Powdered Gold: Templars and the American Ark of the Covenant (Templars in America Series Book 3)

by David S. Brody

  Ironically, it might be harder to manipulate the little girl. Ellis understood adults, knew which buttons to push. But it had been quite a while since he was in the third grade. And Astarte seemed like a bright kid.

  Georgia and the girl had just returned to the hotel from the zoo and were headed to the pool. Thorne and Amanda wouldn’t be home for a couple of hours. Ellis threw on his swim trunks, grabbed a paperback and sauntered down the hall toward the smell of chlorine.

  He greeted Georgia, dove in and swam a few laps. After floating on his back for a few minutes, he ambled over toward Astarte. Georgia had one eye on the girl as she talked on her phone.

  “My friends call me Ellis, but my real name is Geronimo,” he said, smiling. “I work with Georgia.” Kids tended to trust him because he had a small face with delicate features which made him look, well, like a kid. He sat on the edge of the shallow end, feet dangling in the water, while the girl played with a dark-skinned doll in a bathing suit.

  “No it’s not.” She didn’t look up.

  “Okay, you’re right. But I am part Native-American. I belong to the Cherokee tribe. My Indian name is Flying Fox. Probably because of my hair color.” He held his smile. “But I can’t really fly, just like real foxes.”

  “A flying fox isn’t a fox, it’s a big bat with a face like a fox,” she said, still looking at her doll.

  Oops. He should have researched that better—the girl was sharp. “Well, anyway, I know a lot about your Uncle Jefferson’s research. He was a very smart man.” Ellis had spent most of the night going through the man’s file and studying his research. Essentially her uncle believed that Astarte carried the bloodlines of King David, Jesus, Isis, Mohammad and Mormon founder Joseph Smith—a neat trick made possible by direct descendants of these dynastic rulers having voyaged to America per the teachings of the Book of Mormon and adding their bloodlines to a Native American royal family, of which Astarte was the latest issue. It was Astarte’s destiny, her uncle believed, to unite the world’s religions.

  The girl swam the doll in a circle. Ellis continued. “And I think he was right. I think lots of people were here before Columbus.”

  She nodded. “He lets me help him with his research.”

  Interesting use of verb tenses. And the opening he needed. He switched tenses himself. “I’m sure you are a big help; you seem very smart. And of course he wants you to know all about it—as the princess you would need to possess this knowledge.” He paused. “So why didn’t Cam and Amanda bring you with them today?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “I heard them say they didn’t think you could make it all the way up the mountain. But I bet you could.”

  She looked up, her cobalt-blue eyes flashing. “I’ve climbed lots of mountains.”

  He shrugged. “Well, maybe they didn’t think you were old enough to know the truth.”

  She crossed her arms, the doll now upside-down and dripping water. “What truth?”

  “Well, if they find the Templar treasure up there, then that will prove your Uncle Jefferson is wrong. He thinks the Nephites and Lamanites and other people written about in the Book of Mormon came to America and left all the artifacts. But if it was the Templars or other French families who were here, then he must be mistaken. And I guess that would mean you’re not the princess.” Ellis kicked at the water. “Maybe your uncle isn’t such a smart man after all. Or maybe his research is just wrong.”

  Astarte gazed deep into the pool. Droplets of water dripped down her face, some just below her eyes. Her eyes locked onto Ellis’s. “He’s very smart.” She swallowed. “Smarter than you.”

  Willum dropped his guests off at their car mid-afternoon, shook their hands and said goodbye. “Thanks for your help,” he said. “Do you mind if we stay in touch? I feel like you guys can really help with this search.”

  Cam nodded. “Sure thing. Thanks for showing us the carving.”

  As he drove away, Amanda asked, “So, what do you think?”

  “I think I want a shower and a cold beer.”

  “You’re getting predictable, Cameron,” she smiled.

  “Sorry. I liked him. Not at all what I expected. Hard to believe the feds think he might start some kind of armed insurrection.”

  “I agree. I liked him also. But that does not mean he is not paranoid. And does not mean he is not dangerous. He truly believes the feds are out to get him.”

  “What’s that saying? ‘It’s not paranoid if it’s true.’ Maybe he’s right; maybe they are out to get him.”

  “Well, I think there is little doubt that he would welcome you into the compound.”

  “Thanks to you. That was amazing, how you figured out the winter solstice alignment. Smoot was blown away by it.”

  “So was I,” she laughed. “Imagine how difficult it must have been to find just the right cave.”

  “Or maybe they found almost the right cave and then hacked away at the opening to make it work.”

  “Either way, it wasn’t a coincidence.” She smiled. “Yes, I know, you don’t believe in coincidences.”

  “I think Einstein was the one who said coincidences were God’s way of remaining anonymous. Well, since I don’t really believe in God—at least not in the sense of some puppet-master up in the heavens pulling our strings—I guess I can’t believe in coincidences either.”

  Cam and Amanda returned to their hotel in Tucson, retrieved Astarte and took a much-needed shower. Over dinner at the hotel grill, Astarte seemed morose. Or maybe just tired. After some prodding, she told them about the zoo. “They had alpacas, just like at America’s Stonehenge.” The New Hampshire America’s Stonehenge site contained both stone chambers and astronomically-aligned standing stones evidencing habitation by an ancient culture approximately 3500 years ago. Carbon-dating had confirmed this date, and a carved stone dedicated to ‘Baal of the Canaanites’ indicated the ancient inhabitants were probably the seafaring, Baal-worshiping Phoenicians who lived in what is today Lebanon. The alpacas kept the kids entertained while their parents explored the stone ruins. Most kids, that is—Astarte had been fascinated by the ancient history as well as the friendly, llama-like animals when they had visited during the recent winter solstice.

  “Did they eat your bagel again?” Amanda asked, recalling how one of the alpacas had snuck up on Astarte.

  “No,” she said, playing with her food.

  “Speaking of America’s Stonehenge,” Cam said, “check out this email I just got. The son of the owners of the site has been researching the alignments and playing with them on Google Earth, trying to see if they tie in with any other ancient sites. So here’s the summer solstice sunset alignment.” He turned his iPad so Amanda and Astarte could see.

  AMERICA’S STONEHENGE SUMMER SOLSTICE SUNSET ALIGNMENT

  Cam explained to Astarte. “This is how the ancient people knew when the seasons were changing. When the sun rose just over the tip of this boulder, they knew it was the summer solstice. Other boulders—they call them standing stones—marked the winter solstice and the spring and fall equinoxes.”

  “Like a calendar?” Astarte asked, perking up a bit.

  “Exactly,” Amanda responded. “In ancient times people needed to know when to plant their crops and when to sail their ships and when to hunker down for the winter.”

  Astarte tilted her head to the side. “It’s a little crooked,” she said.

  Cam smiled. “You’re right.” The sun did not rest precisely over the peak of the standing stone. “And that actually helps us date the site. Over the centuries the earth actually tilts a bit on its axis. Three or four thousand years ago, the sun would have been perfectly centered.”

  “Okay,” the girl said as she chewed a french fry.

  Cam clicked at the keypad for a few seconds. “Google Earth will show you the sun on any given day. So here is June 21. This is an overhead view of America’s Stonehenge, with a line extending from the center of the site, over the stand
ing stone and to the rising sun.”

  AMERICA’S STONEHENGE SUMMER SOLSTICE SUNRISE (LINE FROM CENTER OF SITE TO HORIZON)

  “I’m guessing the image is dark because it’s dawn?” Amanda said.

  “Right.” Cam smiled. Amanda could tell he was loving this. “So if you extend this line all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, what do you think you hit?”

  Astarte cocked her head again. “Well, the sun rises in the east. Is it Jerusalem?”

  “Nice guess, but no.” Cam turned his iPad again. “Here’s a hint.”

  AMERICA’S STONEHENGE SUMMER SOLSTICE SUNRISE ALIGNMENT PROJECTION

  Amanda’s eyes widened. “That looks like it passes near Stonehenge in England.”

  “Not just near. You’re not going to believe this.” He clicked to the next image.

  AMERICA’S STONEHENGE SUMMER SOLSTICE SUNRISE ALIGNMENT PROJECTION TO STONEHENGE, ENGLAND

  “This is the same line that began at America’s Stonehenge. It passes straight through the main arch,” Cam said.

  Amanda leaned closer. “Unbelievable. Like threading a needle from across the ocean,” she breathed. She felt the hair on the back of her neck bristle—she wasn’t frightened in the traditional sense, but there was something astonishingly eerie about the cross-Atlantic connection. “How could they possible have done this?”

  “You mean you don’t think it’s a coincidence?” Cam smiled.

  “Not bloody likely.”

  “Somehow they reverse-engineered it. Probably by using the stars. And then they built America’s Stonehenge right on the alignment projection. Obviously it had some kind of religious significance.”

  “Of course it did,” Amanda said. “These people were sun-worshipers. On the summer solstice the sun is at its maximum strength, so this would have been a crucial day. Building the sites so they aligned to each other on the summer solstice sunrise makes perfect sense.” If this research was accurate, it was truly a stunning discovery.

  “Does that mean the Phoenicians built Stonehenge in England?” Astarte asked.

  “Maybe not built it, but at least worshiped there,” Cam said. “Otherwise why would there be a connection between the two sites?”

  Amanda nodded. “Yes, it all fits together nicely. A few years ago they found a body at Stonehenge—they did DNA testing and determined the man was Middle-Eastern, not European. This baffled researchers until somebody remembered that the Phoenicians were making regular trips to Cornwall in southern England to trade for tin during that period—they needed tin to make bronze. So one of the theories was that the Phoenicians recognized the religious significance of Stonehenge—all the celestial alignments and such—and used it as a place to worship while far from home.”

  “And then they continued on from Cornwall to North America to mine or trade for copper,” Cam said. “The tin needed to be added to copper to make bronze, and there wasn’t enough copper in Europe or Africa.”

  “And in North America they erected another Stonehenge—aligned to the original—to worship at while across the Atlantic,” Amanda concluded. Numerous reports from early settlers of the Great Lakes region and southern Quebec described gaping voids where copper had been mined in ancient times; according to Native American oral history, these miners were white-skinned men who came from the east. A worship site near the Atlantic coast, aligned with Stonehenge England, made perfect sense.

  They sat back and stared at Cam’s screen for a few seconds. “So,” Cam said, “to try to tie this all together: Is it possible the Phoenicians could have brought the Ark of the Covenant to America? Do the dates work?” The possibility of the Ark making its way to America, as far-fetched as it seemed, was still on the table.

  Amanda did the arithmetic. America’s Stonehenge was built around 1500 BC. The Phoenicians, though their empire gradually faded, continued as a maritime trading power until about 300 BC. And there would have been a demand for copper from North America until around 600 BC, when the Bronze Age gave way to the Iron Age. So, yes, the dates worked. “I would say if the Ark disappeared between 800 BC and 600 BC, the dates are spot on. The Phoenicians would have been still sailing to North America during that period.”

  “And don’t forget, the Phoenicians are the ones who Solomon hired to build the original temple in Jerusalem, where the Ark was housed. So they knew about the Ark, and maybe knew how to handle it.”

  “How far is Phoenicia from Jerusalem?”

  Amanda shrugged. “Phoenicia is basically what we know today as Lebanon. So not far—maybe fifty miles.”

  Cam nodded. “Okay, so maybe the Phoenicians brought the Ark to North America. But how did it get to Arizona?”

  Amanda smiled. “Hey, I just tracked it across the Atlantic for you. You can figure out the rest yourself. Astarte and I are going to get some ice cream.” She stood, grinned and kissed him. “See you in an hour.”

  “Then you should call him, Willum,” Clarisse said.

  Willum had resisted picking up a bucket of chicken on the way home from Mustang Mountain and, having showered, was describing the climb to Clarisse as they sat across from one another at one of the dozen round picnic tables arranged in a sheltered area between two of the sets of domes. A handful of kids ran by playing flashlight tag in the dwindling daylight and the smell of a bonfire wafted over them. Sometimes the compound felt more like summer camp than an armed safe-haven. Willum drank a Gatorade, wishing he was on his way to finger-licking-good heaven—he had burnt enough calories on the climb to deserve the treat but he couldn’t very well indulge while the other residents were fasting. “Now?” he asked. “Shouldn’t I wait?”

  She smiled. “We’re not in middle school. You said they figured out the winter solstice thing right away. And you trusted them, right?” She paused and waited for him to meet her gaze. “Look, this is important stuff.” She gestured generally to the compound around them. “People are counting on you. And right now you are being distracted by this quest of yours.” She held up her hand. “I’m not blaming you, I’m just stating a fact. So if you think Thorne and his fiancée can help find the treasure chest, you have to call them. For all you know, they are getting on a plane and flying back to Boston soon. Then it’ll be too late.”

  “So I should just call him now.”

  She nodded. “That’s what I said. Be brave.”

  “We brought you mint chocolate-chip,” Astarte said, handing Cam a plastic bowl half-filled with a pair of sludgy greenish orbs. He was sitting in a leather easy chair in the lobby of the hotel sipping a Diet Coke and playing with the America’s Stonehenge alignments on Google Earth.

  “Thanks, honey,” Cam said, kissing Astarte on the cheek.

  Amanda smiled and shrugged as Cam eyed the semi-frozen mound. “I reckon the ice cream is better in Boston.”

  “So,” he said, “I just got a call from Smoot. He wants us to come out to his compound tomorrow. He wants to brainstorm about finding the chest. You in?”

  “For a bit, yes, but I’ll probably cut it short to come back and spend some time with Astarte.”

  “Okay.” He turned his laptop toward her. “Care to guess where the summer solstice sunrise alignment line extends to?”

  “Going from North America to England, or the other way?”

  “West to east, after it passes through the Stonehenge arch.”

  “The line was angling north a bit, so someplace in Scandinavia?”

  “It’s actually tough to wrap your brain around this. But because the earth is round, the line actually bends south.”

  She gave him a funny look.

  “Look at it this way. If you go due north, what do you hit?”

  “The North Pole.”

  “And if you continue on, what direction are you now heading?”

  She nodded. “I see. South.”

  “Okay, it’s the same with this solstice line.” He pulled a globe from the floor next to him. “I borrowed this from the front desk so you could see what I mean. Here,
hold this string on America’s Stonehenge. Now, extend it to Stonehenge England. Here’s some tape.”

  Amanda placed the globe on the coffee table and dropped to one knee. “Done.”

  “Now keep it going. Where does it hit?”

  “Looks like the Middle East someplace.” She taped the string in place.

  “Here it is on Google Earth. It’s a little more accurate than the string.”

  AMERICA’S STONEHENGE SUMMER SOLSTICE SUNRISE ALIGNMENT PROJECTION TO STONEHENGE, ENGLAND, FURTHER EXTENDED TO MIDDLE EAST

  Amanda gasped. “Brilliant. Right into southern Lebanon.”

  Cam grinned. “I don’t know how they did it, but Stonehenge England and Stonehenge America align straight back to the heart of ancient Phoenicia.”

  “No doubt the Phoenicians had a stone temple to honor Baal as well.”

  They both stared at the image for a few seconds. Cam broke the silence. “Well, it doesn’t prove the Ark is here in America. But it sure says a lot about the Phoenicians navigating the globe.”

  “And it also hints that the Phoenicians may have been involved with building Stonehenge England—the experts have never suggested that.”

  “Well, the experts might have to change their minds.”

  “Not bloody likely. You know how most of them are. The only evidence they look at is the stuff that fits their theories. It’s amazing that archeologists call themselves scientists—a scientist would never disregard evidence that didn’t fit her theory. But these duffers think it’s okay to toss artifacts aside if they don’t fit their premise. They call them anomalies. The whole lot of them are blinkered.”

  “Blinkered?” Cam could always tell when Amanda got worked up because she used more British slang.

  “You know, like a horse wearing blinders.”