Page 28 of Indirect Attack
“Sergeant Rusev.”
My head jerked up at the high, sharp tone of the messenger’s voice. He had paled slightly, and his eyes were wide.
“Order your men to the dig site now. We just got a credible threat against it.”
I was up out of my chair in a heartbeat, already heading to the door, but the messenger held out his hand. “I said your men. You’re still under investigation. Stay here.”
“Are you kidding me?” I burst out. “This isn’t the time to worry about bogus charges. I have to be there.”
The messenger’s eyes narrowed further. “Your men have to be. Not you. Do I make myself clear, Sergeant?”
I heard the warning in the man’s tone loud and clear and knew any argument would have dire consequences. It still took every ounce of self-control to step back away from the man.
“Order your men out, Sergeant,” he threw back over his shoulder and was gone.
He left me in purgatory, my rage burning beyond containment.
Chapter 14
Jasmine
I STOOD BACK, TAKINGa moment to catch my breath and gain my bearings.
Despite the fact that I’d stumbled to the site on only a few hours of sleep and coffee, my mind and body buzzed with joy over everything that had taken place the night before. I was floating on air, and I hadn’t even really needed the cup of coffee someone had stuffed into my hand when I’d arrived. The same energy had carried me through the day, where my team and I had worked feverishly to uncover the rest of the column.
But what we thought had been a column had turned out to be something even more unusual. Something spectacular.
Emerging from the dirt, the column had become a covered passageway, a stone door at the front end—the protrusion we had thought to be the base. But it was most definitely a door.
“I can’t believe it.”
I looked up to find Jason standing beside me, his gaze ensnared by the discovery rising in front of us. It was beautiful and ancient—the originators had carved images into the stone surface, images the likes of which I’d never seen. Two pitted iron bars set into rings held the door closed, although I knew at this point, so long buried, we would need to do more than simply unlatch the catch.
“Who does this belong to?” The same wonder I felt was in Jason’s voice.
“I have no idea.” I shook my head, even though there was no point because Jason wasn’t looking at me. We were both too overwhelmed and astonished to do much of anything beyond stare.
The images looked like nothing I’d seen before. Was it possible this was an entirely new discovery? A civilization we hadn’t yet touched? It didn’t seem likely, and yet, the evidence was right in front of us.
All thoughts of anything outside the room and the doors fled as my mind turned over the possibilities of what we might find beyond at the end of the passageway.
Was it a tomb? A passageway to a larger chamber or even a building?
“Historically, there are rumors that this area might have been the site of an ancient kingdom. But without evidence, historians thought they were simply stories, ancient legends, or that they referred to some other kingdom...”
Jason’s voice trailed off as the enormity of our discovery washed over us both.
If it was true, if this door led to something from an undiscovered, ancient civilization, then this was the find of a lifetime. Of several lifetimes. This discovery was what every archaeologist worked for, wished for, hoped for—it was the kind of discovery that not only made your career but put you on the map and in history books.
But more than that, more than my career, the door was a chance to discover, which was why I’d wanted to become an archaeologist in the first place. I lived for discovery, to imagine what had happened to ancient peoples and civilizations, to look at an object and try to discern where it came from, who it belonged to, and why they used it. I wanted to know how peoplelived, how they saw the world, what they believed, and how they believed it.
It was a look into a world I would never experience, and it seemed like an entirely new world was at my feet. Or under them.
The thrill of possibility shot down my spine, and I jerked from the excited shiver.
“We have to get this door open,” I said.
Jason had taken off his hat and swiped the back of his hand across his exposed and sweaty forehead. “You know, if this really is an ancient kingdom, it could seriously put into question the legitimacy of some of the long-standing beliefs around here.”
