Текст книги "26 - Storm Cycle "

Автор книги: Iris Johansen

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NINE

"Come on." Tavak took Rachel's arm. "We're all going to back to Demanski's to watch the fountains."

Rachel shook her head. "For God's sake, it's almost four in the morning. And why risk going back there and pissing Demanski off?"

"Because Demanski's fountains are the only ones that have light shows all night long."

"That's a hell of a reason."

Tavak grinned. "I thought so. So did the kids."

"We've got to get a flight to Houston in a few hours. Don't you ever stop?"

"Occasionally." He nudged her toward the entrance, following Simon and the students out into the street. "But not if I have good company, and the music is playing."

"There's no music playing."

"Then we make our own music." He tapped his temple. "Up here. Listen. Don't you hear it?"

"No."

"You will. Maybe you haven't had enough wine."

"Alcohol-induced hallucinations?"

He shook his head. "Magic. It just sometimes has to have a little help."

"Alcohol-induced magic." She smiled. "Demanski was right. Crazy as a loon."

He nodded. "Sometimes. A little madness makes the ugliness easier to take." His smile faded. "Simon told me about that sniper. He said another inch, and you would have died. Why didn't you tell me?"

"It was my problem. It wasn't your concern."

"The hell it isn't. Quite a coincidence. I start stealing from Jonesy, and all of a sudden you're a target."

"Simon must have told you that a lot of people resent me, even hate, me. It probably had nothing to do with you or Peseshet. If I didn't know what you were doing, why would anyone else? And if they did, why would they want to shoot me?"

"I don't know. To shut down Jonesy at least temporarily? Without you, everything goes bust." His lips tightened. "Anyway, you should have told me. I thought I was the only target, or I wouldn't have let you go back alone to the hotel from that train station in Paris. Going at anything blind is stupid. Don't do that to me again."

"No." She repeated, "It's not your concern."

He shook his head. "Stubborn." He suddenly smiled. "No matter. I'm on the scene now, and I'll know everything you'll know." He pulled her the last few yards to the wrought-iron fence that enclosed Demanski's fountains. "We have five minutes to go. We'll stand here and I'll shut up and you'll hear the music."

The hell he'd know everything she knew. Things weren't going as she wanted them to go. Tavak had managed to insinuate himself into her life when she'd only meant to use him. It was time to distance herself.

"No music in my head. That's the Demanski light-show sound track." She started toward Simon standing several yards away. "And for your information, everything would not go bust. I'm not that irresponsible. I've made provisions. Simon would take over until a new head was appointed. No one is irreplaceable."

"You're wrong." She heard Tavak chuckle behind her. "You'd be pretty near impossible to replace, Rachel."

She glanced over her shoulder to see that he wasn't following her but had turned and was staring at the fountains. No, he was too clever to push when he knew that he had irritated her.

"You look pissed," Simon said, as she reached him. "I knew it couldn't last. You were having too good a time. I can't remember the last time you had enough to drink to mellow you."

"Well, I'm not mellow now."

He glanced at Tavak. "What did he do to you?"

"He tried to tell me what to do."

"Oh, that would do it." He smiled. "I thought he was smarter than that."

"He was smart enough to get you to tell him about that sniper."

"I didn't think it was top secret."

"It's not. I just didn't think it was his business." She shrugged. "But he seems to be good at inveigling information."

Simon clapped his hand to his head in mock horror. "God, I've been inveigled."

"Oh, shut up."

Simon glanced at Tavak. "You're right. He's something of a Pied Piper. All the students are nuts about him."

"So I saw tonight." She had watched Tavak become one with that group of students, telling jokes and stories and turning on that vitality like flashing neon. "That only makes him more dangerous."

Simon was silent. "I like him, Rachel."

"You were the one who warned me against being manipulated."

"I like him," he repeated. "And he got you to party. He can't be all bad." The fountain sprays suddenly exploded, leaping high in the air. "Here we go. What a blast."

* * *

"Tavak and the Kirby woman are outside looking at the light show," Gower said sourly as he came into Demanski's office. "Of all the bitchin' nerve. Do you want me to go down and toss them into the fountain? Maybe we'd get lucky and they'd drown."

"It's not likely." Demanski hung up the phone. "There's supposed to be a special providence that protects the fools and the madmen of the world."

"And which one is Tavak?"

"Well, he's not a fool. I'm not sure what else he is yet." He leaned back in his chair. "But I intend to find out. I don't like not being able to gauge an enemy. Rachel Kirby is no problem. I know what she wants and what she'll do to get it."

"She's already got it." Gower's eyes narrowed. "Or has she? Are you actually going to let her hold you up like that?"

"Have you ever known me to break my word?"

"No. So let me break it for you," Gower said. "Along with both their heads."

Demanski chuckled. A loyalty like Gower's was rare, but it often escalated into mayhem if Demanski didn't rein him in. "No, it's a done deal. I won't back out. I've just been on the phone making sure that Kirby gets her precious cycles."

"You don't seem upset about it."

Upset? Demanski had been mad as hell earlier, but now that he'd calmed down he was feeling something entirely different. It had something to do with the excitement and exhilaration he had seen in the faces of Kirby and Tavak and those kids they had used to bilk him. How long had it been since he had felt that same zing in anything he did? The thrill of the chase, the pleasure of being the best, of being able to pull the rug out from under an opponent at incalculable risk. His battles were much more civilized these days.

But Tavak was still experiencing that intoxicating jolt. Demanski had seen it in his expression in those last few minutes before he had thrown them out of his office.

It had made him jealous as hell.

"No, I'm not upset. The first battle seldom decides a war. They took something away from me. Now let's see what we can take away from them."

"Yes."

"Kirby and Tavak impress me as being an odd duo. I believe we need to know why they're working together. To do that, I need to know everything I can about Tavak."

"No problem." Gower's smile lit his rough features. "Consider it done. But I still think you should let me break their heads."

ARDMORE UNIVERSITY

"Nice campus," Tavak said, gazing out the window of Simon's Toyota. "I generally don't like anything connected to university life, but this is very unprepossessing."

"Why don't you like universities?" Rachel asked.

"I grew up in one." One side of his lips lifted in a sardonic smile. "I was a freak, and Harvard might have been a high-class carnival, but I was a sideshow nonetheless."

"I imagine you were," Simon said. "But you seem to have survived pretty well."

"When I was able to shrug off the brainwashing and set off to do my own thing."

Rachel tried to recall all the details of his dossier. "And your own thing was being a mercenary, a thief, and God knows what else."

He smiled. "God knows. He also knows I usually have a hell of a good time, and I never look back." He gazed at the building they were approaching. "Is that Jonesy's domain? I'm eager to come face-to-face with him."

"Well, you're not going to do it yet. We're just here because I want to pick up my car. I left it here before I went to Cairo. Simon is going to take you to the Galveston lab so that you can show him all your backdoors into Jonesy. You used that branch of the network to tap into us, didn't you?"

"Yes, but I can just as easily show you what I did from here."

"Not anymore. Until we get your hooks out, we've isolated that branch from the rest of the system."

Tavak nodded. "Of course. Very wise. You're not going to escort me personally?"

"Simon can do it. He's the one who found the break. I'm going to see my sister."

Tavak was silent a moment. "I'd like to meet her."

"And I don't want you to meet her." Rachel got out of the car. "I'll be back here at the lab by six tonight. That should give you enough time to show Simon what we need to know."

"Probably," Tavak said. "Why don't you want me to meet her?"

"You're something of Pied Piper. She thinks I'm nuts to believe you can find a cure for her. But after I started thinking about it, I decided it's better if she does think that. You have a way of making black look like pure gold. I don't want her hopes raised, then dashed." She opened her car door. "So you stay away from her."

"Whatever you say." His brows rose. "Pied Piper? I never thought of myself like that. Didn't he lead the rats into the river? That's almost a heroic role."

"You're no hero." She glanced at Simon. "Make sure we close every backdoor in Jonesy, Simon."

Simon nodded. "Every single one. I remember what a headache it was looking for them." He backed the car out of the parking area. "See you at six, Rachel."

She watched them drive away before she got into her car. It was noon, and that gave her at least five hours to spend with Allie. Lord, she wasn't looking forward to it. It was going to be difficult as hell trying to handle Allie.

Dammit, she would look forward to it. Forget the problems. Every moment she spent with Allie was precious.

* * *

"Allie! I'm home," Rachel called as she opened the front door. "Where are you?"

"Here." Allie came down the hall from the direction of the kitchen. "I've been cooking lunch. I've found a new Paula Deen recipe for crab cakes that's terrific."

Rachel gazed at her warily. "Paula Deen?"

"Yes, Southern cooking is better than anyone else's. Don't you think so?"

"Your cooking is always wonderful."

"Yes, it is." She smiled serenely. "I'm quite the chef. It's one of the few skills I could learn that you gave your full approval. Probably because I could do it within the safe confines of home and hearth. That's also why you approved of my becoming an artist."

"For heaven's sake, you have an incredible talent."

"Yes, I do. But wasn't it convenient that I could exercise that talent here with no stress? I could enjoy the creativity and have a limited fan base. No risks. No challenges I couldn't handle." She turned away. "Lunch is almost ready. Go wash your hands and we'll eat and you can tell me what a fantastic cook I am."

"How do you feel? You look great."

"I'm good. I'm on the upswing again." She was moving down the hallway. "Lots of energy."

"Wait. What's happened? You were upset as hell when I last talked to you."

"You bet I was." She turned around to face her again. "And then I thought about it and realized I wasn't being fair. You were desperate and you wanted to do something. You grabbed for the brass ring again." She smiled faintly. "Do you remember when we were kids and used to ride the carousel in the park? I could never stand up and reach for that brass ring, so you'd do it for me. You were pretty small, but you'd stand up on the horse's back and try and try until you got it for me."

"It wasn't worth it. Just a cheap little trinket."

"I still have one of those brass rings in my jewelry box. It wasn't cheap to me. Whatever you do has value for me." She wrinkled her nose. "Even going on crazy quests for the biggest, brightest brass ring of all. It was hard to swallow that particular sacrifice. It choked me."

"It's no sacrifice. That's bull. Nothing I do for you is a sacrifice."

"The hell it's not. You never even thought about getting that brass ring for yourself." Her lips tightened. "And I wasn't generous enough to think of it for you. I just accepted everything when I was a kid. After I grew up I tried to stop, but the habit was firmly in place for both of us." She looked her in the eye. "It's time to put an end to it, Rachel."

Rachel shook her head. "I have to do this, Allie."

"I know you do." She paused. "But this time I'm not going to let you be in it alone. If you think there's a brass ring to be had, then I'll help you reach for it. I'll give you a little time to get used to the idea, but I'm not going to be left behind. I'm not helpless. I'm on the upswing and feeling much better now. I may not be as smart as you, but I'm intelligent, and I have skills that you don't."

"Allie, no."

"Rachel, yes," Allie said softly. "You're not going to leave me home and take this challenge away from me because I'm sick and you want to protect me. It's too late for that now. I won't have it."

"Allie, there's nothing for you to do."

"We'll see." Once again Allie gave her that serene smile. "Now come and eat my crab cakes. They're better when they're hot."

ARDMORE UNIVERSITY

"Six sharp," Simon said as he pulled into the parking spot beside where Rachel was standing. "As you commanded. But I didn't get all the work done in Galveston."

She gazed at Tavak. "You didn't cooperate?"

He shrugged. "I gave him what he wanted."

"Simon?"

"He gave it to me, but it's so damn complicated it's taking me a hell of a long time. So I thought I'd drop Tavak off and go back. Okay?"

"Okay." She watched Tavak get out the car. "Phone me if you have trouble, and I'll come."

"I know how to do it. I've already closed one backdoor. It's just that I don't think the way Tavak does. Hell, nobody thinks like Tavak." He grimaced. "It's like being in a maze with no exit."

"You did pretty well," Tavak said. "In fact, you did damn well."

Simon grinned. "Are you patronizing me?"

"I wouldn't think of it." Tavak got out of the car. "I never intended to make closing those doors easy."

"Then you succeeded." He waved his hand. "I'll call you if I need rescuing, Rachel."

Rachel turned to Tavak as Simon drove away. "Could you have made it easier for him?"

"Well, I could have done it myself. But then he wouldn't have had the satisfaction of working through it. Simon needs a challenge." He smiled. "That's why he works for you."

She had seen that quality in Simon before she had hired him. Tavak was very perceptive. And that perceptiveness made him even more dangerous. "Just so you didn't hold anything back."

"I didn't." He grinned. "But that doesn't mean I haven't an idea or two about getting back into Jonesy by another method and route. It would be much more difficult now, and Simon isn't the only one who needs a challenge."

"Don't you dare." Lord, that was feeble, she thought wearily. He'd dare whatever he chose, and she'd have to find a way to cope with him. At the moment, that prospect seemed insurmountable.

Evidently Tavak must have sensed that weariness because his eyes narrowed on her face. "Not such a good visit with your sister? She's not well?"

"Well? She's dying, dammit." She turned and strode toward the security entrance of the building. "And she wants to help. She wants to catch the brass ring for me. She wants me to stop protecting her."

"Help?"

"Peseshet's cure. She doesn't believe in it, but she wants to help me try to find it." She leaned back against the brick wall beside the door. "Do you know how many times she's been in a hospital in her life? I would have crumbled away at all the things those doctors did to her. She just kept on. She always just takes the pain and doesn't complain. I won't let her spend what might be her last days searching for something that might not exist. I told her that, but she just smiled at me." She could feel the tears sting her eyes. "And she kept talking about that damn brass ring."

Tavak reached out a hand, then let it drop before he touched her. "I'd like to help you, but I know you aren't going to listen to anything I say. Besides, I'm not good at comforting people. I'm awkward as hell."

"I don't need you to comfort me." She straightened away from the wall. She didn't know why all that emotion had erupted. Maybe because he was a stranger, and she felt less vulnerable venting with someone who didn't know her. She cleared her throat. "I'm sorry. You don't care about any of this. As you said, it wasn't a good visit." She turned and unlocked the door. "Let's have you meet Jonesy. The main computer is much more complex than that Galveston branch."

"I'm looking forward to it." He paused. "You know, your sister may be like Simon and me… and you. She may need a challenge in her life."

"Staying alive is her challenge. She couldn't have a bigger one."

"She may be ready for another one."

"Then she's not going to get it." Rachel opened the door and made an effort to smother the emotion that was tearing her apart. "The subject is closed, Tavak."

He nodded. "But I don't think it's any more firmly shut than those backdoors I showed Simon." He didn't wait for an answer as he surveyed the computer lab they'd entered. "This is your supercomputer? I expected it to be—"

"Bigger?" Val turned from a bank of three monitors. "That's what everyone says. But you don't need a building full of processors when you're using power from machines all over the world." She stood up and walked toward Rachel. "I don't know how you did it, but Demanski's computer network has already been integrated with Jonesy. It's an incredibly powerful system."

Rachel leaned over Val's desk and checked the readings. "That's why I wanted it so much. By the way, Val, this is John Tavak."

Val glanced at him. "I've spent two days figuring out how you tapped into our network. It was ingenious."

Rachel shook her head. "Don't encourage him."

Val shrugged. "Give credit where it's due. Every time one of your security protocols did a system sweep, his spyware mimicked the behavior of one of our thousands of processing donors. That's why we couldn't catch him. His software was constantly adapting and learning new ways to stay hidden. I'm impressed."

"Coming from an expert such as you, Val, I take that as a great compliment."

Rachel was surprised to see the color flush Val's cheeks. The young woman had always received a lot of attention from her male colleagues, but Tavak was obviously having as potent an effect on her as he'd had on the students last night. She pointed to the allocation tables. "So Norton is back up to his full power?"

Val took off her wire-rimmed spectacles and wiped them on her shirt. "Yes. Maybe he'll finally get off our back. Whatever projects he's working on, they're using every ounce of his computing power."

"Aren't you curious about what the NSA is doing with your system?" Tavak asked.

Rachel smiled. "Me? No. But Val and Simon have wasted countless hours speculating on what he's doing."

"You're exaggerating," Val said.

"Only slightly. As the NSA gets more and more interested in the personal lives of U.S. citizens, there are millions and millions of pieces of information to be analyzed and sorted out. If one person buys airline tickets for himself and a couple of buddies, and one of said buddies happens to buy materials that could be used to make bombs, the NSA wants to know about it. And they want to know about it now, not in a few days or weeks. It takes a lot of computing power to sort through all those billions of transactions. Jonesy can do in minutes what might otherwise take them hours or days."

"Can't they build their own supercomputers?"

"They already have. But we're on the cutting edge here, and they're still playing catch-up. And Norton may be doing something with Jonesy that he doesn't want anyone to be able to tap or subpoena. The truth is, I don't care what they're doing. It's all encrypted anyway, and the information could be parsed out among hundreds of other systems. Even if we wanted to crack the NSA encryption—not a smart thing to try, by the way—our tiny piece would probably still be meaningless."

Tavak nodded. "If you say so. But the NSA project could be the reason that sniper was using you for target practice. Did that occur to you?"

"It occurred to me." Rachel crossed her arms and leaned against Val's desk. "Make up your mind. You were telling me your hacking into Jonesy could have gotten me shot."

"I find that even more reasonable. Less than seventy-two hours ago, Dawson tried to kill me for Peseshet's secrets. He wouldn't hesitate to do the same to you." He glanced at the monitor. "But what would Dawson have to gain from your death?"

"I'll give you the same answer you gave me. He could have been trying to slow you down."

He shook his head. "If you were out of the picture, it would only be easier for me to commandeer more of your computer network's resources." Tavak turned to Val. "No offense."

"None taken," Val said. "And you're right. Nobody knows this system better than Rachel."

"Okay, then," Rachel said. "Let's explore the possibility that perhaps I was shot by someone who wanted you to succeed." She stared him in the eye. "Perhaps you or someone you've been working with."

"Not my style."

Rachel laughed. "That's all you've got? 'Not my style'?"

Tavak nodded.

It was enough, Rachel realized. Tavak's calm, off hand manner inspired trust, no matter how cavalier he'd been about hacking into her network. She actually believed him.

Dammit.

Tavak leaned toward the monitors. "Now that I don't have to waste processing power hiding from you and Ms. Cho, your system should make faster headway processing my code." He produced a USB memory stick and handed it to Rachel.

"What's this?"

"The next piece of the puzzle. I managed to retrieve the first part of the message from the hard drive this afternoon. I worked on it in Galveston while Simon was laboring over all those backdoors."

Rachel muttered a curse. "And you didn't tell me?"

"I'm telling you now. If we can insert this into the code that I already have your system working on, retrieving the rest should be a slam dunk."

Rachel gazed at the stick for a moment. "Val, pull up Mr. Tavak's problem. Let's give it priority." She turned back to Tavak. "But what now? Even if we increase the processing cycles devoted to this code, it could still take days."

"True," Tavak said. "But as we confirm that your supercomputer is on the right track, it should get easier. That is, if Peseshet's disciple, Natifah, didn't change the code in each place. And we're also counting on her former patients—and the tradesmen who crafted these markers—to have correctly transcribed the symbols she gave them."

Rachel nodded. "I'll take a look at the decoding software you wrote. I've gotten pretty good at harnessing Jonesy's brute force in solving problems."

Tavak smiled. "I have a feeling that's like saying Tiger Woods is 'pretty good' at golf."

Val didn't look up from the keyboard. "You got that right."

"Part of the message is easy to read. It alludes to another former patient of Peseshet's who would protect her legacy. But I discovered that the scope of this puzzle may be larger than I first thought."

"What do you mean?"

"We already knew that Natifah had persuaded Peseshet's former patients to honor the doctor by erecting hidden monuments in their tombs. I assumed all of these patients were in Egypt, but that may not have been the case."

"You mean Natifah may have gone to other countries to hide the clues?"

"It makes sense. She was on the run, and it would have been smart to leave Egypt. She was in Babylonia when Peseshet was killed. She had to return to Egypt to retrieve Peseshet's tablets, but she wouldn't have had to stay there. In their travels, Peseshet and Natifah would have encountered any number of rulers or noblemen who would have been grateful enough to honor Peseshet as she requested. And since they weren't subjects of the Pharaoh, there would be less danger to them and their families for erecting these hidden monuments to her."

"So where does that leave us?"

Tavak showed her the pages. "The inscription on the wall of Kontar's tomb mentions a 'soaring bird of twilight' who protects the next piece of Peseshet's legacy. It says that this piece is written with the fire of the sun on his tomb. I couldn't find anyone in Old Kingdom Egypt who might match that description, but when I had Jonesy broaden the search, I found something interesting."

Tavak pointed to a photo that depicted a stone-chiseled representation of a man wearing ornamental robes. "This was a holy man in Babylon. We don't really know his name, although modern archaeologists call him Nemop. He's thought to have gained his powers only late in life, so he was well known as the Eagle Who Soars at Sundown."

"The soaring bird of twilight… "

"Yes. Babylonia was an important trading partner to Egypt during Peseshet's time, so it's entirely possible that she was sent to minister to the country's VIPs in exchange for goods or access to trade routes."

Rachel looked at Tavak's handwritten notes, which included a list of half a dozen items. "What's this?"

"Things that were probably buried with him to take to the afterlife. Clothing, work animals, dried fruits, twenty-two ounces of oil from a sillicyprium tree, among other things."

"I don't like where this is going. Does this mean we're about to raid another tomb?"

"I don't think so. Nemop did have a temple that he used in life and became a sort of shrine to him after his death. It was discovered in 1937 by an archaeologist named Danielle Hutton."

Tavak raised a downloaded black-and-white photo of a woman wearing tall boots, broad-pleated pants, white blouse, and a pith helmet. She appeared to be at a dig site.

Rachel glanced at the picture and smiled. "Are you sure this isn't a movie lobby card? She looks like Katharine Hepburn."

"Danielle Hutton was the real deal. But I can't find any information about where Nemop's shrine went. We know it was moved shortly after the discovery, but the trail goes cold after that. An occasional stray artifact from the site can be found in online museum catalogs, but I haven't been able to find anything else."

"It could have been lost or destroyed during World War II."

"Possibly. But there is someone we can talk to."

"Surely not Danielle Hutton."

"Afraid not. She died in 1995. But look at this." Tavak raised the picture and pointed to a little girl in a khaki outfit standing in the background alongside several men. "This is her daughter, Emily. She took up the family business and became a great archaeologist in her own right. She teaches at Berkeley."

"So we're headed to California?"

Tavak smiled. "Not exactly."