Atlantis

Chapter 43

The Templar Vault looked like an oversize version of the interior of the Jefferson Memorial — round with a low, vaulted ceiling and columns interspersed around the sides. Shelves were carved into the walls between each set of columns, with piles of scrolls, books, and artifacts heaped onto them. The room itself was filled with statuary from all over the world and various historical epochs. She recognized Greek, Egyptian, and Chinese sculpture, as well as Roman busts on pedestals.

“This is…” Tam couldn’t finish her sentence. “To think this has been down here all this time and no one knew.”

“Someone knew,” Avery said. “I can’t imagine the Freemasons let the knowledge die.”

“I wonder,” Tam mused, “if they kept the knowledge within an inner circle, and something happened to those in the know before they could pass the information along. It would explain why nobody’s been down here in forever.” She shook her head. “That’s a question for another day. We need to get to searching. Where should we start?”

“Um.” Avery bit her lip. She hadn’t considered how they would go about sorting through the accumulated treasures of the Templars. “This could take a while.”

“Time we might not have. Unless the men they sent to Egypt were idiots, the Dominion knows the Templars cleared out the Hall of Records. They’ll try to extract the information from Krueger. He’s unlikely to hold out any longer than he did before he revealed the secret of the labyrinth.”

“In that case, we’d better hurry. You go left, I’ll go right?” Avery skirted the perimeter of the vault, examining the contents of the various shelves. She saw that there was at least some organizational system here. The first section contained Hebrew texts, a golden menorah, and a few artifacts she didn’t immediately recognize. In addition to the ancient texts, the section also contained more recent copies of various writings, some in Latin, others in Greek, and still more in English. So the material was organized by topic as well as origin. Perhaps they should search out, not the Egyptian collection, but one devoted to Atlantis.

The next section contained Christian writings and a few small chests that likely contained relics. She took a few steps back to get a different perspective on the layout. As she ran her light up and down the wall, she noticed the symbols carved above each set of shelves — a menorah above the Hebrew section and a cross over the Christian section.

As her eyes followed the beam of her light as it swept in a circle around the vault, she saw more symbols: the eagle of Rome, the Eye of Horus, and…

“The trident! It’s over here.” She hurried over to where a statue of Poseidon guarded the shelves. Tam joined her a few seconds later.

“Some of this is really old. It might crumble if we touch it.” Tam passed her fingers over a scroll, as if she could capture its contents through proximity. She hesitated. “How do we know which of these contains the information we need?” She swept her light up and down the shelves. “There’s too much to carry.”

“We need Sofia,” Avery agreed. “I’ve picked up on the meanings of a few of the symbols but not enough of them to translate.” Her eyes roved over the collection and fell upon an object so different from the others she almost wondered if it were mislaid.

Laying her Maglite on the shelf, she picked up a leatherbound journal and opened it to the first page.

“That’s anachronistic,” Tam said.

“It’s more than that.” Avery’s hands trembled. “This journal is an eighteenth century scholar’s attempt to tell the true story of Atlantis based on a lifelong study of this archive.” She turned the page and almost dropped the book.

“Are you all right?”

“Look.” Avery could scarcely manage to believe her eyes. A hand-drawn map of the world showed the locations of Atlantean cities: in Spain, Cuba, Japan, and the middle of the Atlantic. Dotted lines connected them all to one mother city. With trembling hands, she passed the book to Tam, whose jaw dropped.

“That can’t be right,” she whispered.

“Yes it can. You see, it wasn’t always…” She paused as a beam of light coming from the direction of the doorway, sliced through the darkness.

“Oh, my God. What have you two found?” It was Tyson.

“What are you doing down here? I asked you to keep people away.” Tam’s eyes narrowed at the sight of her friend.

“I’m sorry. I looked in to make sure you were all right and I saw the Jefferson statue moved to the side. Then I noticed the staircase and I just couldn’t believe it. I called down to you and, when you didn’t answer, I thought you might be in trouble.” He shone his light around the vault, taking in the treasures of human history. “What is this place?”

“Sort of an old library,” Tam said.

“Right.” He glanced at the book in Tam’s hand, and the map. Avery didn’t miss the way his eyes widened. Without warning, he drew a Glock and leveled it at Tam’s face. “Give me the book.”

Tam didn’t flinch. “How can you possibly be one of them?” She bit off each word, fire blazing in her eyes.

“Who? The Dominion?” Tyson laughed. “Not a chance. I’m too, shall we say, tainted by the blood of Cain for their liking.”

“Then why are you helping them?”

“Let’s just say that, on occasion, we have mutual interests.”

“Who is we?”

“The Trident.” As if by reflex, Tyson’s free hand moved to a spot below his throat.

“You’re a traitor to the country you devoted your life to serving.”

“America.” Tyson laughed again. “I never served this infant nation. I serve the oldest people of them all. Any job I took in this foul government served to put me into a position to help prepare for the return.”

Tam held Tyson’s full attention, and Avery took advantage of that fact, sidling away. What could she do to help? The man was too big to fight and, even if she could take him on, she couldn’t do anything before he pulled the trigger.

“You’re crazy,” Tam whispered.

“And you’re dead.”

Before Tyson could pull the trigger, Tam struck, smashing the journal book into his gun hand.

As Tyson’s shot went wild, Avery threw all her weight against the Poseidon statue. It toppled over with agonizing slowness, striking Tyson in the shoulder and knocking him to the side.

Tam lashed out with a roundhouse kick, knocking Tyson’s Glock free. He reached for his weapon, and Avery remembered her own pistol.

She drew it, took aim, and shouted out with more confidence than she actually felt. “Hands up or I’ll shoot!”

At the sound of her voice, Tyson flung his flashlight at her head and rolled to the side. Avery’s shot went wild as the big man fled. She spun around, following the sound of crashing statues as he fled the vault, and fired a desperate shot.

“Let’s go!” Tam had regained her feet, her Makarov, and the book. Avery snatched her Maglite off the shelf and followed. At the door, she paused to retrieve the crystal, then sprinted to try and keep up with Tam, whose light bobbed up and down ten meters ahead. Tyson stood well over six feet tall and looked like an athlete. It was unlikely they’d catch him, but Tam appeared determined to try.

They took the steps two at a time, their footfalls reverberating through the stairwell. And then, all sounds were drowned out by a low rumble. Avery felt the vibration in the soles of her feet.

“He must have taken the crystal! He’s trying to lock us in down here!”

Up above, the statue slowly moved back into place. The square of bright light inexorably shrinking. Tam hurtled through the opening, which seemed to be shrinking even faster. Did Avery dare try it? But what if Tyson had taken the crystal? She might be stuck here?

She had an instant to make up her mind. What would Maddock do? With a cry something like terror, she flung herself upward.

She stumbled.

And fell, her legs half in and half out of the stairwell. She scrambled to crawl, but she slipped on the slick, stone surface. Almost there. She felt the statue’s massive pedestal close on her foot.

Suddenly, Tam’s grabbed her wrists and yanked. For an interminable instant, she felt frozen in place, and then she slid forward. Something grabbed her toe and she jerked her leg. Her foot slid free, leaving her shoe behind.

“Could be worse,” she mumbled as she scrambled to her feet. When Avery reached the portico, she saw Tam standing on the bottom step, Makarov at her side. The thickening fog rendered visibility almost nil.

“We lost him.”

“It’s my fault. If I hadn’t fallen, you might have caught him.”

Tam shook her head. “He had too big a lead, and the dude is fast. You saw them long legs. Besides, he’d have killed me if it weren’t for you.”

Avery doubted that, but appreciated the words of reassurance.

Through the fog, they heard the sound of running feet. They both aimed their weapons at the sound, but lowered them again when they recognized their driver.

“I’ve been trying to reach you,” he said, skidding to a halt in front of Tam. “A terrorist group just claimed responsibility for the tsunamis. They’ve got a list of demands, and if they aren’t met, they say a major city will be the next to fall.”

“Does this group have a name?” Tam’s tone of voice was razor sharp.

“The Dominion.”