Drawing concerned glances from his nephews, Marcus sat chuckling to himself during the voyage to Palm Beach. Both young men were wondering what they had gotten involved in.
Anthony met them at the dock and checked them into an expensive hotel, as Marcus had demanded. He would only go so far for Marcus regardless of the incriminating evidence - although false - he had manufactured against him. Somehow, Anthony would prove the evidence false if it came down to necessity. Anthony left West Palm Beach and returned to Tallahassee, his thoughts not on Marcus, but the strange disappearance of his long - time friends Jessica Carter, somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean, and her parents somewhere on the Pacific Ocean. He had briefly talked with Bruce and they both agreed it was a little too strange to be coincidences.
*
His security chief informed him most of the wedding guests had departed, yet was unaware of Marcus’ treachery. Xerxes found they could leave for Pacifica tonight. He hurried to tell Jessica they could leave at once, and though Xerxes knew she was tired, he didn’t think she would object. She could rest on the way as Barrous; the Ambassador from Alpha-Centauri would be transporting them in his shuttle and that would take them into space.
When Xerxes entered his chambers, he knew before he searched, Jessica wasn’t there. Chills raced through his heart and he heard Ainu’s voice in his head, reminding him of his warnings. He had, earlier that day, heard the news broadcast accounting the disappearance of her parents and had hoped she had not seen it. A sudden memory of her distracted behavior during the day flashed through his mind and he knew she had seen it and not mentioned it. Xerxes put out a general alert until he walked into his bedroom to change his clothing and found her note:
Dare I say my Love?
For you are my only love. But to live in such happiness with you, and not know what has become of my family is not possible. I know the problems you are having with the traitor, Marcus, in your midst, so I cannot burden you with finding them. I will go alone and hopefully will find my parents alive and well, if not. Then I have truly lost, I will have no one. I can think of no other way! I can only pray that you will understand. Know I agonize for your love and for you and the happiness, I know I would have had in your arms in Atlantis. To watch our children grow and govern the future of this great City would have been true happiness, but I cannot live in this kind of doubt. Either way, my heart will break.
I doubt that you will want me now. I realize you will consider this a betrayal.
Forgive me if you can. Rest easy that I will never reveal the location of Atlantis nor of your existence. To do so would be to betray my own heart. Remember what I told you when we talked about our worlds living in peace.
I do not think it is possible. I have left my bracelet, although I found it long before I knew I had found you. No traces remain but my tears. I will always love you!
J.
Xerxes studied the note, she had written it on papyrus, and there were water drops on it. He touched one, then realized it was a tear, he also realized she had not taken off her wedding band.
She had not been gone long. If he could only catch her before it was too late. Xerxes was not a man of tears himself but he was close now. He would have taken her this very night to visit to the island off Hawaii, had she waited another hour. Now she could be killed, there were so many dangers she didn’t know about. The dangers from the elements alone were enough if she managed to get out of the City, with all the wedding guests leaving, she just might make it. How she planned to leave Xerxes couldn’t conceive. He thought about Hammer and went to enlist his aid. Before he did, he raised the alert to a military one, exempting Pericles as he was on his honeymoon.
A knock at his outer door drew his attention and he answered it. Pericles stood there in full military battle uniform. Alena was with him and she was dressed for search and rescue duty, as she too had military training.
Xerxes was perplexed. “What else has happened?� He could see emergency clearly in their eyes.
“Marcus stole two of the Vortex Stones a little over two hours ago as the wedding guests were leaving and you were returning. Two of the Obelisk guards are in critical condition from the laser pistol he used. I am sure Marcus believes them dead.â€� Alena explained. “Jessica escaped less than an hour later. Had he not taken the Vortex Stones she would never have been able to leave the City. If she hadn’t escaped when she did, and how she did, we would not have known about the theft until the guards’ change six hours from now, and by then the two guards would have been dead.â€�
“Did she know he was going to take the Stones?â€� Xerxes asked, almost afraid she had helped him. “And how do you know she is gone?”
“No, Xerxes! She had nothing to do with it.â€� Pericles assured Xerxes. “She had no idea where they were or that Marcus had taken them. Jessica would never have helped him under any circumstances.â€� He was surprised at his monarch. “Jessica took two of the recreational subs. The curator reported it, but not right away because of whom she is. She won’t get far, but there is a tropical storm coming in from the east and it may be very dangerous for her. Hers was an act of desperation, totally unlike her. She had not thought it through. What has happened to cause her to act so irrationally?â€�
“She heard the report on her parents missing. Ainu marooned them on our island in the Pacific so we could surprise her with a reunion.� Xerxes explained.
“Oh good heavens!â€� Alena exclaimed. “Why didn’t you tell her?â€�
“Because your brother is an idiot!� Xerxes grumbled. “How did Marcus get away?�
“Marcus stole one of the Royal yachts-subs. He is in Palm Beach by now. We suspect his contact Anthony Sutherland has him settled in a classy hotel by now. Marcus has left Atlantis absolutely exposed. This is an act of High Treason. As soon as Marcus is apprehended, our courts will have him executed.�
“Activate the old back-up system. It will keep us covered for seventy-two hours.â€� Xerxes ordered his natural ability to lead quickly taking control. “I am sure Marcus didn’t know about it. He plans to expose Atlantis and prove me an unfit ruler. That was his original plan before the discovery of the old entrance. One of the reasons he wanted Jessica and Bruce Lance killed was to cover his trail with his upper-world connection, Anthony Sutherland. I doubt the man knows Marcus is from Atlantis or that he wanted Jessica or Bruce Lance harmed. The back-up system should throw him off and give us time to apprehend him.â€� Xerxes saw it more clearly by the moment, his fear for his wife threatening to overrule his duty to Atlantis, the realization of the peril she faced making him sick.
“Brother,â€� Alena said, “We were told about your wife’s flight by the City’s Controllers; we happened by the Control Room after you left. They were about to call you with the news about Marcus. We understand her plight and yours. I, ah, we could not go on a honeymoon with your life in this condition.â€�
“Xerxes, I am head of your upper-world guards, I know Jessica’s spirit almost better than you, milord,â€� he added, noting Xerxes bitter smile, “let me go and find her.â€�
“You may go with me Pericles, and know now I will not forget your loyalty. Sister, I will leave rule officially in your care while I am gone, and take care in this, Marcus is the traitor. Should he return do not hesitate to execute him. You are gentle, but be strong in this. He will try to take Atlantis if something should happen to me.�
“I may be gentle, brother, but I am not stupid nor am I a fool. If he comes back here, I will execute him by own hand and take pleasure in doing it.�
“I doubt he would come back here.� Xerxes said, “Pericles, we must get them both but Marcus must be our first concern. Send out a search party for Jessica. Perhaps they will find her at sea before the upper-world Coast Guard does. I will send Hammer to look for her. Jessica knows him and w
on’t be afraid. I don’t know if I can stand to look for Marcus first, but I must. Atlantis’ security has to come first.â€� Tears were visible in Xerxes eyes until he rubbed them. “Let me get changed.â€� He left the room. Alena and Pericles looked meaningfully to each other, and then kissed.
“Take care, my love.� Alena said, “Marcus would take great pleasure to kill either of you.�
Xerxes returned dressed in upper-world clothes, “Let’s go. Pericles, you can change on the way.�
They took the submersible yacht and headed for West Palm Beach, turning the radar and sonar full scan hoping to pick up Jessica’s subs on the way. Luck was not on their side. Currents and storms have a way of dispersing underpowered crafts in different directions.
“We both must be extremely careful.� Pericles warned. “If either of us is detained by upper-world officials we could be in a difficult situation.�
“Exactly what do you mean?� Xerxes asked. “I know you are considered missing, and Ms. Simon possibly got a fleeting look at me, but no real proof. We both have proper identification of who we are supposed to be other than who you are as Captain Curtis.�
“True.â€� Pericles agreed. “But Jessica’s disappearance and that of her parents have the officials real edgy. I do not wish to encounter Ms. Simon or General Grill.â€�
“Nor would I,â€� Xerxes agreed. “I saw the way Ms. Simon looked at me at the hotel, she doesn’t know I saw her, but I did,â€� he laughed briefly, and then became solemn, wondering what Jessica was facing.
Chapter Twenty-One
Never did she consider taking one of the advanced Royal subs as Marcus had. Instead, she took two public use subs from the pavilion near the place Xerxes and she had gone swimming. Alone neither vessel had the range to make it to one of the Bahamian islands northwest of where Atlantis’ real location was. Jessica was judging Atlantis’ location from the place she had encountered the Vortex, hoping it was close to where she really was. It wasn’t. A fact she realized when the second craft ran out of fuel. She had not known how far Xerxes had taken her while she was unconscious.
Jessica wore her original two-piece swimsuit, her wet suit, and buoyancy control vest, with a digital location device. She took nothing other than the subs and those she planned to ditch. She would leave no trace of Atlantis, where she had lived for the last several days. Jessica wasn’t sure how long she had been gone by surface time. Her dive watch had failed because of the strong field of the Vortex. Her time spent with Xerxes was lost in a euphoric mist. Pericles’ wedding, delayed a day, was celebrated on Sunday but it seemed like several days ago, thinking about the time, she thought two days had passed since.
After the second sub lost power, she made it to the surface and floated for a day managing to make it into the shipping lanes on the outer edge of the Gulf Stream. She was thankful she was still in the sub-tropics but she didn’t know where. At dusk on the second day, she drank the last of her fresh water.
Time became her worst enemy. She was alone with her thoughts. She realized she had made a terrible mistake in leaving Atlantis. Jessica, never the type to cry, stood in the small hatch with tears streaming down her face, wishing desperately for Xerxes arms around her. Jessica was in love with Xerxes, a fact she knew on her wedding night if she were honest with herself, but she had been terrified of him too. Neither emotion was one she ever dealt with before. Possibly, she really was afraid of the emotion of physical love. Jessica wasn’t deluding herself; Xerxes would not want her back. He might, in fact order her death. He had told her, when they fought on their first night, that was the alternative for leaving Atlantis without permission, and she did not have permission. She knew he might not have any choice in that decision. Nevertheless she could not have stayed. She was determined to find her parents.
The Aztecs crossed her mind and she knew she would have to be careful. After she found her parents, maybe she would just stay in the Navy. Jessica cried while she was alone at sea, emotionally, she suffered from a broken heart, and lost alone in the vast Atlantic deepened her depression. Sleep wasn’t possible, each time she closed her eyes, she saw Xerxes and remembered their lovemaking in clear detail. Always in rigid control of her physical body, it seemed now to be gaining retribution for her past control and turned against her, as she craved her new husband’s touch.
A storm was approaching and she hoped to catch more fresh water during the downpour that was imminent. Jessica was no stranger to these waters, having grown up in South Florida. She knew the signs. The waves began to build, the sky changed color even before the high stratus clouds moved in to cover the full moon. As the night wore on, stratocumulus clouds built into massive cumulonimbus rain began to fall in heavy sheets driven by gale winds. Jessica caught enough water at the beginning of the storm to last a couple more days then she sealed the hatch on her small vessel hoping to keep it watertight. Unfortunately, during the rough seas an object ruined the integrity of the watertight seals when it struck the little craft and she began taking on seawater. Jessica knew she would have to abandon her boat, and soon.
She stuffed the pockets of her buoyancy vest with two bottles of drinking water and the three nutrition bars she had brought. Cracking the hatch, Jessica managed to jump into the dark water before the sub swamped and sank, almost sucking her down with it. Thankful the storm wasn’t a full-fledged hurricane, and only a tropical depression, Jessica coughed the salt water out of her lungs and struggled to catch her breath. Death at sea was a high possibility and as she did with everything, Jessica considered that fate and faced it with a prayer. Her biggest hope of rescue at sea was the Global Location Device on her dive vest. She had turned it on and it seemed to be functioning properly.
She remembered the story Xerxes had told her of the abandoned Hebrew slaves, forced to build the Pyramid, rescued by the Lords of Atlantis. She didn’t expect their mercy; after all, she had abandoned Atlantis. Because of the storm, the night was dark, visibility zero, and her every thought of Xerxes. A huge gray fin appeared, her blood froze and she remained as motionless in the water as she could until Jessica realized it was Hammer. The big brute gently nudged her in greeting and circled close.
“Oh Hammer! You scared me to death,â€� she said to him. “Thank God. I’ve made a terrible mistake,â€� she told him, and he nudged her gently in almost a sympathetic gesture. “You know I think you’re half dolphin.â€� He bumped her a little harder. â€�No offense, Hammer,” Jessica laughed a little and he stayed with her throughout the storm that lasted the remainder of the night. By dawn, the storm had moved on.
A gray dawn greeted her in the aftermath of the tropical storm and left an overcast sky behind. Jessica scanned the endless ocean in hopes of spotting a ship or boat, but saw nothing but water.
Not long after dawn, she saw a Coast Guard helicopter approach. Using the only signal flare she had, Jessica drew their attention.
“Hammer you’ve got to go, they will see you and think the worst.â€� she told her friend and protector, “They’ll shoot you Hammer, you’ve got to go, my friend.â€� A shot rang out it missed and skimmed the water. The second nicked Hammer’s dorsal fin just slightly. Jessica put herself in front of him hoping they wouldn’t fire again.
Pain and fire ripped through her left arm as another shot rang out, she screamed, thankful it too had just nicked her. “Hammer, please go home, they will take care of me.� Jessica saw him swim away, “Tell Xerxes…� the world went dark, exhaustion and exposure had taken its toll. A rescue diver splashed in next to her and unconscious Jessica was airlifted to West Palm Beach.
*
Marcus’ contact, Anthony Sutherland, had taken care of him as soon as he had gotten to Palm Beach. He gave him the wonderful news of his marvelous discovery of the Lost, now found Atlantis. Anthony, of course, was skeptical, but because Marcus had him
in an awkward position, he had gone along with him.
“If you are right Marcus, we both will be rich and famous.� Anthony laughed teasingly, which Marcus did not appreciate.
“Take a look at these.� Marcus produced a metallic suitcase, drawing out both Vortex Sapphires stones to show and almost convinced Anthony with the dazzling gems.
“I’ll have a friend at NASA’s satellite lab run the coordinates. He can get a high-resolution picture of that area of the Atlantic. When it shows the City,” Anthony asked, “you said that was what we would find? We’ll turn it over to the Government and go from there.â€� Anthony explained how credibility would have to be established.
“I want full credit!� Marcus said a little irately.
“You’ll have it. However, this is the only way I know of to announce something like this. We can’t just go to the press. If this is National Security Sensitive, the Government won’t let us announce it. First, I have to verify it.”
“Are you calling me a liar?� Marcus drew himself up indignantly.
“No, of course not, Marcus,â€� Anthony looked at the two fit young men with Marcus, “but the press will want official verification and the U.S. Government will want first crack at this. The press doesn’t always get to know this stuff.â€�
“Yes, yes, I can see that. Very well, I’ll be in my suite,� Marcus said and the three walked away.
Several hours later, Anthony flew back from Tallahassee with the bad news. “The satellite shows nothing but sea bottom, Marcus.� Anthony said.
“Impossible!� Marcus all but screamed irately.
“Marcus this is a photo of the area for several hundred miles around the coordinates. Are you sure you gave me the correct ones?�
“Yes…� he said sullenly. “Go. Call me in an hour.� Marcus told Anthony.
Atlantis Vortex Page 33
