It was a yellow mask-strange in both shape and design.
Before Ryan could reach for it, Echo snatched it up, her eyes gleaming with excitement as she inspected the unique, handmade object.
“A gold mask. Damn, it’s beautiful,” she murmured, flipping it over in her hands like a prized treasure.
Her amazement earned her a dramatic eye roll from Cobra, but none of them noticed the brief shock in her eyes. Echo wasn’t just impressed-she was stunned, unable to believe what she was holding.
“Put it down.” Hawk’s voice came low and sharp as he approached. “The boss hasn’t even looked at it, and you’re already messing around?” He pried the mask from her hands and handed it respectfully to Ryan.
Echo quickly masked her emotions, shooting Hawk a quick eye roll.
What does Ryan know anyway? She thought. He’s just an arms dealer-like he’d know anything about antiques.
To someone like Ryan, a gold mask was nothing more than junk. Gold meant nothing to a man as rich as him.
But to Echo, this mask was something special-something very special.
As expected, Ryan didn’t even bother taking it. “Toss it,” he said coldly.
Ryan had zero interest in it. Gold was meaningless to him-he had more of it than he could ever need. Honestly, he couldn’t understand why Clement would steal something so trivial. It was beneath him.
And the way Echo had grabbed it so eagerly?
Embarrassing. Ryan’s anger simmered in his gaze as he stared at her.
The chill in the air was unmistakable. Even without looking up, Echo could feel Ryan’s cold eyes burning into her.
She bit the inside of her cheek, glanced reluctantly at the mask in her hand, and passed it to the local guy. As she handed it over, her sharp gaze warned him: Don’t you dare lose this.
The local guy, ever perceptive, gave her the smallest nod, silently acknowledging the unspoken agreement between them.
Satisfied, Echo let out a quiet sigh of relief and flashed Ryan a sweet smile.
Ryan’s response was a cold huff, his eyes flicking briefly to the local guy, who took the hint and quickly climbed into the narrow opening.
The footprints they’d found only led in, not out, stopping halfway down the corridor.
Whatever was going on inside, Ryan needed to see it for himself to figure it out.
As they slipped into the ruins, they had barely taken a few steps when a cool breeze blew through, instantly cutting the oppressive heat.
Cobra raised his brow slightly at the sealed passage ahead, though the gesture was almost imperceptible.
The deeper they went, the lower the ground dipped. The air grew cooler, and every now and then, they felt faint gusts of cold wind.
Hawk and Cobra exchanged glances, their eyes silently reflecting the same sense of unease. The stone walls around them were solid, with no openings visible. Something didn’t add up.
The Egyptian pyramids were among the greatest wonders of the world-and some of the most mysterious. No one had ever fully explained how they were built, let alone uncovered all the secrets hidden within. Over the years, their mystique had only grown, fueled by novels and TV shows that portrayed them as full of supernatural dangers.
Hawk and Cobra weren’t worried about curses or paranormal events-they were more concerned about the real dangers created by people who use that mystery to hide deadly traps.
Echo followed close behind Ryan, her eyes scanning the intricate carvings along the stone walls.
Sun gods, depictions of ancient Egyptian worship, and scenes of Ra soaring through the sky filled the walls. Some showed the sun god standing triumphantly above the sun, others had him riding a solar chariot through the heavens, and many depicted crowds bowing in worship. Every image told a story of the Egyptians’ deep reverence and awe for the sun god.
“Beautiful,” Echo whispered, unable to stop herself.
Her sudden voice shattered the heavy silence, causing the others to stiffen.
Ryan whipped around, grabbed Echo by the hand, and pulled her close, his arm locking firmly around her waist as he dragged her forward without a word.
Only then did Echo snap out of her awe, groaning internally.
Damn, that was her bad. It wasn’t that she didn’t care about Ryan’s mission-she did-but the beauty and history of Egyptian culture had distracted her, and now she’d embarrassed Ryan in front of his men.
She sighed, deciding it was best to stay quiet and stick close. When Ryan was on the edge of losing his temper, it was smarter to just go along with him.
“Mr. Ryan, this is it.” the local man stopped at the bottom of yet another descending passage, pointing to a slanted footprint in the sand.
Ryan’s brow furrowed as he leaned in, studying the strange print. Just as they had suspected, the tracks only led out halfway-they stopped abruptly, as if the person had vanished into thin air. Releasing his grip on Echo, Ryan took a closer look at the ground.
Echo saw it too-a weird inconsistency. Behind the fading footprints, illuminated by their lights, they could clearly see fresh impressions pressed deep into the sandy floor.
Compared to the shallower prints left on the way in, these were noticeably deeper. Echo wasn’t a grave robber, but she knew enough about theft to recognize what had happened here.
Whoever left those tracks-most likely Clement-had been carrying something heavy on the way out, which explained the difference in depth.
“Boss, we’ve got bullet holes here,” Cobra called out grimly from where he was inspecting the wall.
Echo immediately looked up, squinting at the faint scratches Cobra had found.
In the harsh light, there were just tiny white marks on the stone. Honestly, they didn’t look like bullet holes to her at all, and she had no idea how Cobra had spotted them.
But Ryan’s expression darkened, his gaze locked on the markings, saying nothing as he processed the new information.
“Boss, there’s more over here,” Hawk called out, pointing to another section of the stone wall.
This time, there weren’t even any faint white marks.
Echo knew that when it came to spotting things like bullet holes, she couldn’t compete with Ryan, Cobra, and the rest. This just wasn’t her area of expertise.
Clearly, it wasn’t the local guy’s either. When Hawk and Cobra pointed out the markings, his face went pale. He’d been through here before, he’d searched the place, but he hadn’t seen anything that resembled bullet holes. Those tiny marks didn’t look like much to him. He wasn’t a weapons expert-he couldn’t tell.
Echo stepped forward and took a flashlight from one of the men behind her. She moved ahead a few steps.
Since the local guy had noticed something strange, he had stopped everyone from advancing to preserve the scene, so no one had walked farther ahead yet.
Echo took two steps and stared at the ground. The footprints were clear, mostly because this spot was elevated and the pyramid was in such bad shape that sand had leaked inside. That sand had preserved the tracks perfectly.
Blood. Tiny traces of it, mixed in with the sand, nearly invisible. If Echo hadn’t trained her eyes for this sort of thing, she wouldn’t have noticed the faint stains along the edge of the stone wall.
She frowned, looking up. This area was completely smooth-there weren’t any footprints, whether going in or out. That struck her as odd, and she raised her brow in surprise. From her crouched position, she glanced over her shoulder at Ryan.
Before she could even look fully at him, something else caught her eye-a small mark along the corner of the wall.
Sand. Two layers of sand, stacked one over the other.
Echo immediately understood what had happened. Someone had tampered with this area.
“Don’t move, Boss!” Echo blurted out as she saw Ryan about to take another step forward.
Ryan paused, frowning as he turned to look at her, while Hawk and the others immediately shifted into a more guarded stance.
“Someone messed with the sand here, covering up the original footprints,” Echo said, pointing at the two layers of sand along the wall.
Ryan and the others weren’t fools. With one glance, they understood what she meant.
Ryan’s eyes flashed coldly as he stared at the thin layer of sand that had been carefully spread over the ground.
No one spoke.
There was no need for explanations-everyone knew what this meant.
The Silver family’s earlier conversation hadn’t been for nothing. Those hungry for power and wealth would do anything to get what they wanted.
Ryan had seen enough betrayals to understand exactly what was going on. That line, “I didn’t want to kill him,” carried far more weight than it seemed. This was why Ryan had come after Clement personally.
Nothing would bring one more peace than knowing his rival was dead. Clement, who had distanced himself from the Silver family for years and built his own empire, was now an easy target.
Someone had carefully covered up the evidence of what had happened here. All that remained were Clement’s footprints, coming and going.
Everything had been meticulously planned, whether out of caution or because they knew exactly what kind of opponent they were up against.
Either way, the cover-up was impressive-expertly done.