in the night.
Then the great plane started rumbling
But then came the most amazing sight.
Two
And as the Marines saw the winged figures more closely, their hearts sank for they now understood that this hadn't been an exercise at all.
For one of the low-flying winged intruders carried a
The two winged figures swooped in low over the right-hand wing of the rolling
Then the
Three Black Hawk choppers followed for a short while, firing after it in vain, but they could never hope to keep up with the fleeing 747.
A couple of F-15 strike fighters would be dispatched 10 minutes later, but by the time they were in the air and on the right heading, the ghostly 747—defying their radar scans and transponder searches—was gone.
It was last seen heading south, disappearing somewhere over Cuba's nearest neighbour in that direction.
Jamaica.
An hour later, in another part of the world, a digital teleprinter printed out an intercepted radio transmission:
TRANS INTERCEPT:
SAT BT-1009/03.17.06-1399
A40-TEXT TRANSMISSION
FROM: USAF SECURE FREQUENCY, ASWAN MILITARY
AIRFIELD (EGYPT) TO: UNSPECIFIED DESTINATION, MARYLAND (USA)
VOICE 1 (USA): The President is becoming increasingly anxious, Colonel. And his mood was not lifted by a report that just came in from Gitmo: someone broke a terrorist out of Camp Delta, a Saudi named Zaeed who we've discovered has connections with the Capstone project.
VOICE 2 (EGYPT): It was West. He's bold, I'll give him that. He must have hit a snag and decided he needed Zaeed.
VOICE 1 (USA): Does he? Do we need this Zaeed?
VOICE 2 (EGYPT): No. We got all we needed from Mustapha Zaeed while he was under.
[LONG PAUSE]
VOICE 1 (USA): Colonel Judah, should we be nervous? The President has ordered that a draft 'Address to the Nation' be written, concerning the evacuation of the coastal cities, just in case you don't succeed.
VOICE 2 (EGYPT) : Tell him we will succeed. To date, everything has gone according to plan. West is containable at any time we choose, but it's also very useful to have him running around. And the Europeans have acted just as we anticipated. Tell the President to go ahead and write his speech, but he'll never have to use it. Judah, out.
VICTORIA STATION SOUTHERN KENYA 2003-2006
Throughout the team's time in Kenya, a large glass jar sat on top of the kitchen bench.
It was the 'Swear Jar'. Every time a member of the team was caught swearing or cursing in front of Lily, they had to put a dollar in it.
And since they were soldiers, it was nearly always full. The proceeds of the Swear Jar went toward toys or books or ballet clothes for Lily.
Naturally, since it was she who would ultimately benefit from their indiscretion, Lily loved catching team- members swearing. It became commonplace for any curse heard around the station to be followed by her voice chiming: 'Swear Jar!'
She was also given pocket money in return for doing chores around the farm.
It was West and Wizard's idea. They wanted her upbringing— already highly unusual—to appear, at least to her, as normal as possible. Doing chores with the other team-members—gathering wood with Big Ears; helping Pooh Bear clean his tools; and on a very momentous occasion, feeding Horus for West—made her feel like she was contributing; made her feel like she was part of a family. It also just made her a nice kid.
As she grew older, however, she grew increasingly curious, and she began to learn more about the team around her.
She learned, for example, that Pooh Bear was the second son of the most powerful sheik in the United Arab Emirates.
And that Wizard had once studied to be a Catholic priest but never went through with it.
She also discovered that Zoe had once been reassigned from the armed forces to study archaeology under Wizard at Trinity College, Dublin.
Apparently, Jack West had studied there with her—having also been sent by his home country to learn from the Canadian professor.
West's home country.
Lily was ever curious about Australia. It was indeed a curiosity, full of contradictions. Eighty per cent of its enormous landmass was made up of desert, yet it also possessed supermodern cities like Sydney, famous beaches like Bells and Bondi, and superb natural formations like Uluru and the Great Barrier Reef, which—she discovered— had been named as one of the Seven
Over time, Lily developed more sophisticated questions about Australia, including its place in international relations. Australia only had a population of 20 million people, so despite its physical size, globally speaking it was a small country.
And yet while its military was equally small, one particular aspect of it was world-renowned: Australia was the home of what was widely acknowledged to be the best special forces unit in the world, the SAS—West's former regiment.
Another thing piqued her interest: during the 20th century, Australia had been one of America's closest and most loyal allies. In World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Kuwait, Australia had always been the first country to stand beside the United States.
And yet not now.
This perplexed Lily, so she decided to ask West about it.
One rainy day, she went into his study, and found him working
in darkness and silence (with Horus perched on his chair-back) staring at his computer screen, chewing on a pen, deep in thought.
Lily strolled around his office, idly touching the books on the shelves. She saw his whiteboard with the words '4 missing days of my life—coronado?' still written on it. She also noticed that the sealed glass jar with the rusty-red dirt in it had been removed.
He didn't acknowledge her presence, kept staring at his computer monitor.
She came round behind him, saw the image on his screen. It was a digital photo of some giant hieroglyphics carved into a wall somewhere. Lily translated them quickly in her head:
ENTER THE EMBRACE OF ANUBIS WILLINGLY, AND YOU SHALL
LIVE BEYOND THE COMING OF RA.
ENTER AGAINST YOUR WILL, AND YOUR PEOPLE SHALL RULE FOR
