“This pyramid,” he said, “holds more secrets than we could ever imagine.”
Dakarai paused at the door of the Robber’s Entrance, looking around as if for guards. There were none. Satisfied, he poked his head out and checked to see if the coast was clear. “Looking good,” he said. “Follow me and do not worry, I have no real clue what you were all talking about. Illuminati. Ishtari. Ley lines. It is all gibberish to me.”
Bodie had to smile. “Us too, mate, if I’m being honest. We’re only at the beginning of all this.”
Outside, the apex of the pyramid loomed high above them, lost in darkness. Bodie picked his way down the stone steps, coming eventually to the sand-covered ground.
“That wasn’t so bad,” he said. “What’s next?”
“Algeria.” Lucie kept her voice low so that Dakarai wouldn’t hear. “It’s the closest.”
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
Heidi stood at the massive open entrance to a vast hangar, staring inside. The floor was littered with wreckage: cars, a truck and helicopters. The mechanical debris left behind after some unknown entity abducted Guy Bodie and his team. Pang was still hoping they’d turn up dead, thus ending this mission and giving him something new to sink his teeth into. Heidi was struggling to hide her worry.
Several bodies had been taken to a nearby morgue, and were even now being forensically examined for information.
Heidi and Pang were at a loose end. The local police weren’t hindering their investigation, but neither were they helping it. If the CIA had a way of swinging some great bat that would kickstart some influential official to support them, then they were dragging their heels in stepping up to the plate.
“Thoughts?” Heidi said.
“We need to be on the inside,” Pang growled.
“Well, just take a step forward through the door.”
“Not even remotely funny. Being on the inside of the investigation is our only way forward.”
Unfortunately, Heidi agreed with him. She spent some time arguing with a sullen investigator, learning nothing of importance. The cops were still waiting for any dashcam footage, for identifications, for data on the vehicles and a paper trail.
Heidi returned to Pang in exasperation. “No good.”
“There are alternate methods.”
“I need to talk to my family.”
Pang made a face. “There are more important things here, right in front of you.”
Heidi considered ignoring him but then, as her anger rose, decided to offer up some hard-earned advice. “Family is all we’ve got, Pang. You’ll learn that as you get older. It doesn’t matter if you’re related, it’s the knowledge that you belong together and will care for each other. Age, Pang, that changes you. Do you want to grow old alone? To have nobody to talk to you, nobody that cares if you live or die? An empty funeral? A eulogy and obituary written by someone who never even knew you?”
“I have no issue with that. I’ll be dead.”
Heidi gritted her teeth. “You’re not listening, and your indifference to all life but the job is really starting to piss me off. Now, go take notes or something.”
Heidi walked away, standing under the intense glare of the midday sun, and pulled her phone from her pocket. Her finger hovered over her daughter’s number for more than a minute, desperate to call but afraid of rejection. Sweat formed across her brow. Was there any good time to call?
In the end, her worries were moot. Across the vast stretch of tarmac separating this hangar building from a private airport, a man approached, his long, determined gait catching her attention. He was tall, dressed in an ill-fitting suit, and was trying to hide some serious nerves.
Heidi nodded as he walked up to her and nodded. “Agent,” he said. “Good to meet you.”
Heidi raised an eyebrow. “Should I know who you are?”
The man produced an ID from his inside pocket. “Butcher,” he said. “Jim Butcher. Didn’t Agent Pang tell you I was coming?”
“Agent Pang is an asshole,” she said. “As you will soon find out. Now...” She took a deep breath. “What can I do for you, Agent Butcher?”
“I’m a tech,” he said. “Mostly. But a field agent too.”
He spoke the last sentence as if trying to convince himself, not her. Heidi nodded her understanding and was about to quiz him some more when Pang turned up.
“You the new guy?”
Heidi turned on him. “You forget to tell me?”
“Get your head in the game, Moneymaker. Then I’ll share information with you. Until that time, you’re an obstacle.”
Heidi bunched her fists and bit down on her bottom lip, determined not to react angrily in front of the new guy. If anything, Pang was the obstacle because he was so infuriatingly single-minded, determined to see nothing beyond the conditioning he’d been given. But this wasn’t the time. She had no doubt that as soon as Butcher started working with Pang, he’d figure the guy out.
Unless...
“Hey,” she said. “Who sent you?”
“The top brass,” Butcher said. “They figured you guys didn’t have the best cyber skills. No offence.”
Heidi felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. “So the same guys that sent Pang, sent you?”
Butcher nodded. “Essentially, yeah.”
Heidi showed no outer emotion, but gave him a smile. “Then I guess you should get to work, Agent Butcher.” A feeling of dread settled over her. I hope they’re not cut from the same cloth. But she had always prided herself on giving everyone a chance or two. Butcher would be no different.
“Getting blocked by the locals?” he asked Pang.
“Proper bullshit,” Pang said. “Problem is, they grabbed everything and threw it all inside this hangar. Couldn’t you get here any faster?”
“Came on a jet, sir. You don’t get from A to B much faster.”
Heidi blinked, feeling a
