While the flight attendant left to bring her a meal, Lydia tapped the XGlass, which she kept on just in case Neo had to alert her with any news and said, “did you listen to the conversation? I hope you are in your bed still sleeping.”
“Of course, I listened.”
“I think your beauty is going to get us into trouble. It seems that women are attracted to you as much as men. Why did you offer to buy her a drink?” Neo asked with a slight yawn.
“Well, aren’t you a curious cat, but you know what happened at the end with the kitty?” Lydia said playfully.
“I just wanted to get rid of her. I gave her a little false hope, so she’d leave me in peace. You don’t have to remind me to stay away from that hotel.”
“I hope I’ll have the time to rest when all this ordeal is behind us.”
“Any trace of Helen’s killers?”
“I wonder if they managed to somehow tap into the airport security surveillance and trace me.”
“The investigation is still ongoing; it was a bullet shot from outside. But nothing to worry about at the moment, Lydia. No one can place you inside Berlaymont when it happened. I made sure of it…”
◆◆◆
The Phoenix was boiling with anger, “so you managed to lose her again?”
“Master, I didn’t have any option. By the time I traced her, she already boarded a plane.”
“I have taken a private charter, and I’ll arrive immediately after her. I might be able to intercept her at the airport because I’ll be skipping all the security checks.”
“Master, do you know why she is going to Egypt?” the Assassin asked, his voice indicating he felt humiliated.
“I do not know, but it must be related to what she found in de Moncler’ s office. The stakes are incredibly high now.”
“What baffles me is that she managed to exit our vault, despite all the security measures put in place.”
“I’ll personally come to Cairo and, together, will find the underlying cause of this.”
The Assassin’s voice started to tremble, and he uttered: “Master, I have done everything I could in order not to fail you, but this girl has managed to elude me. She clearly has some help. She is not acting alone.”
“One of de Moncler’s henchmen must be offering her logistical support. I’ll find out who it is and eliminate him soon.”
“End transmission,” the Phoenix roared. Twenty-five minutes later, he was boarding his private jet.
“Pass me the phone and get me the President of Egypt,” he ordered his valet.
“Yes, your eminence. It shall be done.”
§CHAPTER 37§
LYDIA HAD a very smooth landing. The coffee, in addition to the several hours of sleep, helped reinvigorate her mind. The dream she had was still with her and she couldn’t shake it.
Could it be possible that this secret remained hidden for more than two millennia? Did I see glimpses of the past? What could have caused this vision?
She touched the inner pocket of her jacket and felt the surface of the mini-pyramidion artifact, which was slightly vibrating.
Could it be that the dream was, in fact, a distant memory of Jesus somehow embedded into it?
Maybe I should tell Neo, or perhaps he should not worry about me. He has to worry about his ASL.
This will be my burden to carry.
The brand-new Cairo Sphinx International Airport was just open some months ago. It was specially designed to serve masses of tourists, who were flooding into Egypt again.
A global frenzy began because Egypt would be displaying new archeological wonders for the first time ever inside the world’s largest museum dedicated to one civilization—the Grand Egyptian Museum, or GEM.
Lydia was fascinated with this project since its construction began several years ago.
She knew that GEM hosted more than 100,000 artifacts from Egypt and beyond, out of which 20,000 would be shown to the public at large for the very first time.
“Lydia, I am a bit jealous. I would have liked to be there with you on this part of the journey,” Neo said with a sad voice.
“The flight attendant was gorgeous. Are you sure you don’t want to visit her? If you change your mind, please leave the XGlass active.”
“You naughty boy. You would like to watch, wouldn’t you? I am afraid there won’t be time to fool around,” Lydia said playfully.
“Your driver will be Abu,” Neo said. “He doesn’t speak any English, but he seems exceptionally reliable. You can use the XGlass live Arabic translator.
“I have more good news,” Neo said with excitement.
Apparently, Helene’s clue was in ancient Greek, with the approximate translation:
“The pagan holy circle will show you the way, and under the perfection of the right hand of Kosmos when lost in darkness, the cruciform will show you the light.”
“What could it mean, Neo? Could this be located in Greece?
“Maybe your research skills will prove extremely useful again,” Lydia said with hope in her voice.
“You might be right, Lydia. I can’t think of anything at the moment. But I am sure I’ll find a plausible answer.”
After passing a relaxed security check, nobody asked her what the mini-pyramidion was doing in her pocket.
The moment Lydia exited the airport, she was hit by a wave of warmth, a welcome feeling after the horrendous gray Brussels’ weather.
Lydia always loved to be caressed by the sun’s rays. She was impressed by the outside area of the airport adorned with modern glass and brownish colored stone slabs that imitated the color of sand dunes.
The entrance and exit were guarded by several well-armed soldiers in case any intruders attempted an attack.
There was no time to lose, and she knew that this would be a race against the clock.
§CHAPTER 38§
ABU WAS ALREADY parked in front of the main entrance, waiting with a tablet: Madame del Biondo.
Lydia went straight to him, and the short, round driver quickly opened the passenger door, with surprising agility for a man his size.
“Welcome to Egypt madame del Biondo. No luggage?” the driver asked, slightly puzzled.
“No luggage. I am traveling light.”
“I am rather in a hurry. Is our destination far away?” Lydia asked, knowing that for her plan to succeed, she would have to quickly time all her movements.
“Not far, Madame, we have a thirty-minute drive to the Grand Egyptian Museum via the beautiful Alexandria Desert Road.”
“We have the largest Archaeological museum in the world. I want to see it myself,” the driver said in broken English.
For Lydia, it was clear that this was a line he learned for all his customers.
Neo started to whisper into her XGlass:
“A symbol of Egypt’s new ruling class and to bring to life a new wave of tourism which would not have been possible with the security and infrastructure of the old Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square.”
“This legendary museum also had to be revamped and transformed from practically a storehouse to a new museum.”
“There were so many artifacts still deposited in the old museum’s archives that even GEM would not have been able to exhibit all of them. They were discovered over the last two hundred years by several generations of archaeologists.”
“The GEM, a $1 billion state-of-the-art, glass, and concrete display space had at its heart the most precious Egyptian treasures taking its visitors on the same quest as the explorer Howard Carter made when discovering Tutankhamun, a century ago.”
“It sounds exciting,” Lydia said, and after some more minutes of driving, a magnificent view appeared: the shining structure of the GEM overlooking the Giza plateau’s famous pyramid complex.
It was built on the slope between the Nile valley, where the main entrance was, and the Giza plateau.
◆◆◆
Above Lydia’s limo, the Assassin was following her closely by watch
ing a live video feed on his XGlass from the drone, which he programmed to follow the license plate of the car Lydia was in.
The Egyptian weather was still scorching in October, and he could not stand the heat of the sun. “I hate the bloody desert. The faster I accomplish this mission the better,” he muttered with displeasure.
“This time, there is no escape.”
He drove a black BMW SUV and carefully monitored the trajectory of Lydia’s car.
◆◆◆
At the main entrance, Lydia was admiring the fountains and the palm trees among the white limestone, arranged in perfectly triangular green and white formations.
“I am afraid we have a problem that we can use to our advantage. The increase in cases of COVID-19 in Egypt will soon trigger the closure of all tourist sites,” Neo announced worried.
“The GEM has advanced security systems in case of a terrorist attack. I think I can hack into their system and issue an alert to have it evacuated for you so you can access the Benben stone.”
From the highway, they passed a modern building labeled: CONSERVATION CENTER. After a couple of minutes of driving, she caught her first glimpse of the museum’s immaculate entrance.
Its gigantic translucent façade was designed to subtly mirror the nearby pyramids.
The driver stopped, and Lydia exited quickly, muttering: “shukran.”
On a plasma screen, she could see the various zones of the impressive complex. There was also a palm-fringed “Nile Park,” honoring the personification of the life-giving river using serene fountains with solar panels powering the innovative architecture.
§CHAPTER 39§
14H00
GRAND EGYPTIAN MUSEUM
THE MASSIVE MUSEUM spanned more than 500,000 square meters; its surrounding totally revamped to accommodate everything from hotels to fancy restaurants.
In front of it, there were scores of tourists waiting and wearing various protection masks. Their allotted tour guides were nervously standing by.
“Lydia, underneath the museum there is a complex web of networks that will take you to a secret lab which restores the most precious artifacts. One of the tunnels will take us directly to the Benben stone.”
“We are lucky the museum has yet to open today due to the government-mandated safety precaution to sanitize everything inside.”
“I created a false alert about several tourists having Coronavirus and being hospitalized. It didn’t take long for the authorities to panic.”
“Worldwide, the global panic is taking apocalyptic proportions with more than 120,000 cases of COVID-19 and at least 4,400 deaths.”
“Iran is now reporting 9.000 cases and 354 deaths. Spain has 2020 cases and 45 deaths. Even more cases have ravaged in Italy. The authorities there have decreed a countrywide quarantine,” Neo said worriedly.
“I also have some good news; the algorithm found a potential match for our destination in Greece.”
“The pagan circle could be an ancient circular building called the Galerius’ Rotunda, and it’s located in Thessaloniki.”
“I don’t remember if I visited this city with my parents, but I vividly recall that my mom was fascinated with Greece and the history of Thessaloniki.”
“It cannot be a coincidence; everything is connected, my dear Neo,” Lydia said in a positive tone.
“Do you have any more good news?”
“As a matter of fact, yes.”
“I found our way in.”
“You’ll need to take an emergency evacuation exit located on the right side of the main entrance.”
“From there, you’ll find a staircase to the -2 underground floor that has a direct connection to the main galleries.”
§CHAPTER 40§
LYDIA HEADED towards the entrance that Neo had directed her to. It was embedded directly into the museum’s wall, hidden entirely in plain sight. Suddenly a door swung open after being activated by Neo.
The Assassin was just behind her after parking his car into the crowded visitors' parking spaces.
I’ll have to follow her and see why she is going to the museum.
Just then, he received a notification on his XGlass that startled him. An incoming call from the Phoenix.
He answered: “Master, I am in pursuit of del Biondo.”
“Good, I will watch from very close. We must not fail again,” the Phoenix whispered, his voice cold and distant. With that, he took off running with almost inhuman speed in pursuit of Lydia, who vanished behind the door.
It took him a few seconds to crack the security code and followed Lydia’s steps.
◆◆◆
After several turns, guided by Neo, Lydia emerged behind a tall escalator, which generated a noise similar to water falling from a cascade.
At the bottom of the staircase, there was an enormous asymmetric room made of a mix of glass and stone, designed to imitate the colors of a sand dune. It also had several water ponds to cool the heat of the desert sun. The rooftop in different pyramid shapes helped with better air circulation.
In front of her, she had one of the most magnificent views she had ever seen: the museum’s grand staircase, adorned with twenty-two massive artifacts in chronological order.
She instantly spotted the statue of the god Ptah weighing a staggering six tons. There was also a pink granite statue of King Ramses II in addition to King Thutmose III’s black statue along with a quartzite box protecting its canopic jars.
The Benben stone was installed on a pedestal, just in front of her. She had to climb more stairs to reach it.
As she approached it, she noticed somebody was following her.
Maybe it was one of the cleaning workers. Looking above, she noticed two parallel glass passages that acted as connecting bridges so tourists could walk through the various museum zones.
But strangely, she could not see anyone, despite having the sensation of being watched.
§CHAPTER 41§
14H00
LYDIA WAS climbing the grand staircase adorned with the sculptures of Egyptian Pharaohs dating back almost five thousand years.
These were symbols of supreme divine power frozen in stone, each of them accompanied by one of their representative tokens.
The grand staircase led from valley level to the plateau, a historical path guarded by eighty-seven statues of kings and gods.
She was looking specifically for Amenemhat III, a Pharaoh from the 12th dynasty, who was blessed with a forty-six-year reign beginning in 1860 BC.
He ruled eight dynasties after Khufu, the alleged builder of the Great Pyramid.
After passing the first builders of Egypt, she finally came face to face with the figure of the Pharaoh, towering over the Benben stone.
“I found him Neo. What a strange face he had…”
Lydia tried to compare it with the other faces of the Pharaohs she encountered.
“I can read sadness and so many worries on the Pharaoh’s face, frozen for eternity in the cold stone.”
“Lydia, his reign is considered to be the golden age of the Middle Kingdom.”
“He was also famous for the maze he built in God Sobek’s honor, which was depicted with the head of a crocodile.”
“Even the ancient Greek historians Strabo and Herodotus talked about a gigantic temple maze designed with intricated tunnels and three thousand rooms.”
“In this maze, the Egyptian priests were feeding a crocodile, which was believed to be God Sobek’s incarnation on earth.”
“The maze was built in front of his Black Pyramid, which had our Benben as a capstone, one of the five enduring pyramids of the initial eleven complex pyramids situated in Dahshur.”
“The Black or the dark pyramid term originates from its deplorable state of decay because after more than seven hundred years, the techniques of building pyramids like the ones on the Giza plateau were clearly lost.”
“It was thought that the maze represented a funerary temple for the Pharaoh.”
&
nbsp; “Interesting Neo, I see a connection with the labyrinth of Berlaymont, and with the one at Knossos, too. I wonder if we’ll also end up there. We have to go to Greece afterward, anyway,” Lydia said boldly.
“Two labyrinths serving the same mystic purpose…”
“The Benben capstone symbolized the primordial mountain that first emerged at the creation of the world.”
“It sat next to the Pharaoh’s sorrowful bust, and its hieroglyphs described him as being the messenger of God RA and the ruler of upper and lower Egypt into eternal life,” Neo continued his quick lecture while Lydia inspected the Benben stone admiring each detail.
“The open eyes gazing outwards have an almost hypnotizing effect.”
“One last message of the Pharaoh towards his people: “even if my eyes are closed by death on Earth, they are forever opened into eternity,” Lydia recited these lines as if she knew them from another life.
Behind Lydia, the Assassin emerged, and using the shadows of the various statues, he approached her silently.
He made every gesture with absolute precision. His training made him a perfect killing machine.
◆◆◆
§CHAPTER 42§
I NEED TO UNDERSTAND what she is seeking before ending her once and for all, the Assassin said to himself, grinning while his eyes glittered with malevolence and anger.
The beautiful carved Benben stone, which once gloriously sat on top of Amenemhat III’s pyramid, was cracked on one side. However, the black basaltic rock still emanated a strange energy.
Lydia remembered the words inscribed on the floating mini-pyramidion underneath the Berlaymont:
“The flower of life under the protection of Bennu will guide your path.”
The Jesus Christ Cypher Page 10
