"Get down!" "Get down!" "This sucks, man." "Get down!" "Now..." "Get down!" "Get down!" "Luck of the Devil himself." "Try and think, Mum." "Did anyone come here and ask you for your notebook?" "Cos if they didn't ask you, they stole it." "Has, em... has anyone been here asking about my mother's belongings?" "Or asking about me?" "Not that I know of, but your mother..." "She wouldn't know even if they had, yeah." "I'm afraid not." "Haven't you sold that thing yet?" "Hey, babe." "You said we were going to France." "The Riviera." "You owe me, Jimmy." "Yeah, well, if I'm right about this thing," "I'll buy you a house on the Riviera." "How about that?" "Oooh, I like that." "Does it come with matching earrings?" "Get your paws off!" " Do you hear that?" " What?" "I dunno... it sounded like gas escaping?" "Sssssssssssss..." "Don't do that." "Tooth picks." "4,000 years ago the Egyptians were building cities of gold, the Greeks temples of marble." "What were we doing?" "We were picking our teeth." " What about Stonehenge?" " Stonehenge?" "Well, it's pretty impressive, isn't it?" "A bit?" "The Pantheon is impressive." "The pyramids at Giza, the Nabatean temples carved into the rock at Petra, they're impressive." "You want to compare these wonders to a rockery off the A303?" "!" "Here endeth the lesson." "Come on, let's get back to work." "Come on, she tends to bite hardest on those she's most fond of." "Then she must really love me." "I'm sorry." "I'm trying, but it's not happening, Viv." "You don't give good "victim"." "So, any more mysterious phone calls from anonymous men asking if I've received "packages"?" "What did he sent you?" "My mother's old notebook." "Really?" "Can I see it?" "No." "And you're absolutely sure that you know nothing about the person who called?" "No." "Nothing." "I swear." "OK, OK." "You're not on trial." "Gillian!" "You'll want to see this." "Cultural delegation from Iraq." "Doing the Grand Tour of our dismal wee island." "They're visiting the private Babylonian collection in Bath." "Look at 'em." "Government's latest poster campaign for the glorious new future." "Doctors, philosophers, film directors, even a child chess genius." "And?" "And a doctor of archaeology turned peacemaking politician." "'Oh, it's wonderful to back here, yes, I've been here a number of times." "'No we hope to be able to place everything up.'" "Dr Hammadi?" "Rachel Highgrove, coordinating the visit from this end." "You're late." " Were you lost?" " Only in thought." "Ah, very poetic but we must keep the delegation to the itinerary." "Dr Hammadi!" "Dr Hammadi!" "Allah uh Akbar." "Can I tempt you to recite the talk you gave in Cairo on the Ishtar Gate?" "It would coincide with the relaunch of my old DVD." "Oh, you may remember, when this arch was first installed here?" "In which you describe Babylon as "Alexander the Great's bisexual stop-off point."" "Well, one must have an angle, as the conqueror said to the catamite." "Kahmil!" "Behold the chess champion." "I feel a photo opportunity coming on." "Would you... come over here..." "Gather round please." "Excuse me, mate.." "Ali!" "No need for panic, everybody." "No need for panic, everybody, a slight fracas that's all." "She's a war orphan." "Our Government had him assigned to protect her." "Tell him we could do without the cultural histrionics." "I have to take this." "Beautiful..." "So much history." "Catalogue it." "Archaeology - one part scrabbling around in the filth to ten parts book-keeping." "Are we having fun yet?" "?" "From the sun and dust." " Gregory." " You haven't aged a bit." "I bathe in asses' milk." "Ben." "And this is new intern, Viv Davis." "Nice to meet you." "We were all students together." " Oh, well, 15 years ago?" " A pleasure." "Kahmil needs our help." "Here is one of many sad sights from modern Iraq..." "A Hellenistic temple destroyed by mortar fire." "2,000 years and now it's gone." "The bombs blow open the ground and bring new treasures to the surface, from when Iraq was Babylon and a wonder of the ancient world." "Yes...we were great once." "And of course the Baghdad Institute of Antiquities has an insidious enemy..." "Nighthawkers." " Night-?" " Looters." "Smuggling finds out of the country for private collectors." "String 'em up by their buster-browns!" "Now we've traced one of the nighthawkers back here." "We don't know his name." "What does he have to sell?" "Oh, wow, a brick." "Perhaps from the Hanging Gardens." "It's inscribed by the king who commissioned the building." ""Built by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon."" "Aw, come on." "The Gardens are a myth." "He needs our help." "Can I have a word with you, please?" "Excuse us." "Kahmil is loaded." "With his family connections he can sort out his own problems..." "And if he's now this big peace-making politician why's he worrying about some brick?" "If you ask me, he's got an ulterior motive." "Well, maybe he just wanted to look up some old friends." "Oh, yeah I bet he was gagging to see me and Dolly..." "Oh, come on, you used to value hooky gear." "You could look up a few old contacts..." "Hey, I was a student." "I was broke." "That was another time." "Comes in here in his '90s suit and his gelled hair..." "He has gel!" "You're jealous?" "You and I split up, right, that's one thing." "My decision, given." "You were devastated, sorry!" "But within six days..." "Six days and you are doing the fandango with him!" "I was a kid, you'd dumped me, and he told me how well he could dance the fandango..." "Oh, this is great A brick... from the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon and you turn it into an episode of Hollyoaks!" "So this is an academic decision?" " Yes." " No." "The academic decision would be to focus on the dig we're being paid for." "Neolithic toothpicks aren't glamorous but they pay the rent." "He doesn't!" "This is fun." "Check out the inscription." "Yes." "Very good fun." "Give you 200 for it, no more." "Ah!" "That's better..." "Babylonian." "4th century BC." "Tiamat, goddess of evil." "What a lovely bitch she is." "I could move this on to a German collector I know." "No questions asked. 15,000." "I'm not done yet, Max." "I've never seen anything quite..." "It's nice but my clients tend to prefer a little more, ahem, "bling"." "Job lot, 20K." "I'll give you the necklace and the brick, Max, but not this." "Not at that price." "It's only a bit of old carved stone, Jimmy!" "This is an ancient cuneiform script." "If you can't find the cash, I'll find another buyer." "So now you're reinvented in the world of politics, what are you trying to achieve back home?" "Later this week I will sit down in private with fundraisers for the Sunnis and Shiites." "I will be asking them to redirect their war-chests into unifying Iraq." "We must put an end to sectarian violence if we are to be a great nation again." "Yeah, well good luck with that." "Did you order food in?" "Cos it might take a while." "How long has Vivienne been working with you?" "?" "It's a temporary thing." "We don't really have the funds to keep an intern." "Oh, look, I've got it, I've got it." "Dr Colloway!" "Middle-Eastern specialist." "Oh, but he only does Saracen stuff, first and second Crusades." "No, before he lost his college post he was writing a book on the sacking of Babylon by Alexander the Great." "Well, thanks for everything." "Kahmil... what if you get caught in a compromising position?" "Such as?" "Such as beating the crap out of an antiquities thief." "Is that likely?" "You were always pretty quick with your fists." "We were kids, Ben." "The position I caught you and her in was distinctly adult." "Well, then you shouldn't have let her go, should you?" "Oi!" "What's wrong with you, girly?" "Me?" "Nothing." "Well, do what you're best at and put the kettle on!" "When they said archaeology was a science, I didn't know they meant domestic science." "That's it, this baby's going on the website, if Max won't pay, somebody will." "This Max Garris had better check out, Dr Colloway." "Thanks for coming along." "You sure Scotland Yard have an Ancient Antiquities Division?" "I'll bet they do." "Anyway, it did the trick." "Max Garris, do you know him?" "It doesn't ring any bells." "Hopefully I can find an address from this name." "Can I ask you something." "If you're organising your own little peace conference, then why are you wasting time chasing this brick?" "One brick is how every city in the world begins." "Yeah, and many a mickle makes a muckle." "We get those Christmas crackers too." "We could find it for you." "In fact I'd love to." "No, thank you again for everything, but I really must do this alone." ""I'd love to, we could find it for you."" "..anyway it did the trick, Max Garris, do you know him?" "'I can find an address from this name.'" "Babylon, such a wealth of extraordinary history, and then Alexander ransacked it in 331 BC, uptight little bisexual." "Of course he went on to rule just about everywhere." "Including Babylon and its Hanging Gardens." "Do you think Dr Hammadi was right?" "About a brick from the Hanging Gardens?" "Well, my God, it would be a red letter day at Dolly Towers if it was true." "But I sense this isn't about some brick." "I sense he's after something else." " What, Gregory?" " I don't know." "Yet." "Amwar, it's your brother, I'm getting closer, I can feel it." "I have a name, Max Garris." "Gillian Magwilde is helping me." "Gillian Magwilde." "Where is she based out of again?" "Wessex." "Yes." "Right." "I feel bad keeping her in the dark." "First rule of business - keep everyone in the dark." "Yes, but this isn't business." "It's not even politics..." "It's a matter of salvation." "You see that's when you start to worry me, little brother, when you start talking like a prophet." "Did you get the messages that I sent you?" "Come back to New York." "But New York is not my home, Amwar." "I believe that Gillian thinks that I am looking for something more than a brick." "If the Tablet is half as important as you say it is, no-one can be trusted." "Not even the wonderful Gillian Magwilde." "Soon everyone will know what we have found." "Kahmil, even when we were kids you were the one with the wild stories." "You kept the family enthralled." "Myths have their power but they can be used in many ways." "For now just see Gillian Magwilde in the same light, not to be trusted." "Kahmil comes from a prominent Baghdad family." "His brother is Iraq's answer to Rupert Murdoch." "Media baron, lives in the States these days." "Arab TV stations, websites, newspapers." "The Hammadis have incredible influence in both Sunni and Shiite worlds." "Many think Kahmil should have a much higher place in the new Iraq." "Think he's a lech?" "Did you see the way he was staring at me?" "My dear, I beg to differ." "Now, this is leching..." "Gregory!" "Don't you dare!" "No - this." "What's this?" "Just some other stuff I found on Babylon." "Apparently the latest evidence suggests there was a big meteorite crash in that region." "Assyria." "Four and a half thousand years ago." "Is it important, then?" "No, not to us." "But it might be to some..." "Oooh, hive of activity I see." " Gilly." " Yes." " Take this." " What is it?" "I know this sort of development still matters to you." "You are still following the gleam, aren't you?" "Could meteoric iron have been used, to make...something else?" "Hey-hey!" "Look at this!" "Is this yours Gregory?" "Ah, indeed." "We were post-grads, uncovered a stockpile of Roman denari." " Oh, God..." " "Hail, Caesar."" "You were so thrilled." "I remember you hollering "Hail, Caesar!" At the top of your voice." "Did he always take his shirt off?" "Can we just leave it?" "Mrs Wilson, prepare to find your tabby swinging from his own entrails." "Here, puss." "Here, sweetie." "Come to me, you little..." "That's the way." "Come to me..." "Come on." "A meteorite crashes in Assyria." "2,000 years later, Alexander is in Assyria." "Is it possible?" "Is this where it started?" "Is this where it was made?" ""Alexander's was the destiny of men." ""In his sword and shield." "The stars gave him his weapon."" "The stars." "The answer must lie in the stars!" "Or am I getting as mad as you, Mother?" "Gillian Magwilde." "Gill, it's Kahmil, I need you to come to Max Garris's place now." "Oh, my God..." "What happened?" "He was like that when I got here." "What did this to him?" "It's like he's been bitten by something." "Look, I shouldn't have called you, it's not fair." "Are you looking for the brick?" "Do you think it's still here?" "No-one will know you were here." "What are you so desperate to find?" "I have seen this before in Baghdad, Occultists." "Kahmil!" "If this was a robbery then why not take this?" "It's solid gold!" "Look, it's not about the necklace and it's not about the damn brick!" "I am here for something so important..." "So important a man has died over it!" "I'm not going to go away until you tell me what the bloody hell it is you're looking for!" "Do you see these?" "Babylon had street lighting when your ancestors were still running around in bear-skins." "You know, we were the first people to irrigate our land." "To map the stars and name them." "We created the alphabet!" "The days of your week are taken from our days." "We were the cradle of civilization!" "And look at us now." "Ravaged.Burning. Dismayed." "What am I looking for?" "I am looking for hope." "The hope of a nation to be great again." "And peace throughout the land?" "Ten out of ten for ambition." "No, English." "I need to do practice." "I like puzzles." "Me too." "My mum used to set me puzzles to solve." "That's why I love history so much." "Because it's a puzzle with lots of clues to find." "My mother is dead." "Well, I'm very sorry about that." "I hear her voice." "I hear my mother's voice too." "I beat a Russian man at chess." "I made him cry." "Result." "Khanna..." " Good night." " Good night, sweetheart." "Good night, heavenly princess Khanna." "Thank you, Gillian, but this is one puzzle you cannot solve." "I want to help you." "Then leave." "Before being with me gets you hurt." "Taxi!" "The followers of Tiamat are here!" "They killed a man!" "Fanatics." "This is too dangerous." "Tiamat is a dark force with a long, dark history." "If these people really worship Tiamat they'll stop at nothing." "I will not be intimidated by superstition and occultists!" "You don't have to be intimidated, they'll do all the work." "They'll kill!" "Your credibility as a political figure will seriously be undermined with these crackpots on your tail." "I can't stop now!" "This is our country's future!" "Kahmil, come home." "You're in New York." "Well, I try to call it home." "I can't leave this to Gillian." "I know her... she won't give up." "Gillian!" "Daniel." "Ms Highgrove represents the interests of the Iraqi delegation." "What is your association with Dr Kahmil Hammadi?" "Hello, it's nice to meet you." "I'm Gillian Magwilde and you are in my lab." "Rachel Highgrove." "Nice to meet you." "What is your association?" "I was at university with him, er, we had sex." "Twice." "In 1992." "Twice?" "!" "Once is never quite enough." "May I have a word in private?" "Twice?" "Kahmil's an important man from an important family." "Many people think his obsession with these ancient objects is just going to drag Iraq back into the medieval quagmire." "But what is it he's looking for?" "I don't know." "Or you won't say." "Who killed Max Garris?" "Cultists?" "Maybe." "It's happened before in Baghdad." "You don't need to worry about Max Garris." "It's a diplomacy issue." "Our people can handle it." "Look, I'm just trying to help Kahmil, he's a friend..." "No, he was your friend twice in 1992." "We'll look after Dr Hammadi, you dig up your medieval buckets." "Right." "Yes, well I have a "bucket" waiting in the lab right now." "So I'd best get back to it." "Max?" "!" "Tiamat, the serpent who would enslave the world." "What is that?" "Do you know what, you used to be fun." "My god, it's beautiful." "Babylonian for certain." "Kahmil's after something else." "Something much more important." "Than this?" "I think the contents of this box is what he's after, and that's why Garris was killed." "But he won't tell you what it is." "He doesn't want to draw attention." "They're interviewing the whole Iraqi delegation over Max Garris' death." "They're talking about cultists, says here that when Kahmil starts promoting Iraq's Babylonian inheritance, it draws out all these wackos who follow Tiamat." "Tiamat, that's like the..." "That's like Babylonian devil-worshippers, innit?" "I love it!" "Tiamat!" "Oops, I've set him off." "In Babylonian mythology there was Marduk, the god of goodness." "And the goddess of evil was Tiamat." "A giant serpent." "That's what this is." "And I would say Dr Hammadi is searching for something of great importance that has drawn out forces of darkness who are trying to stop him." "Babylonian legend says that the god Marduk took on human form and slayed the evil serpent God Tiamat and ruled over the Earth." "Then Marduk dictated stone writings that told of his deeds, but also predicted the future." "How do we know?" "The Enuma Elish." "Ancient scriptures detailing the history of Babylonian gods." "It tells us of a tablet that has never been depicted." "The holy writings of a Babylonian god." "Well?" "Sorry, I'm just trying to get my eyebrow to raise cynically." "No, no, Gilly, this is what our boy is after." "Prophesies of a god." "He always liked to think big." "And you know, where there are gods there are always devils." "'I'm sure we can come to some agreement, Jimmy, but the price has dropped, 'it's three, not five...'" "Three?" "Three." "Jesus Christ, man, I just came down to five." "It's all we can do, Jimmy, I'm sorry." "Call me if you change your friggin' mind!" "Our looter found the Tablet Of Destinies?" "The Tablet was hidden after Alexander entered Babylon." "It was supposed to have predicted many troubles..." "The closest comparison I can make is that the Tablet Of Destinies is a Babylonian Ten Commandments." "This would be the greatest Babylonian artefact of all time." "No wonder Kahmil lied to us, he's after glory." "Don't be so ridiculous!" "If anything, he was trying to protect us." " From the cultists?" " Or from himself." "You have to go." "Not until we find the Tablet Of Destinies." "Kahmil, this is amazing." "It was put on the web anonymously." "He put these pictures up to attract buyers, I'm sure of it." "Now, I have analysed every Cuneiform symbol I can see." "This thing talks of the rise of a tyrant from Tikrit." "Saddam!" "It talks about the invasion from the West." "The Gulf War." "It gives dates, it's.." "It's incredible, Gilly!" "You can't really believe this is a genuine prophecy?" "A person is supposed to rise at this time, our time, called "The Gate"." "He will reunite the country." "I believe the other side of the tablet reveals who the gate is." "Is this why you've been hosting peace talks?" "You think this writings predict, that you will reunite Iraq?" "Do you get to wear a cape and a mask?" "It's about hope." "Our country has been raped and beaten into submission." "By Saddam." "By the West.By insurgents." "This tells us who we were and who we can be again." "Kahmil, this is arcane stuff." " You want a modern Iraq." " I want... a proud Iraq." "My brother controls the media." "We have connections to both Sunnis and Shiites." "Maybe, just maybe, people will believe these writings and that things can get better." "You'll get a nation of Muslims to follow the god Marduk?" "Marduk?" "Yahweh?" "Allah?" "There are so many different names but it all boils down to one God." "One hope, one chance, a unified Iraq." "'Alexander's army was exhausted, ' suffering from heat-stroke and the injuries of battle." "'But this beautiful young god inspired them to march double-time 'across the desert, following him...'" "I don't believe it..." "Shout, "Damn that woman!" Expunge the bile!" "She's not answering her phone." "Go on, expunge!" "I'd let her get on with it." "She reckons she's so right all the time." "Both of you - "Damn that woman!"" "If she's with him, then her life is at risk." "These photographs we found at Max Garris'..." "It makes sense that coming from Iraq they were taken by a photo-journalist." "Yeah." "These digital frame stock numbers, well, they'd be registered." "Reuters?" "Reuters, on their website..." "'If we can find a match then we'll get the name of the person who still has the Tablet." "Here we go...'" "Look." "Jimmy Paul, freelance photographer." "That's it, we have to stop the tablet getting?" "What was that?" "We've got a clear path to the door." "No, we'd be dead before we reached halfway." "Get back inside, there's a killer snake on the loose!" "I see you're in a hotel room with him." "Not now!" "No - sudden - moves." "So what do we do, stand here till it dies of boredom?" "Rudyard Kipling's gardener did it with a rake." "Why don't you just kill it?" "I'm a nature-lover." "We found out who's got the Tablet of Destinies." "Right then, let's go." "Cleve Farm." "This is the contact address on the website." "Look at this!" "No!" "Hang on a second, why have an all-singing, all-dancing electric oven installed and then boil a kettle on a butane stove?" "Oh, my god, it's real." "Please, please!" "Can I?" "This section here was not on the photographs." "We must decipher it." "OK, now what happens is you give it back to me." "It was never yours." "Look, mate, you stole it first, we steal it second." "Call it quits, you can keep the box." "Sorry, "mate"." "What the..." "Quick!" "Come on, baby..." "Look!" "What the hell's he doing here?" "He works for our Government." "He's been following me since I got here." "Did you check his bag for snakes?" "Ali." "Ali could be working for the cultists." "What, and he's in charge of the little girl?" "Little girl?" "What little girl?" " Kahmil..." " OK." "Let's go." "There's a little girl now?" "Where's Ali?" "What's happening?" "We need to get you somewhere safe, sweetheart." "Ali is protecting me!" "He keeps me safe!" "We'll take her back to the university." "But Ali's my friend!" "He said not to trust anyone!" "Least of all Ali." "When I meet Tiamat, I'll give her your best..." " Sir, it's me..." " Do you have it?" "No, they're heading back to the city." "This is all so damn surreal..." "Look, I think you should just tell him, sir, before he winds up dead." "This doesn't make sense." "Part of the inscription isn't in cuneiform." "Is this thing really supposed to bring peace?" "If it inspires my countrymen as it has inspired me, then yes." "It's brought precious little peace so far, hasn't it?" "Can we just get back to the lab?" "Look at it!" "It's not every day you get to look upon writings dictated by a god." "Right, let's clean it using low grade acid and then take a scan for a 3D model." "It gives a time when the gate will be revealed to the people... talks of them walking through the gate with their new future." "But this side of the tablet I can't make out, it looks like some kind of code." "We should call the police." "We are in way over our heads." "But that would just undermine Kahmil further." "You don't really believe Iraq's answers lie here, do you?" "His belief in this Babylonian prophecy is never going to be taken seriously, in Iraq or in the West." "You like him?" "He talks about my country, but really he's talking about himself." "'And these markings are so rare, they have yet to be deciphered...'" "It's the same." "What's the same?" "Those squares on the statue." "They are like...that." "So the decipher mechanism for this code is etched into the base of a palace gate." "Maybe it was hidden on all the royal gates." "Now we have a problem, gaining access to these markings." "That's the main atrium of the museum." "Not a problem." "The markings are partially clogged with stone fragments." "We'll need to clean that with low-grade acid or masonry bits." "Plus, we don't know how the cipher works." "I can do it." "Maybe you can." "OK, so assuming no-one's brought their Invisibility Cloak with them, how are we supposed to excavate in a public museum without anyone noticing?" "..Professor Mastiff is an acclaimed expert on Babylonian culture." "His DVD film on the fall of the city to Alexander has been re-released and I..." "I suddenly thought this was a good time to highlight not only his documentary, but also my personal mission to see greater cultural understanding between our two nations." "Of course, all this is just a bit of fun." "The DVD points to a greater cooperation between the Baghdad Institute and British academics who wish to bring its treasures to a wider public." "And it's still at the special offer price of?" "6.99." "And to celebrate Anglo-Iraqi relations, the mayor will be holding a civic reception here tonight, before the delegation leave tomorrow." " Are there any questions?" " Arsenal." "I'm here in case the press want a little tour of the relics." "If they do come through, would you be across the security in a supervisory capacity?" "I can spot a military man." "Excellent." "Why are we doing this?" "For Kahmil?" "Iraq?" "Ourselves?" "Why go after toothpicks and medieval pots when you can go after prophecies written by ancient gods,eh?" "Enoug?" "Ok" "Now let's get out of here before Mastiff rides through those doors on his sodding chariot." "So, these are the missing symbols from the arch in the museum." "Wow, well, it all joins up." "But what does it mean?" "It's a puzzle." "I am good at puzzles." "It's easy!" "Hey!" "Oh my God." "Arrows." "But what are the arrows pointing to?" "No, they're only there to line up the code." "This is the cryptic code found on the tablet, and this, the section found on the stone arch in the museum." "When they have their new position, the words are in a new order, revealing a new text." "We've cracked it." "These are the words highlighted." "No, this is all wrong, we have to start again." " Viv, I need the toilet." " Sure." "I'll take you." "You bastard!" "She's just a baby!" "Five.." "Four..." "Three..." "Do you want to go to a party with Aunt Rachel?" "Kahmil, whose identity is on that thing?" "We need to go." "Khanna and I." "We need to go right now." "No, no, no, not until you tell..." "He's taken her!" "We might still catch them." "Where is she?" "It wasn't him!" "It was a white guy took Khanna!" "The one that came with Rachel Highgrove." "Ask him why he was at the caravan." "I protect Khanna!" "I protect everyone!" "You dangerous, that's why I followed you!" "He didn't want your search to endanger the delegation." "That's why he's been tailing you." "You are dangerous to us." "Don't be crazy." "No, no, he's right." "You pulled us into this based on your arrogant obsession." "Don't take your eyes off him." "We're going to gatecrash Ms Highgrove's party at the museum." "You don't know what's at stake." "Kahmil, it's OK." "You don't know what I know." "The gate is Khanna." "Now, I am leaving here alone, with the Tablet." "I know what I have to do." "'It's Dr Hammadi, I'm outside.'" "I'll be right out." "I knew you'd understand what needs to be done." "May I, please, Doctor?" "She's fine." "But if you don't hand over that wretched thing, who knows?" "Now what happens is you join the party and you tell everybody that you got caught up in a wild goose chase for a silly mythical artefact." "You realise in so doing you have belittled the contemporary political purpose of this visit." "Who are you working for?" "Shall we?" "Please tell me that's not his phone." "He dropped it." "I picked it up." "There's a message on here from his brother." "So what?" "What?" "It needs a security code word." "You should have known better, Gilly." "Kahmil was always arrogant, could always twist you round his little finger." "People change." "Sometimes not that much." "Pack that in, you little bitch!" "Now, we are gonna wait upstairs, well out of the way." "And if you're good, we'll play cards." "Do you like cards?" "We're going to break the news to Kahmil and get the tablet back." "Hang on." "RH." "Rachel Highgrove." "No." "Surely she would never be that... ..stupid." "Turns out she is." "Dr Hammadi has been involved in the hunt for a spurious stolen artefact." "His actions have, as they have in the past, done nothing except provoke violence." "Rather than inspire, Dr Hammadi has undermined Iraq and reminded us all that it can still be a country living in the Dark Ages." "Doctor, would you make your statement now?" "Dr Hammadi's a crackpot obsessed with ancient curses and magic prophesies." "Heavy stuff there, Rachel." "Be warned, Doctor, you're on thin ice." "I live on thin ice, love." "I listened to your brother, Kahmil." "He likes to speak to you from on high, doesn't he?" "'I have painful news for you, my brother," "I did everything in my power to stop you from your quest." "'You paid no heed to my warnings or to the occultist 'attacks that Rachel Highgrove stage-managed to frighten you away." "'We have to talk, Kahmil, before any more die." "'I have powerful reasons why it is best for the tablet to remain buried.'" "He set up these ritualistic attacks." "To so totally undermine you that your Sunni-Shia peace conference would be ruined." "He doesn't want a strong Iraq at all." "He doesn't want his Western interests disrupted." "He doesn't want his people to have hope." "It's bad for business." "Western business." "The business he's invested in." "He set it all up, didn't he?" "Belittling your validity and the importance of the tablet." "The tablet was going to be your guiding light at the peace table." "You know, he's not the first to be scared." "There are records that show that Alexander's men found the Tablet of Destinies, but Alexander knew that it offered the Babylonians hope." "And the people with hope can rise up." "He didn't want his rule threatened, so he had the tablet taken back to its hiding place." "Do you think your brother and his friends in the States really want everything to change?" "Dr Hammadi has brought this...this shame upon himself." "And he will be making a formal statement...to that effect." "My own brother would see me shamed and ruined, all to keep Iraq lowly and to preserve his business interests?" "!" "Kahmil!" "Whatever is written on this thing, it will either happen or it won't." "My little brother went in search of hope and found you." "A shame for both of you." "Let's get it in the car." "Ms Highgrove wants her..." "We need to get her out of here!" "Wait!" "Wait." "Bring me back Khanna or I will be forced to shoot you." " I'm sorry." " No!" "Why do people not want us to have hope?" "Amwar?" "You're here!" "Amwar, what are you doing?" "Stop, stop!" "Oh, God, let her go." " Please!" " Don't." "Why, Amwar?" "Why?" "They need the west to survive." "Not superstition." "Not more beliefs." "They?" "Aren't you an Iraqi too?" "You plan to do what Alexander did?" "Extinguish a nation's hope?" "It can't be done." "One gate will close and another will open." "I mean, you are greedy, Mr Hammadi, and supremely manipulative and unimaginably selfish." "But you're not a child-killer." "Are you so intent on going to hell?" "Hell?" "Ah, Gillian!" "I think we have a claim to hold onto the Tablet for a few months." "Will you back me up?" "No, but thanks for thinking of me." "We are going to tell all sides that there was once a prophecy about our country." "And it had a happy ending." "Do you think a little girl really can help a whole country?" "It's a puzzle." "I am good at puzzles." "Are you gonna be OK?" "I'm sorry I stared when we first met but it was obvious to me." "I know." "And you do too, don't you?" "Go well." "You too." "Look, mate, you're loaded." "You could live anywhere in the world." "But you choose to live there." "And you choose to work with Gillian Magwilde." "Which one of us is the bravest?" "Bye, then." "That bumf about the meteorite in Assyria." "Any help to you?" "Yeah, maybe." "It may be the breakthrough your mother never had." "Oh, Dolly, why would I follow my mum's obsessions?" "It was all madness, wasn't it?" "Of course." "Come on, keys, come to Gilly." "Very funny, Dolly." ""I would love to talk to you." ""By the way, I'm next door."" "Hello?" "Dolly, is that you?" "Because it's been a long day and I'm not in the bloody mood." "I should warn you," "I've got an Etruscan spear in my hand and I'm not afraid to use it." "Look at this." "First World War, Mark One." "I think it's been buried." "Oh." "Clear the area!" "Run, run!" "Oh my God." " No!" " Marmite." "Magwilde." "Becker." "They're Germans, doesn't have to make sense." "The man on the right... is that body there." "This isn't just a war grave." "It's a war crime." "We've all got them." "These men were obsessed with Joan of Arc." "Dr Magwilde, I need to have access." "Danke!" "Hell of a thing, being around you." "I'm a hell of a ride."