Canyon of the Sphinx (14 page)

"McGrath told me not to call
him. He told me he would have my job if I did."

Juliana sighed unhappily. Beyond
the tent, a host of unfamiliar people were moving in across Marcus' encampment.
Trucks from the SCA had brought in people and equipment, pitching their own
camp as well as confiscating the majority of Marcus'. It was an invasion.

Juliana couldn't watch anymore;
she turned back to the dusty interior of Marcus' administration tent, her gaze
falling over the boxes in various states of packing.  The printers were packed
up, as were the phones, miscellaneous items, supplies, and all of the computers
except one. It was a sobering sight.

Lynn was watching the activity in
the camp like a hawk. He was trying to keep calm about the entire thing, but it
was difficult. When they had all worked so hard, now they were going to lose
it. And Marcus didn't even know, which was the worst pain of all.

"He should really be
here," Juliana said. "For them to just take over like this...."

Lynn looked at his wife.
"He's in the Yucatan with bigger worries on his mind. It would take him
two days to get here. By then, they'll be finished." He moved back into
the tent. "Besides, I don't think it's a good idea for him to be here.
With his temper, he'd just flatten somebody."

"He has every right,"
Juliana said softly.

Lynn put his hand on her to
comfort her; it was painful for them all. "This just isn't fair," she
was verging on tears.

He pushed her gently towards the
boxes to get her mind off of the activity in camp. "Pack. We need to get
out of here."

"Why are you so calm? You've
put more time up in that tomb than anyone."

"What do you want me to do?
Go on a rampage? Dennis already did that. Someone has to keep a cool head, so I
guess that's me."

"Dennis had every right to
freak out," Juliana sniffed. "This whole thing is outrageous."

"I know, but we have to live
with it for now. Let's just finish packing and get the hell out of here."

She obeyed, reluctantly. She knew
how hard this was for him but he was doing the manly thing by being strong. Her
whining wasn't helping. Lynn helped her put the last few items in the boxes,
making sure everything was very carefully laid out. There were workers waiting
to help them start loading, not to mention the Marines. They were being kicked
out, too.

  Tony entered the tent, his
piercing blue eyes hard and his face lined with stress. He didn't like dealing
with the Egyptian military or the Egyptian government. It always strained his
normally-even nature. The major in charge and about half the platoon had
already split for the American Embassy in Cairo, leaving Tony and about twenty
men on the site. Tony had asked to stay to help the archaeologists clear out
and to help keep peace during the transition.

  Juliana glanced up when he
entered the tent. "So where is the bitch?"

Tony reached down, picking up a
couple of smaller sealed boxes. "She's in her tent, I guess. I haven't
been watching her."

"You should. This is all her
fault, the stupid little...."

"Baby," Lynn cut her
off, "I listened to that all last night. You got yourself so worked up
that you got sick. Don't go off again, not now."

"I can't help it,"
Juliana helped Tony steady the boxes. "When I think that this is all her
fault, I just get so mad I want to smack her."

Tony left the tent for a brief
second, passing the boxes on to a waiting Marine to be loaded. He re-entered,
picking up more gear.

 "Look," he said.
"You know this isn't any of my business. I just do what I'm told. But I'm
going to tell you this; ever since that woman has been here, things have gone really
wrong."

Lynn lifted his hands helplessly.
"She is the site Controller. We had no influence over her being
here."

"I know," Tony said.
"And I personally have nothing against her, but we all know that she
hasn't been good for this site. She was supposed to help us and ended up
screwing us."

Juliana sat back on the dusty old
futon. Almost three months pregnant, she was feeling uncomfortable and bloated.
"I just don't understand how this all got started," she rubbed the
bridge of her nose. "It all happened so fast. Jensen Elder came here to
help us prepare for an audit and she comes across all sorts of unauthorized
expenses, mostly from Kathlyn, but then she also says she comes across evidence
that someone was juggling the books. Then this alleged misconduct is leaked to
the Internal Revenue Service. Now the Supreme Council for Antiquities, Egypt’s
governing body for artifacts, is kicking us out pending an investigation."

Tony sat down beside her.
"It's crazy," he said quietly. "I don't have any direct
involvement with the accounting, but Marcus and Kathlyn are two of the most
honest, hardworking people I've ever met.  Now this woman we don't even know
steps in here, intimates they're crooked, and everyone believes her? That's
bullshit."

"I think that's the
point," Lynn said. "No one truly believes her, but they have to check
it out. Since she was doing accounting at SCU for the project, she knows the
most about it and, therefore, the IRS is listening. Meanwhile, we can't work.
The Supreme Council for Antiquities is taking over."

"It's ludicrous," Tony
repeated his opinion.

Juliana shook her head.
"There's just got to be more to it than that. Do you notice how no one has
bothered to bring Marcus or Debra Jo into this yet? They were the ones handling
the majority of the finances around here. Aren't they going to talk to them and
get their side? It seems to me that there's more going on that what we've been
told."

"Maybe," Lynn said.
"All I know is that I've got to shut this down and I can't even tell
Marcus."

"Dr. McGrath will tell
him," Tony said. "He's the best person to do it, being his boss and
all."

Juliana sighed heavily. She was
about to stand up when Jensen entered the tent. The woman came to an immediate
halt, looking at Juliana, Lynn and Tony as if assessing the enemy. She hadn't
expected them to be here. She quickly put her head down, mumbled an apology for
intruding, and quickly went for a pair of glasses that were sitting on the
desk. Before she could escape, Juliana was up, blocking her path.

"So," Juliana said
casually. "Any more revelations today? Find a stash of a million bucks
that Kathlyn had deposited in a Swiss account? Or maybe traces of antiquities
that Marcus has sold to the Black Market? Well?"

Jensen refused to look at her.
"If you will excuse me, Dr. Davis."

"No, I won't excuse
you," Juliana snapped. "Do you have any idea what you've done? 
You've just irrevocably damaged the reputation of two of the finest
archaeologists of our time.  Here you were, all sweet and innocent when you
came on board, and you turned into a viper. What in the hell did we ever do to
you to deserve this?"

Jensen did look at her, then.
"I'm only doing my job. I can't help it if you don't like it."

"Lies and allegations aren't
your job."

"Those words are yours, not
mine."

"What else am I going to
call them? You know it's all crap as well as I do. My question is why."

"Why what?"

"Why are you doing this?
What are you getting out of it?"

Jensen put her head down again
and tried to move past her. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure you do. Planting false
expense reports. Rearranging spreadsheets so it looks like Kathlyn has been
juggling cash. Who else would be smart enough or know enough about the project
to be able to do that effectively?"

"I don't know what you
mean."

"Honey, you're good, I'll
give you that. But don't you understand that, by doing this, you only implicate
yourself as well because it was your job to audit the books back at SCU?
Implicating Kathlyn and Marcus will only make you look like an idiot for
missing things. Or it will make you look like you were a part of it."

Jensen shook her lowered head.
"Dr. Davis, you're so mistaken. If you think I'm happy about this, you're
wrong. But it's my job to report my findings. I'm sorry."

She pushed Juliana in her haste
to get out. Juliana's loss of balance was only momentary; in an instant she was
back at Jensen, grabbing the woman and shoving her hard. Jensen went down and
Juliana, pregnant and all, jumped right on top of her.

Lynn was the first to react,
grabbing his wife and pulling her up. Tony reached to help Jensen, but the
woman slashed her sharp nails at him and he came away with three bloody
scratches on his wrist. Irritated, Tony grasped her with his other hand and
yanked her to a sitting position.

"Let go of me!" Jensen
hissed. "Stay away from me!"

Lynn had Juliana. She was so
angry that she was white but, true to her nature, she would not back down from
a challenge. She and Kathlyn had a lot in common that way.

 "Why are you doing
this?" Juliana growled at her. "Why?"

Jensen eyed Juliana angrily.
"What is the matter with you?"

"Answer my question!"

"There is nothing to
say!"

Juliana couldn't let it go.
"All of that stuff you found is bogus; admit it! You planted it for some reason.
Why did you do it?"

Jensen scrambled to her feet.
"You're crazy, do you know that?"

 "I'll give you crazy."
Juliana tried to charge her again but Lynn held her fast. Tony helped Jensen
from the tent by giving her a little shove.  When she was gone and Lynn had his
wife effectively corralled, Tony just stood there with his hands on his hips.

"This is going to get out of
hand," he said ominously. "It's going to go beyond just Kathlyn and
Marcus. I don't know what that woman is up to, but I don't like it. She's far
too cool to be convincing when she says she doesn't know anything."

Juliana was weak now that her
flash of fury had faded. "But why, Tony? Why would she do this?"

The Marine shook his head.
"I don't know. But I have this awful feeling we're going to find
out." The cell phone rang on his belt and he swiftly collected it, barking
a couple of words before disconnecting the call. He glanced at Juliana and
Lynn. “I’ve been called away. I’ve got to go.”

“Where?” Juliana left her
husband’s grasp, her olive green eyes wide on the Marine. “I thought you were
staying until everything was loaded and cleared out?”

His jaw ticked. “That was the
plan, but I’ve just been given orders otherwise. They want me at the airport
for a military lift back to Cairo. My orders come down from the commandant in
charge of the embassy security force.”

“Why would he call you away?”

“I don’t know, unless it’s some
political thing. Maybe it’s because they know I’m too close to all of this and
they’ve re-thought their decision to let me stay on until everything is packed.
Who the hell knows? All I know is that a Marine never questions orders. We just
obey ‘em.”

There was nothing to say to that.
Tony had his orders. Juliana put her arms around his neck, hugging him for a
moment. When she stepped back, there were tears in her eyes.

 “You’ve been a friend to all of
us, Tony,” she said softly. “I’m very sorry to see you go.”

The lean, mean Marine was close
to misting up himself. “Have no doubt,” he said quietly. “I will be back. We’ll
all be back.”

 Tony left the tent. Juliana and
Lynn finished the packing, hearts heavy and with thoughts of the uncertain
future for them all.

***

Being a personal friend of the
President of the United States had its advantages. Kathlyn and President Andrew
Jacob Leeves had been friends for years, being alumni from the same university,
and Leeves acted as if he had no other pressing duties in the world other than
to get a transport for Dr. Trent out of the jungle and to a decent medical
facility. Truthfully, he was as concerned as the rest of the world about her
condition, and more so. Once, he had been madly in love with the woman. Deep
down, those feelings has always lingered even though they were both happily
married to other people.

 Twenty hours after the White
House received an anxious call from Dr. Jobe McGrath, the United States Marines
came to the rescue. Two CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters and one massive CH-46
Sea Knight landed in a clearing about two miles from the small jungle hospital
where Kathlyn was located. Like a well-orchestrated dance, an entire platoon of
Marines, complete with a doctor and several medics, off-loaded their jeeps and
supplies and were at the hospital within a half hour of arrival.

 It was an invasion, a precise
military operation designed for one purpose alone. Men in fatigues swarmed the
village, guns on their shoulders and two-way radio earpieces on their heads.
The clamoring press was shoved out of the way while the doctor, medics, and a
few ranking officers entered the small clinic as if they owned the place. No
one questioned their purpose; they just moved out of the way.