The Eden Factor (Kathlyn Trent/Marcus Burton Romance Adventure Series Book 2) (36 page)

Kathlyn cocked an eyebrow.
"So you're saying basically that we believe in a book that was founded in
ignorance because primitive people didn't understand that this was simply a
different race?"

"Man creates legends for
things he cannot rationally explain. Look at this evidence around you," he
gestured to the walls. "These were creatures that actually existed.
They're not supernatural, phantom creatures from the bowels of Hell. And if I
had to guess, I'd say these skulls came from the mating of these creatures and
humans. Not exactly the skulls of the creatures we see, but not exactly human,
either."

"Interesting theory,"
Kathlyn said. "If what you say is true, then it would explain the passage
of Genesis six, verse four, 'At that time the Nephilim appeared on earth, after
the sons of heaven had intercourse with the daughters of man, who bore them
sons. They were the heroes of old, the men of renown.'"

"Maybe these skulls are the
remains of the Nephilim."

"It would be a way to
explain what they didn't understand, a hybrid between a dying breed and the
powerful humanoid race."

Kathlyn was silent a moment.
"Have you ever seen the shapes of the heads of Egyptian Pharaohs, notably
the Eighteenth Dynasty? They're very much like these, egg-shaped and bulbous.
Tutankhamun’s most noticeably. The more I think about it, the resemblance is
really uncanny."

"But the Nephilim would
predate the Egyptian pharaohs by a couple thousand years."

"They could still be their
descendants."

Fayd cocked an eyebrow. "DNA
testing between our winged friends and the Thutmosid Dynasty? Absolutely fascinating.
But the question would be when were our Nephilim friends introduced to the
Egyptians? Did they come as female concubines, introduced into the royal
bloodlines? We know that Tutankhamun’s mother was a secondary wife from another
land. Your husband would know where she came from, would he not?"

Kathlyn wriggled her eyebrows in
agreement. She found herself wishing Marcus was here for a myriad of reasons.
He was always so much more level headed about things than she was. Kathlyn
tended to interpret scripture literally and let things run away with her. This
was by far the most fascinating thing she had ever come across in all her years
and she knew Marcus would think so, too.

  "What did you call it? The
Eden Factor?" She looked up at the mummy. "It would make sense."

  "Then you understand what
I'm trying to accomplish."

Leave it to Fayd to bring about
his own selfish interests in the midst of a truly incredible discovery. Kathlyn
looked at him with contempt.

"No, I still don't,"
she said frankly. "Now it seems even more outlandish than it did
before."

He sighed, truly disappointed
that he still didn't have her support. "Then maybe we should simply
explore the rest of the cavern and see what we find. Perhaps it will take more
time for you understand."

Kathlyn didn't say anything. Her
silence was answer enough. Fayd took the flashlight from her and walked to the
nearest of the three offshoot tunnels. He shone the flashlight into the
darkness.  Kathlyn walked up behind him, looking over his shoulder.

 "Well? What do you
think?" he asked.

 "I think we should jump in
with both feet."

It was the classic Kathlyn Trent
answer, and Fayd began to walk. The floor of the tunnel was uneven and gritty,
causing them both to occasionally lose their footing. After an eternity of
walking in the musty darkness, the floor began to slope downward at about a ten
degree angle and they were suddenly hit by a strong, pungent odor. It was
strong, earthy, like the scent of male cats marking their territories.
Kathlyn's nausea, so unpredictable, descended with full force.

 "Damn," she hissed,
her hand to her mouth. "What is that smell?"

"Smells like an
animal."

"Smells like an entire
zoo."

The tunnel continued for a long
length of time. The smell began stronger and stronger, accompanied by odd
sounds of rustling somewhere in the blackness at the end of the tunnel. Kathlyn
had no idea how deep they were or in what direction they were facing. The
ambiance was disorienting and she grew increasingly apprehensive.

"It sounds like something is
alive down there," she whispered.

Fayd paused. "As I
understand it, the villagers never make it down this far. They're convinced
Hell is down here. When they were hiding out in the caves, it was only within
the first cavern. Apparently, they're too frightened to go any deeper."

Kathlyn had to admit that she was
frightened enough to reconsider going any deeper. "If the villagers are
afraid to go deep into these caverns, there may be a reason. What if there are
some wild animals living down here?”

"I've thought about
that."

"Where's that gun?"

"You made me leave it in the
first cavern."

"Maybe we should go back and
get it."

Fayd looked at her, his features
outlined in the flashlight beam. "I doubt there are any wild animals down
here. Think of how deep we are.  The only thing that could be down here are
bats, and I don't think we need a gun for them."

He had a point. Kathlyn shrugged
her shoulders and gestured him onward. The shaft continued to descend for an
indeterminate amount of time until it abruptly opened into a strange, stenchy
grotto.

 The first thing they noticed was
an odd glow that filled the cavern, generated from an unknown source. The
chamber was easily three stories high, with a connecting series of long, narrow
catwalks crisscrossing it in all directions. Each catwalk was connected to
holes in the wall, perhaps four feet in diameter, jaggedly cut as if blasted
into the wall. The catwalks themselves appeared to be made of rock, though they
had no idea how something like that might have been accomplished.  The longer
they observed, the stranger the sight became.

There was a floor far down below,
with clutter strewn about it and a couple of small fires. There was heat rising
in their faces, though they couldn't imagine that such small fires would put
out so much heat.

  "Maybe some of the
villagers live here," Kathlyn whispered. "It would make sense with
the bad smell and cooking fires."

"But the villagers are
afraid to venture down this deep," Fayd reminded her.

 "Well, it's got to be
someone. Fires don't just light themselves."

"Thieves? Murders? Maybe
it's a lair for hoodlums."

Kathlyn's uneasy feeling took a
dramatic increase. Also, the putrid odor seemed to be getting stronger, though
it could have been her imagination. "Then maybe we should go back and get
the gun."

"Good idea."

No sooner did they turn around
than something was blocking their path. Startled, the flashlight fell from
Fayd's grip and the figure in front of them let out a screech that set
Kathlyn's hair on end. It was a terrifying, unearthly sound. Not wanting to be
cornered in the dark, restrictive shaft, Kathlyn and Fayd bolted into the humid
cavern, ending up on one of the narrow catwalks a couple dozen feet off the
ground. They could see something moving back in the tunnel where they had been,
then just as abruptly vanishing.

Kathlyn's heart was pounding in
her ears as she tried to regain her breath. "What in the hell was
that?"

Fayd's suntanned skin was pale
with fright. "I don't know. But I would suggest we resist any further
exploration until we properly arm ourselves."

Kathlyn didn't want to go back
into the tunnel, but it was the only way out. "Damn," she hissed.
"Did you even get a look at what it was?"

"No. Did you?"

She thought a moment, a slow
horror creeping over her. "Not really," she said. "But for a
moment before you dropped the flashlight, I swore I saw...."

"What?"

She swallowed, sickened. "Oh
my God," she murmured. "The tip of a wing, maybe. I don't know, it
all happened so fast."

She could hear Fayd's breathing
coming in short gasps. "Do you think it was actually one of those hybrid
creatures?"

"I have no idea."

"Then let's get out of here.
We're not properly equipped to handle this and I'm not sure I want to at this
point."

"I agree. But I really don't
want to go back through that tunnel."

Fayd maneuvered himself in front
of her. "I'll take the lead. Just stay with me. And run like hell."

He charged into the hole full
throttle. Kathlyn followed. Or, at least, he thought she did.

***

The airport at Luxor was large
but fairly primitive. With all of the tourists in and out of the Valley of the
Kings, especially since Marcus had made the find of the Millennium two years
ago, it was surprising the Egyptian government hadn't vamped up the terminals
with all of the additional revenue.  The airport was even bringing in direct
international flights, big jets full of money-spending vacationers landing
smack in the Land of Sphinxes and Temples. Considering eighty percent of all
Egyptian artifacts were in and around the Thebes/Luxor area, it was an
extremely popular destination and the airport was grossly overworked.

Marcus waited in the heat and
dust with Lynn, Dennis, Gary, Jace and Tony. Jace had spent most of the morning
on the phone to the FBI headquarters in Washington explaining the situation and
seeing what kind of help they could obtain to launch a rescue mission to Iraq
without creating an international incident.  Marcus had made one phone call, to
McGrath back in the states to inform him of what was happening, and left it at
that. He knew McGrath would undoubtedly be on the horn to Leeves, and the
president in turn would unquestionably contact the FBI.  There were many ways
to accomplish things. Marcus just wanted to make sure everything possible would
be done and every possible base was covered.

It was close to noon by the time
the chartered plan that had taken Kathlyn and her crew to Iraq landed on the
long, dusty strip.  Debra Jo had called ahead before they left Iraq, so they
had some idea of when to expect them.  It was all Marcus could do to keep Lynn
from running out on the tarmac and getting himself chopped into fine little
pieces by the turbo props. When the twelve-seater Boeing DC8 finally came to a
halt in an area of the terminal away from the big overseas flights, Lynn broke
loose and was the first one at the door.

An airport worker rolled out an
old portable staircase and braced it up against the plane. From inside, someone
threw the latch and the door began to swing open. Lynn helped it along and
nearly tore it off its hinges. He climbed into the plane before anyone could
get out.

Marcus stood at the base of the
steps as Larry and Andy came out first, carting their video gear and looking
tired and ragged. Debra Jo was next, her blue eyes ringed, followed by Lynn
helping Juliana.  Her left hand was swathed in bandages and she looked
exceptionally pale.

  "We've got to get her to a
doctor," Lynn was torn between anger and apprehension. "It's been
twelve hours and she hasn't seen one yet."

"We wanted to get out of
Iraq as quickly as possible," Debra Jo offered an apologetic explanation.
"We did the best we could wrapping it and keeping it clean."

Lynn just moved past them, his
arms around Juliana, on the way to the truck.  Mark watched them go.

"There really wasn't any
more we could do," she said to Marcus. "We had to get back here as
quickly as possible."

Marcus nodded. "I know. Lynn
will take her over to the private hospital. She'll be fine." He noticed
the extreme dirt on their clothes, their bodies. "So tell me what
happened, from the beginning."

Debra Jo did. Marcus wasn't
merely angry; he was baffled as well. He remembered Kathlyn telling him long
before this started that Fayd was unscrupulous and sly. Yesterdays' events just
proved how far the man would go to accomplish his ends.

 "But as far as you know,
she's all right," he wanted reassurance.

Debra Jo nodded. "She was
fine when we left her. According to Mark, she was even bossing Fayd
around."

Marcus sighed, contemplating the
next few steps. "So the most he wanted to do with her was explore that
cave. They've more than likely already done that. Where are Mark and Otis?"

"The last I saw, they were
hanging out in the desert, watching the cave entrance. They swore they'd call
if anything came up."

"Is it possible they're
still in that cave?"

"You've seen Kathlyn around
an archaeological find, Marcus. You know how wrapped up she gets."

He lifted his eyebrows.
"True enough. Well, that's good. It buys us some time if they're both
still in their exploring whatever there is."

"What are you going to
do?"

His cobalt blue eyes moved off
towards the eastern horizon as if he could see her. There was pain in his
expression. "Get my wife back."