Code Name Doolittle (Doolittle)

1. A Not So Long Time Ago, In A Land Kind of Far Away

Chapter one

A Not So Long Time Ago, In A Land Kind of Far Away

Dr. Henry Whitlock

M y dream come true, and it was finally here! I mentally rubbed my hands together like some evil villain.

I’d been working toward this day for years. Hell, I’d started in high school, suffering the name-calling and ostracizing from my peers, all in the name of well…something more. Then, college, undergrad, grad, and the years of working on my PhD. I overcame all that and leveraged my dissertation to get me to this dig. A new discovery beneath the sands of Egypt, and all mine to explore because I knew an awful lot about Mesopotamia and Egypt, having compared the societies in great detail and then defending it successfully.

Okay, not all mine. But, close enough. Hundreds of miles south of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers where the Mesopotamian civilizations had been, but not as far as Egypt, this new site was astonishing. First, because it shouldn’t have been there. Second, it had evidence of both Mesopotamian and Egyptian cultures, as well as something else entirely. The oldest evidence of civilization ever found was Mesopotamian. This new discovery—older than that. And third, because it was deep, deep underground. Okay, maybe that wasn’t all that surprising. It would have to be deeper than we’d ever dug to be that old. But. It just kept going, like that damn Energizer Bunny. Going and going. We dug and dug and uncovered spectacularly large buildings, though not pyramids. In fact, it appeared this ancient city could stretch beneath the entirety of Rub Al Khali. But maybe that was my own wishful thinking. Who knew?

What I did know was that I was on my way down to one of the lowest points we had found so far. Lauren had called me specifically to look at a hidden chamber they had discovered the day before. My flashlight shined on the stone corridor walls, casting weird shadows around me as I descended farther into the network of buildings that were much like a maze. I followed the blue tape along the western side until I heard voices. I stopped and took a breath, simply taking in this moment.

And promptly fell into a coughing fit as dust and dirt were sucked into my nose and throat.

Lauren came around the corner. “Henry. Are you alright?” She pounded my back until my fit subsided.

“Sorry.” Wait . Another cough or two. “I’m fine.” I tried not to cough. I waved my hand around my face. “Dust. That’s all.”

Lauren gave me an anxious look. We didn’t know each other well, but we’d been colleagues on smaller digs and had corresponded since we were doctoral students. “You sure?”

“Yes. Fine.” Finally, the coughing subsided. “What did you find? Show me.”

Her expression changed quickly from concern to excitement. “Don’t entirely know what this is. But you have to see it.”

I followed her into a large chamber where many workers stood around talking and looking at computer screens. They had portable lights to illuminate the room, which was boring enough. No wall paintings or inscriptions and it had been empty. However, on the far side, a small tunnel opened near the bottom of the wall. Lauren pointed at it. “Through there. It’s a tight fit but dumps you out into another chamber. Smaller than this one, but…” She bounced on her toes. “Entirely different.”

After crossing the room, I flashed my light down the tunnel but admittedly didn’t see much. “It’s, uh, safe?”

“Oh yes. It’s not like a stroll in the park, but easy enough to get up and down. I’ve been twice.” Her tone made it sound like a dare. And really? If she could do it, I could do it. Right? It wasn’t like I wasn’t in shape. Hell, I was fit. Enough.

“Here goes nothing.” I held on to my flashlight as I ducked into the tunnel. I had to stoop, and the angle downward was steep, so I had to be careful of my footing, but sure enough, I came to the end and a short drop into another area. Before jumping, I illuminated as much as I could with my flashlight. Lauren had not been kidding.

Every wall was covered with elaborate art. Mosaic tiles of blue, green, red, and gold made up an elaborate scene and one that took me by surprise. I couldn’t be sure what the artist had tried to convey but it was well preserved. There was an elaborately dressed female adorned with fancy headgear, possibly their version of a crown. Behind her, a parade of people dressed in simple shifts adorned with multi-colored jewels. The mosaic tiles danced around them, providing more blue and green colors. They wound around one wall and onto another, then on the third side, something else entirely. Something like a beast. An animal I didn’t recognize.

I had to get a closer look. I popped down into the chamber. The floors were dusty but covered in more painted designs, not unsimilar to the walls, but definitely paint on stone, and not the immaculate tile work. The colors might have depicted a building, a stream or river, and a field. Perhaps this is where the parade of people was going, where they lived, or a temple for worship. So many mysteries here to figure out. Starting with the animal.

Closer to the wall, I could see that this was some kind of hybrid. The body was a bovine-type animal, but the head was more canine. And the feet and tail were more like dromedaries. It was a wolf-cow-camel thing. And why? Were they taking this mixed-up beast to the temple for sacrifice? That was my first thought. But I had more questions here than answers.

We had evidence that early Mesopotamians bred hybrid animals. Mostly, we’d found donkeys and asses, probably bred between domesticated animals and wild ones. They were revered in the culture. Entire skeletons were found as if they’d been properly buried as was due to their worth in life. But this thing on the wall was entirely different. “Wow.”

“Wow, is right.” I jumped as Lauren spoke.

“You startled me.”

“I see.” She chuckled. “We’re limiting the people we let down here since the floor is painted. We want to preserve that as much as possible, but I had to have you see it with your own eyes.”

“Thank you.”

“There’s something else.”

Else? The room appeared empty aside from the art.

“Here.” Lauren squatted and beckoned me to the wall depicting the fancy-dressed woman.

At first, I couldn’t see what she was showing me, but then I saw it—another opening. “Where does this go?”

“Don’t know we haven’t—”

I screamed. And fell.

“Henry!” Lauren yelled after me, but it was too late.

I fell into the opening and slid fast, unstoppable. I screamed, trying to hold on to something, anything. I pushed against the walls but there was nothing to grab since the sides were polished smooth.

Then the unthinkable…I fell through open air. My lungs emptied and my stomach shot up into my throat. Not unlike the feeling in my gut I’d had as a kid when I rode roller coasters.

I landed. Hard.

For a moment, everything was black. My flashlight crashed on the floor beside me.

I was on top of something. Was I hurt? No…

I sat up. Then, my world changed.

Whatever was beneath me was broken. Some kind of pottery. Delicate. Golden. I gasped, but before I could do anything else, a blinding light blasted out of the shattered artifact. It swirled around the room. I ducked my face into the crook of my arm. It felt like a goddamned Indiana Jones moment, only not looking didn’t help.

Something warm and wet fell over me, covering me from head to toe. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. I heard Lauren calling me from very far away.

And in the back of my head whispered thoughts that weren’t even words, but feelings and emotions and unspoken meaning. This was a punishment of some sort. For…intruding?

Then I passed out.