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Part One

Thunderstorm

Sandstorm

1 Fire and Rain

Sandstorm

NOVEMBER 14, 01:33 AM

THE BRITISH MUSEUM

LONDON, ENGLAND

H ARRY MASTERSON would be dead in thirteen minutes

If he had known this, he would’ve sarette down to the filter Instead he stas and waved the cloud frouards’ break roo, head ofin two hours late for his shift last week

Harry swore under his breath and pocketed the stubbed cigarette He’d finish it at his next break…that is, if they got a break this night

Thunder echoed through the ht, opening with a riotous volley of hail, followed by a deluge that threatened to wash London into the Tha danced across the skies in forked displays fro to the weatherman on the Beeb, it was one of the fiercest electrical storms in over a decade Half the city had been blacked out, overwhele

And as fortune would have it for Harry, it was his half of the city that went dark, including the British Museuenerators, the entire security team had been summoned for additional protection of thein the next half hour But Harry, assigned to the night shift, was already on duty when the regular lights went out And though the video surveillance carid, he and the shift were ordered by Fle to proceed with an immediate security sweep of the museum’s two and a half miles of halls

Thatup

Harry picked up his electric torch and aiht, when the loom The only illumination came from the streetlamps outside the s But noith the blackout, even those lauished The museum had darkened to e security lamps

Harry had needed a few hits of nicotine to steel his nerve, but he could put off his duty no longer Being the low ned to run the halls of the north wing, the farthest point froround security nest But that didn’thall ahead, he crossed to the door leading into the Queen Elizabeth II Great Court

This central two-acre court was surrounded by the four wings of the British Museu Room, one of the world’s finest libraries Overhead, the entire two-acre courtyard had been enclosed by a gigantic Foster and Partners–designed geodesic roof, creating Europe’s largest covered square