Canyon of the Sphinx (2 page)

Kathlyn and Marcus, as well as several
other team members also listening in on the phone call, looked over at Dr. Dennis
Reams. A long-time associate of Marcus’, he was a broad man with a long blond
ponytail and a perpetual frown. He appeared puzzled at Jobe’s statement.

"Who's Dr. Murphy’s
associate?" he asked.

"Dr. Adam Levine."

Recognition filled Dennis' face.
"I'll be damned,” he muttered. “We went to high school together."

"How well do you know
him?" Marcus asked.

Dennis shrugged. "Not too well.
He was a couple of years younger than me. I saw him last about fifteen years
ago."

McGrath's voice crackled over the
phone. "Be that as it may, the University of Indiana at Rensselaer is
requesting Kathlyn's help. SCU has already agreed, so we've got Kathlyn and her
team booked on a flight out of Luxor in two days, stopping over in Tenerife
before continuing on to San Juan and then to Cancun."

"What's my time limit on
this one?" Kathlyn asked.

"Four weeks."

Her composure slipped. "A
month? Jobe, I'm not spending a month away from my family. Two weeks and I'm
out of there."

"Let me see what I can do.
UIR originally requested you on a three month assignment. I talked them down to
four weeks. I told them you worked fast."

"So what's this great
objective?" Kathlyn still wasn't sure how hard she should fight not to go.
The adventurer in her was inherently curious and, having just come back from a
year of inactivity, she was eager to get back in the saddle more than she would
admit.

Jobe knew Kathlyn too well and he
knew, by the tone of her voice, that he had her interest. "What kind of
myths are in Mesoamerica?" he asked her.

She wasn't in any mood for his
gentle teasing. "The Fountain of Youth? The lost city of Atlantis? Hell, I
don't know."

"Try El Dorado."

Marcus closed his eyes. He knew
he had just lost his wife. There wasn't anything she scoffed at when it came to
legends or myths; her mind was as open as the skies and it was her philosophy
that for every legend, there had to be a grain of truth. She had risked her
life enough times investigating these alleged truths. Sometimes Marcus wished
he had her kind of faith, but he didn't. His mind was rooted in fact.

"El Dorado?" Kathlyn
repeated. "Are you serious? What kind of data do they have to support
this?"

"My assistant is downloading
files onto the FTP site, at least everything they're willing to share with us,”
Jobe said. “Bone up on it, Kathlyn. In two days you'll be right on top of
it."

Kathlyn glanced at her husband
again, any excitement she felt at the prospect of a myth chase immediately quelled. 
Marcus was looking away from her, his jaw ticking like it always did when he
was particularly emotional about something. When she had first met him, the man
had erupted at every little thing. He was still extremely volatile. But with
age and a stabilizing marriage, he was getting better about it. Kathlyn walked
over to him and put her hand on his shoulder. He grasped it tightly.

"Two weeks, Jobe," she
said softly. "That's all I give, then I'm coming back to Egypt come hell
or high water. Make sure they understand that."

"I will." With the hard
part over, McGrath quickly shifted the focus before Burton could voice any
strong objection. "With that out of the way, my next subject is for Dr.
Burton.  Marcus; do recall our conversation a few months ago about your
university sending in a site controller because of an impending audit in
March?"

Marcus kissed Kathlyn's hand
before speaking. "I remember. I haven't heard any more about it,
though."

"I know," McGrath said.
"I was on the phone earlier today to the university’s finance office.”

“And?”

"I’m told that your
university is leaving it up to SCU to send in a site controller," McGrath
said. "Since it's a joint dig between the two universities and UCPR is
shouldering the majority of the expenses, they figured it was the least SCU
could do to payroll the accountant for the audit. She should be arriving
sometime next week."

"She?"

"Jensen Elder is her name.
She's been doing most of the accounting from our end, so she knows what the
hell is going on. She's a smart cookie."

"All right. We'll make
arrangements. Kathlyn’s administrator has been doing most of the on-site
accounting, but it's been a huge task."

"I know. I just wanted to
give you the heads up." McGrath paused. "Well, good luck to you,
Kathlyn. Keep in touch."

"I will," Kathlyn said.

The phone went dead.  Kathlyn’s
gaze lingered on her husband a moment before glancing at the people in assorted
positions around the tent. 

“We’ve got a game,” she smiled
weakly.

The group nodded, almost in
unison; one could almost feel the collective excitement start. These were the
people that Kathlyn had lived and worked with for almost thirteen years. The
first face she came to was Dr. Juliana Maurer Davis; her best friend and second
in command, Juliana was a slender woman with olive green eyes. Being married to
Dr. Lynn Davis, Marcus’ best friend and second in charge of the Valley of the
Kings dig, had kept Juliana and Kathlyn conveniently close to each other. 
Juliana was joined by Dr. Mark La Coste, a bulky Hispanic man that both Juliana
and Kathlyn had known since high school. He was quiet, extremely bright, with a
sly sense of humor.  Seated next to Mark was a long-legged woman with pale skin
and glorious red hair; Debra Jo Shulte was another grade-school buddy that now
ran all of the administrative aspects of Kathlyn's ventures, of which there
were many. Dr. Trent was a full blow mega-empire.

The last three members of Kathlyn’s
team were by no means the least. Otis Dison, the team's architect, and two
doctoral students assigned to Kathlyn's team from the university rounded out
the group. Larry Dyche and Andrew Sutton were young and free-spirited, full of
ideas and new-fangled knowledge. They wandered around the Valley of the Kings
dressed like Lawrence of Arabia characters and were the videographic and
photographic experts of the team.  They herded themselves around Otis, who
looked and acted much younger than his fifty-plus years. He was the wisest,
most level-headed member of the otherwise fairly unconventional group.

 These were the ‘Myth-Chasers’, a
term her husband had given them that had somehow stuck. Kathlyn looked at her
team, six of the most brilliant, courageous people she had ever met.  Wherever
Dr. Trent wanted to go, hunting down her relics, they followed without
question.  They had all heard the phone conversation and knew another
assignment was upon them, one that promised all of the thrills as any other
they had attempted.   We’ve got a game. They were magical words.

A Biblical Archaeologist by trade
and degree, Kathlyn Trent had made it her mission in life, among other things,
to seek out relics that could only be described in the modern age as legends.
She'd scaled mountains and traipsed through scorpion-ridden pits in search of
her treasures. The people standing around her did nothing more than follow her
completely on blind faith.  And they would be following her again.

While Kathlyn was looking at her
team, Marcus was looking at Kathlyn. He had to keep reminding himself that this
was what she did, that this was her job. He didn't want to interfere but he
naturally didn't want her to go. Feeling her husband’s intense gaze, Kathlyn
looked over at him.

It was a bad idea. The moment
their eyes met, she felt the pangs of separation start. At six feet four inches
and a somewhere around two hundred fifty pounds, Marcus Burton had the chiseled
build of a weight lifter.  His nearly black hair was close cropped, emphasizing
his square-jawed, inherently beautiful male looks. But by far his most
outstanding feature were cobalt blue eyes, so intense that they almost glowed.
One look from him could either seductively melt or strike terror.  But as
stunning as the man was physically, it was small compared to the golden
character burning inside.

It was something that had drawn
Kathlyn to him since the beginning. Though he could be the most abrasive,
arrogant man in the world, he could also be the most empathetic and
compassionate. It was an odd combination. But it was one Kathlyn could not live
without.

Sensing the melancholy mood
settling between Dr. Burton and Dr. Trent, everyone left the tent in pieces and
wandering out into the warm Sahara night. They knew that Kathlyn and Marcus
needed a moment alone now that the directive had been delivered. Separations
were never easy with them and this one promised to be particularly wrenching.   If
body language conveyed anything, Kathlyn had moved away from her husband and
now stood with her arms crossed and head hung, while Marcus still sat in his
chair and studied his wife from a distance.  He was always watching her, as if
never tiring of her beauty.  When the tent was finally vacant, he stood up from
the old folding chair and stretched his weary muscles.

"We should probably think
about heading back home," he said softly.  "The baby will be waking
up for her midnight feeding, which means the twins will wake up when they hear
her and the nanny can't handle all three of them."

Kathlyn sighed. "I
know," she murmured. "My God, Marcus, I don't want to be away from
you and the kids for two weeks. I'll go crazy."

"You're not going to be away
from me," he said steadily. "I'm going with you."

She looked at him sharply.
"You're coming with me?"

"Of course."

She unwound her arms and walked
in his general direction. "You can't come. Who's going to watch the
kids?"

"My parents. I'm going to
have them take the next plane to Luxor."

Kathlyn's brow furrowed.
"Marcus, you have your own dig here. This is only a two week hit and run
assignment. Don't get me wrong; it's not that I don't want you to come, but one
of us being away from the kids is bad enough.  How come you didn't say anything
to McGrath about going with me?"

"It's a given that wherever
you go, I go. I thought we established that a long time ago."

Kathlyn came to a halt in front
of him, her pale green eyes intense. "We’ve also talked about the
importance of your work as well as mine. Do you know what it looks like when
you leave the most successful dig in the world to go off with me on my
myth-chasing?"

"Yes, I do," he lifted
a dark eyebrow.

"It makes you look like a
wimp."

"I don't care what it looks
like.  I thought we agreed that where you go, I go. Why are you trying to talk
me out of it?”

"I’m not trying to talk you
out of it," she softened her stance. "I'm just trying to be objective,
that's all.  I don't want people to think I have you under my thumb, forcing
you to accompany me on my crazy expeditions. It's bad enough that someone of
your reputation married someone of mine, but to...."

"Hold it right there,"
he said sternly. "We've been through this, over and over again. I don't
care what people think of our marriage. Before I knew you, I thought you were a
charlatan and a performer, using an archaeology degree to bolster your
celebrity status and put money in your wallet. I was just like a lot of those
other archaeologists with old-school thoughts. But within the first twenty four
hours of knowing you, I changed my mind. Never in my life have I met anyone
more intelligent or dedicated or honest." He reached up, fingering a
tendril of hair. "I am so proud to be married to you, Mrs. Burton.  Don't
ever question that for a minute."

It was the right thing to say. It
made her feel better about the situation and she smiled, reaching up and
snaking her arms around his neck. At exactly a foot shorter than her enormous
husband, she was deliciously petite against his massive size. Marcus enfolded
her in his powerful arms, holding her close and feeling her softness against
him.  She was warm and sweet and soft and he kissed her cheek, her lips.

“I don’t question it,” she
murmured, responding to his delicious kiss. “But I do think you’re hen-pecked
sometimes.”

He grinned. “You let me worry
about that.”

“Okay. But don’t say I didn’t
warn you if people start to laugh and point.”

“They already do.”

She snorted as he suddenly bent
over and swept her up into his big arms.  For now, the news of impending
separation had settled, had been dealt with, and they were able to move beyond
it.  Marcus was calm because he was convinced he was going and Kathlyn was also
calm because he was. But they had been through this drill several times and, in
spite of his declaration, she would believe he was going with her when he
actually sat beside her on the plane.  The bottom line was that Marcus had a
massive dig to run that required his presence. And Kathlyn had a job to do, too.

 The bright Sahara night
swallowed them up as they left the tent, soft giggles and sweetly murmured
words fading as they headed for the distant parking lot.