Clive Cussler - Serpent

"Warp six it is," he said, putting the Hummer into gear. The vehicle lurched forward. "But if you don't mind, first we'll take a detour through the twelfth century."

Tucson, Arizona

17 THE RUGGED PEAK OF MOUNT LENNON rising from the Santa Catalina range was visible out Austin's window as the jetliner made its approach to Tucson International Airport. The landing was smooth, and minutes later he and Zavala shouldered their duffel bags, stepped from the terminal into the hard Arizona sunlight, and looked for their ride. A dusty silver Ford F150 pickup tooted its horn and pulled up to the curb. Austin, who was nearer the truck, opened the passenger door. And blinked. Behind the wheel was the last person he expected to see. Nina Kirov.

Nina had exchanged the dressier outfit of the NUMA meeting for tan cargo shorts and a pale blue shirt. "Can I give you boys a lift?" she said in a deep Southern drawl. "I never paid you back for that exciting sea scooter ride."

Austin laughed, partly to hide his amazement. "I could say we've got to stop meeting like this, but I wouldn't mean it."

Zavala's mouth dropped open when he saw who Austin was talking to.

"Hi, Joe," Nina said. "If you and Kurt throw your bags in the back, we can be on our way."

As the two men tossed their duffels behind the cab Zavala whispered with unveiled admiration, "How'd you arrange this one?"

Austin grunted noncommittally and gave Zavala a knowing wink. They got in the cab, and the truck joined the traffic leaving the airport. As they turned onto Tucson Boulevard heading north Nina said, "I really should explain things. I really do have a new assignment. I'll be working with you and your team on this project."

"I'm pleasantly surprised. I'm just curious why you didn't mention your plans when I saw you in Washington this morning." .

Admiral Sandecker asked me not to say anything."

Zavala chuckled. "Welcome to the weird and wacky world of NUMA."

Nina went on. "He said you had been out of the picture for a while, and he wanted to introduce you to what was going on one brushstroke at a time. Also, he wanted you focused for the meeting and was afraid you might be, uh, distracted if you knew I was going to be working with you."

Austin shook his head. Sandecker could always be expected to do the unexpected. "He's right, I would have been totally distracted."

She smiled. "He needed an archaeologist to give the project an authentic ring. He asked me if I would help. I said yes. It was the least I could do."Her voice hardened. "I want to catch these people, whoever they are."

"I can understand your feelings, Nina, but we don't know what we're dealing with: This could be dangerous."

"I considered that possibility very carefully and at great length. The admiral gave me every chance to pull out."

"Please don't take this the wrong way, but did it ever occur to you that the admiral asked you to be part of this for reasons other than your technical expertise?"

Nina glanced at him with serious gray eyes. "He made it very clear from the outset."

"Then you know you're being used as bait."

She nodded. "It's the main reason I'm here, to try to draw the people who killed Dr. Knox, Sandy, and the others. I want them brought to justice whatever the cost. Besides, there's no certainty that they're even interested in me anymore. I've been back in Cambridge for weeks, and the most dangerous thing I've encountered is the traffic around Harvard Square. Nobody in a black suit has jumped out of a closet. I haven't had any bodyguards to protect me, and I'm still alive."

Austin decided not to tell Nina that the bodyguards he'd arranged to keep an eye on her were around; she just hadn't seen them. There was no mistaking the stubborn jut to Nina's chin. She was determined to see this thing through.

"My stern paternal tone may suggest otherwise, but I'm very glad to see you again."

The faint scowl Nina had assumed during Austin's lecture was replaced by a smile.

Before long they turned onto the Pioneer Parkway going toward Oracle Junction. The tract housing started to give way to desert and saguaro cactus. Zavala, who'd been listening patiently, knew Austin's mind was working at a couple of levels, his professional concerns and his personal ones. With his Latin heritage, Joe was a romantic at heart, but he could see that Sandecker was right about possible distractions. He took the pause as an opportunity to kick off the discussion in a more practical direction.

"Now that we've got that matter straightened out, maybe we could discuss the sting."

"Thanks for the reminder," Austin agreed. "Ruth filled us in, but we should go over the details in case he missed something."

"I'll tell you what I know," Nina said. "When we first started talking it quickly became apparent that the obstacles to pulling together an elaborate plan in a short time were substantial."

"Don't know why," Austin said. All you needed was a promising archaeological site, a dummy expedition that would look credible, people you could count on to dig, an amazing artifact to discover, and a way to get word of the find out to friends and enemies alike."

"That about sums it up. It was like putting together an off-Broadway production," Nina said.. "Only we .were expecting to do it without a stage, actors, or script. The admiral had given Commander Gunn the assignment of organizing the sideshow. He suggested we piggyback on an expedition that was already in place. But this would present its own difficulties."

Austin nodded. "You would have to waltz into a legitimate dig, say 'We're taking over, and oh, by the way, we. want to bury a fake artifact because we want to attract a bunch of armed assassins.' Yes, that could be a problem.

"A big problem. So the commander came up with a proposal that was really a stroke of genius."

"It often is with Rudi," Austin said.

"His idea was to build on a legend. The Arizona Romans."

Zavala chuckled. "Sounds like the name of a soccer team."

"It could be, but it isn't. Back in 1924, near an old adobe kiln at the Nine Mile Hole stagecoach stop, some people unearthed what looked like a religious cross made of lead and weighing sixty-two pounds. They thought it might have been left by Jesuit missionaries or Spanish conquistadors. The cross was encrusted in caliche, a hard crust of calcium carbonate. When they cleaned off the concretion they found true crosses, fastened together with lead rivets. And there was writing on the metal."

"Kilroy was here," Zavala offered.

"Kilroy was writing in Latin. The University of Arizona translated the writing, and it told an incredible story. How in A.D. 775, seven hundred men and women led by Theodorus the Renowned sailed from Rome and were blown across the ocean by storms. They made landfall, abandoned their ships, and continued north on foot until they reached a warm desert. They built a city called Terra Calalus that prospered until the Indians, who had been made slaves, revolted and killed Theodorus. The city was rebuilt, but the Indians revolted again. The Romans' elder, a man named Jacobus, ordered the story inscribed on the cross."

"The Romans had ships big and seaworthy enough to make the trip," Austin said, "but it sounds more like something out of an old pulp magazine. Conan the Barbarian."

"Or Amalric the Mangod of Thoorana," Zavala added.

"Okay, you two," Nina said with mock irritation. "This is serious stuff. As your reaction so eloquently testifies, the story is fair game for a skeptic, which is what happened back then. But they changed their minds when a Roman head engraved in metal was found near the site of the cross, also covered with caliche. An archaeologist at the university organized a dig. They found more crosses, nine ancient swords, and a labarum an imperial Roman standard. Some people became believers. Others said the objects were left by Mormons."