The Atlantis Code

EPILOGUE

Lourds stood sweating in the humidity that rolled in off the Atlantic Ocean. Before him, the work continued to rescue what could be saved of the Atlantean civilization.

He’d only just been released from the custody of the local and state Spanish police that had descended on the dig site. For the last two days, he’d shared a small cell with some of Cádiz’s worst criminals. He’d suspected that was meant to intimidate him. However, he had managed to ingratiate himself with his cellmates.

Harvard professor or not, Lourds had spent much of his life around the world with such men. Wherever artifacts beckoned with all their promise of riches, thugs like these congregated. Once he’d figured that out, Lourds made it a point to learn to speak their language — whatever variant of the local vernacular it was. The thugs in his recent lodgings weren’t exactly on his Christmas card list, but they’d been sad to see him go. When the Spanish law enforcement teams hadn’t been questioning him, he’d shared stories with the prisoners. He’d become something of a celebrity because CNN kept showing background information on him.

The United States State Department hadn’t stepped in in his behalf too forcibly, because they weren’t sure exactly what Lourds had done. There were several international agencies waiting to speak with his little band. Natasha in particular had excited their interest.

In the end, Pope Innocent XIV had interceded and asked for mercy, citing their work for the Church. His captors listened. All of them had been released.

Gary was still recovering in the hospital. Natasha had gone to make phone calls. Despite the swath of death she’d left behind her, the evidence to connect her with it was completely missing. It appeared she’d be able to clear up her “indiscretions” with her country — the worst of which was apparently not filling out proper paperwork for her vacation time. And Leslie was making nice with the television studio that employed her because they’d discovered she had in her clutches many exclusives on the Atlantis story that CNN didn’t yet have.

She, too, would come out of this relatively unscathed.

Several of the television people recognized Lourds and begged interviews. He’d turned them all down. He thought that would probably make Leslie happy, and he felt like he owed her something.

It didn’t take long for news of Lourds’s presence to reach Father Sebastian’s ears. The old priest had gone to the hospital, had his shoulder taken care of, and returned to the dig site to once more take control.

“Professor Lourds,” Sebastian greeted as he walked up. His left arm was in a sling and he looked pale, but he appeared hearty nonetheless.

Lourds returned the greeting. “I trust the pope got his package?”

Sebastian nodded. “He was very happy to see it. It’s been put away for safekeeping. It will not trouble you any further.”

The night they’d gotten out of the caves, Lourds discovered that Sebastian had survived being shot. Before the old priest had been mediflighted out, Lourds had given him the Book of Knowledge. He hadn’t been able to trust himself to keep it.

He knew he’d never be able to resist reading it, whatever the cost.

Sebastian gestured to the security guards keeping the crowd back. They allowed Lourds to enter, and Sebastian took him by the arm.

“I heard you’d been released a little while ago,” Sebastian said as they walked toward the golf cart Sebastian had driven over.

“Only just,” Lourds admitted. He pulled at his clothing. “I should have found a hotel room and changed clothes first, I’m afraid. I apologize. I’ve still got the stink of the jail on me.”

“But of course you are here. There was no other place for you, was there?” Sebastian smiled.

“No.” Lourds sat in the passenger seat as the priest drove them back toward the cave. “I keep thinking about that library down there. If the Book of Knowledge survived the bullet and the water—”

“Ah, but that Book is a very special Book. You can’t expect the same of the others.”

“I can hope. Maybe the technology that went into making the paper and the ink was different from what we have.” Lourds felt worn to the bone. “Maybe it survived. I’m a trained diver. I’ve also done cave dives.”

Sebastian shook his head. “Then you haven’t heard the bad news.”

“What bad news?”

“It happened only just this morning.”

Lourds waited, and his gut wrenched in anticipation.

“The section of the caves where we found the library and the final hiding place of the Book of Knowledge has been lost to us.”

“How?”

“How do I know?” Sebastian shrugged. “I only know that nothing was there. Perhaps the sea took it away. Peeled it off the mainland and carried it off. All that remains down there is a huge hole that’s allowed the Atlantic to fill most of the cave system.”

Lourds slumped back against his seat and felt defeated. For the last two days, all he’d thought about was the possibility that the library might have survived.

Now it was gone.

“We might be able to save some of the wall sections, the crypt area, and a few other things,” Sebastian said. “But now that the Church has what it came looking for—”

“The pope doesn’t want to keep emptying the coffers.”

“It would be foolish of us,” Sebastian agreed. He sighed. “Still, I’ve been given permission to tidy up a few things here before I leave. I can certainly bring in other interests — perhaps others can continue what we have started, eh?”

“That will also keep the media from wondering what you were really here after.”

“Unless someone tells them.”

Lourds shook his head. “I won’t. No one would believe me anyway.”

“What about the young reporter?”

“All Leslie’s going to tell anyone is that we discovered clues to a library that had been hidden in the caves.”

“She’s not going mention the Book of Knowledge?”

“No. She’s sticking to the standard Atlantis myth. It will play better in the ratings, she assures me. Besides, would anyone from the Vatican admit it existed, no matter what she said?”

Sebastian smiled. “You’d be surprised at the number of things that don’t exist. Officially.”

“I don’t think so,” Lourds said. “Not after this.”

The old priest stopped the cart at the cave mouth. “Still, we may yet find a few surprises lurking in the caves before we go. If you’d like, you may join us in our search.”

“I would like,” Lourds said. “There’s no place I’d rather be than hunting for knowledge.”

“Maybe we’ll find a few books that floated up out of the library.” Sebastian fished in a pocket. “In the meantime, it appears that I’m not the only one who wasn’t surprised to see you here. I have messages from your two female companions.” He handed over two folded pieces of paper. “It appears they would like to have dinner with you. Both of them.”

“Ah,” Lourds said, smiling in spite of the disappointment he felt over the loss of that incredible library.

“I assume they’re not going to be interested in dinner at the same time.”

“Probably not.”

“It appears that you have a scheduling problem.”

“No, it’s lucky for me that I have a big appetite.” Lourds flashed the old priest a grin. “After a couple days in jail, I can manage two dinners tonight.”

“If you eat sensibly and pace yourself. Of course, if you get caught eating two dinners, that could be dangerous.”

“Perhaps.” Feeling somewhat better, Lourds shoved the papers into his pocket. “This is the kind of danger I live for, Father. And I don’t think either of those two women is looking for a permanent dinner companion.”

“What will you do after this?” Sebastian asked.

“The Library of Alexandria is still lost,” Lourds said. “I haven’t given up hope of finding some of those books. History has too many missing pieces, too many possibilities buried in stories and languages we’ve carried on over thousands of years. I’m going to keep poking around in those odd little nooks and crannies every chance I get and hope that I find something. That’s the one true love I have.”

And Lourds knew it always would be.