Area 51: The Grail-5 (13 page)

"We have made many mistakes. I have made many mistakes. Trusting Katyenka was just one of them. There have been others. Let us try not to make any more.

Are you with me on that?"

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Turcotte forced the anger in his chest to hold, a dike of resolve that was thoroughly saturated. "Yes." The word was torn from his lips.

Yakov nodded. "We are slowly learning some of the truth from Burton's manuscript. Information that would have helped us greatly had we been aware before. We would have known of the Watchers. The Mission. The Ones Who Wait.

The Guides. All before they showed themselves to us in ways that took us by surprise. That cost the lives of all those people in South America. That cost your country two space shuttles. That cost me my comrades at Section IV."

Yakov pointed past Turcotte at the computers and Professor Mualama, who was now working on the manuscript, the clicking of keys a constant backdrop in the room. "Burton's manuscript. You see it as giving us the intelligence to find Doctor Duncan. But what is it really about?"

"The Grail," Turcotte said.

Yakov nodded. "Yes. The Grail. I think it is, how do you say, the linchpin to this civil war. Whatever it is— whatever it does—it is very, very important. I think it may possibly be what the civil war among the Airlia was about in the first place. I think the manuscript will give us an idea how important."

"What is the Grail?" Turcotte turned to Mualama. "Besides what we have here, I've read about it in terms of King Arthur and the Last Supper and all that.

If it's so damn important, we might as well have everything we think we know about it on the table."

Mualama leaned forward slightly so he could see both men. "The Grail is a very old legend, one that rose from many places.

"It is often tied together with the legend of the Ark of the Covenant. It is said that the Knights Templar, when

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they ruled Jerusalem during the Crusades, knew the whereabouts of the Ark and the Grail. While legend often leads one to truth, the path is,never clear or straight. So the Grail could be anything. Or it could be nothing."

"It's got to be something important for Burton to devote his life to trying to find it," Turcotte said, "and for Aspasia's Shadow to want it so badly."

"I agree," Mualama said. "The ancient legends are very complicated and have many different interpretations. There are indeed some who believe the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail to be one and the same, but not either."

Seeing Turcotte and Yakov's confused expressions, Mualama tried to explain.

"The Ark was possibly not an Ark. And the Grail was most likely not a grail or cup. But whatever each was, they could have been the same thing. Or maybe not.

Or maybe each are parts of a whole. I think the latter is the reality, but I do not know for certain.

"After all," Mualama continued, "all those objects in their own time were extremely revered. Some of the legends that grew up around them were, as a spy would say, cover stories. Misinformation. Do you know how many different objects each has been described as?" He didn't wait for an answer. "The Grail has been described as a stone from the stars, one description which would seem to be more applicable now, wouldn't it? Of course, before people knew of the Airlia presence here on Earth so many years ago, that was interpreted to mean that it might be a meteorite. But maybe it literally was a stone from the stars brought here by the Airlia.

"There is even a legend that it is a stone that was given to man during the battle between Lucifer and the Christian's Holy Trinity by the pure angels, who took neither side in this war. Or a spin-off on that legend 106

where the Grail was actually a precious stone that fell off Lucifer's crown when he was defeated in his revolt against God and cast down. And remember, Lucifer was an angel first. And he is mentioned in Burton's tale as a name given to Aspasia's Shadow.

"Pushing the Ark legend forward to the time of Christ, there is of course the more common notion of the Grail being the cup from which Christ drank at the Last Supper. Most people these days believe that to be the source of the legend, but it actually predates the time of Christ.

"There is an older Jewish legend—mentioned in the Old Testament and tied somehow to the Grail—about two objects called the thummin and the urim. These are balls of clear material filled with burning water. They are supposedly made from the fire of the sun. The thum-mim and urim were supposed to be buried in a cave with the Ark, or perhaps they were the Ark, who knows? Then again, maybe the thummin or urim were something entirely different. Maybe the ruby sphere you found under the Great Rift Valley in Ethiopia was one of those balls filled with a burning water? You must remember that early man had limited ways to describe things they had never seen before.

"Another way to explore legends is to examine the languages the legends are told in and their nuances in definition. Another word often used for the Grail is san-greal. Some cut that word in two, San Greal, meaning Holy Grail.

However, if you cut it a different way, Sang Real, it means royal blood."

Mualama smiled. "This theory has never gained much light of day because it suggests something the Christians fiercely deny. The royal blood is the lineage of Christ. Those who espouse Sang Real as the true meaning of the Grail say that Christ had a child with

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Mary Magdalene. There are those that believe a secret society has maintained Christ's bloodline down to the present day and that the progeny of this bloodline has been involved in many of the world's great events over the ages, and that person is the incarnation of the Grail."

"You're joking, right?" Turcotte asked.

Although Mualama was smiling, his voice was entirely serious. "I am not joking. I am simply relating to you some of the many legends surrounding the Grail and the Ark."

"I flunk blood does play into this somehow," Yakov added. "Burton mentions it and speaks of vampires in his manuscript. During my investigations for Section IV, I often came across references to blood. There were rumors the KGB

ran an experiment for many years involving draining blood from people, searching for a certain strain. We know that the SS used blood from a Guide to inject into each of their top members—what were they seeking by that?"

Turcotte nodded. "Duncan thought that Von Seeckt stayed alive as long as he did because he had a trace of Airlia blood in his veins, even after all these years." He turned to Mualama. "What else do you know of the Grail?"

"There are, of course, the Celtic and Arthurian legends surrounding the Grail. These date from well before the supposed time of Arthur, though. And, of course, Arthur himself and the entire Camelot tapestry is a legend that we don't know how much credence should be attached to.

"In Celtic legend, there is the Cauldron—or Grail— of Awen which could bestow all knowledge on those who drank from it. It is also said the Cauldron could restore life itself.

"There is or another theory that the Grail is somehow 108

connected with another object of legend, the lance of the Roman legionnaire Longinus—the spear that pierced Christ's side on the cross."

"We know that part is true," Yakov said. "The Spear of Destiny was an Airlia artifact."

"So you agree with the manuscript that whatever the Ark or Grail are, they are also Airlia artifacts?" Turcotte asked.

Mualama nodded. "Yes, and very powerful ones hidden after their civil war and presently of utmost importance now that the war is being renewed."

"What do they do?"

'To that, I have no answer. But all the legends, from all the different sources, agree that the Grail, in whatever shape it is in, brings health, wisdom, and immortality to those who partake of it."

Turcotte thought about it. "But if the Grail is in the Black Sphinx with Lisa, then rescuing her is one and the same thing."

"Yes," Yakov said, "but I wanted to be sure you were thinking clearly.

Because that means that she is not the important thing down there, no matter what your heart tells you. If it comes down to it, we must get the Grail before we get her. Do you agree?"

Turcotte looked up, met Yakov's dark gaze, and lied. "I agree."

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Ten-foot waves smashed harmlessly against the wide steel bow as the ocean gave way to the massive object plowing through it. A football field longer than the Empire State Building was tall, and seventy meters wide, the supertanker Jahre Viking was the largest man-made moving object ever constructed.

A lap around the huge main deck covered over a half-mile and Johan Verquist was on his sixth circuit as he approached the bow. He ran smoothly, each foot slapping the steel decking lightly, then springing to the next step. He was in remarkable shape for someone seventy-eight years old and reputed to be the third-richest man in the world by those who kept such lists. Each trip the Jahre Viking made from the oil fields to the oil consumers increased those riches, but this journey was different.

Verquist paused at the bow and looked to the rear. The bridge was over a quarter mile—four hundred and fifty meters—away. His icy blue eyes surveyed the hundreds on deck—Dennison's flock—allowed up for their hour in the sun, before rotating with the next batch. There were over ten thousand people crammed into the large tanks. He'd had the tanks steam blasted, then converted into multiple-level barracks.

He had one mission and he approached it as he had approached everything else in his life—with single-minded determination to achieve the end result regardless of cost.

The Mission had made him what he was, and when

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The Mission called—in the form of Guide Dennison— to give him orders, he followed them without question. As further impetus for this mission—after all, what could they offer a man who had practically everything? Dennison had also dangled a most intriguing enticement, of particular interest to Verquist given his advanced years—the possibility of extending his life. Dennison had not been specific about how this could be accomplished, but the possibility was simply too tempting to Verquist.

The lines around the old man's eyes narrowed as a group of brown-clad people came toward him, a tall figure in the lead—Dennison. The Guide's face was perfectly smooth, making it difficult to judge his age accurately.

Following Dennison's instructions, Verquist had the ship's captain pick up groups of the Progressive— those who believed mankind's future lay in allying with the Airlia—off several coasts on the way from the Middle East to this location. Ferry boats, sailboats, freighters—all types of craft had come out to meet his behemoth ship and transfer the believers on board.

Verquist turned back to the bow, ignoring the approaching Dennison, and stared out at the deep blue ocean that stretched to the horizon. The end of the journey was not far off—Easter Island, where he was to deliver the ten thousand to their destiny, whatever that might be.

A new world order was coming, and Verquist felt certain that The Mission was going to be a very important part of that order. If delivering ten thousand people at the cost of millions of dollars in lost oil revenue was the price he had to pay to be part of that order, he considered it very cheap indeed.

Especially if The Mission's offer turned out to have any degree of validity.

"Mister Verquist." Dennison's voice was as smooth 111

as his face. Verquist had heard the man "preach" though, and knew there was much more to this man than was readily apparent. After all, he and his other Guides had gotten all these people to give up their normal lives and come aboard to an unknown fate.

"Yes?"

"There has been an outbreak of cholera in hold 3 starboard." Dennison said it as casually as if noting the direction of the wind that blew over the bow.

"We have mostly Pakistanis in there. One of them must have been infected before coming on board. Now it's spread."

Verquist frowned. They were a long way from help. "We could radio—" he began, but Dennison cut him off.

"We will radio no one. That is not the solution."

"I don't have the medicine to deal with—" But Verquist was cut off once more, something his former adversaries would have loved to see.

"We have already sealed hold 3 starboard," Dennison said.

"You mean quarantined," Verquist corrected him.

"We've sealed it," Dennison continued, "and now I want you to order the captain to flood it."

Verquist stared at Dennison for several seconds, not quite sure if the man was serious, although in his gut he knew he was.

"I don't think the captain will do that," Verquist said.

"Then do it yourself. The whole is greater than the few." Dennison turned and walked away, his inner cadre right behind him.

VICINITY EASTER ISLAND

The CH-47 Chinook, a double-rotor helicopter, was descending toward the ocean on the north side of the

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Easter Island shield wall. The back ramp was down and the zodiac rested on it, held on board by a nylon strap. McGraw and Olivetti stood next to it, rigged in their wet suits, their tanks on board the boat.

The belly of the chopper actually settled into the water, the ramp awash from the slight swell. Olivetti cut the nylon and the zodiac slid into the water. Both men followed. They clambered aboard the rubber boat and got the engine started. As they pulled away, the Chinook rose into the air and headed back toward the Stennis.

McGraw was a slight man with muscles like ropes. He had the nickname Popeye among the teams for his build and for his willingness to take on anything and anyone, no matter what the odds. Olivetti was a big, quiet man with a fringe of hair he was very proud of, ignoring the large bald spot that dominated his crown.

"Ready, Popeye?" Olivetti asked.

'This is some weird stuff," Popeye McGraw replied as he looked to the horizon where Easter Island was supposed to be. "Let's do it."

They'd both been given as much information as was available on what Easter Island had been and what it could possibly be now. They knew there were three major volcanoes on the triangular-shaped island, Rapa Raruku in the east, Rapa Aria in the northwest, and Rapa Kara in the southwest. All had lakes inside their craters, the only source of freshwater on the island. There were also only two beaches, the rest of the island's shore being rocky. The one that concerned them the most was the northern beach, Anakena, the direction which the Washington had been headed when it had disappeared. It was there that the hole in the shield was supposed to be—directly in front of them. After getting through the shield wall, their first priority was to check on the status of the
Washington
.