9 –

About a year later, Kate and Vincent helped Solomon and Haley load the last of the gear into the small plane. Haley had the summer off and was taking Nikko with her on a dig while Solomon had classes to teach for summer school. Kate was going on a different dig with her Uncle Alex, and Vincent was tagging along, hoping to rekindle their long-ago romance.

"Hey, don't miss me too much, boy." Kate ruffled Nikko's hair.

"Nah, I won't. I'm going with Mom, so I won't be lonely."

Kate knelt in front of Nikko. "You make sure and give her a big hug and kiss every day for me and your Daddy, okay?"

Nikko gave Kate a big hug. "You mean like this?"

Haley laughed as she walked over to them. "Just like that."

Kate looked Haley in the eye after hugging her older sister. "You be careful. This site is completely unknown to you and there could be hidden traps."

"Yes, Mother." Haley made Kate laugh at that.

"I'll miss not working with you Hale." Kate started to get teary.

"You and Alex will finish your dig in record time and come help me out on my dig." Haley squeezed her hand.

"I know, but I just get bad feelings when we aren't working together."

"You mean the Three Musketeers?" Solomon came over and out his arm on Haley's shoulders.

"Nothing could happen on a dig that we couldn't handle." Kate poked Solomon in the chest.

- 10 –

A week into the dig, Alex took a call at the farmhouse they were using as a headquarters. The call was short, and he went back out to where Kate and Vincent had just uncovered a very old piece of pottery. He watched them prepare the object for transportation, and then called them over.

"What's up?" Kate reached into a cooler under the desk for bottles of water and handed them to Vincent and Alex, keeping one for herself.

"I just got a call from Solomon."

"Oh?" Kate took a swig from her bottle, recapped it, and held it to her brow.

Alex gave Vincent a look which Kate didn't see because her eyes were closed.

Vincent had a flash of panic as he looked at Kate. "Kate, why don't you sit down and rest for a minute or two."

"So what was the call about Uncle Alex?" Kate opened her eyes as she sat in the camp chair.

"He got word from Mikhail that there was an accident."

Kate dropped the water bottle. "What happened?"

Alex could hear the fear in her voice, but she had to know. "There was a cave-in. Mikhail got Nikko out safely."

"And Haley?" Kate's voice was hardly more than a whisper.

Alex knelt before Kate and took her hands. "Solomon said that some of Dorna's men are keeping everyone away from the site, so they can't search for her."

"Is she … dead?" Kate was shaking as tears spilled from her eyes.

"They are pretty sure, but they can't go get her body." Alex pulled Kate into a hug.

Kate straightened up in the camp seat. "Vincent?"

"Yes, Kate." He walked over and laid his hand on her shoulder.

"Can you take me there?"

"I will start making the arrangements." Vincent looked down at Alex, nodded, and then left them to make some phone calls.

"Uncle Alex, do you think Haley is dead?" Kate looked hopefully at him.

"Katie, I hope she is fine, but we have to be realistic. Best case is that she is badly injured. Worst case is that she is dead." Alex kissed Kate on her forehead, and then got to his feet. "Let's go get packed,"

The next day, the three of them were met by Mikhail at a small airport an hours' drive from where he and Haley had set up their camp.

"Mik, what happened?" Kate asked after they were safely in the rented SUV.

"We had found the site of the temple, and had found the main chamber." He turned a bit in the passenger seat as Vincent drove. "Haley and I were astounded to find a diagram of the solar system in large jewel-like stones on one wall. The part that really was amazing was that the Sun was in the center of the layout, not Earth."

"That's not possible." Kate looked confused. "Haley thought that temple was a couple of millennia older than Copernicus."

"That's what confused us too. Haley reached her hand toward the Sun stone, and it lit up."

"What!" Alex shook his head in disbelief.

"That's what we were thinking. Haley had me get Nikko out, and we were at the entrance when Haley must have touched the stone. It let out this huge flash of light, and the next thing I knew, the temple was shaking like there was an earthquake. I got Nikko out as fast as I could." Mikhail looked sorrowfully at Kate. "But there was no way to get to Haley."

Kate leaned forward to touch Mikhail. "She told you to get Nikko out, and you did. Don't feel guilty for doing that."

Everyone was silent for the rest of the journey until they reached a barricade. Vincent stopped the SUV, and Kate and Alex got out to talk to the guards.

"Can we get past? My sister was in the temple when it collapsed." Kate tried to appeal to the guard.

"No one is to enter the site." The guard pulled his semi-automatic rifle from behind him, and held it, relaxed, in front of his chest. "You must leave this site."

Kate looked back at Vincent as he exited the vehicle. "They won't let us in."

Vincent looked at the guard. "Hello, Adam."

The guard looked very uneasy. "You betrayed Dorna. You are nothing. You and the rest of your party must leave this site per the orders of the government of this country."

Kate knew she had to turn on the waterworks. "Please, just let me look around for a little bit. My sister may be dead or hurt out there." Kate sobbed to the guard.

"The temple site has been excavated, and there was no body found, either dead or alive." The guard moved his rifle to point at Vincent. " I really must insist that you leave. NOW."

Kate, Vincent, and Alex turned and walked back to the vehicle. As they got in, Mikhail questioned them.

"What did the guard say? I couldn't read his lips from here."

Kate looked up at him, amazed. "He said they didn't find a body."

"What?" Mik was confused.

"Dorna had the site excavated, and no body was found." Vincent clarified for Mikhail. "Kate?"

Kate looked over at Vincent. "Yes?"

"Don't read too much into this. They could be lying just to get us away from the site."

Kate closed her eyes. "I was just hoping that…." She looked over at Alex.

Alex pulled her into his arms. "I know, baby girl."

Mikhail guided Vincent to the camp, where Solomon was waiting with a shell-shocked Nikko. Kate's heart broke all over again looking at the forlorn face of her nephew and the sheer pain in Solomon's eyes.

"Solomon?" Kate walked over to where he was sitting with a sleeping Nikko on his lap.

"What? Oh Katie, she's…." Tears slipped out of Solomon's eyes as he recognized his wife's sister.

"I know." Kate leaned over to kiss him. "How is Nikko?"

Solomon looked down at his precious boy. "He's still in shock and denying that Haley's dead."

Paul knelt in front of Solomon. "Do you want me to take him so you can rest and eat?"

Solomon shook his head. "Thanks, but every time I try to close my eyes, I keep seeing…."

Kate and Paul looked at each other.

"I know what you mean. Remember just after Mom and Dad died?" Kate put her arm around Solomon.

"Yeah, you turned into a little ghost. Just walking around their house, not eating or sleeping."

"Let me take Nikko for a bit. Okay?" Kate looked deep into the eyes of the man who was much more than a brother-in-law to her.

Solomon rested his forehead on Kate's. "Just for a bit."