Richard smiled when he saw the look of astonishment on James’ face, but there was more to come. “Simone usually hides messages in the last blank pages of each chapter. That was the case for the last chapter, but what about this one? I rubbed with a pencil over the last pages of the chapter until I found another alchemical symbol scrawled in the bottom right corner of the page. The alchemical marking was, , which literally means ‘burn or cook the substance in fire’. What Simone undoubtedly wanted to tell us was not to burn or cook the page, but instead that we should apply heat to the paper in order to see the contents of the message. I grabbed the lamp right away and held it as close as I could to the page without damaging it. Something shocking developed right before my eyes which rooted me to the spot. It was incredible.”
“What happened?” asked Mary nervously.
“In the margins at the side of the page, I could make out three paragraphs and a drawing which were startlingly clear. I picked up the book and studied it as I paced around the room, but imagine my surprise when I noticed how the text was fading away little by little. I was sure that a chemical reaction had taken place, the catalyst of which had been the heat applied to the paper by the lamp as it lit up the page.”
“Paracelsus’ marvelous invisible ink!” cried James.
“Precisely!”
“What?!” asked Mary.
“It’s an invisible ink which is obtained when you mix four grams of cobalt chloride with another few of gum Arabic in 100ml of water. Any writing done in that ink remains invisible until heat is applied. In fact, if the heat isn’t excessively high, the text disappears again as the paper cools down. But anyway, what did the text and the picture show?” he asked, euphoric.
“The texts appear separately on the page but when they are put together, the following riddle appears. Meanwhile, the drawing is even more surprising. See for yourselves, because I don’t know what it could be talking about.”
“Clearly the first two clues are referring to the Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon in Teotihuacan, in Mexico.”
Chapter 30
A blonde man was waiting on the ground floor of the hotel, sitting back on one of the leather sofas which adorned the main suite next to reception. He was holding a scientific magazine up to his eyes as he read it. The headphones he was wearing were emitting strange noises, far removed from any kind of musical melody. His hair hid a tiny microphone around his right earlobe, invisible to any tourist who may have passing through the hallway.
On the fifth floor, his colleague was kitted out with a similar device and had just emerged from Mary’s room without having found anything interesting. He walked through the long corridor until he reached one of the last doors. It was opened by a magnetic card, so he inserted a blank, nameless card which had been given to him by the boss he worked for, and which would allow them to open any magnetic lock. It swung open, revealing a luxurious but rather untidy room.
Pants and shirts were scattered on the closet shelves without being put away in an orderly fashion, almost as if somebody had left them there because they had been in a rush. Even a green jersey which was inside out, perhaps after having been taken off quickly, lay on the soft carpet.
On the dark walnut desk was an open black laptop, still warm from recent use. To the left was the book James had found.
Alpha 2 leafed through it, failing to understand the jumbled letters which were, to his eyes, meaninglessly scattered throughout the pages of the book.
Americans are intelligent deep down, he though as he returned the book to its place.
After combing through the whole room in detail, he hadn’t found anything that would give them a clue as to what their next move would be. After they disappeared in Washington, they had completely lost track of them until the boss called to tell them their new whereabouts. He was an influential man. How else could he have found out where they were? And as for those magnetic cards which allowed them access to any part of the hotel, who could have provided those?
His boss’ words were still swirling, however briefly, in his head: “Don’t do them any harm for the time being. They could be very useful to us. Monitor them and don’t let them out of your sight, or the consequences will be more tragic than you could ever imagine.”
A big task for somebody who is used to killing and enjoys it, Alpha 2 had often mused.
He was just about to leave when, below the desk, he noticed a wooden wastepaper basket, with a white garbage bag placed inside. After going through its contents, he found only a piece of blank paper which had been crumpled into a ball. He unrolled it and found what they were looking for. It was a long text, about fifty lines, but it made no sense. Despite this, there were two words in one of the middle columns which had been underlined and circled in red ink. Above those words, somebody had written “MEXICO”.
Suddenly a worried voice spoke to him via the intercom that Alpha 2 had inserted in his ear. “They’ve arrived. You have to get of there!”
“I’ve already got what we were looking for,” he replied.
Four people had just walked through the hotel doorway. James, Mary and Richard were accompanied by a tall, bald man who did not seem too happy. He was dragging a strange metal suitcase which was gray in color and considerable in size, along with a backpack he carried on his shoulders. The elevator was on the ground floor, so they weren’t held up by the odd tourist who would amble along, inevitably thinking that the elevator was an extension of the cafe.
On the fifth floor, Alpha 2 was following his colleague’s instructions. He tried to escape down the stairs just at the precise moment the four got into the elevator, but something didn’t turn out as expected. The door which led to the stairs was locked; maybe the hotel staff was cleaning them at that time. He didn’t have time to escape via a different elevator. He had to hide.
One of the nearby rooms had a sign hanging from its doorknob which indicated that the room was empty, probably so the cleaning staff knew to get it ready as soon as possible. He took out his magnetic card and swept it through the reader, which let out the usual beep as the door opened. Then he hid inside, with the lights turned off and the door ajar.
The elevator left the floor as soon as it had left the four tourists on the fifth floor. The man who was carrying the suitcase seemed a little calmer, although he occasionally directed a look of anger towards one of his companions. They crossed the corridor, passing by the room that Alpha 2 was illegally occupying. The door had been left slightly open deliberately. He wanted to observe the new companion firsthand.
“Wait a minute!” exclaimed James.
“Alpha 1,” whispered Alpha 2 over the radio. “Possible high-risk situation. One of the intruders is heading in my direction.”
The assassin got behind the door; he had no choice. He took out one of the knives he had hidden around his waist, intending to slit his throat if necessary. In his other hand, he held a pistol. His jaw was clenched and his mouth was contorted like never before. If he found him, the other three would have to die.
“It’s inexcusable that they left the door unlocked after cleaning the room.”
James opened it slowly. An inch or so more and the inside handle would hit Alpha 2, who was clutching the handle of his knife. His heart was beating faster than before. He wanted to kill. He licked his lips and his eyes shone with excitement, he yearned to see blood oozing from the body of his victim.
I have to wait until he’s inside. He can’t shout or it will scare the others, thought the assassin.
But James didn’t even enter the doorway of the room, although the feminine fragrance wafting from inside the room made him say “Hello”. The room was shrouded in darkness; the opaque curtains had been drawn to keep out the blazing desert heat. After seeing this, James slammed the door shut. Alpha 2 relaxed his muscles. He was disappointed.
Anthony’s room was at the end of the floor, next to Richard’s. His room was similar to the others except it had a different layout, since the emer
gency exit staircase was to the left.
“You’re crazy!” declared Anthony as he threw the metal suitcase onto the bed. “You’re going to try and get into the Great Pyramid of Cheops in plain daylight, use my robot to investigate a channel which runs from the Queen’s Chamber to the secret chamber, and you reckon you’re going to look for something inside but you aren’t sure what it is?”
“Yes,” nodded James, looking doubtful. “Are you in?”
“You’ve made me travel thousands of miles just to keep me waiting in a hotel? What a pile of crap! Of course I’m in! I’m not going to let you have all the fun without me,” he shouted, to the surprise of the other two. He kept talking as he opened the gray suitcase, inputting the security code. “I don’t think I have to explain to you how expensive it has been to research, develop and build this robot. Be very careful.”
The inside of the suitcase was padded with protective sponge, molded to the shape of the objects which were transported within. The left side was specially made for the robot itself together with all its cabling, and the right side for the surveillance equipment. Three monitors and a spectacular array of sound equipment that would make any technophile jump for joy.
“The robot has a camera fitted inside the front nose area. Whenever it finds something, you’ll be able to see it with an impressive resolution on your monitor.”
“But… there are three monitors. Will we be able to see it, too?” asked Mary.
Anthony smiled and picked up one of the other two supposed monitors. He squeezed both sides of the outer shell until it gave way and opened, revealing what was inside. There were several plastic packages, each of them with piles of cables in different colors.
“They’re local explosives. They will only destroy whatever is in a five-inch radius of them. I had to disguise them in case they were detected,” he said with a smile.
“Let’s put it all in our backpacks and get going! The Asian group is going to arrive in a few hours and I have to blend in with them.”
Chapter 31
At midday, a large coach pulled up in one of the car parks available next to the pyramids. After an initial hesitance, a large group of tourists disembarked with all kinds of contraptions to protect themselves from the sun. Their almond-shaped eyes and straight black hair betrayed their oriental origins, not to mention the whitish skin which made them into moving targets for the sun’s rays.
A few minutes went by and after staring openmouthed at the magnificence of the pyramids from afar, the driver decided to open the luggage compartment. A swarm of tourists milled around to collect their things as quickly as possible, which in most cases comprised a backpack, cotton rug and a bottle of water.
In a nearby car, four people watched the Asian people’s movements. James carefully placed the little robot into his backpack, while the explosives, together with a number of batteries, would go in the side pockets.
For his part, Anthony was setting up the camera cabling so that it would be correctly configured and show exactly what the robot found inside the channel.
The remote control was fairly simple. It had four joysticks: the first was to move the robot forwards or backwards; the second allowed the body to turn on its axis, thus turning the camera towards the left or right; the third raised or lowered the body parallel to the ground; the fourth controlled the movement of the hydraulic arm in all directions. Lastly, a comprehensive and well-ordered series of buttons gave the device extra functionality, controlling the camera, sound, drill, lights and the detonation and deactivation of the explosives.
“When you get to the chamber, you have to position it exactly as I told you. Be careful with the cables because they are quite sensitive to humidity.” Anthony didn’t seem to agree with the plan, but it was too late now. “When this indicator light begins to flash, bring it back down quickly because you’ll only have twenty minutes of battery left.”
Mary was distressed. “How are we going to stop the security cameras from detecting its presence in the Queen’s Chamber?”
Anthony laughed by way of reply. “I talked about this before with James, and the only way round it I can see is to introduce a virus into the security system.” From his pocket, he took out an electronic device which was about the same size as a cellphone, but with a metal pincer at one end. “I’ve brought over a new little toy from America. It’s the latest in nanotechnology for the army and it works perfectly, even though it’s a still only a prototype. As soon as you enter the pyramid, you have to urgently look for the cables that feed the security cameras, and then put one of them into the pincer. Then you press the red button and leave. When the nanorobots are in action, I’ll take over control of the system. Needless to say, it’s important to place it close to the exit so that the signal is perfect, ok?”
James had scarcely listened to Anthony’s warnings, he was lost in his thoughts. Fear pulsed through his body and in those moments he wondered if it had seriously been a good idea to put himself forward as a volunteer. When he looked back, he noticed that the group of Asians were making their way to the site entrance; there was no turning back, now was the ideal time to blend in among them. Without saying goodbye, he threw the backpack onto his shoulders, picked up the book with Richard’s translations and the virus transmitter, and got out the vehicle.
The pyramids are the most visited attraction in Egypt. Until recently, tickets were only available from an old site office, and the dunes were the only option for those looking for the bathroom. Egypt decided to remedy the situation and the government paid out around $25 million to renovate it. Big improvements have already been made, with the recent installation of a seven foot high fence which surrounds the whole eleven mile perimeter. It is fitted with motion sensors and almost two hundred security cameras connected in a closed circuit with the control center. The obsession with security ran so deep that hidden surveillance cameras had even been placed inside the monuments themselves.
All of that means tourists will be able to enjoy the magic of the pyramids once more, something which was lost when the area became a traveling street market in which visitors were constantly pestered.
James quickly walked over to the group of Asian tourists who had already reached the entrance to the site. As he walked along the perimeter of the fence, he glanced sideways and, to his dismay, noticed how one of the surveillance cameras was following his every move.
“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen,” he said when he caught up with the group. “Are you the tourists who are going to be meditating in the Great Pyramid?”
Nobody seemed to understand him. Some looked at each other puzzled, having not understood what he said, while others kept walking, probably thinking that he was a traveling hawker who was trying to deceive them.
Despair was threatening to bring down his well thought-out plan. He watched the group walk away without turning a hair, until a gruff and husky voice spoke to them.
“I’m the guide for this expedition,” somebody mumbled behind him. “These people don’t want to buy anything, so please don’t disturb them.”
James swung around, looking at the imposing figure who was hovering over him. He was almost seven feet tall, which made James wonder how he could have possibly missed him among a group of Asians, given that the majority were barely over five feet five inches. He was wearing a pair of khaki pants which matched perfectly with his striking sky blue shirt and dark brown shoes. He had stood right in front of James with his arms folded, intimidating him and giving him yet another reason to feel agitated. The anxiety brought about by this individual had smashed his plans to smithereens. He simply bowed his head and weighed up his options. His eyes studied his huge hands, strong fingers and all too recent bruises, which implied that the position of tourist guide wasn’t well-paid and that he probably also worked in much more unsavory profession.
He saw something gold shining from one of his fingers. It was a golden wedding ring.
James tried to catch the attention o
f the guide as he walked away. “Excuse me, but you’re very tall and remind me of a good friend of mine. Have you ever played basketball?”
The guide didn’t even crack a smile. He seemed to be in a bad mood.
“Are you the guide in charge of taking the Asian group to meditate in the Great Pyramid?”
“What do you want?”
“The boss… umm… has sent me to replace you. I think you have the day off.”
“What?!” he exclaimed, turning towards him and studying him closely. He could smell his fear and uncertainty. “I’m sorry, but this group gives good tips. I’m taking them.”
“But… the boss told me that you have the day off to spend with your wife.”
“My wife…?” he asked, taken aback. “Has she given birth?”
Those words came like a lifebelt to cling onto desperately, it was his last hope. The plan might well work, he just needed to be a little craftier and the giant would end up toppling. He continued. “Of course! I thought you already knew! The boss has told me that he would even fire you himself if you were crazy enough to come to work! You have to go straight to the hospital. When you get there, ask for your wife and you’ll be able to see your baby.”
The giant beamed with joy. He hugged James with excessive strength, like a bear squeezes its prey. A crunch rang out down his spine as if it had been broken from the first to the last vertebra. Then he looked at him, his eyes red on the verge breaking into tears. He handed James a piece of paper which contained permission for the group, then he ran off in search of a taxi.
When that beast finds out I lied to him… I’m finished! I have to find it as soon as I can, thought James.
The inside of the site was empty, it was probably a requirement enforced by the Asians themselves so that nobody interfered in their meditation. Logically, they would have had to pay a huge amount of money.
Trifariam, The Lost Codex (2012) Page 20
