“I understand your concerns. Now understand mine: See to it that there is no more American interference. That shipment was a considerable loss but not a total one. We already have many of the missiles in place. I would appreciate a little effort on your end to keep your dogs chained.”
The senator’s tone turned defensive. “Hey, you have to do a better job of protecting your assets too, pal. It’s not my fault you had a bunch of inept guards keeping watch. If I were you, I’d bring in some professionals to handle things. Not these two-bit morons you found out in the desert.”
While Khalif didn’t appreciate the tone the American leader had taken, he did present a fair point. Too much had been lost. And for his plan to work, he couldn’t afford to lose any more missiles. It was time to call in more help.
The senator interrupted his thoughts. “On a more pleasant topic, good job taking out Qafar. The media is going crazy for it over here. I’d bet you’re probably trending on social media right now as some kind of heroic leader for getting rid of him.”
“You’re welcome.”
Khalif ended the call and set the phone on a nearby end table. He folded his hands behind his back and stared out at the city once again. “Ahmed?”
“Yes, sir.”
“See to it that our facility is reinforced immediately. If these Americans happen to stumble upon it, we can’t have any more incidents like what happened yesterday. Understood?”
“Yes, sir. Right away.”
19
“This is awesome.” Sean stood with his hands on his hips, staring out at the dig site. “You guys have done a lot of work.”
He and Tommy were standing on the lip of a huge, circular hole in the ground. Within the confines of the manmade crater, a circle of titanic cones were propped on their ends, one next to the other. As Tommy had mentioned previously, the megaliths spiraled out until they came to an end in the side of the hill where the ancient tunnel entrance cut into the rock.
Tommy hesitated on accepting the compliment. “Well, most of the excavation was already done when we got here. The first group on site was headed up by Dr. Brandau out of Cairo, but he was supervised by a few people from here. Anyway, it was pretty much like this when we arrived.” Tommy pointed at the temple complex. “We’ve mostly been trying to secure anything valuable and get it back to the government as intact as possible.”
Sean continued to stare out at the scene. Workers of several nationalities were busily sifting through dirt, brushing away at stone, and carrying heavy buckets away. “So what did they find that the Tanzanians needed your help with?”
Tommy’s poker face cracked, and he laughed out loud for a second. “You picked up on that?”
Sean turned to his friend, still wearing a stone-cold look on his face. “We’ve known each other a long time, pal. I know when you’re trying to hide something. Throw on top of it the fact that I know you don’t usually get a call for an excavation. The Tanzanians found something, and they either couldn’t get it out or they didn’t want to risk moving it. So they called the one agency in the world that specializes in that sort of thing.”
“We do have that niche pretty much cornered.”
“You’ve also got the art of stalling cornered.”
Tommy laughed again and this time Sean’s stoic facade cracked.
“Seriously, man,” Sean prodded, “what’s going on? Whatever you found must be pretty important for you to keep it so hush-hush.”
Tommy took a deep breath and sighed. “I was gonna show you anyway. Just wanted to keep it a surprise or at least somewhat suspenseful.”
“Okay. I’m officially intrigued. You gonna show me, or we just gonna stand here like a couple of lost tourists all day?”
Tommy twitched his head to left. “Come with me.”
The two friends made their way over to a wooden ladder that led down into the pit. Once they’d descended to the bottom, Sean gained a new appreciation for how astonishingly massive the megaliths really were. He was six feet tall, but the giant stones were easily double his height.
“These were carved by hand?” Sean asked. He touched the closest one with his fingertips, feeling the smooth surface of the rock.
“Yes. Unless you subscribe to the aliens did it theory. We figure they were put here a little over ten thousand years ago, but the time frame is a bit sketchy. One thing we do know is that this rock is not found around here. Whoever placed these stones had to drag them over a great distance.”
“Sounds like a lot of work to stack a bunch of rocks.”
Tommy led the way through the maze as they continued their discussion. “Yeah, it had to be an incredible undertaking. Obviously, this place must have had some kind of sacred significance to them. Some cave drawings in the tunnel allude to some kind of creation story. It’s remarkably similar to the ones found in Australia.”
“Interesting.”
Tommy slowed his pace as they neared the tunnel entrance. He looked over at his friend, putting a hand on his shoulder. “You know, if you ever get tired of government work, you could always come work for me.”
Sean bellowed. “Work for you?”
“What’s so funny about that? It’s not like I would be your boss or anything. But you’ve always had a love of history and stuff like this. It’s right in your wheelhouse. And whatever the government is paying you, I’ll match it plus 10 percent.”
Sean’s head twisted to one side and then the other. “You know they pay me pretty well, right?”
“Money isn’t a problem, my friend.”
He was right. It wasn’t a problem.
Tommy’s parents had left him a fortune when they died tragically. He and Sean were in high school when it happened.
The Schultzes’ plane and their bodies were never recovered. Sean and his parents had been instrumental in helping him with the grieving process. With the money he’d been left, Tommy decided to start an archaeological agency in Atlanta, just a few hours south of Chattanooga.
Later, he founded a historical center as part of the agency’s complex. It served as a museum of unknown history, much of which centered around artifacts and relics found in the Southeastern United States.
“I appreciate the offer,” Sean said. “Tell you what, if I get tired of working for Uncle Sam, you’ll be the first to know.”
Tommy grinned. “I’m going to hold you to that.”
The two reached the cave entrance and paused.
“Don’t get your hopes up,” Sean replied. “I just got started.”
Tommy changed the subject. “Watch your head. Whoever built this either wasn’t very tall, or they wanted to play a trick on people taller than them. It opens up on the inside, though.”
He bent down and stepped inside the tunnel. Lightbulbs burned brightly along the wall, all attached to a cord that ran outside to a generator.
Sean followed close behind. “You guys aren’t messing around.” He noted the lighting and the wooden steps that had been put into place for the first thirty or so feet into the tunnel.
“It was pretty muddy up here near the surface, so we installed this walkway. Well, the original team did. Once we get down into the mountain, the sediment is gone and it’s primarily bedrock.”
The two walked down the pathway until they reached the point where it ended. As predicted, the floor ahead was stone, chiseled from the mountain rock. Tommy pointed up to the ceiling at a collection of drawings. There were bizarre-looking animals and people. The legs were thin — like stick figure drawings — attached to plump figures. Some of the animals had horns.