The Sahara Legacy

by Ernest Dempsey

  “No luck, boys?” she asked. Her Spanish accent sounded particularly thick on this occasion.

  Hank had just recovered from his run to the monument and now was breathing heavily again. He shook his head. “No. That thing is well and truly stuck.”

  Adriana raised an eyebrow. “Mind if I give it a try?”

  The two men shot each other a skeptical glance and then stepped aside as she approached.

  “Sure, go ahead.” Hank held back a snicker that tried to sneak up out of his mouth.

  He didn’t think there was any way Adriana could move the block if he and Tommy weren’t able. They were both stronger than her.

  She knelt down and looked at the block. Then she tilted her head and analyzed the seams, going as far as to put the tip of her index finger into one part.

  “Mallet,” she said like a surgeon. She stuck her hand out to the side, palm up, and waited for Tommy to put the requested tool in her hand.

  Tommy’s forehead crinkled. He bent down, picked up the mallet, and passed it to her. He stepped back to watch, still thinking she wouldn’t be able to get the thing to move.

  Adriana carefully wedged the crowbar blade into the seam, wiggling it a few times to get it as deep as possible. Then she took the mallet and gently struck the bar’s handle a few times. The brick didn’t move, and the two men passed each other a knowing glance.

  Adriana raised the mallet a little higher and whacked the bar. This time, the block moved half an inch, and its corner jutted out away from the wall. She hit the bar again, and once more the brick shifted. Tommy and Hank watched with humility as Adriana continued striking the crowbar until the block was hanging on by a few inches of stone. She dropped the crowbar to the floor and swung the mallet one last time. The face smacked into the side of the block and knocked it free from its housing. It fell to the hard stone below with a loud clatter, chipping off one of the corners in the process.

  The two men took a step forward to look into the gaping hole. Adriana craned her neck and gazed into the cavity. Just beyond the opening, the block below the one she’d removed had a rectangular hole cut into it. Something inside gleamed in the light coming in through the open doorways.

  Adriana reached in carefully. She didn’t want to scratch the object. When her fingers touched the medallion, it felt cold. She thought it odd that anything could be cold in such a hot place, but being buried in the stone for so long must have kept it cool.

  She pulled it out and held it in her palm for the other two to see.

  This medallion was different than the first. Its golden chain was attached to a six-pointed star, a symbol that was prominently displayed on the Israeli flag. Fixed into the center was another precious stone. It was blue, like sapphire, but had a deeper hue to it than any such stone they’d ever seen.

  Adriana turned over the medallion and found more script just like with the first.

  “Hold on a second,” Tommy said. He reached into his gear bag and pulled out the tablets. He’d made the decision to carry the stones in his bag as opposed to the case on this occasion because of mobility.

  He set the stones on the floor and took the amulet from Adriana. Cradling it in his hands, he cautiously set the symbol over the tablet with the next blank space in the text.

  “The third is guarded forever by the great beast of the south; the tail on his face protects the power.”

  Tommy pulled his head back after reading the passage. “What?”

  “The tail on his face?” Hank asked.

  “An elephant,” Adriana said. “It’s the only animal with something that looks like a tail on his face.”

  “Could be an aardvark or an anteater,” Tommy offered.

  “Fair enough,” she said. “Either way, that doesn’t help us know where it is, other than it mentions the thing is to the south.”

  Tommy stared down at the objects. It was a puzzling riddle to say the least. If they were looking for some kind of elephant, it would likely be some kind of statue. That was the only way a beast could guard something forever.

  He pulled out his phone and tapped the screen a couple of times. “Where in the world is Sean, by the way? It’s taking him forever to get here.”

  “Maybe he still hasn’t gotten the message,” Hank said.

  Tommy shrugged. “Well, he needs to get over here. The longer we stay here, the greater our risk of getting caught.” He started to tap the green button to call Tara and Alex back at the lab when he glimpsed a shadow by the door.

  “Sean? What took you so long?” Tommy asked in a loud voice. “We found something.”

  The person who came through the door wasn’t Sean. It was a dark-skinned man with black hair and a matching mustache. He was in a Libyan military uniform and held a pistol in his right hand. As soon as the man saw the three people in the corner, he swung the gun around and aimed it in their general direction.

  Then he barked out something in Arabic. Two seconds later, five more men rushed into the room. They wore black scarves over their faces and donned similar uniforms to the commander. They were armed with automatic rifles and immediately pointed them at the intruders.

  The leader was shouting something at the three who slowly put their hands in the air.

  “What’s he saying?” Adriana asked.

  “Sounds like we’re under arrest,” Tommy said.

  Chapter 20

  Leptis Magna

  Sean was strolling along a path that ran parallel to the coast when he got Tommy’s text. So far, Sean hadn’t seen anything he thought would be the arch except for arches built into some of the other structures. Tommy said the arch would be a lone structure, so Sean ruled those out immediately.

  He glanced down at his phone and read the text.

  “Great,” he muttered to himself. “I was starting to think none of us were going to find that thing.”

  He raised his head and looked out over the city. From his view, it was hard to tell where Tommy could be. There was a hill just beyond the amphitheater, but it was on the other side of town. It would take several minutes for Sean to get there—even if he ran.

  That was the direction Tommy went when they split up so, it would make sense that was where he found the arch. Sean sighed and reached into his gear bag for a bottle of water. He took a few chugs and then put the nearly empty bottle back. He disliked being out in the desert. His lips cracked, and his skin felt like a reptile’s. Working in the desert heat was one of the downsides of helping Tommy at his agency.

  Sean licked his lips and marched ahead. He meandered through the old streets, walking by the amphitheater, old palace walls, columns, and what had probably been a temple a few thousand years ago.

  The path gradually rose up the slope of the hill until it reached the top next to a thicket of trees and shrubs just behind the walls on both sides. Sean squinted against the bright sunlight. He put the bridge of his hand against his forehead to get a little shade and looked down the hill.

  “There it is,” he said.

  A few hundred feet below was the arched monument of Septimius Severus. Sean noted the intricate entryways featuring two inward-facing triangular stones set atop columns on each side of the arches. It was difficult to tell from far away, but it looked like there were reliefs carved into the monument above the archways.

  Then a frown shot across Sean’s face. Without a second thought, he dove over the wall to his right and ducked behind the overgrown bushes.

  He raised up just enough to be able to see over the wall and took another look. He sighed. “Oh man. Libyans.”

  Sean watched as five armed men marched Adriana and the other two out of the building at gunpoint. Four men were stationed outside the monument. Then another man appeared. This one didn’t have on a mask like the others. Sean knew instantly that the guy must be the one in charge, probably a mid-ranking officer. Sean hated those types. In his experience, they were always the ones doing the dirty work and typically had enough ambition to want to do their
jobs a little too well.

  The leader was shouting something at Sean’s friends. From his position, it was impossible to tell what the guy was saying. A troubling thought occurred to Sean. How had those men known where Tommy would be?

  Sean pulled the phone out of his pocket and checked the time Tommy had sent the message. It said the message was sent about fifteen minutes before Sean received it. The point still remained that the Libyan soldiers holding his friends prisoner pinpointed their location and ambushed them with incredible speed.

  Had someone seen the group when they landed on the beach? Perhaps a spotter noticed the fishing boat off the coast and alerted the authorities when the lifeboat made its way to shore.

  There was no way to know the correct answer. What Sean did know was that his friends were in trouble.

  He knew how many rounds were in his current magazine. A quick shuffle through the gear bag told him he had two more with a full complement of ammo—more than enough to take out the Libyans. The problem was distance. Sean was too far away for his pistol to do anything more than piss off the soldiers. Sure, he might get lucky and hit one, but it was just as likely Sean would hit one of his friends, too.

  An attack from his position was out of the question without a long-range weapon. Even then, he’d probably only get off two shots before the soldiers either started shooting at him—or executed his friends.

  Sean had faced long odds before, but these were nearly insurmountable.

  For better or worse, Sean didn’t get the chance to go on the attack. The armed men turned their prisoners and forced them to start marching down the path in the other direction. Sean risked sticking his head out farther and scanned the area. A quarter mile from the monument, three military trucks were parked by an outcropping of trees and a four-foot-high stone wall.

  Okay, those belong to the soldiers.

  That was an easy conclusion. If he was going to save his friends from the doom of a Libyan jail, he’d need a ride of his own.

  Ideas poured into his brain like water from a fire hydrant.

  He noted the supply racks on top of the military vehicles. One of them held a large cargo box. He could probably fit inside it if the thing was empty. The problem would be getting to it. He’d need a distraction.

  Perhaps if he fired one of his weapons to get the soldiers’ attention and then made a run for it through the bushes and trees, they’d come to the spot from where the shot came, and he could loop around behind the men.

  No way that would work. Sean knew it. The base theory behind the idea was fine. The issue was that not all the soldiers would charge his position. The commander would only send a few men toward the threat, leaving the rest to usher Sean’s friends to the trucks.

  Sean considered throwing something like a small rock to one side of the men, but they were much too far away for him to reach with his ragged arm. He doubted he could even throw it halfway.

  The caravan with its prisoners was nearly halfway to the parked trucks. Sean was running out of time and out of ideas.

  He saw something coming down the road toward the parking area. It was another truck. Dust kicked up and rolled into the air behind it as it rumbled down the gravel road. Sean noticed an official seal on the side. It was the equivalent of a park ranger. Maybe the ranger was the one who alerted the soldiers to the presence of Sean and his friends—though he doubted it.

  Why would he single them out over any other tourists?

  Sean watched as the ranger drove his truck all the way to the lot, stopped his car, and got out.

  From his vantage point, it appeared that the ranger tried to stop and talk to the soldier in command, but the officer blew him off and continued marching his captives toward their rides.

  The ranger kept moving and walked over to a sign that was hanging nearby. The placard had lost a bolt and was dangling from a single point. After raising the sign and seeing what kind of tool he’d need for the job, the ranger returned to his pickup and ducked inside.

  By now the prisoners were being loaded into the back of the trucks. Tommy, Hank, and Adriana were put in separate cargo areas and joined by guards to make sure they didn’t try to escape out the back. Sean returned his gaze to the ranger. The guy was busily working on the sign, testing out various bolts and screwdrivers to see which combination would fit the best.

  That was Sean’s chance. If he could get to the ranger’s truck, he might have a chance to follow the soldiers.

  He didn’t have a second to lose.

  He climbed back over the wall and out into the open for a moment before crouching down just behind the opposite barrier. He wasn’t completely hidden from view, but staying low made him far less visible.

  Sean shuffled his feet as fast as he could, keeping his knees bent while he hurried down the path. When he reached the monument, he veered off the path and hopped the wall, making sure the soldiers and the ranger weren’t looking his way. Nobody had seen him. The ranger was busy bolting down the broken sign, and the soldiers were almost done loading the trucks.

  Sean knew he had to move faster.

  The first military truck roared to life, then the others. One started backing up.

  Sean threw caution to the wind. He took off at almost a sprint, still trying to stay as low as possible without being in plain sight. The first truck turned around and then inched forward at a snail’s pace. A moment later, a second truck copied the movement of the first.

  Sean was almost near the end of the wall where it wrapped around the parking area. He slid to a stop and peeked over the edge as the third truck started moving. Sean glanced over his shoulder at the ranger who was still fixing the sign.

  Sean swallowed hard, planted his left hand on the top of the wall, and vaulted over it. The first two trucks had stopped just down the road to wait on the third. Now that it was on the way, the other two started creeping forward again.

  In the open, Sean felt severely exposed, but he couldn’t stop. His friends needed rescuing, and if he didn’t get to them, no one would.

  As Sean neared the ranger’s truck, he realized the guy had left the engine running. Sean thought he was going to have to hotwire the thing. With the keys in the ignition, that wouldn’t be an issue.

  He opened the door as stealthily as possible and slid inside, plopping his gear bag in the passenger seat. He eased the door shut and shifted the vehicle into reverse, then started backing up.

  The gravel crunched under the tires as the truck rolled backward. Sean wasn’t sure if it was the noise or the movement that the ranger noticed first. Either way, the man turned his head toward his runaway truck. He almost did a double take, half not believing that the vehicle was moving.

  Then he saw Sean behind the wheel and reached for his pistol. The guy shouted something in Arabic as Sean shifted into drive and stomped on the gas pedal. Gravel shot out from behind the rear tires, and a cloud of dust exploded into the air. The ranger fired his weapon several times, but his truck was already too far away to even come close. The man trotted to a stop and pulled the radio from his belt to call for help.

  Sean’s attention was on the convoy of trucks down the road. They were already turning onto a stretch of pavement. As best as he could figure, they were heading in the direction of Tripoli. Not exactly the ideal place for three Americans and Adriana.

  He sped down the gravel road and whipped the wheel around, skidding the truck out onto the highway. The military trucks were still at least a half mile ahead and rolling fast.

  Sean’s mind raced almost as fast as the pickup he was driving. Now that he was behind the convoy, he wasn’t sure what to do next. He knew all the tactics, how to take down other vehicles in a high-speed chase, but none of that stuff was of any use with his friends in the other trucks.

  He let his foot ease up on the gas pedal. The pickup slowed to a steady speed, just fast enough to keep the convoy in his sights but not so fast that he’d catch up right away.

  For now, the only thing Se
an could do was follow.

  His knuckles whitened as his fingers squeezed the wheel. He felt helpless. As a man of action, he was accustomed to finding direct ways to fix a bad situation. In this instance, patience was the best course of action, and patience wasn’t exactly winning the battle in his mind.

  The woman he loved and his best friend were on their way to a Libyan jail. There was no telling what would happen once they were behind those walls.

  Memories of the stories that surfaced in 1996 crept into Sean’s mind. He tried to push them away, but couldn’t.

  That was the year that over twelve hundred prisoners were systematically killed inside the Abu Salim prison in Tripoli. It wasn’t the first time something like that happened within the walls of a Libyan prison. The nation’s leader at the time had a penchant for torturing those he deemed a threat or a problem to national security. More like a threat to his own job security.

  It was an incident that drew the attention of people around the world. Human rights activists had a field day with it. In the end, not much could be done. It took more than a decade before the United States intervened and took down the dictator. Even then, the country was already embroiled in a vicious civil war in which no one knew who they could trust.

  Sean lost sight of the convoy as they disappeared over a ridge. He sped up momentarily until he reached the top of the hill and the other trucks came back into view.

  Off to the left, he could see where they were headed. His heart sank.

  The Dar Falim prison was part of a military base just east of Tripoli. Off in the distance, Sean could see the sprawl of the Libyan capital stretching out into the desert. The good news was that Dar Falim wasn’t in the city, which could make for an easier escape. The bad news was it would be heavily guarded and surrounded by Libyan military.

  While Dar Falim wasn’t a maximum-security prison like Abu Salim, it was still going to be like breaking into Fort Knox.

  Sean saw one army helicopter sitting on a landing pad off to the side, just beyond the ten-foot fence that wrapped around the entire compound. A plan started to formulate in his brain. It would be risky, but there was no choice. All the risk in the world wouldn’t keep him from going after the people he cared about.