"You are so dreaming."
Simon laughed and walked away.
Val looked back at her monitor and the message cast from the shadows of the Hermitage mastaba wall. Rachel was counting on them to crack this before she journeyed into the Sahara Desert with only a vague sense of what to do. But Simon had a point. Even during Tavak's drain on their network's resources, Rachel had refused to deprive the other projects of their allotted processing cycles. The NSA took the biggest hit, followed by her own foundation.
But still…
Val leaned back in her chair and saw Simon working on the other side of the lab. Usually she was the stickler for rules, and Simon was the group's risk taker.
Not this time, she decided.
She launched the allocation protocol to direct Jonesy's processing cycles toward the mastaba wall code.
* * *
"We're making good time." Demanski stepped into the lounge of his plane, where Rachel, Tavak, and Allie were seated around a small table, examining the photographic prints that made up the newest message. "Figure out anything more there?"
"No," Tavak said. "It's like all the other pieces along the way. Parts are relatively easy to understand, but other sections are written entirely in code. This area gives us the general location of Peseshet's burial chamber, but it's short on specifics. I think the rest will tell us more about what we need to know."
Rachel nodded. "I'll check in with Val and Simon when we land and see what progress Jonesy has made."
"The question of the hour is… " Tavak tapped the photos. "Does Dawson also have this message?"
Allie shrugged. "Look at the hoops we had to jump through. And it's not just a matter of being smart. You have to have a specific kind of smarts."
"Well, as excruciating as Dr. James Wiley is as a lecturer, there's a good chance he has those smarts. He knows more about ancient Nile Delta languages and customs than just about anyone. Plus, he's had more time with the mastaba wall than we've had. It's possible they've beaten us to the punch."
"We have something they don't," Demanski said. He nodded at Rachel. "You and your supercomputer network."
"That's true," Tavak said. "They may still be playing catch-up." He looked at Rachel. "I certainly hope so."
So did Rachel. She had been on edge since Tavak had mentioned the possibility of Jonesy being compromised by the NSA and leaking to Dawson.
Tavak glanced back down at the message. "But it might be a good idea for us to have some muscle while we're in Egypt."
CAIRO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
CAIRO, EGYPT
"Welcome," Nuri said from the open door of a large, black-paneled van with tinted windows. "It is a pleasure to welcome you back so soon."
The van was waiting in the huge pickup/dropoff area in front of the airport after they had gone through Customs and picked up their visas at the booth. The scene appeared to be one of total chaos, with passengers and skycaps darting among literally hundreds of cabs, buses, and private vehicles.
Nuri jumped out of the van and helped Rachel, Allie, Tavak, and Demanski load their bags into the back. Within minutes, they were on their way out of the airport.
Nuri turned around and spoke to Tavak. "Again, I am sorry for your friend's death," he said quietly. "I feel I should have done more to protect him."
"You did your best. It wasn't your job to protect him, Nuri. That wasn't what he wanted."
Nuri smiled. "That is true. Ben was a proud man."
"Yes, he was."
"I would have liked to have been able to furnish you with a larger team, but it was short notice. I think you will find we'll be capable of meeting your needs." He motioned toward the driver. "This is Abu. He was part of the team that came to your aid before, Mr. Tavak."
"I remember," Tavak said dryly. "He also did some guard duty when I was your prisoner."
Abu chuckled. "And now you are my employer. Life is strange. Nice to see you again."
Nuri pointed to the van's back row of seats, where the two remaining men sat. "And behind you are Oba and Meti. We've known each other since we were children."
Demanski drummed his fingers on the roof of the van. "Where did you get this beast?"
Nuri shrugged. "Automobile rental agency. The windows are bulletproof, and the steel is over an inch thick in places. Some diplomats and business executives—Americans mostly—insist on a vehicle like this when they visit here. It makes them feel safer even though the crime rate in many U.S. cities is much worse." Nuri turned to look at the setting sun. "We should be there in little over an hour. How long will we be at the site?"
"I'm not sure," Tavak said. "It depends on what we find when we get there."
NINETEEN
Detective Finley sat at his desk in the squad room and read the e-mail from NSA Agent Wayne Norton for a third time.
"What the hell?" Gonzalez came in holding his Black-Berry. "Did you see this?"
"Yeah." Finley was still trying to make sense of Norton's message:
Detectives Finley & Gonzalez,
I'm sending this to you because I have a great deal of respect for you both. There are not many men who would ignore threats and intimidation to do what they felt is right. Since that intimidation came from me, I have a personal admiration.
You have been very resourceful in your investigation of the Rachel Kirby shooting, and I must admit that some of the information you uncovered was a surprise even to me. I'm sure that you'll be skeptical as you read this. You probably won't believe it, but I didn't want to think you were right about the NSA involvement. Manipulating information is one thing, murder of an innocent citizen is another. I knew nothing about the attempt on her life. But it was at that point that I began to think that I had been set up to take the fall for some extremely dirty business. I wasn't going to let that happen, so I started launching an investigation of my own while I balanced very precariously on the edge of disaster.
And if you're reading this, it means that my ignorance was most likely fatal. I have placed this e-mail and accompanying attachments in a timed autosend folder that I will reschedule every six hours as long as I am able. I've used the services of Paul Simmons, one of NSA's most talented information specialists, who may also be able to bear witness. If he's still alive. In brief, I've collected evidence indicating that Robert Pierce is using our access to Rachel Kirby's data network for personal gain and attempted to kill her to avoid being discovered. She's still in great danger. Pierce will never stop.
Please exercise extreme caution in your use and dissemination of this information.
N.
Gonzalez pocketed his phone. "I just called Norton's office, but it went straight to voice mail."
"But that's nothing new. He could still be okay." Finley stood and walked to the squad room's printer. "I printed out the attachments. Let's run this upstairs and show it to the tech guys."