'Sorry, boys. One way in, one way out.'

The lead man had enabled the flashlight tool on his cell phone - the device's only useful feature so deep beneath the earth - and was holding it out to illuminate the ominous path that lay ahead. The fellow looked extremely distressed, and rightfully so, thought Stokes. What could possibly be going through his mind right now? Could he know that he was a caged animal being led to the slaughter?

Stokes grinned widely. 'h.e.l.lo, gentlemen. Welcome to Armageddon. So glad you could make it. Those weapons aren't going to help you now. Nothing can help you now.' He put both elbows on the desk and cradled his chin on folded hands, beaming.

When the tall man in the middle came close to the camera, Stokes paused the feed and minutely studied the infamous, iconic face. How Crawford could plant reason for doubt was impressive. Fahim Al-Zahrani. The odds were incredible, on the outer fringe of impossible. Yet the picture didn't lie. The Lord had brought the Dark Prince into the lion's den for ultimate judgement. How poetic, thought Stokes.

Stokes estimated that it wouldn't be long until they reached the main chamber.

He switched the camera back to the entry tunnel. Though it was nearly eleven a.m. in Las Vegas, nightfall had already descended over Iraq's northern mountains. It wasn't sunlight that now filled the pa.s.sage - it was floodlights. And at the opening, he could just make out two marine snipers lying prostrate on the incline. Crawford had indicated that a SUG-V would soon be sent into the tunnels.

Then just outside the window, Stokes heard a pecking sound. He turned to see a white dove perched outside his window. An untrained observer would easily consider this a miracle since doves weren't native to the Mojave Desert. However, it wasn't uncommon for local hotels to release flights of doves during wedding ceremonies. But surely this lone messenger had been sent for Stokes.

He has given me a sign that the time has come. 'Thank you, Lord. I am your servant. I am your avenger.' With renewed vigour, he turned back to the computer and input the encryption keys that brought up the Remote Systems Interface. Using this simple command module, Stokes could manage virtually the critical systems installed in the cave's deepest, most protected chamber. He stared at the main panel where seven indicator icons blinked 'SEALED'. He moved the mouse pointer over the first icon and let his index finger hover over the mouse b.u.t.ton.

'Is it time, Lord? Give me a sign.'

The sign he received was not what he expected: a new message alert chimed over the computer speakers. His heartbeat quickened.

Stokes immediately switched program windows to check his email inbox. An absurd thought came to him: might G.o.d be so bold as to communicate through e-mail?

But the message was not from Heaven. It was from Iraq. Crawford's simple message read: 'NEED MORE TIME.'

Disappointed, Stokes clamped his jaw tight.

When he turned to the window, the dove was no longer there. The rash on his hands suddenly flared and he scratched at it incessantly with a letter opener, with little relief. Then he dipped into his pocket for his pillbox.

27.

BOSTON.

Studying the USAMRIID insignia on the BlackBerry's display, Brooke positively recognized the three icons central to its design: a chromosome helix, a Petri culture dish and a five-pointed star. Such a unique image was easy to remember, and she was certain that this was the exact insignia embossed on the scientist's report cover. 'I don't understand. How could the Infectious Disease guys have anything to do with the cave?'

Flaherty shook his head. 'We've had bioweapons teams in Iraq since we first stepped foot there. Remember, Iraq supposedly had a huge cache of WMDs?'

She vividly remembered the Department of Defense's elaborate slideshow on national television that included ominous, yet hazy, satellite images of Iraqi weapons facilities ready to churn out biological agents. In the context of it all, the mission statement listed on USAMRIID's website made perfect sense: 'To conduct basic and applied research on biological threats resulting in medical solutions to protect the warfighter.'

'Maybe they found something in the cave, like a chemical weapons stash,' he guessed.

'I don't remember anything like that.' She keyed the agency name into Wikipedia Wikipedia and scrolled the entry. 'Says here the agency began in the fifties at Fort Detrick, Maryland ... biomedical defence ... opened a state-of-the-art biocontainment facility in 1971 ...' and scrolled the entry. 'Says here the agency began in the fifties at Fort Detrick, Maryland ... biomedical defence ... opened a state-of-the-art biocontainment facility in 1971 ...'

'The Crozier Building. That's where they test and stockpile weaponized Ebola, anthrax and smallpox, among other things. You know, Cold War goodies.'

'Nice.' She kept reading. 'What's a BSL facility?'

'Biosafety containment lab. I toured a BSL-4 mobile unit at one of our security conventions. Picture a tractor trailer with a state-of-the-art safe lab, a built-in airlock and Hazmat gear. I remember the guide saying they used them during the Gulf War.' He considered this for a moment, then said, 'Hey, any chance you saw something like that at the cave? Any guys wearing bio-suits?'

It didn't take much thought before she replied, 'No.'

The more Brooke read, the more the military's biodefence division sounded like a biological bakery that specialized in the most unsavoury recipes. She wasn't sure whether to praise or fear its existence. 'Who runs this place?'

He p.r.o.nounced the acronym USAMRIID phonetically: 'You-sam-rid. It answers to the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command. An army colonel oversees the operation.'

'Not a scientist?'

'Nope.'

'Isn't that a conflict of interest?'

He chuckled. 'Most would argue that bioweapons are a matter of national security. But you go ahead and write your senator, Brooke.'

'So why would an archaeologist have been talking to these people?'

'Probably wasn't an archaeologist, is my guess.'

'Wait. If samples had been sent to this agency for testing, there'd be a record of it, right?'

'Maybe.'

'Can you call one of your people to check it out ... to see if tests were performed on samples from Iraq during that time? Maybe we can figure out who ordered them and why.'

'That's a good idea,' he said. 'But first, I need to call my guy in Iraq ... let him know what happened back at the museum.'

In the side mirror, Flaherty eyed the illuminated headlights of a Ford Explorer that had turned in behind him three blocks earlier. The SUV trailed at a comfortable distance, occasionally falling back two or three car lengths. Nothing to worry about ... yet.

Flaherty pulled out his sat-com and put a call out to Jason.

28.

'Hey, Jason,' Flaherty said loudly into the sat-com's microphone. The dense storm clouds over Boston made the satellite signal sputter like crazy. 'It's Tommy. Can you hear me?'

'Yeah. What's up, Southie. You're a bit choppy ... but ... hang on a sec ...'

Flaherty heard crinkling static and squawking, as if Jason had stuck the phone in his pocket. In the slow lane, he continued cruising steadily along Huntington Avenue towards downtown. The snow had slowed to a sprinkle, but the roads were coated in briny slush, bringing traffic to a crawl.

A few seconds went by before Jason came back on the line.

'Sorry, buddy. Have to be super careful with these calls. I've got a real ball buster commanding the marine platoon that came to back us up. Doesn't want me talking to anyone. Gotta keep everything on the down low.'

'Understood.'

'What do you have for me?'

'Found your scientist in Boston.'

'She as cute as her picture?' Jason asked.

Having overheard the comment, Brooke looked expectantly at Flaherty with raised eyebrows.

'Eh,' Flaherty said in a minimalist tone.

She hit him in the arm and he smiled to let her know he was teasing.

'Actually, she's in the car with me,' he explained.

'Oh,' Jason said in a confused tone. 'Okay ...'

'So let me put you on speaker. That work for you?'

'Sure.'

Once the introductions were over with, Flaherty said, 'Like I said in my text message, Brooke was there in 2003. Part of an excavation team that studied that cave you uncovered. She deciphered an ancient language ... some writings found on a wall.'

'There were also picture engravings,' Brooke added.

'I've seen the writing,' Jason confirmed. 'The pictures, too ... carved into the left wall of the entry tunnel.'

'That's them,' she said. 'Beautiful, aren't they?'

'Um. What does it all mean?'

'It's a bit complicated. But it's the earliest recorded specimen of ancient Mesopotamian mythology ... a story about a woman who came from another land.' At this point, having almost been murdered, she was comfortable with throwing her confidentiality agreement to the wind.

'The woman who was decapitated?' Jason asked.

'That's the one.'

'Why did they kill her?' Jason asked.

'The story implies that many people died shortly after her arrival. Similar to a colonial witch hunt, I suppose,' Brooke guessed. 'She was different, came from a faraway place. They didn't understand her.'

'And they blamed her for the deaths,' Jason said.

'Absolutely.'

There was another pause, and Brooke knew that Jason was trying to understand the military's interest in this archaeological discovery. He was incredibly intuitive in sifting for the devil in the details.

'What was her name?'

'Actually, it wasn't specified in the writings I studied.' Evil didn't really need a name, she thought.

Flaherty jumped in, anxious to get to the juicy facts. 'Hey, Jason, you're not going to believe who brought Brooke and the other scientists over there, all expenses paid ...'

Brooke gave him a thumbs-up.

Flaherty recapped Brooke's story. He explained her role in the excavation sponsored by none other than the US military - the tight security protocols; the mysterious facilitator known only as 'Frank'. Jason had plenty of probing questions, most of which Flaherty fielded, with Brooke occasionally chiming in for clarification. Jason focused mostly on Brooke's recollection of the cave's layout.

'Brooke, you only saw the first leg of the tunnel?' Jason clarified.

'That's right.'

Flaherty felt a tug on his sleeve. When he looked over, Brooke held up the BlackBerry and tapped on the USAMRIID logo. Then she pointed to the phone and mouthed, 'Tell him.'

'I'm afraid it gets even stranger,' Flaherty warned. 'It wasn't just the military that watched over the excavation. Seems the guys at USAMRIID were involved too.'

'What? You mean the biochem guys?'

'Yeah.'

A pause.

'Any idea what the connection might be?' Jason finally asked.

'No,' Brooke said. 'Sorry.'

'Brooke didn't see anyone suited up in Hazmat gear,' Flaherty added. 'So I don't think there is any hazardous material in there.'

'All right,' Jason said. 'We're prepping a recon bot to send into the cave. I've got enough surprises to worry about.'

Flaherty wanted to ask Jason if the quarry was still trapped in the cave, but ruled against it. Jason sending a bot into the cave did, after all, provide indirect confirmation that the hunt was still under way. 'I'm afraid there's something else. Something you should definitely be concerned about.'

'Great,' he said. 'Hit me.'

'Right after I spoke to Brooke, some guy with a gun came after her. Tried to kill her.'

'Christ,' he groaned in frustration.

'Yeah, we barely got out of there alive,' Flaherty said. He painted a quick picture of the incident that took place outside the museum.

'That's too much of a coincidence for my taste,' Jason said.

'Not sure who the gunman was ... or who might have sent him,' Flaherty said. 'But Brooke offered a good suggestion. Seems USAMRIID sent out some samples for processing. If our guys can dig through USAMRIID's records, we might find out what they were studying ... and who ordered the tests.'

'Smart thinking. Look, Tommy, you two need to keep safe until we figure out what's going on here.'

'I know. I'm taking Brooke to the office now,' Flaherty said. 'You watch over your shoulder too.'