The God Complex: A Thriller by Murray McDonald Page A

could see that in North Egypt, one large dot, larger than any other on the circle was surrounded by smaller dots. The concentration at the center of the dot was far greater than on any other. Had the large central dot signified a star, she’d have been able to identify the name, age of discovery and distance from Earth. Since it was a map of the world, she could only hazard a guess, but given Professor Harris’ interest in ancient buildings, she guessed one of the only few sites she knew: the Pyramids at Giza.
    The second circle was trickier, with far fewer dots and a center she was struggling to pinpoint. Peru, Chile or Bolivia was as close as she could guess without a more detailed map to use as a reference. Her knowledge of ancient sites in the area wasn’t particularly great either . The only one she knew for definite was Machu Picchu in Peru, but without a better map she couldn’t be sure and given the number of dots, there were obviously plenty more than she was aware of.
    So, all she had was dots in two circles and a huge amount of unaccounted for data. She clicked again on the dots, but nothing happened; there were no hidden links. She moved the small arrow around the page hoping its icon would change to a pointing index finger. She tried the corners of the image and every pixel on the screen. Nothing.
    “Ladies and gentlem en, we’re making our final approach,” the captain announced. “Please fasten your seat belts.”
    Sophie checked her watch, surprised at how quickly they had reached ‘nowhere’ . She had been at it for hours. The rest of the cabin had fallen asleep while she had persevered with trying to unlock the mystery of Professor Harris’ work.
    She hit the keyboard in frustration, and when her palm made contact with the space bar, a small window appeared on the screen requesting a password. A password window unlocked by ‘Space’?! She could have kicked herself. She typed ‘Sophie’, the last word the professor had uttered before dying according to Cash. The window flashed back, asking again for the password; it wasn’t Sophie.
    Sophie wracked her brain as the plane touched down. What did she know that would unlock the files? It must be something Professor Harris would have known she would know.
    “Any luck ?” asked Cash, joining her as the plane rolled to a stop.
    “Not yet, there’s a password protecting his files.”
    “Sophie?”
    “Tried .”
    “Kyle?”
    “He’d have said that to you.”
    “I didn’t know who Kyle was then .”
    Sophie typed it in and hit ‘Return’. The password window reappeared, this time with a warning: , ‘One attempt remaining’.
    “That’s not good,” Cash commented.
    Sophie closed the lid of the laptop and removed the flash drive.
    “Don’t we need that?” asked Rigs, directing the question quietly to Cash.
    “Yes , but it’s borrowed. We’ll need to buy one here,” Sophie said, handing the laptop over to the steward.
    “You’ve not looked out of the window, have you?” asked Cash.
    Sophie bent down and looked at a wall of trees . She looked across to the other side, to another wall of trees.
    “Where are we?” she asked.
    “Nowhere,” said Rigs, turning to Cash. “Ask him how much for his laptop,”
    The steward shrugged.
    “A thousand dollars?” Cash offered.
    The steward immediately handed the laptop over.
    “Where are we?” Sophie asked Cash.
    “ Rigs’ family’s hunting lodge. You can only get here by plane. It really is nowhere. It’s not on any maps or charts.”
    “It’s obviously somewhere …”
    “Northern Montana, not far from the Canadian border.”
    A jeep appeared by the plane’s steps as they disembarked. The man that exited the jeep was as mountain as they came, with a rugged and haggard face half covered by a graying beard. His face easily said seventy, while his strong, muscular frame and rigid composure spoke of a man at least twenty years younger. Despite the lines, his face glowed, a welcoming