The Sam Reilly Collection Volume 3

by Christopher Cartwright

  Talking to Mioli, Sam asked, “Was he here last time you were down here?”

  “Who?” Mioli replied. Wallis and Reilly looked at him as if he were insane. Both had their flashlights trained upon the dead body. Then, Mioli, glancing at the body, casually said, “Oh the stiff? Yeah, he was here last time.”

  Sam knelt down to search the man. “And you didn’t think to mention it when the find went to auction?”

  “I didn’t think it was relevant.”

  “Not relevant?” Wallis spoke with a quiet reserve that somehow had the ability to afflict more fear in a person than had he been yelling. “You sold a discovery in which you knew someone was murdered!”

  Mioli shrugged. “I didn’t realize he was murdered.”

  “Not murdered?” Sam repeated the word. “There are one, two, three, four, five shots through his chest. What did you think happened to him – he slipped and fell to his death?”

  Mioli pointed upward. There upon the ceiling was a perfectly round opening that potentially led hundreds of feet above them. “Yeah, I just assumed he fell from somewhere up there.”

  Sam looked at the ceiling. He could almost see how Mioli assumed the man had fallen to his death and dismissed it as one of hundreds of tragic climbing accidents where the body is never discovered. That’s assuming that Mioli was like most people and didn’t go to the trouble of inspecting the body closely enough to notice the bullet wounds. Still, one would think he might have mentioned the presence of a dead man at his great discovery.

  The opening was dark, so wherever it went no longer saw daylight. His mind returned to 2005, when he first met Billie Swan. She had been searching an ancient temple – what did she call it? The Temple of Illumination. She said that one of her fellow archeologists had turned on her, trying to kill her, and she had been forced to shoot him. She never said why the man had turned on her.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Sam said. He stopped searching the body and forgot about Mioli’s folly in an instant. He removed a golden chain from around the dead man’s neck. It was long enough that the pendant at the end of it would hang below his nipple line. At the end of the chain was a golden crucifix. At its center, where the two parts of the cross joined, a pendant made from a solid piece of red garnet was expertly crafted into the shape of a horse and rider. In the rider’s right hand was a broadsword.

  Sam took the pendant and placed it over the first of the four indentations in front of the skull shaped alcove. It was close, but didn’t quite fit. Sam swore. He was certain that he’d found a purpose for everything.

  “Try the next one,” Mioli suggested.

  “Okay.” Sam placed it in the second obsidian indentation. The small alcove swallowed the stone. Sucking it in as though the garnet belonged there, imbedded in the obsidian. It was an identical match. “It fits!”

  “That’s great, but where are the rest of the pieces – and what are they supposed to do?”

  “May I see that?” Wallis asked.

  “Sure,” Sam said. He reached for the stone pendant, but withdrew his hand the instant he touched it. He shook his hand, nursing the pain.

  Wallis looked at Sam. “What happened?”

  “It burned me!”

  “Ah, guys…” Mioli said, staring at the pendant, “It’s now glowing.”

  Sam and Wallis turned to stare at the red garnet pendant, which now glowed brightly like the sun. Sam placed his right hand in his leather abseiling glove and carefully pulled the stone free of the small recess. It didn’t come willingly, as though the obsidian was trying to hang onto it. He threw it onto the cold ground.

  All three of them watched it until the red glow faded.

  Wallis stepped forward and tentatively picked it up. He studied the carving for a moment and then handed it back to him. “I suggest you store this somewhere for safekeeping.”

  Sam took it, not quite sure he wanted the damned stone. “You have any idea what it means?”

  Wallis spoke with a warm, even voice. “When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, ‘Come and see!’ Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword.”

  Sam nodded. “Okay. Well, I’m going to head back to the surface to see how Tom’s progressing, because this hasn’t led me to anything.”

  “Sam, I think Wallis is talking about the Book of Revelation.”

  “Really?”

  “Afraid so,” Wallis confirmed.

  “What about it?”

  Wallis placed his hand on Sam’s shoulder and said, “Tell me, how much do you know about the Four Horsemen?”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Sam placed the heavy gold chain around his neck and tucked the pendant into his jacket. There was no way to know for certain how it worked, but it was obvious that the pendant formed one of four keys used to activate something – but what he had no idea.

  He took another photo of the strange alcove and then glanced at Wallis. “All right. I’ve seen enough down here. Let’s go. I want to take some samples of the paintings to radiocarbon date.”

  “You can carbon date the paint?” Mioli asked.

  “Not all of it,” Sam said. “The red ochre comes from iron oxide in the earth and the whites come from lime. Neither of those will tell us when the drawing was completed. But the dark paints are most likely derived from charcoal – and we can get a reading date off that easily enough. We don’t need much of a sample.”

  Wallis gestured with the flashlight at the dead body and the skull-shaped alcove. “What about those?”

  Sam nodded. “The dead guy looks to me like he fell from a climbing accident. As for the strange alcove and its Four Horsemen recesses… well, you can fill me in with anything I don’t already know about the Biblical reference as we walk.”

  “Okay.” Wallis concentrated on climbing the steep section of the lava tube and then began to tell what he knew about the Four Horsemen. “There were Seven Seals in the Book of Revelation that secured the book or scroll that St. John of Patmos saw in his Revelation of Jesus Christ. The opening of the seals of the apocalyptic document occurs in Revelation and marks the Second Coming. In John's vision, the only one worthy to open the scroll is referred to as both the Lion of Judah and the Lamb having Seven Horns and Seven Eyes.”

  “Go on,” Sam said, although this much he’d heard before.

  “As you know, the seven seals were said to contain secret information known only to God until the Lamb or Lion was found worthy to open the scroll.”

  “And the first four seals opened released the Four Horsemen, Conquest, War, Famine and Death?” Sam asked.

  “Yes,” Wallis confirmed. “As you know, each had their own purpose. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are described by John of Patmos in his Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament. The chapter tells of a book or scroll, in God’s right hand that is sealed with seven seals”. The Lamb of God, or Lion of Judah – most commonly thought to be Jesus Christ – opens the first four of the seven seals, which summons forth four beings that ride out on white, red, black, and pale horses. Although some interpretations differ, in most accounts, the four riders are seen as symbolizing Conquest, War, Famine, and Death, respectively. The Christian apocalyptic vision is that the Four Horsemen are to set a divine apocalypse upon the world as harbingers of the Last Judgment.”

  “So do you think the four keys lead to an apocalypse?” Sam asked.

  “I have no idea what to think. The point is quite moot at this stage given we only have one of the four keys so far and no idea where the skull is.”

  They continued walking in silence as Sam wondered how everything was connected. His mind returned to the strange man inside Derinkuyu who claimed to be Famine – and the fateful words the man had said – My name is Famine, and my time is coming. He also thought about Billie Swan. She had told him that Gregory the Illuminator had
climbed Mount Ararat to make an offering to God at the end of the third century. What he found up there had caused King Tiradates III to lock him up in the dungeon of Khor Virap.

  He paused and looked at Wallis. “When was the story of the Four Horsemen first noted?”

  “In Revelation.”

  “No. Not where – during what time period?”

  “Oh, I believe it was during the end of the third century.” Wallis thought about it for a moment. “Or, possibly the early fourth.”

  Sam felt his heart race as he saw the connection. “Do you know anything about Gregory the Illuminator and Khor Virap?”

  “I read that he was locked in a dungeon for a number of years for preaching Christianity while his Pagan king ruled. Years later, his king became sick and only Gregory could heal him. Afterwards, the king converted, and Christianity took its first foothold in the region. Funny you should mention that now, though.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I do believe that one of the theories of the Four Horsemen started in Armenia around that time. One reading ties the Four Horsemen to the history of the Roman Empire subsequent to the era in which the Book of Revelation was written. That is, they are a symbolic prophecy of the subsequent history of the empire, and a lead up to the fall of Rome.”

  “Interesting. I wonder if those Four Horsemen here were based on the Biblical reference.”

  “They must be. What else could they be based upon?” Wallis asked.

  “Well. If this cave is as old as it looks, there’s always the possibility it’s the other way round.”

  Wallis stopped walking. “You think Revelation was based on a much older story – some sort of warning about the coming future?”

  Sam nodded and stopped directly in front of a cave painting. It depicted four people staring up at the image of Jesus Christ above. Their bodies were covered in robes, but their faces were easy to see and well defined. He studied their faces. There were two men and two women. He didn’t recognize the first three, but the sight of the fourth one took the breath right out of him.

  Her face was quite beautiful. She had a high jaw line and strong features. They were almost over the top, as though the original artist wanted to glorify her, as he or she would their God. Only she wasn’t portrayed as a God. If anything, she looked… Sam thought about it for a moment… like a royal messenger. He was quite certain he’d never seen this woman before, and yet, at the same time, a hundred percent confident that he had seen someone very much like her.

  The more he thought about it the more certain he became. He’d never met the woman in the painting, but certainly a close descendant. He’d never been more certain of anything in his life, and at the same time knew that it was entirely impossible. He took a couple steps back and took a couple photos of the painting with his phone.

  His eyes drifted down toward the bottom of the painting. A dark wisp of smoke meandered through the legs of the four at the foot of the cross, and into their mouths. Or was it coming out of their mouths and then sliding through their legs? The smoke, like a blurry haze, had no definite form or shape. Yet there was definitely something serpentine about the way it wrapped itself around the four people. Without a doubt, he was certain the smoke creature was the same one he’d seen in the Dragon’s Breath Cave in Namibia.

  “If your theory’s correct, do you think we’re looking at the original Four Horsemen?” Wallis stared up at the painting and corrected himself. “Or two horsemen and two horsewomen?”

  “I have no idea what to think, yet. But you might be right. This could be the first visual depiction of the Four Horsemen.”

  Sam stepped forward and carefully scratched a few small pieces of the dark creature, painted with charcoal, into a few collection canisters. “Wallis, have you ever seen this smoke creature before?”

  “No. But it’s full of imagery and hidden meaning, isn’t it?” Wallis stared at the painting. “The serpentine smoke isn’t an uncommon metaphor for evil. Perhaps the artist was trying to represent the evil tidings of the four horse… people?”

  “Maybe.” Sam stepped back and took one last look at the woman at the end of the picture. “Anything else you think I ought to see, Mioli?”

  “No. I think you’ve seen the lot of it.”

  “Good. I’ll take one more sample from the painting of Jesus Christ on the ceiling, and then I want to get back to a lab to see some sort of scientific facts.”

  Thirty minutes later they had climbed the wire ladder and reached the surface of the crevasse. Mioli covered the surface with a small wooden board carried specifically for this purpose, and then quickly filled the rest of the opening with snow until it was once again completely buried from view.

  Sam took off his gloves and withdrew his cell phone. It was an Iridium Satellite Phone. He scrolled down until he found the name he was after and pressed the call button.

  “Tom, how did it go with Peter Smyth?”

  “Good. He knows where the Mary Rose sank. She’s on the bottom of nearly three thousand feet of water in the Black Sea. What’s more, he knows she was carrying a map to the pyramid in the Kalahari Desert – what we believe might be the Third Temple. I took the Sea Witch II down to have a look this morning. Found the wreck all right, but I’ll need to send an ROV in to find the stone inside her hull. I have a dive planned for tomorrow. How did you do with the lost tomb of Jesus Christ? Do you think it’s legit?”

  “We never called it that, but yes we found some things. Can you hang on for a moment?” Sam didn’t wait for a reply. Instead he started to text the image he’d taken of the Four Horsemen. “Listen, I’m going to send you a picture. I want to know what you’re first thought is when you see it.”

  “Okay,” Tom said. A few moments later he said, “Got it.”

  “What do you think?” Sam found himself holding his breath as he waited for Tom’s answer.

  “I think you took a photo of Elise’s sister or even her mom. Why? Where did you get this?”

  “What would you say if I told you I took it inside the ancient temple?”

  “No way!” Tom said. “What the hell does that mean? Elise’s great ancestors built the temple, or do you think we’re being led into one gigantic hoax?”

  “I don’t think it is a hoax. Then again, if it is, it sure is a good one.” Sam shook his head.

  “Are you going to show Elise? She’s going to want to know.”

  “Of course I will. She has a right to know, but not yet. Not until I know a bit more about the scientific facts. I’ve taken a number of samples and I’ll run the radiocarbon dating myself on board the Maria Helena, but right now, I think this is heavily connected to whoever has Billie and the Third Temple.”

  “What makes you so sure?”

  “Forget the woman in the picture for a moment. There’s something about the image that I think you should see. Look at the bottom, what do you see?”

  Tom swore loudly. “It’s the same creepy smoke thing we found in the Dragon’s Breath Cave!”

  “Exactly, and it’s looking up and staring at the image of Jesus Christ.”

  “No. I think you’ve got it all wrong,” Tom said. “I don’t think that’s what the image is meant to represent at all.”

  “You don’t?”

  “No,” Tom said. “I think Jesus Christ is staring down at the Black Smoke in fear.”

  Sam studied the photo again. Tom was right, the image of Jesus Christ was pleading with the Black Smoke below. “I think you’re right. Jesus appears worried about the Black Smoke, but what the hell was it?”

  Chapter Thirty-Six – Maici River, Amazon Jungle, Brazil

  The Maici River is a tributary of the Dos Marmelos River in the Humaita National Forest, in northwest Brazil, one of the most isolated and remote jungles on the planet. To this day, few Europeans have ever penetrated far enough into the Amazon Jungle to reach it. Those who have, struggled to survive. But for the Pirahã tribe, who have lived in total isolation from those outsid
e the Amazon, it was home.

  Dr. Billie Swan sat on the edge of a large boulder as she stared at a few of the strange tribal people whose land she’d shared for the past two years in complete wonderment. They were catching fish from the edge of the Maici River. The children and the adults all smiled constantly while they worked. Their eyes were wide, as though they were taking in the day in a way that made her question whose civilization was the most advanced – those from western society, or these primitive people? As an archeologist she’d traveled to many remote and distant regions of the planet. For a time, she thought she’d seen it all, but then she met the people of the Pirahã tribe.

  She was one of five people alive who’d spent enough time with the Pirahã tribe to learn their language. After nearly two years, she felt no closer to realizing her grandfather’s dream of uniting the remaining Master Builders. She watched the unique people working by the river. They would be considered primitive by western standards, yet out here in the deadly jungle, they were supremely gifted in all the ways necessary to ensure their continued survival. They knew the benefit of various important plants and where they were located, they intrinsically understood the behavior of local animals and how to catch them or avoid them, and they had the uncanny ability to walk into the jungle naked, with no tools or weapons, and walk out again with a basket of fruit, nuts, and small game.

  Their culture was concerned solely with matters that fall within direct personal experience, and thus there is no history beyond living memory. Pirahã have a simple kinship system that includes their immediate family. Daniel Everett, an anthropologist who spent more than thirty years living and working with them, noted the strongest of Pirahã values is no coercion. You simply don't tell other people what to do. There appears to be no social hierarchy and the Pirahã have no formal leaders. Their social system can thus be labeled as primitive communism, in common with many other hunter-gatherer cultures in the world, although rare in the Amazon because of a history of agriculture before Western contact.

  The adult man whistled a melodic tune, and his son ran to the edge of the river and began dropping stones into the water. He made a different sound, and the boy stopped. A moment later, the man threw a spear at a group of fish that were swimming away from the falling stones. The spear connected with a fish. The man withdrew the spear and examined his catch. He smiled. It was a medium sized fish. No other sounds were made and all five of the family came over and quickly ate the fish raw.