Firth faced him while Jabez leaned forward, finally having caught his breath. “Even if the map we found in the pit was legitimate, we don’t have a starting point.” He cocked his head back and gazed at the Arab. “How big is this town of Ararat?”
Jabez shrugged. “Maybe thirty thousand people. Perhaps more.”
The professor raised his hands as if demanding an answer. “You see? While that is a small town, it will still cover a considerable amount of land. How do we know the center point for where Saint Gregory started his journey? You can’t exactly draw a line with a map if you don’t have a starting point. And if you begin with just anywhere in the city, you could end up being far off course in the middle of the desert mountains.”
Sean realized his point and turned around to face forward. He could see the outline of the city up ahead in the distance against the backdrop of the mountains.
“He must have left another clue,” Adriana said, her eyes still locked on the horizon in front of her. “Gregory doesn’t seem like he would have just scribbled some information on the floor of a dungeon without having first created a waypoint.”
That had to be it. Sean scratched his face while he considered her statement. He hadn’t shaved in a few days and his stubble had become a little itchy. For a second he was distracted by wondering how men with beards could tolerate the irritation. He refocused his mind back on the task of figuring out what Saint Gregory could have left behind to guide them to the ark.
“Jabez,” he said and turned around again. “Do you know if there is a something in the town of Ararat like a monument or some kind of tribute to Gregory?”
He shook his head. “No. I do not know of anything like that. However, there is a statue in the middle of the town that is very old. Some people have said it has been there longer than the city itself, that the first inhabitants placed it there.”
Sean’s eyes narrowed. “What kind of statue?”
Chapter 31
Khor Virap
Armenia
Lindsey’s mercenaries ran down the hill in front of him and DeGard with Will and Kaba in the lead. The old man couldn’t move very fast, which wasn’t an issue at the moment considering the helicopter would take a few minutes to start. He just hoped Wyatt and his friends hadn’t tampered with anything. It was unlikely they’d had time since their escape had been narrow. The chopper would be tight with Kaba and Will, plus his four remaining men. It would have to do. He didn’t want to leave anyone behind. Or did he?
The Frenchman was nearing the end of his usefulness. Lindsey wondered how much more he could get out of the former professor. At this point, they were simply following Wyatt.
He and DeGard rounded the bend at the bottom of the hill and approached the helicopter. Kaba was already warming up the engines and the other men had taken seats in the back.
Will was walking swiftly toward the two slower movers. “I’m pulling up the transponder right now. We will know exactly where they are and where they’re headed in a few minutes.”
“Excellent,” Lindsey responded between labored breaths. A cold gust of air picked up and rolled across the flat, carelessly flipping his white hair around.
He was still considering the fate of his French employee. While he would be more than happy to have him tossed out of the helicopter as he’d had done to another man a few weeks before, it would be a shame if the need for his expertise arose on the final leg of the journey. He would let DeGard live...for now. It was a certainty, though, that the man’s usefulness would run out soon. Then he would give the Frenchman his reward.
As if hearing his name in Lindsey’s thoughts, DeGard spoke up. “Where do you think they’re going?” he asked above the noise of the helicopter’s engine.
“We’ll know shortly,” Lindsey shouted back.
He left the Frenchman standing alone for a moment before the birdlike man caught back up again. The two climbed into the chopper. The men on board made room for Lindsey, and were sure to give him enough space. For DeGard, however, they did not, forcing him to squeeze into a small space on the edge of the seat next to a man with a wide jaw and a piercing set of grayish blue eyes that seemed to stare straight through.
DeGard tried to make himself comfortable but was clearly unable to, so he resigned himself to the fact that he was just going to be ill at ease for the foreseeable future. He hoped that their destination wasn’t far away.
Will turned around and shouted into the rear cabin. “Looks like they are headed toward a small town to the north. Won’t know until they stop if that is where their destination is. But it’s the only town in the area.”
“Why would they go there?” Lindsey asked into the headset. “Unless they think there is something of significance in the town.”
“The ark wouldn’t be there?” Will reasoned. “You don’t think the city was built on top of it, do you?” He didn’t sound like he was convinced that was a plausible idea. But anything was possible.
DeGard shook his head on the edge of the opposite seat. “I don’t think that is why they are headed there. It must be because of another clue. What is the name of the town?” His nasally voice was even more grating through the radio than in normal conversation.
“The town of Ararat,” Will answered.
“What?” Lindsey turned back around and stared in disbelief at his chief assassin. “What did you say?”
“The name of the town is Ararat.”
Lindsey faced DeGard again, this time with a glare of righteous indignation. “Did you know that this town existed?”
DeGard’s face was full of confusion as he shook his head. “No, Monsieur. I swear it. I was not aware that there was a city by that name in this region. I only knew of the mountain.”
The old man wasn’t sure whether or not to believe him. But the sincere expression on his face was genuinely confused as to Lindsey’s line of questioning.
“Do you not realize what this means?” he pressed.
The epiphany hit DeGard, and his eyes showed it by growing wider. “Do you think Wyatt found a clue that leads to the city of Ararat instead of the mountain?”
“It makes perfect sense.”
Kaba interjected as she lifted the helicopter off the ground and guided it toward the northeast. “There are series of mountains there that begin just outside the city. There is a legend about those mountains, though.”
Will looked over at her, but she kept her eyes forward as they pulled the darkening sky to the east into view. “What legend? You knew about this place” he pushed.
“I didn’t think there was any connection to what we were looking for. The ancient scriptures suggested that the ark of Noah came to rest on Mount Ararat. It did not say anything about the city or the mountains outside it. Given the current circumstances, it certainly seems like the little town could hold another clue as to the location we seek.” She still kept her eyes straight ahead, never wavering in her voice or her gaze.
Lindsey let out a deep sigh. His irritation at DeGard had left him for now. But he still wanted answers. “What about the legend, Kaba. Leave nothing out.”
“There isn’t much to tell. The locals believe there is some kind of power in the mountains. They generally don’t go there if possible. Some say there are rebels camped there, and when people stray, they are kidnapped and forced to serve as soldiers. Others, though, believe there is something more sinister at work.”
The old man’s eyes practically glowed at the new information. “That must be it.”
Her eyebrows lowered. “I’m sorry. I do not follow.”
“Don’t you see? If anyone happened upon the ark, they could have been killed by any traps that had been left by the ancient ones.”
DeGard took a turn at throwing in his two cents. “Or it could have been much worse, if you believe the tale in the Bible.”
Kaba kept her eyes on the horizon while everyone else in the chopper turned to the Frenchman with the long, pointy nose.
When
he continued, his tone was lathered in sarcasm. “It says in the book of Genesis that the Lord put an angel at the gates of Eden with a flaming sword to protect the way. Is it possible that the angel still guards the path to Eden and that is what happened to all the victims who disappeared in the mountains?”
Lindsey’s eyes narrowed. “I sense your cynicism, Monsieur, and I understand that you do not believe. But now that you mention it, I think it could be entirely possible.’
DeGard prodded. “And just how do you think you are going to get by an angel, Monsieur? If that is what you think you will find.”
Conviction filled the man’s old eyes, and the wrinkles around them tightened slightly, producing more on other parts of his face. “I don’t believe it is an angel guarding the gates of Eden. I think it could be something else.”
The Frenchman’s eyebrows stitched together, unsure where his employer was going with the line of thought.
“So, if not an angel, what was it?”
Lindsey had a glint in his eyes. “What if the angel was actually some kind of ancient security system?”
DeGard was unconvinced. “You mean something like booby traps?”
“Could be,” Lindsey didn’t disagree. “It is very plausible that the ancients simply decided to call the device or devices an angel to further sway others from seeking the location of the garden and the forbidden tree, as the Bible says, ‘lest they live forever in sin.”
The idea seemed to settle in DeGard’s mind for a few moments. It made sense. He’d seen things throughout history done the same way. Ancient Egyptians had harnessed the power of geological static electricity and made it look like the power of their gods. The Greeks and others, including some from Scandinavia, had claimed lightning and thunder was the result of Zeus or Thor. Over exaggerating things had resulted in a greater amount of control over the populace. People, after all, were ignorant, especially if an expert or a religious leader were telling them what to do and what to believe. Better safe than to incur the wrath of the gods.
“So you think the angel and the sword of fire was an exaggeration, conjured up to keep the people from thinking about sneaking into the garden?” He wanted to make sure he understood what the man called The Prophet was insinuating.
“I think it’s more than plausible, Professor. I am almost certain of it.”
Will interrupted the conversation from the cockpit. “Looks like they have stopped moving, Sir. The other bird should be just outside of town. Either they have ground transportation or they’ll be going on foot to wherever they’re headed.”
“It will be difficult to sneak up on them in the helicopter,” Kaba added. “They will hear this contraption coming from miles away.”
Lindsey went into deep thought at her point. She was right. They would need to hang back if they wanted to make sure Wyatt and his friends were unaware they were being followed. But if Wyatt ditched the helicopter and proceeded in ground vehicles, there would be no way to track them. The old man knew he needed to be on the ground to effectively track Wyatt’s group without being spotted.
“Surely there must be a place we can acquire some ground transportation.” Lindsey said finally.
Will took his employer’s meaning and immediately began searching on a tablet for the necessary information.
They would have to move fast to avoid losing Sean Wyatt and his little band. Something kept tugging at the back of his mind. What were they trying to find in the town of Ararat? It had to be another ancient clue, something that would point the way toward the final destination in this long, crazy journey.
“Sir,” Will interrupted his thoughts. “I think you might want to take a look at this.” He handed the electronic device back to Lindsey.
The old man gripped it with freckled, old hands. His eyes stared at an object in the center of the screen. It was an overhead view of the town of Ararat. And the thing he saw in the middle of it caused hope to arise anew in his heart.
“Triangulate a path from that point,” he ordered Will. “It looks like our problem is solved.”
Chapter 32
Ararat, Armenia
The two SUVs bumped along the road heading into the little city. Sean wondered what people did for entertainment around the area or if it was simply like a third world country where survival was all that mattered. They didn’t see many people as the small convoy passed through the first array of buildings.
Jabez had radioed his men and ordered them to the location where Adriana landed the helicopter. They had proceeded in the land vehicles to cause less of a fuss with the locals because Jabez had said they would likely need ground transport to investigate anything in the mountains to the north.
They zoomed along the bumpy, dirty street headed for the middle of town. On one of the sidewalks, they passed an elderly woman walking with the assistance of a cane. She had a white and blue shawl pulled over her head that draped halfway down her back. Many of the buildings were dilapidated or in ill repair. Some of the structures seemed to be abandoned.
Jabez answered the unspoken questions that lingered in the vehicle. “This town was officially founded in 1927. The cement factory here has kept people working for many decades. Unfortunately, between the dust from that factory and the poisonous gases from the gold factory, the quality of life here is very low.”
“That’s fairly young for a town,” Sean commented. “Are you sure there is a connection to what we’re looking for?”
“While the town was officially founded in 1927, there have been inhabitants here much longer. The village itself actually dates back several thousand years. From what I understand, the statue we are looking for could be that old, dating back to a time before the Bronze Age.”
The convoy turned sharply down a side street, then made a left, heading back to into the direction they were going a few moments before. Sean peered ahead through the windshield, impatiently searching through the run down city. Up ahead, the street came to a point where they could only turn right. It was a small town square. Across the street in the center of the square a black iron fence wrapped around a small area no larger than two thousand square feet. There were a few small trees and benches giving it the look of a miniature park. In the center of the little area was what they had come to find, though the object wasn’t at all what Sean had expected.
“Stop the car,” he ordered. Jabez did so immediately and pulled off to the side of the street. The car with the four men behind them did the same.
A piece of granite shaped like a sword stood seven feet tall. The tip of it was melded into the rock from which it had been cut. The weapon was designed in a style from ancient times with a broad blade and a small, flat hand guard just above the hilt.
Sean and the others got out of the vehicles and checked both ways before crossing the street, though he wasn’t sure why. They hadn’t seen another moving vehicle since arriving save for a donkey pulling a cart. A few shoddily clad children were sitting on the sidewalk a hundred feet away, busily playing with what looked like homemade dolls. The kids had a grimy appearance as if they hadn’t bathed in several days, maybe longer.
The group trotted toward the black fencing, scanning it for an entrance. Off to the right, a small gate hung slightly open. Jabez’s men looked up into the vacant windows of the surrounding buildings, checking for any potential danger. They basically had to push Firth along to keep the older man moving, something that he clearly didn’t appreciate, but took with a small amount of dignity.
They arrived at the base of the huge sculpture and stared up at it. Years of vandalism and neglect had left graffiti on most of the surface. Only at the very top, near the hilt of the carved sword, did the stone remain clean albeit weathered by the centuries.
The sidewalk circled around a small patch of dirt where the base of the statue anchored into the ground. The westward sun cast a long shadow along the ground in the shape of the stone weapon.
“What are we looking for?” Adriana asked as she exam
ined the piece closely.
Sean shook his head. “I don’t know. Look for anything that may look like words or symbols,” he suggested as he bent over and tried to scan the surface of the stone for any clues.
Firth took the approach of standing back with his arms crossed as he gazed at the piece, while Jabez copied what the other two were doing. The men from the brethren had formed a perimeter and were keeping an eye out for anything suspicious.
Suddenly, Sean perked up and looked around, a paranoid expression on his face. “Do you hear that?”
Adriana looked up into the sky. “It sounds like the other helicopter.”
Jabez’s eyes shot upward as well, scanning the partly cloudy sky. His men did the same, cautiously looking about the rooftops of the town. For a few moments, the tension was as thick as mud. Everyone around the odd statue could feel it.
Then, as quickly as it had arisen, the choppy sound of the helicopter faded away into the distance. Jabez’s men continued to search the skies suspiciously for another thirty seconds, just in case.
“They’re gone,” Firth announced with a level of certainty. “I wonder where they went.”
Sean’s eyebrows tightened slightly. “Yeah,” he said in a disconcerted tone. “I wonder that too.”
“Do you think they found something we may have missed?” Adriana asked.
It was a possibility Sean had considered. But he didn’t think so. They had been thorough, despite their rush at the ancient fortress. “Doubtful. It’s probably more likely that they went the wrong way. Still, I don’t want to be around if they turn back and come this direction.”
“Agreed,” Jabez chimed in, and immediately began scouring the stone sword again.
Several minutes passed without any revelation or discovery. Jabez, Sean, and Adriana had all done circles around the ancient object without finding so much as a scratch that seemed out of place. Firth had never moved, simply resting his chin on one hand with the one arm tucked underneath the other.
Sean Wyatt Compilation Box Set Page 78
