Epilogue

It didn’t take more than a week to safely reopen the front entrance to the tomb. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t have recognized the front of the tomb anymore, as General Douglas and his men were thorough in destroying outside of the tomb as well as just blocking it. The statues were gone, as well as any brickwork or writing. Mitchell face went livid when he first saw the destruction, but was reassured by Buck that while disappointing, they still had access to the interior.
To discourage what he called “lookie-loos”, Buck talked to a few people he knew from the military, all retired, for help with security. He went out of his way to get reliable and even tempered men. Luckily, General Douglas had few friends. Even those he had left were reluctant to admit they were associated with him.
For his part, Mitchell coped admirably with his new responsibilities. He had a few moments of panic, but Cj made sure she was there to help. Which was made all the easier by Buck’s idea to have them stay out of the field for a bit longer. Things were still quiet enough that they could lengthen their “vacation” for a few weeks.
Finally, a few nights after they reopened the entrance, CJ pulled Mitchell away from cataloging the tomb and told him they were going out for dinner. Just them.
He looked at her in amusement. “Oh?”
“Yes.” She nodded
“You… have a very strange way of asking a guy out.”
She looked sidelong at him, “I didn’t figure on any problems.”
He laughed, “You’re right about that. One question though.”
“What’s that?”
He stopped and looked right into her eyes, “What the hell took you so long?”