Apollo Shane and and The Death Pyramid

Synopsis

Apollo Shane and the Death Pyramid is a story of friendship, mystery, and adventure set against a backdrop of exciting and colorful destinations. It is a tale for all ages, although older children and young adults will especially enjoy the novel. Julius Shane receives the nickname Apollo from his best friend Jimmy Johnson when they are twelve years old. Jimmy saw an interesting pattern in Julius’ behavior, frequently catching him reaching for the stars with his head in the clouds. The novel begins when Apollo is all grown up, living a routine life of work and responsibility. He’s bored with his mediocre, boring life in New York City and can’t seem to stop dreaming of the good old days of his youth. He often finds himself daydreaming of the glory days with Jimmy, secretly hoping that someday he can live a life of excitement and adventure again.

In the beginning, Apollo was a proactive, positive child always looking for a good adventure. If he couldn’t find one, he often would create one. Apollo and Jimmy were a team. You could find them staging train robberies, rescuing each other from villains, and fighting off their enemies, always with victory. They were inseparable, and secretly wished that they could remain twelve years old forever. Their childhood years flew by and before long the two friends grew into men and went their separate ways.

Grown up, Apollo found himself in a boring and predictable life. Every single day he longed for those days of adventure and knew that he had to take action and make a change. He was in a slump and knew he had to pick himself up. He was determined to make a change, as he truly desired to live his life to the fullest. After deciding to take a well-needed vacation to his hometown, he decided to look up his old pal Jimmy who is now living in Chicago. Apollo travels to Chicago and the two friends reunite after ten years. Apollo is fascinated when he learns of Jimmy’s research project at the university where he is employed. Apollo wants to learn more about the mysterious Death Pyramid project. While Jimmy steps out for the day, Apollo sneaks into Jimmy’s lab to relieve his curiosity. He finds himself trapped inside the university lab where he has to use his creativity to escape. Then Apollo’s life takes a turn for the better. Jimmy offers him a once in a lifetime opportunity to live out their childhood fantasies, only this time the adventure is real. Jimmy explains their mission, which is to travel to Russia and acquire two sacred golden chips and return them safely to the university museum. As they travel to Russia, Jimmy tells Apollo more about the great legend of the Death Pyramid and the mighty king Oregon who is entombed there and was the original holder of five golden chips. The king had two servants who were once very loyal to him, but after years of abuse and punishment, the servants took revenge by poisoning the king. The king was entombed with all of his precious treasures. Legend says that the king’s cruel spirit was fueled by the power of the golden chips. Before the servants could escape with the king’s treasure, the spirit of the king destroyed them, but kept their souls near to continue to serve him. The chips were spread throughout the four corners of Egypt, traded, bought and sold, stolen, and men even died to possess them.

Their journey begins in Russia where Apollo is introduced to two characters that will assist him in living the adventure of a lifetime. Reming and Zelna, comrades of Jimmy’s, help them locate the mansion of Huns Dure just outside of St. Petersburg. It is at Huns Dure’s where they will acquire the two golden chips for the museum. What at first seems like a routine transaction soon turns into a shootout in the oversized wine cellar of the Dure mansion. As Apollo attempts to hide from the danger, he finds an Egyptian prisoner who will forever change the lives of Apollo’s team. The animated Egyptian, Ala Homey, helps Apollo locate the two golden chips and offers to guide the team to locate the other three in return for helping him escape the grip of Huns Dure. After the escape, the team finds themselves in an endless battle to hold on to the chips while trying to locate the others. By acquiring all five golden chips, they will have the opportunity to penetrate the king’s tomb inside of the Death Pyramid where they will find treasures, which will make them the richest people on earth.

After an intense battle with Huns Dure, the team heads to Egypt to discover the remaining golden chips. Ala Homey, who is grateful and indebted to Apollo for saving his life, invites Apollo to join him at his homecoming celebration. After more than two years of captivity in Dure’s mansion, Ala is anxious to return home and see his family. Apollo meets the Homey family and becomes intrigued by the Egyptian culture. The party on the rooftop of Ala’s apartment turns out to be one of the best nights of Apollo’s life. He soon learns where the other three golden chips are located. Ala explains that two of the chips are buried below the Nile River in the crystal cavern. Legend says that the ancient Egyptians hid the precious chips in the cavern to protect them from thieves and treasure seekers. The fifth and most powerful chip is in the hands of an Egyptian voodoo doctor, Muhammad Nashi.

Apollo, Jimmy, and the rest of the team anxiously begin their quest for the chips. Soon they discover that there are other interested parties. The Saudis are also in Egypt searching for the chips. They have learned that Apollo’s team has two of them and are aggressively hunting them down. They find the team on the streets of Cairo where they unsuccessfully retrieve the chips, but take Zelna as their prize. They take her to the Saudi fortress in Cairo, an embassy filled with brainwashed prisoners. Reming, Zelna’s Russian partner, insists on going back to rescue her. Apollo joins Reming in the rescue, as they have to penetrate the heavily guarded walls of the fortress. As they enter the fortress from an underground sewer system, they meet up with an American prisoner named Jack who helps them locate Zelna. With Jack’s help they rescue her and escape the fortress unharmed, then head back to meet up with the others. They realize that they have been betrayed by Jimmy’s engineer friend, plump Russell, and then head to the Nile River where they must save Jimmy and Ala.

The team continues to fight off their enemies as they search out the chips. Soon they find themselves in the beautiful and mysterious crystal cavern. The cavern is filled with spectacular waterfalls, eye watering crystal formations, poisonous snakes called Sooz, and another interesting character named Vincent. The muddy man helps the team locate the chips and gets them out of the cavern safely before they all perish beneath the Nile.

After a few days of rest and recuperation, the team heads to Kandar to approach Dr. Nashi, who possesses the fifth and most powerful chip. They find Kandar a very mysterious village, unlike any place they have ever seen. The people of Kandar are all young in age with the help of the well of youth, which sits in the middle of the village. Nashi has been expecting the team and welcomes them with a feast. The team enjoys Nashi’s hospitality not knowing that all along they are being hypnotized by his powers. Ala Homey is the only one who keeps his head and soon finds himself in a show down of wits as Nashi unveils his game of Yamana cards which will tell the fate of Ala and the team. It is in the game of cards that Ala realizes his connection to the golden chips and the Death Pyramid. The cards reveal that his ancient ancestors were the servants of king Oregon and Ala becomes even more determined to acquire the fifth chip and penetrate the tomb of the king. After beating Nashi at his own game, Ala and the team gather the five chips and begin their journey to the tomb.

The journey continues through the sands of Egypt and it isn’t long before the powers of the chips begin to break down the team. Jimmy soon becomes obsessed with the golden chip powers and becomes an adversary to the team. After cooperating with the Saudi enemy, Jimmy leaves Apollo to die, as he wants the treasures of the pyramid all to himself. Apollo finds himself all alone in the hot desert, beaten, tired, and betrayed. His allegiance to his new friend Ala Homey and his hope for Jimmy, keep him alive. Fortunately, he stumbles upon a valuable new friend, Revon, who holds the key to defeat the king’s wrath. With the help of Revon’s black book, which can foresee the future, Apollo carries on to the Death Pyramid to save his friends.

Jimmy realizes that Apollo still holds the fifth chip and sends Reming and Jack to find him. They think he is dead but soon find out the truth about Jimmy and what really happened. They eventually find Apollo and have to engage the Saudis one last time. They soon race to the Death Pyramid where Jimmy, Zelna, Ala Homey and the diggers search for the tomb of the king. Once Apollo shows himself, Jimmy becomes angry in his possessed state and demands the fifth golden chip, which he needs to open the tomb. After a struggle ensues, Jimmy and Ala locate the tomb and enter with the help of the five golden chips. They are amazed and shocked by what they find; riches and treasures beyond the imagination along with king Oragon’s ruthless spirit. Apollo continues to have hope for his best friend, but Jimmy’s greed and carelessness get the best of him. He finds his way into the tomb and with the help of Revon’s black book, breaks the king’s spirit once and for all. Apollo and Ala escape the tomb without injury and along with Zelna, drive away as fast as they can as they finally realize the resting place of the king is not for mans eyes.

Apollo realizes his ultimate adventure and discovers a new friend in the process. The quest for the Death Pyramid teaches him several valuable life lessons, the biggest being that you should never give up on your dreams. The boy next door, Apollo Shane, waves goodbye to Ala Homey and heads back to the states with a story that no one will ever believe.