Curse of Atlantis (23 page)

“Oh my God, Jack. I think you found it,” Javier shouted, hardly able to contain himself. “This is unbelievable.”

“Great work, Jack,” Burt joined in, slapping him on the back. “I don’t think we ever would have found that.”

“Well, to be honest,
if I
hadn’t been sitting at the right place at the right time, I probably wouldn’t have ever found either,” Jack responded modestly.

“Oh, come on, Jack. You spotted that thing back when we were on the boat. You’ve got an impressive eye,” Burt complimented.

“So what’s next
?”
Jack asked, now equally excited.

A disturbing quiet suddenly came over Javier and Burt as the two looked knowingly at each other.

“Guys? What do we do next? The Greek government has to give us the permits now that we’ve found the pyramid. They’d be silly not to, right?” Jack questioned.

“It doesn’t work that way, Jack,” Burt answered.

“This is exactly what I was afraid of,” Javier said.

“Don’t worry, Javi. I’m on the next plane in the morning. If I have to use a little unfriendly persuasion, I’ll get those permits sign and sealed. It would
n’t
be the first time,” Burt responded resolutely.

“Really? You’ve strong-armed people before?” Jack asked, incredulously.

“Strong-arm is such an ugly word. I like to call it
'
blackmail,
'
” Burt said in a serious tone.

“Oh yeah, that sound SO much better,” Darrien responded.

After a moment’s chuckle, the seriousness of their situation still weighed heav
il
y on their minds. They headed back to the car, planning their next move along the way.

Too excited to sleep, Jack woke even before his alarm went off. He hopped out of bed, showered quickly and headed out to the main room of the tiny villa. To his surprise, Javier and Burt were already awake and reviewing a copy of the ancient scrolls. Spread out on the floor, the photo
-
copied ancient texts were laid side by side for easier viewing.

“And I thought I was excited,” Jack said as he entered the room.

“Good morning, Jack. Sleep well?” Javier asked.

“All three hours of it. H
ow about you guys? Did you get any sleep at all?”

“Some,” Burt said, simply.

“So what’s the plan for today?” Jack asked, excitedly.

“We’re going to confirm that that hill is indeed the pyramid and Burt is going back to work his connections. Other than that, we wait,” Javier responded, his voice now becoming serious.

Jack shook his head in disgust. “I’m sure the Russians will be paying us a visit shortly. Telling them we ‘think’ we’ve found the pyramid probably isn’t going to be good enough for them.”

“I know, but as I said before, finding the pyramid is only half the battle. Obtaining permits and excavating is the other half of the battle,” Javier said. Turning to Burt, he spoke directly to him, “All our hopes now rest directly on your shoulders. With only days left, we need a break.”

“I know, Javi. I’ve been holding onto a piece of information that I’m sure will speed things up,” Burt said, cryptically.

“I don’t want know about
it
,” Javier said.

“I do. Y
ou were serious about this blackmail tactic? I thought you were kidding,” Jack responded, incredulously.

“Welcome to the
seedy
world of archeology,” Burt replied, sarcastically.

“I didn’t know archeology had a
seedy
side to it. It’s almost comical,” Jack responded.

“Nothing comical about it... it exists and it’s an area that includes backroom deals, looting
,
a
nd the gravest criminal activities
to name just a few of the sordid details. I suspect our Russian friends are involved in it at some level,” Burt explained.

“Almost like an
Indiana Jones
movie,” Jack related.

“Not as much drama as being chased by a group of natives carrying blow guns and shrunken heads, but certainly the end effect is the same… someone wants the ancient treasure and will pay or kill to get it,” Javier cut in.

“You have to understand, Jack. Ancient artifacts are priceless and therefore carry enormous value. We’re not talking about bubble gum here,” Burt added.

“I’ll bet that’s something they don’t teach in college,” Jack responded.

Burt smiled dryly, then suddenly his eyes drifted toward the front door.

“That must be Darrien. He’s awfully early though. It’s still dark,” Burt remarked.

Listening to the sound
of
the car pull
ing
into the driveway, Javier and Jack looked suspiciously at each other, then back to Burt.

“I’m guessing that’s not Darrien,” Jack said, now moving to the front door.

“The Russians?” Burt asked, surprised.

Javier nodded grimly.

“Yup, it’s the rooskies,” Jack said sarcastically. “Wonder if you should invite them for breakfast.”

“Steady
,
Jack, we need to appear accommodating until we get Serena back,” Javier said, his voice low and serious.

Jack nodded simply, then open
ed
the door for the two dark-suited men.

“We were hoping you would be up early. May we come in?”
Dimitri
asked.

“Certainly. We were actually hoping you’d stop by. We have some great news for you,” Jack said.

“Oh, did you find the pyramid?”
Dimitri
asked, now stepping through the door and walking toward the living room.

“We believe we have,” Javier cut in. “Jack spotted it last night. We’ll confirm it today while Burt secures the required permits for excavation.”

“Excellent,”
Dimitri
said, now smiling for the first time since they met. “The Boss will be very pleased.”

“So you think it’ll buy us more time?” Jack asked.

“If it is indeed
the pyramid, I would say yes,”
Dimitri
answered.

Javier felt a wave of relief. They had bought Serena some time.

“How much time do you estimate before we can enter the pyramid?”
Dimitri
asked.

Javier thought quickly about his answer. Under normal circumstances, an excavation would be delicate and time consuming. In constant fear for Serena’s life, he no longer cared about the quality of the excavation. Finding the entrance was all that mattered.

Factoring in an aggressive dig, he felt he might be able to find the entrance in three months. Knowing the Russians would cut his time in half, he doubled the number.

“I’d have to say, it’ll probably take about six months to fin
d the entrance. After that, it
should be fairly easy to locate the tomb,” Javier said, confidently.

Dimitri
stared at Javier with suspicion. He thought about the answer and knew Nicolae could never wait that long without replacing them with another team. In his mind, he calculated what he felt his boss would accept.

“The Boss would never sit for something of that length. I suggest you find the entrance and the tomb in less than two months,”
Dimitri
said, coldly.

“Two Months? Impossible.” Javier blurted out, desperation now in his voice once more. “Can’t you talk to him and see if you can convince him to give us more time? I’d even give him personal tours of the pyramid if that would keep him interested.”

Dimitri
smirked at Javier’s answer. It seemed silly and desperate, something that Nicolae would never hear of.

“No, that is the time he’ll accept and no amount of double-talk will affect that date. You must finish in two months or you’ll all be replaced by someone who can,”
Dimitri
said, sternly.

“Out of the frying pan, into the fire,” Jack said under his breath, angrily.

Hearing Jack
'
s comment,
Dimitri
said sharply, “Such is life… find the tomb of Atlantis.”

~~~~~  ~~~~~  ~~~~~

Javier, Jack
,
and Darrien hiked up the hill that contained the two ridgelines. Lugging their heavy equipment up through the rugged t
errain, they were able to ascend
the five hundred feet of elevation in just under two hours. Standing on the small mound that was the summit of the buried pyramid, the
y
stared up at the higher mountain above them.

“It’s intriguing that they didn’t build the pyramid on top of the larger mountain,” Javier said.

“Maybe it was just too difficult to lug blocks up that high,” Jack replied.

“That’s probably the reason. It was hard enough getting up this high. Imagine climbing a couple hundred feet higher carrying a nine ton block of stone?” he speculated.

Shaking their heads in wonder, they then took a moment and stared out over the valley that was once the great city of
Atlantis
.

“Amazing, isn’t it? Seven thousand years ago, this very spot was the crown jewel of the city. Very few people probably even stood up here,” Javier said.

“Actually, I’m willing to bet that in seven thousand years, only a handful of people ever stood on this location. After being covered with mud and debris, it became just another nondescript
hill
. No one had any reason to come up here. I’m almost willing to bet that we are the first to stand here in seven thousand years,” Jack speculated.

“Wow, that’s exciting,” Darrien said, feeling energized by the topic.

Thinking about Serena and how she was missing
this
important moment, Javier became saddened by the experience. Seeing his change in mood, Jack quickly took action.

“Ok, let get this show on the road, shall we? Javi, I believe you have
the
helm,” Jack said.

“Quite right, Jack. We have no time to waste. Let’s set up the grid lines, take the rest of the soil
samples,
and get the equipment in place,” he replied. “After doing this for over a month, we should be able to finish by
noon
.”

“What then? Can we start to dig?” Darrien asked, innocently.

“Don’t I wish… no
,
Darrien, we have to wait until someone feels that excavating the pyramid of Atlantis is a worthwhile venture,” Jack replied sarcastically.

“Jack, you know it’s not that simple,” Javier said.

“In my mind it is. One of the greatest finds in the history of the world, and insignificant digs take precedence over it,” Jack reasoned. “I understand that you can’t just give out permits to only the most important finds, but one of this level of importance really should have special consideration. If I was running the show, I’d make an exception for this project on the spot... it’d be a no-brainer.”

“Yeah, me too,” Darrien concurred.

“Well, until we have approval, there’ll be no digging,” Javier said, sternly.

With a complying nod, both Jack and Darrien began their work.

~~~~~  ~~~~~  ~~~~~

Within an hour of hiking to the top of the hill, the three had taken soil samples, set up grid lines along the ground and positioned both the GPR and the ECM device and for their first battery of tests. As Javier pushed the GPR along the ground, Darrien marked off the locations that were called out. Jack stood on the opposite side of the grid and slowly walked with the ECM unit, marking anything that created a distinctive reflection deep in the ground.

Within a few step
s
, Javier stopped and read the display. Almost
immediately,
he discovered a strange void deep in the ground. As Darrien marked the location, he pushed the device forward only to stop again.

Looking over to Jack, he called out, “Hey
,
Jack, you reading anything?”

“Yeah, I’m not
sure what they are but
there are
a lot of dissimilar materials down there,” Jack responded.

“They? Are you getting a lot of
fluctuations
on the display?” Javi asked.

“It’s like the display is malfunctioning,” Jack replied.

“Did you reset the device
?
” Javier yelled over.

“Yup, sure did… same thing,” Jack shouted. “By the way, I’m not seeing anything that looks like the blocks of the pyramid either. I’m not seeing the distinctive pattern you told me about.”

“What are you seeing?” Javier asked. “Never mind
,
I’m coming over,” he said, growing tired of the shouting between them.