Selena played her flashlight over the interior of the chamber, then along the wall.
"There's an opening over there. It's been sealed with cement."
"Seems to be our day for breaking things open," Nick said.
"That cement looks old," Lamont said.
"Blow it before the smoke gets any worse."
Lamont placed the last bit of C4 against the walled up opening. They retreated to the far corner and detonated the charge. Fresh air blew into the chamber.
They climbed through the opening and out into the Egyptian night. Nick looked up at the stars and took a deep breath of cool air.
"Look where we are," Selena said.
They stood next to the Sphinx. The opening was in the right hind leg of the statue.
"You were right all along," Nick said.
"Everything's gone," she said. "All those records. Safe for ten thousand years and now they're gone. The history of a civilization."
"And the Stone of the Gods. Don't forget that. Nobody will ever know what it was or how they used it."
The smoke had found its way to the opening. A lazy column drifted out of the Sphinx.
"Take a look at the pyramid," Ronnie said.
A column of black smoke rose from the pyramid entrance.
Lamont sneezed. "Might be time to get out of here."
Valentina slumped unconscious between Ronnie and Selena.
"We need to get help for her," Selena said.
They almost made it to the parking lot before the police surrounded them.
CHAPTER 52
General Basu Karimi had put the prisoners in isolation. None of the police who'd arrested them would talk. Not if they knew what was good for them.
The Ministry of Antiquities screamed for the heads of the vandals who had defiled the ancient symbols of Egypt. They didn't know Karimi had them in custody. They weren't going to know, unless he decided to tell them.
Karimi had moved his prisoners to a private facility outside of Cairo that he used for special interrogations. The place had a dark reputation. No one would bother him there. He'd arranged medical care for Valentina. Now he waited for his aide to bring the American leader to him.
Nick entered the room.
"Leave us," Karimi said to his aide.
"General. Are you sure? This man is a threat."
"Are you deaf? Leave us." His voice was full of menace.
The man left the room and closed the door behind him.
"Sit down."
Karimi indicated a hard chair in front of his desk. Nick sat down.
"I know who you are. You are part of a covert team sent here by your director, Harker. It was I who allowed you to enter my country."
"You have an advantage over me."
"Ah, please excuse my rudeness. I am General Basu Karimi."
"The chief of the Mukhabharat?"
"I am pleased that you know of me. After a few formalities, you and your companions will be returned to America."
"What formalities?" Nick asked.
Karimi ignored the question. "What were you doing in the pyramid?"
"Would you believe me if I said we were sightseeing?"
"Please do not make the mistake of annoying me, Mister Carter. I know that you were looking for something. I know the Russians were looking for the same thing. By the way, where is Major Rostov?"
"She made a mistake. Right now she's pressed flatter than a postage stamp under tons of granite."
"That is unfortunate. Tell me about the fire."
There was no point in lying.
"We found a sealed tunnel in the descending passage of the pyramid. It led to a hidden room filled with wooden chests. The room was lit with strips of some phosphorescent material set on the walls. That's what caused the fire."
"How?"
"Rostov followed us in and was going to kill us. She shot Valentina and took a shot at Selena. The bullet hit one of the strips. Whatever was inside spilled out on the chests and everything began to burn."
"Why would Rostov shoot her associate?"
"I assume she had a grudge. Rostov was FSB. Valentina is SVR."
This was new information for Karimi. He would use it to leverage the Russians.
"What was in the chests? Gold? Artifacts?"
"No gold, General. We only opened one before Rostov showed up. It was full of parchment scrolls. As far as I know, they all were. Records. The room was an archive of Atlantis."
Nick saw no point in telling Karimi about the Stone of the Gods. What good would it do?
"Do not try to deceive me, Carter."
"I'm telling you the truth, General. Since you know who we are, you can ask Director Harker if you don't believe me."
"I will. You had better hope she verifies your story."
"Everything was destroyed," Nick said. "There's no reason to try and hide it. When your people get into that room they'll find plenty of evidence to back me up."
"The room no longer exists. It is filled with many tons of stone. The heat from the fire brought down the roof."
"Then you'll have to take my word for it."
"Why were you seeking this…archive?"
"We were looking for information about an unknown energy used by the Atlanteans to build their civilization. We thought those records would tell us what we needed to know, if we could find them. The same energy was probably used to move the stones in your pyramids and lift them into place."
Karimi gave him an incredulous look. "You expect me to believe that?"
"General, I don't expect anything. You asked me what we were doing there. I told you. I know you're not a man to be trifled with."
Karimi had considered torturing the Americans to get at the truth but had decided it would be more profitable to return them unharmed and claim a reasonable reward. Carter's story confirmed his decision. No one would make up a story like that and tell it to the man who could turn his life into agony.
"You said everything was destroyed."
"Yes. Wood doesn't get any drier than those chests. The fire went through them like they were soaked in gasoline."
Karimi pressed a button on his desk. The door opened. The aide waited for instructions.
"Take him back to the others."
Nick got up and walked out the door, the aide a step behind.
Karimi thought for a moment. First he would call Harker and see what she said about Carter's story. Then he would offer to return her operatives to America without unpleasant interference from the authorities, for a small consideration. That left the Russian.
Karimi had dealt with SVR in the past. He knew the director, Vysotsky, a reasonable man who understood how things worked in Egypt. Vysotsky would pay well for the return of his operative and the avoidance of bad publicity for the Federation.
That left the question of who would take the blame for defiling the pyramid and the Sphinx. The answer was simple. Karimi would blame everything on ISIS. It would be easy enough to round up suspects.
Visions of his ever-increasing bank account danced in his mind's eye. Karimi took out his satellite phone and called Director Harker.
CHAPTER 53
Women and men were kept in separate sections of Karimi's special interrogation center, but gender brought no benefits in accommodations. The walls were of cinderblock, the cell doors of iron bars. Prisoners slept on a dirt floor. Interrogations took place in a separate room, away from the cells. The cries of anyone unfortunate enough to be taken there could be heard throughout the building.
Huge cockroaches clustered around the stinking bucket that served as a toilet in Selena's cell. They showed no fear of her at all. She'd decided to relieve herself on the floor before she would use that bucket.
Valentina's cell was two down from hers. As far as Selena could tell, the rest of the cells in the short hallway were empty. When they'd first arrived there had been a woman in the next cell over, but she'd been taken away. Later, Selena had heard screaming. The woman hadn't returned.