Darius followed her, bringing the grate down over them. Lights flickered on, revealing a large room filled with lots of metal and flashing buttons. Somehow, it all seemed more sophisticated than the gaming room above.
“This is my private research lab.”
Shaila had no idea what she was looking at. But unlike the game room above, here she could feel the buzz of powerful signals. The signals gave off such a vivid aura, she could see their energy trails leading off through the walls. “What is it?”
“It’s a computer. Basically, take all of the libraries across the planet and all of the great thinking minds in history…and they’re in there.”
“Oh.” Curious, she poked one of the flashing buttons. One of three large screens on the wall sprang to life.
“Voice verification, please,” a very hollow but sultry voice requested. Shaila looked around for the source of the voice. Darius pointed at the speaker.
“Assalaam alaikum,” Darius answered.
“And peace be upon you. Good afternoon, Darius. How may I help you?”
“She sounds very efficient.” And annoying. Shaila did not like this cold, disembodied voice.
“Good afternoon, ALICE.” Darius winked at Shaila. “If anyone ever found my lab, they wouldn’t know to use Arabic for the voice recognition.”
“I understood what you said. The language seems not too far off some of the sounds of my own tongue.”
“Is there any language you can’t understand?”
“I suppose I should be able to understand any spoken language on this planet.”
“That’s impressive.”
“Not particularly impressive, Darius. It is very simple. When you speak, your voice sends vibrations in patterns. My mind knows how to interpret those patterns.”
It was his turn to look confused. “Okay, well. Let’s put the computer to work. ALICE, task initiation.”
“Task initiation, verify command.”
“Task. List generation search terms are Egyptian and mummy and black market.”
“Task verified. List generation initiated.”
He spun his chair back around toward her. “When I was here earlier, I was only focused on finding the amulet. Now you’ve given me another item to research.”
“I am sorry.”
“Don’t be. Having two items from the same tomb to search for may actually help us in cross-referencing the data. The more factors, the greater the chance of success.”
“Can you see Lilith’s home with this?”
“Shit, yeah.” He spun back to the controls. “ALICE, aerial map on screen two, please.”
The huge screen on the wall became a live picture. Dwellings lined a river. Shaila marveled at the sight of miniscule machines moving along the streets, and tiny boats coasting in the water.
“Oh, Goddess. That is incredible.”
“Yes, this is modern technology at its best. That is a live satellite image of Lilith’s home. Watch this.” Darius clicked something in his hand and the image scrolled down toward the earth, making everything larger.
“So, this is your preparation room. Is it not?”
“You could call it that. I don’t leave home without every bit of information I can gain. Knowledge is power, honey.”
She repeated him. “Knowledge is power. I think we had a similar saying, but that is far less wordy.”
A loud beep preceded ALICE’s cold voice. “Task complete. Data saved in file folder Prophecy Documents.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Darius scanned the results of ALICE’s Internet search. The list quickly grew to hundreds of online links to underground discussions on mummies. Darius narrowed down the list by cross-referencing with infant mummies and items discovered near Deir el-Bahari. Although there was no official record of such a tomb existing in that temple, he went on faith that his grandfather knew what he was talking about.
It took some effort on ALICE’s part, but she eventually hacked into Mr. Artie Johnson’s office computer. Since his suspicious death, the agency had digitally sealed all entry into the man’s accounts.
After an hour of dead end links, Darius finally found an encrypted exchange of messages between Mr. Artie and someone with the screen name TimeSleuth. Piecing together the messages, Darius felt joy zinging through his body.
“Bingo! We’ve got a live one, Shaila.” Darius rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “This guy definitely saw you. I would think he was a nut if he didn’t describe you with complete conviction and accuracy. But no mention of mummies in the tomb.”
“Does he mention anything about markings on the walls? Did he translate the prophecy?”
“No. He wrote that about thirty-five years ago he was working in the area as an intern and sneaked onto the site, which had just been discovered by a group of students. He described some incredibly well-preserved hieroglyphs, but he said they never got the chance to record them. They didn’t have camera phones back then.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean there’s no photographic evidence of the tomb. According to him, the site and all its documentation were quickly confiscated by a strange woman who claimed rights to the dig. He seemed to think there was a conspiracy of some kind concerning the discovery of it.”
“Lilith?”
“He didn’t say, just that she showed up out of nowhere.” Darius halted before reading aloud the next set of messages. “Here’s something I can have ALICE dig up. He mentioned a fire, but he didn’t know the extent of the damage because they were all kept away from the scene. What concerned this guy is that no official records exist about the tomb, and…here’s the kicker…most of the students who discovered it are now dead.”
Darius sat back in his chair, rubbing his chin. Then, his fingers flew across the keyboard at a frantic pace.
“Oh, Goddess! Can we talk to this TimeSleuth person?”
“Possibly.” Darius winked and executed another task for ALICE to run a back trace on the blogger’s link. “Maybe we’ll get lucky.”
He could feel her restlessness as Shaila wandered to the far side of the room and peeked into a tall cabinet.
“Are these weapons?”
“Yes, some of them. Others are devices for tracking and listening. Spy stuff. Tools of the trade.”
She ran her fingers across the cold metal barrel of one short weapon. “Darius, show me how these work.”
“Trace complete. Origination IPS address found.” The computer’s sultry voice echoed off the bare walls. Darius printed it out, and scanned the document.
“Okay. We’ll try to reach this guy in about a half hour. It’s not quite dawn yet where he seems to be.”
Darius grabbed the gun and loaded it. Bringing Shaila into a second room, he pointed to the walls. “All of these rooms are sound proofed. In fact, the guy who owned this building before me originally refurbished this basement as a bomb shelter. He was a big believer in government conspiracies, and he wanted to be ready for the Russians to drop a bomb on us.”
Darius quickly showed her how to load, fire, and absorb the recoil of the deadly weapon.
“Shaila, you don’t seem interested in learning how to fire this weapon. Why?”
“Because it will be ineffective against those I will be fighting.”
“Sure it will. I took out a few demons with just a simple knife to the head.”
“I am not referring to simple demons, Darius.” Shaila’s hips swayed as she walked along the wall, running her hands along the padded insulation. Reaching the back of the room, she stood in front of the mark. “I am referring to Lilith, and others like her. Now, fire your weapon.”
“What?”
“Shoot me.”
“I’m not going to shoot at you. Can’t I just shoot at the target?”
“No.”
He aimed the Magnum at her head, but couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger. He rarely used guns, preferring to defend himself with hand-to-hand combat. A gun could be useful,
but it could also raise the alarm of others more quickly than tripping a wire.
He could see her body tensing with irritation. She wanted him to trust her, but pulling on the trigger was a hard move to make. He squared his shoulders and fired.
The blood drained from his face when he noticed Shaila’s body recoil. He sprinted toward her, but slowed when he saw her lift an eyebrow. She was laughing at him.
“What did you do?” Approaching her, he finally saw it. The bullet was hovering in the air about a foot away from her nose.
“That tickled.” Shaila laughed as the bullet suddenly pitched straight down into the ground, blowing a hole in the mat. He wanted to slap the cocky grin off of her face for scaring the crap out of him like that. “Darius, you look angry.”
So, she could move things with her mind. How had he not thought of that? He’d seen Lilith move his knife through the air without touching it. What angered him was how deceptive Shaila could be. She knew way more than she was sharing with him, and maybe he should be pissed at himself for not asking her the right questions. But he’d rather be pissed at her. How could he work effectively with someone so unpredictable?
“Is there anything else you’d like to share with me, goddess?” He found a small measure of justice as the anger hissing through his teeth wiped the smile from her face.
“Like what?”
“Can you read minds?”
“No.”
“Excellent.” It was time to shut up and walk away.
*
“Damn!”
Shaila cringed as Darius angrily tossed the small phone device on the counter.
“That’s the third try. This guy just won’t talk to me. He heard about Mr. Artie’s death and now he’s too paranoid to talk to anyone about the tomb.”
“Darius, tell me how this cell phone thing works. How do you speak to someone on the other side of the planet?”
“Satellite signals.” He was rubbing the medallion again, which told her that he was thinking of his grandfather and probably fearful of failing. “Invisible signals travel from my phone up to a device orbiting the Earth and back down to his phone.”
“Travel?” She sat up straighter. This was something to be explored. “These signals have a path that they know how to follow?”
“It’s not like they have a choice, but yes. It’s a predictable, designed path.”
Shaila looked over at the computer again, studying the path of energy she could still see radiating from it. “Darius, we have something similar that we call the astral plane. It is a dimensional path that we can tap into and use to travel. Since my awakening, I have not been able to tap into it. But I might be able to use the path of your cell phone signal to go speak with this man.”
“You can do that?” It was a question, but there was no edge of disbelief in his voice.
“I should at least try.” She pointed to the computer. “Your ALICE has much stronger signals. I can see them.”
“Then we’ll use the computer to make the call. Even better, because it’ll show a different number. I don’t think he’ll answer another call from my cell.”
Oh, goddess, let this work. “Okay. Make the call.”
“Be careful, Shaila. No, don’t roll your eyes at me. This guy’s scared. That means he’s skittish. And that could make him dangerous. Don’t do anything foolish.”
She bit her tongue before she said something regrettable. It was so aggravating being treated this way, as if he was in charge of her. Pharaohs had sought out her advice. When would this man trust in her?
“Whatever you do, don’t back him into a corner. If he feels threatened, he’ll either run or try to hurt you. Here.” Darius tucked a slim knife into her pocket.
She had to stop him now or she would hurt him. Instead, she put her hand on his chest. “Stop, Darius. I know what to do. His fears will work to my advantage. Just call him, please. You will hear everything, yes?”
He sighed heavily. “That’s my problem. I will only be able to hear you. If I hear something going wrong, there’ll be nothing I can do to help. India is on the other side of the world from here.”
He slumped deeper into his chair and asked the computer to initiate the call to the man’s cell phone.
“Namasthe?” After the third ring, a man’s hesitant voice came through the computer speakers.
“Jack Davis?”
“Y-yes. Who is this?”
Darius nodded to her quickly. He was right. Even through the speaker this guy sounded nervous and distrustful. She needed to get over to him quickly before he hung up the phone.
While Darius deceptively introduced himself in Arabic as a professor, Shaila closed her eyes and focused on finding the right signal to follow. She honed in on the stronger vibrations of Darius’ voice and the path it took.
Because she was not at full strength, the effort of transporting this way felt sluggish and loud. Electronic signals buzzed in her head and vibrated up and down her spine, leaving her disoriented as she arrived on the other end of the signals.
“Look, I just told you I can’t help you. I’ve never been to Egypt. I’m not the guy you’re looking for. Sorry, buddy.”
“Why are you lying to him?”
Startled, the man spun around. The cell phone dropped from his hand, splintering against the bare floor. Wide-eyed and shaking, the man whipped a small gun out of a drawer and aimed it at her chest. She kept part of her attention on the man, but took a moment to observe her surroundings.
The room was small but held everything a human in hiding would need: a bed, a cooking device, and a computer. It was much smaller than the one in Darius’ lab, but its signal was surprisingly strong. The glow of the sunrise framed the black drapes hanging over the windows. One small colorful rug lay in the middle of the dusty stone floor.
One wall was covered with pictures of the man. She recognized the pyramids looming behind him. Pinning him with a glare, she nearly laughed at him. His knees were literally wobbling beneath him.
“Please, Jack Davis. Sit down.” She indicated the rumpled bed in the corner. “I need to know everything you saw in that tomb you wrote about, and I will only warn you once not to lie to me.”
The man’s face, wrinkled with age and fear, relaxed slightly, but he held his gun firmly pointed in her direction. He shook his head at the invitation to sit.
“Who are you?” His grey eyes were wide with fear, but they moved across her with curiosity.
“You do not remember me?”
“Of course not. I’ve never seen you before in my life. Who are you?”
“You know who I am.” She moved into the man’s personal space. The gun in his hand shook violently. Darius would be very upset with her boldness right now. Slowly, she covered the gun barrel with her own hands and gently pointed it away from her.
Shaila mentally pushed a calming energy pulse toward the man. She felt his grip relax, and he allowed her to take the gun away from him. Emptying the gun, she frowned to find only one bullet in the chamber.
“For a paranoid little man, you are very poorly armed.” Shrugging, she tossed the weapon onto the bed. “You must tell me about the tomb you found over thirty sun cycles ago.”
“Why? I don’t know anything about that tomb.”
She sighed. Stubborn human. “I know you were there. You described me perfectly in your communication.”
“You?” The man smelled of stale smoke and he hunched over with a severe fit of coughing. “That’s crazy. You’re crazy.”
Backing up a few steps, Shaila willed away the leather clothes and replaced them with her pleated skirt and hip belt. She allowed her body to briefly transform into a stiffened image of the statue she had stood inside of for so long. Even without the gold crust, she knew she appeared exactly as she had when the students first entered the tomb.
As she transformed back to her modern attire, the man’s eyes still lingered on her chest. He tried to lick his lips with a dry tongue, which nearly
made her gag at the thought. She pulled out the slim knife Darius had given her and threw it past his head. It wobbled as the blade buried itself in the wooden wall. Fear returned to the grey eyes.
“I grow irritated by your continued denials. You were there at the discovery of my tomb. Everything in that room belongs to me. I need you to tell me what you saw and where it went.”
“The hieroglyphics on the walls…they…they spoke of a prophecy. It was a warning about the end of the world.”
“Forget the walls. Tell me about the mummies.” She leaned into his personal space again.
“Um, there was only one sarcophagus in the tomb.”
“Yes, and what did you see in it?”
“T-there was a woman in it.”
“What about the infant?”
“I think there was one in it.”
“You think?” This horrid smelling man was insufferable. “I need to know exactly what you saw.”
“I saw a female mummy.” He demonstrated by holding his palms a short distance out in front of his own chest. “I noticed the large breasts, indicating a wetnurse. I think she may have been cradling a small mummy, but I don’t remember exactly.”
Shaila smiled, allowing her sharp fangs to unfold and hover menacingly close to his cheek. She felt his fear in shivering waves. “What happened to my tomb?”
A nervous laugh escaped his lips. “Um, wow. You’re just as scary as the other one.”
“What other one?” She pierced into his eyes and buzzed him with another energy pulse, this one not so calming. He jerked his body as if it had just been burned.
“The woman who showed up. Some official who took control of the tomb. She was just as dark and scary as you are.”
“What did this woman do?”
“I didn’t see her do anything.”
“But you suspect her of something, do you not?” She kept her fangs within his sight.
“Y-yes. I’ve wondered how the tomb caught fire. It was a clean site. There were no torches. They had flashlights, and their electrical equipment was brand new. Nothing frayed or exposed.”
“Do you think this woman set the fire?”
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