Ark Found

Chapter 13

Carter and Jayden clinked frosty mugs of cold Canadian lager over their table inside a waterfront pub. “Here’s to being alive,” Jayden toasted. They soaked up the brew in silence for a while, savoring this simple but extravagant fact. The remainder of the helicopter ride back to the coast had been non-eventful, save being nearly out of fuel when they made the heliport in St. John’s.

The easternmost city in North America, St. John’s was originally a fishing village established by European colonists. The small city reminded Carter of San Francisco with its steep hills, but also of Caribbean architecture with its bright wooden houses. The climate, however, was definitely not Caribbean, and was even cooler on average than San Francisco, with the current temperature being in the mid-forties, Fahrenheit.

Carter looked around at the pub, sparsely populated at this early hour of the day. Later, when the fisherman arrived back to the docks, it would fill up with boisterous men unwinding after a hard day’s work. But for now, Carter and Jayden had time to reflect on how this port was the closest to where the Titanic had sunk. And they were lucky to be drinking here. Jayden set down his empty mug and requested another round from a passing server.

“I can understand trying to kill us when we still had the map, but I can’t for the life of me figure out why they wanted to kill us so bad after Daedalus already had the map.” He shook his head slowly as he finished his sentence. Carter swilled the last of his brew and set the empty mug on the worn, wooden table with a soft clack.

“We’re a threat to his livelihood, to his illicit antiquities business.”

“I guess we kind of proved that in Atlantis, didn’t we?” He grinned at the memory of their epic sojourn into the legendary city, culminating in a standoff against Daedalus and Treasure, Inc.

“I’d say we did,” Carter agreed. The server returned with their second round and he paused until after she had left before continuing. “But as usual, it’s Daedalus for himself first, leaving his people to handle the dirty work for him. He left early in their helo for a reason, not because he didn’t want to take us out.”

Jayden nodded. “Right, they could have strafed us from their chopper when we were in the Zodiac and this fledgling bar tab here never would have happened.” He took another long pull from his mug. “He just wanted out of there with the map.”

“No question about that,” Carter agreed. “The question is, where did he take it?”

Jayden looked outside at the waterfront, at the gulls wheeling in the sky, the row of fishing boats at the dock, at the smattering of pedestrians passing by. “He left in a helo, and since most helo’s don’t have much range, I’m guessing he would have landed in the nearest port, which is right here.” He waved an arm at the view outside and then stared intently in that direction, as though Daedalus could walk by at any second.

“I’m sure he landed here, too. But I mean, what’s his next move with the map? Where does he go based on the info it provides?”

“I don’t know. Too bad we didn’t get a picture of it so that we know what it is that he’s going by,” Jayden lamented.

“I only got the barest glimpse of it for all of two seconds, and while it appeared old and possibly authentic, and it did look like a map of some kind, I can’t say for sure it was a map that depicts the final resting place of Noah’s Ark.”

“So you didn’t see a picture somewhere on there of a big boat with a bunch of animals on it?”

Carter laughed in the negative until a new group of patrons, all of them male and middle-aged, entered the pub. Carter scrutinized them carefully. It wouldn’t take a great leap of logic for Daedalus’ team to figure out that they must have landed in St. John’s from the ‘copter, as they had, and that a local watering hole would be their preferred hangout while they recovered from their at-sea ordeal. But after observing them, he concluded that all of them were locals and therefore highly unlikely to be affiliated with Treasure, Inc.’s European-based operations.

“But you can’t say for sure that it’s not a map to the ark, either,” Jayden said after sufficient time to observe the newcomers had elapsed.

“Right. So let’s assume for a moment that it’s the real deal.” Carter swilled some more Canadian flavor as he considered this. “Where would Daedalus take the map after landing here? What would his next move be?”

Jayden shrugged. “Guy like that, lots of resources… could be almost anywhere, I suppose. But he really wants to find Noah’s Ark, so if he’s going to go right after it without letting things cool off…”

“I think that’s the Daedalus we all know and hate.”

Jayden continued. “Then I’d say his first move might be to have images of the map sent to his history and authentication experts, in Europe, I guess, and see what they say as far as where it points to.”

Carter gave Jayden a long stare. “That’s what I was thinking. But let’s say that process takes about a day given his resources and… motivational acumen… a timeframe which has already transpired, since he landed here yesterday a few hours before us. Where would he be going based on that?”

Jayden made a gesture of futility, tossing his hands wildly. “Look, Carter, if I knew where Noah’s Ark was—”

“We don’t have to know where the ark is. That’s the beauty of it. We just have to know where Daedalus thinks it is. The general vicinity. Because if we can find Daedalus, then we can take the map back from him.”

“I can think of a way that is simpler, in theory.” Jayden appeared pleased with himself. Again, a server appeared, this time with a tray of scallops with pork hock, and they halted the conversation until she had left.

“I’d love to hear it,” Carter said, before taking a bite of the fresh seafood.

“If we could hack into whatever systems Daedalus used to send those scans of the map to his people — I mean really, how many Wi-Fi routers and cable Internet providers could there be in this Podunk little town- then we could just steal the images from there and be looking at the map ourselves.”

Carter nearly choked on his shrimp. “I’m a historian, Jayden, and you’re a SEAL. We’re not computer experts. Especially you.”

Jayden let the jab slide. “Yeah, but you’ve got the money to hire one.” That point was true enough. The fortune Carter had inherited from his grandfather that had enabled him to start Omega Team would enable him to do that.

“In theory,” Carter said, “that could work. I give you that. But it’s got issues. One: it would take time to vet someone and hire them, then wait for their results. Time during which we could be doing some real boots-on-the-ground treasure hunting. Two: it creates an additional security risk. The more people we have over here poking around, the more noticeable we are, and the more likely it is that someone will hear about our activities sooner or later. Our computer expert would always know what we did; they would probably always have a copy of the map. I don’t like it.”

Jayden threw his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “I’ll be honest with you, Carter. I was hoping we could speed-dial some Russian babe with serious technical skills who would drop through the ceiling in a catsuit and… well, you get the idea.”

“Yeah, I get it.” Carter swilled some more of his beer while his eyes took on a faraway look.

“What is it? You’re warming to the idea, aren’t you? I knew it!” Jayden sounded excited.

“Well no, the hacker thing is too crazy for the reasons I mentioned. But there is someone we can call who might be able to help us.”

“Oh, and who’s that?”

“Maddy.”

Jayden brightened. “Good idea! But, she’s your woman, so I still want my Russian hacker.”

“Tell you what. We find Noah’s Ark, and I’ll see to it that we add a hacker to Omega’s payroll, okay?”

Jayden raised his glass in a toast. “Deal. So does Maddy know where Noah’s Ark is or what?”

“If anyone knows where to look, it’s her. She’ll know all the history behind the searches for it that have already been done, so that should save us some time.”

Dr. Madison Chambers, a professor of archaeology at a major American university, was an on-again, off-again girlfriend for Carter. She had also helped them in the search for Atlantis.

“I’ll send her an email,” Carter said. “But in the meantime, we should check out of our hotel and get to the airport.”

“What for? I thought you said we need to consult Maddy?”

“We do, but that’s more for the micro-details once we’re there. Besides, like you said, it might not be all that hard to hack into our emails here — not than many servers in this little town, right? And I’d have to use an Internet café since I don’t have my laptop or phone with me. We don’t want to be tracked like that.”

“Okay, I get it. So what’s up?”

“I know a little bit about Noah’s Ark myself. I’ve always been interested in the stories of expeditions that went looking for it in real life. I did a little research of my own before we left for the Titanic, just to brush up on it…”

“And?”

“And one of the most well-known hunting grounds for the ark is Mt. Ararat, Turkey.”

Jayden stared at him over his now ignored plate of seafood. “So we’re going to Turkey just based on that?”

“Yeah. Leaving today, hopefully. Let’s get to the airport.”

Jayden still didn’t look convinced. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. First of all, almost all of the places reputed to possibly be the final resting place of Noah’s Ark are on that continent, so we might as well get over there. And second, hanging around here for much longer is probably not advisable since I think one of those dudes who walked in with that group not too long ago has been scoping us out. Don’t turn around. Act normal.”

Jayden’s eyes widened as he remained facing toward Carter. “Are you sure?”

“Pretty sure. I think we need to make a little bit of a show here of you walking up to the bar. Complain that the server is taking too long for our next round. Order a shot and ask for the check and a cab ride to our hotel. Give them the name of some other hotel, and say the name loudly. Then when we get in the cab, we’ll have the driver take us to the airport.”

“Did I mention I love this job? Good thing we visited the embassy this morning for temporary passports.”

“Good and bad. Good, obviously, in that it allows to travel, but bad in that it’s an easy place to keep tabs on.”

“Here we go.” Jayden nodded, took a deep breath while looking at Carter, and then he slammed a fist on the table loud enough to make the plates and silverware clatter.

“Damn, how long does it take to get a beer around this hellhole!”

Carter played along, raising his arms in an exaggerated gesture of rhetorical uncertainty, while Jayden stood up and shoved his chair backwards, tipping it over onto the concrete floor. “If you want something done right, man…” He swiped his not-quite-empty beer mug from the table and staggered over toward the bar, chugging down the remaining beer dregs as he went. The group of men who had drawn their attention all turned to look at him, as did their server from four tables over.

“Hey, hey what’s the problem, Sir?” the bartender, a man pushing sixty with a bald dome and gray hair on the sides, asked from behind his drink station. “Rachel?” He called over to the server and she apologized to the young couple at her current table before hurrying toward the bar. The bartender finished pouring a mixed drink for another customer already seated at the bar and then waked over to Jayden, who pulled a barstool out of the way to stand there. He plunked his empty mug on the bar.

“Ridiculous! Just get me a shot, would you, and cash us the hell out! We’ll head somewhere that knows how to sling drinks.” Inwardly, Jayden intensely disliked playing the part of a boisterous, drunken lout, since he was aware of the reputation American tourists had in many foreign countries, but he placed mission success ahead of all else.

The bartender frowned at him in disgust. “Sir, I don’t understand the problem. First of all, you’re seated at a table, not the bar, and you were served drinks.” The server arrived and bounced her concerned gaze between Jayden and the bartender. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you wanted another round already,” she offered.

“Never mind, it’s too late now. This place killed my buzz,” Jayden growled, tossing some bills on the bar top. “Where’s that shot? Maybe you have some whiskey worth a damn in this country? And call me a freakin’ cab, can you do that or is it too much to ask of a drinking establishment?” The stunned employees could only gawk at the wild-eyed Jayden in disbelief, and he took advantage of the silence to step up his act a notch. He raised his voice to a full-on yell.

“Are you deaf or something? I said, CALL US A CAB! WATERSTONE HOTEL — RIGHT NOW! And where’s my stupid shot?”

The bartender’s eyes narrowed and he turned to the server. “Give me their ticket and I’ll handle this, dear. See to your tables.” She nodded and handed him a piece of paper. He promptly picked up a phone and placed a call.

“Yeah, Robby, listen, we need a cab over here as soon as you can. Heads up: guy is pretty drunk, kind of an asshole, but he only wants to go to the Waterstone. Yeah, let me know.” He hung up and turned to Jayden. “Your cab’s on the way pal. But here’s the deal: you want that shot? You drink it right here and then you and your buddy get out of my bar right now. Wait for your cab on the street, and never come back. Do we have a deal?”

Jayden felt terrible inside but kept up the act. He made a mental note to make it up to them somehow whenever he could. He met the man’s steely gaze with one of his own. “You got it, pal. Serve it up.”

The bartender poured Jayden a shot of what he recognized as the cheap, house whiskey and plopped it down in front of him. “Better hold your liquor, buddy. Around here it doesn’t take much to draw the attention of the Mounties. You might not like our bar, but I guarantee you it beats spending the rest of your vacation in the clink.”

Meanwhile, Carter was making a show of wolfing down the rest of his meal and drink while surreptitiously keeping an eye on the party of men seated a few tables away. He noted that they followed Jayden’s confrontation with interest, and watched two of them confer in hushed tones after the name of the hotel was announced.

At the bar, Jayden threw his head back and poured the entire shot of whiskey into his mouth by dumping the glass held at arm’s length over his head. He tossed the shot glass to the bartender, who stepped back and caught it before promptly pointing to the door. “Out of here now before I call the police! Your cab is on the way.” Then he looked over to Carter. “I’d get your buddy out of here right now, pal, if I were you.”

Carter nodded and rose slowly, as if he was used to it. “Come on, Eric, let’s hit our hotel bar. You know, that place where everybody knows our name.”

The bartender gave a sarcastic laugh. “Yeah, please do that. And don’t let the door hit you on the ass on your way out.”

The party of locals watched Carter and Jayden stagger out of the bar, with Jayden kicking the front door open and stumbling out. “Thanks for everything!” he yelled back before it swung shut. He and Carter stood directly in front of the door so that everyone inside could see they were indeed waiting for the called taxi. “How was I?” Jayden asked under his breath.

“Oscar consideration is in your future. Here’s our ride.” A classic yellow and black taxi rolled up to the curb. The driver spoke to them through the open window. “Waterstone?”

They got in and the cab pulled out into the light traffic.