David Golemon - Legend

"Yes, sir."

"And I have the perfect person to accompany you, Jack," Alice interjected. "She's quite an expert on the Battle of the Little Bighorn. It was her thesis topic."

Jack looked at his watch and saw it was only moments before the geology class let out for the afternoon. He peeked into the classroom window. He anticipated the instructor's wrath when she learned he had already gone into her room to pack some field gear for her, to hurry the process along. Unknowing of this, Sarah McIntire was enthusiastically explaining something with the use of a virtual diagram that was holographically projected onto a small podium at the front of the room. As she spoke, the three-dimensional diagram of an underground chamber rotated in colors of green, blue, and red. Jack stepped into the room, and gestured for Sarah to continue when she frowned at his intrusion. The fifty-two students, mostly military personnel, turned to look at him. Not just a few eyes lingered on the man who was quickly becoming a legend at the Group.

"Now as I said before, don't be fooled just because a room in a tomb has no apparent exits. Ancient designers usually had emergency egress points that only they knew about. Most didn't favor being trapped before their job was done." Sarah pointed to a seemingly solid wall on the hologram that was outlined in blue. "The key to these escape routes are usually found in some sort of ornamentation, such as this found in KV-63."

Jack knew that KV-63 stood for Kings Valley 63, a tomb uncovered more than sixty years before in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, not far from where Howard Carter had made his discovery of King Tutankhamen fabulous tomb.

"As you see," the hologram magically enlarged to show an ornate wall symbol that had at one time been a torch holder — several were placed strategically around the chamber, "this was discovered purely by accident."

The laser close-up became enhanced even more and, as it did, the ornate holder in the shape of a jackal's head twisted. The facing popped free of the wall.

"Surprise, surprise," Sarah exclaimed, "The cover was concealing a fulcrum release switch, which operated a gravity feed doorway."

As the students watched in awe, the laser hologram depicted a lever inside the wall being pulled down, which in turn activated a sand pour that went into a large container buried in the wall. As it grew heavy with sand (five tons of it, Sarah explained), the hidden escape door inside the closed tomb started to rise. Once it was up, a green laser stairway was presented that led up and out of the tomb.

"So you see, never think that the ancients were dumb enough to box themselves into a corner; they always had an emergency way out of a tight jam. This technology was not only discovered in ancient Egypt but also in many other places around the world, in Peru, Central America, and even China."

A soft chime sounded and Sarah looked up. "Okay, that's it for today. I'll see you next week and, don't forget, I want some more examples of the amazing fulcrum release points found in other areas, not just tombs. I want the modern-day equivalent."

There were a few moans but most of the students left the class knowing more than they had coming in. Every member of the Event Group had to take advanced collegiate courses in order to stay in the Group, and most heartily volunteered to attend them, in any case.

Jack nodded to the students who smiled and said hello as they exited the classroom.

"There's a rumor you're hard on homework," he said.

Sarah gathered up her notes and turned off the hologram. "Not as hard as I would like. But they do have their regular duties here; can't usurp all their time."

"Well, Teach, I have a duty for you. Your bags are packed, let's go."

"Where we going, Major Collins?" she mocked him just a bit.

"To play cowboys and Indians, Lieutenant." Jack picked up her briefcase and then took her by the elbow.

"Huh?"

"We're going to Montana. Someone seems to think you know something about the Little Bighorn."

"Okay." Sarah stopped and looked at him with her eyes narrowed. "Wait a minute, just who packed my stuff?"

Jack winked and led her out of the room.

As Niles and Ryan sat in the green sedan on their ride back to the surface, the young lieutenant could see the director was deep in thought. The camouflaged dirt floor above them parted to allow the massive lift to complete its journey to the surface, where they were met by a lance corporal. He waved and then disappeared into a small maintenance cubicle that doubled as the security office. Ryan started the car as the large double doors parted and bright afternoon sunshine once again filled the interior. He backed the car out and onto the gravel drive at the back of the mansion. With a last wave at the marine guard, he put the car into drive and headed toward the front of the grounds. As he passed two men in light Windbreakers, Ryan had the queer feeling they were being watched. He lifted his hand and adjusted the rearview mirror in time to see the two men turn and raise their own hands, only theirs weren't full of car mirror. Ryan immediately saw the submachine guns. He pushed Director Compton down hard to the left by grabbing his suit coat, and leaned down across him. Just as they both hit the seat, bullets smashed through the rear window and into the interior of the vehicle. Ryan felt flying glass as he blindly slammed his foot down on the accelerator and shot off the road into the cemetery proper. Niles had the good sense to keep down.

"How many?" he asked without attempting to rise.

"Three," Ryan said loudly over the noise of more rounds striking the metal skin of the car. As he lifted his head to see where to steer toward, he saw a dark green Dodge pickup truck with two men in the front and one standing in the back. It slid sideways in an attempt to head them off. Ryan threw the wheel to the left and turned the car around, narrowly avoiding a large tree. He tried to head back the way they had come. He was starting to wonder where the Parks Service men were when he saw one of them sprawled on the grass not ten feet from his spinning front wheels. "Five!" he called, correcting his earlier statement to Niles.

More bullets pinged and thumped into the moving car, and the passenger-side window blew inward as a larger calibered weapon opened up from the back of the pursuing truck.

"Goddammit, this ain't going to last long if we don't get some help!" Ryan shouted as he slid down again in his seat. As he did so, he crushed the accelerator down to the floor, again narrowly missing some of the outer white crosses that marked the resting place of fallen soldiers and statesmen. Reaching under the seat, he brought up the only weapon they had, an old Colt.45 he had brought along simply because Jack's regulation was that no security man left on a field assignment unarmed. So he chose a weapon he had first qualified with in the navy, the venerable Colt.

"Hang on, sir!" he cried as he swung the car into a complete 180-degree turn. He used his right hand to steer and with the left he pointed the.45 automatic out of the window and started pulling the trigger as fast as he could at the oncoming truck. Several of the large rounds hit the truck's windshield and one or two found their mark, striking the man standing in the pickup's bed. The bullets struck their attacker so hard he went flying out of the back; Ryan was amazed to see him bouncing like a rubber ball until his body struck one of the white crosses and came to an abrupt stop with blood misting the air around the memorial, staining the white marker crimson.

"Hah! Got one," Ryan cheered in momentary triumph.

Niles sat up to see. "Look out!" he shouted as he saw the first two men. They were both standing in the road, shocked that the car was speeding right for them once again.