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.No longer a military outpost, the restored fortress now houses a maritime museum on the outermost reaches of Alexandria’s Eastern Harbor.In most countries, this site would be a major attraction.In Egypt, it was barely a footnote.That spoke volumes about the area.The entire region was filled with history.Sarah stood near the main wall of the citadel and stared out across the bay.Behind her, the windswept waves of the Mediterranean Sea crashed against the break wall.In front of her, the city of Alexandria sprawled well beyond what she could see.As the country’s largest port, Alexandria hugs the northern coast of Egypt for nearly twenty miles and handles three-quarters of Egypt’s foreign trade.Because of this, most of the development has occurred within two miles of the water.The long, narrow city is home to more than four million culturally diverse residents who have established some fifty distinct neighborhoods over six geographical regions.Cobb and Sarah had only been in Egypt for a few days, but they had already visited many of the city’s most recognized sites.They had started in the northeastern district, working their way south toward the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa – a massive, three-tiered burial chamber in the southernmost corner.They had kept to a tight schedule, familiarizing themselves with the layout of Alexandria, but there was still a lot of ground to cover before the team arrived.In the military, this was known as a ‘rekky’.It was short for reconnaissance.Cobb took in the view of the modern city.‘It doesn’t look like a place that’s seen nearly twenty-five hundred years of renovations, does it?’Sarah didn’t reply.She simply stood there, transfixed.All it took was one glance, and Cobb understood her silence.‘How long has it been?’She snapped out of her haze.‘How long has what been?’‘I’ve seen that stare before.That’s not the look of someone who’s establishing her thoughts for the first time.That’s the look of someone who’s remembering something.You’ve been here before.I’m simply asking how long ago.’‘Six years,’ she said reluctantly.She turned to face him, her defenses on full display.‘And no, I don’t want to talk about it.’‘Is it going to be a problem?’‘No,’ she insisted.‘If you say so.’Cobb didn’t know everything about Sarah, but he knew enough.She had been one of the Central Intelligence Agency’s top assets.In light of her natural abilities – which were off the charts – she had received extensive training in the areas of infiltration and acquisitions.If she had been to Alexandria in her past life, there were two things he knew that no one would ever find: evidence of her visit, and the bodies she left behind.To lower her defenses, he decided to change the conversation to a neutral subject.‘You’ll never guess what was here before the citadel was constructed.’Sarah gave him a funny look.‘What is this, a history lesson? If I wanted one of those, I’d call Jasmine.’He smiled.‘I promise it’s not a lecture.It’s just something I read while we were walking the grounds.I thought it was interesting.’She didn’t know what to make of Cobb’s sudden interest in playing tour guide.While he rarely gave her the icy stare that he often used with Papineau, he certainly hadn’t earned a reputation for small talk.If this was his way of flirting, then he was clearly out of practice.‘No, Jack, I have no idea what used to be here.’‘Centuries ago, this was the site of the Lighthouse of Alexandria.It was a towering structure that stood nearly four hundred feet tall.At the top was a massive furnace, and its flames could be seen for more than fifty miles out to sea.It stood for nearly sixteen hundred years and was considered an absolute marvel of engineering.So much so that historians deemed it one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.’She glanced behind her and tried to imagine the lighthouse.It must have been a sight to behold for citizens and tourists alike.‘What happened to it? I imagine a four-hundred-foot pillar is pretty hard to dismantle.’‘Not for Mother Nature,’ he said.‘A series of earthquakes destroyed the lighthouse at the turn of the fourteenth century.Some of the lighthouse was reused in the construction of the citadel, but most of it ended up at the bottom of the bay
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