Then Brandt's face came over the front of the wing. His features upside down, he was shouting something, but who could tell what it was?
"Light show!" Lopez said as Vakasa clapped. "I think he's agreeing with her."
"You're just imagining things," Talli stated, but Rebecca wasn't so sure.
"No," she said, trying to read Brandt's upside-down lips. "He is saying light show."
She tried to follow his logic. Why go there? They would scatter the crowd.
That was it!
"Lopez, head there!"
Without even waiting for an explanation, Lopez course corrected, turning them due east toward the pyramid.
Levont's hearty laugh filled the aircraft. "He wants us to land, get those people on their feet, then blend in with the crowd."
Rebecca sighed, glad that someone else had come to the same conclusion. It was such a long shot that they shouldn't even be trying it, yet the upside-down Brandt nodded vigorously, then disappeared. Apparently satisfied that they were headed in the right direction.
Vakasa clapped again. "Valo dango!"
"Yes, baby," Rebecca said, pulling her into a hug, "we are going to the light show."
Although, she seriously doubted if it was in the way Vakasa had hoped.
Brandt clung to the plane as it sped toward the pyramids. The jets buzzed again, this time so close Brandt was pretty damned sure he wouldn't need a haircut for the next three weeks.
The light show played out starkly against the night sky. It truly was a spectacular sight. Somehow the pyramids looked even more majestic than they did during the day. The history of Egypt played out across their surface.
And thankfully, it was a tourist haven. There were hundreds of seats filled. Brandt hated endangering them, but he seriously doubted the F-16 would fire into that crowd. The international incident that would cause? Their plane making an emergency landing there was bad enough. The Egyptian government seriously didn't want tourist deaths added on top of that.
He gripped even harder as the plane made its steep descent. Lopez, as always, was thinking ahead. If they had descended any earlier, the jet fighters may have shot them down just to keep them from reaching the event.
Even now, the jets came in low and hard, trying to force them down.
Lopez held steady even though the tiny plane, never built to take the kind of punishment the corporal could deal, shook violently. Brandt had a bird's-eye view of their landing. Not that even a bird would be stupid enough to try what they were trying.
Someone in the crowd must have heard their approach. The man turned and pointed.
Thank God. They were almost on top of the crowd. They needed them to disperse. A hue and cry went up as Lopez brought them just over the desert floor. A blur of people scattered, tipping over their chairs, as the plane touched down, bounced...hard, then went back up again. Brandt's sweaty palms nearly gave out as his lower body slid back and forth across the wings. Those twin-engine prop blades only a few inches from his feet.
Brandt pulled himself as tightly to his belly as he could as they touched down again, bouncing again, landing again, bouncing again, until they crashed into the rows of white folding chairs. The blades chewed up the plastic, sending debris flying in all directions. A lot apparently into his back and arms.
Then they were on the ground, really on the ground this time, rolling forward. Lopez cut the engines and hit the brakes, hard. And there was just no way Brandt could hang on. As the plane came to a stop, Brandt flew forward, over the nose of the plane, and crashed into the front row of chairs.
His shoulder hit the sand, finally bringing him to a stop as well.
Brandt rolled over onto his back as the sound of rattling machinegun fire filled the air. Guess the Egyptians weren't as worried about bad press as he'd hoped. The others fled the plane as bullet holes tore into the thin metal.
Grunting, brushing plastic off his back, Brandt rose.
No rest for the weary.
Rebecca kept a tight hold of Vakasa's hand as they ran from the plane. The crowd wasn't much farther ahead. They should have been able to blend in before the jets made their next pass. She tossed a glance over her shoulder, expecting Brandt to be hot on their heels. Instead, he was running in the opposite direction.
Why the hell would he go that way?
Then the high-pitched squeal of the other plane explained why.
Another fighter jet, new to the hunt, honed in on Brandt, firing at his heels. Dust kicked up, chewing up the sand.
"Brandt!" she screamed, but he kept running.
"Damn it! Change of plans!" Lopez shouted next to her. "Get the girl to safety!" he said, pushing her toward the crowd. "We'll get him!"
Before the men could head out after Brandt, Vakasa squirmed out of Rebecca's hold and ran across the desert.
"Thor!" she called out.
"No!" Rebecca yelled, but it did no good.
The men fired up at the jets as they all raced across the desert. The pyramid was still blanketed in reds and greens as scenes of the building of the great monuments played on despite all the chaos.
Vakasa was fast. Like, crazy fast. She caught up to Brandt, then passed him, heading straight for the pyramid's entrance. The little girl stopped at the tomb's entrance, waving as if she expected Lopez to take a vacation photo. Rebecca was sure that he would want to. However, he was a little busy trying to keep the jets from mowing them down.
Brandt reached the entrance first, scooping Vakasa up into his arms. He made to head toward them, but Rebecca waved him forward. Using what little lung capacity she had left after the sprint, Rebecca shouted, "No! Go inside."
There was no way they could make it back to the crowd. It had way too much of a head start, and the only cover was that pyramid. Brandt looked like he was going to fight her on it. After all, it would trap them inside. However, Vakasa wiggled out of his arms and fled into the darkness.
Brandt held out his hand, but not to Rebecca. "A gun!"
Levont supplied him with one. As bullets pelleted the stone, the point man led them into the pyramid. He swept his light from side to side.
"Where did she go?"
"Just go down," Rebecca said. This shaft of limestone went down at about a thirty-degree angle until there was a juncture.
Half-sliding, half-running, they made their way to the T. One shaft went up into the king and queen's burial chambers. The other continued downward to a subterranean chamber that was oddly incomplete. Scholars still debated the use of such a chamber.
"Which way?" Brandt asked, puffing air himself.
With the roar of the jets outside dampened by the walls, Rebecca cocked a head, trying to hear the patter of little feet. However, there was nothing. Just the sound of their harsh breathing.
Which way would Vakasa have choosen? Which way would a little girl have run? Or more aptly, which way would a supposed Messiah have choosen?
Either way, up would be the most obvious.
Rebecca pointed down. "I think she went below surface."
"Good enough for me," Brandt announced as Levont made his way down the limestone passage.
"Shouldn't we split up?" Talli asked. "Cover both options?"
Brandt shook his head. "If we go down..."
"We go down together," Lopez agreed.
Rebecca wished just once that going down wasn't the most likely option.
"Holy shit!" Stark announced, pointing to one of the many news channels he had on his screen.
Grainy cell phone footage showed a biplane landing near the pyramids, disrupting the popular light show. Oh, and did she mention that there was a man clinging to the wings? There was no doubt who was flying that plane or who was hanging on.
Bunny crossed her arms. "So does this qualify for the Disciples knowing where Brandt and the others are?"
"I do think this might qualify for an event that allows us to break radio silence," Emily added.
Prenner still frowned. "I know what you two want, but my brass is never going to authorize us stepping in."
"Just call Brandt," Bunny suggested as she watched the group run inside the pyramid. Where the hell did they think they were going? Every passage within the tomb was a dead end. Of course, as jets apparently streaked overhead, looking for a target, a pyramid was as good a place to hide as any.
Finally, the lieutenant gave the nod. Stark keyed in the commands, pushing his earpiece farther into his ear. He tilted his head. "No joy. They aren't responding to my ping."
"Try Davidson," she said, counting off the people who had entered the temple. Only six. And no skinny-assed white boy.
Stark typed rapidly. "Nope."
Bunny chewed on her lip. It made sense the others didn't respond. She could remember the press of those tunnels. The limestone was probably blocking the signal. Davidson, though? If he were true to form, he should be set up somewhere along the periphery of the Giza pyramid complex.
Unless he didn't realize they were going to land near the light show. Come to think of it, that didn't sound exactly like a pre-calculated rally point. So Davidson was in the wind. Or he was...
Nope, she wasn't going down that road.
If he was alive, why wasn't he answering?
CHAPTER 16.
Giza, Egypt 9:42 p.m. (CAT) "Il suo bene," Davidson said. "It's okay" in Italian. Yet the three sweaty men still advanced. He'd already tried Arabic, Farci, and even Armenian, yet the men didn't seem to speak any of the most common languages in Egypt.
His only solace was that he was pretty sure these men were not Disciples. Dressed in near rags and smeared with urban detritus, they seemed to be street thugs. Three street thugs with knives. Sure, Davidson could shoot, but that would advertise his location to not only the Egyptian police who were crawling all over the area, but the Disciples who must have descended upon the area since Lopez's little circus landing.
The men looked like they came prepared to loot. A common occupation these days in Egypt. Some gangs were even accused of fomenting riots just so they could loot afterward.
Now, though, these men had a far more valuable prize in sight. An American. An armed American. How much would the government pay as a bounty? Or how much could they ask as ransom from the US? Either way, it wasn't looking so good for Davidson. He needed to get out of this situation quietly and quickly.
Neither of which looked very likely at the moment.
Davidson secured his rifle onto his back and pulled a knife out of its sheath on his leg. The men brazenly smiled. Davidson pulled a second knife from his belt. Holding both weapons in the blade-back position, Davidson nodded to the men.
Funny, their smiles faded. They were used to ambushing tourists. Mugging them for their valuables, then running. Not a one of the three seemed any too happy about going up against a trained man. Yet the odds were still on their side, so they advanced.
Davidson danced back, waiting for one of them to commit.
The largest of the bunch grunted, shoving the smallest guy forward. The man stumbled, righting himself. He glared over his shoulder yet found no support there. Davidson flipped one of the knives, caught it, aiming it forward.
The guy must have decided to just dive in, as he charged at Davidson. He sidestepped, dragging the knife's edge along the man's arm. Davidson could have gutted him, easily, but the less mess the better. The man grasped at his bleeding arm, wavering to the left, then to the right.
Davidson grabbed him by the collar and shoved him back to his gang. Then he set up in attack position again.
The largest man glared, his jaw muscles working up and down. Finally, he must have decided that this little payday wasn't worth the effort. With a guttural signal, he urged his gang back down the alley.
Not taking any chances, Davidson headed off in the opposite direction. This building would have made a nice perch, but now he would have to go find another one.
He could only hope he didn't miss too much.
"I've got her!" Levont shouted from up ahead.
Rebecca pushed past Talli. "Vakasa, stop!"
Brandt brought up the rear. "Catch our six," he ordered Talli as he moved forward to see what all the fuss was about. Rebecca was struggling to pull the little girl from the end wall. Her fingers were bloody as she dug into the limestone.
"Honey, no," Rebecca coaxed, but the girl just wouldn't leave it.
The little girl's resistance didn't matter as Brandt picked Vakasa up by the waist. "Maybe we can get back-"
That had just been wishful thinking, as footsteps echoed down the tunnel. Getting chased into the pyramid by two jets kind of gave law enforcement a heads-up to their location.
Which meant they were trapped. Brandt set down the girl. She made a beeline to the wall. Her only stop? To grab a knife from Levont's leg.
"Hey!" the point man protested.
She seemed deaf to his concern and used the point of the blade to dig into the thick wall. Brandt ignored her. As long as she wasn't hurting herself or anyone else, Brandt said go for it.