Ark Found

Chapter 29

At the mention of headlights, Carter whirled around on the camel and looked behind him. Sure enough, twin artificial lights that cast a bluish wide beam, most likely newer style xenon bulbs. The naval historian’s blood ran very, very cold.

“Not good, Jayden. It means Maddy was probably right, and that tribe contacted someone about us, either the Iranian government or some insurgent group.”

“Those desert hermits were going to sell us into slavery?”

“For political pawns, probably, but listen,” Carter said, kicking the camel hard now and urging it on with clicking sounds, “our only chance is to make it into the wooded area at the foothills of Ararat, there.”

“Pretty sure that’s Turkey.”

“Yeah. But who knows, they might not be scared of driving a few feet into Turkey, I don’t know. Or shooting at us while they stay on their side of the border.”

“I get it. We need to get into the cover of those trees.”

“Right, and from there work our way deeper into Turkey.”

Jayden spurred the camel with his boots, but the animal was already giving its all, running at top speed, which seemed woefully lacking as the vehicle raced along the hard-packed dirt behind them. Carter couldn’t make out any details about it because the lights in the front were too blinding. But the way he saw it, they were only about a hundred yards from the Turkish border now, with the plant life cover perhaps another hundred beyond that. He only hoped it wasn’t a “technical,” a type of vehicle he and Jayden had become acquainted with during their deployments in Iraq and other middle eastern Gulf states. Basically consisting of a modern pickup truck with a mounted machine gun such as a 50-cal in the bed, they were typically used by insurgent groups where one man would drive, another man the machine gun and another would ride shotgun to shoot an AK-47 or similar out the passenger side, or perhaps even lob grenades.

In this case, the motive would likely be to take them alive to use as hostages for money from relatives or companies they work for, perhaps, or else political pawns, so Carter hoped they wouldn’t be mowed down right away. Still, when they saw their meal tickets disappearing into Turkey, they might try to cut them down in a hail of lead even if they didn’t get to see the results, a sort of “if we can’t have you nobody can” attitude.

As the vehicle neared — the ground in front of the camel was now lit by the xenons — Carter debated using the zig-zag technique again to make them a more difficult shooting target, but decided that it wouldn’t make any difference for a gunner using a truck as a platform, if that’s what it was.

“Crossing into Turkey!” Jayden yelled, but his words were drowned out by the most unnatural clatter of automatic weapons fire. Dirt and sand flew up a little behind them and to their right. Carter and Jayden spurred the dromedary, which brayed as it ran a little bit faster into the neighboring country. To Carter, the open spread of brown dirt between them and the vegetation-shrouded foothills of Mt. Ararat seemed like ten miles wide, but it was only about a football field. He wished they had the gun now, for even a small amount of return fire would give their aggressors pause, but he had learned long ago not to dwell on that which could not be changed.

He braced himself for another heavy salvo from what had to be some kind of automatic weapon, even if not a mounted one, when suddenly the engine changed in pitch and they heard angry men’s voices shouting in their direction.

“Some Welcome Committee,” Jayden said as he white-knuckled the camel’s saddle horn while the animal jostled along at what had to be its maximum speed.

“We weren’t exactly invited.” Carter jerked the camel’s reins to the left to avoid a small ditch in their path that had been illuminated by the vehicle’s lights. The vehicle — Jayden was saying it was a truck, now — stopped at what Carter figured must be the Iran-Turkey border.

“They won’t cross it!” Jayden shouted jubilantly.

“That doesn’t mean they won’t shoot over it!”

“Watch that rock!”

Carter put his eyes forward in barely enough time to steer the dromedary around the geological obstacle. They cleared the small boulder and kept on going, deeper into the geopolitical safe zone that was Turkey, just as a volley of lead sparked off of the rock behind them.

“Go go go!” Jayden shouted, hunched forward as far as he could in the saddle to flatten himself out and represent a lower profile target. More shouting, and now the flicking on and off of high beam headlights for a strobe effect combined with more shooting — this time from single-shot weapons- assailed their senses. The lack of auto-weapons fire concerned Carter. On the one hand it meant they were deemed to be out of range for burst fire weapons, but on the other, if they had rifles and knew how to use them, then they were still very much in range. As if to underscore this fact, Carter watched as a section of tree bark disintegrated ten feet in front of them.

It meant they had reached the wooded area at the foothills of Mt. Ararat, though, and at that Jayden was already rejoicing. “Tress! I see trees! Never so happy to see trees in my life. Just a little farther, come on, Camel, you can do it!”

Another shot rang out, echoing off the mountain. A miss. And then they reached a bushy area through which Carter tried to drive their mount but to no avail. The dromedary reared up on its hind legs, bucking Jayden off onto the ground just as a bullet slammed into the leather saddle. Carter meanwhile slid down the animal’s neck to just in front of the saddle, which stopped him from sliding all the way off. The sound of the shot spurred him into action, and he took matters into his own hands by throwing himself off of their four-legged ride.

He and Jayden ducked into the foliage and got low to the ground. Carter reached out and hit the camel on its rear quarters, yelling “Yah!” to send it running back into Iran, acting as a temporary decoy until their attackers realized it was rider-less. It galloped away at a normal trot. Carter hoped it would find its tribe again, but he wasn’t about to linger long enough to find out its fate.

With Jayden now leading the way, the two mountain trekkers slipped into the foliage and began making their way around the base of Mt. Ararat, deeper into Turkey.

“Flight’s booked,” Carter told Jayden, pocketing his smartphone. With tickets purchased in cash, they rode in a public bus that made long distance runs across the country, in this case from Doğubayazıt to Ankara, where they were to board a flight direct to Addis Ababa Bole International Airport in Ethiopia.

“We have to deplane at Addis Ababa International to board a smaller connecting flight to Axum, and they said there may be a short layover, maybe half a day in Addis Ababa, unless we decide to book a charter, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

Jayden let his head loll back on the seat. “Cross that bridge when we get to it… That worked out so well for us in Turkey — I mean, Iran.”

Carter shrugged, undeterred. “Hey, it could have been a whole lot worse.”

“I just hope our trusty camel steed found its way back home.”

“Me too. It was going the right way last we saw, at least. So—” But when he looked over at him, Jayden was asleep. He couldn’t blame him. The day had been another long one, especially coming on the heels of the one before that. They had walked from the foothills of Mount Ararat back to the trekker staging area, and from there hitched a ride back into Doğubayazıt with a returning guide group. During this ride they used the same false names they had given their own trekking company with whom they had promised to report back after returning to town to let them know they had returned safely. This tour operator knew the one they had booked with, and promptly called them to let them know their clients were safely on the way back to town. After tipping that driver, they had returned to their hostel and checked out, paying in cash before going directly to the bus depot.

With Jayden asleep, Carter decided to do some research on the town of Axum and where they would focus their hunt for the ark once they got there. He had used the Internet connection at the hostel’s café to download numerous articles from the web about the area, and soon, as the old bus wheels rumbled across a vast ag-scape of farmland, pastures and scenic snow-capped mountains in the far-off distance, his mind was occupied and racing to make connections related to the old map that was still tucked safely away in the hidden compartment of his backpack.

“Maid service, sir. Would you like—”

Daedalus yelled at the door without opening it. “I do not wish to be disturbed! I will call if I need anything.” After the muffled apology that issued from the other side of the door, Daedalus walked back from the entranceway onto the plush carpeting of his main suite, which afforded a beautiful scenic view of majestic mountains in the distance. He jabbed at the remote control button that slid the curtains across the window and stewed in the ensuing dimness.

Glaring at his watch, he saw that it was almost an hour past the time when he should have heard from his brother, that incompetent, overpaid oaf who was still in the field. Meanwhile, his archaeological expert — also vastly overpaid in Daedalus’ opinion- had not yet weighed in with any insights regarding the ultra-high resolution, professional grade scans of the map image he had sent him, going to great lengths to do so over an encrypted, highly secure network. He snatched up his specially encrypted smartphone and dialed the number to the satellite-phone his brother was supposed to be monitoring.

It was answered on the fifth ring. “Phillipo, is that you?”

“Yes, Daedalus. How are you?”

Daedalus let loose a sigh of pure exasperation. “You tell me how I am! Do you have the map yet?”

“No.”

The black market treasure kingpin closed his eyes in an attempt to remain somewhat calm. “Have you tracked down those two thieves?”

“My dear brother, I am sorry to report that we have failed in that task.”

Daedalus’ face went beet red. He lost control and shouted at full volume into the phone, which was on speaker mode, while the veins in his neck bulged. “Then what good are you? Why do I employ you? Tell me!”

A few seconds of silence passed during which Daedalus could hear the sounds of birds squawking, like the audio track to a serene nature setting. Then Phillipo’s voice came back on.

“I do have some information on their whereabouts.”

“Tell me.”

“I inquired with the local trekker’s network and learned that the two hikers who had separated from the Ararat Trekking group that left from Dogu were picked up by another trekking company’s van yesterday, and transported to back to Dogu.”

“Dogu! So they could be anywhere now. Why didn’t you tell me this yesterday?”

“We just found out now, Daedalus. We are still on the mountain, communication is not so easy.”

“You have a sat-phone!”

“Yes, the battery power of which must be conserved for our own use. Not to mention, of the guides who do carry one, they are used mostly for emergency purposes and not to chat. For that they use the walkie-talkies, which is how I was able to learn of what happened, but that’s how long it took. I am sorry, brother, but we have done our best. We are now en route back to Dogu with the timber samples. We should be there later today.”

Daedalus took a deep breath. “Well that part is good news. Make sure you follow security protocols to keep them safe.”

“As far as anyone knows, they are simply quality old growth lumber pieces for our master craftsman to make luxury furniture pieces with.”

“Excellent. You will report back to me when the samples have been transferred in Dogu to my agent.”

“Will do. How is the map research coming along? Do—”

But Daedalus had already ended the call.

“Hello duty free shop!” Jayden exclaimed, full of enthusiasm as he entered the store.

“Smaller size bottles, Jayden, that we can use for bartering should the need arise.”

“Always the sensible one, Carter. But you’re absolutely right. A nice variety of small flasks and even the mini’s ought to do us just fine once we’re in Africa.”

They had a half-hour to kill before their flight left, so they had hit the newsstand for some basic supplies that were small and could be taken on a flight that might come in handy for ‘when things got rough’, as Carter thought of it — beef jerky, power bars, Tylenol, candy bars. All things that were useful pretty much anywhere but at the same time took up very little space, and that could be hard to find in some of the planet’s more remote corners. Jayden even purchased a new backpack to replace the one he’d lost on the mountain. Nothing special, as he put it, but at the same time, they didn’t want anything that would stand out too much. Carter also took the opportunity to outfit himself with a new pack, deciding that the jerry-rigged broken strap made his bag stand out a little, and that he also may as well start with something new but innocuous looking. Anything with a tactical or military appearance was out, regardless of the functionality or features it offered.

After checking out with their liquor purchases in the duty free shop, they boarded their flight for Ethiopia. It was a full jet, with what Carter guessed to be an even mix of business commuters, tourists, and people travelling for personal reasons with ties to one or both countries. Flight time would about eight hours, and as soon as it was wheels up, Jayden dozed off for some much needed shut-eye. Carter knew that he should sleep as well, but it wouldn’t come as easily. He couldn’t stop thinking about the map, and about what Maddy had said about Axum and the Ark of the Covenant. The other ark, as Carter thought of it now. Could it be? He had wanted to discuss this further with Maddy, but when he had called from Ankara International, where he had cellular service, her line went to voice mail. He left her a message that they were safely back in Turkey and leaving for Axum, but that was it.

Around the time the “fasten seatbelt” signs blinked off, Carter began reading the research material he’d downloaded to his laptop in Dogu. Flight attendants supplied him with a steady stream of caffeinated beverages and snacks.

He was still reading when the pilot came over the intercom to announce that they were preparing for landing at Addis Ababa.