He was behind her now as they ran up the tunnel shaft.
Not a bad view at all,
he found himself thinking. Her hair bounced from left to right, lit by the bluish light of the symbols as she ran. He noticed her legs as well — long, lean, and hinted with a summer tan. He slowly took in the view, down to her feet, where the strangely shaped anklet rested around her ankle. She was in fine shape, and he wondered if she was into working out or running at all. It was a shame that she didn’t seem to care that he was there.
Up ahead, Karn slowed to a stop. They had reached the top of the tunnel, and Karn and Vilocek both poked their heads out of the hole to look for Madu’s group. Seeing nothing, Karn pulled himself up with his hands and stepped out of the tunnel shaft, followed by Vilocek. The remainder of the group did the same, one at a time, until they were all gathered inside the antechamber of the Lower Room.
“Everybody keep your heads down,” Vilocek said in a low voice, “and keep moving no matter what. Madu Jabari must have missed this tunnel shaft when he came through before, and I’m assuming he’s down below now — but he’ll be back when he finds that room empty.”
One after another, they crawled on hands and knees upwards. Karn again led the way, followed by Beka, Bryce and the rest of his team, and finally Corinne and Professor Andrews. Vilocek had felt safe leaving them at the back of the line since they knew that Madu’s men were the only thing they’d find below. Besides, he needed as much firepower at the front of the line as possible in case they ran into any of Madu’s team waiting above.
Vilocek expected this possibility — he could almost guarantee it. Madu Jabari was habitual in nature and therefore predictable. The man had few tricks up his sleeve, and Vilocek was sure Madu would approach this problem without much creativity.
Madu––never one to shy away from a fight––would have been leading the charge down into the pyramid. Also, Vilocek assumed, Jabari would have taken half of his men with him and left the remainder up on the surface or spread out elsewhere throughout the pyramid. Vilocek couldn’t help but chuckle. Madu was a decorated military officer, now serving more as a political puppet than an actual soldier. Vilocek knew Madu didn’t succeed in his military career through a distinguished level of intelligence, but rather a will and ability to charge forward without regard to the risk of failure.
A sound up ahead alerted Vilocek and Karn to slow. Both men listened intently for a few seconds. It sounded like a whispered argument, too faint to make out the words. Vilocek nodded once to Karn, and the big man moved forward quickly.
Vilocek watched as Karn ran toward the split in the passages, pulling his knife from its sheath at the same time. One of Madu’s men dropped down into the Descending Passage at about the same time Karn got there.
The Egyptian soldier yelled out just as the 8 inch blade sunk into his neck. Karn smoothly rolled forward,
carrying the stunned man with him past the split in the passage. A second soldier gaped at the scene before realizing what had happened and springing into motion.
Karn was much faster.
Giving the knife a quick twist and a pull, he grabbed the blade with his left hand and swung it behind him. The knife caught the second soldier just above the groin. The man stopped dead in his tracks and he dropped his gun. He looked up at Karn, just as the bigger man crushed his face with a right hook. Crumpling, the soldier fell unconscious as Karn stepped back over him and spoke to Vilocek.
“All clear,” Karn said as he casually wiped his brow. The entire attack had taken less than 5 seconds, and Agent Karn wasn’t even breathing hard. Bryce, Wayne, and Jeff all stared wide-eyed while Beka smirked.
“Well done,” Vilocek said. “Let’s hope there aren’t too many more of them––we don’t want you getting tired, and I’m not sure Bryce and his friends will be much help.”
They continued the short climb in silence, and after about 10 minutes reached the exit. Beka and Karn stepped outside and stood on either side of the exit, on the lookout for more of Madu’s men. Vilocek held back just inside the entrance of the pyramid. Bryce, the Thompson brothers, and Bartlinski followed Karn and Beka outside.
As Gary McGowan lifted his head from the Descending Passage, one of Madu’s men finally noticed the movement at the pyramid’s entrance. He fired a single shot that found Gary’s left cheek.
The bullet exploded on impact. The force of it took half of Gary’s skull with it. His body slumped forward in the entrance as a fountain of blood splashed over Vilocek’s face, taking him and the rest of the people inside the tunnel by surprise.
The Egyptian, possibly stunned himself by the sudden appearance of enemies and the accuracy of his own hurried shot, hesitated for a heartbeat before realizing he was still in mortal danger. As he hurried to adjust his aim, a torrent of gunfire ripped into him. Two other men standing near were also hit.
Almost immediately the remainder of Madu’s rear guard converged on the entrance. Bryce, Jeff, and Beka fired at the men coming around the north side of the pyramid while Karn, Sean, and Wayne engaged the men coming from the south.
It was over almost before it had begun. Madu’s men were spread out and didn’t get to the fight at the same time. They were easily cut down one by one — like shooting fish in a barrel. Vilocek’s and Bryce’s teams had the higher ground and the numbers to stop the advancing pairs dead in their tracks — literally.
As soon as the shooting stopped, Vilocek bounded from the entrance. Covered in McGowan’s blood but seemingly unfazed, he ordered them to move out. “Get their vehicles. I’m sure Madu could hear the gunfire from down below. We need to get out of here before they lock down the entire country.”
They all set off toward Madu’s unmarked SUVs. Bryce’s team split up and headed toward the first two vehicles in the line, and Vilocek and his men headed toward the third. Beka, however, turned left toward the end of the line. Realizing what he was going for, Vilocek changed course and joined him.
The SUVs in the line accelerated away from the scene, followed by the black Humvee with Beka at the wheel. Blocky and huge, its clumsy lines belied the speed at which it was moving to catch up. Karn sat shotgun, and Vilocek, Corinne, and Jensen sat in the back.
They followed the lead vehicle to their chosen rendezvous point about 30 miles from the pyramid complex. While they drove, Bryce pressed a button on his shoulder-mounted camera, uploading the images he’d captured inside the hidden chamber beneath the Lower Room. He hoped that somewhere not too far away, Whittenfield would download the files and start piecing together the idea Bryce had started forming.
11:37 PM - EGYPTIAN SUPREME Council Office
The group sat around a large oak table in the center of the room. Major General Horus Alexander, Commander of the Egyptian Border Guard, was seated between Major General Mohamed Hafez and Ms. Nena Dendera, advisor to the Commander of the Second Field Army. The three were there under the guise of “preparation for the upcoming meeting of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces,” an explanation that was readily ignored by the press. On the surface, it seemed about as interesting as a U.S. Congress committee meeting; sometimes mentioned, most often ignored as “business as usual.” This place was completely unknown to the outside world, and the topic of the meeting was a closely held secret.
But today was definitely
not
business as usual. Twenty-two men had been killed in active duty, and sixteen others had been brutally massacred at a national — and global — heritage site. The perpetrators had fled the scene only moments before the remainder of the Egyptian squad had emerged from inside the pyramid. To top it off, they had no idea
where
the enemy had gone — the GPS units inside the stolen military vehicles had apparently been destroyed.
On the table in front of Horus Alexander was an open laptop computer. It displayed the fullscreen pixelated video image of Madu Jabari’s face. Reddened and breathing heavily, the man was clearly outside himself and almost visibly seething. The committee members around General Alexander sat in hushed silence, awaiting the man’s next words.
They all knew Madu’s temper — slow to build, and quite mild by most standards. But when he reached the point where he was today, having been humiliated and embarrassed — as well as losing some of his own men and barely escaping death himself — it was best to let the man talk himself down from the proverbial ledge.
“I — I have no idea how this could have happened — “ he stammered, more upset than dumbfounded. “These men were exceptionally trained; they seemed to anticipate my every move.”
Ms. Dendera was the first in the room to speak. “Jabari, it was an accident. As long as we clean up the mess — and I’ll have one of our typists prepare a statement for the press — we should be able to fend off any prying eyes.”
“Right,” General Hafez chimed in. “We can blame it on a local terrorist cell — interested in some over-hyped conspiracy theory. After a few weeks, it will be all but forgotten — ”
“But this
must not go unpunished
!” Madu interrupted, still in a state of rage.
“No Madu,” General Alexander replied, “you are correct — we will retaliate. But this time we will proceed with caution. We do not know where or when, but we will respond to this outrage accordingly.”
On the screen, Jabari’s crimson-colored face bobbed up and down in agreement. He opened his mouth to speak again, but Alexander held up his hand to interrupt. “But Madu — we have been discussing one thing here that does not add up.
“This American — Tanning Vilocek, you say — was a friend of yours, no?”
“Yes, he is — was,” Madu responded, catching himself. “He and I worked together on some projects about ten years ago, but other than the occasional email or call, we hadn’t spoken, and I hadn’t seen him in person since then.
“However, his colleagues in the pharmaceutical industries — what few he has — say that he is a habitually reclusive man who keeps to himself and has a profound carelessness for personal relationship.”
This last revelation seemed to placate the General just a bit; the truth about what had happened today seemed painfully obvious now.
The silence was palpable until General Hafez spoke again. “Madu, this is an unfortunate event. It seems that your ‘friend’ was playing you — he tricked you into believing there was a
second
party at the pyramid today. Whether or not that was true is irrelevant now — if there was another group, it joined the first and they retreated together, and you yourself saw Vilocek, climbing into one of the vehicles.”
“Yes, and if they hadn’t disabled the other vehicles, we could have followed them,” Madu added hopelessly.
“Wherever they’re heading, it is too late to follow them now,” said Dendera, “and I believe the most prudent course of action might be to put a call in to the United Nations, and close our borders for the time being.”
“That is unacceptable!” Madu’s voice rose an octave. “If we act now, we can find Vilocek and his men and make them pay for what they have done! We must assemble a team
now
, and track them down!”
General Mohamad Hafez pounded his fist on the table. “Jabari, you speak foolishness. At what expense do you expect to find and punish this man? Why is it worth more men, resources, and trouble?”
Jabari looked down for a few seconds, then returned his gaze to the camera on his monitor. He took a deep breath and began speaking slowly and meticulously. “You and I both know why I have called this meeting. If this were simply a matter of revenge, I could have simply hired a kill squad to track them down and take the necessary action. If it were a matter of personal interest to me that we seek political action against these men, you know I would have sought out the counsel of the
entire
Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.
“No, there is something else that has been troubling me since I left the pyramid. All of us are of Egyptian descent as far back as we can recall. As such, I know that you are all as interested as I in our ancestry. I have called you here today on a matter of national interest; perhaps even of national security.”
“Madu, what are you speaking of?” Alexander asked.
“Vilocek’s men descended into the pyramid and converged upon the Lower Room. We followed them down, reaching the chamber after they left. As you know, half of my men were stationed outside the pyramid, forming a perimeter. A quarter of my men were spread throughout the Ascending Passage. None of my teams called in any enemy movement whatsoever, much less their escape from the pyramid.
“As I have reported, the attack on my men first came from below, at the convergence of the Ascending and Descending Passages. I found the bodies of two of my men as we ascended up the shaft, and the others––all dead––outside the pyramid. This means that Vilocek and his team were not only inside the pyramid, but somewhere below the Lower Room. As I mentioned, we found a new shaft in the Lower Room; one that had never been discovered before. We traveled down it, assuming Vilocek had taken the same route, and found the hidden chamber beneath the pyramid. That is where we came upon
another
shaft, leading
out
of this hidden chamber.”
“Yes, Madu,” Hafez answered testily. “We know this already. And you know that we are sending a team of geologists and archaeologists to Giza now to study these miraculous finds.”
“Yes, General,” Madu said, “and I am grateful for that. But I have failed to mention that these new shafts are unlike any other found in the pyramid––or in any other pyramid at Giza, for that matter. These shafts are curved, descending below the rock foundation in perfectly formed spirals. The passage walls are covered with strange markings written in some sort of bluish ink. As we descended and drew near to the hidden chamber, the markings disappeared behind us. Eventually, after we had been in the chamber for about ten minutes, we were plunged again into total darkness –– the markings and symbols completely disappeared.”