The Sahara Legacy

by Ernest Dempsey

  “Makes sense.”

  Adriana marched ahead, climbing the hill easily. She stopped at the top and looked back out over the Mediterranean. It was a gorgeous sight: pale blue water giving way to a deeper shade near where Sid and the fishing vessel bobbed gently in the waves.

  The others joined her on the crest. Less than a quarter of a mile away, the ruins of Leptis Magna stretched out before them. It was like looking back in time. Ancient roads spread through the city like a spiderweb made from bright gray stone. The most prominent structure of the ruins was the incredible amphitheater. It was less than half a mile to the seaside cliffs and presented visitors with a spectacular view.

  “Whoever built that place sure knew how to pick their spots,” Tommy said. “What an absolutely beautiful location.”

  “No kidding,” Sean said.

  “Imagine sitting there in the audience a few thousand years ago,” Adriana chimed in. “Listening to someone sing, a speaker give a speech, or watching a play while the ocean waves crash into the cliffs.”

  The visitors let their minds wander for a short moment before Sean spoke up again.

  “What is it we’re looking for, Schultzie? Something about an arch?”

  Tommy nodded. “It was an arch built by Septimius Severus. And if I had to guess”—he paused for a few seconds, narrowing his eyes against the brightening sun—“I’d say that’s it over there.”

  He pointed at a structure confidently. It didn’t take long for his proud grin to turn into a frown. “Or maybe it’s that one over there.”

  As he looked out over the ruins, he noticed arches in several locations.

  “Wait,” Hank said. “You don’t know which arch is the one with the stone?”

  Tommy rolled his shoulders, suddenly sheepish. “Tara said we couldn’t miss it. She acted like it was the only one.”

  “And you didn’t think to maybe look it up on your phone, you know, so that we weren’t guessing when we arrived illegally in another country that doesn’t exactly have Americans on the top of their friends list?”

  “Hey, take it easy. This is a burner phone. Not to mention I don’t know how reliable the lines are out here. Getting online would take forever.”

  “And wandering around a bunch of ancient Roman—”

  “And Greek,” Sean interjected.

  “Whatever, ancient ruins,” Hank continued, “won’t take forever?”

  Adriana had subconsciously already started moving away from the three men. She shuffled along the sandy slope, making her way toward the ruins.

  “If you boys are done arguing,” she said, “maybe you would like to get out of this plain line of sight. We stick out standing up here.”

  The other three looked at each other, slightly embarrassed.

  “She’s right,” Sean said, and he hurried after her.

  Tommy and Hank passed each other one more irritated glare and then followed behind the others.

  At the bottom of the hill, they made their way through a grove of small trees until the first remnants of the city appeared. Chunks of white-gray stone littered the ground, the last pieces of the outskirts road left thousands of years before.

  Sean imagined the plan was to continue city expansion as the population grew, but those plans were cut short by war and constant invasion.

  The group walked cautiously through an arch where the main road into the heart of the ruins began.

  “You don’t think this is the arch, do you?” Hank asked. There was still a hint of resentment in his tone.

  “No,” Tommy said. “I don’t think it’s an ordinary structure. From the sounds of it, I suspect the arch we’re looking for is more ceremonial than designed for function.”

  “So, more like the Arc de Triomphe?” Adriana asked.

  “Yes. That’s exactly what I was thinking.”

  Hank shook his head. Now that they were down on the ancient city’s ground level, it seemed to spread out as far as the eye could see. If it looked big from their view atop the hill; now it was even larger.

  “We need to fan out,” Sean said. “We can cover more ground that way.” He pulled out his phone and glanced at the screen. “I’ve got a few bars. You guys have a signal?”

  The others took quick looks at their devices and then nodded.

  “Good. Then we can stay in contact. I suspect tourists will be showing up pretty soon. Mornings are popular in these hotter regions of the world.”

  “You think tourists will be here with a civil war going on?” Hank asked. He eyed Sean with a dubious stare.

  “If life has taught me one thing, Hank, it’s that people are crazy. They’ll do whatever it takes, risk everything, just to do something that’s on their bucket list or that they planned for a long time. I doubt many Americans will be here, but there could be other foreigners.”

  “Or locals,” Tommy added. “So, do your best to look casual. And for the love of all that’s good, don’t speak English to anyone.” He paused. “You know what, just don’t speak.”

  “Don’t speak?”

  “At all.”

  Hank sighed. “Fine. Let’s just hope we don’t see anyone.”

  “I’ll head down toward the coast,” Sean said. “The rest of you spread out.” He pointed at the path ahead that branched into several directions. “Take a road, and if you find the arch, call us and let us know or send a text.”

  The other three nodded and split up, each choosing a different stretch of road to follow.

  Sean looked over his shoulder at Adriana and offered her a smile as they parted ways.

  “You okay?” she mouthed with a look of concern written on her face.

  “Yeah,” he said back.

  He took in how beautiful she looked. Even after being on a boat since the early morning hours, barely getting any sleep, and without the usual conveniences of home, she was still breathtaking. Her dark brown hair bobbed slightly in its ponytail as she padded down the road and disappeared from sight.

  “She can handle herself,” Sean said as he reached up and grabbed the back of his head. His skull hadn’t felt the same since he woke up in Eslam’s makeshift hospital. He found if he looked up too fast, things would spin out of control. He’d never had vertigo before, but if this was what it was like, his condition couldn’t go away fast enough. He’d not told the others that his head was still bothering him. He felt it was better if they just didn’t know.

  Sean took in a deep breath and pushed forward. No time to feel sorry for himself. They needed to find the next medallion before someone else did.

  Chapter 19

  Leptis Magna

  Tommy knew he’d found what he was looking for before he arrived at the magnificent structure.

  He and the others had been roaming the grounds of Leptis Magna for nearly forty-five minutes—not a long period of time, but considering the nature of their visit the search seemed to take forever.

  His pace quickened, and he trotted down the path toward the arch. The narrow road was lined by a short wall on both sides. Beyond the diminutive barricade, huge shrubs and thick trees filled the landscape. The arch was not relatively close to the city center. In fact, it was pretty much on the outskirts on the opposite side from where he and his companions arrived.

  Tommy slowed his jog to a walk as he reached the entryway to the old building. He could see through one side and out the other. It was built out of pale stone that wore an orange tint on the surface. The structure had four sides with an arched entrance built into each one.

  He looked up at the intricate relief just over the opening. As with most Roman monuments, this one featured a story laid out with the images of different people, animals, objects, and events. It was hard to tell what story the designers of this monument were trying to convey, but that wasn’t why Tommy was there.

  He passed through the opening and into the cool shade the roof provided. More reliefs were carved into the stone, wrapping around the entire interior wall. His eyes passed ov
er the imagery, momentarily letting his mind try to process what it all meant. His initial assessment was that the story was about the trials of the city, how the Romans came to gain control over it, and then eventually how it was settled and brought into the empire.

  Tommy’s eyes widened at the spectacular display of craftsmanship. He wondered how many times the structure had needed to be renovated through the years. Something as old as this surely would have gone through more deterioration than he was seeing.

  Then he noticed something peculiar. On one section of the wall was a sequence of writing the likes of which he’d not seen in a long time. His heart rate quickened. He pulled out his phone and sent a group text to the others with directions on how to find the arch.

  After the message went through, he took a step back and stared at the odd writing. Tommy knew what it was. As luck would have it, he understood what it meant as well.

  It wasn’t a language. It was a form of numbers used in the ancient world for counting purposes. What was on the wall in front of Tommy was a kind of numeric chart used for counting different items and adding up totals. The chart was simplistic in design, mostly just a sequence of boxes with different numbers of lines. In some boxes, the lines were horizontal. In others, they were vertical.

  Tommy heard footsteps drawing near and let his fingers fall to the weapon hidden by his shirt hanging over the belt in the back. He drew the gun and waited in a corner, hoping it wasn’t an enemy. He’d only sent the text message a minute or so ago. How could any of his friends have made it so fast? They were spread out all over the site.

  Boots skidded to a stop on the dusty road just outside the entryway to Tommy’s right. He focused on his breathing to keep calm, but that didn’t change something he always felt in these kinds of situations. The possibility of being in a shootout or a fight always made him uncomfortable. More than that, it made him extremely anxious. His fingers twitched on the weapon, and he had to work extra hard to make sure he kept his composure.

  Done this before a million times, he told himself. You’ve got the element of surprise. Then he had another thought. What if it was just a tourist? An ordinary person walking into the monument only to find an American with a gun in his hands could lead to big trouble.

  Tommy made a quick decision and hid the weapon behind his back but kept his finger on the trigger, ready to fire.

  The shadow drew closer, the footsteps louder. A bead of sweat rolled down Tommy’s forehead and dripped into his eye. He winked hard to get rid of the stinging.

  Then he saw one boot and then the other. They were attached to legs he recognized—tanned, slender, and strong. Adriana stepped into the monument with a leery look on her face. She held her weapon to the side.

  “Oh, thank goodness it’s you,” Tommy said.

  His sudden comment startled her, and Adriana spun to the right, whipping her weapon up to chest level. She held it there for a second, aiming the gun at Tommy until she realized it was him.

  “Sorry,” she said. “You startled me.”

  Tommy’s eyes were wide with surprise and fear. “Yeah, well, you scared me, too. Mind putting the gun down?”

  “Oh, sure. My fault.”

  She lowered the weapon and then started looking around. “This is incredible. So, you think this is the place?”

  “Sure looks like it,” he said. “The clue we found in Giza mentioned this place along with something about the number three.”

  “So, all we need to do is look for a Roman numeral three, right? Severus was a Roman emperor, so he would have used those.”

  Tommy clenched his jaw. “Not so fast. Under ordinary circumstances, I’d say you were exactly right. Except I found this.” He pointed to the chart on the wall.

  “What is it?” she asked while crossing her arms and stepping closer.

  “It’s essentially a counting chart they used a long time ago. This appears to have been something they put up to guide people who ran businesses.”

  Adriana cocked her head to the side while she gazed at the strange engraving. “You know how to read this? It’s just a bunch of random lines. At least that’s the way it looks.”

  “At first glance, yes. But it’s more than that. What I think we need to do is find a place in this monument that either has the number three”—he tapped on one of the squares—“or we have to find a place that has two squares that add up to three. Make sense?”

  She shrugged. “Seems simple enough.”

  Tommy looked out the nearest entryway. There was no sign of Sean or Hank. “I guess the other two must be farther away than you were when I sent the text.”

  “Yeah. I wasn’t far. Just over the ridge back there.” She motioned to the narrow road leading back up the slope.

  “Well, no sense in waiting for them. We might as well have a look around and see what we can find. If you see anything that looks like these markings here”—he pointed at the chart again—“let me know.”

  “Got it.”

  The two split up and went to opposite sides of the monument. They scanned the walls and floor for anything that appeared remotely close to what Tommy discussed.

  “Here’s something,” Adriana said as she neared the first corner.

  “What does it look like?” Tommy asked.

  “Four vertical lines.”

  “Nothing else?”

  She shook her head.

  “Then it’s not what we want,” he said. “Keep looking. It has to be here.”

  Tommy continued searching the engravings on the wall until he came to a place where two boxes contained the symbols for the numbers one and two. He froze for a second, making sure he wasn’t interpreting things incorrectly.

  He leaned down and stared at the symbols. They were etched into the wall on a piece of block near the floor. He set his gear bag down and ran a finger across the stone, then one of the blocks near it. The one with the numeric figures had a different feel. It was slightly coarser than the other. He checked another block and came to the same conclusion.

  Adriana looked over her shoulder and noticed Tommy squatting near the corner—his focus locked in on something.

  “What is it?”

  Her sudden question snapped him back to reality. Tommy looked over his shoulder. “I’m not sure, but these two symbols add up to the number three.”

  She hurried over to where he was and hovered over him. It didn’t take more than a second for her to notice what caught his attention.

  “So, what do we do next?” she asked.

  “This block is made from a different kind of stone,” Tommy explained. “The rest of this feels like marble, but this one is sandstone.”

  “And that means…we have to remove it?”

  “I think it might,” he said with a nod.

  They heard footsteps coming from outside. Instinctively, both reached for their weapons and took up positions opposite each other to cover every point of entry. Tommy was facing the direction where the sounds came from and saw the approaching person first.

  “It’s okay,” he said. “It’s only Hank.”

  Adriana lowered her weapon and stuffed it back in her belt.

  Hank gasped for air as he trudged into the monument. “Jeez,” he blurted out. “That was quite a run from the other side of town.”

  “You ran from the other side of the city?” Tommy asked, dubious.

  “Well…maybe not all the way on the other side. But for me, any amount of running is a lot.” He swallowed and wiped the sweat from his brow. “Find anything?”

  “Sure did,” Tommy said. “Take a look at this.”

  He walked back over to the corner where he found the numeric symbols and pointed to the block. “These add up to the number three. This”—he waved his hand around at the monument—“was built by Septimius Severus. It’s gotta be the spot.”

  Tommy thought for a second. “Did you see Sean while you were out there?”

  Hank shook his head. “No, we went in different dire
ctions. Cell coverage is spotty out here. Maybe he didn’t get your message yet.”

  “Could be,” Tommy said with a hint of concern. “We might as well get to work while we wait.”

  “Get to work?” Hank asked.

  “Yeah.” Tommy knelt down next to his gear bag and pulled out a mallet, chisel, and a few other tools. “These aren’t the usual kinds of things I’m accustomed to using, but they’ll do the job.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  Tommy shifted his feet, twisted his torso, and faced the block. He placed the chisel along the narrow seam between the other blocks and whacked it with the mallet. Chunks of mortar flew out to the left, just as Tommy intended. The last thing he needed was to carelessly knock a bunch of debris into his eyes.

  He fixed the chisel blade into place and swung again, careful to keep the edge angled safely away.

  Over and over again, Tommy pounded the seam between the blocks until he’d removed most of the ancient adhesive. Hank and Adriana made themselves useful by keeping watch at opposite doorways, making sure no one heard Tommy’s loud renovation project.

  When all the mortar was gone, Tommy reached into his gear bag and pulled out a small crowbar. He worked the sharp edge into one of the seams and gave it a tug. The brick didn’t move. He tried it again but still nothing.

  “Something wrong?” Hank asked.

  “It’s stuck.”

  “Need me to help?”

  “Maybe,” Tommy said as he pulled harder on the crowbar.

  Hank made his way back over to the corner. Tommy’s face was as red as a lobster, and the veins in his forearms popped up on his skin.

  “Let me give it a try,” Hank said.

  Tommy exhaled, stood up, and stepped away from the crowbar. “Knock yourself out,” he said. “I can’t get that thing to budge.”

  Hank rubbed his hands together and then yanked on the tool. He had the same luck as Tommy. He wiggled the crowbar a little to see if that would loosen the block and then tried again. Still nothing.

  Adriana was watching their progress—or lack thereof—from the doorway while trying to keep an eye on the roads coming into the monument. The paths were still empty.