“I understand…” Sam began to respond, but stopped.
“Because you know how you get when you’re studying a lead to the Master Builders?”
“No, because despite all those muscles, you’re really quite an unattractive guy.”
Despite their distance, Sam could hear the sound of Tom’s deep laugh inside his ADS machine. Tom ignored Sam’s joke, and then continued. “You know Billie a lot better than I do. Do you have any idea what she’s looking for?”
“No idea,” Sam lied. He would have told Tom the truth, but it wasn’t his to tell. Besides, it was because of what Billie was searching for that their lives had become entangled. It had killed her grandfather. Her own father had the good sense to leave it alone, while she had become obsessed, and that obsession had very nearly got him killed alongside her. No, it had disappeared since they had last gotten close to finding it – retreating like a wounded snake, into an unobtainable region from whence it had come. Wherever it was, he hoped that it remained hidden, at least for the rest of their lifetimes.
“How about you and Aliana?” Tom asked, changing the subject.
“What about us?” Sam replied. His mind instantly returned to the girl’s exquisite face. With her blond hair, and striking grey eyes, Aliana’s beauty was surpassed only by her intense intelligence. He’d met her while searching for the Magdalena, an airship filled with rich Jewish families escaping during World War II that never reached its destination. Aliana’s father had tried to kill him, but in the end had given his blessing.
“Are you going to marry her?”
Sam thought seriously about it for a moment. Did he love her? Yes, with all his heart. Would he marry her? Of course he would marry her, if their lives were different. If they had been normal people, who worked nine to five, enjoyed weekends off, and generally spent time together. But Aliana and he were both driven by something far more important than love.
He needed to find answers – who were the Master Builders really, and where had they gone? She needed to win a battle against some virus that hadn’t yet evolved. They were different questions, but both of them needed the answers more than anything else in life. Yes, for the time being, they loved each other, and for every free moment that he had, Sam wanted to spend it with Aliana. But he very much doubted they would be happy married.
“No, I don’t think we will.”
Yes, I know why Billie would never marry Tom, despite the obvious affection that she has for him – because I’m driven toward something that I can’t explain too.
Sam wanted to tell Tom that he should enjoy his time for what it was, but couldn’t come up with the right way to approach it. In the end, he did what he always did, and focused on the task at hand.
“We’re approaching 500 feet.”
“Copy that,” Tom replied. “So, I guess the tourist brochure forgot to move the decimal one place?”
“Guess so.”
Each man adjusted his ADS so they were now horizontally sinking, allowing for a clear view of the ground below them. It, too, was covered in sediment. But not enough to cover the markings of early man.
And then they saw it.
A series of rings, surrounding more rings, cut ever deeper into the earth’s crust, like a series of moats, culminating in a giant dome at the center. There was a slight ooze of sediment, most likely from a hundred years of settlement, which covered it. But even so, the glow was unmistakably dark orange. At this depth, it almost looked red.
“Tom, I think we just found Atlantis.”
Chapter Forty-Eight
Billie watched as the mercenaries responded immediately, with every bit of efficiency that one would expect from professional killers. They formed a defensive circle to the right hand side of the glowing temple, which had drawn the searchers toward their trap like flies.
Each person in their party used the Kevlar pack off his shoulder to build a mediocre defensive barrier. Billie had no doubt that each man was worth the price Edward had paid, in skill and efficiency. She looked at their M60 machine guns pointed up at their attackers. Even with superior weaponry and a lifetime worth of training, they would only be able to take out a few dozen pygmies each. But, even the most optimistic of equations showed they simply did not have enough bullets to win.
“Remain steady gentlemen,” Mark said. “Choose your targets, and keep your bursts of fire short.”
The men grunted in acknowledgement.
Their eyes were large with adrenaline, their weapons drawn and focused. Without exception, each one of them appeared to be grinning like a demon. Billie wondered how it could be that trained soldiers had failed to see what she knew to be fact – they did not have the ability to win this fight, despite superior weaponry.
A single pygmy – most likely the tribe’s warrior chief, screamed something in an unrecognizable language. Without ever having heard the sound before, Billie instantly knew what it meant. The continuous sound of thumping weapons ceased.
And then the onslaught of spears rained down upon them.
Billie, surrounded by the team, was the most protected, as she heard the continuous thump of spears striking their barrier of backpacks. Hope rose as each one snapped upon striking the Kevlar.
Before the next set was thrown, Mark yelled, “Fire!”
The sound of M60 machine guns being eagerly released by the mercenaries from their restraints echoed through the giant circles of dams, like an amphitheater, in short bursts. The first set of pygmies died instantly, their pale white flesh ripped apart as the large 7.62 caliber bullets traveled through unhindered.
Billie looked up and Mark winked at her. “I told you we’d be all right.”
“That’s not all of them,” Billie replied, as another hundred or more men took the place of their injured or killed tribal brothers.
Whosh!
A second set of spears were thrown at them. Again, each person grabbed a backpack to form a shield. This time one of the British SAS soldiers had the small head of a spear slide clear through his right hand.
“Fuck! Are you okay?” Billie asked.
The man smiled. “It’s all right. I’ve had worse nicks shaving. Doesn’t even hurt, actually.” He then gripped the trigger of his machine gun, and fired another burst toward the enemy. The first one was short, but the second one seemed to continue until he emptied the magazine.
“Stop firing!” Mark complained. “You’re wasting ammunition!”
“I’m sorry sir, I don’t know what’s happened. I can’t feel my hand. I can’t feel anything… in fact… I can’t…”
Billie looked at the soldier. “He’s stopped breathing!”
“Damn it! The arrows must be poison tipped!” Mark said.
“Is there anything we can do?” Edward asked.
“I’ve no fucking idea Mr. Worthington! Until today, no one even knew that the Makan tribe really existed, let alone what poison they use to arm their spearheads.”
Billie squatted down and felt for a pulse. “He’s got a pulse, but it looks like his muscles have all stopped working. That’s why his diaphragm has stopped. If we ventilate him, he should live.”
“That’s great, but in case you didn’t notice, we’re all a little busy right now,” Mark said, before letting off another burst of bullets.
Another hundred or more pygmies stood proudly above them in a sign of strength, despite the certainty they were going to be gunned down. But for every one that died, another took his place with the equanimity of a man who honestly believes he is going to a greater place.
Every time Billie snuck a peek above her it became ever clearer that their superior weaponry was no match for the pygmies’ sheer numbers and brutal dedication to the cause.
“Okay, don’t waste any more shots. We’re going to run out. Only target any who descend into the amphitheater,” Mark said.
“And if they all descend?” Edward asked, his right eyebrow turned upwards.
Mark gritted his teeth. “Then
we’re all royally fucked.”
Chapter Forty-Nine
The pygmies watched in muted silence, and then they came – armed with machetes. Mark’s face was aghast with the abhorrent realization that he’d greatly underestimated the force of his enemies, and was about to pay with his life.
At little over four feet tall, the machete-wielding pygmies wreaked terror as they approached like a stampede of wild animals. They jumped across each moat as they reached it. Those who didn’t make it succumbed to the hungry instincts of the crocodiles, until enough men had fallen that even the beasts no longer felt interested in eating.
A gate opened at the other side of the moat and dozens of the angry tribesmen in dugout canoes paddled toward Billie.
There was nothing that any of them could do to stop the onslaught.
Mark, along with the other mercenaries, carefully targeted the heads of each pygmy, as they approached the final moat. Soon the ancient tribal warriors broke through, one at a time, killing the soldiers.
One after another, Edward’s mercenaries were picked off.
The last surviving four people huddled together in the remaining corner. Hugo, the ex-Navy SEAL was grabbed by several pygmies, who eagerly ripped his arms off and threw him into the water. A moment later, a crocodile, sensing an easy prey, snapped its massive jaw over the poor man’s head.
Billie accepted her fate to die.
In a strange act of fatalism, she stood up, realizing that her death here was meaningless compared to that which was coming to mankind if she failed. Around her, everyone had been killed, with the exception of Mark, and Edward.
And then the sound stopped.
In its absence, the entire amphitheater became ghostly quiet. Every single pygmy warrior had stopped, and each one stared at her.
A moment later, in unison, they all bowed their heads in reverence.
It was her necklace!
The orichalcum looked marvelous on its own, but outright dull compared to the massive dome of Poseidon. But maybe they had never seen anyone else with the rich metal before. Either way, it was enough to stop them, for the moment at least.
Out of ammo, the remaining survivors were surrounded by twenty or more pygmies with arrows pointed directly at them. It was over -- they had lost, and Atlantis would continue until its prophecy ended in deadly consequence.
She forced her eyes to remain open. If she was going to die, the least she could ask for was to see it coming.
But the spear never fell on her.
No machetes lashed at her, severing her limbs and neck, as they had with the rest of her party.
Instead, each pygmy bowed in adoration. The sound of crashing thunder, which had only seconds earlier deafened the party as the entire tribe of warriors raced toward them, changed to a daunting silence.
It appeared they revered her as a God – their God.
Chapter Fifty
Billie tested her theory and attempted to walk through the pygmy warriors. Instantly, her hopes were dashed by several spear heads pointing at her throat, close enough that if she made another step forward they would pierce her.
She stopped at looked directly at her attackers. They were short. The tallest was less than four feet. Their skin was pale, but where some darker skin remained, the warriors had covered themselves with what appeared to be white clay. Otherwise, they were entirely naked. Their eyes were dark and their teeth glowed wickedly in the darkness.
“What do you want from me?” she asked.
One man, his skin covered with thick white clay, approached. He was naked like the others, but this one wore a single ornament of orichalcum on his head. “Ah, so you are one of the great ones.” He looked at the other pygmies and speaking in his own language, caused them to return to their previous position of adoration and bowing.
Billie was unsure how she was supposed to answer the little man, whom she perceived to be the tribal leader. And then she noticed him staring in awe at her necklace – the glow of the orichalcum catching his attention.
“Yes,” she answered him, surprised. “You speak English?”
“Yes, I have learned your language. You are not the first one to have come here – trying to take it!” he accused her.
She smiled warmly at him. “We have come only to find answers. There is nothing that we seek to take. This is an expedition of knowledge, not destruction. That I can promise.”
Edward attempted to step forward, but a number of spears stopped him.
“That’s not entirely true. You have come to collect it, haven’t you? As was prophesied all those years ago. You have come to collect the code to Atlantis.”
She almost cried out in surprise.
How could this little pygmy know about the code to Atlantis?
Uncertain what he expected of her, Billie answered as best she could. “Yes, I have come to collect the code to Atlantis.”
The little pygmy bowed his head her, holding it there for a full minute and then standing up at his proud four feet, with a grinning white smile, “Then you should have it.”
They’re just going to give it to me? It all seemed too easy, after all they had been through. She noted that none of his warriors had lowered their spears, despite his friendliness.
“Thank you,” Billie said, looking back to the dome of Poseidon.
The tribal leader smiled maliciously at her. “But first, you must prove that you are one of the ancient Gods.”
Billie paused. Uncertain what path to take next, she replied, “Of course. How would you like me to prove it to you?”
“The temple was built by your people. Only if you truly are one of them would you be equally wise, strong, and brave enough to enter.”
She took a deep breath in. “You want me to perform a challenge?”
“Of course. But for you, it is merely a formality. As a God, it is simple. Do you dispute that you are indeed an Atlantean God?”
Billie had no idea what she was going to do, but judging by the spears pointing right at her friends and her, there was no doubt about the alternative. “Yes, of course I know how to retrieve it. I will go in and retrieve the code to Atlantis, and then I will tell you what you will do for me. Do I have your word that your people will obey me once I return?”
“Of course. My name is Zanzibe, and I am the leader of the Makan tribe. We have lived here for thousands of years, only to serve you.”
Billie looked at the other two men in her party. “Can I bring my companions?”
“You may take only one of them. Choose wisely, for once you’re inside the temple, there is only one way out, and that is through the other side. We hope that you are the true chosen one, and that you don’t fail where the many others have. Once you’re inside, even if we wanted to, we cannot allow you to leave the way you entered. Do you understand?”
Billie nodded her head. She understood perfectly well. She was playing Russian roulette with her life, and with the lives of Mark and Edward. One of the two men left may have the ability to save all three of their lives. The only question was, which one? Edward was the only person on the planet who knew as much as she did about Atlantis. But then, Mark was a career soldier – a mercenary who had trained every day of his life. He would be by far a better choice for overcoming the strength obstacle.
“You will have three tests. One to prove your strength, another your wisdom, and finally that you are brave.”
She smiled honestly for the first time since meeting the pygmies – because she’d been to Atlantis, and had already overcome the all three tests.
Chapter Fifty-One
After careful consideration Billie made her choice.
The chief seemed pleased. “Very good Dr. Swan. So you’ve chosen the older man. I wonder how you plan to overcome the strength obstacle.”
“We will see.” Billie said, immediately wishing she had chosen the soldier. “And what about Mark. What happens to him?”
“Nothing. He will wait here, and he will be treated l
ike the god that he is. But if you fail to exit the temple of Poseidon by nightfall, we will kill him.”
She nodded her head.
Billie watched as the water that surrounded the dome of what she predicted to be Poseidon’s Temple, like a moat, disappeared. One of the chief’s men must have removed the plug. The entire swamp-like moat was gone in a matter of minutes, leaving several large crocodiles and one small door.
An army of pygmy men, eager to prove their worth, ran down the stairs and forced the ancient beasts into a corner. Billie and Edward slowly followed Zanzibe down the hundred plus stairs until they reached the door.
“Are you going to follow us inside?” she asked.
The chief spoke with sincerity but not unkindly. “No, we are but caretakers. It is forbidden for us to follow you. I do wish you good luck. I know that the time is coming near when the true Gods must return if any of us are going to survive. So I pray that it is you.”
My God, he knows the truth!
Billie examined the door for a moment. It was made of papyrus reeds bound together, but had obviously been maintained or installed recently.
The chief walked down to that door, and in a mixture of wicked laughter and turmoil, he kindly offered the suggestion, “I would make a start. The sun sets in three hours! And the entire place becomes automatically flooded at sundown.”
Billie shivered at the reminder. “Thanks for the advice. Tell your people that we will need to leave immediately after we have the code to Atlantis. We have a ship waiting for us on the edge of the Congo River. We need a path cleared so that we can reach it without any delay.”
“If you live, you have my word it will be done.”
Billie attached the second lithium battery to her dwindling shoulder light and Edward did the same. Then she stepped into the tunnel – to begin her challenge.
She walked confidently into the tunnel, which was still wet from being drained only minutes earlier. She felt as though she’d just entered an underground pipeline, which wasn’t far from the truth. It was dark, but their shoulder-mounted LED flashlights lit up the place adequately.
Atlantis Stolen (Sam Reilly Book 3) Page 15
