ch-22 Tutankhamun Uncovered

The Minister tucked a rolled-up Egyptian pound note into the belly dancer’s waistband and rested back in his armchair to watch the remainder of the evening’s performance. His face held an expression of utter contentment. It had been, after all, a most satisfying day. He had been able to take the initiative and gain the public high ground over the arrogant Englishman – a publicly political statement of the power he held over all that the English represented in Egypt.

He despised the West and all it stood for. In his younger years, he had been militant, one of the bolder ones, and had suffered time in the British Army penitentiary for it. But that was all behind him now. Now it was his turn to write the protocol, make the laws, force compliance. And just today he had succeeded in pulling off a most satisfying public coup. He had cancelled the Carnarvon concession and barred Carter and his colleagues from entering the Tomb of Tutankhamen. On his orders the padlocks Carter’s team had put in place had been forcibly removed and replaced with new ones – with different keys.

As he reflected on his day’s achievements, a sinister smile broadened across his face. He took a sip of coffee and refocused his attention on the rhythmically swaying, perspiration-oiled torso barely an arm’s length away from him.