The Atlantis Code

CHAPTER 23

Carefully making her way through the shadows, Natasha crept up to the side of the hill where the hurricane fence butted up against the rock. The cave’s throat blossomed light only a few feet away.

Gary followed her. She was thankful for lax security. If anyone had been truly listening, she was certain they would have heard Gary as he stumbled through the dark. He stayed behind her and sucked in air.

Hunkered down against the hillside, Natasha took out the sat-phone she’d gotten in Cádiz after she’d landed. She’d arranged it through the same black market dealer from whom she procured the two 9 mm pistols she carried in the pockets of her trench coat.

“This next part is going to get dangerous,” Natasha told Gary as she punched buttons on the sat-phone. “You might want to reconsider coming along.”

Gary looked tense. He swallowed hard and shook his head. “I can’t let you go on alone.”

Natasha stared at him for a moment and saw his resolve reflected in his eyes. She nodded as she pressed the TALK button. She stared out at the coastline where the retaining wall held back the thunderous surf. The noise of the breakers striking the wall rolled continuously over the area.

It took a moment for the call to go through the international operator.

Ivan Chernovsky answered on the first ring, however. “Chernovsky.”

“It’s Natasha.”

“So, then. You are still alive.”

“For the moment,” Natasha admitted.

“I had been wondering,” Chernovsky told her. “It appears that Professor Lourds and other members of your entourage have been busy.”

“Somewhat.”

“Running gun battles in Odessa, Germany, and West Africa. You’ve had quite the itinerary.”

“I knew you would know about Odessa, but how did you know about the others?”

Chernovsky sighed. “I have been answering many calls from other countries about my partner. Our supervisor feels that I should know everything about you. He put those people directly in touch with me. After telling me to deny everything and that my job hangs in the balance, of course.”

“I apologize. I never intended for this to cause you problems.”

“Eh.”

Natasha could imagine Chernovsky shrugging in his office.

“We’ll get through this, Natasha. We always do. So where are you? The reporters in London seem to think you’re not there anymore. Many people have wanted to speak to Lourds, and the corporation that employs Miss Crane has announced that she’s gone missing.”

“Cádiz,” Natasha answered. “We’re in Cádiz.”

Chernovsky was silent for a moment. “So it was true? Atlantis was there?”

“I don’t know. Lourds was abducted in London. I escaped before they could catch me. I knew they would bring him here, and they did.”

“Why?”

“Because of the instruments.”

“The musical instruments Miss Crane alluded to in her interview.”

“Yes.”

“Is there any truth in that?”

Natasha hesitated for a time. She thought again of Yuliya and how interested she’d been in the ancient cymbal she’d been working on.

“I hope so,” she finally answered.

“But you called about something else,” Chernovsky said.

“Things have gotten more complicated here. Evidently the Roman Catholic Church has been hiding more than they’ve been showing. Lourds and the woman have been taken into the dig site by the people who captured them.”

“What are they after?”

“I don’t know.”

“Does Lourds?”

“Possibly.”

Chernovsky paused, and Natasha heard the rasp of his hand across his beard stubble. She knew that if he hadn’t been shaving, he had been under tremendous stress.

“He must know, Natasha. There’s no other reason for these men to kidnap him and bring him here.”

“That makes sense. But I do not know what he knows.”

“What do you need me to do?”

Natasha smiled a little. “At this point, I’m wanted for questioning, yes?”

“Yes.” Chernovsky’s reply was cautious. “In several places. What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking,” Natasha said, “that you should notify the local authorities and let them know that a potential terrorist threat is in the area.”

“You?”

“Me.”

Chernovsky was silent.

“Ivan,” Natasha said, “we don’t have a lot of time.”

“What you’re suggesting is very dangerous. Especially for you.”

“I know.” Natasha watched the front of the cave. So far she hadn’t seen any guards at the cave entrance. Trucks and mobile buildings sat outside the cave mouth. No one appeared to be guarding those, either. “But I need to save Lourds, and I need to do it right now. I’m out of choices. I need help. And I think things already are dangerous. If what Lourds believes is right, whatever destroyed Atlantis is still here.”

“After thousands of years underwater?”

“So he says. The Catholic Church is here. In force, I might add. And some of them have been pursuing us all along.” Natasha studied the fence. “I have to go. Tell me that you’ll make the call.”

“I will.”

“And wish me good luck.”

“Good luck, Natasha.”

Natasha thanked him and closed the phone. Then she stood.

“I didn’t understand a word you were saying,” Gary said.

“I called my partner. He’s going to call the Spanish authorities and get them to intercede.”

“Cool. Then we just stay out here and keep watch?” Gary seemed happy with that.

“No. We go inside. Now. The men he is sending, they’re going to be looking for us. We could still be killed, possibly by friendly fire.”

Gary frowned.

“I told you this wouldn’t be easy. Or safe.” Natasha looked at him. “You should stay behind.”

He shook his head. “I can’t. I’m in.”

“Then follow me.”

Natasha turned back to the fence and climbed over it.

Lourds read the inscriptions aloud as he walked. He held a powerful flashlight to scan the language. Even though he was operating at gunpoint, lecturing to an audience headed by a madman, part of him still felt proud of his ability to decipher the long-dead language.

He hadn’t had a large section of the language to work with on the instruments’ inscriptions, but the translations had proved fairly simple and straightforward after he’d broken it. He didn’t recognize all the words in front of him now, but he was able to make educated guesses to fill in the gaps in his knowledge. His voice sounded loud in the walkway between the pictographs.

“ ‘Adam and Eve and their children grew to be selfish even in the Garden of Eden. With the world laid at their feet, they wanted more. The First Son walked with them and tried to teach them the ways of God, but He didn’t teach them all of God’s holy knowledge, and they faulted Him for it. In the end, they decided to take the knowledge for themselves.’ ”

The next image was disturbing. It showed a man in a deep stream beneath a waterfall. Men on both banks held him from the shore with long poles.

“ ‘Adam’s sons with the darkest hearts took the First Son to the stream that fed Eden and drowned Him. This is what caused God to drive them from Eden and to later drown the wickedness in the world.’ ”

On the next stone, men held the Book of Knowledge high in obvious exultation.

“ ‘Adam’s children took the Book of Knowledge. They celebrated their triumph, but they did not admit their ignorance. Though they studied the Book, they could not understand it. Three days after His death, the First Son rose again.’ ”

The next scene showed the First Son dressed in robes and a glow around his head as he walked through the forest filled with cowering men and women. Around them, animals poised to attack.

“ ‘When the First Son returned, He carried His Father’s wrath. No weapon made by Adam’s children pierced him. No stone bruised Him. Adam’s children lay in fear before Him. He—’ ” Lourds hesitated as he tried to decipher the word.

“ ‘He alienated the animals from Adam’s children,’ ” Father Sebastian said.

Lourds glanced at the priest. “You can read this?”

Sebastian nodded.

“Where did you learn the language?”

The old man shook his head. “I’ve never seen it before I came here.”

“You’re a linguist?”

“No. I’m a historian. Languages have never been my strength. I can barely manage Latin.”

“But you can read this?”

Sebastian nodded.

“How do you explain your ability to read it?”

“I can’t.”

Lourds regarded the old man curiously. There’s no way I’m going to start believing in divine intervention at this point. But how else could he explain what the old priest claimed? Lourds doubted Sebastian was lying.

Turning back to the last image in the series, Lourds said, “ ‘Adam, Eve, and all their children were driven from the Garden of Eden.’ ”

The image on the stone looked a lot like the interpretation in several illustrated Bibles Lourds had seen. A winged angel with a flaming sword blocked the way back. But this time the First Son was with the angel.

“ ‘In his righteous anger, God left the Book of Knowledge among men,’ ” Lourds went on. “ ‘He gave warning that if it was found, it was to be kept — unread — until He took it back from this world.’ ”

“But the Book of Knowledge wasn’t lost,” Sebastian said. “One of Adam’s descendants hid it for generations. He brought his family out here, to found Atlantis and begin the civilization that would draw God’s greatest wrath.”

“How do you know that?” Lourds asked. At that moment, he was so lost in the excitement of deciphering the story that he hardly noticed Murani and the armed warriors surrounding him.

“Because that story is here.” Sebastian led the way through the stones. His flashlight whipped over other stones with more writing.

Lourds followed, and Murani and the Swiss Guard trailed behind.

Gary’s heart banged inside his chest as he followed Natasha.

Mate, you’re going to get yourself killed. You should drag your bleeding arse right on out of here.

But he couldn’t. He needed to do something to help Lourds and Leslie. And he’d grown up on hero-driven fiction and video games. He had always wanted to be a man of action. Kill the bad guy, get the girl, and all that. He’d learned over the last few weeks, though, that being heroic wasn’t that easy. Heroes were more likely to bleed to death than to throw victory parties.

But that wouldn’t stop him.

He followed Natasha to one of the temporary buildings in front of the cave mouth and slipped inside. Racks of coveralls like those most of the construction crew wore against the chill of the caves were stacked near the cave mouth.

“Get dressed,” Natasha ordered quietly in the darkness. She threw him a pair of work boots. “Put those on as well.”

“They’re kind of clunky,” Gary objected.

“Too bad. We have to fit in. Criminals often get caught because they don’t change their footwear.” Natasha shrugged into her coverall and pulled it over the twin pistols she carried. “Supervisors probably check for work boots and hard hats. If you’re not wearing them, you’re going to get noticed.” She thrust a hard hat at him as well. “I don’t want that to happen.”

“Neither do I.” Gary put the hard hat on and kicked his shoes off. “The boots are still clunky.”

Natasha ignored him, put her hair up, slapped the hat on top of it, and headed back out the door. Gary had to hurry to catch up. He fell in beside her as she strode into the cave.

“One question,” Gary said quietly. “Do you have a plan?”

“I do,” Natasha said. “We find Lourds and Leslie. We get whatever it is everybody is after. We get out. During that time, we stay alive.” She looked at him. “Is that clear?”

“Crystal,” Gary replied. “Especially the part about us staying alive.”

“Good. Don’t make me kick your ass for getting killed.”

Gary couldn’t think of a heroic reply, so he followed along silently.

“The man who had the Book of Knowledge founded the island that became known in legend as Atlantis. With the power he expected to get from the Book, he knew the other men in the world would try to take it from him.”

Lourds came to a stop beside Father Sebastian. The priest’s flashlight beam illuminated the stone in front of him alone for a moment, but the beams of the others quickly joined them.

The image showed a king seated on a throne overlooking a vast empire.

Drawn by the words, Lourds began reading again. “ ‘Stripped of Eden, Adam’s children began making their lives in the outer world. One of those children, Caleb, founded the island kingdom of—’ ” He couldn’t make out the word. He turned his attention to Sebastian.

“I see it as Heaven,” Sebastian whispered, “but that can’t be what this place was. The founder chose to name this place that.”

“ ‘Caleb continued his work to read the Book of Knowledge. Years passed and he gave the task to his children. They passed it on to their children. They didn’t forget about God’s power. They lusted after the power. Instead, they chose to forget about God.’ ”

The next image showed a ziggurat under construction. Hundreds of men labored to haul rock and build the edifice that was supposed to reach the heavens.

“ ‘Under the Priest-King, Caleb’s son, a great tower was built. The people intended to live in Heaven and become gods themselves. They believed all they had to do was climb into the sky to reach God’s paradise.’ ”

The next stone showed the tower’s destruction. Bodies littered the ground.

“ ‘God saw the evil, selfish ways of the people and rained down His vengeance—’ ”

“ ‘Wrath,’ ” Sebastian interrupted.

“ ‘—and rained down His wrath,’ ” Lourds amended, “ ‘upon the people and destroyed their tower. He also destroyed that which bound all men together when He took away their language. Even the language they had carried with them from the Garden of Eden was lost.’ ”

Lourds tried to imagine what that had been like. All the men who had shared so many things suddenly couldn’t talk to each other. Even the core language, which he had to assume this was, had been taken.

“ ‘In time, they spoke to each other again, in a multitude of tongues. In time, the language in the Book of Knowledge was decoded,’ ” Lourds said. “ ‘The priest-kings began to read the Book. God called the sea up and destroyed the island.’ ”

The next image showed a huge wave crashing against the island’s coastline. People stood in horror as they watched the approach of their impending doom.

“ ‘Only those who took shelter in the caves—’ ”

“ ‘Catacombs,’ ” Sebastian said.

“ ‘—catacombs,’ ” Lourds made the adjustment automatically. The words drew him as he chased them with his flashlight, “ ‘survived the flood. Afterwards, when the sea rolled back, the survivors locked the Book of Knowledge away in the — home of—’ ” He stopped, unable to go on.

“ ‘In the Chamber of Chords,’ ” Sebastian said. “That’s where we are now.”

Lourds shone his flashlight over the stone wall. Robed men stood in the cave in front of pictographs that he recognized as the carvings he faced now.

“The Book of Knowledge is here?” Murani asked.

“I don’t know,” Lourds said.

Leslie yelped in surprise and pain.

When Lourds turned to face her, he saw that Murani had grabbed her by the hair and forced her down to her knees. He took a pistol from one of the Swiss Guards.

“What are you doing?” Lourds demanded. He stepped toward her.

Murani slammed the pistol into Lourds’s temple.

Pain exploded in Lourds’s head. Dizziness swept over him, and he dropped to all fours. He barely kept his face off the stone.

“Where is the Book?” Murani yelled.

Lourds barely kept from throwing up. Bile bit into the back of his throat. “I don’t know. It doesn’t say. That was written thousands of years ago. For all we know, someone already got the Book. The stories you heard could have been lying.”

Murani turned to Sebastian. “Tell me where the Book is.”

“No,” Sebastian said. “I’m not going to help you, Murani. You have disgraced yourself, your Church, and your God. I’ll be no part of this.”

Murani pointed the pistol at him. “Then you’ll be dead.”

For a moment Lourds thought Murani was going to shoot the old priest.

Sebastian held his rosary and prayed in a voice that cracked only a little.

Murani pointed the pistol at Leslie. “I’ll kill her. I swear to you, I’ll kill her.”

Sebastian opened his eyes and looked at Leslie. “I’m sorry.”

Furious, Murani turned his attention back to Lourds. “Keep reading. Find that Book. If you don’t, I’m going to kill this woman. You have ten minutes.”

Weakly, Lourds pushed himself to his feet and stood swaying. Then he picked up his dropped flashlight and staggered back to the wall of images. He moved down to an image of the five musical instruments.

Lourds blinked his eyes and tried to clear his double vision. “ ‘The survivors lived in fear of God. They locked the Book of Knowledge away in the… Chamber of Chords. The key was divided among five… instruments.’ I’m guessing, but it fits.”

“Keep going,” Murani ordered.

Lourds wiped sweat from his eyes. He moved to the next pictograph. “ ‘The secret was hidden within. The five instruments were given to five men who were called… Keepers.’ ” He plucked that term from what Adebayo, Blackfox, and Vang had used to refer to themselves. “ ‘The Keepers were chosen from among those who now spoke different languages. They were given the parts of the key and sent out into the world. They were never to be together again until God called them together.’ ”

When he moved on to the next wall section, Lourds found that it was blank. He played the flashlight around, then turned back to Murani.

“There’s nothing more,” Lourds said in a thin, quiet voice. He fully expected Murani to shoot him out of frustration.

“The secret’s in the musical instruments,” Murani said. “Find it.”

At Murani’s gesture, Gallardo and his men brought the music cases forward and deposited them on the ground.

Lourds hesitated. The challenge was difficult, and the conditions were impossible. But he wanted to save Leslie. He wanted to be the hero. He wanted to rise to the occasion.

“Don’t do this.”

Lourds swiveled his head in Father Sebastian’s direction. The old man stood there with his rosary in hand.

“The Book of Knowledge was hidden away,” Sebastian said. “God had it hidden for a reason. It destroyed this world.”

Lourds thought about the images of destruction captured on the stone walls. They only scratched the surface of the true horror that had overtaken the island kingdom.

“You’re not supposed to do this,” Sebastian said.

“Shut him up,” Murani snarled.

Gallardo punched Sebastian in the throat. The priest collapsed to one knee as he coughed and gagged. Without mercy, Gallardo kicked the old man in the side and knocked him over.

One of the Swiss Guards, the one with the scar, made a small sound of protest. Gallardo turned and stared him down. But he backed away from the old priest.

Murani pulled the gun from Leslie’s head and crossed to stand in Lourds’s face.

Lourds wanted to step back. The threat emanating from the cardinal was a palpable force. Sickness twisted in Lourds’s stomach.

“You are supposed to do this,” Murani said in a low, fierce voice. “You didn’t even know about any of this. Yet here you are. Do you believe in God’s will, Professor Lourds?”

Lourds tried to answer but couldn’t force his voice through his fear-constricted throat.

“I think,” Murani said, “that you’re here by God’s will. I believe that he wanted you here. To serve in this fashion.”

“Don’t do it, Thomas,” Leslie entreated.

“Think about the knowledge.” Murani said. “Could you go to the grave without knowing this?” His dark eyes searched Lourds’s. “You are so close. Think about it. There’s every chance that I won’t be able to read what’s written in the Book of Knowledge. I’ll need you for that as well. You find the Book, you get to live.”

Lourds wanted to say no. Everything good and decent within him did not want to cooperate with the crazed zealot before him. But an insistent voice in the back of his mind wouldn’t shut up. He wanted to read that Book. He wanted to know what had been written there.

“How can you walk away now?” Murani asked.

“Don’t let him sway you,” Sebastian croaked. “Don’t let him tempt you.”

But the temptation was too great. This was the best and finest thing Lourds had ever been part of finding.

And it wasn’t found yet.

Without a word, he turned his attention to the musical instruments.

During the time after she’d arrived early at Cádiz, Natasha had familiarized herself with the dig site as much as possible. She’d read newspapers and magazines that had been scattered around the media camp. Gary had helped her gather them. They’d also watched some of the news video that journalists had broadcast. The dig had been heavily in the rotation on the news channels.

According to everything she’d learned, the cave where the mysterious door featured in all the video was located was two miles in from the entrance.

She walked to the motor pool inside the first cave where the heavy equipment was kept. She spotted a small pickup sitting by itself in the darkness beyond the reach of the security lights.

The truck was locked up tight. Natasha supposed it was more habit on the part of the driver rather than to prevent theft. Who would make it over the fence to cause trouble with the equipment?

“Locked, huh?” Gary said. “Maybe there’s another—”

Natasha opened the toolbox in the truck bed, took out a small crowbar, and smashed the driver’s side window. Cubes of safety glass cascaded to the stone floor.

“Bloody hell.” Gary glanced around nervously. “Do you think maybe a more subtle approach would be better?”

“Subtlety takes time.” Natasha unlocked and opened the door. “We don’t have time. It could be too late even now.”

“I think someone’s on to us.” Gary nodded.

When she glanced over her shoulder, Natasha spotted three construction workers approaching them. She slid in behind the steering wheel and unlocked the passenger door.

One of the men called out, but Natasha didn’t understand the language. She slipped her lock-back knife from her pocket and scraped the ignition wires. Then she used the small crowbar to tear away the steering wheel casing and the locking mechanism to free the wheel.

“Do you understand what he’s saying?” Gary asked.

“Probably wants to know what we’re doing.” Natasha touched two wires together, and the truck’s engine rumbled to life.

“What if he’s saying something more along the lines of, ‘Get away from the truck or I’ll open fire’?” Gary asked.

“We’ll know in a minute.” Natasha shifted the transmission and put her foot on the accelerator.

The three men broke into a run as they yelled and waved their arms.

Gary ducked down in the seat, obviously anticipating the worst. “You know, a problem occurs to me.”

Natasha swerved through the maze of heavy equipment and roared toward the lighted arch that led more deeply into the cave system. “Only one problem?”

Evidently tension robbed Gary of his appreciation for sarcasm. “Some of these security guys are good guys. They’re just here to do a job. They’re not hooked up with the bad guys. How are you going to tell the good guys and bad guys apart?”

“They’re going to have to choose sides.” The truck bounced over the harsh terrain. “If they get in my way, they are bad guys. And the only good guys down here might just be us.”

“Great.”

When she checked the rearview mirror, Natasha saw that at least two other vehicles had taken up pursuit.

“So much for the stealth factor,” Gary said dismally.

Then a bullet speared through the back window and smashed out the front.

“Bloody hell!” Gary ducked down and cradled his head in his hands.

Natasha concentrated on driving. She had a loose map of the cave system in her head, but the darkness was complete except for the security lights that barely marked the way. Her headlights pierced the darkness only a short distance at a time. The cave walls seemed to come up faster and faster as she drove. Once her bumper grazed the wall and spewed out a torrent of sparks.

She hoped that Chernovsky had placed the call to the Spanish authorities. She hoped that half the Spanish police force was on its way here. And maybe half the army, too. And she hoped she didn’t smash this truck into a cave wall. Somewhere in there, she also hoped that they arrived in time to save Lourds and Leslie.

Lourds studied the instruments spread out before him. He gave serious thought to smashing them. It would be easy enough to do. But he didn’t know if that would prevent Murani from finding the Book of Knowledge.

And it felt like sacrilege.

“If you try to destroy the instruments, I promise you that you’ll be begging to die before I kill you.” Murani knelt opposite Lourds. The cardinal held a pistol in one hand.

“I can read better if you don’t point that gun at me,” Lourds said. “And you’re blocking my light.”

The crazed priest backed away, but he didn’t put down the gun.

Again and again, Lourds read the inscriptions. They told of the destruction of Atlantis and of the decision to send the key to the Drowned Land out into the world in five pieces.

And the final line was: Make a glad noise.

“Make a glad noise,” Lourds said aloud. “Does that mean anything?” He’d thought it had something to do with the instruments, but he’d played them, and nothing had happened.

Murani hesitated only a moment. “ ‘Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.’ Psalms 100:1.”

“What does that mean?”

“Men should praise and rejoice God.”

“You just knew where to find that?”

“All bishops used to be required to memorize the Book of Psalms.” Murani shook his head. “So many crucial Church practices have passed by the wayside. I am something of a traditionalist.”

Lourds wanted to ask, Do those practices include murder? But he decided it would be too inflammatory.

“Does that passage have any special significance to the Book of Knowledge?” Lourds asked.

“Not that I’m aware of.”

Carefully, Lourds touched the instruments again. The answer had to be there, but it eluded him. He racked his brain. The solution had to be hidden, but it would also need to be attainable. After all, if a Keeper was lost too early, those that followed would have to know how to figure everything out.

Taking up his flashlight, Lourds returned to the image of the Keepers being given the five instruments. Murani accompanied him.

In the image, the five men held the instruments high. They stood in a row, each with the instrument held in a certain way.

Lourds memorized the sequence of the instruments. He returned to the instruments and put them in that order. Drum, cymbal, pipe, flute, and bell. Was there significance to the order? Or was he fooling himself?

He used the flashlight and studied the surfaces closely. Symbols he hadn’t noticed before, carved into the drum’s side so they looked like scratches, suddenly caught his eye. They were faint and loose, nothing like what was on the inscription. After thousands of years, it was a wonder they remained.

Quickly, excited now, Lourds rolled the instruments around until he found symbols on each of them in turn. Together they formed a sentence.

“ ‘Break make a joyful noise.’ ” Lourds translated it again. It didn’t make sense. Surely he had it wrong.

“What do you see?” Murani asked.

Lourds told him.

“What are these symbols?” Murani asked. He picked up only a few of the symbols with his flashlight.

“ ‘Make a joyful noise.’ ”

Murani aimed his flashlight toward a nearby wall. “These symbols are there as well.”

Looking up, Lourds saw that the symbols were repeated. Excitement screamed through him. He stood and crossed to the wall. Bending down, he picked up a rock and smashed it against the wall.

A hollow noise came back.

Lourds pounded again. “There’s an empty space back there.” He slammed the rock against the wall again. This time the rock broke through.

Murani, Gallardo, and some of the others pushed forward and attacked the false wall with their rifle butts. The wall shattered and fell to the floor.

On the other side of the wall, an elegant and pristine cavern filled with stalactites and stalagmites lay before them. The sounds of the impacts echoed almost melodically inside the cavern.

Before anyone could stop him, Lourds crossed the broken wall and stepped into the cavern. The air inside the cavern seemed fresher here. The noise quietly died down, but Lourds couldn’t help noticing how this space held the sound like a stage.

The wall to Lourds’s right held a carved image of the First Son standing with the Book of Knowledge.

The inscription below the First Son read: