Space
D — 3 Minutes
The stubby snouts of the reentry vehicles for thirty-one cobalt nuclear warheads pointed down toward Earth.
Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania
D — 3 Minutes
Lexina had listened to her cell phone ring over and over again. She had confirmation from Elek that he had the key. She knew what had happened at Easter Island to the American fleet and that the war was alive once more. She also had a very good idea of what the next escalation of the war was going to consist of. And America was currently more of a threat than an asset.
It was a simple, dispassionate decision, similar to many her predecessors had made.
The phone rang once more, and she stared at it, not answering.
Gobi Desert, Mongolia
D — 2 Minutes, 30 Seconds
“They’re going to nuke the States anyway, aren’t they?” Captain Billam asked as Turcotte turned off the SATPhone.
“Not if I can help it,” Turcotte said. He pulled a black box out of his shirt pocket and flipped open the cover. “Let’s get their attention.” There were a series of buttons on it, and he pushed the first one.
* * *
Elek spun about in his seat as a high-pitched shriek came out of the black coffin. He stopped the dragon, leaving it in a hover, and went back to the black tube. He swung open the lid, and the irritating noise stopped. The black case holding the key lay at the foot of the coffin.
At the head of the coffin was a shiny metal cylinder about three feet long by two in diameter. Turcotte’s voice startled Elek, coming out of a small speaker taped to the hood of the coffin.
“You’re looking at a twenty-kiloton-yield nuclear weapon. I don’t know what that machine you’re in is made of, but I know it’s enough to take out the key and you. Now that I know you’re listening, I suggest you tell Lexina to answer her phone.”
* * *
Turcotte’s SATPhone rang. He checked his watch before he opened it. Just under two minutes before Stratzyda released the warheads.
“Now do we have a deal?” Turcotte asked as soon as he pushed the on button.
“I will stop Stratzyda,” Lexina said. “Take your nuclear weapon off-line.”
“That’s not good enough.” Turcotte had his watch in front of his face, watching the numbers tick off. “I want you to have the talon release Stratzyda and Warfighter into orbits that will never coincide again. Agree or I will destroy the key.”
There was a long silence… forever, in Turcotte’s opinion, as he watched twenty seconds tick off, bringing it under one minute before Stratzyda activated.
“It will be done.”
CHAPTER 29
Area 51
D — 2 Minutes
“Stratzyda is closed.” Kincaid was staring at imagery just downloaded from Space Command. “She’s floating free, distancing from the talon.”
Major Quinn slumped down into his seat, all energy gone after the events of the last three days.
On the other side of the conference table, Kincaid was shuffling through other photos he’d downloaded… copies of the latest imagery from Hubble of the Cydonia region of Mars. The four piles of rubble were larger, and the camera was now able to make out a small cleared area that revealed a spiderwork of black metal.
“What the hell is that?” Kincaid murmured.
Giza Plateau
D + 3 Minutes
In the chamber outside the veil, Mualama turned his attention from the center to the corridor as the sound of boots tramping on the metal floor echoed against the walls.
Kaji stepped into the passageway with his hand held up. “You cannot trespass here.”
“You are a fool, old man,” replied a low voice that made the hair on the back of Mualama’s neck stand on end.
Mualama stepped behind Kaji and saw a tall figure in black robes in front of a group of armed men. A hood hid the man’s face. Near the back of the group, two men held a young Egyptian man captive.
“I have heard of you, Al-Iblis,” Kaji said. “Even you cannot pass here.”
“I have your son,” Al-Iblis said. “The next in the line of the wedjat of the Highland of Aker. The last in the line.” He waved his arm, and one of the commandos slid a knife across the young man’s neck, bringing forth a gush of blood.
Kaji screamed something in Arabic and leapt forward, to be met with a swing of Al-Iblis’s right arm. Mualama saw something flash in the light, a thin black blade that sprung from under the flowing sleeve. It sliced through Kaji’s neck, and the wedjaf’s head toppled from his body even as the dead man’s hands reached for Al-Iblis. Slowly the body collapsed next to the head. Mualama stood still as the blade retracted, disappearing into Al-Iblis’s sleeve.
“You are Professor Mualama.” Al-Iblis made it a statement, not a question. He saw the medallion around Mualama’s neck. “I gave that to Burton in Mecca long ago. But he betrayed me.”
“That was over a hundred years ago!” Mualama said.
“I have walked the Earth before the dawn of your time,” Al-Iblis said. “My names have been many and woven into legends on every land. You are the one who has been tracking the clues left by Sir Richard Francis Burton. Very smart. My man almost had you in Brazil. I have also tried to learn what Burton knew. I came close once, many years ago.”
“You are Domeka?” Mualama remembered what he had been briefed on at Area 51.
“That was one of my names for a time,” Al-Iblis allowed.
“What is your real name?” Mualama asked, trying to stall, wondering what Duncan was doing.
Al-Iblis shifted his dark gaze past him, toward the veil. “Duncan is in there. We will wait for her.”
Gobi Desert, Mongolia
D + 3 Minutes
Turcotte pushed the autodial for Duncan’s SATPhone and listened to the phone ring and ring.
“Orders, Major?” Captain Billam was in front of Turcotte.
Turcotte shut off the phone. He knelt down and picked up a handful of sand, letting it pour through his fingers. He remembered landing in the desert on the other side of the world after destroying the Airlia talon fleet. Another desert, the same war, taken to another level, and now he was out of contact with Duncan. “Load up,” Turcotte ordered.
“Destination?” Billam asked as they headed toward the bouncer.
“Egypt.”
EPILOGUE
Deep under the Giza Plateau, Lisa Duncan placed her hands on the lid of the Ark of the Covenant. A surge ran through her body, a feeling of power. A red glow suffused both of the cherubim-sphinxes and extended over the lid, encompassing her.
She could no longer hear those outside of the veil that surrounded the Ark. Her world was the Ark, the gold under her fingers. She grabbed the edge of the lid. She felt suspended in time, beyond the reach of everything she had ever known, not even of the Earth anymore. She lifted the cover. A golden glow blazed out, overpowering the red as the lid went up. It locked in place in the vertical, revealing the chamber inside.
FB2 document info
Document ID: af357739-b603-4fc2-80c2-9c43578668cb
Document version: 1
Document creation date: 6.6.2013
Created using: calibre 0.9.33, FictionBook Editor Release 2.6 software
Document authors :
Document history:
1.0 — создание документа fb2
About
This file was generated by Lord KiRon's FB2EPUB converter version 1.1.5.0.
(This book might contain copyrighted material, author of the converter bears no responsibility for it's usage)
Этот файл создан при помощи конвертера FB2EPUB версии 1.1.5.0 написанного Lord KiRon.
(Эта книга может содержать материал который защищен авторским правом, автор конвертера не несет ответственности за его использован
ие)
http://www.fb2epub.net
https://code.google.com/p/fb2epub/
The Sphinx a5-4 Page 33
