“We expect them to ignore the first demand,” Piranha said. “So prepare the second. We need to be taken seriously.”
A desire he’d felt his whole life.
FrameHub had researched carefully and identified the right agency, the right branch of that agency and even the correct person to send the threat to. It would be registered, so that when the second was received the level would be escalated. There was a procedure to go through and because FrameHub needed the time and the lengthy distraction they would happily adhere to and not force it.
Their rules. Their game.
Piranha ran it through his head. “The governments of Egypt, Turkey and Greece have twenty four hours to meet our demands, those being the delivery of three hundred million dollars to an account of our choosing. Failure to meet these demands will result in a catastrophic failure of your entire infrastructure, sending you back to the Dark Ages. You will face famine, disease, war and utter bankruptcy. Only one country will be allowed to meet these demands — the very first to do so. The other two will crumble. Do we — FrameHub — have your attention? Good, you have our demands. Take them seriously or perish.”
It would be analyzed, traced, taken apart. It would be subject to a deep data dive, an Interpol investigation — all kinds of scrutiny. It would do them no good. FrameHub had inserted several clever reroutes into the transmission that would force the authorities’ tech guys to attest to their genius and sincerity.
The rest would no doubt rely on the second demand, where a demonstration would be in order. Good. Really, I can’t wait. Piranha had never set off a real live missile. The difference between game theory and real life would be interesting to see.
“Message sent,” Orca said.
Piranha grinned at the collective, unable to hide his glee. “Just twenty four hours,” he said excitedly. “And we get to do this shit for real!”
A cheer echoed around the underground bunker.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Hayden Jaye finished her call and threw the cell on the table. The room was cramped. To the left Kinimaka twitched at the gap in the curtains, checking out the street below. Every three minutes he gave a shake of his head, signaling all was quiet. Drake and the rest of the team sat or stood around the small area, drinking water and coffee, checking and cleaning weapons which they would now keep with them at all times.
“That was Claudia from the DC office. Old friend. She says Lauren arrived safely.”
The team immediately took note, sitting up and focusing.
“What else did she say?” Smyth asked, his voice thick with anxiety.
“Not much. Lauren’s being questioned right now. The buzz is that she’s in the clear, but they’re taking no chances.”
“As we thought,” Kinimaka rumbled. “Everyone involved covering their ass.”
“Yeah. Lauren played it just right though. Another few days and she can get started.”
Smyth coughed. “Maybe.”
Hayden tried a commiserating look, realized it wasn’t working and gave up. Lauren had indeed done the right thing in her opinion, but everything she did from here on in — at least for a while — would be under scrutiny. She was intelligent, street-smart, and hopefully working with a crew like theirs for the last few years would have a positive effect on her.
Lauren would come through.
Hayden stretched her weary muscles, opened a bottle of water, and took a long gulp. The room was stifling. Sweat ran freely down her face. Outside, the streets were noisy and packed, just another day for the locals. She wondered what had happened to the mercs.
“Let’s get this done,” she said. “Then we can get the hell out of this oven. First, this ransom demand from a new group calling themselves FrameHub. Opinions are divided. Some say it’s a childish prank, others that the countries involved should be placed on the highest alerts.”
Drake looked interested but Hayden held up a hand. “That’s the kind of job Team SPEAR would have been given,” she said. “We’re not Team SPEAR anymore. At least not in the eyes of the government.”
An air of despondency settled across the room. Dahl wiped sweat from his brow. “We may still want to monitor it.”
Crouch drained a bottle of water. “I can do that,” he said. “My people at Interpol and other European agencies will be watching closely.”
Hayden accepted with a nod. “All right. If you can… gather something together. One of the countries involved is Egypt so it could affect us all.”
Crouch nodded. “Speaking of Egypt, what do we do next?”
“Hey, you’re the boss,” Alicia said. “You tell us.”
“I thought Hayden was the boss,” Kinimaka spoke up.
“Shit,” Drake looked around innocently. “I thought I was.”
Hayden laughed. “Nobody’s the boss here, guys. It’s just a family now.”
“We have to be the oddest family in all of history.” Mai looked around. “From the mad, the bad and the incredibly ugly to the pretty, the witty and the ultra-dumb. What a motley crew.”
“Umm,” Alicia frowned. “Which is which?”
Mai laughed. “Oh, I’m sure you can work it out.”
Kenzie put an arm around Dahl. “The mad and the bad are sitting right here.”
Dahl shrugged it off. “Back to business. What do we know about the second tomb, Michael?”
Crouch took a breath. “As I said before, finding the second tomb and locating or not locating the second symbol will confirm if the so-called curse is real. If there’s a second clue then we have to work on the theory that we’re really searching for the actual capstone and that the ancient doomsday machine exists.”
“More tombs? More buried treasure?” Alicia looked gloomy. “More running from the authorities? I’m sick of going underground.”
“Nice. The clue I found back at Amenhotep’s tomb was a depiction of the capstone along with a drawing of a tomb. I recognize the sculptures depicted, with the three pillars outside, but haven’t been able to place it in my memory. But that’s not a problem — we can look it up. The problem is this… we’re not the only ones chasing this.”
“Not by a long shot,” Mai said.
Hayden listened for a moment, taking in the mood of the team. In so many ways this was different for them — a guard at the window, a back-street hotel, and a cramped little room, limited tech support, having to look out for authorities rather than encourage them, always worried they may be spotted — but they were now relying on each other more than ever before and the actual mission parameters were the same. Of course, due to intense situations such as theirs, personal issues were sidelined.
Not necessarily a bad thing.
Time away from private relationships helped put them into perspective, it seemed. Her position as leader removed her from deeper feelings. Now that they were all on a par, she saw how badly she’d upset Mano. Whatever words she’d said had been purely manufactured to give her space — but the friendly Hawaiian didn’t know that. She watched him now as he watched the street, wondering if there was any way back.
Crouch continued: “We have to be fast and faultless. If others found that capstone symbol they could be heading to the second tomb as we speak.”
“We have to assume they did,” Kenzie said.
“Definitely. So let’s break out that laptop.”
Mai took it from a backpack and handed it over to Alicia.
The Englishwoman regarded it with horror. “What the hell are you doing? Don’t bring that thing near me.”
“You can’t type, Taz?”
“I don’t do geek. Yogi, my boy? C’mere. Wrap your mitts around this.”