The Smithsonian Objective

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Near the summit of one of the canyon's highest internal peaks, the seven-thousand-foot geological marvel fancifully named The Isis Temple, Diana Montgomery hauled herself over a jutting incline of red sandstone slate, rolled onto her back and took a moment to catch her breath.

The ferocious sun simmered in a cloudless sky and thrust the shadows of the canyon's cyclopean inner structures over each other and the walls of the North Rim. She gazed to the west, toward the peak of the striated plateau called The Cheops Pyramid; muscles wincing from the six-hour ascent, she took a deep breath and tried to sit up.

She was close. Another five hundred feet, according to the crude map she'd found in the Smithsonian archives back in Washington. Almost there. Almost to the cave. To the discovery of a lifetime. She just—

Two thick ropes dropped from above. Rocks tumbled free from the wall, shards of limestone and shale shattering at her feet. And then heavy boots thudded onto the ledge, and as she tried to move, two black-clad men withdrew large automatic handguns and aimed them at her face.

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