come to rest, forever, in the hands of one nation.”
A COUPLE of hours later, the main cabin of the plane was dark and silent.
The only person still at work in it was Jack, poring over a map of Africa by the light of a desk lamp, with Horus perched on his chair back. All the others had gone aft to get some sleep before the big day ahead—except for Lily; she lay fast asleep on the couch beside Jack.
Horus squawked.
Jack looked up to see Iolanthe standing in the doorway to the main cabin, dressed in a loose tracksuit, her hair tousled from sleep.
“Command is lonely,” she said.
“Sometimes.”
“I was told you inspire loyalty in those who follow you.” Iolanthe sat down.
“All I do is let my people think for themselves. Seems to work.”
Iolanthe watched him for a moment, eyeing him closely in the darkness, as if assessing this strange being named Jack West Jr.
“Few people can think for themselves,” she said.
“All people can think for themselves,” Jack said quickly.
“No. Not true. Not all of them can,” she said softly, looking away.
Jack said, “You mentioned before that you might know the whereabouts of the other Pillars…”
Iolanthe was roused from her reverie and she smiled at him, raising an eyebrow. “I might.”
“It’s just that we have this Saudi Pillar, marked with a single dash, and your one, marked with four dashes, indicating that they’re the First and Fourth Pillars. We’ll be needing the second one soon, within the week.”
“If we survive today.”
“Let’s be optimistic and assume we will,” West said. “Where is it?”
Iolanthe stood, touching her upper lip with her tongue. “According to my sources, the second Pillar is to be found in the jungles of central Africa, zealously and jealously guarded by the same tribe that has held it for over three thousand years, the Neetha.”
“I’ve researched the Neetha. Cannibals. Nasty.”
“Captain,nasty does not even begin to describe the Neetha. Nor does cannibal.Carnivore would be better. Ordinary cannibals kill you before they eat you. The Neetha do not give you that dignity.
“It’s believed that a thousand Rwandan refugees fleeing the genocide in 1998 got lost in the jungle and stumbled upon the grounds of the Neetha. Not a single one of them emerged. To enter the Neetha’s territory is to enter a spider’s web.”
“Another question,” Jack said. “What do you know about the last Ramesean Stone, the Basin of Rameses II? Wizard doesn’t know where it is.”
“Nobody knows where it is,” Iolanthe said simply. “The Basin long ago disappeared from history.”
“Do you know what it does?”
“No. Not a clue.” Iolanthe turned to go.
“I don’t trust you, you know,” Jack said after her.
“Nor should you,” she said, not turning around. “Nor should you.”
She left the room. Jack continued with his reading.
Neither he nor Iolanthe had noticed that Lily had awoken during their conversation.
And heard every word.
An hour later, the cabin lights throughout the plane came on, and a tone beeped over the intercom.
“Rise and shine, people!”Sky Monster’s voice called cheerfully.“Jack, I’ve spotted a stretch of highway about forty klicks west of Abu Simbel. Nothing there but desert. Can’t land on the northern highway: there are several convoys of tourist coaches coming down it—they set out early each day from Aswan to get to Abu Simbel just after dawn. The western road should be long enough to act as a runway and far enough out to allow us to get in and out without anyone noticing.”
“Thanks, Monster,” Jack said, standing. “Take us in.”
ABU SIMBEL
SOUTHERN EGYPT
DECEMBER 10, 2007, 0400 HOURS
IN THE PREDAWN light, the enormous statues of Rameses the Great loomed like giants frozen forever in stone.
They towered above West’s team and their vehicles, dwarfing them.
Whereas Zoe had used silent nonlethal force to subdue the guards at Stonehenge, here Jack had not been so subtle. The two Egyptian Department of Antiquities guards who had been on patrol at the popular tourist site had quickly surrendered when they found themselves staring down the barrels of four submachine guns. Now they lay bound and gagged in their guardhouse.
Jack stood before the four statues of Rameses, while Wizard stood a hundred yards away in front of the smaller temple of Nefertari. The whole team was here except for Sky Monster and Stretch—they’d remained on The
