The Forbidden Tomb Read Online Free PDF Page B

would melt on your camel. I suggest virgins. Lots of virgins.’
    Jasmine shook her head. ‘I think you’re confused. Alexander wasn’t a Muslim.’
    ‘Neither am I,’ McNutt said, ‘but I wouldn’t turn down a bunch of virgins. They travel well, and they’re good for any occasion.’
    Garcia nodded in agreement, but wisely said nothing.
    Sarah rolled her eyes. ‘Anyway, what’s the answer?’
    Papineau shrugged. ‘No one actually knows what was brought. If any records were kept, and there’s no way of knowing if they were, they are no longer available.’
    ‘Why not?’ Garcia wondered.
    ‘Are you familiar with the Library of Alexandria?’
    ‘Of course I am,’ said Garcia, who frantically tried to pull up information on the historic landmark. ‘Just give me a second.’
    Jasmine wasn’t about to wait. ‘The Library of Alexandria was the finest collection of information in the ancient world. It was a repository of every significant text known to man. Scholars heralded it as the center of knowledge, a place where the rulers of Egypt could study the past in preparation for the future. It stood as a monument to the nation’s wealth and affluence, a symbol of their prosperity until it was destroyed by fire hundreds of years ago. The exact date and time are still unknown, though several theories abound.’
    Papineau grimaced. ‘The loss was catastrophic. Every record, every map, every drawing of the city of Alexandria was consumed by the blaze – as were details about the tomb and the golden hearse. Since the fire various clues and myths have surfaced, but historians have never been able to place them in the proper context.’
    Cobb nodded in understanding. ‘It doesn’t matter if you know that the tomb was located next to the market if you have no idea where the market was. Is that it?’
    ‘Exactly,’ Jasmine said. ‘We have bits and pieces about the city that we could string together into a very rough sketch of ancient Alexandria, but we have never had a primer: something that told us how to arrange the pieces.’
    ‘Until now.’
    ‘Until now,’ she said excitedly. ‘Your map may be the key to unlocking the entire history of Alexandria. The Roman occupation. The Persian rule. The Muslim conquest. The location of the tomb and more. There’s no telling what your map might allow us to uncover. How soon until you can arrange for me to see it?’
    Cobb shrugged. ‘Oh, I don’t think it will take that long.’
    ‘Can you give me a number?’ For her, the suspense was intolerable ‘A week? A month? A year?’
    Cobb rubbed his chin and pretended to do some math in his head. ‘I don’t know . . . maybe two minutes or so. Half that if I really hustle. How long does it take to run up and down a flight of stairs?’
    Jasmine gasped even louder than before. ‘You mean it’s
here
?’
    Cobb nodded. At the conclusion of their previous mission, he had pursued a mysterious IP address that had secretly monitored their secure transmissions from Eastern Europe. Hoping to learn more about Papineau’s agenda, Cobb followed the signal to the Beau-Rivage hotel in Geneva, Switzerland where he intended to confront Papineau’s silent partner –
if
, in fact, he had one.
    Instead, Cobb quickly realized he had been duped.
    The signal was nothing more than a digital breadcrumb, intentionally left so that Cobb would follow it to the five-star hotel where a private dinner had been arranged with one of the top historical experts in the world, a man named Petr Ulster.
    Neither Cobb nor Ulster knew who had arranged their conversation – a nameless benefactor had paid their bills – but by the end of their meeting, Cobb and Ulster had bonded, and Ulster had entrusted Cobb with a copy of the ancient map.
    ‘Where?’ Jasmine demanded.
    Cobb stood. ‘It’s upstairs in my duffel bag.’

5
     
    While Cobb retrieved the map from his bedroom, the others waited in calm silence – all except for Jasmine, who cracked