Major Wu Shun spoke into a headset, her words inaudible through the thick glass but instead crackling in Nina’s left ear through a small receiver. ‘The door is secure. Take the key to the sarcophagus.’

Nina knew that only her eyes were visible behind the mask. Nevertheless, she tried to give Macy as reassuring a look as possible before turning away.

The sarcophagus stood before her, fourteen feet of precious metals and strange crystal. Even with the amount of light upon it, the figure inside was still indistinct, somehow menacing despite its stillness. ‘Put the key in the recess,’ Wu ordered.

‘I’ll do it when I’m goddamn good and ready, okay?’ Nina shot back through her throat mic. ‘I need to make sure there aren’t any nasty surprises.’

‘We examined the broken coffins. There are no traps.’

‘The key word there is “broken”, and I know from experience that the traps on these things aren’t mechanical. I’m the archaeologist, not you, so let me do my job, okay?’ She glanced at the window. Eddie’s smirk told her that her side of the conversation was on speaker.

‘Just do it,’ the Chinese woman snapped.

Nina ignored her, crouching to examine the sarcophagus for breaks in the metal or hidden panels. There were none. She checked the underside. The broken pipe had been replugged.

No evidence of any physical booby traps. Nor, for that matter, any way of opening the coffin without using the key – or brute force. ‘Okay,’ she said reluctantly. ‘I’m putting the key in.’

She hesitated, then inserted it into the recess. It was a perfect fit, nestling into place with a surprisingly satisfying click.

Nothing happened – yet. She had deliberately kept her hand off the central insets, knowing the purple stone was a conductor for earth energy. Wu impatiently demanded a progress report, but again Nina ignored her, unwilling to take the next step until she was ready.

As far as she could tell, there was no danger – other than the unknown. ‘Right,’ she finally said, ‘here we go.’

She placed her palm flat on the key.

Even expecting the shock of contact, it still made her flinch. The sarcophagus was indeed alive with earth energy, the mysterious lines of force weaving over the entire planet. She could feel them, some inexplicable sixth sense revealing them to her not just within the coffin, but in the chamber outside, the base – and beyond.

She knew from her experiences with the vault in Turkey that she could do more than feel the energy flow. She could shape it, her willpower alone enough to influence its course. She focused her attention on the sarcophagus. Somehow she could make it open, wake the sleeper inside—

Someone else was in there with her.

Nina broke contact, jerking back as if from an electric shock. ‘Nina!’ Eddie shouted in her earpiece, his cry loud enough to be picked up by Wu’s headset. ‘Are you okay?’