He shook his head. "If you were out of the picture, it would only be easier for me to commandeer more of your computer network's resources." Tavak turned to Val. "No offense."
"None taken," Val said. "And you're right. Nobody knows this system better than Rachel."
"Okay, then," Rachel said. "Let's explore the possibility that perhaps I was shot by someone who wanted you to succeed." She stared him in the eye. "Perhaps you or someone you've been working with."
"Not my style."
Rachel laughed. "That's all you've got? 'Not my style'?"
Tavak nodded.
It was enough, Rachel realized. Tavak's calm, off hand manner inspired trust, no matter how cavalier he'd been about hacking into her network. She actually believed him.
Dammit.
Tavak leaned toward the monitors. "Now that I don't have to waste processing power hiding from you and Ms. Cho, your system should make faster headway processing my code." He produced a USB memory stick and handed it to Rachel.
"What's this?"
"The next piece of the puzzle. I managed to retrieve the first part of the message from the hard drive this afternoon. I worked on it in Galveston while Simon was laboring over all those backdoors."
Rachel muttered a curse. "And you didn't tell me?"
"I'm telling you now. If we can insert this into the code that I already have your system working on, retrieving the rest should be a slam dunk."
Rachel gazed at the stick for a moment. "Val, pull up Mr. Tavak's problem. Let's give it priority." She turned back to Tavak. "But what now? Even if we increase the processing cycles devoted to this code, it could still take days."
"True," Tavak said. "But as we confirm that your supercomputer is on the right track, it should get easier. That is, if Peseshet's disciple, Natifah, didn't change the code in each place. And we're also counting on her former patients—and the tradesmen who crafted these markers—to have correctly transcribed the symbols she gave them."
Rachel nodded. "I'll take a look at the decoding software you wrote. I've gotten pretty good at harnessing Jonesy's brute force in solving problems."
Tavak smiled. "I have a feeling that's like saying Tiger Woods is 'pretty good' at golf."
Val didn't look up from the keyboard. "You got that right."
"Part of the message is easy to read. It alludes to another former patient of Peseshet's who would protect her legacy. But I discovered that the scope of this puzzle may be larger than I first thought."
"What do you mean?"
"We already knew that Natifah had persuaded Peseshet's former patients to honor the doctor by erecting hidden monuments in their tombs. I assumed all of these patients were in Egypt, but that may not have been the case."
"You mean Natifah may have gone to other countries to hide the clues?"
"It makes sense. She was on the run, and it would have been smart to leave Egypt. She was in Babylonia when Peseshet was killed. She had to return to Egypt to retrieve Peseshet's tablets, but she wouldn't have had to stay there. In their travels, Peseshet and Natifah would have encountered any number of rulers or noblemen who would have been grateful enough to honor Peseshet as she requested. And since they weren't subjects of the Pharaoh, there would be less danger to them and their families for erecting these hidden monuments to her."
"So where does that leave us?"
Tavak showed her the pages. "The inscription on the wall of Kontar's tomb mentions a 'soaring bird of twilight' who protects the next piece of Peseshet's legacy. It says that this piece is written with the fire of the sun on his tomb. I couldn't find anyone in Old Kingdom Egypt who might match that description, but when I had Jonesy broaden the search, I found something interesting."
Tavak pointed to a photo that depicted a stone-chiseled representation of a man wearing ornamental robes. "This was a holy man in Babylon. We don't really know his name, although modern archaeologists call him Nemop. He's thought to have gained his powers only late in life, so he was well known as the Eagle Who Soars at Sundown."
"The soaring bird of twilight… "
"Yes. Babylonia was an important trading partner to Egypt during Peseshet's time, so it's entirely possible that she was sent to minister to the country's VIPs in exchange for goods or access to trade routes."
Rachel looked at Tavak's handwritten notes, which included a list of half a dozen items. "What's this?"
"Things that were probably buried with him to take to the afterlife. Clothing, work animals, dried fruits, twenty-two ounces of oil from a sillicyprium tree, among other things."
"I don't like where this is going. Does this mean we're about to raid another tomb?"
"I don't think so. Nemop did have a temple that he used in life and became a sort of shrine to him after his death. It was discovered in 1937 by an archaeologist named Danielle Hutton."
Tavak raised a downloaded black-and-white photo of a woman wearing tall boots, broad-pleated pants, white blouse, and a pith helmet. She appeared to be at a dig site.
Rachel glanced at the picture and smiled. "Are you sure this isn't a movie lobby card? She looks like Katharine Hepburn."
"Danielle Hutton was the real deal. But I can't find any information about where Nemop's shrine went. We know it was moved shortly after the discovery, but the trail goes cold after that. An occasional stray artifact from the site can be found in online museum catalogs, but I haven't been able to find anything else."
"It could have been lost or destroyed during World War II."
"Possibly. But there is someone we can talk to."
"Surely not Danielle Hutton."
"Afraid not. She died in 1995. But look at this." Tavak raised the picture and pointed to a little girl in a khaki outfit standing in the background alongside several men. "This is her daughter, Emily. She took up the family business and became a great archaeologist in her own right. She teaches at Berkeley."
"So we're headed to California?"
Tavak smiled. "Not exactly."
TEN
QUANTO VALLEY RIDGE
ARIZONA
Rachel folded her map and looked at the expanse of desert before her. She and Tavak sat in an open Jeep driving toward the unobstructed horizon.
She wiped her forehead with her handkerchief and leaned forward in the passenger seat. "It must be a hundred degrees."
Tavak smiled. "Try a hundred and fourteen."
"And this woman is camping out here."
"That's what I was told."
"Is that really a good idea for an eighty-year-old?"
"From what I understand, it's her graduate students on the expedition who are having the problems. She's been doing this her whole life."
"Amazing."
"I just hope she can give us something we can use. It's a long way to go for nothing."
Two hours later, Tavak slowed as they approached a small village of tents situated in the shadow of a craggy rock formation. A dozen students worked with shovels, pickaxes, and wire brushes at various spots around the encampment.
They pulled alongside a young man with mirrored sunglasses. Tavak called out to him. "Where can I find Dr. Hutton?"