The Hunt For Atlantis

EPILOGUE. New York City

Nina opened her apartment door and walked wearily inside. Everything was as she’d left it, weeks earlier.

She dropped a stack of mail onto the kitchen counter and filled the kettle. Her coffee would have to be black. She couldn’t even imagine what state the contents of her fridge would be in after so long. Maybe it would be safer just to throw the whole thing out without daring to open it and buy a new one.

The kettle on the stove, she slumped onto her couch and looked around. The apartment was at once intimately familiar and almost strange, a forgotten memory brought back to life.

She could barely come to terms with the sheer normality of being home again. After everything she had experienced, she was now back in New York, back home, as if nothing had happened.

Except that wasn’t true. She had discovered Atlantis-and then lost it again. She had rewritten human history, but had nothing to show for it.

She reached up and touched her pendant, correcting herself. She had nothing to show for it… except the knowledge and satisfaction that human history would continue. Frost’s insane plans had been stopped, all his research into the virus destroyed. She turned her head to look out of the window at the lights of Manhattan. She wondered if the millions, billions of people whom he had planned to condemn to death would ever know how close they had come to extermination.

Probably not. Once first the Norwegian government, then its NATO allies, became involved, it had been made very clear to her that the true purpose of the Frost Foundation should remain a closely guarded secret.

Nina stretched out on the couch until the kettle boiled, then padded into the kitchen. She took out a mug, then rummaged through the cupboards for the coffee jar. Where had she left it?

Something plopped onto the counter next to the mug, making her jump. She whirled around.

Chase stood at the door, clad in his more-battered-than-ever leather jacket. He still looked battered himself, but handsome, in his own way. He grinned.

“Give those a try,” he said, gesturing at the tea bags he’d just tossed onto the counter. “Better for you than coffee.”

“Eddie!” cried Nina, caught between delight and surprise. She glanced at the apartment door. All its locks were intact. “How did you get in?”

“Got my ways and means,” he said, beaming even more widely. “Come here, Doc… Nina,” he quickly corrected himself on her joking glare. They embraced, then kissed.

“What are you doing here?” Nina finally asked. “I thought you were going back to England.”

“I did. But I’ve been offered a new job. Actually, it’s sort of why I’m here.”

Nina raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? So you didn’t come here just because you wanted to be with me?” she asked, mock-chiding.

“No, but it’s a bloody good bonus! Kidding,” he added, hugging her again. “I really did come here to see you. Thing is, my new job… whether I’m going to take it or not kind of depends on you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, now that the top brass knows Atlantis really existed, they thought maybe there’s other ancient myths that might actually be real as well. So they want to find them-and protect them, make sure nobody like Frost tries to get their hands on them. So the United Nations is going to set up a sort of international archaeological preservation agency to look for them. And the person they want to be in charge of it… is you.”

“Me?” Nina exclaimed. “Why me?”

“Because you’re the one person in the world who knows most about Atlantis. You know what to look for. So,” he said, holding his arms wide, “you up for it?”

“What’s your part in all this?”

“Me? Well, hopefully I get to look after this really hot American babe who once saved my life…”

“Be her bodyguard, huh?” smiled Nina.

“Actually, I was hoping to do more with her body than just guard it!”

“I think that could be arranged…”

Chase’s grin almost split his skull in half. “So, you going to take the job?”

Nina smiled, then took his hand and led him towards her bedroom. “Let’s sleep on it. Atlantis waited for eleven thousand years-it can wait one more day.”