The Alexandria Link

FIFTY-SIX

MALONE ENTERED THE BUSINESS CENTER FOR THE RITZ FOUR Seasons. They’d left the monastery through the main entrance. Since the doors could be opened from the inside, the portal had offered the quickest way out.

They’d then rounded the building and discovered where Adam and his compatriots had entered. The chapter house’s elegant windows, adorned with old stone tracery, were the only panes not barred. They stood six feet off the ground and faced a darkened side street. Two bushy trees had offered excellent cover for the break-in.

They’d then walked a few blocks east into Belém’s business district and caught a trolley into Lisbon’s center. From there they’d taken a cab north a few miles to the hotel. No one said anything on the trip. Malone remained in a quandary. Where he’d thought McCollum was the threat, the danger turned out to be much closer. But he’d ended any further hunting by tossing the watch into a row of box hedges that lined the cloister garden.

He needed to think.

So they entered one of the business center’s conference rooms and closed the door. A phone and a computer waited on the table, along with pens and paper. He liked that about the Four Seasons. Tell ‘em what you want and you get it.

“Cotton,” Pam said immediately. “That watch was a gift. I told you that. From the man I’ve been seeing.”

He did recall her saying that in London. A TAG. Expensive. He’d been impressed. “Who is he?”

“A lawyer for another firm. Senior partner.”

“How long you two been an item?” It came out as if he cared, but he didn’t.

“A few months. Come on. How could he have possibly known any of this would happen? He gave me that watch weeks ago.”

He wanted to believe her. But wives of agents had been compromised before. He reached for the phone and dialed Atlanta and the Magellan Billet. He told the voice on the other end who he was and what he wanted. He was instructed to hold. Two minutes later a male voice said in his ear, “Cotton, this is Brent Green. Your call has been sent to me.”

“I need to talk with Stephanie.”

“She’s unavailable. Quite a lot is happening here. You’ll have to deal with me.”

“What’s the attorney general doing in the middle of Billet business? You usually stay way back from that.”

“It’s complicated, Cotton. Stephanie has been relieved of her duties, and we’re both in the midst of a battle.”

He wasn’t surprised. “And it all relates to what I’m doing here.”

“Precisely. There are people within this administration who placed your son at risk.”

“Who?”

“We’re not sure. That’s what Stephanie is trying to find out. Can you tell me what’s happening there?”

“We’re having a ball. Just one party after another. Lisbon’s a blast.”

“Any reason why you have to be sarcastic?”

“I can think of a ton of them. But I need you to do something. Check out a man named James McCollum. He says he was army, special forces.” He gave Green a quick physical description. “I need to know if he’s real, and his background.” As he made the request he stared straight at McCollum, but the man never flinched. “What’s happening with Stephanie?”

“That would take too long. But we need to know what you’re doing. That could help her.”

“I never knew you cared that much.”

“I fail to see why everyone thinks I dislike the woman. Actually, she has a great many strong points. But at the moment she’s in trouble. I haven’t heard from her, or Ms. Vitt, in several hours.”

“Cassiopeia is there?”

“With Stephanie. Your friend Henrik Thorvaldsen sent her.”

Green was right. There was a lot happening there. “I also have an issue with my ex-wife. Seems the Israelis have been tracking her.”

“We’re aware of that. A man she was seeing in Atlanta was an Israeli sympathizer. The Mossad asked him to give her a few things. A watch, a locket, a cocktail ring. All were GPS-active. We assume the idea was that she’d wear one of them at some time or another.”

“That means the Israelis knew a move was coming on my son, so they got ready to take advantage of it.”

“That’s a safe conclusion. Is the Alexandria Link still intact?”

“Didn’t know you knew anything about that.”

“I do now.”

“The Israelis permanently took care of that yesterday and almost got us a little while ago.” Now he really needed to think. “I have to go. You have a number where I can dial direct?” Green gave it to him. “Sit tight. I’ll be back to you shortly.”

“Cotton,” Green said. “That lawyer your ex-wife was seeing. He’s dead. Shot a few days ago. The Mossad cleaned up their trail.”

He registered the message.

“I’d keep her close,” Green said. “She’s a loose end, too.”

“Or something more.”

“Either way, she’s a problem.”

He hung up. Pam stared at him. “Your lover’s dead. Israel took care of him. He was working with them.”

Shock twisted her face. He could not have cared less. That man had been part of placing Gary at risk. “It’s what happens when you pet a rattlesnake. I wondered how we were tracked to the hotel in London. There’s no way we were followed from Haddad’s apartment.”

He saw how upset she was, but there was no time for her feelings. Worrying over impossibilities could get you killed. He faced McCollum. “You heard me. I’m checking you out.”

“Through with the theatrics? Remember, I still have the rest of the quest and we don’t know where to go from here.”

“Who says?” He found the photo from the book in the gift shop and unfolded it. “Find the place that forms an address with no place, where is found another place. Okay, we found the place where silver is turned to gold. This. The Nativity. Bethlehem. Belém. What has an address but no place?” He pointed to the computer. “Lots of addresses and no places associated with a single one. Web addresses.”

He sat before the machine.

“The Guardians had to have a way to control the clues. They don’t seem the type to just throw something out there and leave it. Once an invitee, or a stranger, made it this far, they’d need a way to stop the quest if they wanted to. What better way than to have the final clues on a website they control.”

He typed BETHLEHEM.COM, but was routed to a commercial site loaded with junk. He tried BETHLEHEM.NET and found more of the same. Then, on BETHLEHEM.ORG, the screen turned white and a question appeared in black letters.

WHAT IS IT YOU SEEK?

The cursor flashed below the inquiry above a black line, ready for the answer. He typed in THE LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA. The screen flickered, then changed.

NOTHING MORE?

He typed what he thought they wanted to hear.

KNOWLEDGE.

The screen changed again.

28º 41.41N

33º 38.44E

Malone knew what those numbers represented. Find the place that forms an address with no place, where is found another place. “It’s the other place.”

“GPS coordinates,” McCollum said.

He agreed, but he needed to ground-site them, so he found a website and entered the numbers.

A few seconds later a map appeared.

He immediately recognized the shape-an inverted isosceles triangle, a wedge cleaving Africa from Asia, home to a unique combination of mountains and deserts surrounded by the narrow Gulf of Suez to the west, the even narrower Gulf of Aqaba on the east, and the Red Sea to the south.

The Sinai.

The GPS coordinates identified a site in the extreme southern region, in the mountains, near the apex of the inverted triangle.

“Looks like we found the place.”

“And how do you plan to get there?” McCollum asked. “That’s Egyptian territory, patrolled by the United Nations, close to Israel.”

Malone reached for the phone. “I don’t think it’s going to be a problem.”