The Secret of Atlantis

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Dragan Korać took a long look at the two unemployed mercenaries standing before him and drummed his fingers on the edge of a table laden with meat and fruit. His eyes shone dully in the low light as he pronged a piece of rare lamb with the point of his knife and raised it to his mouth. As he chewed he revealed a missing canine tooth from the left side of his upper jaw. There was a dark, evaluating glint lurking in his eyes.

“You,” he said, pointing the knife at Reaper. “Now I see your face I remember you. You worked for me in the Congo.”

“That’s right.”

“You were very good,” he said, slowly chewing on the bloody lamb.

“We’re the best,” Reaper mumbled.

“It’s easy to say, my friend,” the Serbian drawled. He raised a glass of red wine and guzzled it down, sloppily wiping the trickles from the side of his mouth with his sleeve. “But in this business action speaks louder than words.” He belched loudly.

“Of course,” came the reply.

Korać nodded his head, but no smile. “We’ll see about that. I have a reputation to think about — ah!” He stopped mid-sentence when Dirk Kruger and his men walked into the room. “Kruger, I trust you are refreshed after your flight?”

Kruger looked at Hawke and Reaper like they were stray dogs and then returned his attention to his host. “I am. You show great hospitality, Mr Korać.”

Korać twisted in his chair, his mouth full of meat once again, and while still chewing spoke through the lamb. “Please — these men are offering themselves to me as mercenaries. If they’re any good they will join my regular army. Business is good, and I take new recruits all the time but they must work very hard to prove themselves or they’re out the door. If they’re lucky, that is.”

Kruger gave Hawke and Reaper a second cursory glance and returned his attention to Korać. “I hope the financial terms I offered were acceptable,” he said.

Korać waved his hand to indicate ambiguity, and then smiled broadly. “We talk about the money after we eat, but first you must all be very hungry. Please — sit down and join me. We will talk about your plan.”

Hawke, Reaper, Kruger and Van Zyl joined Korać at the thick wooden table and began to eat, but Hawke knew the real purpose of the meal wasn’t to sample the local delicacies of pljeskavica beef patties and veal schnitzel washed down with lashings of plum brandy. The real reason was to talk about Kruger’s mission and study him and Reaper for their reactions. From Korać’s point of view there was no harm in including two strange men in the discussion — either they would be determined as trustworthy and included, or not, and killed.

“Tell me, Dirk,” Korać began. “Why the need for my army?”

“Treasure.”

Korać stared at him, his smile fading and then returning. His eyes crawled over Hawke and Reaper for a moment before settling on the bottle of brandy in front of him. He poured a glass for himself and smacked the bottle back down on the table. “Treasure, you say?”

Kruger nodded, clearly uncomfortable with saying too much in front of so many people. “Treasure — diamonds… gold. Lots of gold.”

“You want my men to break into Fort Knox, like Mr Goldfinger?”

A low laugh rippled around the tense room.

“No,” Kruger said sharply. “The gold I want isn’t in Fort Knox, Dragan.”

“So where is it?” The earlier hint of a smile on Korać’s face was now totally gone and an even grimmer atmosphere fell over the room like a dark, suffocating blanket.

After a pregnant pause, Kruger fixed his dark eyes on the Serbian commander and spoke one single word. “Atlantis.”

For what seemed like eternity, silence hung in the air like cannon smoke, but then Korać burst into laughter and his men followed suit. Hawke and Reaper joined in but Kruger remained steely-eyed and straight-faced.

“You…” Korać struggled to get the words out through the laughter. “You’re not serious, Dirk?”

“I bloody am serious,” Kruger snapped. “And I don’t like being laughed at, man!”

In a heartbeat, Korać pulled a srbosjek blade from his belt and thrust it into the wooden tabletop before sweeping the brandy and bowls of fruit aside with his arm.

“Watch your tongue, Professor Kruger! I do not take kindly to people talking to me like this.”

Not expecting such a reaction, Kruger recoiled awkwardly in his seat and almost fell backwards on his chair. He saved himself from going back and landing with a smack on the flagstone floor, but he was clearly rattled. Across the table from him, Korać wrenched the knife from the table and studied the blade for a few moments.

“I’m sorry…” Kruger said reluctantly.

Korać slipped the knife back into his belt and offered a smile to the South African. “Let’s try and get along from now on. I’m sure we can be friends, but friends don’t lie to each other.”

“I’m not lying. I have spent many years looking for Atlantis and finally I have evidence it exists.”

This time, Korać didn’t laugh. “You better not be playing games with me, Dirk. My army has a very solid reputation from fighting in wars all over the world from Chechnya to the Congo. If you make me look like a fool chasing after mermaids you will pay for it with your life and the lives of your family.”

“No one’s talking about mermaids,” Kruger said regaining some of his cool after the unforeseen outburst a few moments ago. “I already said I’m looking for diamonds. All my life is about diamonds, Dragan. The legend of Atlantis was written by Plato, and he was very clear about it being an island full of gold and silver not to mention endless other precious stones and metals — including diamonds.”

“But you already said the word — legend. It’s nothing more than a legend.”

“I thought that until a few hours ago when I saw this.” Kruger pulled the golden idol from his bag and gently set it down on the table. The smooth golden edges sparkled in the dim light of Korać’s pretentious candelabra.

The Serbian’s eyes were glued to the idol. “What is that thing?” he said, nudging his chin at the ancient statuette.

Hawke saw it now up close for the first time. It was beguiling, beautiful, and yet flawed — covered in strange carvings as if someone had tried to tattoo her, and it was in a much poorer condition than he’d imagined too — with chips and gouges cut into her here and there. It was in a much worse condition than the Valhalla idol, but he noticed that the base she stood on had the same peculiar seven-pointed star configuration.

“You seem very interested in it…”

Hawke looked up to see Korać staring at him grimly. He hadn’t realized that he’d been so fixated by the idol. He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t even know what it is.”

“It belonged to an associate of mine,” Kruger said, moving it away from Hawke and closer to Korać. “He gave it to me for the purposes of getting you and your army on board our project. He was very reluctant to let it out of his sight, I can promise you.”

Korać picked it up and gave it a contemptuous look. “But what is it?”

“It’s a likeness of a Phoenician goddess named Tanit who was worshipped in North Africa three thousand years ago. She’s made of gold and there are diamonds embedded in her as well.”

“How do you know this?” Korać asked Kruger, still not lifting his eyes from the idol.

“I’m a leading archaeologist in the field,” Kruger replied haughtily. “I’ve dedicated my life to uncovering some of the greatest archaeological sites of the ancient world.”

Yeah, Hawke thought. And looting them for your own benefit.

Korać was equally as unimpressed with the South African’s grandstanding. “So, what is special about her? There is not that much gold on her.”

“She was found in a temple in Mexico which was sealed long before the Spanish or any other Europeans arrived — ah — I see now I have your interest.”

Korać had finally raised his eyes off the idol and was now burning two holes in Dirk Kruger. “You may continue.”

Hawke saw a flash of hatred in Kruger’s eyes, and guessed not many people spoke to him like this, but he and Van Zyl were clearly playing the long game as far as Dragan Korać was concerned.

“No one knows how the hell this thing ended up in Mexico, but it is my opinion that this little idol is identical to a statue in Madrid that many believe is an Atlantean goddess who was worshipped in Tartessos, a colony of Atlantis. For me the possibility of a link is too great to ignore. She was found in Mexico, but she came from Atlantis originally.”

Korać gave a long evaluating nod and leaned forward in his chair, elbows on the table. He shovelled more of the lamb in his face and released another violent belch into the room. “It is true you have intrigued me, but my army is not cheap. Where will we be deployed?”

“Morocco.”

Hawke and Reaper shared a silent glance.

Korać whistled. “This is not an easy thing to do, as I am sure you will appreciate. It takes a great deal of logistics to move my men around the world, although we are more than a little familiar with Africa.”

Kruger shrugged. Hawke could see he was relishing having the upper hand again. “You tell me your men are the best private army in the world, so I came to you with this. My expertise tells me that the signs are pointing to the Atlas Mountains, so that is where I need your army. Either you can do it or you can’t.”

“The Atlas Mountains?” Korać was shocked. “You think there is some kind of link between the Atlas Mountains and Atlantis?”

“Yes. They have a strong connection to the legend, but to find the truth we will have to go there.”

“Where exactly?” Korać asked.

Kruger looked around the room at the other men and lowered his voice. “There’s a gorge near the Valley of Roses. The symbols refer to it. I think that’s our location.”

“You say she is from Atlantis originally — how do you know this?”

“This inscription starts with the symbol for the ancient Persian god Apam Napat — the god of the sea — and ends with the Valley of the Roses. It reads: from Apam Napat’s Kingdom to the Valley of the Roses. A beginning and an end. It’s written almost like an obituary.”

“An obituary? I thought you said Tanit was a goddess?”

“I’m just telling you my opinion.”

Another long silence and slow nod from Dragan Korać before he turned to Hawke and Reaper. “What do you two think?”

“We follow the money,” Reaper said.

The Serb nodded once. “A good plan, I’m sure… and now my men will take you to the courtyard.” He gestured for Hawke and Reaper to join him, and then standing between them he placed a paternal arm over each of their shoulders. “We have business there.”

Hawke met his gaze, and pulled his arm off. He didn’t want to let the idol out of his sight but there was nothing he could do without giving himself away. “Business?”

“Yes, business! Come… join me. You won’t be disappointed.”

“Lead the way, boss,” Reaper said.

They moved through the lower floors of the fort until reaching a set of large timber doors reinforced with heavy iron bolts and hinges. A merc moved ahead and respectfully opened one of the doors, quickly moving out of Korać’s way, and a second later they stepped out into a broad cobblestone yard.

The low autumn sun was coming down at a strange angle through a slit in the clouds and an ominous, crimson light was filling the yard. When his eyes had adjusted to this, Hawke saw another group of men in fake leather jackets and black jeans standing around in a huddle in the corner a few yards from a Mighty Bucky bull-riding machine. This was an unexpected sight to see inside a fortress run by a Serbian warlord, but he kept his surprise concealed and focussed on the men. They were smoking and grumbling, and one of them flicked a cigarette to the ground. Another coughed loudly and stared up at the sky with his hands jammed in his pockets. He looked bored.

When another of the men saw Korać approach, he flicked the other around the shoulder and pointed. With tangible terror on his young face, the first man reached down for his cigarette butt and crushed it in his hand before putting in his pocket and scuffing the soot mark off the cobblestones.

A second later the group broke up to reveal two older men on their knees in the corner of the yard with their hands on their heads. One had a full beard and the other had a thick moustache. The one with the moustache was visibly shaking but trying to control it. Hawke didn’t like the look of it one little bit.

“What is this?” Hawke said.

Korać pointed to the bearded man. “His name is Čanak. He attacked my daughter and she barely got away with her life.” With a flourish, he now pointed to the other man. “And his name is Dačić. He lied to me to give his friend an alibi and get him off. Today, Čanak and Dačić are being executed for their crimes against my family.”

Reaper glanced at the Englishman. “So give them to the police…” he said.

Korać and the other men fell about laughing. “I know two things about you now,” Korać said though the chuckling. “You do not know the Serbian police, and you do not have daughters.”

Hawke and Reaper remained silent while the former Serbian commander settled his men down and approached the prisoners. “Old Serbian proverb — God gave himself a beard first, my friends,” he said, slapping the bearded man around the back of his head.

“What does that mean?” Reaper said.

“You help yourself before you help others, no?”

“What are you saying?” said Hawke.

“Yes,” Reaper said. “What has this got to do with us?”

Korać turned to Hawke and gave him a ghoulish smile as one of his men handed him a heavy antique Ottoman sword. In turn, Korać gave it to Hawke. “You are their executioners and if you don’t kill them, then my men will kill you.”