David Sakmyster - The Cydonia Objective

Alexander shifted. “Maybe they’ve already done it and they’re waiting by the exit like they were at the museum.”

“Maybe,” Caleb said. “But hopefully they didn’t ask the right questions and only got that hit for Xavier. But you’re right, they’ll be trying again soon. I just hope Nina’s preoccupied and her kids… I mean our kids… aren’t that focused.”

“We’ll have to take that risk,” Rashi said. “Now come on, I have a boat and a crew standing by to take you.”

“To where?” Alexander asked, giving one last look to the chamber, imagining himself in there, sitting at the controls, with godlike power dancing from his finger tips.

The Keeper smiled. “I have a feeling you’re going to need our help once more. We’re going to Alexandria.”

They landed at the Bamian airstrip, one and a half miles from the town, and an armored convoy waited for them. A contingent of NATO forces, Marines and CIA operatives, almost forty men, armed to the teeth, gathered in their vehicles and took off as soon as Temple herded Orlando and Phoebe into the third jeep and gave the order.

Looking pale as he slipped into a flak jacket two sizes too large for him, Orlando tried to sound jovial. “Just like Saigon, eh Phoebe?”

“Knock it off with the Die Hard quotes,” she snapped as Temple helped her into her vest. “You weren’t even in diapers, much less junior high.”

“Yeah, knock it off. We’re losing the element of surprise.” Temple pointed through the front windshield. The huge sandstone cliffs loomed ahead, pale blue in the pre-dawn shadows. Venus kissed the peak’s crown, then Phoebe watched the morning star disappear in the sand and dust from the lead jeep’s spitting tires. And then the first glint of the sun’s rays touched the upper edges of the mountains.

Phoebe craned her neck to see better. The western niche in the cliff was achingly empty. And far to its right, the other one, smaller but just as lonely. Already plans were being made by several archaeological preservation societies to rebuild the statues, but the region still wasn’t safe. Not yet.

She looked ahead grimly and found her heart racing as they came to a sliding stop in a cloud of dust. To her left and right, the other members of the convoy were leaping out of their vehicles, rushing toward a cave entrance.

“Let’s go,” Temple said, slipping on a helmet and fixing Phoebe’s, switching on the maglite at its center.

Orlando held up his bare hands. “Where’s my gun?”

“You’re just an observer,” Temple said, kicking open the door and leading them out. “If we get to the point where you need to shoot something, we’re already dead.”

Orlando coughed as he jumped out with Phoebe, and the dust and the already stinging heat knocked him back. He staggered, but then Phoebe’s hand caught his, and he was running along with her and six NATO troops—or Marines—he couldn’t tell. Weapons drawn, scanning the cliff side, aiming at the darkened caves. Back at the lonely village tenements a few huddled forms appeared, watching with mild interest.

Somewhere a rooster crowed, and up above, a pair of eagles circled hungrily.

Phoebe paused, steadied herself and stared up at the giant cliff wall, the imposing deeply carved-out niche. And she closed her eyes. “Wait, I just want to see if I can—”

“Not now,” Temple barked. “Satisfy your curiosity later.”

“But, I can see who really built them!”

“Later.” He dragged her forward. “The Hummingbird’s running out of time.”

Orlando followed Phoebe’s wistful glance to the empty niche and the rubble of the once-proud statue. Then he chased after them. “I sure hope they haven’t RV’d us coming.”

As they entered the first cave and took up positions, lining the initial cavern and the first part of the descending passage, Temple said: “Not likely, but we’re on our guard. Hopefully the fact that you only recently RV’d the boy and got us our approach plan, that changed the future sufficiently.”

“I thought this Eye dude was just a shield,” Orlando said.

Temple shook his head. “He’s what we’d call a well-rounded bastard. RV skills just like yours. He was searching for the Hummingbird, and we believe she knew it. She and her family were originally from Kabul, but they fled. Came here while she shielded their movements. Found a cave and tried to stay awake and hidden as long as she could. Probably had her parents try to keep her alert and focused. Coffee beans, whatever, but in the end she couldn’t last. Dozed off and the Eye zeroed in on her.”

He pulled out an iPhone and Phoebe recognized Orlando’s map on it. A few others in the team had the same thing. Temple raised a fist, pointing ahead, and the lead team of four moved off silently, approaching the first of many mined-passageways Orlando had seen.

“Here we go,” Temple whispered, and pushed them on ahead after the others had all descended into the depths of the ancient mountainside.

“We’ll pause at two-minute intervals,” he said. “And give you two a chance to look ahead and see if anything’s changed.”

“On it already,” Phoebe responded, touching her forehead under the helmet. “Multi-tasking.”

“That’s my girl.”

Orlando glared at him.

“Easy,” Phoebe whispered, reaching back to grasp his fingers.

He smiled. “Sorry. Without your big brother around, I have to protect you.”

“Oh? And what about you? Last I recall, you were the one getting your ass kicked by eels and needed me to save you.”

“Fight about who loves who more later,” Temple hissed as they rounded a corner. He raised the phone, spoke something into his microphone, and two more soldiers rounded the right-most corner and doubled back, standing guard.

“Through obstacle three,” came a voice over Temple’s headset. He ordered the team ahead, pushing them on. And then they were moving faster through a section relatively free of mines and traps. Orlando let go of Phoebe’s hand to adjust the light on his visor, and he ducked in several places as the cavern ceiling dipped. Seeing it in this viewpoint, from a higher angle than when he remote-viewed the village boy, left him disoriented.

A few more twisting turns, a short, steep descent, then a sharp turn, and suddenly they all stopped as the lead members went to work disarming another trap.

Temple turned around. “Okay, you two are up. Try RVing–” His eyes went wide. “Where’s Phoebe?”

Orlando spun, reaching out into the shadows. His light probed the walls, the corners. He darted back and turned the corner.

But she was gone.

As part ofher multi-tasking, Phoebe was viewing the path ahead, and specifically trying to hone in on the Hummingbird. Hoping maybe the girl was still asleep, without her shield, but it wasn’t working.

Nothing but a wall of blue greeted her when she thought about the child. A repelling force like a shockwave, more powerful than she’d ever felt before, like she’d been slapped away from snooping where she didn’t belong. She groaned, slipped behind the last tier of squad members who kept moving, following their PDAs.

Hugging a wall and catching her breath, Phoebe finally shook her head and tried to follow the dark shadows and the flickering beams of light up ahead. But it seemed they’d sped up, the corridor lengthened, and no matter how fast she tried to move, she couldn’t close the distance. They rounded a corner and she was alone.

Panicked now, she moved faster, scuttling after them, holding out her hands, brushing the rough walls with her fingertips. Reaching a dead end, she turned her head left and then right, shining the feeble beam in each direction, stabbing into the endless gloom of both passageways.