The Swords of Babylon

CHAPTER FORTY THREE

Karin patched Gates through on a conference call line. The Secretary of Defense’s voice sounded strained, and Drake clearly heard the underlying exhaustion in the normally upbeat tones.

“The tombs in Iceland, Germany and Hawaii have come under fire,” he reported. “Not only that, they are now in enemy hands. We still control the surrounds, but the tombs themselves are occupied by hostiles. God help us.”

Hayden stepped closer to the phone. “Is it Cayman and his boss?”

“We don’t know. They have hostages. We’re having enough trouble convincing the local authorities that the hostages are the diversion, without wondering who ordered and executed the attacks.”

“Leave that to us,” Hayden said. Briefly, she reported their findings to date. Drake stated that it sounded like the ‘three like minds in three tombs’ translation was being followed to the letter. Gates sounded distracted, but seemed to take most of it in. When Hayden finished, Gates cleared his throat and took a moment to think before speaking.

“We’re truly being handed our asses here,” he said. “No one foresaw someone having the capability to organize a simultaneous strike against all three tombs and, not only that, but actually take them. You would think we’d have learned after the Kovalenko business.” He paused. “But still, the serpents inside Capitol Hill distract those who would do good with their constant maneuverings and cunning trickeries. It gets harder every day to keep your eye on all the right balls, to keep them in motion. But now — now we will pay the price. It will take a miracle to get out of this one intact.”

Gates ended with a brief call to arms. When he finished, the people in the little room, standing close the heart of ancient Babylon, in sand-scoured, sun-scorched Iraq, knew the heights to which they had to reach.

Higher than ever before.

“At least we now have a plan,” Drake said. “We have three different tombs with three forces inside. These ‘like-minded’ men will be there too. We need to stop them activating that device by any means necessary.”

Dahl moved to the table, staring down at the objects resting there. “And we’ll take the swords with us.”