Atlantis

Chapter 19

“What do we think?” Dane ran his hand along the smooth, silver surface of the thing they’d taken to calling, simply, the Device. They’d brought it back to headquarters, where it now sat on supports beneath a bank of fluorescent lights, looking like an inscrutable piece of modern art.

“I think it’s dangerous,” Tam said.

“Shouldn’t we send it to a lab somewhere to be analyzed?” Willis eyed the Device like it was a rattlesnake coiled to strike.

“What lab and where?” Tam’s face tightened and then relaxed. “Remember, we don’t know who we can trust, and our little group doesn’t carry any weight, or even credibility. Yet.” Her features hardened and she raised her chin.

“Our group needs a name,” Bones said. He Greg, and Kasey had returned from Paris in the middle of the night, having managed to keep the skull out of the Dominion’s grasp. “Something that doesn’t sound like a coffee klatch.”

Tam ignored him. “I’ve got someone coming in to look at it. He’s an engineer from NASA. I’ve known him for a while and I’m sure he’s not connected to the Dominion.”

“How sure?” Dane asked.

Tam’s shoulders sagged. “As sure as I can be.”

“I don’t see what there is to figure out. You put this,” Bones hefted the crystal skull, “in the hand, point, and shoot. Boom! Instant tsunami!” He strode over to the device and stepped up onto the framework that held it off the floor.”

“Don’t you dare!” Tam sprang forward and snatched the skull out of Bones’ hand.

“Chill. I just wanted a closer look. Does it have a trigger?”

“You see that faint outline that looks like a handprint?” Corey pointed to a spot below the silver hand. “I think that’s it.”

“Sweet. I can’t wait to fire this thing.” Bones held his hand above the trigger point. “Those Atlanteans had small hands. Sucks for them.”

“Your paws are just freakishly large.” Dane turned to Tam. “We should fire it. Hear me out.” He took the skull from Tam and turned it over in his hands, feeling its cool, smooth surface. “Not here, and not alone. You say our group doesn’t have any buy in from the powers that be. Fly some movers and shakers down here for a demonstration. They’ll have to believe us then.”

“And snatch it away from us while the military squabbles over who gets to study it first? Not yet. Not until I’m ready.”

“I get it.” Dane chose his words carefully. “Bones and I have trusted the wrong people before, and paid for it. But this is a national security threat. I don’t think we should keep it to ourselves.”

“I’ve already notified my superiors, plus a few contacts in other agencies. They know what we suspect — the Dominion has a weapon that can cause a tsunami.”

“They aren’t taking the threat seriously,” Dane argued.

“I don’t know how they’re taking it, and neither do you,” Tam said.

“But…”

“Don’t push me on this, Maddock. It’s my decision, and I say no. At least, not right now.”

Dane, Bones, and Willis exchanged dark glances. Dane knew Tam was on the right side, and she’d given him some much-needed help a few months before, but he still didn’t trust her. Technically, he and his crew were working for her voluntarily, but she’d gone to a great deal of trouble to investigate their pasts, and now she held their misdeeds over their heads like a guillotine blade.

“If any of you have further objections, now would be a good time to keep them to yourselves.”

“You know better than that,” Bones said. “You buy the muscle, the mouth comes along with it. It’s a package deal.”

“I can live with that, so long as you remember who is the chief and who are the Indians.”

Bones covered his mouth and pretended to sneeze. “Racist,” he huffed.

The corners of Tam’s mouth twitched. “Fine. I’m Achilles and you’re my Myrmidons.”

“I like that.” Willis stroked his chin thoughtfully. “The Myrmidon Squad.”

“I’ll have some t-shirts printed up.” Tam smirked. “Maddock, you and Bones come with me. You’ve got a new assignment.”

They followed her to the conference room, where Sofia and Avery waited. Sofia smiled at them, while Avery drummed her fingers on the table and tapped her foot.

“About time. You’re getting slow in your old age.” Avery winked at Dane before shooting Bones a dirty look. The three new arrivals took seats at the table and Avery began. “We think we’ve found another Atlantean site.” She handed Dane a manila folder, then offered one to Bones, but when he reached for it, she tossed it onto the floor with a flick of her wrist.

“Professionalism,” Tam chided. “But I understand.”

“Don’t let them fool you,” Bones said to Sofia. “Women really do love me.”

“I’m sure.” Sofia opened her own folder and got down to business. “Translating the codex has involved a great deal of guesswork. In some cases, it’s pure trial and error. Last night, Avery matched one of my possible translations to an actual site — one I hadn’t given serious consideration due to its location.”

“Yonaguni.” Dane read the heading on the first page of Avery’s report.

“I’ve heard of that place,” Bones said. “It’s in Japan. Sunken pyramids and stuff. But people dive there all the time. If there was anything there, wouldn’t someone have found it by now.”

“Not if they don’t have the codex.” Sofia tapped her folder.

“Yonaguni features some very distinctive rock formations,” Avery added. “We’ve matched what initially seemed to be string of nonsense lines in the codex to these formations. We think they will lead to the temple.”

“The codex mentions a temple?” Dane asked, turning pages filled with underwater photographs of strange formations.

“No, but it stands to reason. The two Devices that have been uncovered so far were found in the temple, which appears to have been the center of Atlantean life.” Sofia turned to Tam. “I’d like to go along. I’m an experienced diver, and no one knows Atlantis better than me.”

“I need you here working on the codex,” Tam said. “Losing a few hours on the Cuban site is one thing. Going to Japan is another. I’ve got an experienced archaeologist lined up on the other end. With her help, I trust Maddock not to screw this up.”

Dane wondered if she’d intentionally omitted Bones’ name.

“You two pack your bags. You leave in,” she checked her watch, “four hours.”

“Who do you have lined up on the other end?” Bones asked. “Not some crusty old bone picker, I hope.”

“Hardly. You know her quite well, in fact.”

Dane noted a hint of forced nonchalance to Tam’s demeanor. His mind ran through what she had just said. Archaeologist. Japan. You know her quite well. The pieces fell into place and he sprang to his feet, upending his chair.

“You can’t be serious.” He clenched his fists, trying to control his anger.

“I’m dead serious.” Tam met his scowl with an impassive gaze.

“No way. Play your mind games with someone else, Tam. I’m not joining in.”

Tam’s expression remained serene as Dane’s rage broke over her. “As I have told you before, the people I can say with one hundred percent certainty are not connected to the Dominion are few and far between. She’s one of those people. Trust me, she wasn’t any happier about it than you are. You know what they say about a woman scorned.”

“Then send someone else. Willis, Matt, Greg…”

“I want you. Don’t forget, you agreed to work for me.”

Their eyes locked, and Dane wondered if Tam referred to the implied threats she’d made months ago on board a ship in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.

“Oh, this is going to be all kinds of fun.” Bones closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead.

“Wait. Are you talking about Jade Ihara?” Avery asked. “Maddock’s ex-girlfriend?”

“The one I broke up with not too long ago.”

“Good old, reliable, Maddock.” Bones chuckled. “You can count on him for two things: courage under fire, and cowardice in the face of an angry woman.”

Sofia failed to cover her grin and Avery laughed out loud.

“I’m not afraid of women.” Dane’s face burned as he spoke. “I just prefer to avoid conflict if I can help it.” Seeing no one else was buying his explanation, he excused himself and left the meeting room.

It was a short walk from headquarters to his condo, and Dane had only been home a few minutes when his phone vibrated. It was Angel.

“Hey.” His voice sounded falsely cheerful to his ears, and Angel picked up on it immediately.

“What’s the matter?”

“I’m good. Just a little stressed out.” Grabbing a Dos Equis from the refrigerator, he headed out onto the deck overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, settled into his favorite chair, and began to fill her in on the events of the past few days. He told her as much as he was permitted to about his escape from the sunken city, Bones’ run-in with the Dominion in Paris, and their pending trip to Japan.

“Japan sounds fun. I wish I was going with you.”

“Me too. You don’t know how much I wish you were coming along.”

“Aw, that’s so romantic,” Angel said. “Which is how I know it’s a load of crap. What’s really going on?”

“No, it’s true. If you weren’t in the middle of training, I’d take you in a heartbeat.”

“Of course you would, but that’s not the point. You’re not telling me everything.”

“You know I can’t do that now that I work for the government.”

“We both know I’ll get it out of you sooner or later. I’m very good at that.” Angel’s gentle voice sent a wave of tingling heat coursing through him, and he wanted nothing more than to be lying on a beach with her somewhere far away. “Spill it. I’ll thank you properly the next time I see you.”

“You might want to wait until you hear what it is before you make that offer.” Before he could reconsider, he told her about Jade.

The line went silent for so long he thought they’d lost the connection.

“Are you there?”

“You have got to be kidding me. Tell Tam you won’t go.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Only because you make everything complicated. Most things in life are simple: I love you and you love me, but how long did it take you to figure that out? You always have to look at every little angle so you can make the decision that you think will piss off the fewest people.”

“If you’d let me explain. Tam has…”

“You’re not hearing me, Maddock. This isn’t one of those things that requires an explanation. It’s the wrong thing to do, so you shouldn’t do it.”

Dane flung his bottle of beer, still full, against the wall, where it shattered with a satisfying crash. The shower of beer that now soaked the front of his shirt, however, was not so satisfying. “Why don’t you trust me? I’d never cheat on you, and you know it.”

“That’s not it at all, and the fact that you don’t get that is a real problem.” Angel sighed. “Loving you is tiring, you know that?”

Dane managed a grin. “Just trying to make things interesting. I’m always hearing that women love a challenge.”

“You know what they say — don’t believe everything you hear, especially if my brother says it.” She paused. “I’ve got to go. Call me when you can.”

As if on cue, Bones stuck his head through the sliding glass door as Dane hung up.

“I heard the crash and figured you needed another beer.” His eyes fell to Dane’s sodden shirt. “And a poncho.”

“I didn’t hear you come in.”

“You think Indians are only quiet in the forest?” He handed a beer to Dane. They clinked bottles and drank deeply, Bones punctuating his swig with a loud belch.

“Nice.” Dane finished his drink in silence, savoring the smooth, malty flavor. “I guess we should get packing.” He glanced down at his shirt. “After I shower.”

“After you, bro.”

Dane had decorated his condo to reflect his love of the sea. The walls were painted a rich, Mediterranean blue, and trimmed in white. Paintings of old sailing ships hung in the living area, while his first-floor study was adorned with anchors, a ship’s wheel, and antique compass, and an old cutlass. Nets hung from the ceiling, giving the room a comfortable, yet cocoon-like feeling. The upstairs was done in the same fashion.

“You probably ought to get your own place now that we’re headquartered here,” Dane said over his shoulder as they mounted the stairs.

“You need me here,” Bones said. “You’re too reclusive when I’m not around. It’s unhealthy.”

“True, but it’s going to be awkward when Angel comes to visit.”

“Not awkward at all. You two can get a room somewhere.” Bones hesitated. “Was that Angel on the phone?”

“Yep.” Dane really wasn’t in the mood to talk about it.

“And you told her about Jade?”

“Yep.”

“Maddock,” Bones groaned. “You really don’t know anything about women.”