Curse of Atlantis Read online

  “No way!” Jack blurted out, excitedly. “Javi, that’s it. That proves it. We’ve found the pyramid,” Jack said, excitedly.

  “Whoa, Jack. Hold up a minute. It’s way too early to tell. It’s only a guess at this point,” Javier responded, exercising restrained enthusiasm. “We’re going to need to fully document this entire area. After we’ve done that, we can then start making assumptions.”

  “Say what you will, but I think the evidence is already overwhelming,” Jack responded.

  “Jack, a picture on your camera and a couple of anomalies are good clues but they don’t make a hidden pyramid just yet. Let’s stay focused and collect the rest of the clues, then we can make a decision.”

  ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~

  Nicolae sat on his couch and read through his morning’s reports. As the classical music played lightly in the background, his mind drifted in and out of focus between his work and newfound interest: a 1925 Bugatti Type 35B racer. With only two in existence, it was rare and he wanted it.

  Having heard about it years before, he had missed his opportunity to own the stolen vehicle when it was briefly offered for sale through "discreet purchase." Now, many years later, the rare vehicle was reportedly about to be offered to select collectors. He was not going to lose his chance this time.

  He stared across his ornate office and let his mind daydream about the thrill of driving such a vintage vehicle. He could almost smell a faint hint of exhaust and the handcrafted leather seats. He smiled as he let his mind wander.

  Suddenly from behind him, the phone rang loudly, startling him and breaking the serenity of his private thoughts. He stared at the annoying sound in disgust, then forced himself from the comfort of his white Italian leather couch.

  On his ornately carved mahogany desk, he pushed the button on the phone transferring the sound to speaker.

  “What is it?” Nicolae said, mildly irritated by the intrusion.

  “Boss, they’ve found it,” Dimitri said, his voice showing the excitement of his waiting approval.

  “The Bugatti? You’ve located it? That is wonderful news,” Nicolae gleamed.

  For Nicolae, the thought of paying five million American dollars for a stolen vehicle was an unsettling option, not when he could have his men steal it for free.

  “Boss, I’m not talking about the Bugatti. It’s the pyramid… they’ve found it,” Dimitri said, now slightly disappointed at his employer's reaction.

  “Really?” Nicolae shouted, now instantly excited.

  “They hope to be excavating very soon,” Dimitri added.

  “I see. How long?” Nicolae said, now with guarded optimism.

  “Maybe in few days, I’m guessing.”

  “Not how long before they start digging. How long before they enter the pyramid?” Nicolae asked, growing anxious with anticipation.

  “They told me six months...”

  “SIX MONTHS?!” Nicolae shouted angrily, cutting Dimitri off before finishing. “Shut ‘em down. Shut them all down... replace ‘em. Find someone who can do it in two.”

  “Boss, I gave them two months to get it done. They claim they can do it,” Dimitri said, now nervous about his boss’ temperament.

  Nicolae thought for a moment. He realized Dimitri had anticipated his reaction and had forced the team to accept a timeline he would find acceptable. Dimitri had done his job well.

  “Good work, Dimitri. You are my most valuable asset,” Nicolae complimented.

  Feeling the satisfaction of recognition, he replied, “Thanks, Boss. This one has been challenging.”

  “Hmm, right, that Arista girl. She has been difficult,” Nicolae concurred. “I can’t wait to be rid of her… and them.”

  Dimitri heard the statement, but sat quietly and waited for his boss to continue.

  “Have you made any plans yet… for their disappearance?” Nicolae asked cryptically.

  “I have. I’m planning an unfortunate cave-in after you’ve taken your interests from the chamber,” Dimitri replied, his tone growing cautious once more.

  “A cave-in… hmm, I like it. Takes care of everyone in one event. No mess, no clean up.” Nicolae paused a moment, then continued. “Now that they’ve found the pyramid, I want them watched ‘round the clock. I don’t want to get there and find the chamber empty.”

  “I’ll take care of it,” Dimitri responded, feeling a bit embarrassed for not having thought of it sooner.

  With more pressing business matters to discuss, Nicolae moved onto a more important topic.

  “So what is happening with the Novatek piping contracts? Are they still giving us trouble?”

  “I have Bullinski handling it. He’s making progress,” Dimitri replied.

  “Good. He’s a tough negotiator,” Nicolae responded cryptically.

  “I just hope there’s someone left to sign the contracts when he’s done.”

  ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~

  Javier pulled a rag from his back pocket. Lifting his field hat, he wiped the sweat off the top of his head, then stuffed it back into his now baggy pants. Standing for a moment and resting, he thought about Serena. Her face as a teen in braces registered clearly in his mind. He smiled slightly, then quickly frowned as he thought about her captivity. The pressure and strain of trying to save her life weighed heavy on him. In the previous weeks, he had barely eaten enough to survive and now, having lost nearly forty pounds, he looked gaunt and felt weak.

  With his hands shaking from dehydration, he pulled a water bottle from his pants pocket and drank a large slug of the warm water.

  “Javi, we do have cold water in the cooler,” Jack said, from behind.

  Startled, Javier spun around. He flashed an amicable smile, then replied simply, “Thanks.”

  Seeing the sadness on his friend's face, he hoped to distract him with work.

  “Well, I’d say that went really well. We finished the scans in record time. Everything’s just about packed away and ready for the hike back down. Have you assembled the data yet? As if I didn’t already know the answer,” Jack said, his voice sounding bright and positive.

  Javier smiled slightly, then said, “The computer’s crunching the numbers now. It shouldn’t be long. I’m hesitating on making any concrete statements until the final word is in.”

  “I wonder how Burt’s doing with the Greeks,” Jack said, checking the time on his watch. “Boy, I’d love to be a fly on the wall during that conversation.”

  “I’m sure it’ll be very uncomfortable. Something I’m sure Burt isn’t looking forward to,” Javier responded.

  “Well, whatever he’s using as persuasion, I just hope it’s enough to do the job.”

  Javier was about to respond when he heard a single beep sound from his computer. Rushing over to a small pile of rocks used as a makeshift table, he sat down on the ground in front of them and adjusted the screen to his laptop.

  “Ok, let’s see what we have,” he said, his voice showing anticipation.

  Jack knelt down beside him as he worked the display. Using the onboard mouse, Javier slid his finger over the tiny pad and watched the three-dimensional image rotate on the screen. As the picture changed, it began to show crude representations of the features buried deep beneath them. Suddenly, Javier stopped rotating the image. Both he and Jack stared at the screen, mesmerized by its display.

  “Oh my God,” Jack blurted out.

  “I know, I can’t believe it either,” Javier said, his voice now growing in excitement.

  “Are you sure that’s accurate?”

  “Within a few feet, yes,” Javier replied.

  “Wow, I had no idea it was going to look like that.”

  “And this is just a 3-D image: crude, featureless. I shudder to think of what the real thing will look like,” Javier responded.

  Jack looked over to Darrien who was attaching some tools to his pack for the hike down. Shouting, he called to him, “Hey, Darrien. You’ve got to see this. Come here, quick.”

  Da
rrien dropped his pack and hurried over. He knelt down behind the two and stared over their shoulders. Squinting in the hot sun, his eyes were mesmerized by the display.

  “What’s that?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

  “That, my friend, is the graphical image of this mountain,” Javier said. Pointing to the various features, he continued. “And those lines I believe, are a series of tunnels or corridors that connect to…”

  “The burial chamber!” Jack blurted out, cutting off Javier before he finished.

  “No way!” Darrien said, now visibly excited. “That is spectacular.”

  “So the tidal wave really did reach levels this high. I have to tell you, I had my doubts,” Jack confessed.

  “Yeah, I know what you mean, Jack, but this proves it. What we’re standing on is in fact, a pyramid covered in debris from a massive tsunami,” Javier said, his voice rising with excitement. Looking out over the valley toward the ocean, he continued, “Seven thousand years ago, as far as the eyes could see, this all must have been the city of Atlantis. The wave that rolled in was hundreds of feet high. I don’t know how far inland it traveled but it was certainly far enough to pick up a massive amounts of debris and fill in the valleys and cover mountains, as well as this pyramid.”

  “Wow, they never had a chance,” Jack said, his tone now sympathetic.

  “What strikes me as peculiar is how this pyramid wasn’t washed away. The force of a wall of water hundreds of feet high is incalculable. It should have decimated it in seconds, yet here it stands, intact,” Javier said, puzzled by the new revelation.

  “Maybe it’s not intact. Maybe most of the blocks got washed away and left just the interior blocks,” Jack responded.

  “Then how could we see the chamber? It had to have been flooded and covered in mud and debris,” Javier continued.

  “Maybe it somehow never flooded,” Darrien said.

  “I’m sure it must have,” Javier returned.

  “Well, whatever happened down there seven thousand years ago, it left the chamber empty, otherwise it would have shown up dramatically different on our display,” Jack responded.

  “I don’t know about you guys, but I think it’s kind of eerie that there’s someone buried beneath us right now.”

  “Holy Crap! I never thought about that, Darrien, but you’re right. Somewhere down there is the body of the King of Atlantis,” Jack responded, his own words sending chills throughout his body.

  “Not just somewhere, Jack. My guess is he’s about twenty feet in front of us and two hundred and thirty feet below,” Javier said, pointing to a spot just ahead of them.

  “Can you see him on your computer?” Darrien asked, now anxious for more information.

  “To be honest, Darrien, I really don’t know. See all these shaded images?” Javier asked both men.

  Jack and Darrien both nodded simultaneously.

  “Well, my guess is they are metallic. And if I had to guess further, I’d say they are probably gold,” Javier speculated.

  “GOLD?! All those images?” Jack exclaimed loudly. “Wow, that’s incredible.”

  “Yeah, and if I had to make an even greater guess, I’d even venture to say one of those objects could quite possibly be a sarcophagus.”

  “Which would hold the King of Atlantis?” Darrien asked, already knowing the answer.

  “Possibly hold the King of Atlantis,” Javier corrected. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. These are just guesses. It might not be gold down there at all. It could be something else. The possibilities are nearly endless.”

  “Well, I sure hope it's gold,” Darrien said.

  “Why’s that?” Jack asked.

  “Anything less and the Russians may not want to waste their time,” Darrien reasoned.

  Jack shook his head in disgust and said loudly, “What a shame it is to waste all that treasure on a bunch of parasites. There’s got to be a way to stop them.” Turning to Javier, he continued, “At some point, do you think it might be a good idea to call in the police?”

  “I’ve been struggling with that very question for weeks, Jack. The situation is so unstable, it’s hard to know what to do. Any hint of police and I’m certain they’d just vanish… and we’d never see Serena again,” Javier responded, the words growing harder to speak.

  “Maybe before we make the trade, we should call the police then,” Jack suggested.

  “Without much time to plan, I’m afraid they’ll just come in with their guns blazing. Serena wouldn’t stand a chance,” Javier said, grimly.

  “So what should we do?” Jack asked.

  “Exactly as they say and hope they’re men of their word,” Javier replied, his tone hardly convincing.

  “That’s not very encouraging,” Jack responded, bluntly.

  “It wasn’t meant to be,” Javier said, flatly.

  “So where do we go from here?” Darrien asked.

  “For starters, I’ll be giving Burt a call almost immediately. Once he’s informed, I’ll be calling Berta. The poor woman deserves a piece of encourage news. After that, we’ll need to set up the resources for the excavation so that as soon as we have approval, we’ll be ready to start digging. While all that’s happening in the background, we’ll be searching for the entrance to the chamber,” Javier said. Pointing to the images on the screen, he continued. “I can see the tunnels and the chambers, but there’s no apparent entrance just yet. We’ll be concentrating our efforts at the base. Hopefully, the equipment will turn up something quickly.”

  “I’m also going to check the scrolls again. Maybe we missed something. If they showed the burial chamber, maybe the entrance is hidden somewhere on them too,” Jack added.

  “Good call, Jack. It certainly couldn’t hurt,” Javier responded.

  ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~

  Two hours later:

  Pulling in the short driveway of their small rented villa, Javier’s phone suddenly came alive. Loud and annoying, he struggled to retrieve it from his pants pocket. As the beat up old Ranger Rover came to a stop, he jumped out, reached into his pocket, and extracted the phone, accidentally answering it.

  “Hello? Javi, you there? Hello?” a faint sound came from the phone.

  Javier quickly brought the phone to his ear and answered.

  “Burt, is that you?”

  “Absolutely, in the flesh,” Burt replied, sounding bright and energized.

  “I was just about to call you. We have great news. We confirmed Jack’s discovery. That hill is in fact, the pyramid,” Javier said, excited, yet subdued.

  “That IS fantastic news, Javi. Congratulations! We’ll have to celebrate when I get there tomorrow,” Burt responded, with a sense of relief.

  “Tomorrow? Burt, we need those permits NOW! You’ve got to stay and work on the Greeks. We just can’t afford any more delays on this,” Javier implored. “You know what’s at stake. If we don’t…”

  “Javi, I got the approvals,” Burt said, cutting Javier off before he finished. “We can start as soon as we need to.”

  Burt listened to the long silence as he waited for Javier’s reply. As the seconds ticked by, and the silence grew, he wondered if he had lost his connection. Checking the face of the phone, he could see he was still connected to Javier.

  “Javi?” he said in an even tone.

  Still, there was no response.

  “JAVI, you there?” Burt shouted into the phone.

  Burt heard the unmistakable sound of a sniffle on the other end of the line.

  “Javi, you OK?” Burt asked, now concerned.

  A wave of relief swept over Javier as the full impact of the news finally registered in his mind. For the first time in over a month, he finally had a sense of hope, albeit small. Choking up, he struggled to hold back his emotions. Clearing his throat, he finally found the strength to speak.

  “Sorry, Burt, I’m here. I wasn’t expecting that kind of news. We’ve been working against such overwhelming odds… I guess I’m jus
t relieved to finally catch a break,” Javier said, wiping a tear from his cheek.

  “It’s ok, Javi. I’m feeling pretty relieved too. It’s been a hard battle and it’s nice to finally have a couple of successes,” Burt said, in sympathetic tone.

  “What time do you arrive tomorrow?” Javier asked, getting back to business.

  “Mid-morning, around ten.”

  “That’s great, Burt. I could sure use your help recruiting resources for the dig,” Javi said.

  “Javi, leave that all to me. I’ve been dealing with these people for years. I know exactly who to call and what to do. You just concentrate on getting into that damned thing,” Burt ordered respectfully. “Do you have any idea where the entrance is?”

  “None. The readout shows what looks like the burial chamber in the center with some smaller chambers positioned off to the side. There’re also a few tunnels that appear to connect the chambers, but none seem to exit outside the pyramid,” Javier responded.

  “Guess you’ll have your work cut out for you. You might end up having to dig out the base to find it,” Burt suggested.

  “I’d hate to lose all that time doing that. Jack and I are going to take more readings over the next day or so. I’m hoping to pinpoint it,” Javier said in hopeful tone.

  “Well, after I’ve made the arrangements, I’ll be able to devote all my time to helping you guys. Don’t worry, Javi. You guys have done the hard part. Finding the entrance should be a walk in the park compared to what you’ve accomplished,” Burt complimented.

  “A walk in the park sounds pretty good right about now,” Javier responded with subtle humor.

  Chapter 17

  For two days, Javier, Jack, and Darrien spent their time setting up the equipment and mapping the extents of the pyramid. The work was monotonous and exhausting. After two days in the hot sun, working dawn to dusk, their efforts were barely rewarded.

  “I just don’t get it. We were able to find the base of the pyramid and map the chambers and halls at that elevation, but nowhere is there any indication of an entryway. Am I missing something here?” Javier said in frustration. “What am I not seeing?”