Keepers of the Lost Ark

by J. Robert Kennedy

  It was too much.

  He forced himself to let go and collapsed to his knees, his chest heaving, tears flowing down his cheeks as Laura rushed to his side.

  “Are you okay?”

  He wasn’t. A pit rapidly formed in his stomach, a wave of nausea surging through him as his heart continued to race. He fell to his side, lying on his back, his vision blurred as Laura leaned over him, her words lost in a fog of disorientation as his heart threatened to give up from the strain.

  It’s in your stomach.

  He closed his eyes, focusing on that small thread of knowledge as he battled through the panic of what he was certain was a heart attack.

  It’s in your stomach, not just your chest.

  He drew a deep breath, holding it for a few seconds before exhaling. It wasn’t a heart attack. It was a panic attack, manifesting itself in his stomach, creating a feedback loop that made his brain think he was dying, his heart hammering faster and faster in fear.

  But it was all in his head.

  He struggled to control his breathing, each breath slightly more governed, and he remembered his training from his stint in the National Guard.

  Tactical breathing.

  “Just calm down, you’re okay.”

  It was Laura, her voice finally breaking through his panic, and he reached out for her, his hand clasped tightly a moment later, an anchor to reality. He continued his slow, rhythmic breathing, counting off the steps in his head, then blew a final breath through pursed lips.

  “I’m okay.”

  She smiled down at him, wiping the tears off his cheeks. “You sure?”

  “Yeah.” He struggled to his feet, brushing himself off, his cheeks flushing as he realized how many had witnessed his embarrassing display. “I’m sorry. I’m, umm, well, not sure what happened there.”

  “You experienced the rapture.”

  Acton turned to Father Amanuel, the man smiling at him as if a wonderful experience had just been shared. “Is that what you call it?”

  Laura clasped his hand to her chest, concern still on her face as he noticed three of her fingers were checking his pulse on his wrist. “What happened?”

  “I-I’m not sure. At first, nothing, then I just began to feel things that became overpowering, overwhelming.” He lowered his voice. “It was, I don’t know how else to describe it, but it was spiritual. Religious, I guess? I know that’s not very scientific, but for a moment, it felt like I was experiencing the emotions of those who had carried it into battle thousands of years ago. It was as if I was there.” He shuddered, turning toward the Ark, its gleaming gold now with an aura around it he hadn’t noticed before. Was it in his head? Was he just imagining it?

  Or was it real?

  Another surge of emotion and adrenaline rushed through him, his entire body tingling with the excitement of the truth he wanted to believe had just been revealed.

  “I-I think it’s real!”

  35 |

  Granger/Trinh Residence St. Paul, Maryland

  Tommy Granger sat against a propped up pillow, Mai lying beside him watching Game of Thrones yet again as he searched the darkest recesses of the Internet for any clue as to what the professors were doing in Ethiopia. He was concerned. When Mai had helped them escape Vietnam, she had been forced to come with them, and they had been her family since. And when he had started dating Mai, they had embraced him as well.

  He almost thought of them as his parents, and he knew Mai felt the same way.

  They were good people. The best. And he wanted to help them in any way possible.

  And so far, he had come up empty.

  Mai’s hand drifted to his nether regions.

  “Hon, I’m trying to work.”

  She gave him a squeeze. “You better be done by the time this episode is finished.”

  He glanced at the screen, someone doing someone in earnest. “Uh huh.”

  “You know how horny this show makes me.”

  “It’s not the show. It’s Jason Momoa. You couldn’t keep your hands off me after Aquaman.” He eyed her. “In fact, you couldn’t keep your hands off me during Aquaman.”

  She grinned. “You didn’t seem to mind.”

  He shrugged. “I’m a dude.” He pushed her face back toward her own laptop. “Now back to your show. I’ve got—”

  His phone rang and he glanced at the display. “It’s the Dean.” He pointed at her show. “Pause that.” He swiped his thumb as Mai clicked pause. “Hello, sir.”

  “Hi, Tommy, I hope I didn’t wake you.”

  “You didn’t.”

  “Good. I’ve got something to add to your Internet monitoring.”

  Tommy sat up a little straighter. “What?”

  “The Ark of the Covenant.”

  Tommy’s eyes shot wide. “Are you serious? Like in the movie?”

  “Nooo, like in the Bible.”

  Tommy flushed. “Oh yeah, right. Okay.” A thought occurred to him. “Wait! Do you think they found it?”

  “I don’t know, just check it out and let me know.”

  “Will do. And if I find something?”

  “Call me. Day or night.”

  “Okay.”

  The call ended and he attacked his keyboard, feeding the new search criteria into his program busy crawling every corner he could think of, and his heart skipped a beat as a hit appeared, then dozens, all surrounding a discussion group about an illegal art auction site.

  “Uh oh.”

  Mai looked at him. “What?”

  But he ignored her, instead dialing Milton back.

  “Already?”

  “Yes, sir. We, umm, might have a problem.”

  “What?”

  He could hear the concern in Milton’s voice, well aware that Acton was the man’s best friend for over twenty years. “There’s talk of some joker, their word, claiming he knows where the Ark is, and wants ten grand to bid on the info. I found the site. He’s making reference to Solomon and Menelik, which according to what I read, refers to the Queen of Sheba and how her son Menelik took the Ark with him to Ethiopia.”

  “Could be just a coincidence. Maybe somebody is claiming that every day.”

  “I don’t think so. It was just posted today, and I didn’t find anything else that was recent. There seems to be quite a bit of buzz around this, so I’m thinking it’s unusual.”

  “Can you tell who posted it?”

  “Nothing beyond a random username, but the guy isn’t very good at this. He posted his bank account info in the post for the buy-in.”

  “That doesn’t sound too bright.”

  “It isn’t.”

  “Okay, send it to me. I’ll call the pros.”

  36 |

  Unknown Location South of Aksum, Ethiopia

  “You’re okay. It will pass. Just breathe. In and out, slowly. In and out, slowly.”

  Acton held Laura as she sat on the floor in his arms, the love of his life having insisted on experiencing the Ark herself, her reaction, from all outward appearances, the same as his.

  She closed her eyes and drew a loud breath through her nose, then exhaled slowly, nodding. “Okay, I think it’s over.”

  Acton helped her to her feet then moved the hair from her face with the end of his finger. “You okay?”

  “Yes, just a little frazzled. That was intense.”

  “What was it like for you?”

  She turned to face the Ark, shaking her head slowly. “It was odd. I didn’t feel anything at first, but then as I began to think about what I should be feeling if it were real, I started to feel things. I found myself imagining the most horrific of things mixed with I’m not sure what. It was a confluence of emotions all at once. I don’t know if it was all in my head, or if it was from the Ark, but it was intense.”

  Acton’s eyes narrowed. “You mean you think it could have been all in your head?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. It wouldn’t be unprecedented. You go in believing something will
happen, so your mind makes it happen.”

  Acton’s stomach was suddenly cleaved hollow. Could she be right? Could it all have been in his head? He had wanted it to be real, he had wanted to experience something. Had his mind created what he wanted?

  He turned to the priest. “I’m not so sure anymore.”

  Amanuel smiled. “You have to have faith, my son. Do you truly believe that you, a man of science, would have such a rapturous, overwhelming response, simply by touching something I told you was real? A devout believer? Absolutely. But a skeptic like yourself? Are you really that weak of mind that you think it was all in your head, your scientific, logical head?”

  Laura leaned against Acton and rested her head on his shoulder. He stared down at her, and could see she was as confused as he was. He looked at Amanuel. “I don’t know.” He sighed. “I wouldn’t think so.”

  Amanuel reached out, patting them both on the shoulder. “Then have faith. Both of you. You know yourselves, and I think, deep down, you know the truth. Your minds have both been touched by the hand of God Himself.” He stared each of them in the eyes. “And you will never be the same.”

  37 |

  Operations Center 3, CIA Headquarters Langley, Virginia

  “They’re definitely building something.”

  Leroux agreed with Tong’s assessment as the records of Laura Palmer’s credit card purchases were cross-referenced with the invoices found at her home. A diesel generator was the most recognizable item beyond basic building supplies, but it was the other things that interested him. “I think this stuff is all used for climate control.”

  Child stared at the ceiling as he spun in his chair. “You mean like global warming?”

  Tong eyed him. “Maybe if you stopped spinning in that chair of yours, you wouldn’t be so dizzy and could think straight.”

  Child dropped a foot, halting his spin. “I spin both ways to balance it out.”

  “It doesn’t work that way.”

  Child shrugged. “Does for me.” He tapped some keys and specs for a basic box of some type appeared. “They’re building some sort of preservation chamber for an archaeological find. You know, like those display cases you see in a museum.” He grinned at Tong. “When I spin, we all win.”

  “Okay, Dr. Seuss. What are they preserving?”

  “Well, they’re archaeologists, so obviously something old and important that needs to be preserved.” He shrugged. “Something made of wood?”

  Leroux jumped in before the tone became nastier. “Possible. Stone wouldn’t require something like this, I wouldn’t think, but I’m no expert. And why the hurry unless it needed protection quickly?”

  Tong agreed. “It was fast. This all happened in a matter of a couple of days. Maybe whoever asked for their help discovered they had a problem just recently.”

  “But who?” Leroux tapped his chin as he stared at the photos of their two suspects. “It can’t be them. Why break into their house? It has to be someone else.”

  Child resumed his spin. “But how did they know? I mean, if they didn’t hire them, then how did they know to go to the professors’ house?”

  Leroux shook his head. “I think all our answers are in Ethiopia. That’s where the professors are, that’s where the equipment they bought was taken, which means that’s likely where whoever hired them is. It’s also where one of our two suspects is heading.” He turned to Tong. “And we have nothing on them after they arrived?”

  Tong shook her head. “No, they arrived in Aksum, their cellphones pinged for a short while, then that’s it. They left the city heading south.”

  “Curious that they didn’t land in Addis Ababa.”

  “It’s sixteen hours from where they landed. Obviously, their final destination is closer to Aksum.”

  Leroux clasped his hands behind his neck. “Okay, pull any satellite footage we have of the area. Maybe we’ll get lucky. The equipment they brought with them had to have been transported on trucks, so if a bird happened to be going by, we might at least get a bearing on where they were headed.”

  Tong turned toward him. “Sir, I’ve got Gregory Milton on the line for you.”

  Leroux’s eyebrows rose slightly then he positioned his headset, tapping the button to take the call and put it on speaker. “Dean Milton, this is Leroux. How can I help you?”

  “Mr. Leroux, I’ve found out something you need to know.”

  There was both excitement and fear in the man’s voice, and Leroux tensed slightly. “What’s that?”

  “I called that number in Italy.”

  “M. Giasson.”

  “Yes.” There was a pause. “Umm, did you call him?”

  “No, not yet. We’re still gathering intel covertly on this end. What did he have to say?”

  “He thinks Jim and Laura have, umm, found the Ark of the Covenant.”

  The entire room came to a halt, even a spinning Child.

  “Ahh, can you repeat that?”

  “He thinks they’ve found the Ark, you know, from the Bible. Moses, the Ten Commandments.”

  “Yes, sir, I’m fully aware of what the Ark is.” Leroux stared at the invoices still on the main displays that occupied the entire front of the operations center, it all making sense. “Why does he think they found it?”

  “He said Acton called him to check on a priest named Father Amanuel who visited them, wanting to hire them for a preservation job. This priest was the piece we’ve been missing. Mario, I mean M. Giasson, was able to look up the man and found he serves at the Church of Saint Mary of Zion in Ethiopia. He says that church is located in an area where a lot of them claim to have the Ark.”

  Leroux wasn’t sure what to believe. After all, this was the Ark of the Covenant Milton was talking about. He had his doubts as to whether it had ever existed, or was just a story from the Bible meant to inspire and strike fear into the enemies of the Jewish people.

  And the connection was tenuous. A priest who serves at a church that is in the area where a lot of churches claim to have the Ark? The entire thing screamed ridiculous.

  But the professors were smart people. Very smart. Would they run off, telling no one where they were going or why, for something they didn’t at least have a reasonable expectation of being authentic?

  Or were they merely playing the lottery, hoping for the win against all odds?

  From their history, he could see either scenario being the truth.

  And it could explain the secrecy. This Father Amanuel might have demanded secrecy if they were to take the job. In fact, Leroux was willing to bet the man had never told the professors specifically what it was they were preserving.

  Though knowing them, they would have figured it out, which was why they were willing to go along with the demand for secrecy.

  “Okay, Dean, we’ll look into it.”

  “Oh, there’s one more thing.”

  Leroux paused. “What?”

  “One of my students found something on the Dark Web, where it appears somebody is claiming they know where the Ark is, and is taking deposits to enter a bidding war for the information.”

  Now that’s interesting. And actionable.

  “Can you send us that information?”

  “I already have.”

  Leroux glanced at Child who nodded, tapping at his keyboard then jerking his chin toward the displays.

  “Okay, Dean, we have it, thank you. We’ll look into it.”

  “Thanks.”

  The call ended and Leroux quickly scanned the posts as they scrolled past, but Child was ahead of him.

  “The idiot posted his bank account info!”

  Leroux chuckled, shaking his head.

  We do love our amateurs.

  “Okay, run it.”

  “Already on it,” said Tong, her skills on display as moments later the records appeared of the owner, a numbered company in the Caymans. “I’ve got access to the account. Looks like a string of ten thousand dollar deposits, most within an hour of e
ach other, then a thousand dollar cash withdrawal from an ATM in New York City, then a bunch more hundred thousand dollar deposits. Whoever owns this account has got some serious dough now.”

  Leroux’s eyes narrowed. “What was the opening balance this morning?”

  Tong scrolled back. “Under thirty dollars.” She scrolled back some more. “It looks like they get monthly deposits of about three grand, going back for years.”

  “And suddenly, today, he’s got over a million dollars, from over a dozen sources. This guy didn’t hit the jackpot, he hit the jackpot that keeps paying.”

  Child chewed his cheek for a moment. “Sounds like someone with something to sell. Something that without even proof, people are willing to pay a lot for.”

  Leroux turned to Tong. “That ATM withdrawal—”

  “Waaay ahead of you.” She tapped a key and leaned back, staring at the display at the front of the room.

  And Leroux smiled.

  It was Asrat Fida, withdrawing cash, his grinning, wide-eyed face captured by the machine’s built-in camera.

  We’ve got you now.

  38 |

  The Oval Office, The White House Washington, DC

  “Leif, good to see you. How’s the wife and kids?”

  National Clandestine Service Chief Leif Morrison shook President Jacob Starling’s hand then took a seat. “They’re very well, sir. And your daughter Nancy, how is she?”

  “A handful, like all teenage girls.”

  Morrison chuckled. “I went through it myself, sir. Some days I’m glad it’s over, others I’d give anything to have it back.”

  Starling sat across from him, the last of his staff leaving, closing the door behind them. “Now, what is it that you asked for an emergency meeting, alone?”

  Morrison shook his head. “I’m sorry, sir, but this, I hope, is going to turn out to be one of those things that is so stupid in retrospect, that you’ll fire me if it ever gets out. But if it isn’t, well, it just couldn’t wait.”