The Lost Power: VanOps, Book 1

by Avanti Centrae

  Bear motioned for them to trail him deeper into the series of old buildings. They followed, silently slipping between the darkest areas.

  After ten harrowing minutes, they peered around a corner. The Great Pyramid loomed over them. Thunder boomed. The three wives’ pyramids were right in front of them.

  Bear motioned them closer. “Okay. We need to get the lay of the land and check out where the guards are. Let’s each take a smaller pyramid. I’ve got the far one closest to the north side and the entrance. Maddy, you’ve got the middle one, and Will, you take this one to the left. Stay out of sight. Go see what the guards are doin’ for ten minutes and rendezvous back here. Got it?”

  Will nodded. His heart pumped wildly.

  “Will, you need to scout that far corner of the pyramid. According to our research, the Japanese tourists who sneak to the top on a regular basis said it’s the easiest to climb. Now go!”

  Will sprinted for his small assigned pyramid. He had the tallest of the three, which was both a blessing and a curse. Although the heights on the plane hadn’t bothered him, he didn’t know how high he’d be able to climb but wanted to give it a go. It loomed before him and then he was at its base.

  He looked around. Seeing no one, he began to climb, hugging the rocks and staying in the darkest shadows. Thunder clapped again, a little closer this time. Will shuddered. He still wouldn’t call himself a fan of heights, but at least these were solid boulders and not a flimsy ladder beneath him. The rocks that made up the pyramid were half his height and many had begun to crumble. With each step, he checked his footing to make sure the rock would take his weight.

  He scrambled almost to the top, looked down, was amazed that he didn’t get dizzy, and decided that he was high enough to scoot around to the side and see if any of the guards were roaming nearby.

  He peered around the corner. What Bear earlier had called the “Khufu Ship Museum” was a long, white assembly, which contained an old Egyptian boat. The modern superstructure looked out of place here in the shadows of the last remaining wonder of the ancient world.

  Will’s breath caught in his throat and he cursed. Merda! In front of the maritime museum stood a single guard, blocking their path to the far corner of the pyramid.

  CHAPTER 73

  4:22 a.m.:

  Bear was the first one back to the rendezvous point, after their attempt to get the lay of the land at the base of the Great Pyramid.

  Hellfire! Where are the twins?

  He hoped nothing had happened to either of them, and he’d heard no commotion, so perhaps they were just tardy.

  Time dragged. He checked his GoPro. Working. Tiny raindrops began to fall from the thick black cloud base above.

  Before he could, in good conscience, go after Maddy to see if she was okay, she drifted around a corner into his line of sight. A second later, Will appeared too, from the opposite side. They converged on him.

  Bear looked at Will first, as he’d had the most important assignment. “Will, what did you see?”

  Will scratched at his stubbled cheek. “There is a guard. He’s pacing in front of the boat museum. I don’t know how we’ll get past him.”

  “I was afraid of that. Maddy, what about you? You had the best view of the east side.”

  “Not much there. No guards but also no entrance and, from what our research showed, not a good run to the top. What did you see by the north entrance?”

  Bear frowned. “Two guards. Both armed with rifles.”

  Will moved to crouch under a rock overhang. “We’re screwed. Why don’t we go find a hotel and come back in the morning? Besides, it’s starting to rain.”

  Will’s movement gave Bear an idea, which shifted his mood from frustrated to playful. “You pansy, scared of gettin’ a little wet?”

  Will began to puff up in annoyance, but Bear put a hand out. “I’m pulling y’all’s leg. This rain could help us out. Think that single guard is goin’ to hang out in the rain, or go keep his friends company by the entrance where it’s nice and dry?”

  Maddy’s eyes lit up. “Good idea. I’ll go scout!”

  Before Bear could protest, she slipped away.

  Will and Bear shared a drink of water in silence under the overhanging ledge and Bear watched the silver bullets of rain fall from the sky. Thunder rolled and the first shards of lightning lit the sky in the distance.

  Will pointed at the top of the pyramid. “Are you thinking we’re going to climb that lighting rod?”

  “Sure am. We could get inside tomorrow, but tonight’s our best chance to check out the top. It’s not exactly part of the tour package.”

  “You’re insane.”

  “You don’t have to come.”

  “Not climb one of the world’s tallest structures in a thunderstorm? Why would I want to miss out on that?”

  “The lighting is off in the distance. Maybe we can make it up and back before the storm moves this way,” Bear said.

  “Maybe pigs fly.”

  Maddy returned, a wraith moving between raindrops. She gave two thumbs-up. The guards were hiding from the rain.

  Will mumbled expletives under his breath.

  Bear grinned and his heart beat faster with excitement. He double-checked the video harness, wished again for a weapon. “Let’s go.”

  Maddy led the way, veering left as she swiftly led them through the remainder of the tombs in the Eastern Cemetery.

  They skirted the small pyramid Will had climbed and headed to the other small pyramids that were behind the boat museum. Maddy kept the tombs between them and the other side of the pyramid, in case one of the guards felt guilty and decided to leave the dry entrance. But the rain now was a steady drizzle.

  Within heartbeats, they were at the last squat tomb near the southwest corner.

  Maddy peeked around the stones looking for guards or other signs of life. Bear double-checked. The night was empty. Maddy gave the backpack to Will, who groaned. They all looked at each other and nodded.

  Quiet as an animal hunting in the forest, Bear went first. He sprinted from the cover of the tomb to the corner of the Great Pyramid. He felt exhilarated, completely at home sneaking around the ancient monument in the night’s darkest hour.

  At the corner, Bear realized the online reports from the Japanese tourists who made this ascent regularly hadn’t led them astray. Here the pyramid resembled a high-stepped staircase of steady, firm blocks, but on both sides, the ascent looked steep and crumbling.

  After scrambling for a minute, he turned and was gratified to see Maddy behind him. Will was just a few steps behind her, taking the blocks easily with his long legs and arms. There were still no guards below. Bear breathed a sigh of relief, hoping against hope that he was right about this being the place to start.

  Twenty minutes of hard, rapid, and slippery climbing finally brought the flat top into view between the slow but steady raindrops. Bear had been fantasizing about getting there for the last ten minutes. Lungs heaving, he cleared the top, made sure the twins were still hot on his heels, and paused to look around.

  The view was magnificent, even in the rain. The lights of Cairo winked to the east. Khafre’s pyramid in the near distance, which looked almost as tall as Khufu’s, still proudly hung onto its limestone casing at the top, lending it the air of a stone mountain topped with snow. In a way, it reminded him of the peaks around Lake Tahoe.

  Farther south, he could see the Pyramid of Menkaure, Khufu’s grandson’s tomb, and the smallest of the three. He was glad the GoPro was seeing it all. He’d treasure it later. If there was a later. Thunder rumbled.

  Bear felt on top of the world, until the next crack of lightning, which lit up the nearby sky with an unnerving, searing jag that made the hair on the back of his neck stand straight up.

  It was far too close for comfort.

  CHAPTER 74

  4:48 a.m.:

  High above the dark, Egyptian desert, D’Angelo stared at the white-haired man who sat across from hi
m in the spartan helicopter cabin. They both wore headsets to communicate. Ivan, the Russian sniper, sat next to the red-haired boy, and D’Angelo’s agent, a pale-faced, middle-aged man, sat in the back, manning the machine gun.

  “Why did you have to kill that German?” D’Angelo asked.

  The older man glared back. “This is our mission. You’re getting paid well. What do you care?” His English held a thick Spanish accent.

  D’Angelo wanted more money. “You’ve caused a number of international incidents. Including one in my Napa backyard.”

  “That driver wasn’t following orders. But that’s why you’re on board. To help clean up our messes and give us the data on the early warning systems.”

  “I’ve done all that. But you’ve taken too many risks. The plan was to herd them along, not hurt them.”

  The old man pointed toward Cairo. “They’re alive, are they not?”

  “They are. But that Danish girl is dead, and so is the German.”

  “The German was a mole for us, and the girl, competition. As I said, none of your business.”

  The man had been reckless, and it had all been a pain in D’Angelo’s ass. Way over what he’d agreed to with the baron. “Was the machine gun necessary at the monastery?”

  “Would you rather they all slunk back to their homes?”

  “Of course not,” D’Angelo snapped. “But I’ve had to do far more than we agreed to keep the international community off your back.”

  Lighting flared across the dark sky, illuminating the pyramids in the distance.

  “We had to keep them off balance, keep them running.”

  “It was a risky plan,” D’Angelo said.

  “Ivan is accurate. And it’s paid off.”

  D’Angelo pointed to the gunner, who had followed the twins through Europe, and had kept a quiet eye on the Russians from a distance. “And now you want us to kill them?”

  “Don’t need them anymore. Remember, you get a bonus once we have the châsse in hand and they’re dead.”

  D’Angelo remembered the bonus quite well. He wanted to use it to quit VanOps and go live in Sicily with a certain, spectacular young woman. The men stared at each other.

  “What if I double it?”

  D’Angelo stroked his chin. After a moment, he nodded his head.

  The old man deftly tuned a listening device. “They’ve almost found it.”

  D’Angelo changed a channel and listened to Maddy Marshall’s excited voice through the Russian bug that had been inserted into her mother’s necklace. It did sound like the quest was coming to an end.

  CHAPTER 75

  4:50 a.m.:

  When Maddy made it to the top of the pyramid, she was out of breath, her wounded thigh ached, and the rush from outwitting the guards was beginning to wane. But when the expansive view opened up before her, all thoughts of discomfort vanished.

  “Wow, Bear, just wow! Can you believe this?”

  “I know, isn’t it amazing?”

  “C’mon, Will! The view up here is beyond impressive.”

  Will scrambled up the last rock steps and joined them at the top. He took a few deep breaths and looked around. He smiled and she was surprised he’d made it to the top with his fear of heights. Evidently, he’d had some shifts on their journey, too. “Yes, it was worth the climb.”

  Mosquitoes buzzed around Maddy’s head. “You’d think, with the rain, the mosquitoes would take the night off.”

  Bear walked over to the wooden, surveying tripod that took up a good portion of the rock-strewn, flat area at the top. “That would have been nice.”

  Maddy joined him and put a hand out to touch the slick wood. “What do you think that’s for?”

  “I think I read that they wanted to see where the capstone would’ve been.”

  “Was there ever a capstone?”

  “Historians from the time of Christ say there wasn’t one then, but the pyramid was already pretty old by their time, so hard to say.”

  Thunder sounded loud in Maddy’s ears and then lightning cracked nearby. The way the sky lit up, it looked as if it might have even hit Khafre’s pyramid next door.

  Will jumped. “Hey, guys. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m the tallest thing around and not interested in becoming barbecued William.”

  Maddy nodded and swatted another mosquito. She’d been thinking along the same lines. “I hear you. Let’s search and see what we can find. Start under the tripod since most of the clues mentioned ‘the center’ as a key element.”

  She grabbed the monastery’s long, black flashlight from her backpack, Will pulled out his keychain flashlight, and they both began shining light around the wet stones. She moved the larger beam in an organized pattern. “Shouldn’t take long. If there’s anything up here to see, we’ll see it soon.”

  Will began to say, “This is a wild-goose...” He trailed off, squatted down, and waved. “Hey, come over here.”

  “Here” was the pile of hay-bale-size stones under the midpoint of the tripod. She and Bear moved toward Will and bent down next to him, swatting mosquitoes as they moved. “What do you see, Argones?” Bear asked.

  Will pointed toward the bottom of one of the stones. “There’s your symbol.”

  Maddy’s eyes widened with shock and she reached out to touch it. “We’ve come a long way for this.”

  Will shook his head. “I don’t believe it.”

  Maddy got down on her knees to study the symbol. Unmistakably, it was Ramiro’s signum regis. Next to it was a small depression.

  Bear touched her arm. “Wait! Listen.”

  Maddy did as he requested. “I hear mosquitoes.”

  “Listen harder.”

  She strained and over the sound of the rain, sounding much like the mosquitoes, was the faint drone of a helicopter in the distance. She swore. “How did they find us again?”

  The three of them locked eyes and looked at each other for a long moment. Maddy spoke first. “We’ve got to see if we can get the châsse and whatever’s inside. It’s the only weapon we might have.”

  “Okay, go!” Bear said.

  Will started poking at Ramiro’s sign. “Nothing is happening!” Panic laced his tone.

  “Will. Shine your light against it. There.” Maddy spoke in a rush. She was firing on all cylinders now. “See that little oval indentation next to it?”

  Bear grabbed the flashlight from her hands and aimed the light. “Looks like there’s a faint Vergina Sun etched into the oval.”

  It was a lock and she had the key. With agonizing slowness, she pulled the amulet over her head, turned the Vergina Sun side down to the rock, and pressed the raised pattern into the indentation.

  For a count of two, nothing happened. She felt a click and that side of the stone swung inward revealing, in the light of the flashlight, a small blue-and-gold box. As she stared into the darkness, she wrenched the amulet back over her neck for safe-keeping.

  The helicopter sounded much closer now. The box was the châsse, but they were out of time!

  Sweating, she reached in and pulled the châsse out of its miniature cave. It looked like a tiny house with a curved roof, about the size of a shoe box. Painted with a background of cobalt blue, there were gold images of winged angels on each side and on the sloping faux roof.

  “Hurry, hurry,” Will prayed.

  Bear’s head swiveled between her hands and the rain-soaked sky.

  Pulse pounding in her temples, she opened the châsse with trembling fingers. Inside, wrapped in black silk, were two inscribed obelisks the color of rich rubies, or more darkly, she thought, the color of blood. She wondered if they were carved from a giant ruby, or garnet, or from some other rare mineral like the master had said, and wished for time to study the inscriptions.

  She held them up to the light. “They’re beautiful.” They started to pulse as she rotated them. If she had to use them, she hoped like hell she wouldn’t panic.

  Will’s tone held fear. �
��They better be useful. Here comes the chopper.”

  The helicopter was upon them. Its door opened and a man yelled, “I have the boy! Don’t try anything.”

  Will was right about using AJ as insurance. Maddy shuddered. Not AJ!

  She yelled, “No!” But the sound was lost in the whirr of the rotor blades.

  The helicopter maneuvered to just above the pyramid and a rope snaked out of a side opening. Lightning flared in the distance and Maddy almost wished it would hit the metal bird.

  A man slid down the rope and landed, feet first, on the stones. His gun was in his hand the second he landed. Her gut clenched with the recognition of the half-disfigured blond Russian who had murdered their father and Maria.

  Inside the helicopter, another man grabbed the rope. Red-haired AJ was on his back, piggyback style. It was a swarthy-skinned, large-nosed man.

  “You son of a bitch!” Bear yelled.

  How did Bear recognize the man? Maybe he was part of VanOps. But there was no time to consider it. She only had eyes for AJ as he held on during the short descent down to the pyramid’s top. Instinctively, she moved toward him but stopped when the Russian’s gun safety clicked off and he growled, “Don’t move.”

  Instead, she reached out with her arms and pantomimed a hug. “Are you okay?”

  AJ nodded and yelled, “Maddy, they want to take out early warning stations in America using some sort of bomb. Don’t give them what they want!”

  The man with the beak dumped AJ on the ground and backhanded him across the face. “Quiet!”

  Maddy cringed at the blow, wanting to reach out and smack the man right back. Take out warning stations with a bomb? Or an e-bomb? She felt like her hands were already tied behind her back, helpless.

  How could she stop them? She couldn’t even keep the man from hitting AJ. Poor kid. She wanted to go to AJ, take him in her arms, and tell him it would be all right. Instead, she drank in the sight of him, relieved he was alive, comforted he could still smile after god-knew-what he’d been through. He looked older, thinner, but she was also reassured to see no blood or bandages. She also wanted to know what he knew about the e-bomb plot. But that would have to wait.