Critical Dawn Read Online Free Page B

should.”
    “No, it’s fine. Forget about it,” Pippa said. “Besides, this stuff with the bead is more important than any of that. Though I’d totally recommend watching Rogue Pharaohs. That was a great production. It’s what nailed this job with the Geographic. One of the production workers over there knew a guy who knew a guy … Sorry, I’m rambling.”
    “Must be exciting,” Charlie said, pointing to the files over the table, “to have stumbled across something like this. It could be huge if it checks out.”
    Pippa leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table, a single piece of paper in hand. “I’m still trying to work out if we’re being scammed. I know the guys and gals on the dig. The site manager and I were present. The beads were definitely within the skeletal remains. If someone had put them there after the fact, they’d have had to have somehow dug beneath the old soil on top without disturbing it.”
    “And that there,” Charlie said, lowering the paper, “is the crux of the issue. It’s not possible. We’re talking basic physics here. Unless David Blaine does have magic abilities and is for hire for archeological pranks, I think we have to realize that this bead, whatever it is, was with the bodies at the time.”
    Leaning back against the booth, Pippa sighed and let the piece of paper fall to the table. It was a printed photo of the dig site as the skeletons were first exposed. She had ringed a blue bead with a red pen.
    “I don’t know about you, but I need another beer.” Pippa got up, waited for his answer. “Hey, dufus, the boss is offering to get you a beer. Yea or nay?”
    “Nay, boss, I’m good. Just a Coke will be fine if you’re buying though.”
    Charlie inwardly sighed with relief as Pippa approached the bar. Patty hadn’t stopped giving him awkward looks since he arrived, and he didn’t really want to address that issue.
    While he waited, he rifled through Pippa’s reports and printouts. One of them was the close-up shot of the bead, showing the intricate, almost circuit-like patterns. One thing that struck him was the uniformity.
    If they were manmade and from the sixteenth century, then whoever had made them had developed technology way beyond anything previously discovered. The straight lines and complicated pattern weren’t possible by hand.
    There was a painter, Giotto di Bondone, who was famed for painting a perfect freehand circle, but even with that level of excellence, Charlie had a hard time imagining someone carving these circuits so accurately.
    He sat back and looked up at the old TV hanging down from behind the bar on a wall mount that always looked entirely inadequate for holding up such an old, ancient device. The TV had those wood panels on the front and a thick, bulbous glass screen. Despite that, the speaker still worked, and as the bar hadn’t yet filled up, Charlie could make out the sound.
    CNN was covering an extreme weather report. From the pictures, he guessed it was somewhere in the Far East—China or the Philippines perhaps. The graphic showed a satellite image of a massive hurricane building its power over the … Wait, that’s not the Indian Ocean, he thought.
    Charlie got up and approached the bar to get a closer look. Pippa joined him, passing him a Coke. “What are you watching? I thought you didn’t watch TV?”
    “I don’t, but it caught my eye. Listen.”
    The reporter squared in the corner of the screen brought a mic to her mouth. Her hair was blowing wildly, and she had to shout over the noise.
    “As I was saying,” the reporter said, “I’m on Ocean Beach, California, and already the wind is reaching in excess of eighty miles per hour. The satellite imagery is showing hurricane Mel gaining power. The reports from the National Weather Service are suggesting it’s a Category 3 storm with potential to hit Category 4 by the time it reaches land.” The reporter leaned into the wind. Behind her, trees were bending and