by R. D. Brady
Laney’s chest heaved as she stared at him. She knew he was right. But she also knew she could not sit back while Elisabeta took out city after city. Millions would be killed. “I cannot sit back and let people die.”
“And I cannot stand by and watch you die.”
They stared at each other, the space between them only a few feet, but it felt like miles.
She looked into his eyes and felt his passion, his love. “I cannot do what you want.”
Emotions played across his face before he shook his head. “Then I cannot stand by your side.” He stared at her for a long moment before walking away, then he ran. Before she knew it, he had blurred out of sight.
Laney felt like the air had been ripped from her lungs. She had come to count on Drake as her one constant. No matter what had happened over the last few months, he’d been by her side.
I suppose everyone has a limit.
She closed her eyes, tears pressing against the back of them. She wanted to go after him, but it would change nothing. She knew what she had to do. She had to buy the world time.
Which meant she had to die. Ever since the vision of Yamini, she had known in her gut that it would come to this.
Now I just have to have the strength to do what needs to be done.
Laney looked around at the office buildings surrounding her and realized she didn’t have a ride home. She laughed, if only to keep herself from crying.
The fate of the world rests in the hands of a woman currently stranded in an industrial park in D.C. God help us all.
“Dr. McPhearson?” Maldonado said from behind her.
She sighed, wiping her eyes without turning. “Yes?”
“I’ve been instructed to drive you home. If you’ll follow me.” She waited.
Laney stared at the spot where Drake had disappeared, feeling the gulf between them widening with each second that passed.
There was no sign of him. With a nod, she turned and followed the soldier, suddenly feeling so very, very tired.
Chapter 54
The drive back to the estate took double the time it normally did due to traffic. Maldonado turned on the radio to a news station. Panic had broken out across the nation. People were rushing to banks, to supermarkets, to gun shops. Elisabeta’s recoding had terrified everyone. And Laney knew that that panic would only make things more dangerous for people. Panicked people tended to make poor decisions.
“Do you think we can turn that off?” Laney asked.
“Happy to.” Maldonado clicked the radio off.
She eyed the tall Marine. “Does anyone know what you can do?”
Maldonado watched her in the rearview mirror. “I wasn’t sure you could.”
She shrugged. “One of the perks.”
Maldonado nodded. “My mom knew. She said my dad was an angel.”
“She’s not wrong.”
“Well, that angel ran off and left us when he found out my mom was pregnant.”
Laney winced. “Sorry. What about the military? Do they know?”
“Not officially. I think some might wonder. And Heller in the CIA figured it out. It’s how I ended up assigned to him.”
“Just be careful. The government’s interest in us, I’m not sure it’s a good thing.”
Maldonado nodded but didn’t say anything. “You going to turn yourself in?”
“If I can’t figure out another approach, I don’t think I have much choice.”
“Can you really do all those things that report mentioned?”
Laney nodded. “Yeah. Although they left out a few.”
Maldonado raised an eyebrow at that. “I see why Elisabeta wants you out of the picture.”
Laney looked out the window. “Yeah, me, too.”
Chapter 55
Cairo, Egypt
Noriko didn’t make it to the Giza Plateau their first night, and neither did Gerard. He sat by her side as she cried and called home to speak with everyone. But at his request, she didn’t tell them where they were. But after another day in the hotel spent mainly sleeping, she was ready.
“You don’t have to do this,” he said. “I can find it on my own.”
Noriko shook her head as she finished tying her boots and stood. “No. I’m supposed to be there. And we’re already here. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can get back.”
“Are you sure?”
She nodded, amazed that she could still feel tired with all the sleep she’d had. “Yeah. Let’s go.”
Ten minutes later, they were driving through the streets with Gerard at the wheel. Noriko watched the city in fascination as they drove. There was a lot she recognized—Western shops and restaurants like McDonald’s. But there was so much she was seeing for the first time.
“What do you think?” Gerard asked quietly as they left the bustle of Cairo behind.
“It’s all so much. So different and yet, under it all, we’re the same, aren’t we?”
“I suppose we are.” He nodded ahead. “Look.”
Noriko’s mouth fell open as the Great Pyramid came into view. She’d read about it, of course, and she knew its dimensions. It was almost four hundred fifty feet tall, and each side was nearly seven hundred and fifty feet.
But seeing it in real life was something altogether different. It took over two million stones, each weighing over two and a half tons, to build. And still modern-day experts could not agree on how it had been possible. Most agreed that even with all our technological advances, it would prove impossible to replicate with the precision and care of the original builders.
But although she still wasn’t sure where exactly they were supposed to head, the closer they drew to the plateau, the more confident she became that this was where they were supposed to be.
Gerard drove to a parking area near the Great Pyramid. Up close, it was an even more amazing sight. But as she stepped out, it wasn’t the Great Pyramid that kept pulling her attention. No, it was another structure that lay silently guarding the Great Pyramid and the two lesser pyramids.
Gerard touched her on the shoulder. “What is it?”
“I think we need to head over there.” She nudged her chin toward the Great Sphinx as a chill crawled over her skin.
Headlights flashed over them as a car pulled into the lot.
“Gerard?”
“Stay behind me.” Gerard stepped in front of her.
The driver stepped out. “And just what are you two up to?”
Chapter 56
Noriko couldn’t see the man, but she knew she’d heard that voice before.
Gerard peered ahead with a frown. “Mustafa?”
Mustafa stepped into the light, a shotgun in his arms.
Noriko’s heart pounded at the sight of the weapon.
“You won’t need that,” Gerard said.
“Really? Because I’m not so sure about that.”
“How did you know we were here?” Gerard asked, seeming completely unconcerned about the weapon in Mustafa’s arms.
“You were flagged as soon as you stepped into the hotel. Matt contacted me to find out what you are doing in Egypt.” Mustafa shifted his gaze to Noriko. “Are you all right?”
Noriko realized Mustafa thought she’d been kidnapped. “No, no. I mean, yes, I’m fine. I made him take me. I mean, I told him I had to come with him. That is—”
“Less is more sometimes Noriko,” Gerard said.
Right. She took a breath. “I believe I need to be here. I had a vision. Gerard and I are both supposed to be here.”
“Why?”
Noriko hesitated. She knew Laney trusted the SIA agent, but she wasn’t sure how Gerard would respond to her revealing the reason they were here. She wasn’t sure what to do.
Gerard made the decision for her. “Because a few thousand years ago, I buried the Omni here, or at least the instructions on how to get it. And I think that could come in handy right about now.”
Mustafa narrowed his eyes. “Handy for who?”
Gerard’s tone hardened. “The good guys. I’m not on Elisabeta’s side.”
Noriko did not like the increase in tension she felt. “He’s telling the truth. And, um, I think it’s better if we get it back to Laney so she can decide what to do with it.”
Mustafa kept his gaze on Gerard. “And that’s your plan, too? To get the Omni back to Laney?”
“Of course,” Gerard answered. Noriko wanted to hit him. He sounded so blasé.
“Why didn’t you take her back home after the attacks?” Mustafa asked.
“I gave her the option. She chose to stay.”
“You mean you wanted to make sure she stayed focus on your little mission.”
Noriko stepped forward. “No. I chose. I can’t change anything there. But Laney wants us to find whatever is here. And that I can do.”
Mustafa studied her for a long moment before he nodded. “Well, then, I guess I’ll be helping you. You know, to make sure it gets back to Laney.”
Relief flowed through Noriko. “Great. “
“Yeah, great,” Gerard muttered.
Chapter 57
Noriko looked out across the Giza Plateau. It was awe inspiring. The three pyramids were lined up in a row, matching the Orion constellation. But despite their impressiveness, it was the Great Sphinx that kept drawing her eye.
They walked around it. Well known across the globe, the Sphinx measured in at one hundred fifty feet long; the statue had the body of a lion and the face of a man. It had been a subject of fascination for thousands of years. No one was sure why it was created, or even when.
Noriko’s musing came to a halt as they stopped between its front two paws, where the Dream Stele was located. The stele was a stone slab erected by Pharaoh Khufu. According to the stele, King Thutmose IV fell asleep at that very spot and dreamed of the Sphinx. The Sphinx told him to unbury his body, and if he did, he would one day rule a unified Egypt. So Thutmose excavated the Sphinx. And he did eventually rule a unified Egypt.
Mustafa nodded to the sign. “All that work, and by the time the modern era dawned, it was buried by the sands again.”
“When was it uncovered?” Noriko asked.
“Fully in 1936,” said Mustafa. “French Egyptologist, Emile Baraize oversaw the dig when it began in 1925. It took eleven years to dig it out.”
Noriko looked up at the face. “Is the head too small or is it just the angle?”
“It’s too small,” said Mustafa. “Archaeologists believe it was not originally a human head that adorned the Sphinx. Khufu is supposed to have been responsible for the reconstruction, not including the missing nose. Most people think that the vandalism was the result of Napoleon’s troops, but there were sketches done prior to Napoleon’s visit showing it was already damaged. Although there is still debate, the missing nose is attributed to a man named Muhammad Sa’im al-Dahr in the 14th century. Apparently peasants had been offering tributes to the Sphinx for aid in controlling the Nile’s flooding. al-Dahr, incensed by the acts, took out his anger on the Sphinx. He was later executed for the act.”
“If not a human face, what do they think it once was?” Noriko asked.
“Most argue it was a lion. The body seems to suggest that,” Gerard said.
Noriko frowned, thinking that didn’t seem right. It didn’t feel right.
“What do you think, Noriko?” Gerard asked.
“I don’t think that’s right.” On the plane, Noriko had read up on the Sphinx and the mystery that surrounded it. Mainstream archaeology dated the Sphinx to around 2500 BCE and the reign of Khufu.
But aspects of the Sphinx and the plateau suggested it was much older. One of the most compelling was the water damage to the Sphinx that could only have been caused by heavy rains. This part of the Nile had once been fertile with heavy rains. But that was long before 2500 BCE. The fertile period was around 10,550 BCE.
Edgar Cayce himself gave that date for when the Sphinx was created. In fact, he maintained that the Sphinx was older than the pyramids and had been created by people who had come down from Mount Arat. The same mountain where the legendary Noah was supposed to have finally come aground after the floodwaters had receded.
But one of the other more intriguing questions about the Sphinx is the question of what its face had originally looked like. The hieroglyphs that adorn the ancient sites were surprisingly unhelpful—not a single depiction or reference to a sphinx with either the head of a man or a lion.
Almost without thought, she reached her hands out for the Sphinx. Everything around her disappeared, shifting to black before she pulled her hands from the Sphinx and stumbled back. She fell to the ground hard, but her hands touched only softness—grass.
She looked around in surprise. The desert was gone. Instead of sands dunes as far as the eye could see, she saw rolling hills covered in grass and trees. A path led to the Sphinx, and in the distance she could see the pyramids. They shone brightly in the moonlight, their sides covered not in a dull rock, but limestone worked until it was bright white. The light reflecting on it made the sides seem as if they were completely smooth, almost as if it were white glass rather than rock covering it.
Torches wavered next to her, making the shadows dance. She turned around and looked up at the face of the Sphinx. She gasped, recognizing it.
It’s not a lion.
Chapter 58
It took Gerard a second to realize Noriko had slipped into a vision. She was tumbling for the ground when he caught her.
“Noriko!” he yelled. Her eyelids fluttered open. He let out a breath as relief flooded him.
“It’s not a lion,” she whispered.
Mustafa knelt down on her other side. “Are you all right?”
She nodded, struggling to sit up. Gerard helped her, moving behind her so she could lean against him.
Mustafa handed her a canteen. “What did you say?” he asked after she’d taken a drink.
Her voice was weak. “The Sphinx. It wasn’t a lion. It was a jackal.”
“Anubis,” Mustafa breathed. Gerard knew that there had been speculation that the Sphinx had actually been a giant statue of Anubis. Anubis could be found all over ancient hieroglyphs. He was the god of the otherworld. The being who weighed an individual’s soul to determine their worth. He would have been a fitting guardian for the ancient pyramids.
Whether the Sphinx once held a jackal’s head was another mystery lost to the sands of time. But those mysteries hadn’t counted on Noriko and her ability to pull back the veil of time. Anubis had a number of titles, such as the god of mummification or protector of graves. He was believed to be the person responsible for the resurrection of Osiris.
“That would explain his absence from the ancient hieroglyphs,” Mustafa said. “But Anubis, he is everywhere in the ancient scripts. He is one of the most recognizable faces from ancient Egypt.”
Noriko looked around. “This whole area, it was beautiful. Covered in grass, trees, I could even see the Nile in the distance from the reflection off the pyramids.”
“You saw the pyramids before the covering had been removed?” Mustafa asked.
“I think the mainstream is about eight thousand years off in their time estimations.” She looked up at Gerard. “I can get up now.”
Gerard grasped her arm helping her to her feet. “Did you see anything about a hiding spot?”
“When I was here, it was well before Barnabus’s time.” Noriko dusted the sand from her pants.
Gerard started at her words. When I was here. There was no doubt in her voice that she had not just seen the ancient time but had visited it as flesh and blood. Gerard was familiar with the idea that time did not exist. According to physicists, time was an artificial construct depending on the person upon whom change was being measured. Everything happens in the now. There is no past there is no future. There is only this moment. But there were some who took the argument a step further and suggested that everything had already happened, allowing you to shoot between pas
t future and present.
But until he’d met Noriko, he’d never put much stock in the argument. But now, as he watched Noriko, he wondered exactly how she managed to see the past and the future and how often a body could be split between two time periods before they were irreparable damaged.
And he did not like that line of thinking.
“Why do you think you saw the Sphinx? Was it just a random vision?” Mustafa asked.
“No. My visions always have a meaning, even if I don’t understand it at first.”
“Okay, so the Sphinx was actually created as a representation of Anubis, who was the protector of the sacred necropolis,” Mustafa said.
Gerard went still, a memory unlocking at Mustafa’s words. “And Anubis was responsible for the resurrection of Osiris, the god of the afterlife and resurrection.”
Mustafa studied him closely. “You know where you hid the Omni.”
Gerard nodded. “It’s in the Osiris shaft.”
Chapter 59
The Giza Plateau held more than just the three pyramids and the Sphinx. In fact, there was so much to be investigated that some finds were left practically unexplored after their discovery—like the Osiris shaft.
Technically discovered in 1934, the Temple of Osiris, or the Osiris shaft, as it was also called, had actually only been investigated a handful of times. The shaft itself sat flooded for decades and wasn’t truly excavated until 1999. It contained three levels, the last one a hundred feet down. And in that final level was a nine-foot-long granite sarcophagus. The sarcophagus still lay where it had been found, thirty plus years after it had been discovered. Its removal was complicated by its size and weight, weighing in excess of one hundred tons, not to mention its location. Archaeologists had to drain the shaft of water to even consider being able to get to it.