'ARTEFACT' New fiction (excerpt)
“Then how can I help?” Anson said.
“I need to employ the services of an unusual Egyptologist,
one who is prepared to work in, let’s say, unconventional ways.”
“You mean a renegade?”
“I mean someone who has the power to turn back time, the power to turn back
the clock over a century.”
“Sorry, I don’t have a time machine, Lady Anita.”
“No, but you have a knack of finding things and a
reputation for dealing with esoteric finds. I want you to help me. I want you
to help me find the exact site of my jar’s discovery in Egypt, using my great
grandfather’s maps and diaries. Help me take the jar back to Egypt and secretly
rebury it with my own hands in the very spot where my ancestors found it.”
“Smuggling ancient Egyptian antiquities in reverse?” he
said.
She had his attention.
It was a concept that seemed to be on the right side of
history, although probably as illegal as spiriting antiquities out of Egypt.
But finding a pit in Egypt?
After the Arab Spring revolution and the wholesale digging
by antiquity thieves, parts of Egypt had become cratered with holes like a
lunar landscape, as photos from space satellites revealed.
It might be harder than finding a lost tomb.
Especially when wind and shifting sands started filling
the holes....
