The Atlantis Code (57 page)

“You’re a linguist?”

“No. I’m a historian. Languages have never been my strength. I can barely manage Latin.”

“But you can read this?”

Sebastian nodded.

“How do you explain your ability to read it?”

“I can’t.”

Lourds regarded the old man curiously.
There’s no way I’m going to start believing in divine intervention at this point
. But how else could he explain what the old priest claimed? Lourds doubted Sebastian was lying.

Turning back to the last image in the series, Lourds said, “ ‘Adam, Eve, and all their children were driven from the Garden of Eden.’ ”

The image on the stone looked a lot like the interpretation in several illustrated Bibles Lourds had seen. A winged angel with a flaming sword blocked the way back. But this time the First Son was with the angel.

“ ‘In his righteous anger, God left the Book of Knowledge among men,’ ” Lourds went on. “ ‘He gave warning that if it was found, it was to be kept—unread—until He took it back from this world.’ ”

“But the Book of Knowledge wasn’t lost,” Sebastian said. “One of Adam’s descendants hid it for generations. He brought his family out here, to found Atlantis and begin the civilization that would draw God’s greatest wrath.”

“How do you know that?” Lourds asked. At that moment, he was so lost in the excitement of deciphering the story that he hardly noticed Murani and the armed warriors surrounding him.

“Because that story is here.” Sebastian led the way through the stones. His flashlight whipped over other stones with more writing.

Lourds followed, and Murani and the Swiss Guard trailed behind.

Gary’s heart banged inside his chest as he followed Natasha.

Mate, you’re going to get yourself killed. You should drag your bleeding arse right on out of here.

But he couldn’t. He needed to do something to help Lourds and Leslie. And he’d grown up on hero-driven fiction and video games. He had always wanted to be a man of action. Kill the bad guy, get the girl, and all that. He’d learned over the last few weeks, though, that being heroic wasn’t that easy. Heroes were more likely to bleed to death than to throw victory parties.

But that wouldn’t stop him.

He followed Natasha to one of the temporary buildings in front of the cave mouth and slipped inside. Racks of coveralls like those most of the construction crew wore against the chill of the caves were stacked near the cave mouth.

“Get dressed,” Natasha ordered quietly in the darkness. She threw him a pair of work boots. “Put those on as well.”

“They’re kind of clunky,” Gary objected.

“Too bad. We have to fit in. Criminals often get caught because they don’t change their footwear.” Natasha shrugged into her coverall and pulled it over the twin pistols she carried. “Supervisors probably check for work boots and hard hats. If you’re not wearing them, you’re going to get noticed.” She thrust a hard hat at him as well. “I don’t want that to happen.”

“Neither do I.” Gary put the hard hat on and kicked his shoes off. “The boots are still clunky.”

Natasha ignored him, put her hair up, slapped the hat on top of it, and headed back out the door. Gary had to hurry to catch up. He fell in beside her as she strode into the cave.

“One question,” Gary said quietly. “Do you have a plan?”

“I do,” Natasha said. “We find Lourds and Leslie. We get whatever it is everybody is after. We get out. During that time, we stay alive.” She looked at him. “Is that clear?”

“Crystal,” Gary replied. “Especially the part about us staying alive.”

“Good. Don’t make me kick your ass for getting killed.”

Gary couldn’t think of a heroic reply, so he followed along silently.

“The man who had the Book of Knowledge founded the island that became known in legend as Atlantis. With the power he expected to get from the Book, he knew the other men in the world would try to take it from him.”

Lourds came to a stop beside Father Sebastian. The priest’s flashlight beam illuminated the stone in front of him alone for a moment, but the beams of the others quickly joined them.

The image showed a king seated on a throne overlooking a vast empire.

Drawn by the words, Lourds began reading again. “ ‘Stripped of Eden, Adam’s children began making their lives in the outer world. One of those children, Caleb, founded the island kingdom of—’ ” He couldn’t make out the word. He turned his attention to Sebastian.

“I see it as
Heaven
,” Sebastian whispered, “but that can’t be what this place was. The founder chose to name this place that.”

“ ‘Caleb continued his work to read the Book of Knowledge. Years passed and he gave the task to his children. They passed it on to their children. They didn’t forget about God’s power. They lusted after the power. Instead, they chose to forget about God.’ ”

The next image showed a ziggurat under construction. Hundreds of men labored to haul rock and build the edifice that was supposed to reach the heavens.

“ ‘Under the Priest-King, Caleb’s son, a great tower was built. The people intended to live in Heaven and become gods themselves. They believed all they had to do was climb into the sky to reach God’s paradise.’ ”

The next stone showed the tower’s destruction. Bodies littered the ground.

“ ‘God saw the evil, selfish ways of the people and rained down His vengeance—’ ”

“ ‘Wrath,’ ” Sebastian interrupted.

“ ‘—and rained down His wrath,’ ” Lourds amended, “ ‘upon the people and destroyed their tower. He also destroyed that which bound all men together when He took away their language. Even the language they had carried with them from the Garden of Eden was lost.’ ”

Lourds tried to imagine what that had been like. All the men who had shared so many things suddenly couldn’t talk to each other. Even the core language, which he had to assume this was, had been taken.

“ ‘In time, they spoke to each other again, in a multitude of tongues. In time, the language in the Book of Knowledge was decoded,’ ” Lourds said. “ ‘The priest-kings began to read the Book. God called the sea up and destroyed the island.’ ”

The next image showed a huge wave crashing against the island’s coastline. People stood in horror as they watched the approach of their impending doom.

“ ‘Only those who took shelter in the caves—’ ”

“ ‘Catacombs,’ ” Sebastian said.

“ ‘—catacombs,’ ” Lourds made the adjustment automatically. The words drew him as he chased them with his flashlight, “ ‘survived the flood. Afterwards, when the sea rolled back, the survivors locked the Book of Knowledge away in the—home of—’ ” He stopped, unable to go on.

“ ‘In the Chamber of Chords,’ ” Sebastian said. “That’s where we are now.”

Lourds shone his flashlight over the stone wall. Robed men stood in the cave in front of pictographs that he recognized as the carvings he faced now.

“The Book of Knowledge is here?” Murani asked.

“I don’t know,” Lourds said.

Leslie yelped in surprise and pain.

When Lourds turned to face her, he saw that Murani had grabbed her by the hair and forced her down to her knees. He took a pistol from one of the Swiss Guards.

“What are you doing?” Lourds demanded. He stepped toward her.

Murani slammed the pistol into Lourds’s temple.

Pain exploded in Lourds’s head. Dizziness swept over him, and he dropped to all fours. He barely kept his face off the stone.

“
Where
is the
Book
?” Murani yelled.

Lourds barely kept from throwing up. Bile bit into the back of his throat. “I don’t know. It doesn’t say. That was written thousands of years ago. For all we know, someone already got the Book. The stories you heard could have been lying.”

Murani turned to Sebastian. “Tell me where the Book is.”

“No,” Sebastian said. “I’m not going to help you, Murani. You have disgraced yourself, your Church, and your God. I’ll be no part of this.”

Murani pointed the pistol at him. “Then you’ll be dead.”

For a moment Lourds thought Murani was going to shoot the old priest.

Sebastian held his rosary and prayed in a voice that cracked only a little.

Murani pointed the pistol at Leslie. “I’ll kill her. I swear to you, I’ll kill her.”

Sebastian opened his eyes and looked at Leslie. “I’m sorry.”

Furious, Murani turned his attention back to Lourds. “Keep reading. Find that Book. If you don’t, I’m going to kill this woman. You have ten minutes.”

Weakly, Lourds pushed himself to his feet and stood swaying. Then he picked up his dropped flashlight and staggered back to the wall of images. He moved down to an image of the five musical instruments.

Lourds blinked his eyes and tried to clear his double vision. “ ‘The survivors lived in fear of God. They locked the Book of Knowledge away in the . . . Chamber of Chords. The key was divided among five . . .
instruments
.’ I’m guessing, but it fits.”

“Keep going,” Murani ordered.

Lourds wiped sweat from his eyes. He moved to the next pictograph. “ ‘The secret was hidden within. The five instruments were given to five men who were called . . . Keepers.’ ” He plucked that term from what Adebayo, Blackfox, and Vang had used to refer to themselves. “ ‘The Keepers were chosen from among those who now spoke different languages. They were given the parts of the key and sent out into the world. They were never to be together again until God called them together.’ ”

When he moved on to the next wall section, Lourds found that it was blank. He played the flashlight around, then turned back to Murani.

“There’s nothing more,” Lourds said in a thin, quiet voice. He fully expected Murani to shoot him out of frustration.

“The secret’s in the musical instruments,” Murani said. “Find it.”

At Murani’s gesture, Gallardo and his men brought the music cases forward and deposited them on the ground.

Lourds hesitated. The challenge was difficult, and the conditions were impossible. But he wanted to save Leslie. He wanted to be the hero. He wanted to rise to the occasion.

“Don’t do this.”

Lourds swiveled his head in Father Sebastian’s direction. The old man stood there with his rosary in hand.

“The Book of Knowledge was hidden away,” Sebastian said. “God had it hidden for a reason. It destroyed this world.”

Lourds thought about the images of destruction captured on the stone walls. They only scratched the surface of the true horror that had overtaken the island kingdom.

“You’re not supposed to do this,” Sebastian said.

“Shut him up,” Murani snarled.

Gallardo punched Sebastian in the throat. The priest collapsed to one knee as he coughed and gagged. Without mercy, Gallardo kicked the old man in the side and knocked him over.

One of the Swiss Guards, the one with the scar, made a small sound of protest. Gallardo turned and stared him down. But he backed away from the old priest.

Murani pulled the gun from Leslie’s head and crossed to stand in Lourds’s face.

Lourds wanted to step back. The threat emanating from the cardinal was a palpable force. Sickness twisted in Lourds’s stomach.

“You
are
supposed to do this,” Murani said in a low, fierce voice. “You didn’t even know about any of this. Yet here you are. Do you believe in God’s will, Professor Lourds?”

Lourds tried to answer but couldn’t force his voice through his fear-constricted throat.

“I think,” Murani said, “that you’re here by God’s will. I believe that he wanted you here. To serve in this fashion.”

“Don’t do it, Thomas,” Leslie entreated.

“Think about the knowledge.” Murani said. “Could you go to the grave without knowing this?” His dark eyes searched Lourds’s. “You are so close. Think about it. There’s every chance that I won’t be able to read what’s written in the Book of Knowledge. I’ll need you for that as well. You find the Book, you get to live.”

Lourds wanted to say no. Everything good and decent within him did
not
want to cooperate with the crazed zealot before him. But an insistent voice in the back of his mind wouldn’t shut up. He
wanted
to read that Book. He
wanted
to know what had been written there.

“How can you walk away now?” Murani asked.

“Don’t let him sway you,” Sebastian croaked. “Don’t let him tempt you.”

But the temptation was too great. This was the best and finest thing Lourds had ever been part of finding.

And it wasn’t found yet.

Without a word, he turned his attention to the musical instruments.

During the time after she’d arrived early at Cádiz, Natasha had familiarized herself with the dig site as much as possible. She’d read newspapers and magazines that had been scattered around the media camp. Gary had helped her gather them. They’d also watched some of the news video that journalists had broadcast. The dig had been heavily in the rotation on the news channels.