The solider grabbed it and pointed it at the other man who was just getting up, and took his gun away. I grabbed the ceramic Anubis out of Miss Allison’s hand and broke it. While we were making the ruckus, one of the Israeli soldiers came in under the back of the tent and said, “It’s not fair! You guys got to have all the fun before I got here.” He also had his gun pointed at Tom. He then called in his buddy, who came in with the other treasure hunter.
       When Scotty was untied, he charged right up to Miss Allison. She was afraid of him and backed up into a corner of the tent. “So I don’t think?” he said. Dusty pulled him off her and told him to tie them all up, which Scotty and Jim did.
        Miss Allison said, “It would be better for you if you let us go now, because we are not alone.”
       Dusty asked, “Are you talking about your three friends that were to drive the treasure out of here? Well, they got picked up by the police already.”
       Tom and Miss Allison were definitely surprised and took a quick look at each other as if to say, “How could they have known about them?” 
       Scotty picked up on it and said, “Yes, that’s your problem. You never have thought.”
      “You will never get away with getting that treasure out of here,” Miss Allison said, almost screaming.
        Dusty asked Scotty if there wasn’t something he could do to shut her up. Scotty smiled and went and found some masking tape to put over her mouth. Dusty called Mr. Moshe to alert him to what had happened, but all was still a go for that night. And when he got off the phone he told me that Mr. Moshe and the others who had worked on the translation of the stele believed Ann had solved the riddle.
      Jim asked Dusty how they were going to get the treasure out, but he only replied, “You’ll see.” One of the soldiers thought it might save time if we started to clear away the remaining sand with the tractors, but Dusty said, “There is still a curse on it!”
      It was about an hour and a half after sunset when the first helicopters came. There were three of them, and they had followed a homing beacon that was built into the metal suitcase the soldiers had brought. The helicopters had not come straight from the Gulf of Suez but had taken a roundabout path to Mount Gharib, avoiding certain areas they felt would make them too visible. These helicopters were small, only carrying four people each. They brought Mr. Moshe and two priests in full religious dress, and the rest of their passengers were soldiers, all dressed in black. One of the helicopters took three of the soldiers, and they were placed in different locations as lookouts, all with communications. The rest went to work immediately clearing away the sand with the tractors.
      Gold will still shine even after a few thousands of years of being buried, and as they started to clear away the sand, it was not long before glints of gold were visible, followed by expressions of “Unbelievable!” and “Look at those!” That is when Mr. Moshe made another call, and within half an hour two large helicopters showed up with a few more soldiers. As soon as they set down, the soldiers started loading one helicopter using the tractors, scooping up both the treasure and the surrounding sand, not taking the time to separate it, just dumping it into the helicopter. The soldiers inside began to push it into the back. It took less than an hour to fill it up, and off it went as they started to fill the other helicopter.
       Mr. Moshe looked worried that they would not have the time to get it all and called in two more helicopters. By rotating these four helicopters all night, they loaded them and off to sea they went, to a ship waiting offshore and returning to fill up again.
       When they came toward the end of the treasure, Mr. Moshe told us he needed to talk to us. He called Jim, Scotty, Dusty and myself over to one side and said, “People, you have done a fantastic job. The treasure is even more than our wildest guesses. There are going to be huge bonuses for you all, and you will not be disappointed. Dusty knows what I need to tell you now and thought it best to wait until now to share it with you.”  
       Mr. Moshe paused and said, “We are not going to tell anyone we were ever here. It would simply be a problem, as our relations with Egypt are very delicate, in short, we will never acknowledge there was any treasure. And if we don’t acknowledge it, no one is ever going to believe some treasure hunters who might say that it was here. By sunrise, this site will look like it did before you first came here.”
        Scotty interrupted him. “No one will ever know what we found?”
        “Afraid not, Scotty,” said Mr. Moshe.
        Scotty shook his head and said, “What about the stele? I want it!”
       “No, Scotty. We are taking it, too. There will be no sign around saying the treasure was once here.” Mr. Moshe continued, “There is one more thing. It won’t be long before the authorities will be out here. We suggest you leave with us.”   
         There were some sighs, with Scotty saying, “No way!” 
      Mr. Moshe said, “We can’t make you go. But it may not be good for you if you remain here. At the least there will be some suspicion, and before long rumors will start to circulate. But if you come with us, we will set you down in Israel. And from there we will get you a flight to wherever you like.”
        Jim asked Dusty what he was going to do with those tied up, and he said he would leave them some water and they could walk out. I saw one of the soldiers stripping spark plug wires and distributor caps from the vehicles. It was less than an hour before daybreak. Jim asked me what I was going to do. We both decided it would be better if we left with the helicopters. The Israelis took down the last of the tents and loaded them on to a helicopter. We were told to get ready, as we would be leaving in five minutes.
        I walked to where Miss Allison and her friends were tied up. To my surprise, Scotty was already there lecturing them on one of his theories. I was amazed he was doing that at a time like this. The treasure hunters were sitting on the ground still tied up, and their mouths taped, looking at one another as if saying, “Is he nuts?”
       It was a funny sight. Scotty’s theory was about the other two large pyramids on the Giza Plateau. He was telling them not to believe that only the Great Pyramid had chambers in side of it. “No, sir,” he said, “they all got rooms in them. They just have not found them yet.” He was curling the ends of his handlebar mustache with his hand, only stopping momentarily when he made a gesture.
      I interrupted and said, “Well, Scotty. You got your captive audience.” Scotty just looked at me, then turned around and walked away.
        I caught up to him and said, “You’re not going to get any recognition.”
       “You’re not going to get any treasure.” He responded.
       “Why not come with us?” I asked.
      “No!” he said. “I have been here in Egypt for years. I got connections and I will take back the equipment that was taken out in my name. They are leaving me one vehicle to get out in.” We were still walking but he stopped abruptly and said, “I guess what I am the most upset about is, I was hoping for once to finally say to those archeologists, who think they know it all, ‘Look at this stele! I was right!’ But they won’t believe me, and they will never respect me.”
        “Show them respect, Scotty, and they will give it to you.” We shook hands, and I left him there.
        When we climbed into a helicopter, I looked back and saw Scotty driving off and one of the soldiers untying the treasure hunters. I waved good-bye to Miss Allison, as she stood there with her hands clenched on her hips.
       The helicopter had lifted off the ground and we began our journey to the ship out in the Gulf. I remembered I was to call Ann as soon as it was over. I reached for the satellite phone, and in a few seconds I heard her voice. I said I was all right, but I would not be able to see her right away, as I was being taken to Israel. Ann asked about how I handled my phobia, and I said, “God is great!” And that it had gone better than I could have hoped.
        She rejoiced with me and asked, “Did you receive any treasure?”
      “That depends,” I said.
      “On what?” 
      “If I can see you again.”
 
Newspaper front page headlines
“ISRAEL PAYS OFF HER DEBTS”
“UNEXPECTED CASH FLOW FOR ISRAEL”
Last page of Section C
“Large numbers of ancient Egyptian antiquities are being sold on the open market, with no explanation of who found them or where they were obtained.”
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​By G. M. Matheny
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