The Forbidden Tomb

15

By midday, almost everyone in the group was well rested and well fed. Garcia had put in a full eight hours in his bunk, all the while breathing in deep, booming roars that didn’t seem possible for a man of his size. Sarah had managed roughly half as much sleep, but it was more than adequate for her. She felt calm and focused, ready for the evening ahead. Even McNutt, who couldn’t return to his room because of the noise, had found some peace and quiet on the foredeck. He had curled up in a lounge chair and enjoyed a morning nap while dreaming of belly dancers and grapes.

Cobb was the only one who hadn’t slept. He had closed his eyes for a while, but his brain hadn’t gotten the message. The mission was too close. In a few hours they would be entering the tunnels under Alexandria. They would have to work quickly and efficiently. He couldn’t afford to sleep; not when the time could be better spent rehashing the details of everything he knew… and everything he didn’t.

After a quick lunch of fruits and meats from the local market, everyone gathered in the makeshift command center that Garcia had pieced together on the boat. The radar room — a nook to the rear of the bridge — was usually used by the captain to plot their location and monitor their position. The radar system could display the harbors and other boats within an area of a hundred miles. Garcia had expanded the capabilities available in the small space by adding a multitude of electronics and computing hardware. With these upgrades, Garcia could not only chart a course, he could receive real-time audio and video updates from their destination — any destination, anywhere on earth. All he needed was someone on the other end to feed him information.

‘Show me what you can do,’ Cobb said.

Garcia entered a command into his computer, then turned a monitor so that everyone could see. The screen split into a grid, with each section showing what appeared to be live video footage. ‘These are feeds from security cameras all around the city. As you can see, they don’t cover every inch of public space, but if you get close enough to someone’s house or their business, there’s a good chance I can find you.’

‘How do you have access to all of that?’ Jasmine asked.

‘Sarah’s friend Simon. He was able to give me a list of all the frequencies being transmitted throughout the city. Most of this is actually coming from equipment he installed. The signals that aren’t are coming from his competitors, but they have to share the information so there’s no conflict. It took him less than five minutes to send me everything I needed.’

Papineau wasn’t convinced. ‘I imagine that only a handful of cameras operate on radio technology. The others would utilize cables, satellite feeds, or wireless signals. How are you able to tap into everything?’

Garcia smiled. ‘It’s all just numbers. Radio. Cable. Satellite. Wireless.Just different points on the electronic spectrum. You point the receiver at the right frequency, run the signal through a few filters, and boom, you get a picture.’

‘It can’t be that simple,’ Papineau said.

Garcia was annoyed, even a bit insulted by Papineau’s remark. ‘Actually, there’s nothing simple about the science. But I don’t have the time or the patience to explain every little detail involved in the process. I went to school for the better part of a decade to learn how to do this, and then I spent years refining it in the field. So, despite my watered-down “Surveillance for Dummies” lecture, please don’t question my expertise. If I say we’ll get a picture, we’ll get a picture.’

Papineau was so unaccustomed to backtalk from Garcia that he chose not to respond. Neither did the others, who sat there with their mouths agape.

Meanwhile, Cobb didn’t have time to massage wounded egos. He pressed on, putting Garcia back on track. ‘So, assuming there’s a camera, you’ll be able to see us.’

‘Yes. Or you can take one with you.’ Garcia entered a different command then picked up a flashlight. He swung the flashlight around the room, showing everyone that it was also a video camera linked directly to his computer. Whatever he aimed the lens at appeared in high definition on the monitor. ‘Remember these?’

The group had used similar devices during their previous mission. They had worked precisely as intended: relaying information back to Garcia. All the while, no one outside of the team had known the gadgets’ true capabilities.

To everyone else, they looked like ordinary flashlights.

‘No need to reinvent the wheel,’ Jasmine said.

Garcia nodded. ‘Exactly. They worked before. They’ll work again.’

Cobb noticed that this version was slightly larger. He took a second flashlight from the desktop, gauging the weight in his hand. ‘These are a bit longer, a bit heavier than the ones we used last time.’

‘You don’t miss much, do you? You’re right, these have been upgraded.’

‘Upgraded how?’ Cobb asked.

‘For starters, I’ve embedded a memory card into the handle. Not only will you transmit, you’ll also record.’ He dropped a cloth over the lens of the flashlight. A moment later, the image on the monitor turned a pale shade of green. ‘You also have night vision in this version. Press and hold the on/off button for five seconds, and it activates the infrared light. Even in pitch black, this captures everything. And it doesn’t just help me see what’s going on; you can use it, too.’ Garcia unscrewed a cap at the butt of the handle, revealing a small viewfinder. He put the flashlight to his eye, holding it like a pirate would hold a spyglass. ‘It might be a little awkward to navigate like this, but if you’re trapped in the dark, this can get you out.’

Papineau took Garcia’s flashlight and rolled it in his hands. ‘You’re sure that this can get a signal up through the ground? They’re liable to be thirty, forty feet below the surface. Perhaps more.’

Garcia was getting tired of Papineau’s challenges, but he kept his frustration in check. ‘These were tested in Romanian caves. They transmitted a perfect signal through solid rock. Forty feet of sandstone and ancient sediment isn’t going to be a problem. Between the flashlight cameras and the earpieces, we’ll be in constant contact.’ Garcia opened a small plastic case with miniature earplugs inside. These flesh-colored earpieces were communication devices that could be concealed inside the ear canal.

‘Sounds good,’ McNutt said as he reached into the case.

Garcia snapped the lid closed on his fingers. ‘No, not you. You get something special.’

McNutt’s role in the plan called for him to hide in plain sight, somewhere near the entrance to the tunnels. If anything went wrong for Cobb and Sarah, he was their backup. In the meantime, he had to blend in. That meant they couldn’t risk someone noticing his earpiece; the last thing they needed was to raise suspicion.

Besides, Garcia had a new gadget in his bag of tricks.

This would be the perfect opportunity to test it.

Garcia raised a pair of tweezers that held a tiny sliver of thin, flexible plastic. ‘It’s been imprinted with all the necessary circuitry to both send and receive radio transmissions. And it would take a dentist to spot it.’

McNutt’s face twisted in confusion. ‘Why a dentist?’

‘I’m going to anchor the film behind your molar, in the farthest corner of your mouth,’ Garcia explained.

‘Screw that,’ McNutt said.

Papineau glared at him. ‘You have an issue with this method?’

‘I had a bad experience with a retainer once, so I’m not a fan of dental work.’ McNutt laughed to himself. ‘Then again, he could have told me that it would take a proctologist to find it, so I guess this is better by comparison.’

Garcia stepped toward McNutt as the others chuckled at the comment. He raised the tweezers, but McNutt cut him off before he could get anywhere close.

‘Oh, hell no,’ McNutt said. ‘Not you. Let Jasmine do it. Her hands are smaller. You’ll drop that thing down my throat, and it’ll be seven years before we see it again.’

‘That’s gum,’ Garcia replied.

‘And this is plastic and, well, um, a bunch of other stuff that I don’t want in my colon. Give Jasmine the damn tweezers, or I swear to God I’ll bite your fingers off.’

Jasmine took the tweezers with the tiny device and set about installing it as Garcia explained how it would work.

‘The microphone will pick up everything you say and transmit it across a secure frequency to the rest of us back here in the harbor. That much is fairly common technology. The real beauty of the implant is the way it uses your jawbone to project the incoming signals. It vibrates the fluid inside your head to amplify the sound. You, and only you, will be able to hear the voices. Anyone standing next to you will be completely oblivious to the conversation.’

‘So I just talk normally?’ McNutt asked as soon as Jasmine finished. ‘Check one-two-three. Testing. One-two-three. Can you hear me, Papa Bear?’

Garcia stared at him. ‘Of course I can hear you. I’m standing right here. Walk away or something so we can test it.’

McNutt did as he was told while Garcia put on his headset. He pushed the microphone in front of his mouth before he whispered, ‘Can you hear me, Josh?’

‘Yes!’ McNutt shouted from across the room.

‘Josh, just speak normally if you have to. But remember that your job tonight is to listen, not to talk… Okay?’

McNutt shouted again. ‘Okay!’

Garcia winced from the sound in his ear. ‘Josh, why are you screaming? I told you not to scream.’

‘Why? Because you’re freaking me out. It’s like you’re inside my head.’

‘Technically, I am inside your head.’

McNutt froze in place. ‘You can’t hear my thoughts, can you?’

Garcia laughed, unsure if it was a joke. ‘Why would anyone want to do that?’