with search and surveys stretched out of all proportion.
They ignored lunch, stopping only at Lily's command as she studied the recordings and made notations.
'A good reading?' Pitt asked, taking a breather, sitting on the back of the tailgate.
'We're on the edge of something that looks interesting,' answered Lily, engrossed in the recordings. 'Maybe nothing, though. I'll know better after we cover the next two lanes.'
Trinity graciously passed around bottles of Mexican Bohemia beer from an ice chest in the Jeep. It was during these short breaks that Pitt noticed a growing number of cars parked at the bottom of Gongord Hill.
people were fanning out over the slope with metal detectors.
Sam noticed too. 'A lot of good my 'No Trespassing' signs did,' he grumbled. 'You'd think they was advertising free
'Where are they coming from?' asked Lily. 'How did they find out about the project so soon?'
Trinity peered over the rims of his sunglasses. 'Mostly local folks.
Somebody must have blabbed. By this time tomorrow they'll be rolling in from every state in the Union.'
The telephone in the Jeep buzzed, and Trinity answered. Then he passed the receiver out the window to Pitt.
'for you. Admiral Sandecker.'
Pi' took the call. 'Yes, Admiral.'
'We've been backstabbed; we're no longer on the excavation,' Sandecker informed him. 'The President's advisers have talked him into turningng the operation over to the Pentagon.
'It was to be expected, but I'd have preferred the Park Service. They're better equipped for an archaeological dig.'
'The White House wants to break into the storage chamber and remove the scrolls for study as quickly as possible. They fear a nasty confrontation with countries that might demand to share in the discovery.'
Pitt struck his fist against the roof of the Jeep. 'Damnit! They can't go down there and throw everything into trucks as though it was secondhand merchandise. The scrolls could crumble to dust if not handled properly.'
'The President has accepted responsibility for the gamble.'
'The past has no priority over politics, is that it?'
Not the only problem,' said Sandecker tersely. 'Some aide inside the White House leaked everything to a foreign wire service. Word is spreading like the plague.'
'Crowds are already converging on the site.'
'They're not wasting any time.'
'How does the government get around the fact the property belongs to Sam?'
'Let's just say Sam is going to get an offer he can't refuse,' Sandecker replied angrily. 'The President and his cronies have a grand scheme to make a political bonanza out of the information contained in the Library scrolls.'
'My father among them?' asked Pitt.
'I'm afraid so.'
'Who exactly is taking over?'
'A company of Army engineers from Fort Hood. They and their equipment are being transported by truck. A security force should be dropping in on you any time by helicopter to seal off the perimeters.'
Pitt thought a moment, then: 'Could you use your clout to arrange for us to hang around?'
'Give me a cover story.'
'Except for Hiram Yaeger, Lily and I know more about the search than anyone who will be excavating. Claim we're vital to the project as consultants. Use Lily's academic credentials as a backup. Say we're conducting an archaeological survey for surface artifacts. Say anything, Admiral, but con the White House into allowing us to remain on the site.'
'I'll see what I can do,' Sandecker said, warming to the idea, although he didn't have the vaguest idea of what Pitt was shooting for. 'Harold Wismer should be the only barrier. If the Senator throws his support our way I think we can handle it.'
'Let me know if my dad drags his feet. I'll get on him.'
'I'll be in touch.'
Pitt handed the receiver back to Trinity and turned to Lily. 'We're off the case,' he informed them. 'The Army is taking over the excavation.
They're going to haul the artifacts away as fast as they can throw them in the back of a truck.'
Lily's eyes widened in shock. 'The scrolls will be destroyed,' she gasped. 'After sixteen hundred years in an underground vault the parchment and papyrus manuscripts must be treated delicately. They could disintegrate from a sudden temperature change or the slightest touch.'
'You heard me give the Admiral the same appraisal,' Pitt said helplessly.
Trinity looked washed out. 'Waal,' he drawled, shall we call it a day?'
Pitt looked at the stakes that marked the outer limit of the search grid. 'Not yet,' he said slowly, deliberately. 'Let's finish the job.
The show is never over till it's over.'
