came out of the so-called Clovis culture of making flaked stone tools and entered the Copper Age. Suddenly, we’re forming civilizations and technology. The earliest true civilizations known to history appeared around seven thousand years ago in Mesopotamia shortly after the Younger Dryas.”
“So you think that any intervention occurred between those two dates,” Rachel said.
“Perhaps because of the near extinction of mankind,” Karowitz said. “If we were indeed being watched by advanced species of unknown origin, then our near extinction may have prompted assistance. To impart the knowledge to achieve this leap would have required only the most basic of assistance in developing script, language, and novel construction methods.”
Ethan frowned again.
“This doesn’t help us figure out who exactly abducted Lucy.”
“But it could,” Karowitz said. “Lucy may have been abducted by people for whom faith is more important than truth. Such people are willing to pay mercenaries to locate such remains.”
Ethan tossed the idea around in his head, and somehow it seemed less desperate than radical jihadists abducting obscure scientists in a futile effort to change Western foreign policy. He glanced curiously at the remains in the cabinets around them.
“Mercenaries? Like fossil hunters? How much money would Lucy’s discovery be worth?”
“If Lucy’s discovery was the complete skeleton of an unidentified extraterrestrial species, then the value of the find would be astronomical.”
Cooper opened his mouth to speak, but Rachel ignored him and looked at Ethan.
“You think that somebody abducted her in order to steal the remains that she found?”
“It’s possible,” Karowitz answered for Ethan. “Fossils of prehistoric creatures often sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and creationist organizations have access to vast amounts of money.”
“If insurgents haven’t abducted Lucy, then Israel’s fear of media coverage is unfounded,” Ethan said. “We could use that to get the word out.”
“Israel’s media ban stays in place,” agent Flint said from beside them, speaking for the first time.
Ethan turned to face the two escorts.
“Anyone would think that you wanted her to stay kidnapped.”
“Our purpose,” Cooper said, smiling, “is to willingly put ourselves in harm’s way to protect both of you.”
“Please, you’re making me feel all warm and fluffy inside,” Ethan muttered.
Cooper didn’t respond.
“If it’s true,” Rachel said to Karowitz, “then Lucy could be anywhere by now.”
Ethan shook his head. “Not likely, they’d have to cross the Sinai into Egypt and they’d face the same problems there as here.” He turned to Karowitz. “Where was Lucy’s dig site?”
Karowitz balked as Cooper and Flint shook their heads at him in unison. “I don’t know.”
“Did the university send anyone to search for Lucy before raising the alarm?” Ethan asked instead.
“Yes, a local guide named Ahmed Khan, but I haven’t seen him since.”
Ethan made a mental note of the name and then came to a decision. He turned to Cooper.
“I need to use the can. You want to come hold my hand?”
Ethan walked down a corridor with Cooper following silently, turning as soon as he found the toilet door and going inside. The white-tiled interior was mercifully devoid of students as he strolled to a cubicle and unzipped, glancing over at Cooper.
“Want to hold it for me, or is that below your pay grade?”
Cooper stood with his hands clasped before him at the entrance to the cubicle, saying nothing. Ethan shrugged, finishing his business and washing his hands before turning and following Cooper toward the exit. As expected, Cooper held the door open for Ethan to pass through.
“Too kind.”
Ethan stepped through the open doorway onto his left foot, and then pivoted sideways and slammed backward into the half-open door, ramming Cooper against the tiled wall and pinning his arm against his chest. Ethan turned and jabbed the locked knuckles of his left hand up under Cooper’s thorax. The guard’s eyes bulged, swimming with panic as his throat momentarily collapsed under the blow and blocked his windpipe. Ethan yanked the door open, driving his left knee into Cooper’s plexus before hammering the point of an elbow down behind his ear as Cooper doubled over. Cooper crumpled sideways onto the tiles, his eyes rolling up into their sockets.
Ethan dragged the unconscious guard backward into a cubicle and checked that he was breathing clearly again before shutting the door behind him and hurrying back the way they had come. He walked into Karowitz’s office, and Flint turned to look at him.
Ethan wasted no time. Even as Flint’s jaw opened to ask where his colleague was, Ethan strode forward a pace and shot a fast left jab. Flint was quick, but not quite