Seven Ancient Wonders - Matthew Reilly [33]
‘Captain Aziz al Anzar al Abbas, heavy arms, explosives, 1st Commando Squadron, at your command. Call-sign: Saladin.’
Then the Spaniards’ representative stood: tall, handsome and athletic, he looked like Ricky Martin, only tougher. ‘Lieutenant Enrique Velacruz. Unidad de Operaciones Especiales, Spanish Marines. Underwater destruction and demolition. Call-sign: Matador.’
The Jamaicans introduced a tall dreadlocked fellow named Sergeant V.J. Weatherly, call-sign: Witch Doctor.
The New Zealanders offered a big hairy-faced NZAF pilot nicknamed Sky Monster.
Last of all, the Irish proffered two representatives: one of which was the only woman to join this special multinational unit.
They sent Zoe Kissane and the giant fellow who sat at her side, her brother, Liam. Both hailed from the famed Irish commando unit, the Sciathan Fhianoglach an Airm.
She introduced herself: ‘Sergeant Zoe Kissane, hostage rescue, advanced medical. Call-sign: Bloody Mary.’
He did too: ‘Corporal Liam Kissane, also hostage rescue, bomb disposal, heavy arms. Call-sign: Gunman.’
And there they stood, around the wide table, the nine chosen representatives of eight small nations who were about to embark on the mission of their lives.
They would acquire a tenth member soon—Stretch, from Israel— but he would not be a member of their choosing.
They prepared to leave. A plane was waiting to take them out of Ireland and to the secret safehouse.
At the door, Abbas spoke to his son, Saladin, in Arabic. One word kept arising: ‘bint’.
The short fat trooper nodded.
As he did so, West stepped past them, walking out the door.
‘If you’re going to talk about her,’ he said, ‘please stop calling her “the girl”. She has a name, you know.’
‘You named her?’ Saladin said, surprised.
‘Yes,’ West said. ‘I named her Lily.’
They commenced their journey to the safehouse.
It was in Africa, in Kenya, but for secrecy’s sake they took a long circuitous route to get there, taking several flights over several days.
On one of these flights, Saladin said to Epper, ‘At the meeting we were given an extract from a book. It told of the Capstone and the Tartarus Sunspot. What is this Tartarus Sunspot and what relationship does it bear with the Great Pyramid and its Capstone?’
Epper nodded. ‘Good question. It is a most curious relationship, but one that takes on a new level of importance at this time.’
‘Why?’
‘Because in ten years’ time, in March 2006, we will see the second great turning of the Sun in modern times, a solar event that has not occurred in over 4,500 years.’
The big-bearded Arab frowned. ‘The second great turning of the Sun? What is that?’
‘Although you can’t see it, our Sun actually spins on its own axis, much like the Earth does. Only it doesn’t turn in a flat, even rotation as we do. Rather, it rocks slowly up and down as it spins. As such, every 4,000–4,500 years, a certain section of the Sun—a sunspot known as the Tartarus Sunspot—comes into direct alignment with our planet. This is a bad thing.’
‘Why?’
‘Because the Tartarus Sunspot is the single hottest point on the surface of the Sun,’ Zoe Kissane said, coming over and sitting down. ‘The ancient Greeks named it after one of the two realms of their Underworld. The nicer realm was the Elysian Fields: it was a place of eternal happiness. The nasty one, a cursed land of screaming, flames and punishment, was known as the Tartarus Plains.’
‘Global temperatures have been rising steadily for twenty years now,’ Epper said,’because the Tartarus Sunspot is approaching. When it shines directly upon the Earth, as it has done before, for about two weeks, temperatures will rise to unbearably high levels, around 110° Celsius.
‘Rainforests will shrivel. Rivers will boil. Humankind will have to move indoors for that time. It will be a literal scorching of the Earth, but it is survivable.
‘The problem is: the polar ice caps will melt, causing massive global floods. The oceans will rise by perhaps 15 metres. Many coastal cities worldwide will be severely damaged. But as I say, this is survivable,