Area 51: The Grail-5
his large shoulders. "Or The Ones Who Wait. Both groups undoubtedly have your higher echelons of government and military thoroughly infiltrated and compromised. They want Area 51 vulnerable. They destroyed my country's Area 51; yours is next." The Russian had the bag over his shoulder containing what they had managed to pilfer out of the Russian Archives on their raid, minus, of course, the Spear of Destiny, which they suspected acted as a key to the lowest level of Qian-Ling.
    "What about Doctor Duncan?" Quinn asked.
    "Mualama knows where she is," Turcotte said. He wanted the bouncer inside the secure hangar before they off-loaded the team member's body. "Let's seal this place."
    Quinn gave the necessary orders and the bouncer floated in, the large doors sliding shut behind it. Then Quinn gestured for them to follow him toward the large
    42

    freight elevator that led to the Cube—command and control central.
    "We've been looking at Burton's manuscript. It's in a language no one can recognize."
    "Hakkadian," Mualama said. The African archaeologist had spent most of his life following the path of Sir Richard Francis Burton around the world, finding clues here and there that led him further in pursuit of a "lost"
    manuscript of Burton's. Mualama had told them that it detailed all that Burton had learned of the aliens and their minions on the planet.
    "What exactly is Hakkadian?" Turcotte asked.
    "A distant forerunner of Arabic," Mualama answered. "Last spoken in ancient Babylon. Burton was an extremely amazing man. He spoke twenty-nine languages fluently."
    "The only things we could read were the foreword and a letter put on top of the manuscript by his wife," Quinn said. "Pretty amazing stuff."
    "Where exactly in Giza is Duncan?" Turcotte pressed.
    "Directly under the Great Sphinx." Mualama quickly told them of the Black Sphinx and the chamber hidden inside.
    The doors to the elevator opened and they walked toward the Cube. They paused as a red light suddenly began flashing.
    "What's that?" Turcotte asked.
    "Security sensor," Quinn said. "One of you is bugged."
    Turcotte's first instinct was to look to Che Lu. She had been under the control of The Ones Who Wait at Qian-Ling, although he wasn't certain why they would want to bug her. It wasn't as if the location of Area 51 was a great secret anymore.
    43
    "Go through one at a time, please," Quinn said.
    Turcotte went through first and there was no alarm. Che Lu was second, and again,, nothing. Mualama followed and still no red light. Turcotte stared hard at the Russian—after all they'd been through to have this happen—but again he had the same question as with Che Lu: why? And when could this have happened?
    Yakov stepped through and the red light began flashing. Quinn picked up a small handheld detector and ran it over the Russian's body. He paused when he was at the back of Yakov's neck. "It's there."
    "How?" Turcotte asked.
    "Whatever it is," Yakov said, "it was not there last time we came through here. So it must have been placed on me since then."
    "Katyenka," Turcotte said. It was hard to forget someone who had tried to kill him. She had been a GRU operative, Yakov's former lover, but actually working for The Ones Who Wait who had ambushed them in Moscow.
    Yakov nodded. "Yes. She had opportunity and reason." He took his heavy coat off.
    Turcotte shook his head and tried to make light of it. "I can't leave you alone for a moment, can I?"
    "It makes sense. It is how those soldiers found us in the Archives," Yakov said. He ran his fingers through the thick lining near the collar, then paused before pulling out a small black object about a quarter inch long. "Here it is. Nothing very exotic. Standard GRU issue. Range about three miles, but very intense so they could track us through the tunnels under Moscow." He tossed it on the floor and smashed it with his boot. "Shall we continue?"
    Turcotte paused, considering the Russian. It was indeed most likely the bug had been

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