The Pharaoh's Secret (NUMA Files 13)

With Renata in the care of a medical team, Kurt, Joe and Edo took to the skies in an Aerospatiale Gazelle painted with the Osiris colors and logo.

Edo was the pilot in command, Joe sat in the copilot’s seat and Kurt studied the blazing-white sands passing beneath them. They covered miles of barren land, endless dunes and wind-carved rock formations that were famous for their ethereal beauty. A pair of vehicles on the desert floor caught their eye, but a quick inspection proved them to be abandoned.

Farther on, Kurt spotted the long, thin track of a pipeline cutting across the open desert. It ended beside a gray cinder-block building, disappearing beneath the desert like a serpent going underground. “That’s it,” he said. “Where the pipeline comes out of the sand.”

Edo angled toward it, descending. There were no vehicles parked by the low-profile building, no sign of a welcoming committee.

“Looks deserted,” Joe said.

“We can’t be too sure,” Edo replied. “They may be waiting for us inside.”

“I can see a helipad,” Kurt said.

“I’ll put us down there.”

The Gazelle caused a minor dust storm as Edo flared for a landing, but the swirling sand abated once the rotors began to slow down.

Kurt was already out on the ground, crouched and holding an AR-15 in case someone attacked them while they were most vulnerable. He scanned doors and windows, ready to fire, but no adversaries appeared.

Joe and Edo soon joined him. Kurt pointed forward. He’d heard a banging noise, like a shutter broken loose in a storm.

He took point with Joe and Edo flanked out wide so no one could hit all three with a single burst. They found a door that had been left open. It was swinging in the breeze and slamming against the jamb but unable to shut because its dead bolt was extended.

Edo pointed to the handle and indicated he would pull it wide. Kurt and Joe nodded.

As Edo yanked the door open, Kurt and Joe aimed their rifles into the building and switched on their powerful flashlights over the lower rails of the stairs, illuminating the room.

“Empty,” Joe said.

Kurt stepped through the door. The building was incredibly utilitarian. Cinder-block walls, concrete floor. A twisting set of pipes led from the main line to a trio of pumps that looked like the high-pressure boosters Edo had mentioned. On the far side lay the only thing that seemed out of place. “Look at this.”

Joe followed the beam of Kurt’s light and added his own to it. The two lights converged on a metallic cage and a powerful winch system. “It looks just like the elevator in the underground cavern.”

“We’re at least thirty miles west of there,” Kurt replied. “But, you’re right. It’s the same setup.”

Kurt found the power switch and the elevator came to life. “Let’s get to the bottom of this.”

The three of them climbed into the elevator car. Joe palmed the loosely attached control box. The gates closed and the car lurched downward.

When the gates opened again, the three were hundreds of feet below the surface, in a room filled with more pumps and pipes.

“These pumps are much larger than the ones on the upper level,” Edo noted. “More like the setup at the Osiris hydroelectric plant.”

Kurt noted that the pipes went downward into the ground. “They must be drawing a huge amount of water from the aquifer here.”

“Or putting it back in now, thanks to you,” Joe said.

They moved past the pumps, searching for the laboratory they’d hoped to find. Through one door they found the control panel for the network. On the display, it was clear that the pumps were still operating in reverse, the way Kurt had set them.

“I’m surprised they didn’t just reverse the pumps before running away,” Joe said.

Kurt had been thinking the same thing. He tapped the keyboard and attempted to execute a command. It asked for a password. He typed in some random numbers and was denied. A message box popped up that read System Lock / Osiris Command Key Required.

“This is a remote station,” Kurt said. “The pump direction was switched in the main command center. They must not be able to override that order out here unless someone with enough authority types in the proper password.”

They agreed and continued exploring the station.

“Look at this,” Joe said.