They’d had no luck at the Rochester airport. And not only did all the previous flights leave on time, but theirs was the first to be sidelined.Two hours they’d waited for de-icing and final runway clearance, then they were off to JFK, where they had another hour’s delay before boarding their flight to Alexandria, after a stopover in Paris. They had no way of knowing how much earlier Helen and Waxman had left. All they could be sure of now was that they would be too late.He buzzed the flight attendant and requested a pillow and tried to sleep, knowing that he would need his strength. It was ten thirty in the morning by the time they hailed a cab at the Alexandria airport. At eleven, they were stuck in horrendous traffic, behind slow-moving produce trucks, and held up by a gala event at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, where huge crowds surged around a festival-like atmosphere on the grounds in front of the enormous glass-roofed construction. Caleb marveled at the blue dome of the planetarium off to the side, and he noted the sturdy construction, the reinforced concrete girders and the enormous walls of the main library.
