made a discovery of his own. As he’d squatted to catch his breath, his flashlight tilted towards the cave’s outer wall and highlighted a most unusual anomaly, easy to miss in the enveloping blackness. Amid the cave’s natural rock formations, anything man had touched stood out glaringly. And what he saw was nothing natural.
Resuming a standing position, he directed the light at the spot where the rock face had been smoothed flat around a modest arched opening burrowed into the rock maybe a metre up from the ground. It reminded him of a mosque’s
He considered calling out to the others. But he needed to conserve his energy. A profound lethargy was settling into his limbs and his fever was spiking. Perspiration was welling out from his pores.
Compared to what the others had found, this was something he could inspect alone.
Mindful of his footing on the uneven ground, Hazo made his way to the wall in stops and starts. He squared his body with the niche and directed his light inside it. It ran much deeper than he’d thought, extending maybe two metres into the rock like a small tunnel. The interior surfaces were covered in hash marks. Hewn with a chisel, he guessed. A deep lip the width of his hand had been carved around the rim of the opening. Probably meant to keep in place a seal - a
Perhaps the seal had never been set in place. Or more likely: the seal had been
That got Hazo thinking about what might have been stored inside the niche.
The implied width of a seal that would seat into the rim also downplayed the idea that the niche was intended for repeat usage. That meant the contents were intended to be locked away or protected long term, maybe indefinitely. Anything placed deep inside the niche would require someone to squirm on his belly to reach it. Therefore, the design was best suited for something long and narrow that could be slid inside.
As he thought about the cave’s known mythology, the realization hit him like a wrecking ball.
‘A body,’ he whispered.
The niche’s dimensions could accommodate perfectly a prostrate corpse, he was certain of it. With some help, he himself could slide into it and still have room to spare.
Scrutinizing the base of the niche under the light, he noticed stains and dried material on the porous rock, which also supported the hypothesis. It appeared as if decomposed flesh had left discolorations in the rock.
He concluded that this niche had been designed to be a tomb - a most legendary tomb, despite its modest appearance.
Lilith’s tomb.
70
On final approach to the camp, the Blackhawk glided low and came to a hover over the roadway precisely where Jason’s unit had initiated its ambush only nine hours earlier. To Jason it seemed as if he’d fired that first kill shot a lifetime ago in another dimension where certain truths and rational motives still existed - where his true enemy was an outsider.
‘Jesus,’ Candyman said as he surveyed the ravaged camp. ‘What a mess.’ On the southern perimeter, five Humvees had been rendered smouldering heaps of twisted metal. The two elongated tents at the camp’s centre had fared no better - each burned bare to the ribs. Laid neatly beside the roadway, he counted fifteen body bags ready for airlift.
‘I’m still not seeing any backup down there,’ Meat said, disgusted by the inability of the unwieldy military machine to mobilize on-the-fly. ‘What does it take to get these guys motivated?’
‘They’ll be here,’ Candyman said decisively. ‘I’d give it another forty-five minutes or so. When they radioed the camp, Crawford told them that everything was fine … that the camp was secure. So they were heading back to Camp Eagle’s Nest. I had to convince them to turn around again.’
‘Fucking Crawford,’ Meat seethed. Quickly scanning the area, he couldn’t locate the colonel. ‘I’m gonna snap that fucker’s neck when I find him.’
Candyman set the Blackhawk down on the roadway and said, ‘Good luck, fellas. I’ve got orders to keep moving.’
‘Thanks for everything, Candyman,’ Jason said.
Before the Blackhawk had even lifted in the air, Jason was halfway up the slope with Meat scrambling to keep up with him.
The marines posted outside the cave weren’t sure how to respond to Jason’s urgency. They immediately began arguing in hushed tones about how to handle the situation. When Jason reached the top of the slope, they took position in front of the cave to block his entry and gripped their M-16s threateningly. But he could see defeat in their eyes, the telltale sign of demoralization.
Jason stopped and raised his hand to Meat’s chest to stop him from bowling through them.
‘We don’t have time for this shit,’ Meat grumbled.
‘Crawford’s in there?’ Jason asked.
‘Yeah,’ the soldier in the middle said, trying to decipher his motive.
‘How about my interpreter?’
The soldier nodded. ‘Hazo’s in there too.’
‘All right. Here’s the situation,’ Jason said in a calm voice, making eye contact with each of them in turn. ‘Al- Zahrani’s dead.’ He watched them exchange glances. ‘And the biological contagion that killed him is contained in this cave.’
The news hit them like a slap in the face.
‘Contagion?’ the soldier said. He shifted his feet and looked warily over his shoulder into the cave.
‘That’s right.’
‘Didn’t I tell you!’ the one on the right said. ‘Shit!’
‘Calm down,’ Jason said, holding his hands out. ‘You’ll be fine. From what we know, the disease is only lethal to the local population.’
They all looked at him with puzzled expressions.
‘It’s … complicated,’ Jason said. ‘But our intelligence operatives in the States have apprehended a suspect who has been communicating with Crawford ever since your unit arrived here. Seems we stumbled upon some kind of weapons stash … in there.’ He pointed to the cave. ‘And Crawford is doing everything he can to salvage it. We suspect he’s going to somehow release a highly lethal biochemical weapon. If he succeeds … if we
‘And if we don’t?’ the soldier in the middle asked.
‘That’s not an option,’ Jason replied gravely.
‘I mean why do I care if Iraqis die? Better them than us …’
Jason had to press his hand harder against Meat’s chest to keep him from pouncing on the guy. At this juncture, the last thing he needed was a squabble with Crawford’s unit. These marines had been through plenty, and straining their allegiances could prove unwise. He pointed to the body bags heaped along the road and made one last attempt at diplomacy. ‘You can thank Crawford for what happened here today. This could’ve been avoided. All it would have taken is one call. Crawford has gone rogue and you know it.’
‘We’re wasting time,’ Meat said, clenching his fists.
‘And if you’re wrong?’ the soldier asked.
‘I’m not. And the proof is inside this mountain. Come with us and see for yourself.’
The marines exchanged glances.
The sensible marine on the right was the first to break. ‘He’s right. What Crawford’s been doing … it’s crazy. Don’t make no sense. I mean he had us clearing rocks away ‘fore we could even help our own guys. Who
Jason took his hand off Meat’s chest and the ringleader took a step back. ‘What’s it gonna be?’
71
LAS VEGAS
While Agent Flaherty was busy making phone calls to arrange for Stokes to be taken safely into custody,
