Pyramid of the Gods Read Online Free PDF

cooking to get out of cooking? Hmm.
    And so it went as we left the dig site and returned to our camp. By the time Ishi had the cooking fire roaring, the sun had set, and the desert heat had cooled considerably. The jovial mood continued around a campfire, until we had our fill of food, liquor, and each others’ company.
    Looking forward to another early start, we retired to our tents, where peace prevailed beneath a moon-lit, and star-filled sky.
     
     

 
    Chapter Six
     
     
    A dreamless night came as a welcome relief.
    Refreshed the next morning, my only regret was not taking advantage of Marie’s randy mood fueled by her inebriated state. Trouble was, I was just as drunk. After stumbling in the darkness of our tent, and nearly knocking over a gas lantern, the next thing I knew the morning light peered in through the tent’s entrance.
    Smooth move, Romeo, I thought.
    “ Well, sleepyhead, do you think you’ll be getting up any time soon?” Marie appeared before me, fully dressed and wearing her patented smirk. Through my glazed eyes, her khaki blouse and the outline of her ponytail appeared ignited by the sun’s rays.
    “ Huh? What time is it?”
    “ Well...breakfast is ready, and has been for about three minutes, by my guess,” she said, giggling. A definite sweet moment for her. “My paperweight, as you call it, says the time is seven-o-nine.”
    “ Why in the hell didn’t you wake me up an hour ago?”
    But she was gone without an answer, leaving me to scramble for my clothes. Often, this sort of experience came complete with a nasty hangover. Not this time.
    At least there was that.
    “ Too much fun, Mr. Nick?”
    Akiiki handed me a plate of scrambled eggs and jerky and a cup of Ishi’s coffee when I joined the others. Rather than add too heaping teaspoons of sugar, as I had the prior two days, I drank it straight while wolfing down the tasteless, powdered eggs and spiced jerky.
    “More than I deserve, I guess,” I said, glancing at the dig site. A breeze pushed swirling sand toward the hole, as if the desert had begun an earnest effort to heal the wound we dug out yesterday. “Why in the hell didn’t you two wake me sooner?”
    “ We tried!” said Ishi, indignantly. “But only she woke up... you turned over after telling me to bugger off!”             
    “ Sorry, old pal.”
    Always tough to apologize when I’m not convinced I’m in the wrong, I wasn’t willing to concede anything just yet.
    “Do not worry, my friend,” Akiiki said to Ishi, moving to put the cookware away while eyeing me impishly. It was more than that, as really it was an elfin smile with a penetrating gaze, like he was trying to catch a glimpse inside my soul. “It’s probably best to follow the boss’s urgency to get started.”
    The growing urge to get started on the day’s work overrode all else. It was both a familiar and odd sensation. Something was out of synch.
    “Well, after everyone nourishes the shrubs and cactuses, I’d like to get started,” I said, armed with cigarette number one. I looked forward to having at least three more, to make up for my abstinence from yesterday. “Chop-chop!”
     
    * * *
     
    Our next problem was that there was only room for two diggers, and so we worked in shifts. Two at a time, continuously. Over and over until something beautiful happened.
    We came across a sealed doorway.
    Akiiki and I, who’d been working side by side, exchanged surprised looks. Two hours of digging later, and we pushed on the sealed limestone. Amazingly, beautifully, the door pushed inward, but as it did, the sand surrounding the rest of door poured into the chamber beyond the entrance.
    As it did so, the scaffolding began to collapse amid shifting sand below. Clinging to the upper bars, he and I crashed into the doorway.
    “Nick! Akiiki! Are you all right?” cried Marie. She and Ishi scurried after us into the hole. Getting out was going to be fun. Rule #44 in Nick Caine’s