The MDX darted to the east and the four Blackhawks surrounded it. Two above, two behind, preventing the Egyptians from getting to it without shooting them down first.
Kincaid leaned back in the seat and stared the computer screen in front of him. A sphere was rotating quickly, twenty-four red dots glowing along its surface. Stationary on the screen were three green dots representing Giza, Easter Island, and Qian-Ling. One of the red dots would align with Giza, then the sphere of red dots would spin rapidly, as the computer tried to line up another red dot with Easter Island. If there was a hit, the computer was programmed to try to align a third with Qian-Ling, but so far there had been no second hits.
As he watched the computer work in vain, several possibilities occurred to Kincaid, none of them good. One was that these grid points referred to a planet other than Earth — perhaps Mars. Another was that perhaps Che Lu’s mathematic assumptions were wrong. Or that using Giza as a fixed point was off base and none of those points referred to Giza.
Kincaid shook his head. None of those possibilities was useful. He’d learned early in the NASA program to make the impossible possible. To do that required looking at things with blinders on. If this was indeed an Airlia grid system of important points on Earth, perhaps they had done something very simple to make it hard to plot.
He heard commotion from the Cube, but Kincaid focused his attention on the problem at hand.
Major Quinn threw the door to the conference room open. “Turcotte has been picked up by an Israeli helicopter and will be landing at Hazerim in twenty minutes.”
Yakov looked up from the chess set between himself and Che Lu. “That is news worthy of a drink.” He pulled the bottle of vodka out from some hidden pocket inside his large, billowy shirt.
“The Grail?” Che Lu asked.
The enthusiasm dimmed on Quinn’s face. “Aspasia’s Shadow escaped with it — and Doctor Duncan. Turcotte thinks they’ve headed back to The Mission, wherever that is now. He said he’d update via SATCOM from the bouncer on the way back here,” Quinn said. “He was using an Israeli radio and frequency to tell me what I just told you.”
“Some good news, some bad news.” Yakov took a drink. “That seems to be the way it always is.”
“Anything from Mister Kincaid and his search?” Che Lu asked Quinn. “Nothing yet. The computer is still doing permutations.”
“Let us hope Turcotte has a plan,” Yakov said.
Major Turcotte had no plan other than getting off the Israeli helicopter without falling on his face. Beyond that, his mind and body were too exhausted and drained to go. He recognized Sherev and watched as the Mossad agent met Colonel Fassid with open arms. His greeting to Turcotte was less enthusiastic.
“Al-Iblis has the Ark” were his first words as Turcotte felt the heat from the tarmac rising like a hot blanket.
“And the Grail,” Turcotte added, squinting in the bright sun. “Do you know where he went?”
“Last radar image before the AWACS was destroyed indicated the two helicopters were heading east,” Sherev said as he led Turcotte toward the waiting bouncer. “For all we know the choppers had external fuel tanks, which means they could go anywhere in the Middle East. There they could land and cross-load to a plane if they wanted to go farther. One of our listening stations intercepted part of an FM broadcast between the two helicopters which indicated they were heading toward a place called The Mission, which no one seems to know the location of.”
Turcotte knew that intelligence agencies all over the world had been trying to find the new spot where The Mission had set up shop after being chased off of Devil’s Island in South America.
“Things are very unstable,” Sherev continued as they reached the bouncer. “The assassination of Hussein has led to saber rattling in both Iran and Iraq. The fools here thought cutting off the head would kill the beast, but it has just made things more dangerous. The enemy you know is always better than the enemy you don’t.
“Your own country is threatening Egypt over the loss of the AWACS. My country is contemplating mobilization of reserves because of what is happening.
“China is still sealed off from the rest of the world, although intelligence reports indicate their military is mobilizing. There’s fear that the Chinese might invade Taiwan. North Korea is also mobilizing. Both countries are hoping that your Navy in the Pacific is so preoccupied with Easter Island that they can act with impunity in the western Pacific.” Sherev shrugged his shoulders. “The world is getting even crazier than it usually is. And now we have the Ark of the Covenant and the Grail both surfacing after being myths for generations and now lie in the hands of a terrorist.
“I think that what is even more dangerous than the political maneuverings are the cracks in the foundations of the major religions. The various clergy are having a difficult time suddenly reconciling their dogma to the existence of these aliens.”
Turcotte didn’t want to get into the real identity of Al-Iblis with Sherev; he himself had a hard enough time understanding the creature and its ka and being reborn.
“I thank you for saving us.” He extended his hand.
Sherev gripped it. “I lost a good mole—” He nodded toward Fassid. “I hope you two were worth it.”
“We’ll try to be,” Turcotte said.
“Ah,” Sherev spit onto the hot runway. “Who knows what is worth what nowadays.” He slapped the side of the bouncer. “Alien spaceships, the Ark, the Grail, who knows what will happen next or who is who.”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out at Area 51,” Turcotte said. “Thank Fassid for me once more.”
“Ah, he gets a nice house, a monthly check from the government now. He is quite happy that he does not have to lead a double life. Have a safe journey.” Sherev stepped back.
Turcotte climbed up to the hatch and slid in, shutting it behind him. Within seconds they were airborne and heading west toward the United States.
Ts’ang used the spear he held to open one of the smaller containers in the large cavern. He removed a black sphere, about eight inches in diameter. Then he led Lexina, Coridan, and Elek back to the lowest chamber.
“I must follow the instructions I was given,” he said as they entered it and faced the black wall. “I was put in place to be the first to awaken. Artad is to be the last.”
“Who’s next?” Lexina asked.
“The Kortad. They must make sure all is secure before waking Artad.”
“There is not much time,” Lexina said.
“It is the way things must be done,” Ts’ang said. “Haste can be more dangerous than anything else.” He pressed down on the top of the black sphere. A series of hexagons appeared on the surface. He hit several in a rapid pattern.
The black wall moved swiftly back, revealing row after row of black tube. The chamber was far larger than Lexina had imagined. Over two hundred tubes were exposed before the black wall completely disappeared, revealing a large set of doors made of black metal.
“Artad rests behind those doors in a special vault,” Ts’ang said.
He tapped on the black sphere and the lids to all the tubes slid back. The metal foil peeled away, revealing the alien bodies inside. They were identical to the hologram that had appeared in the main tunnel. They were all just short of seven feet tall, with a disproportionally short torso and overly long arms and legs. The heads were half as big as a human’s, with bright red hair. The skin was white and unblemished.