Kathlyn Trent, Marcus Burton 01 - Valley of the Shadow Read Online Free Page B

she shot back deliberately, “otherwise, your university wouldn't have called me in to the rescue your floundering dig."
    It was a stab at him. Burton took a couple of puffs off his cigar, apparently unruffled. "You aren’t an Egyptologist,” he blew smoke into the night air. “I’m not even really sure if you’re a real archaeologist. Hell, I don’t know what you are.”
    The barbs were flying and Kathlyn wouldn’t back down; he was a bully and she wasn’t about to let him get away with it.
    . “So is it my lack of experience in the auspicious field of Egyptology that you question, Dr. Burton?” she asked, nearly mocking him. “I can, in fact, read hieroglyphs and hieratic. Is it proof you seek that I actually know a thing or two about it? Then let’s start from the beginning, say, 3500 B.C. and beginning with the Pharaonic lineage of Scorpion, Ka, Ro, Narmer, Aha-Menes, Djer, Wadi, Dewen, Andjib, Semerkhet, Qa’a, Hetepsekhemwy, Reneb, Ninetjer. Should I continue?”
    He wasn’t impressed. “Anyone can memorize that.”
    “Then ask me a question.”
    “I’m not going to waste my time.”             
    “Afraid I’ll get the answer right?”
    He blinked, very slowly, feeling his patience wane. She was cocky and he didn’t like it; she was becoming everything he ever imagined she was, queen bitch included. “All right,” he lowered the cigar. “Tell me something about the Thirteenth Dynasty if it’ll make you happy.”
    She didn’t hesitate. “It was part of what was known as the Middle Kingdom, approximately 2061 B.C. through 1668 B.C., but specifically, the Thirteen Dynasty lasted from 1784 B.C. until 1668 B.C. and was comprised of approximately sixty five kings in a one hundred and sixteen year spread.  No specific kings have ever been identified, and nothing spectacular ever emerged from this period in Egyptian history.”
    “You memorize out of textbooks very nicely.”
    “Isn’t that part of what going to school is all about, learning what’s in your textbooks? The real trick comes in recalling it twelve years after you learned it.”
    He puffed on his cigar. “I'll give you a couple of weeks," he finally said. "If you haven't found anything by then, I want you out of here. And if you turn my dig into a circus at any point during that time, I'll throw you out myself and to hell with the university. Is that clear?"
    Kathlyn was so mad she could spit.  "Take it up with McGrath," she growled. "I'm not the one to make the decision either way."
    She stormed from the valley, reliving the conversation over and over, becoming angrier by the moment. He really was a jerk. She knew Dr. Burton by reputation only and had been very excited for the opportunity to work with him. Now she was sorry she had agreed to come. The guy with the reputation for brilliant and meticulous work in the wake of his famous ancestor, pioneering Egyptologist and photographer Harry Burton, was really an egotistical megalomaniac.
    Marching down the incline at the fork in the road where the east valley and west valley split off, she paused, her attention drawn to the more popular east valley.  Back in those dark hills was the most famous archaeological site of all. She turned toward it, knowing there would be security guards, hoping maybe she could charm her way past them and take a much anticipated look.  Surely all she would have to do is tell them she was with Burton's dig.  Maybe they’d even give her a tour.
    The road leveled out in to a huge parking lot that was recently built to accommodate all of the tourist busses and there was a security shack to the southwest. Two guards were out front, smoking strong Arabian cigarettes and carting AK-47 rifles. She walked right for them.
    Her Arabic was basically non-existent. Mark always did the talking and she found herself wishing she knew more basic words other than "bathroom" and "water".  She tried to indicate that she wanted to enter the valley, but the