by Rai Aren
The hunt was now underway for Zhek.
Chapter 33
Wanted, Present-day Egypt
THE van sped away. The four Americans headed back to the only refuge they had, Khamir’s house. They were all too frightened and shocked to say much on the fast drive back.
Finally they arrived. They parked around the corner from the house, near a hedge away from a street light so the van wouldn’t easily be spotted.
“Do you think we were followed?” Alex asked, grabbing her bag to retrieve the spare house key Khamir had given them before their raid on the Sphinx.
“Not with Mitch’s driving,” Jack replied, watching Bob stagger out of the van. The big man looked like he was about to pass out.
“Where did you learn to drive like that?” Bob asked, hunched over, his hands on his knees.
“Desperate times call for desperate measures, my friend,” Mitch replied, his body full of adrenaline. “Come on, let’s get inside.”
The foursome went in, turning on only one light in the living room. They were trying to attract as little attention as possible.
Alex went into the kitchen to make coffee. She rifled through the cupboards and brought out some biscuits for them all to share, along with a pitcher of water and some mugs. ‘Running for your life worked up quite an appetite,’ she thought to herself.
The hungry fugitives quickly tucked into the biscuits.
“So,” Jack finally spoke up, “now that we have a moment to think, what the heck are we going to do? Besides run from the law that is.”
Alex snickered. Jack winked at her.
“Good question,” Mitch added.
“If you’re referring to the Pharom, Dr. Khadesh didn’t give us any clues as to where he was going when he went to hide it,” Bob said. “I think it’s hopeless.”
“It’s never hopeless, Bob,” Alex said, smiling at him. “Consider everything we’ve done and accomplished just to get to this point.”
“I guess,” he said, “but that was an awfully close call. I’m not too keen on tempting fate any further.” He stretched out, leaning his head back on the sofa. “Plus, I’m beat.”
“Let’s think for a minute,” Mitch suggested, taking a chair to sit down. “If we were Dr. Khadesh, where would we hide the Pharom?”
Silence.
“Ok, I don’t know either,” he said. “Well then, for starters, we could review what we know. See if something jumps out at us.”
“Good idea,” Alex said. “I’ll check on the coffee. That’ll help us get our thinking caps on.”
“More biscuits, too?” Bob asked, his head popping up quickly.
She giggled.
A few minutes later, Alex brought out the coffee and another plate of biscuits. They all helped themselves. The rich aroma of the coffee wafted through the room.
“Alex, have I ever told you that you’re an absolute angel?” Jack beamed as he poured a mug of steaming Egyptian coffee.
It was her turn to wink at him.
He blushed.
Bob rolled his eyes.
Mitch was oblivious to the exchange. He had been busy scribbling down notes. “I’ve been trying to go through things that could lead us to where he might have hidden it. It can’t be something too obvious,” he pondered, scratching his chin. “Let’s see, the Pharom, a device that has enormous destructive powers, was hidden underneath the Sphinx for thousands of years. It’s iconic for the Kierani people, and its old hiding place was symbolic, a monument to Egypt’s greatness. So it would only make sense for Dr. Khadesh to hide it in a place that has some kind of meaning. Knowing him, I’d bet it would be at another monument in Egypt. I don’t think he would have taken it out of the country, as a point of honor.”
“Well that certainly narrows the field down. Hmmm…what monuments in Egypt have significant meaning,” Jack asked sarcastically. “Anybody?”
“Stuff it, smart alec,” Bob said, swatting the back of his head.
“Well,” Alex said, sitting down next to Mitch, “going with that line of thinking, the Pyramids of Giza are well known and have many symbolic meanings, the Temple of Ramses II in Abu Simbel was a tribute to Ancient Egypt’s most powerful Pharaoh and man-god, the Great Temple of Amun in Karnak has avenues of ram-headed sphinxes, the Luxor Temple…”
Mitch ran his fingers through his hair, whistling. “This is going to be a big list.”
“Ok, ok,” Jack interrupted. “Egypt is heaven for archaeologists. How are we going to narrow down the possibilities? We don’t have time to search all of these monuments. We only have until Friday and these sites are in different regions of Egypt.”
Alex shook her head. “None of those feel right. You know, I get the feeling he would have taken a slightly different approach this time,” she said. “The Sphinx is so massive. The Pharom’s hiding place was, in a sense, in plain sight.”
“Right,” Mitch added. “I see where you’re going with this.” He took a sip of his coffee.
Alex got up and walked across the room. “What if he left us a hint of some kind?” she said, turning back around. “If you remember, he’s said some odd things to us on occasion, things that didn’t really make sense to me at the time.”
“Like what?” Jack asked.
“Yeah, a lot of what he said didn’t make sense to me,” Bob chimed in.
“There was something from the last time we saw him…” Alex’s voice trailed off. “It stuck with me, it was so odd.” She thought for a moment, then snapped her fingers. “It was the cryptic answer he gave when I asked him where he was going to store the Pharom. What was it exactly?”
“I remember,” Jack said. “I thought he was just being a pompous…” He stopped himself. “Anyways, he said something to the effect of not lighting our way.”
“That’s right,” Mitch said. He pointed to Alex. “He was also talking about your name having origins in ancient Egypt or something.”
“Bingo!” she said, pointing back at him.
“Ok, your name Alex, short for Alexandra,” Mitch continued, “is the female version of Alexander. Alexander the Great…”
“My dad named me after the city of Alexandria, where the Royal Library once was. Ancient books and history were his life,” she said. “That’s also a significant landmark.”
“There was something else in Alexandria, the lighthouse…”
Alex’s eyes lit up. “Yes!”
“Ptolemy, one of Alexander’s generals,” Mitch continued, “built a lighthouse in the city named after Alexander in 320 AD. That monument was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.”
“One of the seven wonders of the ancient world…” Alex repeated. “That’s pretty significant.”
Mitch nodded. “Last time we were here in Egypt we concluded that the Pharom, which we believe was an earlier form of the word Pharos – the Greek word for lighthouse - was basically built to be used as a beacon of some sort.”
“The way the lighthouse acted as a beacon to guide travelers safely into the harbor.” She looked at Mitch, her eyebrows raised. “What do you think?”
“Well, as you suggested, that would be very different from the hiding place under the Sphinx. It’s a much newer site, relatively speaking, and far away from the Sphinx. And you have to admit, very symbolic, yet out of eyesight.”
“Could that be it?” Alex asked, growing excited at the possibility. “Could the Pharom be hidden somewhere on Pharos Island?”
“But I thought the Pharos, or Lighthouse of Alexandria was destroyed?” Bob asked, helping himself to another biscuit.
“It was badly damaged by an earthquake in 320 AD,” Alex replied, “then totally destroyed by more earthquakes several hundred years later. Most of the lighthouse crashed into the Mediterranean Sea.”
> “How can we search for the Pharom there if the lighthouse is gone?” Bob asked.
“Actually that’s not completely true, the Citadel or Fort of Qaitbay was built on the location of the lighthouse,” Mitch replied. “Also some of the fallen masonry from the lighthouse was used to construct the fort. It would make sense to hide the Pharom there. It has significant meaning and it would be very much like Dr. Khadesh to hide it there.”
“It sounds perfect. But, where exactly?” Alex asked. “It’s a big area.”
“Good question,” Mitch said, furrowing his brow. He sighed. “I don’t know how much more we can figure out from here.”
Alex thought for a moment. “Me neither. I think we’re fresh out of clues.” She clapped her hands together. “Okay, that settles it,” she said, her excitement clearly evident in her voice, “we’re going to Alexandria.”
Bob groaned.
“When do we leave?” Jack asked, cupping his mug in his hands.
“We need some rest first,” Mitch sighed. “We’re all pretty beat. It’s been a long day.”
“Agreed,” Alex said. “Plus we need to plan this out with clear, focused heads. I’m crashing, too.”
Bob grabbed the remote control. “How about some mindless TV for a little bit?”
“Sure, then we can figure out something to do for dinner,” Alex said, plopping down between him and Jack, who was yawning and looking a little bleary eyed.
Bob turned on the TV. A newscast was on. They all gasped.
On all channels, news reporters displayed Mitch, Alex, Jack and Bob’s pictures. The stations showed grainy and slightly blurry images from the airport security cameras.
“You have got to be kidding me!” Bob exclaimed.
“Just great,” Jack said. “We’re officially fugitives.”
“We’re going to end up in an Egyptian prison,” Bob said. “We’re doomed!”
“Not yet, Bob,” Alex said, trying to sound hopeful.
They all listened to the newscast, which gave physical descriptions of them, and indicated they were wanted in connection with the bomb incident at the airport.
Mitch took a deep breath and sighed. “Well, it was only going to be a matter of time before that little escapade caught up with us,” he said. “But, the good news is that the pictures from the security cameras are a bit hazy. It’s hard to make out our faces clearly. We were on the run.”
“But they think I’m 40 to 45!” Bob complained. “I’m the same age as Jack. I don’t look that old, do I?” Bob grabbed his large protruding stomach and then put one hand to his once again scruffy beard. “Is it the beard? My belly? What?”
Alex leaned over to Bob and teasingly rubbed his beard. “You would look younger if you shaved it off. Losing some inches off your waistline would also help, and it would add years to your life,” Alex said, eyeing Bob’s big, round stomach.
“Prison should help with that,” Jack said.
“I’m going to strangle you,” Bob said, reaching around Alex for Jack’s neck.
She stopped him. “Priorities boys.”
“Yeah, Bob. They called us terrorists remember? We’re wanted criminals,” Jack said, sighing. “It doesn’t seem as glamorous as it does in the movies.”
“What are we going to do, Alex?” Mitch asked. “This complicates things.”
She thought for a moment. “It does.”
They all sat there staring at the TV as news reports came on one after the other, all talking about the same thing. Them.
“We can’t stop now,” she said finally.
“Um, yeah, I think we can, Alex,” Bob replied. “How can we possibly proceed while we’re running from the Egyptian police?”
“If only Khadesh and Khamir were here…” Mitch said, his voice trailing off. He thought about the predicament their friends were in. “Alex is right. We can’t leave them to their fates with Maximilian. We have to help them.”
Bob didn’t reply. He knew they were right.
“Then it’s agreed,” Jack said. “We help our friends. They’d do it for us.”
“So, if they’re looking for us, we should change our appearances,” Alex said. “I’m going to dye my hair black,” she said as she grabbed the ponytail of her long blonde hair. “Mitch, you’re going to have to lose the glasses and wear your contact lenses. Maybe we can cut your hair really short, too, a brush cut. Or better yet, shave it,” she said, grinning.
“We’ll cut it short,” Mitch replied.
“Fine, but I’d like to see you bald.”
“I’d like to see you bald,” he shot back.
“Anyways…” she said, rolling her eyes, “Bob, you can shave your beard and we’ll give you a shorter haircut as well, try to tame some of those wild curls,” she said as she mussed up his hair with her fingers.
“Quit it!” Bob said, pushing her hand away.
She sized Jack up. “Let’s dye your hair black, too, and get you some baggy clothes. It’ll make you look heavier.” She looked at her friends and smiled. “We’ll all get makeovers. It’ll be fun!”
“Fun,” Bob repeated, “just what I was thinking.”
Chapter 34
Funeral, Circa 10,000 B.C.
THE sad task of planning the Head Priest’s burial fell to Odai and Senarra. They were numb from the loss of the man they had looked to for guidance nearly their entire lives. It was a tremendous loss for them personally, for the priesthood, and for the Kierani people.
The mood of the people the day of the funeral was solemn. Assan had been granted a Royal funeral, befitting the honored place he held for so long in Kierani society. A procession wound its way through the streets of the main city. Thousands of mourners lined the path, tossing flowers and small flowering branches into the streets as a horse-drawn carriage transported the Royal Family through the city. Seated inside with her family, Princess Anjia carried Assan’s ashes in a golden urn draped in rich fabric decorated with both the crest of the Royal Family and symbols of the priesthood. The Head Priest’s ashes would be cast into the river, as he had wished. Assan had wanted to join the life force of the river, to forever be a part of it upon his passing.
Once the funerals for Assan, along with the others who died in the fire, were held and the people had been given time to mourn, it was time to move forward once again.
In light of the recent tragic events, the King arranged for a somber, modest ceremony to take place at the main temple to appoint Odai as the new Head Priest. Ordinarily the ceremony to appoint a new Head Priest, a position that was held for life, was second only in grandeur and scale to the crowning of a Royal King or Queen. But these were not ordinary times. Assan, though having lived a good, long and meaningful life had died with violence and brutality. Odai’s appointment would be reflective of the sad and solemn circumstances with which he came to the position, far earlier than had been anticipated.
Only the members of the Royal Family, Odai, Senarra and their son, Auraelion, and members of the priesthood attended the low-key ceremony, which King Traeus officiated.
