Existed before this time… Pre-Information Age…but how far back? Buried in greed to protect fame…hidden truth…someone else took credit… Recharged, giver of light… A power source? Taken from the hedonistic night… Stolen from an orgy?

I run through the possibilities I know exist in the vault: The Louvre… Museo Nacional de Antropología… Hmmm… Maybe something from ancient times? The Antikythera mechanism, one of the earliest analog computers, is in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens… Maybe I should start there? I concentrate, waiting for something to click, and come up empty. All the while the clock is ticking. At least I’m not alone. Sneaking a glance at Garrett with his head bowed over his cipher, a strand of hair falling across his forehead, I take consolation in the fact that he hasn’t figured it out, either.

Drawn to him, I take advantage of his closeness—and rare silence. Tracing his strong jaw and full lips, I feel heat build in my center. He’s perfect. As if he hears my thoughts, his eyes snap up, connecting with mine. They seem darker today, the usual gray-green reading charcoal. Rimmed with kohl to disguise their symmetry, they are like black holes, sucking me in, bending the light in the room, and I sit frozen, heart pounding, unable to look away.

Speaking of hedonistic nights…

I blink myself back into reality, and I’ve got it. Babylon. Symbolic of all that’s evil in the Bible, awaiting her fall in Revelation… The answer is the Babylon Battery. The history lesson comes flooding back. Also known as the Baghdad Battery, it’s an ancient jar containing what was identified as an electric cell, dating back thousands of years before Alessandro Volta took credit for inventing the battery. It was looted from the National Museum of Iraq when the U.S. invaded in 2003, and then was later stolen by a Keystone alumnus and donated to the Vault. It now resides in the Pyramid. If only I can get there first… It’s clear on the other side of the Vault, and I don’t know how to get there from here, having only stumbled upon it once by accident.

A slow smile spreads across Garrett’s face. “Welcome back. You’re cute when you’re analyzing, but be careful not to chew that pretty lip until it bleeds.”

My stomach drops, but I refuse to let him distract me.

“What’s this?” he asks, touching the tiger’s eye I wear at my throat. “Good luck charm?”

“I don’t need luck.” Making sure my glare is received, I leap out of my seat and rush to the door. Unfortunately, I’m no match for his longer strides, and he catches me, snaking his arm around my shoulders just as I’m about to exit.

“Fair enough,” he says. “Do you want to walk over there together?”