The Eden Factor (Kathlyn Trent/Marcus Burton Romance Adventure Series Book 2) (10 page)

Marcus was fighting off a smile.
He loved it when she leapt into someone's face with the passion of her
profession. There wasn't anyone in the world better at it, him included. De
Tormo was just plain irritating and he could see what the man was driving at;
they all could. He wanted them to tell him that they had found an angel,
without any backing scientific evidence. It wasn't going to happen.

  "I find your attitude
puzzling, doctor," de Tormo said coolly. "Our Grace himself is
extremely interested in this."

"Why?"

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. I'm asking
you why."

De Tormo wasn't thrilled with her
attitude. "That's should be obvious, doctor."

"Then I must be an idiot,
because it isn't. I've excavated many holy relics in the past twelve years and
the Church has always gone out its way to distance itself from me. Why this
relic, de Tormo? What's so special about this one?"

De Tormo was quiet a moment,
thoughtful. "Like the Shroud of Turin, this is tangible. It's irrefutable
evidence. This can be a link to the story of Creation and that, Dr. Trent,
makes it of great interest to Our Grace."

"What about the photographs
I took of Noah's Ark, or the Ark of the Covenant? Those are links, too."

The priest shook his head.
"They're items, mere items. They were created by Man and the verification
of them will never be completely indisputable no matter how many tests you
conduct. But what lies out there in the Iraqi desert was once a living,
breathing being that God created. Whatever it is, it was alive."

It was very strange the way he
said the word 'alive'. If Kathlyn didn't know better, she would swear the man
was drooling. She looked over at Marcus to see if she could decipher his take
on it. But he merely stood up and put his big hands on his wife's shoulders.

 "I think this meeting is
over," he said, looking pointedly at the representative. "Dr. Fahdlan,
you can come with us. We've got a lot of things to discuss about the process
for the dig that won't interest the Church."

Fayd glanced at de Tormo. The fat
man fanned himself furiously, still lingering on the thought of a living,
breathing angel. Like Kathlyn, he thought the reaction rather odd, too. They
were about to leave when Andy Sutton suddenly entered the mess tent, his gaze
searching out Kathlyn and Marcus. His freckled expression was strained.

"What's wrong?" Kathlyn
asked him.

Andy glanced at the occupants of
the room, not wanting to shout for the world to hear. He raked his fingers
through his sweaty auburn hair in a nervous gesture. He was young and could be
high strung, but this seemed different. Kathlyn's anxiety rose before he even
answered.

"We just got a call from
World Geography," he said in a low voice. "The samples you gave them
for the angel have disappeared from their lab."

Kathlyn didn't know why, but she
looked straight at de Tormo.

CHAPTER
FIVE

In the scorch of the November
fall, the temperature never got down below eight-five degrees, even at night.
Daytime was a nightmare. Although the depths of Ay's tomb were cool and dry,
outside in the blistering desert, Kathlyn felt like an ant under a magnifying
glass. The sun was close to lighting her hair on fire as she stood, exposed, in
the encampment's motor-pool.

It was the area where most of her
heavy equipment had been stored last season. Forklifts, pneumatic drills,
massive generators and air compressors were stored in heavy duty shipping
crates. Kathlyn had six men who traveled with her team, a group of guys who
called themselves the Roadies. They were in charge of the inventory and
maintenance of Kathlyn's equipment and drove her vehicles. As Kathlyn, Fayd and
one of her Roadies stood surveying her gear, Kathlyn realized what a load of
equipment she really did have. Corporate sponsorship had its advantages.

Only select equipment could go,
since she would be traveling extremely light. But Kathlyn was bringing the
Ground Penetrating Radar device (GPR), which looked like a large box on wheels.
She was also bringing the Geophysical Diffraction Tomography (GDT), which
basically accomplished the same thing using a 8-Gauge shotgun device that, when
fired into the ground, picked up the returning shock waves.

Fayd had a good amount of gear
himself coming in from Jordan. The plan was to fly into Basrah and drive the
remaining fifty kilometers to Zubayr by convoy courtesy of Fayd's grandfather
and the Iraqi military. Kathlyn realized early on that traveling with Fayd
would make it much easier for her to enter the country; she and Marcus had
taken the hard way the first time around.

  Not strangely, their biggest
opponent on all of this was coming from their Marine security force. The Major
in charge of security for the dig site had protested vehemently in the
beginning when just Kathlyn and Marcus went. Master Sergeant Bubalo had even
tried to talk them out of it. But Kathlyn had been adamant, and Marcus had gone
along with her. Now that they were planning a second trip into enemy lands, the
Major was close to having a stroke over security arrangements. Fayd's
insistence that they would be perfectly safe in the company of the Iraqi
military only fueled the Major's distress. He didn't trust the Iraqis and,
being a veteran of the first Gulf War, his bitterness was probably greater than
most. In the end, the Major convinced Marcus to let Bubalo go along disguised
as one of the archaeologists. It was better for all of them that way and the
Major felt as if they'd at least have some protection.

Security issues aside, the
discussions yesterday on the approach for this venture had been productive
enough. Marcus and Lynn would be accompanying them; Lynn Davis' emphasis was in
Anthropology and he was one of the best in his field. Both Kathlyn and Fayd
agreed to let Lynn and Marcus tackle the quandary of removing the angel, since
their experience in excavation wasn't as expansive as the archaeologists from
UCPR. Moreover, Kathlyn didn't like Fayd's destructive methods. Fayd was aware
of that, though he said nothing about it.

 But this morning things were
different. Upon further discussion between Fayd and Kathlyn, they knew they
couldn't take all of the time to excavate that Lynn and Marcus wanted. Fayd
wanted to be in and out in forty-eight hours; Kathlyn wanted to double the time
for safety to the relic itself. Lynn and Marcus had wanted a couple of weeks.
The more Fayd and Kathlyn talked, the more they realized that an expansive time
frame simply wouldn't be possible.

 It was busy this morning. Work
was continuing up in the tomb and a German news crew was on the site begging
for interviews. The Egyptian Antiquities Organization, or EAO, was basically in
charge of the site even though the Americans were running the show.  The EAO
supplied workers and equipment while the Americans provided the expertise and
the security.  It was a convoluted relationship that seemed to run well enough
and although Marcus should have been focusing on his dig, he found his
attention diverted by his wife's latest foray.

In and out, she had said. A
classic term used to describe Kathlyn's method. She usually moved in quickly,
found what she was looking for, and moved out swiftly, leaving the real work
for the hard-core field archaeologists.  She wasn't one to be stuck on a dig
for years at a time.  She was always on the move, always searching and
exploring. That's why Marcus didn't have a problem being away from his dig for
a couple of weeks; he knew they would be back soon enough, hopefully with the
angel intact, and then he could get back to his tomb. Ay had waited three
thousand years; he could wait a bit more. The angel, due to its location and
condition, probably couldn't.

Marcus had taken a call from Virgil
Bardwell that morning, chairman of the Department of Archaeological Sciences
for the University of California at Paso Robles and Marcus' boss. Jobe McGrath
had called Bardwell as a courtesy to let him in on Kathlyn Trent's latest
project and the old man had immediately turned around and called Marcus. Where
Kathlyn Trent went, Marcus Burton was sure to follow and Bardwell wanted
reassurance that the work on Ay's tomb would continue in Burton's absence.
Marcus had assured him that Dennis Reams and Debra Jo Shulte were quite capable
of handling the dig for fourteen days. Bardwell wasn't happy, but he knew he
couldn't stop Burton.

 SCU was still in the process of
deciding whether or not to fund Kathlyn on the venture. She wasn't about to
wait for their decision.  Moreover, funding wasn't an issue at the moment
because Fayd was providing her a vehicle by which to gain her angel. That’s all
she had really wanted in the first place. But Kathlyn had spoken to McGrath the
previous night and informed him of the situation, including the Vatican
presence. McGrath hadn't been pleased with that and assured Kathlyn that he,
personally, was supporting her. As long as she had his support, Kathlyn felt
better about it.

Now it was a matter of pure
logistics. Their flight was scheduled to leave in about eight hours and Kathlyn
had to get whatever equipment she wanted loaded up and shipped over to Luxor's
airport to be flown out with them.  Truthfully, there wasn't much to be going.
She stood with Fayd and the roadie, making a list, crossing things off that
they determined were unnecessary.

"Have we got a load to
go?"

Marcus walked up on the trio. He
had been with Lynn and Dennis up in the tomb, going over the excavation plans
for the next few days. Dressed in faded jeans, an old yellow Polo shirt and
massive work boots, he made a bit of eye candy for the German news crew. Their
female reporter made sure they got lots of shots of him walking across the
compound, and Kathlyn made sure to give him a big kiss.

"Actually, I think we're
going to get off fairly easily," she said, showing him her list. "We
can carry our smaller excavation equipment, the picks, brushes, bulb syringes,
that kind of thing. I can carry my laptop. Fayd's people will be bringing in
temporary shelters and generators. The only things I want to ship are two
pneumatic jackhammers so that we can remove the angel in one big chunk."

Marcus cast her an odd glance.
"Remove it in one chunk? What are you talking about?"

She nodded. "Fayd and I have
been talking. We think it would be better to remove the thing in a slab and do
the serious excavation in a country that's a little less hostile."

Marcus handed her back her
equipment list. He cast a long glance at Fayd, as if the man was conspiring
somehow with Kathlyn behind his back. "You know as well as I do that we
need to excavate the surrounding area. It could provide valuable clues as to
what this thing really is."

Fayd was normally silent around
Burton, but not for the reasons everyone thought. He really wasn't afraid of
him. He was simply sitting back, analyzing what sort of person he was, to
better know how to deal with him.  Burton was a hard man, but Fayd was sly. He
saw where this conversation was leading and went to Kathlyn's aid.

 "Dr. Burton," he said.
"I assure you, we understand completely the significance of excavating the
surrounding area. But you must understand that this is Iraq; we haven't the
luxury of time or even safety. It's better that we get in, remove the relic,
and get out as quickly as we can. I'm afraid it is the price we will have to
pay if we don't want the Iraqi government changing their minds and taking the
find from us. The longer we stay, the more possibility there is of that
happening."

Marcus fixed on him with those
cobalt blue eyes. "I am aware of that, Dr. Fahdlan. But none of these hit
and run tactics were discussed yesterday. In fact, I thought we formulated a
fairly effective plan."

"A plan that would take a
minimum of a couple of weeks, providing we worked twenty-four hours a
day," Kathlyn said quietly. "I think we should listen to Fayd on this
one. He knows what the Iraqi's are capable of. I'd hate to do all of this work
only to have it taken away. The sooner we get out, the better."

In the back of his mind, Marcus
knew they were right. But his scientist's brain was working over time.

"I can appreciate
that," he said. "But we're defeating the entire purpose of actually
understanding this thing if we can't at least somewhat excavate the surrounding
area. Four days give us no time at all."

"It gives us plenty of time
if you and Lynn focus on the relic while Fayd and I grid off the surrounding
area, run the GPR over it, and do a few test digs."

Marcus' jaw ticked, which was not
a good sign. That meant that the temper was rising. "Look, what you two
are suggesting really is nothing sort of defacement," he said.
"Listen to what you're saying; we go in, chop this angel out in a block,
rip it out of the ground, and ship it back to Amman. And as far as these test
digs, four days isn't enough time to properly do that. Even if you do manage to
do a survey with the GPR, you'll still be hacking and destroying valuable
layers of earth with no real attempt at analyzing because we've got no goddamn
time. That's not the way to do this at all."

Kathlyn was hoping he wouldn't
take it to this level, although she shouldn't have suspected otherwise. Marcus
was a hard-core, by-the-book scientist.