by K. T. Tomb
They both nodded their confirmation.
“Great, we’ll have tickets ready for you at the check-in counter, see you then.”
Chyna turned to Sirita and instructed her to take their names, dates of birth and passport numbers and call the airline to book the tickets. While Siri made herself busy with that, Chyna spoke further to Rashid and Eastman.
“How are you holding up?” Rashid asked her.
“Okay for now, but the signal from the beacon hasn’t moved since we homed in on it and I don’t know what to make of that.”
“Do not worry, Miss Stone. It will be fine,” Eastman said.
“I hope so, Eastman. I really do.”
***
There wasn’t much time left before Oscar’s plane would land at the airport and Demetri and Thorin were probably already through the immigration process and heading on to customs. Their meeting with Rashid had certainly been fruitful; they had added two experts on Iraq to their ranks.
Oscar’s plane wouldn’t be arriving until around ten thirty and their flight to Baghdad wasn’t scheduled to leave until close to three o’ clock. There wasn’t enough time for Oscar to leave the airport and freshen up at her house, so Chyna decided to take a room in the airport hotel where he could take a shower, have a meal and relax a little before they had to leave. The two bodyguards had been instructed to check in and secure the room if they arrived before she did. When they got to the airport, she and Siri would get checked in on the flight and send their bags on before retiring to the room to set up a temporary work space.
As she had anticipated, when they got to the front desk of the hotel, Sirita was informed that the room had already been checked in and they proceeded upstairs. Always on guard, Chyna took point and kept her hand on her SIG Sauer® M-11 pistol inside her jacket as they approached the door. She knocked on the door and waited for a response.
“Operation Ninurta,” came Thorin’s voice from behind the closed door.
“Ishtari’s retrieval,” Chyna replied, reholstering the gun and taking her hand from inside her leather jacket.
The locks were turned immediately by the satisfied bodyguard who rushed out to engulf her svelte body in a massive bear hug. When he saw Sirita behind her, he stiffened.
“Hey Thorin how are you?” Chyna said, cheerfully. “This is Sirita, our office manager from the new office.”
“Hey, how do you do?”
“How do you do?” Sirita replied, primly.
They walked past the huge Swede and stepped into the beautiful room. It was one of the largest the hotel had to offer. Sirita had done a fantastic job of anticipating how much room they would need to be able to function for the hours they would be spending there. As soon as Chyna had greeted Demetri and introduce him to Sirita, she took out her laptop, logged on to the Found History server and called Nigel.
“Nigel, I’m going to need you to find an archery shop for me in the city. If there isn’t a place where I can get a compound matrix bow, I’m going to need to know that in less than an hour so I can arrange to take mine.”
“Sounds like you’re planning to get stealthy over there, Miss Stone,” he replied.
“If we’re dealing with a hostage situation, then we may have to, Nigel.”
“Understood. I’ll get right on it.”
“Could you also log onto Lana’s profile and download everything she’s uploaded to the server in the last week? I want to get a clear picture of what she was working on before she went missing. You never know, maybe we’ll find something helpful.”
“Good idea, Boss.”
It wasn’t long before Oscar knocked on the room door. Of course, he was a lot less cautious with his approach; he was still a bit of a novice. When he strolled in, Chyna smiled broadly.
“Where are you coming from, Cowboy?” Chyna quipped, making fun of how he was dressed. “Did we just fly you out of New York or was it Austin, Texas?”
“Awww, come on Boss Lady,” he groaned. “Give me a break. I left for that flight straight from work. I don’t even know what’s in my bag. I had to ask Sandra to go pack it for me.”
Oscar received raised eyebrows from both husky bodyguards when they got a good look at his leather and denim ensemble. He looked more than a little bit like Crocodile Dundee, without the knife of course.
“Go take a shower and get some rest,” Chyna instructed. “I’m about to order some lunch.”
***
Lana yawned and stretched in an effort to relax the kink in her back. She had slept propped up against a concrete wall and it had been a rather cold night. As she rubbed the small of her back, two men in military style green uniforms came into the room carrying bottles of water and a bag of oranges. They carefully passed them out to Lana and the others.
“Is this all you’re going to give us?” a blond woman asked them boldly.
Lana turned quickly to look at her, shaking her head slowly trying to tell her to shut up. The men laughed at her and continued handing out the meager breakfast to the others.
“I’m starving and all you can give us is an orange?” the woman persisted, raising her voice.
Lana could see that she was genuinely upset and clearly not thinking straight. Just then, another man entered the room. He seemed to be someone who was in charge, at least of the other two who were tending to the hostages.
“What is she saying?” he asked the two men in Arabic.
They shrugged and continued with their work but the woman wouldn’t stop complaining. At that point, she stood up and threw the orange at the wall before collapsing to the floor crying. Lana sat peeling her orange as it was all playing out in front of her. The captain repeated his question. He was getting more and more agitated as the woman cried louder and louder.
“She’s asking if all we get for breakfast is an orange,” Lana said softly, in fluent Arabic.
The men turned to her in shock. They stood there scrutinizing the small brunette for a moment before the captain spoke to her directly.
“What is wrong with the fruit?”
“Nothing. She’s just really hungry. Don’t you guys have anything else we could eat? You haven’t given us anything since yesterday. We’re all starving.”
“These men were instructed to bring you supper last night. You are lying, woman. You’re a lying American.”
“The last thing we ate was the shawarma they took from the street vendor when we entered the city yesterday afternoon. No one brought us any supper.”
The captain went over to the two soldiers and hit them both over their heads. He cursed at them in another language that Lana could barely understand and she guessed that it must have been a rural dialect, Kurdish perhaps. The three men argued for a long time during which it was obvious that the captain was berating them. Lana cringed at that. It wasn’t a good idea in any situation to aggravate one’s captors, when the captain eventually left they would remain at the mercy of the two embarrassed men.
“Bring them proper food,” the captain ordered, speaking Arabic again. “Thieves should have their hands removed but I have too few of you stupid buffalo to start dismembering you! So serve them like the thieving women that you are. Bring them khubz and bighilla and eggs. Don’t forget the tea, either.”
The captain turned to Lana and walked over to her. He offered her his hand to help her up from the ground which she gladly took since her back was still hurting. With his arm around her waist, Lana hobbled over to the boarded up windows with the captain.
“I apologize to all of you for the poor behavior of these fools. They are not used to the delicate art of kidnapping; they are more suited to hostage taking. Me and you, we can recognize the subtle differences between the two. They took your evening meal for themselves, so please do not think I’m not concerned with the welfare of you and your friends.”
“I will let the others know. Thank you.”
“I am Aziz; captain of these few men here.”
“I’m Lana.”
/> “Lana, they will bring you bread, beans and eggs, with tea. It is in the best interest of all involved that you are kept in the best of health and comfort.”
She laughed at the comment and shook her head slowly. The captain gave her a strange and questioning look.
“We need something to sleep on captain, it’s cold at night and we are used to much better than this. As kidnapped people we should have a proper place to sleep; unlike hostages, yes? As far as the distinction goes, we have no idea why we’re here, captain. Maybe if I could explain the situation to the others then they would be a little less antagonized.”
“The company they work for has been robbing the people of the Babil Valley for more than ten years by taking the relics from the ruins of Babylon and selling them to foreign museums and universities. The site was declared a World Heritage Site, so anything removed should be compensated for and all the jobs that support visitation of the site are required to go to resident natives of the immediate area.”
He paused for a moment and looked over her shoulder at the other investigators who were now being served their breakfast by the two soldiers.
“Instead, they hire foreign scientists who do not even take on any local apprentices and the tour site is staffed by people of a hundred different nationalities, most of which don’t even speak Arabic. They got their sanctions to be there from UNESCO but then they are left to run amok without so much as reports about the items they remove and where they are going. We believe that UNESCO should be made aware of the situation in Hillah; if they pay for their negligence as well, then we will regain at least a little of what we have lost.”
“Ransom…well played,” Lana said.
***
“Oscar, come on!” Sirita bellowed from around the table in the living room. “The food is getting cold and we’ve got to get going soon.”
“I’ll be out in a minute,” he replied.
“Before Oscar and I ended up on assignment together in Greece, I never knew I’d meet a man who can primp more than a woman,” Chyna said jokingly.
Thorin chuckled at her comment while Demetri and Sirita exchanged amused grins. Finally Oscar appeared from the bedroom looking a whole lot better than he had going in. His jeans were no longer an homage to the pioneer man; they were slim and dark and modern. The cowboy hat was gone, leaving freshly shampooed, greaseless hair in its place. He no longer donned the comfortable plaid shirt he had traveled in; that he had replaced with a trendy, long-sleeved jersey shirt. It was a good look on him.
“What’s for lunch?” he asked, sitting down at the table.
Sirita pushed a covered plate in his direction and said, “There are drinks in the fridge.”
“Did you bring the watch for Sirita?” Chyna asked him.
“Of course, along with a bunch of other stuff she’s going to need,” he replied. Then pointing to a black case that looked like the type a camera would be kept in, he continued, “Her entire personal cache is in that case.”
After they had eaten and put their things together the five went back downstairs into the hustle and bustle of the airport and to the main security check point. All seven pieces of their firearms were turned over with the corresponding paperwork at that point for secure transportation to and storage aboard the aircraft.
When they were through all the procedures and had arrived at their gate, Chyna was relieved to see Asha and Eli waving animatedly at them from the counter of a coffee shop. Chyna and Sirita waved back at them and the group made their way over.
“It’s nice to see you two here. Are you ready for our adventure?” Chyna asked.
“Absolutely,” Eli said, answering for the two of them.
“Excellent. Well, let me make some introductions. Eli, Asha, this is Demetri and this is Thorin; our security detail and this is Oscar, our technical engineer.”
“It’s lovely to meet you all,” Asha said.
Sirita chuckled softly as she observed the two. Somehow they reminded her of the Tweedle Twins in Alice in Wonderland. One would answer one question, and then the other would answer the next. She assumed that it must come from so many years of working closely together. It was still funny as hell though.
It wasn’t long before the details of their flight came over the loud speaker and boarding instructions were announced. They stood almost immediately; ready to get out of the noisy locomotion of the terminal and into their comfortable first class seats. Soon the flight was fully boarded and the flight attendants closed the door and made their safety demonstrations in preparation for takeoff.
As soon as they were at cruising altitude, Chyna ordered a gin and tonic and turned on her laptop. The inflight Wi-Fi was reasonably fast and soon she was logged in to Found History and checking her secure email. There was a message from Nigel informing her that Lana had not been sending many emails in the last few days. This Chyna knew because they always communicated using an instant messaging app. He went on to say that what Lana had done was consistently upload her notes from the cataloging exercise and the photographs she took of the items she was working with. There were even photos that she had taken of the other members of the team and group shots of all of them at work together or out on the dig site.
Chyna replied to the email telling Nigel thanks and that they were finally on the way to Baghdad. She also told him to be sure to keep a close eye on the signal from Lana’s tracking device. She would want to know immediately if anything changed at all. When she went to the photographs, Chyna noted the people who were in the pictures with Lana. She didn’t recognize any of them but she knew her lead investigator, if she had taken their picture, they were of some importance to the project. Chyna forwarded those pictures to Oscar, Sirita and Ilea, asking the Director to identify the people for them. Then she went to the pictures of the artifacts. There weren’t many, which meant that Lana had not been very impressed with what she had seen. But then there came a series of about fifteen pictures of one particular item.
It was black and highly polished; made of hematite as well. The object was in the coiled shape of a snake that was hooded like a King Cobra. It seemed poised to strike but the head seemed too low as if it were bowed. In another picture, the top of the statue was shown to reveal a rough patch on the top of the snake’s head. It was evident that something had broken off from that spot.
Chyna went to the notes that Lana had archived regarding the idol and began to read:
‘I’ve studied the idol from every angle and there is nothing here that supports Dr. Linder’s theory that it may have been a singular idol; something from a temple alcove or originally made for someone’s house. I am convinced that the altar we uncovered had been plundered before this team arrived here. The Ninurta and the monster are intact and make sense in relation to each other, but what do they have to do with the basilisk? Whatever is missing from the top of the idol’s head will be the answer to the riddle. But because I am convinced of the theft beyond doubt I will inform the Director in the morning. Without an investigation and some testing done, there’s no way for us to know if whatever that was happened two thousand years or two weeks ago.’
“Oh, Lana,” Chyna sighed, shaking her head, “What did you do?”
***
“Aziz, I didn’t expect you of all people to be calling me with such petty complaints. You’re supposed to be the best at this sort of thing. Why are you so concerned about the Ambrose woman?”
“She speaks Arabic. This morning she took up the complaint from one of the scientists about the food we gave them for breakfast. I had to have a long talk with her. It was her behavior that upset me the most and I thought that I should call you. If I could get rid of her right away, things would go much smoother.”
“No!” Petrovik hissed into the phone, angrily. “Listen to me Aziz; regardless of how much Lana Ambrose disconcerts you, we are not killing any of those people. We separated the Americans from the others for one reason only. Whereas the Europeans will pay to get their people b
ack in order to avoid it coming out about how their precious artifacts got into their museums and collections; the Americans will not negotiate with terrorists, neither have they made the mistake of procuring anything that has been removed from Babylon. The Director is already very flustered over the situation and she is staying far from the media with it. So we have to just stick to the plan. Send the message about the Americans to her today; it’s only a matter of time before the family members start asking questions at which point, it’s bound to be all over the news.”
“What about the Europeans and Lana Ambrose?” Aziz asked.
“I’ll let you know when to contact the United Nations about them. If I don’t get Ilea out of UNESCO by the end of this whole affair, I’ll be rather disappointed,” Petrovik said, with a sinister laugh. “As for Lana, I think you can figure out a way to use her to manipulate the situation. Just be careful; she’s a clever one. Too much time spent with Chyna Stone, if you ask me.”
“By the way, didn’t Director Le Gal call her and her team in to retrieve the girl? She’s not going to become a liability to us now that her friends are on the way, is she?”
“They don’t have a clue where to start looking for her, Aziz. So, unless you’re planning to make it into a problem for us, we should be fine. Did you search her for devices? Take away the cell phones and weapons?”
“Of course we did,” Aziz replied, exasperated.
“Then you won’t be compromised by Chyna being in Baghdad. Be that as it may, I still don’t want you to take her for granted. She’s a better warrior than you and all your men combined. I’d suggest that you move the captives regularly and do it so they can’t get a clue as to where they are. Keep an eye on the Found History team, too. You won’t be able to outsmart them unless you know what they do.”