Area 51: The Sphinx-4 by Robert Doherty Page A
Authors: Robert Doherty
Tags: Fiction, General, Science-Fiction, Action & Adventure, Espionage, Political, High Tech, Area 51 (Nev.), Ark of the Covenant
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his
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body and momentarily pinning him in place. The pain exploded along his nervous system, almost causing him to black out.
The driver pulled back on the lever, edging it in the direction of the Secretary of Defense. A bodyguard was climbing up the side of the backhoe. As the guard fired a fatal shot through the driver's head, the man's hand slammed the lever forward one last time.
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CHAPTER 7
MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON, RUWENZORI, UGANDA
D- 48 Hours, 25 Minutes
Mualama slid between the sharp shards of shattered ice, the glow from his flashlight reflected a hundred times by the glistening walls of the cavern. The far wall was ten feet in front of him. A circle of blackened stones, where a fire had once burned, was in the center of the floor.
A large stone set against rear of the cavern caught his eye. He went around the fire pit and shone the light on the rock. Etched into the stone was a word in Arabic: Sedgh. Mualama felt a wave of excitement. The word meant truthfulness and honestly, one of the virtues of a Sufi Master.
"Help me move this," he ordered Lago.
Together they put their shoulders to the boulder and edged it away from the cavern wall. Underneath, an oilskin-wrapped package was revealed. Mualama sat down and got his breathing under control before picking up the package. It was much heavier than what he had found underneath the stone in the Devil's Throat in South America. Carefully he unwrapped the covering. Inside he uncovered a sheaf of several hundred pages, bound by a red ribbon, preserved by the freezing air.
In bold letters that Mualama recognized as Burton's handwriting, several words in Arabic were written on the cover page. Mualama translated them as he read: THE PATH OF A TRUTH SEEKER
By SIR RICHARD FRANCIS BURTON
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Mualama peeled off his glove and carefully turned the page. "Ahh!" he exclaimed as he saw the handwritten script on the next page that began the body of the text.
"What is wrong, Uncle?" Lago asked.
"It has never been easy to follow Burton, and even now he makes it hard,"
Mualama said as he quickly began thumbing through the manuscript.
"I have never seen writing like that," Lago commented.
"I have seen this at a dig in Iraq. It is an extinct tongue. It is called Akkadian and was written and spoken in ancient Assyria and Babylon."
"Why the title in Arabic and the body of the text in another?" Lago asked.
"The title is an arrow pointing in the text. It is Burton's way."
"Is there anyone who can read it now?" Lago asked.
"Perhaps," Mualama said as he stopped on a page where there was a drawing. He held up the piece of paper. "Ah! This is even better for right now. This is the piece I needed."
"What is it?"
"Burton must have copied this from another source." Mualama carefully put the page back in the manuscript. "It fits in with two other drawings I found following his trail and tells me where we go next."
Lago sat on the floor of the cavern, exhaustion etched on his face. "And that is?"
"Home to Tanzania. To Ngorongoro Crater."
"And what is there?"
"We will know when we find it." Mualama stood and slapped his nephew on the shoulder. "Come on, young man. You can't be more tired than I am, and this is exciting! We are on the trail of a great mystery!"
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AREA 51, NEVADA
D- 48 Hours, 20 Minutes
"Forty-nine hours." Kincaid spun his laptop around so they could all see the screen, although no one other than he could make out what the numbers and lines displayed meant. "Lexina didn't pull that number out of the air. This is the drifting orbit of the talon and Warfighter—" Kincaid touched the left side of the screen. His finger moved to the right side. "This is the orbit of Stratzyda.
The two will come within two kilometers of each other in forty hours here, over the Atlantic. I assume she'll use the talon to then take control of Stratzyda and change its orbit to coincide with the talon's. Then it will take the talon and its new satellite another
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body and momentarily pinning him in place. The pain exploded along his nervous system, almost causing him to black out.
The driver pulled back on the lever, edging it in the direction of the Secretary of Defense. A bodyguard was climbing up the side of the backhoe. As the guard fired a fatal shot through the driver's head, the man's hand slammed the lever forward one last time.
-93-
CHAPTER 7
MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON, RUWENZORI, UGANDA
D- 48 Hours, 25 Minutes
Mualama slid between the sharp shards of shattered ice, the glow from his flashlight reflected a hundred times by the glistening walls of the cavern. The far wall was ten feet in front of him. A circle of blackened stones, where a fire had once burned, was in the center of the floor.
A large stone set against rear of the cavern caught his eye. He went around the fire pit and shone the light on the rock. Etched into the stone was a word in Arabic: Sedgh. Mualama felt a wave of excitement. The word meant truthfulness and honestly, one of the virtues of a Sufi Master.
"Help me move this," he ordered Lago.
Together they put their shoulders to the boulder and edged it away from the cavern wall. Underneath, an oilskin-wrapped package was revealed. Mualama sat down and got his breathing under control before picking up the package. It was much heavier than what he had found underneath the stone in the Devil's Throat in South America. Carefully he unwrapped the covering. Inside he uncovered a sheaf of several hundred pages, bound by a red ribbon, preserved by the freezing air.
In bold letters that Mualama recognized as Burton's handwriting, several words in Arabic were written on the cover page. Mualama translated them as he read: THE PATH OF A TRUTH SEEKER
By SIR RICHARD FRANCIS BURTON
-94-
Mualama peeled off his glove and carefully turned the page. "Ahh!" he exclaimed as he saw the handwritten script on the next page that began the body of the text.
"What is wrong, Uncle?" Lago asked.
"It has never been easy to follow Burton, and even now he makes it hard,"
Mualama said as he quickly began thumbing through the manuscript.
"I have never seen writing like that," Lago commented.
"I have seen this at a dig in Iraq. It is an extinct tongue. It is called Akkadian and was written and spoken in ancient Assyria and Babylon."
"Why the title in Arabic and the body of the text in another?" Lago asked.
"The title is an arrow pointing in the text. It is Burton's way."
"Is there anyone who can read it now?" Lago asked.
"Perhaps," Mualama said as he stopped on a page where there was a drawing. He held up the piece of paper. "Ah! This is even better for right now. This is the piece I needed."
"What is it?"
"Burton must have copied this from another source." Mualama carefully put the page back in the manuscript. "It fits in with two other drawings I found following his trail and tells me where we go next."
Lago sat on the floor of the cavern, exhaustion etched on his face. "And that is?"
"Home to Tanzania. To Ngorongoro Crater."
"And what is there?"
"We will know when we find it." Mualama stood and slapped his nephew on the shoulder. "Come on, young man. You can't be more tired than I am, and this is exciting! We are on the trail of a great mystery!"
-95-
AREA 51, NEVADA
D- 48 Hours, 20 Minutes
"Forty-nine hours." Kincaid spun his laptop around so they could all see the screen, although no one other than he could make out what the numbers and lines displayed meant. "Lexina didn't pull that number out of the air. This is the drifting orbit of the talon and Warfighter—" Kincaid touched the left side of the screen. His finger moved to the right side. "This is the orbit of Stratzyda.
The two will come within two kilometers of each other in forty hours here, over the Atlantic. I assume she'll use the talon to then take control of Stratzyda and change its orbit to coincide with the talon's. Then it will take the talon and its new satellite another
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