When leaving the parking lot the mini-bus passed an ornamental group of palm trees guarding the entrance to The Desert Palm Resort’s parking lot. Standing in the shadow of these magnificent date palms was the form of...of...
...a small man in a golden suit adorned with an ethereal golden medallion and golden chain -watching their every move.
* * * ~~~ * * *
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
RETURN TO CAIRO
Immediately upon reaching his room at the luxurious Cairo Flairmount Lou called his Grandpa or ‘Pa’ as all the grandchildren called him. It was two pm in Cairo and eight am in Washington. The phone rang once, twice then an answer.
“Hello you have reached SCAR Headquarter how may I direct your call?”
“Hello Mom...this is Lou may I speak to Pa please?”
“Oh, hello Lou...speak to your Mother for a minute...how are you doing?”
“Mom, I am fine...but I must talk with Pa ...now! Please.”
“Okay,” Mesilla sarcastically answered, “Lou good to hear from you too. But I need to tell you something.”
“Later Mom, later...I must talk with Pa now!”
“I’ll get him he can tell you himself.”
“Hey Lou, am I really talking to you?’ Robert Scarburg, Jr. asked picking up the phone.
“Sure. Pa we got XM-78 back to Cairo museum and are having MRI and DNA tests run on her and...”
“Hold up Lou... hold up... before you go on I have something to tell you. I have been trying to reach your team but you must have been out of phone range... I need to report some bad news I’m afraid.”
“Bad news about what Pa?”
“I don’t think you knew but while your team was on the way to Egypt to check out XM-78 I had to sent another SCAR team, headed by Forrest and Bud, to take a look at a stone Mayan obelisk found in a farmer’s field in rural Mexico.”
“What did they find out?”
“They never got to Mexico. A couple of hours out of Mexico City the ‘plane had some kind of problem, as yet I don’t know what, but it dropped off radar and supposedly went down.”
“What do you mean, “Went down,” like in landed in some remote place?”
“No, not landed - crashed - it looks like! I’m sorry...so the officials on the scene seem think so. The authorities are conducting an all out search as we speak, but so far they have not been able to locate very much. No wreckage, but they did find an oil slick. But as of yet have been unable to determine its cause. I’ve not given up but the situation down there looks bleak. You know the Gulf of Mexico is a big piece of water.”
“Pa is there anything we can do? Do we need to come home?”
“No...uh...no... there’s nothing you can do here. Go ahead and carry on with your investigation there in Egypt...when I know something for sure I will be sure to call you first thing... now finish telling me about XM-78.
“Pa we found the locket just as they described. It had the name ‘Helga Friedman’ on it and the date July 25, 1964. It was draped on the outside of XM-78’s linen wrappings so I thought someone might have placed the locket on the body to fool us. I took a DNA sample from her left femur and, like I said, she is currently at the Cairo museum where she underwent MRI and DNA analysis.
Within the hour I have received the results from these tests. I matched them with samples from Mrs. Friedman’s daughter Delores. The DNA sample from Mrs. Friedman and the daughter in Germany - match perfectly. There is a 99 per cent certainty they are related. Weird? Extremely, but Pa I have a couple of other things really bothering me too.”
“What is it Lou?”
“First Pa the cause of death of Mrs. Friedman... was... was...”
“Yeah, Lou what was it?”
“Pa, X-Rays show it was a gunshot to the head. Did you hear me? I said gunshot! The bullet was still lodged in the base of her skull - it was a modern .22 caliber rim-fire. I looked it up the .22 rim-fire’s date of development. It began being produced in 1857. Pa 1857 is a heck of a long way from 1300 BC.
“Second - Pa we have a driver who has been with us since we first arrived in Egypt. He has provided me with some very important information. So far, it has been very reliable. But there’s something strange about him I can’t seem to put my finger on.”
“What is his name, I’ll check him out’”
“No, I don’t believe his name is important but I want to bounce a couple of things off you - especially since you were on The P.H.O.T.O. mission and you know what happened in Cambodia.”
“Fire away, Lou, what do you need?”
“First this driver - he is really short, keeps his face covered and has skin matching a grey overcast sky. His eyes are almost almond shaped and not dark brown they appear to be solid black when I caught a glimpse of them behind large sunglasses he wears constantly. He doesn’t talk much, if he does it is real quite, hardly audible. He passes me notes on pieces of cellophane plastic...”
“Whoa... stop right there.... do you have one of these notes handy?”
“Sure, got one right here in my briefcase... let me get it out... okay Pa holding it in my hand.”
“Lou can you tear it?”
Straining. “No, I can’t.”
“Okay, next try to cut it and put a match to it and see if it will burn.”
“Hold on Pa...” In a few seconds Lou returned to the phone. “Pa I can’t cut it or burn it. What is this stuff?”
“Lou...listen closely - I want you to get your driver alone...”
“Yes and...”
“I’m getting to that...say to him, quietly, the name ‘Ling Lu.’ Nothing more, just ‘Ling Lu’ and carefully observe his reaction. If you get the reaction I’m expecting I believe I know who this little fellow is. What else do you have?”
“What reaction are you expecting Pa?”
“You just watch him carefully and let me know what he does.”
“Okay...I will. Now back to my problem - the Egyptian Department of Antiquities has an excellent director Dr. Wallasi. He was extremely helpful in the un-wrapping of XM-78. One thing we found when we got down to her arms - the papyrus scroll positioned between her hands.”
“Yeah, the one with the spells from The Book of the Dead?”
“Right - but no spells and definitely no Book of the Dead. The scroll had only two sentences. Get this Pa...it was written in...uh...uh...English.”
“What? Did I hear you right? You didn’t say English did you? What was written on it?”
“Yeah Pa you heard right. The first one said, “1st Section, Book 26, Chapter 1, Paragraphs 5 - 26 the second said, “2nd Section, Book 27, Chapter 8, Paragraphs 8 - 11.
“We didn’t know what to make of this.
“No worry Son, I know exactly what they mean!”
“What! Tell me Pa!”
“Later, right now fill me in on your other discoveries.”
“Dr. Wallasi two assistants Babu and Isis were supposed to help us but they were less than upfront with us. Babu carried our team to the wrong tomb excavation site. It had to be purposeful - he directed us to a number of big holes in an old cemetery when the real site was halfway up the side of a cliff a few kilometers away.
“And Isis stole one of XM-78’s amulets when we weren’t looking.”
“Were there any symbols on the amulet?”
“They weren’t important - she wanted it because it was made of gold and precious stones.”
“Lou! What symbols?”
“Uh, let me think... the Crown of Osiris on the front and on the back a bull, uh, a bird, a man and uh, uh, oh yeah a lion.
“A bull, an eagle, a face of a man and a lion.”
“Pa, you know what these mean don’t you. Tell me!”
“Yeah, I have seen them before and I know what they mean. I will fill you all in when I see you. Tell me more.”
“Once we found the actual burial tomb we found something that blew us away...”
“What...? Lou you j
ust found something that will REALLY blow you away when I explain - the amulet - she didn’t steal it for the gold.”
“I don’t know Pa I believe she just wanted it for its value...but listen Pa there is something else. Lonnie Joe read the hieroglyphics over the exit door from the burial chamber...well the inscriptions were not all Egyptian hieroglyphics one date was in chiseled out in English.”
“English...what was it?”
“21 December 2012!!”
“Lou, I’ll be on the next flight - meet me at Cairo International tomorrow. I will explain all of this when I get there. Keep your team together, remain calm, don’t talk to anyone except your driver, stay in your hotel and don’t worry - everything is going to be okay. I’ll see all of you tomorrow and I believe I can explain most of what you all have uncovered.”
“Pa, you think it is necessary for you to come over here personally?”
“Yes, most definitely...I need to talk to you all face to face. Besides they will not let me go to Mexico and stick my finger in the Coast Guard’s business so I need to do something to keep my mind occupied until we find out what’s happened to Forrest, Bud and Olive.”
“But Pa, I didn’t finish telling you what else we discovered in Xm-78’s tomb.””
“Tomorrow Lou...tomorrow. You can tell me all about it and I’ll fill in the blanks for you all too.
* * * ~~~ * * *
CHAPTER NINETEEN
DEATHS OF FORREST, BUD AND OLIVE ANNOUNCED
Immediately upon finishing the call to Washington Dr. Scarburg called his SCAR team to his room to brief them on the latest developments. Before talking to the whole team Lou called Gabrielle aside.
“Gabrielle (she knew this conversation was important - he only used Gabrielle when he was serious) I just talked to Pa in Washington. He gave me some terrible news. He told me a Mayan obelisk, believed to be an ancient calendar stone, had been discovered in Mexico. Forrest, Bud and Olive Maria had been sent as a SCAR team to check it out.”
“When did all this take place I just talked to Forrest last week and he didn’t mention a Mexico trip. What did they find?”
“Gabrielle. It’s not about what they found; I can’t find words...Gabrielle...”
“What is it Lou, you are scaring me. What is it?”
“The plane never got to Mexico, about two hours out of Mexico City the plane went down.”
“Went down? Like it landing somewhere else?”
“No! Crashed! They have not found any wreckage or survivors so far.”
“No! No! Lou I don’t want to hear this...tell me this isn’t true...this cannot be true,” she muttered as wet tears began flowing down her tanned cheeks.
“I’m sorry Gabrielle. Come on we need to tell the others. Pa said he would be here tomorrow and we were not to worry everything was going to be okay. You know Pa - he has always been able to take care of anything - he will handle this too. Don’t worry.”
“Don’t worry? Don’t worry? Lou we just lost Forrest, Bud and Sister and you say, ‘Don’t worry’. I’m not worried Lou I’m...I’m...devastated.” The large tears were flowing like a river. “Why in the devil was Olive with them?”
After breaking the news to Roche and Lonnie Joe their sadness was so overwhelming all they could do was sit around a couple of hours and ponder the recent events.
* * * * * *
Dr. Lou went downstairs to find their driver Anhur al-Bursiri. Gabby was curled up on one of the sofas, in a fetal position, sobbing her heart out. Every now and then she would issue a soft whimper and start crying all over again.
Anhur’s mini-bus was parked in a couple of the taxi parking spots. He was sitting in the drivers seat. Both hands firmly gripping the steering wheel.
Still wearing his old white straw hat perched over his keffiyah. His threadbare silver tinted white suit had not been changed. It appeared he had remained totally motionless; securely seated right where they had left him hours ago.
Knocking on the mini-bus entryway Dr. Scarburg motioned Anhur to open the door. Anhur did not respond. He appeared as if he were in a deep sleep. Dr. Lou pounded on the door again - this time harder. Anhur slowly turned and seemingly stared through his oversized sunglasses at Lou - he appeared to move in slow motion and it appeared he was having trouble recognizing Dr. Scarburg. It was as if he had awakened from a trance - in a moment or two he slowly reached and pulled on the handle opening the busses folding metal and glass door.
Dr. Scarburg entered the bus and stood with one foot on the top metal step looking directly at Anhur. Anhur did not look at him nor speak. He stared straight ahead.
“Anhur I have come to tell you something I think is of great importance. What I have say is simply two words... “Ling Lu.”
If Anhur were capable of emotion this was the closest he had ever come to exhibiting any.
He shifted his weight in his seat, sat up ruler straight and grasped the steering wheel with a death like grip. His eyes remained transfixed ahead not speaking but Dr. Scarburg knew what Pa was talking about now... Anhur recognized the name Ling Lu. The name was definitely familiar to him.
Leaving Anhur Dr. Lou walked briskly to the automatic hotel entrance door. He entered the lobby of the Flairmount Towers hotel and the ‘click-clack-click-clack’ of his boots could be easily heard as he crossed the cool marble floor to the concierge’s booth. Lou asked the attendant if he would mind checking for the first flight from Washington, D.C. arriving tomorrow. Manipulating the keys on his computer the concierge told Lou the first flight would arrive at 4:10 pm. With a quick thanks and a tip to the concierge Lou crossed the lobby, entered the elevator and went back upstairs to his room.
It was 7 pm, he thought he would call Pa again and inform him of Anhur’s reaction. He placed the call, it was a little after 1 pm back in Washington. Dr. Scarburg, Jr answered his own phone.
“Hello, Scarburg here,” he said matter-of-factly.
“Pa, heard anything?”
“Oh hey Lou...no, sorry, nothing new.”
“Damn...Okay... I just wanted to tell you about our little driver. You were right. He got real nervous and fidgety when I mentioned Ling Lu to him. He recognized the name “Ling Lu” all right.
“Okay, I know exactly who he is - I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Which airline are you arriving on Pa - I’ll be there to meet you - the first flight from D.C. does not land until approximately 4 pm.”
“No meet me at the Executive Terminal - I’m in the air right now on our Gulfstream C20J. I have to make a stop at one of our branch offices but I’ll get there between 11 and 12 tomorrow morning.”
Lou thought, ‘man what a way to travel’. The Gulfstream C20J could fly 7000 miles at 525 - 580 mph. It had a full kitchen, bar, satellite phones, Internet and could accommodate 11 to 18 passengers. ‘That’s flying in style’ Lou thought to himself.
It had been a long, tiring and stressful day. Turning off his cell phone he said a quick prayer for Forrest, Lou and Sister then collapsed, fully dressed, across the ultra-soft down filled comforter of his bed and fell immediately into an exhausted but stress relieving sleep.
* * * * * *
Lou had only been asleep for a couple of hours, he believed, when he was aroused from a deep fitful sleep by a light tapping noise.
This subtle awakening annoyed him at first. While asleep his brain was not absorbed by the fateful crash of Forrest, Bud and Sister’s plane. Now fully awake the reality of the news of the past few hours again consumed his thinking. He was mad. He didn’t want to think about it.
The noise continued. At first he didn’t comprehend its source - then after another series of taps he realized the tapping was coming from the door to his hotel room. Someone was outside rapping on the door. As his head cleared further he thought of Poe’s ‘The Raven’:
‘...suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping,
Rapping at my chamber door...’
‘Who could be ‘rapping at my chamber door’ at this hour’, he thought angrily glancing at his tableside clock. ‘It is nearly 2:30 am!!’ Still fully dressing he only had to walk across the room to the door, look out the peephole, and see who was up and about pecking on his door at this ridiculously late hour.
Reaching the entrance door he leaned over and peered out the tiny security hole surveying the hallway - there was no one there! ‘Another look’, he thought. Still he saw no one, ‘hummm... this is strange.’ He turned to resume his position on top of the down filled bed comforter, but he had only taken a couple of steps when the tapping resumed at the door.
‘What...?’ He thought, ‘is someone pulling a prank?’ Again he returned to the peephole and looked out again. The hallway was empty just as before; however, this time he grabbed the brass door handle and hastily jerked open the door.
“There you are!” It was Anhur. He was so short he was not visible through the peephole.
“What the heck,” he said to Anhur, “what’s going on?”
Anhur answered, still in a low almost inaudible whisper, “May I enter?”
“Sure, come on in Anhur, I wasn’t doing anything but sleeping.”
The two entered the hotel room and Lou directed Anhur to a comfortable place on the sofa. “Would you like some water or anything?”
Anhur answered by a casual wave of his hand.
“What can I do for you Anhur at this ungodly hour of the night, or should I say morning.”
“Come close, I tell you things you do not understand.”
Lou arose from his position in the overstuffed chair, pulled up the desk chair, and positioned it right in front of Anhur. “Okay, what is it?”
“First, I am not as you suspect.”
“Suspect? What do you think I suspect? I thought you were our Egyptian guide.”
“Not so...I was sent to keep eye on your activities. My name is Anhur - name correct, that is right, nothing else, just Anhur. We only have one name - the rest of name is added for your benefit.”
“We? Who are the ‘we’ you speak of?”
“I will try to explain - I knew you had information on my origin when you said “Ling Lu” to me. Yes, I knew Ling Lu was my friend.”