“And you knew he had a grudge against you?”
Maalyck sighed. “I suppose he must have, though he never confronted me directly. I apologize, Agent Denzel. It never even occurred to me to add his name to the list. I had assumed he was long gone. Do you believe this man abducted Dr. Kotler?”
“It’s a hunch, mostly. But I strongly suspect he did,” Denzel said. “Do you know how to find him?”
Maalyck thought about this. “I am uncertain, but perhaps my colleagues at the University can help. I know that he occasionally submits papers for peer review. He must have an address on file.”
“Find him,” Denzel said. “I think Dr. Kotler’s life may depend on it.”
He checked his watch. They had only a few hours left. It was already getting dark, and the drop site was deep within the mountains.
“What about the sword?” Denzel asked.
Maalyck looked pained. “I have it,” he said. “And I have removed the pommel, as you asked. I am … concerned about this.”
Denzel knew exactly why he was so concerned. They were walking a line that might lead to more than just a bit of trouble for the both of them. This was about more than career concerns—they were risking imprisonment, and maybe worse.
It wasn’t just Kotler’s life on the line now.
“Make your calls and find out what you can about Ammon. And then we need to get you and that sword to the drop point.” Denzel paused for a moment. “For Kotler,” he said.
Maalyck studied him and nodded.
Denzel left Maalyck to it, wandering back to Kotler’s tent.
The tension was building. Everything was stacked against them, at the moment, and anything could cause it all to topple. What made it far worse, however, was the fact that there was very little Denzel could do. This was a waiting game. Not really his strong suit, but he’d manage.
He stepped into the tent and stopped short.
Medo Sarraf, the Ra'id, stood in front of the table Denzel had been using as a desk. The laptop stood open. Denzel knew he'd closed it before leaving. It was password locked, so he wasn't too worried. But Sarraf was blatantly flipping through the notes and scribbles that Denzel had left behind.
“Can I help you, Ra’id?” Denzel asked cautiously.
Sarraf looked up, his expression almost smug, but the threat came through loud and clear.
From outside the tent, two of Sarraf’s men entered, standing on either side of Denzel.
“Agent Denzel of the U.S. FBI,” Sarraf said. “You are under arrest.”
Chapter Thirteen
FBI Headquarters, Manhattan
Ludlum left the offices of the video forensics team, feeling frustrated and a little irritated by the lack of progress. They were working every angle, but there was little to find.
Or rather, there was a veritable deluge of things to find—a cascade of infractions and suspicious behavior that triggered red flags at nearly any given moment. There just was no way to filter all that noise and narrow it down to something relevant.
One thing was evident, though: The security force at the site was corrupt.
Ludlum had lost count of the number of clandestine meetings, subtle and not-so-subtle hand-offs of bribes, unidentified strangers allowed access to one or the other of the various mountain chambers at the site, all as the security personnel took casual strolls into the darkness.
Any one of these encounters could have something to do with Kotler’s abduction. Or nothing at all. Short of actually spotting Kotler on one of the videos, there was just no way to narrow it all down.
She didn’t look forward to updating Denzel on any of this.
It wasn’t that she was afraid he’d be angry or that he’d blame her somehow. Rather, she dreaded the report because it wasn’t much of a report at all.
At the moment she was living in a sort of Schrödinger’s box of hope—as long as she didn’t have confirmation that Kotler was dead, then he was still alive. Every report that led nowhere was just one more creak of the lid for that box, and she was afraid that it might fly open at any second and reveal an ugly truth she wasn’t prepared to accept.
She returned to her own lab, intent on sucking it up and making the video call. This was the job. And like it or not, dread it or not, right now Denzel needed any scrap of information he could get.
She brought up the app and rang Denzel. It continued for several minutes, with no answer.
She checked her schedule. This was the time they had agreed upon. It wasn’t like Denzel to miss a call.
She continued trying for a few more minutes, and only gave up after seeing an email notification slide in at the top right of her screen. It faded before she could catch all the details, but she’d seen the name “Kotler” in the subject line. She switched windows and found the email at the top of her inbox.
It was from Dr. Maalyck, and it wasn’t good news.
It wasn’t very long, and she read through it twice to make sure she had the details right.
Denzel had given Maalyck her contact information, Maalyck said. Kotler was still missing. Agent Denzel had been arrested. And now Maalyck was unsure what to do.
Maalyck included his username in his email, asking her to call him as soon as possible, and she immediately rang him from the app.
He answered almost instantly.
“Dr. Ludlum. Thank you for calling me.” His voice was strained, and she could see how worried and concerned he was.
“What happened?” Ludlum asked. “You said that Agent Denzel was arrested?”
“Perhaps an hour ago. I contacted you as soon as I learned of this. I have attempted to reach Ra’id Sarraf but have had no success. His subordinates will not tell me where he has gone.”
“Did they say why he was arrested?”
Maalyck shook his head. "They hesitated even to confirm his arrest." He looked around him, conspiratorially. "Dr. Ludlum, the deadline to deliver the sword is approaching. I was uncomfortable with this plan even with Agent Denzel was present, but now …”
He hesitated, and Ludlum nodded. “I understand.” She thought for a moment. “Do you have a satellite phone? Aside from the system you’re using for internet access?”
Maalyck nodded. “Yes. I have one provided by the museum.”
She was thinking. She knew Denzel’s general plan, which wasn’t that complicated. Maalyck would take the sword to the drop point, Denzel would somehow track the pickup and follow whoever took it. If Kotler wasn’t released at the drop point, Denzel would rescue him wherever he was being held. He would also retrieve the sword and arrest whoever was responsible.
It was just the sort of plan Denzel liked. Simple. Straightforward. But it was also high-risk. There was no way to know how many people were involved in this, and how well armed they might be. And unlike most of the operations Denzel ran, he didn’t have the full backup and support of his team at the FBI. It was just him, from what Ludlum could gather. He certainly couldn’t depend on the security force there.
Denzel was taking a huge gamble, not just with Kotler’s life but with his own, and with Maalyck’s. But Ludlum knew that if there were any other way, Denzel would take it.
Ludlum couldn’t replicate Denzel’s plan remotely, of course. She’d have to come up with something new and on the fly. And her resources were even more limited, with Denzel out of play.
She’d worry about Denzel later. If he were under arrest, they would take him somewhere to be processed. There would be government paperwork and bureaucracy to wade through. She would alert Agent Brown to all of this, and let the lawyers and diplomats handle it.
Kotler and Maalyck were in more immediate danger.
“Take that satellite phone with you. Can you hide it in whatever you’re using to carry the sword?”
Maalyck nodded. “The sword is in a canvas bag. There are several pockets.”
“Wrap the phone in something,” Ludlum said. “Some socks or underwear maybe. Something to pad it, so that no one
feels anything hard if they pat the bag.”
“I can do this,” Maalyck said. “But you are asking me to continue on with the plan.”
“I am,” Ludlum said. She hesitated, then played the only card she had. “For Kotler’s sake.”
Maalyck stared back at her from the screen, then sighed. “Yes,” he said. “For Dr. Kotler. It is a great risk for me. Please forgive my hesitation.”
Ludlum shook her head. “Not at all! We’re going to figure a way to mitigate that risk as much as possible. Do you know the area they’ve chosen for the drop point?”
“It is deep in the mountains, but I know the place. I explored it often, as a boy. By road, it takes a great deal of time.”
“What about by foot?” Ludlum asked.
Maalyck smiled, shaking his head. “I am not in the physical shape of my boyhood, but I could be there in half the time.”
"That might not be a bad plan," Ludlum said, thinking. "Are there places to hide, in that area? Someplace you could retreat to quickly?"
“Many places," Maalyck nodded. "I believe I see what you're asking. I can make the drop-off and retreat quickly into the hills. Ammon will expect me to use the roads, which he may have blocked."
Ludlum shook her head. “I’m sorry, who is Ammon?”
Maalyck made a face, as if only realizing that he’d left information out. “I apologize! I was so concerned for Agent Denzel and Dr. Kotler, I neglected to tell you. Dr. Ammon Cairo ELsayed. He is a former assistant of Dr. Warner’s but was expelled from the team for stealing artifacts and equipment. Agent Denzel believed he might be the one responsible for Dr. Kotler’s abduction. It is unfair of me to assume he is guilty, but I am afraid I am a bit biased.”
“Do you have any other information about him? Photos?”
“I can forward you his files,” Maalyck said. He began tapping at the laptop on his side, and seconds later Ludlum saw the email notification.
“I’ll take a look. For now … I hate to put you in this position …”
Maalyck shook his head. “It is not you who put me in this position, Dr. Ludlum. It was Ammon. Or whoever abducted Dr. Kotler.”
“What will you do?” Ludlum asked.
“What I must,” Dr. Maalyck replied.
She nodded. “Send me the number for that satellite phone. I can put a trace on it from here. It might help.”
“I will do this,” Maalyck nodded.
Ludlum was about to disconnect but hesitated. “Dr. Maalyck …” she said. “Please be careful.”
Maalyck nodded, and the call ended.
Ludlum sat back, considering everything.
This was trouble. All of it. She knew some lines were being crossed here, but she was rolling with Denzel’s plan. More or less.
He wasn’t one to break rules for no good reason. But it was possible that he had a blind spot when it came to Dan Kotler.
She could relate.
She checked the time. Dr. Maalyck would have to leave around now if he was to make the rendezvous.
She typed up everything she’d just learned, and included the information about Dr. ELsayed, forwarding everything to the video forensics team. It might help in the search. She knew they were applying facial recognition to the videos as they scrubbed through them, and though most of the faces they found were not in any official databases, they could quickly compare Ammon’s photo to the collection they were building.
She hoped it helped.
Now she had another task that wasn’t going to be pleasant. She forwarded the files once more, jotting a quick note in the email, then rose from her desk and went to see Agent Brown. She didn’t have time to wait for an invitation. They needed to get the gears moving for Agent Denzel.
Wherever Kotler was, she prayed he was ok. But she was also praying for Denzel, for Maalyck, even for herself at this point.
There was more than enough trouble to go around.
Chapter Fourteen
Egypt
Kotler stumbled up a slope, his legs feeling rubbery and his neck and back aching. The chains weighed him down like an anchor, and each step was a trial of will. He kept moving, even as his head and body protested, crying for him to fall where he was and just sleep.
He wasn't confident he'd survive if he did that. The cold was already biting, slowing his movements and adding to the pull of exhaustion. If he gave in, he might die of hypothermia here.
There were also other dangers.
There were predatory animals in the region, including a variety of large cats that prowled these hilltops, looking for the sort of prey that might be stumbling around in exhaustion.
Though more dangerous, in Kotler's estimate, were the snakes and scorpions.
He had already spotted and avoided several as he lumbered through the terrain. It didn't help much that he knew there were around thirty species of snakes in Egypt, and half of them were poisonous.
Perhaps he'd been hasty in his assessment of leaving versus staying in the cave.
He was all in at the moment, however. No turning back. His only consolation was that the night was cold, driving snakes and scorpions alike to burrow deeper into any place where they could conserve warmth. This left the more obvious paths clear, and a bit safer. Now he had only to worry about predators dropping on him from above or slipping and finding himself spiraling down the rocky cliff face.
So that was something.
It would help immensely if he could rid himself of the chains.
The cuffs around his wrists were thick iron. It might be possible to damage them enough to remove them, but it would take hours, and he lacked the leverage to do it properly. The links of the chain, however, were more vulnerable.
He stopped, looking around to see if he could spot anything useful. There were several toppled stones, much like the one he'd used back in the cave. They would have to do.
He found a boulder that had a nice rounded peak. He prodded around the base of it with the iron rod, making sure none of the aforementioned snakes were hiding there. He then performed this same check on the pile of stones he planned to pilfer. A scorpion, alarmed by his prodding, rushed out of a gap in the rocks, and Kotler let it pass, unmolested.
He nudged the stones a bit more and finally chose one that had a bit of a wedge shape, almost like an axe head. He hoped this might give him some advantage.
Back at the boulder, he considered his options. His energy was waning, and so he needed to do this as efficiently as possible. After mulling it over for a long while, he decided the best approach was to focus all of his energy on the center link, where the chain that connected the foot shackles linked to the chain that stretched between his wrists.
It wasn’t ideal from a leverage standpoint. He could only get so much range of motion before pulling the chain off of the boulder. It meant working in a tight arc and relying more on muscle than gravity to help with the work. That cost him.
It was exhausting and painful, piling on to Kotler’s physical and emotional misery, and he stopped several times, crying and yelling in frustration. Not his finest moment, by his own estimate.
The events of the past few days were taking their toll.
He channeled his frustration into the work, slamming the edge of the stone down with a building rage.
His hands felt achy and raw, and every muscle burned from his wrists to his lower back. His vision was starting to blur and darken, though he wasn’t sure if that was from the exertion or if it might not be the deep Egyptian night.
He couldn’t keep this up. He could already feel himself drooping, giving in to the exhaustion.
He shook himself. Blinked. Huffed a few times, getting oxygen and blood flowing. And then he gripped the stone and struck as hard as he could.
The link severed.
It was a small gap, but seeing it nearly made Kotler weep with relief.
He got to his feet, standing wobblily, and shook himself. He looped the chain around the boulder, pulling and trying to widen t
he gap he’d just created.
It was useless. His arms were too weak, and no matter how he pulled the link wouldn’t bend. The gap, as promising as it had seemed, wasn’t enough.
He needed more leverage.
He looked around, hoping for any inspiration. His resources were as limited as his reserves of strength. But maybe … maybe …
His eyes landed on the wedge of stone, and he had an idea.
Once again, he took up the iron rod and prodded the pile of stones. No scorpions this time. He took up the biggest stone he could lift, an oblong globe of rock that resembled an enormous potato. It should be heavy enough to do the trick. He hoped.
The next steps were tricky. He knelt to the ground, finding a soft patch of soil. Through a bit of wrangling, he managed to wedge the edge of the original stone into the gap in the link. It wasn’t much, and he ultimately had to drive the rod into the soil and lean the wedged stone against it, to keep the whole thing upright. It was a start. He now hefted the heavier rock, balancing it on the broader portion of the wedge, and then leaned into it.
He bounced, using his weight for momentum, and praying that the combination of his body and the stone would create the pressure he needed. It would have been more effective to lift the stone and slam it down, but he lacked both the leverage and the strength.
After several minutes he set the stones aside and inspected the link.
And grinned.
The gap had widened significantly. Not yet enough to allow another link to pass through, but close. This plan was working, at least.
He set up the process again, repeating his steps. When he next checked his progress, he didn’t even have to try to pull the chains free. The link connecting the foot shackles fell free as he was lifting the chain from the ground. Kotler unhooked the broken link then, and stood, his hands finally free to drop to his sides. Each still had a short length of chain dangling, but on the whole, it was less cumbersome than it had been.
He was elated by the victory. He still felt cold, hungry, exhausted. His body still ached, and he wasn’t even sure he had the energy to move another step. But he felt freer than he had for hours.
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