Above Southern England
By 11.45 p.m. two flights were approaching cruising altitude above the southern-English countryside, one twenty minutes ahead of the other and on a faster flight path. The early Egyptian morning would greet them both, though it would rise on groups with starkly different ambitions.
From their triplet of seats on British Airways flight 155, Emily, Michael and Chris settled into their journey with a sense of optimism. Though the day had begun with tragedy, it was ending with action. Emily was convinced that locating the object to which the ancient map pointed would provide them with the tool required to entrap Andrew’s killers. As they had before in her life, the relics of the past were finding their way into her present, and not simply as objects of antiquated curiosity. She did not yet know precisely what was located at the destination on the manuscript, she did not know what the term ‘keystone’ meant. But whatever it was, she would use this piece of history to change history – to ensure that the sad saga of her cousin’s murder was not the last chapter of his story. There would be justice. There would be resolution.
Ninety miles to the south and slowly gaining a wider lead, Aqmal and Marcianus sat stoically aboard an EgyptAir jet. For Aqmal, the mission ahead would be quick and decisive: tracking the trio just long enough to get out of range of the countless observant eyes of the city centre, three bullets – if his aim was true – would finish them off in time for him to catch a lunchtime flight back to England.
For Marcianus, however, the path ahead was more than merely practical. It was divine. Those who threatened to overturn his great aim would be thwarted. The remainder of the map would be reclaimed. The keystone would be retrieved. And then he would fulfil a divine purpose two millennia in the waiting. His people had wound their way through history, hidden in the dark corners of the flow of ages – and all for this: to stand at the end of the world, the End of All, and be set free.