Jack (in the U.S.) walking the beat. Doing traffic tickets. Cindy is now his boss (they are no longer sleeping together either). Jack is trying to get back with his wife. The F.B.I. & C.I.A. arrange a meeting with him. They ask about his former relationship with John. They explain that John has gone from drug running to gun running (from Saudi to Egypt through the Sinai). (They know it's him, he uses an alias ABDUHL BEN HASSAN & had an article published in an archaeology magazine) 

The Egyptian government is putting a lot of pressure on the U.S. to help catch him. They do not want to allow John to get caught. They want to simply get him out to avoid an international incident. Jack must be the contact, it has to be someone he knows & trusts. John has no family. Jack refuses, he has never left the US before & states that he wants nothing to do with TOWEL- HEADS after his previous experience with them. They dangle the carrot of a promotion & a chance to leave the country for free. He agrees. 

Jack arrives in Egypt. He sees the poor & sees the fairly light security, yet the few who are there have AK47's. He goes to the hotel. An undercover agent is guiding him from one place to the other. They take him to the rendevous in OLD CAIRO. The Agent leaves. John arrives, but melds so well with the locals, Jack does not recognize him. John has is accomplices distract the agent & John takes Jack away. 

John lives in a courtyard of apartments in Old Cairo with his twelve man crew. There are children all about playing and people doing whatever it is they do. John & Jack rehash the vents of the past year or two. John explains that he is on the brink of a discovery that is earth shattering. He needs to make one more gun run to get enough money to complete the digs. Jack explains that all eyes are on him. The Egyptian government wants him dead &  the U.S. government wants him out. John laughs at this. He says to get some sleep, they'll leave early to make the caravan. Jack meets a young boy (Hakeem ?). He is taken by the similarity between him & his own son. Jack makes a call to the CIA to check in.. 

The next morning, they leave via camel into the desert. They go all day  & stop at noon to rest. Then they continue on. They pay off the border guards and move on. Jack hates the desert. There is bonding between Jack & the twelve crew. The crew expresses their admiration for John (he has paid them equally & has saved several lives, he has given money to the poor like Robin Hood). They get to a mine field, one of the crew is an expert at navigating & gets them through. They make it to the drop point & the transfer goes well. Except they try to kill Jack for looking like suspicious. John saves him with his calm rational ways. 

They start back through the desert & stop at an oasis, there the men all enjoy a little harem. Jack wants to join in, but John tries to stop him. John says  Jack is still married, Jack ignores him as the other men ride him & he takes a woman with the rest. The men tell Jack that John NEVER partakes of women. He only had one woman, his wife & after she died, there have been none. 

After the return to the Courtyard, there is a minor celebration & John gives a lot of money to the people. They have a party. Jack plays with Kazeem. John goes off alone. 

They go on to Southern Egypt where John wants to continue the search for the Mystery. They go to a temple in Luxor. An Assassination attempt is made at the temple as John tries to investigate more hieroglyphics. Jack witnesses the attack & helps John. (First a single assassin tries with choking wire, then two men with AK47's). 

John is still not discouraged, and Jack tries to talk him out of continuing. John has to go to Alexandria to continue research. They go by boat on the Nile river. A little more bonding en route. John asks Jack how anyone could have known where he was going. he finally tells Jack what it is he suspects. There was a society before what is accepted history. A society that pre dates what is known as Ancient Egypt. 

In Alexandria, John finds more info on the Mystery, info that points him to the Pyramids & the Sphinx ( the secret passage that leads to & from) . In the library, yet another assignation attempt. John corners the ASSASSIN & asks him why they want him dead. 

He explains that the Egyptians have 75% of the income from tourism based on ACCEPTED history. If he were to prove that was wrong, the already poor people would go further into poverty. The government is willing to do anything to prevent that. John says that this society is still Egyptian & the assassin asks with 11 million lives at stake, would you be willing to take that chance? 

The CIA agent Jack got help from appears. He states that U.S. has no official stand on the subject. John tells Jack that this is his munitions contact/supplier & asks Jack who he thinks provides him with the munitions he sells The U.S. is in a win win scenario. If he sells the guns, they make a profit & sell off the surplus, if he gets caught they can say they helped & get in good with the Egyptian government. Either way they look good. By sending Jack over as bait, they have appeared to make efforts to capture him. The CIA agent assures him that they have been vague at best. He warns him that the arms dealing is insignificant next to the devastation that his hobbie MIGHT do. 

On the way back to Cairo, Jack asks John if it's worth it to proceed. He says yes. He is in search of the truth. Jack asks, at what cost? John still can't figure out how they keep finding him. Once back in Cairo, there is an attack at the courtyard. Several armed men firing away trying to get to John. One of the 12 men (a Judas character if you will) is on the other side (thus answering HOW they kept finding him). Kazeem gets killed and Jack suddenly has an epiphany. 

Jack stands and goes out & kills four of the five assassin. John asks his Judas why he betrayed him. He explains that when the Egyptian government approached him, he did not want to see his fathers store ruined because his only son assisted an American who brought more poverty to his country. John decides to leave forever, saying he has caused them too much grief. The eleven men left ask to stay with him out of loyalty, but he releases them of their burden. Jack asks if it's time to go home yet, John says there's one thing left to do. 

They proceed to the Pyramids. They get in at dusk and go on camels like tourists (Jack goes on horse because he hates camels). They get to the pyramids & bribe a guard to get in. They go to the bottom and start a descent into a pit. The army starts after them. They find a passage. Whether or not it leads them is another issue. (it could have collapsed or it may not lead them where they need to go).  Jack is very enthused.

There are a few traps & Indiana Jones moments here & there along the way. They eventually get to the temple underneath the Sphinx. John takes photos & notes of the few writings on the walls & translates the history therein (the story is written by what is known as the Ancient Egyptians describing the prior society). There was a society before what we know of as history. It was so long ago it was when the Pyramids & The Sphinx were surrounded by water. As they come out of the door that is partially obscured under the paws of the Sphinx. 

John & Jack escape. They have a rendevous at Alexandria at the port. Jack asks John if he found what he was looking for. He says yes, he also says that he will not publish his findings because he does not want to hurt the people who gave him so much. Jack says he is going home with no intention of ever leaving the country ever again. Jack still has lingering prejudices that he works out by getting to know & respect the Egyptian people (mostly through the little boy who so very much reminds him of his own son.) He also learns loyalty and respect. This story is his journey from being a naive American into a person with a world view. 

John learns the consequences of his actions and his desires on others. He learns that other people can suffer from his quests. This story is the answer to the BIG quest of his life as well, to him the ultimate question is answered.