David Sakmyster - The Pharos Objective

… stop at the first step leading up to the Pharos. All around him are great blocks, ropes, pulleys and workbenches. Discarded tools of the craftsmen. He pauses on the next step while at his back the convoy comes to a halt, and all the slaves look down at their feet.

A man appears above. In flowing white robes he glides to the top of the stairs. “Welcome. You have what was promised?”

The man in black nods. “I do. It is now in your safekeeping, Sostratus.”

“This collection will be but the first of many.”

“It is the oldest, the most important.”

“Then it shall be the safest.”

The man in black surveys the massive, half-finished structure masterfully etched upon the canvass of the heavens. A light mist drifts over the rocks from the sea and cools his face.

“The ancient resting place of Thoth has been emptied. Guard his treasures well.”

Another gulp of air and Caleb was back.

“Wow,” Lydia said with a look of dismay. “No matter how many times I witness that, I still can’t get used to it.”

“Me neither,” he said, wheezing.

“I believe you.” She lifted her head, distracted by something across the plaza. “Listen, I’ll go grab you an Orangina and ice. You need some fluids.”

“Okay.” He watched her go, then reached into the fountain, cupped some water and splashed it on his cheeks and forehead, feeling momentarily blasphemous for disturbing the sacred waters, before slipping on his sunglasses again

A minute passed, then another. Finally, he looked up toward the drink stand. A trio of pigeons swirled over its roof and flew up and away. The stand was empty. Caleb stood and glanced around, feeling a sudden bout of anxiety. But there she was, a short distance away, talking to a man in a gray suit with a beret tilted on his head, over bushy gray eyebrows. Then the recollection struck like a hammer blow and Caleb remembered him.

The hospital! Standing over my bed.

“The Pharos protects itself…”

Before he thought twice about it, Caleb was sprinting. The pigeons scattered at his approach. He bumped into a pair of Asian tourists, and kept running. Lydia turned as he closed in. The man lowered his head and swiftly walked away.

“Honey?” she called as she stepped toward him in a way which seemed to cut him off from following or even getting a better look at the stranger. She caught him around the chest. “Are you okay?”

“That man! Who is he?”

Lydia looked around. “What, that old guy I was just talking to? Don’t know. He asked me how much a gondola to the museum costs, and-”

“No!” Caleb shook his head, pointing after the departing figure, now stepping into a boat. “You knew him. You were talking. What did he want?”

“I told you.” She gripped Caleb’s shoulders, that same fierce grip as before. “Caleb, you’re acting weird. Let’s get back to the hotel.”

“No!”

Lydia took a step back. “Hey, I’m sorry I brought up the lighthouse. I didn’t realize it would make you this crazy.”

He glared at her. “I’m not crazy. I know that man. I’ve seen him before.”

“And that’s not crazy?”

“No! In Alexandria. He… he visited me in the hospital. Gloating that we had failed.”

Lydia looked over her shoulder at the gondola oaring away, joining three others cutting into the canals. “You can’t be serious. You think someone’s following you after all these years?”

He glared at her over the ridge of his sunglasses. “Lydia. Tell me now. Tell me if there’s something else going on here. Believe me, I’ll find out.”

She laughed and gave him a pinch. “Threatening me with your powers? Are you saying I’ll never be able to have an affair, because you’ll be remote viewing my every move?” She pushed back her hair, still grinning. “Guess I should have covered that in our wedding vows. Come on, my love. There’s nothing to hide.”

She offered the bottle of Orangina and led him out of the plaza. Her fingers caressed his, but he did not return the gesture. He was thinking of Phoebe’s warning, years ago.

A girl with green eyes…

But by the time they arrived back at the hotel, he had cast the incident in a different light. He’d been hallucinating, imagining the worst. He’d been miserable all his life, and now that he had found a shred of happiness, his subconscious had to dredge up reasons for the dream to fail, to engineer his fall. He wouldn’t let it succeed.

He had a renewed purpose. As it happened, that purpose now brought him back on the same path as his mother’s. But he planned not to tell her. Not yet.

This time, the quest is mine, and I have a new partner.

Victor Kowalski sat on a bench beside the fountain and pressed send on his cell phone. Careful not to look back at the departing newlyweds, he held the phone to his ear, fixed his sunglasses and pretended to stare up at the church’s extravagant architecture. He was dressed in a light blue blazer and gray sweatpants, and wore a Yankees cap. Two cameras hung around his neck, and he was chewing three sticks of strawberry gum. Typical tourist.

The ringing stopped and he heard Waxman’s voice. “Yes?”

“She’s made contact.”

“In person?”

“Yes.”

“Then things are getting serious. They must be close.”

“I was positioned near enough to overhear.” Kowalski snapped his gum. “She told our old friend it wouldn’t be long.”

“So they’re headed there next?”

“Yes, although the kid doesn’t know it yet. They’ll be in Alexandria by next week.”

“Good work. Tail Mr. Gregory, but don’t get spotted. I prefer to have them think we’ve given up.”

“So, no action against him until…?”

“Until Caleb gets us in.”

Victor flipped the phone closed. He stood and made his way to the pier, where he hailed a gondola.

He might as well follow in style.

Alexandria-June

“Our meeting in Venice was stupid. Too dangerous,” Lydia said when the man emerged from the shadows in the nightclub alley. Caleb was back at the hotel, a block away, finally resting after nearly two sleepless days of research and work on the codes. They had settled in at Alexandria a month ago, and had started to work immediately.

“I hadn’t expected him to be so paranoid,” Nolan Gregory said.

“He has a right to be,” said Lydia, “after your dramatic appearance in the hospital. Was that necessary?”

“We will see, in time, what was necessary.”

“That’s not something he’ll ever forget.”

“All I know is that we need to keep Caleb on the path. Continue to steer his thoughts and dreams back to the Pharos. Otherwise-”

“Yes, yes I know. Otherwise, we’ll never succeed,” Lydia said impatiently. Then, quietly, with urgency, she added, “But he’s making progress. He’s seen them-the founders! Sostratus and Demetrius. And much more.”

“Good, good. You must now make him see the rest.”

“Why not tell him to the truth about who he is?”

“No. When he finds that out for himself, he’ll understand, and then he’ll lead us to the Key. Any other way could invite a disaster.” Gregory pulled his face back into the shadows. “And another millennium of darkness.”

A cab’s horn blared into the street, and a trio of laughing young women went running out of the club to their ride.

She sighed. “I fear I may have to do something drastic.”

“You have my confidence. I trust you will know the time.”

Turning, Lydia walked slowly east toward the hotel. Cars rumbled past, and the warm air played with her blouse and tickled her neck. Out in the harbor a few lights twinkled. Dim flickering beams cut through the night over Qaitbey’s fortress.