Ramses frowned. “I do not see any glaring flaws, but I will need to examine it more carefully. This is not the best place to do so. Relock the cabinet and the door as we leave. I recall there is an exit at the end of the hall, and I suggest we use it immediately.” He picked up the canvas bag and the bust, peeked out the door, and motioned David to join him. “This will be most awkward if Gunter appears about now. On the other hand, he can hardly have us arrested without explaining why he is in possession of a valuable antiquity.”

“Shall we ponder his options or get the hell out of here?”

“Is that the way to speak to Lord Cavendish, you dismal minion? For your impertinence, you can carry one of the Queen Nefertitis. How many of the bloody things are there? We may need to purchase a steamer trunk to take them back to Amarna with us.”

They left through the door at the end of the hall, and were crossing the backyard when a male voice shouted, “Duck!” They reacted instinctively. A bullet fired from the door behind them splintered against the wooden gate, followed by a shot fired from the alley. “Now run, dammit!” the voice ordered.

Ramses and David complied, keeping low and zigzagging until they reached the sanctuary of the alley. Another bullet hit the gate. “Stoppen, Diebe!” screeched a more familiar voice, that of an enraged Helmut Gunter.

As they ran toward the nearest street, Ramses said, “Take my coat and wrap it around the statue. Helmut most likely will come after us, and we know he is armed. I do believe it might be prudent to stay at Shepheard’s Hotel for the night.”

“And leave Cairo in the morning?” asked David.

“Well, no,” Ramses said with a scowl. “We must uncover the link between Herr Morgenstern and Helmut Gunter. Maybe we should ask Sethos; he seems to be dogging our footsteps and looking out for us.”

David flagged down a taxi. Once he had instructed the driver to take them to Shepheard’s, he said, “Only because of his devotion to your mother. Otherwise, he would have disabled or shot us in order to get his hands on Nefertiti. He might have been nonplussed when he ended up with two of them.”

“A total of three, thus far.” Ramses examinded the statue they had taken from the embassy. “Another forgery, blast it! We have to find Harun’s workshop before copies of Nefertiti start showing up in all the shops in Cairo. As disinclined as I am to physical violence, I would really like to throttle him.”

Eleven