Imhotep is considered the first historical architect.

His job description was much more than a building creator; he was also a magician, a sage, an astrologer and the chief minister to the king of Egypt at the time. Charlotte had studied his life extensively for a movie that became a box office hit. She found blueprints of any kind to be a homage to the ancient society that once was. Just as she had done in discovering the architecture Imhotep created, she had high hopes for DIA. Gripping her steering wheel, excitement built. What would she discover underneath the airport this time?

The parking garage came into view. Zach had been so kind last night, he waited with her until the Uber came to the restaurant. Never once did he try anything untoward. He did flirt though, in a clumsy way. The wine had loosened up both their inhibitions. Her recorder caught it all too. There was enough information to do a good deep dive on him.

I wonder if what was in Egypt is somehow here.

She didn't have time to reminisce in her mind. Zach was already waiting for her by the elevator bank. He was dressed casually in a pair of khaki pants and a short sleeve polo shirt. Back to business.

"If you can, you might want to take your hair down. We'll need to wear hard hats." He said as they got into the elevator.

Hard hats?

"Are we going deeper underground than before?"

"If you consider a story underground, then yes. There is an area we use for storage. No one works there though."

A secret storage area, void of workers. Charlotte figured it was his way of dropping a bread crumb. Showing her an 'off limits' space should make her feel special. And deflect from the rest of the hidden void. Except she knew there was more there than a measly one story.

"Sounds good."

She took her high bun down and secured a low ponytail, the wisps of auburn waves tickling her neck. Zach watched her from the corners of his eyes as they exited the elevator. Her beauty wouldn't throw him off. He resolved to keep a close eye on her today. She could notice details below that would expose the organization. It wasn't highly likely, but he knew she had a hidden intellect. Especially after last night. Liam was right, he had to be on his 'A-game'.

His phone vibrated in his pocket. He let Charlotte go ahead of him towards his office so he could slip it out to read the message. Liam had texted.

I've been reassigned today. Will bump into you both underground. Just a heads up.

Reassigned. That meant only one thing. The higher ups didn't trust him. They must think he wasn't handling Charlotte correctly. It burned him inside his gut, he was taking this seriously. And he'd gained a lot of insight into her personality last night, just as they'd asked him to.

"Are these for us?" Charlotte asked.

She was pointing to a pair of hard hats with a neon green sheen to them. Stickers on the front were affixed with alien heads and a 'DIA' logo in the middle. They looked absolutely ridiculous.

"Oh, yes." He chuckled. "I hate those hats, but make the executive staff wear them. Promoting the airport lore is part of our jobs."

Nice form of deflection, Charlotte thought.

"How come the airport makes such a joke of the conspiracy theories? Don't you guys know that by calling it 'tin foil hat stuff' that makes people wonder all the harder what you're hiding?"

Zach slipped his hat on and grabbed a portable radio. She wasn't wrong. It was a strategy, one of many that the organization could have picked, that was meant to deflect. The more the conspiracies were joked about, the less credibility they had with the general public. 'There's no way something like that could be covered up', 'they couldn't hide something so big'. Zach had heard it all. That was why his job was created in the first place, to handle the ones who didn't buy the deflecting.

"We get so much mail about the theories, up to hundreds of pieces a day, that the powers to be decided to just go with it. Plus it sparks some fun conversations for the travelers."

Charlotte snorted as she put on her hard hat.

"If you say so!"

Realizing this was going nowhere, Zach changed the subject.

"Well, I think you will love the blueprints. I had a spare copy made, that you can take with you. For your podcast."

He was offering up an olive branch, which Charlotte could appreciate.

"Wow Zach, thank you. That's very generous."

Zach grinned in return. He hoped she'd be focused on the blueprints and not on the route there. Especially knowing Liam would show up. He always managed to charm the opposite sex. More conversation was in order.

"Do you like architecture?" he asked, ushering them out of his office. "I'd imagine you've seen a lot when you traveled for work."

"I have. Egypt and Mesopotamia were my favorites."

"I've never been to Iraq, only to Egypt once."

They entered the tunnel area through a roped-off side door. Zach had to use his badge to fob in, she noticed.

I wonder if all the employee badges work?

The temperature dropped a good ten degrees as she followed Zach in. It was darker too.

"Sorry for the darkness. There's lights, as you can see, but nothing too bright until we get to the office area."

Tiny circle lights along the wall lit up as they approached. Motion sensors, just like what you'd find in security lights. Charlotte was surprised that they were installed in such a way. An airport shouldn't have sophistication like what she was seeing. Glancing upwards towards the ceiling, she spotted a strategically placed security camera. It was facing down towards the direction they were walking, instead of on the door they had just come through.

Why is it facing inwards?

Before she could mull on this odd detail, Zach lightly touched her arm.

"Are you claustrophobic?" He asked.

In front of them was a tiny elevator, with only enough room for two adults to stand. The doorway was the exact same color of the wall and blended in so well that you'd never know there was an elevator even there.

"This is a strange elevator."

Zach swallowed and hoped she wasn't reading anything into it. Though he had a feeling she was.

"Yeah, we had an artist help design this area."

"It certainly is just as odd as the other artwork." She said. "But no, I'm not claustrophobic. I assume we must use this to get to the offices?"

"That we do. The stairway is going through some work at the moment and it's inaccessible."

"Alright."

Zach nodded and opened the elevator with his badge. He simply waved it across the wall about waist high, then the door opened. It was also dark inside, with motion sensor lights, also circular disks, becoming lit as he stepped in. Charlotte hesitated for a second before she followed suit. Zach turned sideways as best he could. Their bodies were practically touching but not. The door shut and they descended.

Charlotte's perfume floated upwards, like tiny tendrils of sweetness, invading Zach's nose. He suppressed his attraction and cleared his throat. Her auburn hair was just under his chin. He wondered how soft it would feel in his hands. The elevator door opened before his mind could wander any further.

"Ladies first." He said.

Her absence was felt immediately as she stepped out. Zach breathed in then out and followed behind. He let the lights click on along the wall before leading her towards a set of glass doors.

"And here we are."

They stepped inside a very sparse office area. Zach flipped the lights on and walked to a desk in the corner. It was almost identical to the administration offices where Zach's office was upstairs, minus the aesthetic furniture. Neatly stacked boxes and rows of filing cabinets lined the walls.

"Here is your copy of the original blueprints. I need to get a few things from the back, are you ok to look over these by yourself for a half hour or so?"

Charlotte nodded. She was surprised he was going to leave her alone, and for so long.

"Thank you."

Zach gave her one last look before leaving for the back area of the office suites. He was told to give her space, and he knew the cameras were watching. But he was growing fond of the woman, and reservation was slowly creeping in. He wanted to keep her safe. Ian's text reminded him that this was a delicate dance. He needed to stay in control.

After he left, Charlotte excitedly sat at the desk and opened the rolled-up blueprints. The paper lay flat with weight, and the blue and black ink practically popped off the parchment. Something was very different. She noticed it right away. The runway system wasn't a swastika anymore. It didn't form the telltale shape. Instead, it was missing an arm.

"This can't be right."

She lifted it up and looked at the blueprints below, but they were for the interior levels only. Going back to the first sheet, she counted the number of main terminal buildings and runways. She had the aerial shots of the entire airport. The important structures plus runways had come to '666'. But here, with these blueprints, it didn't. Had they added an extra runway after completion? Why?

"Sorry to bother you." A voice said. "I didn't know anyone was down here."

Charlotte jumped, almost toppling the wooden chair as she stood up. Her heart was racing. How had someone come in without making noise?

"My god!" She said, her voice an octave higher than normal.

A man stood in front of her. He was wearing black cargo pants, fitted to his frame, along with a tight black tee and a badge around his neck like Zach. Her breath caught in her throat. He was the most handsome and rugged man she had ever seen. Sporting a closely cropped beard and neatly messed hair, he arched an eyebrow at Charlotte.

"I'm here to take some boxes up for Zach. Is he around?"

"Y-yes. He is, he went into the back." She stammered, pointing behind her.

"Ah. Thanks. I'm Liam by the way, head of airport security."

He walked closer to her, and she could smell his cologne. It reminded her of being outside, in the woods.

"I'm Charlotte, a podcaster."

His brown eyes met hers as he nodded. A spark flew from the look. He hadn't expected that.

"Very nice to meet you."