The team continues to discuss during the flight.

"I went through all the databases," Ashton says, "Found nothing on the symbol."

"What about museum archives?" Eve says.

"Nothing," Ashton says, "Whatever the symbol is, there's no mention or description of it in a server out there."

"A purely analog information," Keith says, "That's rare. What could the symbol mean?"

Eve picks up the photo of the open puzzle box from the table. Ashton had printed it out before for everyone to see.

Eve follows the lines of the symbol with her finger, tracing its shape - a pyramid inside an octagon. "It looks modern," she says.

"How?" Mason says.

"Unless it's very ancient, older symbols are usually ornate and accompanied with text, a motto of what the symbol represents. This one is clean. Minimal. More likely, it represents an organization rather than an individual or entity."

"What kind of organization?" Brad says.

"I'm not sure. Given Mason's uncle's background, it could be scientific," Eve says.

"A secret scientific society," Ashton says.

"What kind of science? Mason's uncle is a Meteorologist. Could a pyramid and octagon represent weather science?" Brad says.

"Pyramids are structures built to reach the sky, symbolically," Ashton says, "But I'm not sure where octagon fits in."

"Saturn," Eve says, "There's a storm in the shape of an octagon at the pole of Saturn."

Keith's eyes widen. "An octagon shaped storm? How's that possible?"

Eve shrugs. She doesn't know. "But we can't be sure weather is what it represents," she says, "an octagon could mean a number of things."

"But what could it mean when it's around a pyramid?" Mason says.

Eve smiles. That's a good question. "Typically an enclosing symbol is there for a boundary and it's what's inside that matters the most," she says.

"In this case it's the pyramid," Mason says.

"A pyramid is not a common symbol. There can't be too many things it can represent," Ashton says.

"It can," Eve says, "It can represent architecture, religion, hierarchy, politics, mathematics, physics, just to name a few. And let's not forget, this pyramid is also four triangles and a square. I'm afraid, without any further clue as to what Mr. Nathan was involved in, we've no way to be sure what kind of scientific society this symbol represents. Whatever it is, like Ashton said, it's a secret. A well kept one at that."

Cairo, Egypt

At the Cairo international airport, their travel document verifications are expedited thanks to Mason's influence. The five of them step out of the airport with porters rolling their luggages out behind them.

Eve looks up at the bright sky through the zig zag metal pipe ceiling protruding onto the road in front of the arrival gates.

Soon two black Range Rovers arrive. The drivers step out and help the porters load the luggages into the vehicles. Mason then takes the keys from the drivers and throws one to Brad.

Eve and Ashton ride on the car Mason drives, and Brad and Keith are in the other one.

Eve wants to roll down the window but she also doesn't want the chillness in the car to dissipate.

For a while there's not much to see outside, and then they pass through some of the densely populated parts of the city.

On either side of the road are brick and concrete buildings. The ground floor units are shops with large billboards and signages nailed to the top at the entrance. The sidewalks are filled with pedestrians who spill onto the roads, slowing the traffic.

Pale green buses and black auto-rickshaws pick up and drop passengers at the curbs.

About an hour later, the roads and roadsides become less crowded, and eventually the two Rovers reach the outskirts of Cairo where the buildings look smaller and older expect the few stand outs - tall glass facaded structures - that are the hotels. Other than those, the landscape is barren.

It gets dark, but the full moon shines bright. Soon they reach a secluded brick building with an arched courtyard at the front - It's the house the key they found opens.

End of chapter