The Tenth Cycle: A Thriller (A Rossler Foundation Mystery Book 1) (43 page)

When the evening came, everyone was in fine spirits, particularly Sinclair, who'd imbibed some liquid spirits in anticipation of his performance. Sarah played and sang beautifully, offering her namesake Sarah McLaughlin's Arms of an Angel. Because she was so good, the others balked until Martha threatened to withhold her special surprise, an apple pie that she'd persuaded Ilana to allow her to bake in the kitchen. Then, they each sang in turn, with either Sarah or Daniel accompanying them on their respective instruments. Finally, it was Sinclair's turn. Somewhat red in the face from fortifying his courage, he began, a cappella because no music had been found. The song was hilarious, telling the bawdy story of a pub that caught fire and how all the patrons took the opportunity to go to the basement and drink all the barrels of beer. By the time he'd sung four verses, everyone was joining in on the chorus, especially on the repeated 'McIntyre':

And there was Brown upside down

Lappin'' up the whiskey on the floor.

"Booze, booze!" The firemen cried

As they came knockin' on the door (clap clap)

Oh don't let 'em in till it's all drunk up

And somebody shouted MacIntyre! MACINTYRE!

And we all got blue-blind paralytic drunk

When the Old Dun Cow caught fire.

The last verse brought the house down, everyone declaring the evening's entertainment the most fun they'd had in many months. Sinclair forgot himself and seized Martha for an exuberant kiss, which, to the amusement of the others, she returned before pounding on his arms to let her go.

~~~

On the appointed day, a cavalcade of black SUVs with tinted windows and no identifying marks arrived at the gates of the villa wall, and was duly ushered in by Secret Service agents who had arranged with the Mossad guards to be inside for the day. One by one, they discharged their passengers under the watchful eyes of more agents. The passengers were shown into the villa after each was obliged to show identification, even though the agents checking them knew the four men and one woman on sight. Finally, a slender man whose relatively youthful face belied his silver shock of hair emerged and was greeted at the door. "Welcome, Mr. President. Everything is in order."

On hand for the meeting were the guests; President Nigel Harper, head of the CIA Westley Parkins, and the requested heads of both the leadership and opposition of both houses of Congress. In addition, behind the scenes were the Chief of Staff, on hand to smooth any difficulties, and a supervisor for the army of Secret Service agents who swarmed the place. The regular villa staff had been replaced by a hand-picked butler and chef, who would serve lunch to the party when they took a break.

Daniel, as host of the meeting, deferred to his President to begin, after introducing the Rosslerite party and in turn being told the names of the politicians and CIA head.

"Well, Mr. Rossler, first let me say again that we are all very proud that Americans, even those who have adopted our country," he said, with a nod toward Raj, "have made such an important discovery. We're also proud that, rather than profit tremendously yourselves, you have pledged to the world that these discoveries are to be distributed fairly."

"Thank you, Mr. President," Daniel said, as CEO and spokesperson of the Foundation, unless someone else's expertise was needed or they were addressed specifically.

"However," Harper continued, "For reasons of national security, we must insist that you turn all of this over to your government."

Daniel began to shake his head in unison with the rest of the team, but the President wasn't finished. "Mr. Rossler, think for a moment. This is far too big for a small group of individuals to handle. You're going to need money, resources, that aren't available outside a major government entity. Furthermore, I understand that the first thing you've released is the plans for a fusion generator. Don't you realize how dangerous that could be in the wrong hands? You're out of your depth. You'll all be well-compensated for your roles in the discovery; in fact, name your price. Every man has his price."

Shock ran around the half of the table occupied by the Rosslerites. This wasn't at all what they'd expected, to be insulted, although Raj and Sinclair each thought they should have seen it coming. Daniel struggled for an answer that wouldn't be considered rude, then decided that since the demand was rude, he needn't bother to mince words. Looking around at his people, he saw that they were as irritated at the President's high-handed speech as he was. A small smile played around his lips as he thought of the answer he'd like to give, an expression he'd picked up from an Australian colleague while he was embedded with the Marines in Afghanistan, "Mate, not as long as you got a hole in your arse."

However, he curbed his whimsy, answering instead, "Absolutely not."

Now it was Harper's turn for shock. As President of the United States, he was not accustomed to being thwarted in such an abrupt way, though the media often had harsh words for him. His eyes narrowed, and the Congressional members of his party waited in anticipation of the firestorm they could see coming. The opposition party was rather enjoying the President's discomposure, but they, too, expected cooperation in this matter. Sarah regarded her fiancé with an odd expression as well, making a mental note to ask him what he was smiling about.

"I beg your pardon?" The President feigned that he hadn't heard, or hadn't understood. His words were intended as a mild threat.

"We will not turn over any information to one country alone, Mr. President. I thought I made that clear when we spoke on the phone."

"Young man, do you understand that we can and will get it, with or without your cooperation? Surely it would be best for you and your colleagues to at least benefit financially from your discovery. How can you speak for them? Put it to a vote."

Daniel looked at his colleagues, who were all shaking their heads. "We already have, Sir. I think you can see their answer. Mr. President, all of us love our country. We want to go home. But, we will not be intimidated, nor will we stray from our course. This knowledge belongs to the world, and the world shall have it. That includes the United States, but it isn't for her alone. I must warn you that if you force our hand, we have already prepared to publish the methods we're using and the raw data to the internet before you even leave this compound.

Daniel was playing the biggest bluff of his life while continuing, “The information is all in the hands of our lawyer with instructions to push the “publish” button if we don’t reach agreement today.” The team saw that and played along with poker faces and nodding heads. 

“Every country in the world, including some neither of us wants to have it, will be able to translate the records and use them as they see fit. We don't want to do it that way, we have a plan in place to distribute it fairly and responsibly. We will not be intimidated by you or any other government, and we won't allow this to disturb the balance of power. We're happy to work with you on a solution, but not one that sees the US as the sole owner of these records. They were left for the entire world."

Sarah, gazing with adoration and pride at her Daniel, thought he'd never looked so noble. His chin raised in defiance, a spark of righteous indignation in his eye, he looked to her more Presidential than the President, who was dressed and pampered like an actor. She glanced at Harper to compare again and noticed he was visibly deflating, his shoulders drooping and a resigned look on his face. She thought, good heavens! Daniel has just handed the President a large slice of humble pie, and it looks like he's going to eat it!

Daniel had stopped speaking, and a long, uncomfortable silence ensued. Finally, the President spoke. "Gentlemen, and Ms. Speaker," he said with a hint of some dark humor, "it appears the jig is up." To Daniel and the rest, he said, "I'd hate to have to play poker with you, Rossler. I apologize if I came on a little strong, there. It was the consensus of our party," indicating the members of Congress, "that we attempt to simply seize the information. Given your response, and the fact that you have political asylum here and it would be extremely embarrassing to try to extract you, we concede your conditions. There is no question that the United States must be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Tell us what your government can do to help you."

The reversal was so swift that Daniel was once again left reeling. Again, he looked at the others in a silent request for help, and received encouraging nods and smiles. "Well, Sir, if you put it that way..."

Hours passed as Sarah and Daniel and Sinclair showed them how they had translated the code and what they had discovered. The outsiders couldn't quite get their heads around the facts; that some tens of thousands of years in the past, a civilization more advanced than ours had existed and been destroyed so utterly that only the Great Pyramid at Giza remained. That within that pyramid were secrets that would revolutionize science, beginning with nearly free, clean energy and including the likelihood of unthinkable medical advances. And that, along with the science that would greatly benefit mankind, would come revelations about the history of mankind that were likely to topple churches and historians alike. They sat stunned as the presentation finished.

Bertrand the head of the CIA, was consulted as Martha, Daniel and Sarah related the events of Mark's murder, Barry's murder, the elder Rosslers’ hostage taking, Sarah's kidnapping, as well as their escape from the USA. Sinclair asked about the Orion Society, and Bertrand’s face darkened. His opinion was that if they were involved, it was a good thing that the group had been as careful and secretive as they were. Bertrand’s gaze came to rest on Raj, who paled and resolved not to ask about Area 51 after all. He was still leery of these people, and coming to the notice of the head of the CIA was the last thing in the world that he wanted. After consulting with the President in a separate room, Bertrand assured the party that if they would agree to return to the US and set up the foundation there, he and the President would personally guarantee their safety and the safety of their families. Lewis had briefed Bertrand on the rogue agent, Johnson.

The meeting was punctuated by a sumptuous lunch prepared by the President's own chef, before all the details were settled.

After lunch, they got down to the business of negotiating what role, if any, the United States government could expect to play in the work of the Rossler Foundation. Martha and Sarah had put their heads together, and now requested permission to present their suggestions. The Foundation was seriously underfunded, having only the three million dollars that the New York Times had paid for the exclusive story in its coffers. They could use either more funding or help in fundraising.

The Congressional party held a quick conference and announced that they would cooperate in introducing a bill which would provide permanent funding, though it couldn't for a variety of reasons be the only monies that came in. They suggested that the President speak to other heads of state to provide some funding as well, both to prevent the appearance that the US was receiving special treatment and to spread the burden of what looked as if it could become an expensive operation.

Daniel mentioned that they intended to seek the philanthropic assistance of a wealthy benefactor, and received assurances that names of such people would be made available to him, as well as letters of endorsement from the President and others.

It was only after discussing the fantastic sums needed that the President thought to ask what they intended to do with it all.

"We need to hire an army of translators to start with," Daniel stated. "Sinclair, do you have a presentation ready?"

"Sure, and I do," Sinclair affirmed.

"Roll it," said Daniel.

The President's party watched with open mouths as Sinclair's presentation made it clear to them just how massive the data was, and how much information it could hold. It then went on with a slide show of the index, and what he'd translated so far.

Into the silence, Daniel spoke. "We have every intention of exploiting this information for the good of mankind. With that in mind, we need scientists to interpret and replicate, historians to make sense of what must have happened, and above all, as I said before, an army of translators. Sinclair has done a phenomenal job, but he's only one man. It would take him several lifetimes to translate it all. We need physicians to compare symptoms and understand what diseases we now have the cure for." He trailed off, almost overwhelmed himself at the magnitude of the task.

Now, the President spoke. "Rossler, you do realize that some of this information could be very dangerous in the hands of some parties, do you not?"

"Yes, Sir. It's one of the reasons why we have chosen to appoint a board that will fairly represent all political persuasions. The Board will see to it that dangerous information is suppressed unless and until other information is translated that ameliorates it."

"I'm glad to hear it. I wouldn't want a country that we're now at war with to have the secret of fusion weapons, for example."

"I understand, and neither do I. However, I'd rather no one had that information, not just countries that harbor terrorists. Mr. President, in some parts of the world,
we
are considered the terrorists." Daniel asserted.

Now Sarah spoke up, the dire prediction of the greeting always on her mind. "Mr. President, one other thing is of urgent importance. We have to determine where we are in our cycle. And if the secret to ending war is in those records, we have to find it as soon as possible. Whatever destroyed the civilization of the Tenth Cycle, and presumably those that went before it, could still be in operation in our civilization."