Seabury’s steely gaze froze Barat in his tracks. “You’re lucky the commander got to you before I did,” Seabury said.
“You’re under arrest.” The commander’s abrasive tone snapped Barat’s head back. “Get moving.”
Nostrils flared inside Barat’s sullen face. His skin furrowed in a mass of brown wrinkles. Rio exchanged glances with Seabury. Seabury cuffed Barat’s slender wrists behind his back and heard him squeal in protest.
“You’ll pay for this…all of you,” he shouted. “I’m well-connected politically. Your careers are ruined. Do you hear me? Ruined!”
Naomi and Seabury stepped outside. Just beyond the front door, Naomi said to him, “I’m glad it’s over.” No apology, no sense of remorse for accusing him of murder.
“Next time, don’t jump to conclusions so fast,” he said. The sharp edge to his voice caught her off guard, and she turned away. “I value my life,” he said. “Much of the last few days, it’s been on the line. I know how due process works in Jakarta. There isn’t any.”
Naomi’s lower lip jutted out. She stood motionless and said nothing. Seabury could feel the heat of anger and resentment coming off her body. Wind blew in off the ocean and scattered a plume of dust across the yard. It rattled tree branches at the side of the house. Seabury moved away from her, stood in silence, and stared out to sea.
A while later, two soldiers came out with Barat, the older women, and the teen. They changed into fresh clothes and carried overnight bags with what meager belongings they had in their possession. Barat stopped for a moment and gazed across at Seabury. Dark circles lined his eyes. They were narrow slits filled with hatred and scorn.
“I know who you are,” he said to Seabury. “I have a long memory. I won’t forget.”
Naomi crossed the narrow space between them and pushed her face up to Barat’s. “Is that a threat?” she asked. “Because if it is, it’s one you won’t carry out. You’re going away for a long time, Barat. Do you hear me, you creep?” She took a step back. Her face bristled, hands shaking. “I hope you rot in prison,” she said and turned away, as if repulsed by the sight of him.
One of the soldiers stepped forward and motioned toward the assault boat tied to the dock down below. Barat and the girls were led away. The commander exchanged words with Reinhart and Naomi, and he watched them stroll down to the pier. A moment later, he crossed over to Seabury. He extended his hand. Seabury shook it. “Fine work,” he said. “At first, I had my doubts about taking you along. It’s against the rules, but what the hell. It worked out fine, didn’t it?”
“I guess so,” Seabury said. “Barat’s in custody, and I’m no longer a fugitive. It can’t get any better than that.”
They walked down to the pier together. Lois stood there waiting. “Did I miss out on all the fun?” she asked.
Seabury grinned. “Not really. If you consider shooting up the bad guys fun, next time, I’ll gladly exchange places with you.”
The commander looked at Lois. “He’s much too modest.” He shook his head as if in disbelief. “I never saw such a sharpshooter.” Then, to Seabury. “Where did you learn to shoot like that?”
“Alcatraz.”
“Alcatraz.” He gave Seabury a funny look. “Are you joking?”
Seabury smiled. “No…really. I’m a merchant seaman. Once we dredged the estuary near the port of Oakland. Alcatraz is across the bay. The prison’s long since been abandoned, but they had a firing range over there. I used to go over and practice.”
“A man of mystery,” Lois said, grabbing Seabury by the arm.
By now, the gunboat had gone over and back to the cargo ship. The driver cut the engines, and the boat pulled up to the edge of the pier. Rio and Naomi got in first while the commander, Lois, and Seabury sat down in back of a group of soldiers. Seabury sensed a cold chill in the air. Rio and Naomi sat brooding in the seat in back of him. Seabury looked straight ahead, out to sea.
Hmmmm. Can’t admit they made a mistake, he thought.
Meanwhile, the combat team secured the cargo ship with skilled efficiency. Soldiers boarded and seized control of the vessel. Seabury saw a few of them out on deck now. Overhead lights, from bow to stern, were turned on. Black, sticklike figures moved along the deck, silhouetted against the ship’s graying mass.
The gunboat ignited in a roar, shuddered in the water, and then zoomed off toward the ship anchored a quarter mile away. For the first time since he’d discovered the papyrus map, and the subsequent journey to the Indonesian part of Borneo, Seabury began to relax.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
A day later, inside the library at the Lockett estate, Lois stared across at Seabury. “Here’s my theory,” she said.
Seabury sat back in the chair and listened.
“The world is a corrupt place,” she said. “It’s filled with sin and the presence of man’s technology.” Seabury started to speak, but she raised a hand, and he settled back in the chair.
“Please, hear me out,” she said. “Technology is supposed to serve the needs of all living people, but it causes greed. Greedy people use it to exploit the poor and support their own selfish interests. The angel guarding the Tree of Life—Genesis three, twenty four—I think it’s symbolic for what God had intended all along. He put the Garden of Eden somewhere else after the Great Flood, or he never chose to build another one, which is what I’m thinking. The original Garden must have been a magnificent place. Yet, it existed so long ago that it’s hardly worth the effort thinking about it now, because it’s gone forever.”
Lois sat on the edge of her chair and went on. “The garden we saw up there outside the temple was just a tropical garden. Though, I admit it was well preserved after all this time. There is no Eden now—not in Southeast Asia or anywhere on this earth. God took it away from us long ago. Perhaps the beauty and glory of Eden will return once again, but I think it’s only going to happen after the earth has been cleansed by fire. Eden might be included one day in the new Heavens and the new earth.”
Seabury kept quiet.
“I’m not sorry we did this,” Lois said. “I actually enjoyed the expedition; however, I’m not so sure now what I saw up there. Did we really see a garden? I get the feeling our minds were playing tricks on us. Call me a zealot, I don’t care. I still believe in only one Garden of Eden, and that Garden wasn’t located here in Asia but in the Middle East as the Bible tells us. As for Eden Two…” She smiled, almost scoffing at the notion. “I’m afraid there never was one to begin with.”
Seabury cocked his head and stared at her. “You can rationalize all you want, Lois. I saw what was in the temple. My eyes weren’t deceiving me. The Knights Templar discovered the greatest treasure in history buried in the ruins of King Solomon’s temple. They went into hiding, and some say they emerged during the 1700s as the modern day Freemasons. The question is, could the knights have taken refuge and stashed their immense treasure in the mysterious ruins of Eden Two? Yes, they could have. That’s what we saw in the cave yesterday. Fat chance it does any of us now, buried under the side of a mountain.”
Seabury turned away. She’s still delusional, he thought with a sad smile. Close-minded and lost in a sea of misinformation. She’s never going to admit to seeing a second Eden here in Southeast Asia…even though we all saw it.
A moment later, she moved on to a separate topic, voicing a feeling of regret about Hornsby’s death. “That poor, unfortunate man,” she said. Her eyes misted. “We had our disagreements, but I am shocked by his death. At the end, he seemed to have turned out to be a gentle soul—a very brave and giving person.” She stood up as Gretchen entered the room.
Gretchen went over and embraced Seabury. “I’m glad I’m back in one piece,” she said, separating from him. “I got the body down to Long Apari, and the police took over from there. They shipped Professor Hornsby back to Jakarta and notified members at the university about the tragedy. The news shocked them. I got to ride in a chopper down to Balikpapan. F
rom there, I caught a plane back home.” She sighed. “Like I said, I’m glad to be back.”
“Likewise.” Seabury turned to Lois. “I guess it is what it is, then. Both mountains destroyed by the earthquake. Now, any remains of a mythical garden are now destroyed. The public will never know about the place or believe that we actually saw it. Hornsby was right all along about Eden being in the East—at least a part of it. Mesopotamia wasn’t the only place to have had a Garden, as most Christian fundamentalists like you believe.”
“Not necessarily,” Lois said, still in denial and getting heated. “We saw the remains of a tropical garden,” she said. “It could have been any tropical garden and not necessarily a second Eden. There’s no proof.”
“What about the angel?” Gretchen chimed in. “You never saw it? The one that killed that horrible little man with the gun? You never saw it?”
“That little man was on the verge of madness. Did you see him clutching his chest? He died of a heart attack.” She paused to catch her breath. At last, she said, “An angel? I never saw one. All I saw was a bank of dark clouds moving over the garden.”
Gretchen shook her head. “It’s always the same way with you, isn’t it? You can’t admit you’re wrong.”
Lois ignored the remark and quickly switched topics, again. “The Sapphire is in the yards for repair,” she said to Seabury. “Wes wants you to hang around here for a month until repairs are completed. Then, he wants you back on board for a trip to Italy. What do you think?”
Seabury’s eyes widened with a look of surprise. “After I spent all his money and came up short of finding treasure, I thought he’d want me hanging from the nearest yardarm.”
“Forget the money. He likes you.”
“So, what’s the deal?” Seabury asked.
“The Sapphire is hauling scrap iron and aluminum on a quick voyage to Italy. I’m staying on as shipping and receiving supervisor, and Gretchen…” she paused, getting in a dig at her sister, “Gretchen’s going to lounge around all day, playing computer games.” Gretchen’s eyes formed tiny drill bits, boring into her. “Anyway, Wes called your union hall back in Seattle,” Lois said. “Biff Barns gave his approval.”
“Is that wild Irishman still smoking those cheap cigars?”
Lois’s face flushed. “I’m not sure. Did I…miss something here?”
Seabury smiled. “Naw. It’s a private joke. Staying here for a month…well, what can I say?” He smiled. “It sounds good to me.”
Lois, Gretchen, and Seabury left the room. It was a hot, sunny day in Jakarta. That afternoon, they ate lunch around the pool. That evening, they dined at the five-star Mandarin Hotel Restaurant overlooking the dark, mysterious waters of the Java Sea far below.
In bed that night, Seabury slipped between clean linen sheets and pulled them up to his chin. The room was cool. A fresh, fragrant smell of evergreen filled the air. He should have fallen asleep easily. Not long after his head hit the pillow, he began to toss and turn restlessly, and he couldn’t sleep.
From out of the darkness, the voice stabbed at him, raced his heart, churned inside his head. Barat’s a big player, the Sicilian had said. He operates on a world stage, and he’s allied to the Masons. You know about them, don’t you?
Mumbling fitfully, he responded to the question. The American forefathers were involved with them. The Carter, Bush, and Obama administrations talk openly about the establishment of a New World Order. How much time do we have before they rule the world?
In the darkness, Seabury wrestled with the thought. It chilled and unnerved him. It scared him to think about it now—a group of elite globalists ruling the world, enslaving mankind, destroying lives and individual sovereignty in the process. This should never happen. It had to stop. Someone had to stop them.
The room grew cooler. The clock on the wall kept ticking, as fast and furiously as the images that danced inside his head. He saw it now. A remote, tropical garden…heard the news. The Masons smuggle illegal contraband inside slabs of stone. Who was the key player in charge of it now that Barat had gone to prison? He had to find out.
After his trip to Italy, he planned to take time off to travel. He figured the answer lay somewhere in Brussels, Belgium—the heart of the European Union. The place abounded in high finance and Masonic secrecy. There, he would find answers to his questions.
About the Author:
Mike is the author of two previously published novels in the Sam Seabury adult thriller series.
Dead Girl Beach, his first novel, is set in exotic Thailand, his second novel, Ransom Drop, is cast in the strange, mysterious land of north central Laos. The third novel in the series, Eden Two, is set in the deep jungle forests and rolling foothills near Muller mountain, located in the Indonesian part of Borneo
Presently, Mike lives with his wife and daughter in Bangkok, Thailand and devotes his time to full time writing.
Email Mike Sullivan at [email protected].
Visit him online at: http://createfly.byethost7.com/mjpsullivan/
and http://www.mjpsullivan.com
The Sam Seabury Series:
Dead Girl Beach
Ransom Drop
Eden Two
Also by Mike Sullivan:
Ransom Drop
by Mike Sullivan
eBook ISBN: 9781629290614
Print ISBN: 9781629290621
Horror Suspense
Novel of 67,400 words
Book 2 of the Sam Seabury Series.
On a ransom drop that turns ugly, Sam Seabury discovers a dark secret behind America’s Secret War in Laos, four decades old. The secret will impact the lives of two prominent American political figures, Hillary Clinton and US Ambassador to Laos, Howard Hatcher. Seabury holds the key to unraveling a tragic, war-time mystery. Will the secret remain forever lost, or will it be brought to the light of day. Only Seabury knows the answer.
Also from Damnation Books:
Damage Inc.
by Brett McKay
eBook ISBN: 9781615727506
Print ISBN: 9781615727513
Horror Suspense
Novella of 54,000 words
When Link Balsey, a young carpet cleaner falls head over heels for his customer Becca Falco, who’s married to a violent and abusive mob boss, she begs for his help to escape. Because of her husband’s underground connections, hiring Damage Inc., a supernatural company of hit men, is her only way out. Things turn upside down when the job is finished and Link becomes the cops’ lead suspect. To make matters worse, someone’s sent Damage Inc. after him! Now Link and Becca must find out who hired Damage Inc., run from the police and survive an onslaught of horrors come to life who will stop at nothing until he is dead.
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Eden Two Page 19
