The Alexandria Connection

480 Pages·2014·11.15 MB·English

by  D'Hage Adrian

THE
ALEXANDRIA
CONNECTION
Adrian d'Hage was educated at North Sydney Boys High School and
the Royal Military College Duntroon (Applied Science). Graduating into
the Intelligence Corps, he served as a platoon commander in Vietnam,
where he was awarded the Military Cross. His military service included
command of an infantry battalion, director of joint operations and head
of defence public relations. In 1994 Adrian was made a Member of the
Order of Australia. In his last appointment, he headed defence planning
for counter-terrorism security for the Sydney Olympics, including security
against chemical, biological and nuclear threats.
Adrian holds an honours degree in theology, entering as a commirted
Christian but graduating 'with no fixed religion'. In 2009 he completed a
Bachelor of Applied Science (Dean's Award) in oenology or wine chem
istry at Charles Sturt University, and he has successfully sat the Austrian
Government exams for ski instructor, 'Schilehrer Anwarter'. He is pres
ently a research stholar, tutor and part-time lecturer at the Centre for
Arab and Islamic Studies (Middle East and Central Asia) at ANU. His
doctorate is entitled The Influence of Religion on US Foreign Policy in
the Middle East'.
ALSO BY ADRIAN d'HAGE
The Omega Scroll
The Beijing Conspiracy
The Maya Codex
The Inca Prophecy
ADRIAN d'HAGE
THE
CONNECTION ·
MICHAEL JOSEPH
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First published by Penguin Group (Australia), 2014
13579108642
Text copyright © Ad rian d'Hago 2014
The moral right of the author has been asserted
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Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
d'Hage, Adrian, author
The Alexandria connection 1 Adrian d'Hagc'
9780143799504 (paperback)
An thefts - Investigatio - Fiction
Manuscripts (Papyri) - Fiction
Nature - Effect of human beings on - Fiction
A823.4
penguin.com.au
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Paper fnNn
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For Jacqueline
PROLOGUE
Flying near its ceiling, the CH-47 Chinook was touching 140
knots. Captain Brett Bestic had positioned himself just forward
of the starboard door gunner. He leaned on the backs of the seats
of the pilot and co-pilot, and scanned the dark valleys below
through his night-vision goggles. A member of the famed SEAL
team six, the dual Navy Cross winner was on his fifth tour of duty
in Afghanistan, but he had promised his wife, Sally, this would
be his last. His son Ryan would turn four next month, and Sally
was right. Ryan hardly knew he had a father. It was time to pursue
a new career and leave the fighting to the young ones coming on.
He had done his bit. Far below, the distinctive beat of the Chinook
was faint, but it still carried clearly to the mountains above the
Korengal River.
'The Infidel! He is coming!' The young al-Qaeda commander
quickly extracted from its box the Scorpion surface-to-air missile
that had been delivered by mule, only that morning, and he moved
2 ADRIAN d'HAGE
to a position behind a pile of rocks. Both he and his number two
were already proficient on the Stinger, which the United States had
provided when Russia had invaded Afghanistan, and although
the Scorpion was a next-generation missile, it had taken less than
two hours to master the new technology. The commander locked
the battery coolant unit, or BCU, into the grip stock, to provide
power for the missile's pre-flight systems and argon gas to cool the
infrared seeker system. He locked the sight assembly into position
and pointed the launcher toward the sound of the approaching
helicopter.
'He is flying very high,' the commander observed, engaging the
safety and actuator switch, which in turn activated the BCU. He
could hear the missile gyro systems spooling up, and he searched the
sky with the system's thermal-imaging night sight. The Scorpion
system was capable of detecting both fixed and rotary-winged air
craft well beyond the missile range of 14 000 feet.
'I have him!' The infrared acquisition signal beeped and the
secondary signal vibrated against the young man's cheekbone.
He un-caged the seeker, holding the switch down, and the signal
was stronger still. The commander smiled grimly. The argon
cooled detector in the missile's seeker system had focused on the
infrared energy of the Chinook. The young man held his breath
to avoid the toxic fumes of the missile's rocket motor, and slowly
squeezed the trigger.
The Scorpion launch rocket ignited in a blaze of fire and smoke,
shooting the missile out of the launcher. Clear of the firing system,
the dual thrust rocket motor lit and within seconds, the long, thin
missile reached its cruising speed of over 2400 kilometres an hour.
The passive infrared and ultraviolet sensor arrays in the missile nose
THE ALEXANDRIA CONNECTION 3
cone tracked the Chinook, the computers continually anticipating
the target's course and changing the missile's trajectory as it closed
in on the aircraft at over Mach 2.
'Incoming!' the co-pilot called, but they were the last words the
pilot and Captain Bestic heard. The highly classified Scorpion mis
sile not only had a much longer range than the Stinger, its systems
had been specifically designed to defeat the CMWS, or common
missile warning system, fitted to Chinooks operating in Afghanistan.
It was even capable of defeating the new advanced laser-jamming
systems.
The Chinook from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regi
ment exploded in a fireball of fuel, propelling aircraft, engine and
body parts into the fiery night. They fell in a surreally gentle series
of blazing arcs toward the dark mountains below.
1
ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT
Curtis O'Connor casually turned and searched both sides of
Alexandria's Sidi al Mitwalli Street. Old habits died hard,
even for CIA agents taking a break. The pedestrians were mainly
Egyptian men and women, some wearing the hijab, others more
Western in their dress. Since the street protests over the military's
overthrow of Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood,
hundreds of Egyptians had been killed by the military, and tourism
was almost non-existent.
Tall, fit and solidly built, O'Connor's thick dark hair fell roughly
into place. His face was tanned, and his blue eyes held an air of
mischief, but that could be deceptive. Curtis O'Connor had one
of the sharpest minds in the CIA.
'I love this place!' Aleta exclaimed, her long black hair shining
in the sun and her dark eyes dancing with a sense of discovery. The
renowned archaeologist had gained international acclaim when
she, together with O'Connor, had unearthed the Maya Codex and