it’s still in the Sudan. So what?”
“So two experts are twice as likely to find it as one,” continued Mason. “All my other work can wait. I’ll come to the Sudan with you and stay there until we either find the Amulet or become convinced that it no longer exists—or at least that it’s no longer there.”
“Think about what you’re saying, Kevin,” replied Lara. “They’re not after
you
. You can say good-bye to me when I board the
Amenhotep
in a few minutes and nobody will be trying to kill you tomorrow.”
“It’s not that simple. Right now they think you’ve got it—but once they know you don’t, they’ll decide that you gave it to me sometime in the past forty-eight hours—or perhaps even that I found it when I was rescuing you from the tomb.” He grimaced. “In truth, I’m probably not a hell of a lot safer than you are.”
“Then why did you go out of your way to convince me you were?” demanded Lara.
He spent a little too long trying to formulate an answer.
“Get it through your head that I’m not a frail flower,” she said, trying to hide her annoyance. “If you withhold any information from me, it just makes it that much harder to solve the problem—and this problem’s hard enough without some additional if well-meaning sexism.”
“You’re right,” he admitted. “It won’t happen again.”
“See to it,” said Lara. “It’s not enough that we merely search for the Amulet. We’re actually in a race; we’ve got to find it before they find us. Or, as the old pulp magazines would say, we’re in a race against death.”
“Maybe not,” said Mason. “As long as we’re running
from
them in Egypt, they’re going to assume one of us has the Amulet. But once we show up in the Sudan, rather than going to England, they’ll know we’re still looking for it.”
“Why?” asked Lara. “Maybe they’ll think I found it and plan to rule the Sudan as the new Mahdi.”
“It doesn’t work that way,” said Kevin. “You have to be a true believer to be the Expected One, and you and I are both infidels. They know neither of us can become the Mahdi, and that means they know neither of us will be invulnerable even if we’ve got possession of the Amulet. That being the case, we’d have to be idiots to go to the Mahdist’s stronghold if we had the Amulet. No, the only reason for us to go to the Sudan is because we
don’t
have it. Because we are still searching for it. That’s the truth, and more important, the Mahdists will accept it as the truth.” He paused. “Oh, a few of them may think our going to Khartoum is a ruse and keep trying to kill us, but I think most of them will be content to watch us and let us find the Amulet for them.”
“How will they know we’ve found it . . . assuming we do?”
He shrugged. “I’m sure they have their methods.”
“They think I’ve got it now, and I don’t, so they must not have very reliable methods.”
He shrugged again.
“And what do we do with it if we
do
find it?” Lara continued. “If everyone knows why we’re there, the government won’t want us to take it out of the country, and I don’t know that I trust any government enough to hand that kind of power over to them, even if there’s no magic to it at all, but only the power of fanatical belief.”
“I haven’t thought that far ahead,” admitted Mason. “I suppose we’ll try to hunt up a truly worthy man, and give it to him.”
“There you go again,” said Lara. “Aren’t there any truly worthy
women
in the world?”
“Point taken,” he said sheepishly.
“And what if—assuming it’s a man, after all—he’s a Lincoln rather than a Sadat?”
“I don’t follow you.”
“What if the best person we can find, the one truly worthy person, is an unbeliever, an infidel?”
“Then he or she won’t be invulnerable or immortal,” answered Mason. “But they’ll still possess a source of enormous power. Unlike pulp magazine heroes, they
“So two experts are twice as likely to find it as one,” continued Mason. “All my other work can wait. I’ll come to the Sudan with you and stay there until we either find the Amulet or become convinced that it no longer exists—or at least that it’s no longer there.”
“Think about what you’re saying, Kevin,” replied Lara. “They’re not after
you
. You can say good-bye to me when I board the
Amenhotep
in a few minutes and nobody will be trying to kill you tomorrow.”
“It’s not that simple. Right now they think you’ve got it—but once they know you don’t, they’ll decide that you gave it to me sometime in the past forty-eight hours—or perhaps even that I found it when I was rescuing you from the tomb.” He grimaced. “In truth, I’m probably not a hell of a lot safer than you are.”
“Then why did you go out of your way to convince me you were?” demanded Lara.
He spent a little too long trying to formulate an answer.
“Get it through your head that I’m not a frail flower,” she said, trying to hide her annoyance. “If you withhold any information from me, it just makes it that much harder to solve the problem—and this problem’s hard enough without some additional if well-meaning sexism.”
“You’re right,” he admitted. “It won’t happen again.”
“See to it,” said Lara. “It’s not enough that we merely search for the Amulet. We’re actually in a race; we’ve got to find it before they find us. Or, as the old pulp magazines would say, we’re in a race against death.”
“Maybe not,” said Mason. “As long as we’re running
from
them in Egypt, they’re going to assume one of us has the Amulet. But once we show up in the Sudan, rather than going to England, they’ll know we’re still looking for it.”
“Why?” asked Lara. “Maybe they’ll think I found it and plan to rule the Sudan as the new Mahdi.”
“It doesn’t work that way,” said Kevin. “You have to be a true believer to be the Expected One, and you and I are both infidels. They know neither of us can become the Mahdi, and that means they know neither of us will be invulnerable even if we’ve got possession of the Amulet. That being the case, we’d have to be idiots to go to the Mahdist’s stronghold if we had the Amulet. No, the only reason for us to go to the Sudan is because we
don’t
have it. Because we are still searching for it. That’s the truth, and more important, the Mahdists will accept it as the truth.” He paused. “Oh, a few of them may think our going to Khartoum is a ruse and keep trying to kill us, but I think most of them will be content to watch us and let us find the Amulet for them.”
“How will they know we’ve found it . . . assuming we do?”
He shrugged. “I’m sure they have their methods.”
“They think I’ve got it now, and I don’t, so they must not have very reliable methods.”
He shrugged again.
“And what do we do with it if we
do
find it?” Lara continued. “If everyone knows why we’re there, the government won’t want us to take it out of the country, and I don’t know that I trust any government enough to hand that kind of power over to them, even if there’s no magic to it at all, but only the power of fanatical belief.”
“I haven’t thought that far ahead,” admitted Mason. “I suppose we’ll try to hunt up a truly worthy man, and give it to him.”
“There you go again,” said Lara. “Aren’t there any truly worthy
women
in the world?”
“Point taken,” he said sheepishly.
“And what if—assuming it’s a man, after all—he’s a Lincoln rather than a Sadat?”
“I don’t follow you.”
“What if the best person we can find, the one truly worthy person, is an unbeliever, an infidel?”
“Then he or she won’t be invulnerable or immortal,” answered Mason. “But they’ll still possess a source of enormous power. Unlike pulp magazine heroes, they
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