by JC Ryan
“Sweetheart, that’s not exactly true, but I understand you miss him. Let’s see what your mom says.”
MACKENZIE WASN’T ENTIRELY thrilled with the idea. Her children overseas without her? She regretted not being able to take them herself, and for that matter, she missed Carter herself. But Liam had wisely enlisted Dylan’s help, as well.
“I’ll go with them, if you can spare Liu. We’ll make it a vacation, and I’ll be there to protect them. I won’t let them distract Carter, either, I promise. But he’s so close, he could spend a little time with them without compromising the mission, I think.”
Dylan and Mackenzie both knew what Carter was doing, and their up-to-the-minute knowledge of the search for Carmen gave them the understanding that it was all up to the ansible triangulation or the perp cooperating with the proof-of-life demand. The ball was in the other court.
“How will we get the jet back here?” Mackenzie asked.
“I’ll have one of the EA pilots go and fetch it, if Carter doesn’t mind.”
“Okay. I hate to disappoint Liam. He’s such a good kid. Let’s see if Carter has any objections. But go ahead and start making arrangements.”
Mackenzie didn’t want to distract Carter, either, but he called most afternoons. He’d be getting ready to go to bed if there was nothing going on, and it was almost that time. She decided to wait for his call.
She’d no more than made the decision than the comms unit on her desk indicated a video call coming in.
“Hi, honey. Any news?”
Carter shook his head. “I’m afraid the outlook is pretty grim, but we did get a message to the kidnapper that we wanted proof of life. Merrybeth said he nodded.”
“You’re thinking he meant he’d get it for you?”
“I hope so. It’s always dicey, being sure that our species understand each other. Merrybeth was encouraged. I hope it isn’t false hope on her part.”
“A mother would never give up hope,” Mackenzie said sadly. “And I can’t imagine how painful it would be to not know. Almost worse than knowing your child had died, I think.”
“I don’t know. When you and Liam were missing, I thought you were dead, and it was agony.”
“I love you, Carter.”
“Me too,” he said. “And I’m bushed. Going to cut it short tonight. Tomorrow may be a long day.”
“Wait. I have something to ask you.” Mackenzie wasn’t sure this was the time but holding Liam off until tomorrow afternoon wasn’t a pleasant thought, either. Quickly, she floated the idea past Carter.
He looked thoughtful for a moment. “Dylan said he’d sacrifice his vacation to come with them?”
“Not exactly. He said they’d all be on vacation, but he’d be there to protect them.”
“And you can’t break away to come with them?” he said hopefully.
“I’m sorry, I really can’t. Lots going on with the research, and we’re making rapid progress. I have to be here.”
“Well, it will be good to see them, at least. I guess it’s okay. Who’s going to fly the plane?”
“I don’t know. Dylan said he’d handle that part.”
“I’ll see them in Athens sometime in the next couple of days, then. Is Athens the plan?” he asked as an afterthought.
“Yes. Carter, Liam said he wants to be an archaeologist, like you! Aren’t you proud?”
“Man, I love that kid. It feels good to be his hero.”
“You’re mine, too, you know.”
“Of course,” he said, winking. He ended the call before she could think of something witty to say back. Smiling, she called her mom.
“It’s a go, Mom. Is Dad on board?”
“He’s as excited as Liam is. You know him. If it’s about science or history, he’s all for it.”
Mackenzie knew. Her parents had been teachers before they retired. Although her dad’s subject was science, his interests were broad. She suspected her mother was just as excited. She loved to travel and had been ecstatic on their Italian holiday. That seemed so long ago. A dark period in their lives had come in between. She wished she could go to Greece with them.
24
AS IT TURNED out, Navy officials were happy to help. Their dolphin research program had been given years of progress by the Devereuxs’ discoveries. Their relations with the dolphins were better than ever. They’d agreed to stop any experiments with dolphin-placed explosives, and they had sincerely apologized for any mishaps that injured dolphins in previous experiments.
Hearing that the daughter of one of their most valuable friends had been kidnapped made them as angry as it did Carter and Mackenzie. Irene thought that if she’d known they would have this attitude, she wouldn’t have bothered the President. But protocol had been observed, so it was all good.
The Greek government wasn’t quite so easy, but some gentle diplomatic persuasion brought them around. On the day that Dylan, Liu, the Andersons, and the Devereux children departed for their Athens holiday, word came through to Irene that the Navy had been given permission for a one-man sub to enter Cretan waters and help in the search for Carmen.
It was on its way from a Navy ship that was standing by just outside the twelve-mile limit when Merrybeth surfaced beside Carter’s boat, with another plastic bag in her mouth. This one held a flash drive.
Carter was careful to back up his laptop’s hard drive and disconnect the device from the internet before he put the flash drive in a port and brought up the video. The light was bright on a dolphin that looked sick to him but dim at the edges. He couldn’t make anything out to help determine where the dolphin might be held, but assumed it was underground in a cave with water. She wouldn’t be alive after all this time out of water.
He heard the captor tell the dolphin to speak to her mother, followed by a storm of whistles and squeaks. Carmen sounded distressed, but Carter recognized the captor’s mistake. Surely, he couldn’t understand Dolphinese. Carmen could be giving them her location. He connected the translation device and played the video again, cognizant that Merrybeth was waiting anxiously to hear what the flash drive held.
“Merrybeth, this shows Carmen alive, and the bad guy told her to talk to you. I’m going to translate what she said, so I can understand it too. And then I’ll broadcast the original audio to you. Were you hearing any of this on ansible?”
“I don’t know, Carter. I heard some things, but I couldn’t make out much of it. Play the message.”
Carter did as she asked, hearing the translation as he replayed the video.
“Mother, help me! He hurts me, and then he gives me just a few fish. I’m so hungry! My skin hurts. Come and get me, please!”
Frustrated, Carter asked, “If she said where she is, I didn’t get it.”
“She did not say. I don’t think she knows. Carter, are the pictures good? Can you see her skin?”
“Sort of. The camera isn’t close to her.” He looked more closely, stopping the video to examine Carmen’s skin. “It looks…rough,” he said.
“She hasn’t got much time. She’s in land-water. It makes our skin fall off,” Merrybeth said. Carter knew he was interpreting the rapid whistles through his own understanding of emotion, but he thought she was beginning to panic.
He struggled to understand what she meant by land-water. What Merrybeth had said about their skin sounded gruesome. He felt time was running out for Carmen. Then he figured it out. “Land-water. No salt?” he asked.
“Yes. No salt. Like in the cave.”
Carter said, “Then I know where she might be. He’s holding her somewhere underground, probably under this land nearby. The water underneath the land is what we call fresh water, no salt.”
“Yes, that’s it! But where?”
“Keep trying to triangulate her if you hear her. I’ll contact the Navy. We need to find a way into that underground river that comes out of the crack in the cave you showed me.” Something nudged Carter’s brain, and he continued. “I meant to ask you. Why
didn’t you want me to climb out of the water when we were in there?”
“The Minotaurs. I did not want you to be eaten, Carter.”
“You’re telling me you believe the Minotaur is still alive, after all these centuries?”
“What is a century, Carter?”
“Thirty-six thousand, five hundred suns,” he answered, assuming the large number would be meaningless to the dolphin.”
“Its descendants may be. Dolphins are still alive after many, many, many suns.”
Carter couldn’t argue with that. He also couldn’t figure out how they could explore the cave system without taking the risk. He’d better consult with some Greek geologists, if he could find any that knew Crete’s underground intimately, as well as any of his colleagues that specialized in the Classical sites. He knew many had searched for the Labyrinth, and claims were made for different sites. If this was one of them, surely someone would have explored it before.
“Merrybeth, a Navy submarine is coming, but I need to get to shore and talk with some people. Will you stay here and guide the sub to the tunnel entrance?”
“Yes, Carter. I will guide it. But will it fit inside the tunnel?”
“Maybe, maybe not. All we can do is try. But maybe there is another way into the same cave system. That’s what I’m going to ask my colleagues. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Carter could have called, of course. He could also have done some online research. And in fact, he did both while his crew took the boat to the nearest harbor. But to talk with someone about a mythical creature being not only real, but alive after so many centuries… That required face-to-face. And he had to keep reminding himself that he wasn’t searching for a Minotaur. He was searching for a race of them.
He also needed to consult with his wife about how such a thing could come to be. He knew it was possible to cross-breed the same species but didn’t think it was possible to breed across genera, or families. He wasn’t sure about the hierarchy of rank in biology. Put simply, he didn’t think cattle and people could breed, despite the Biblical injunction against it. Then he wondered whether that injunction was because of the Minotaur. In any case, he didn’t want to think about it. He wanted his wife to tell him if there was even the slightest possibility it could be true.
The kidnapping wasn’t about Minotaurs on their side of the coin. It was about a madman who had Merrybeth’s daughter for whatever twisted reason his insanity had concocted. Carter doubted anything he learned would convince the man his quest was futile, but he might be able to convince Merrybeth that he’d be perfectly safe exploring the cave system.
As they approached the harbor, Carter’s last call before the boat docked was to Mackenzie.
“Hi, honey. Have you heard from the kids yet?”
“What? Oh – no. When are they due in?”
“I emailed their itinerary. You’re distracted – what is it?”
“Can humans and cattle cross-breed?” he blurted.
“Carter, that’s disgusting. No.”
“Is there any possibility, no matter how off the wall, that a Minotaur could ever have existed.”
“Well… It is off the wall. But gene splicing could possibly create some awful travesty of a thing that might have characteristics of both. Why?”
“Because Merrybeth has a racial memory of something that looks like the Minotaur myth. She’s convinced they’re real, and she doesn’t want me to go into the caves where I think her daughter’s being held. She’s certain I’ll be eaten.”
“But cattle aren’t carnivorous,” Mackenzie objected.
“Never mind that. Humans are. If on the million-to-one chance some ancient civilization had the technology to do such a thing, and more than one was created, would they breed true?”
“I doubt it.”
“So, in your educated opinion, even if there had been many in some distant past nightmare, there wouldn’t be any now?”
“Carter, what are you asking me?”
“I’m asking if you can convince Merrybeth that I’ll be perfectly safe if I go looking in that cave system for the underground river that will lead to her daughter.”
“Don’t ask me that. There are plenty of reasons you may not be safe that would have nothing to do with a Minotaur, or a whole herd of them. If you go exploring, you take someone experienced with you, do you hear me, Carter Devereux? Preferably someone with a military background. I know! Dylan’s with the family. Take him.”
“He needs to protect the kids and your parents.”
“Who’s in more danger, a spelunker without a buddy, or tourists in Athens? Besides, didn’t you tell me the Navy is coming to help? As soon as you find the river, send him back to Athens and let them explore the river. Please, Carter. I’ll feel better if Dylan is with you. But if not Dylan, at least take someone with you.”
“You win. I’ll talk to Dylan as soon as they land. I love you. And I’ll call you as soon as I can.”
25
ON THE WAY, Dylan had checked in with the local office of the Department of Antiquities to learn who had exploration permits on Crete this summer. He knew one by reputation, was personally acquainted with another, though he didn’t get along with that one. A third was unknown to him. There was difficulty associated with approaching any of them, but he ranked them in order of the most likely to be of help and left the one he didn’t get along with for last. That guy had openly ridiculed Carter’s work. Telling him they were trying to find a guy who thought Minotaurs were real, with the help of a dolphin who agreed, would just add fuel to that fire. Carter didn’t need the aggravation.
Though he knew one of them by reputation, Carter wasn’t sure the knowledge was reciprocal. But at least that guy was reputable. He didn’t know the other one, and he could have been just as knowledgeable, but Carter would start with the one he knew of.
Crete wasn’t a small island. But he knew from his earlier inquiries where the dig was located. It would be too far to drive, so he chartered a helicopter. Arriving in such a dramatic fashion might impress the guy – who knew? It was the speed Carter was after.
He cautioned the pilot to land well away from the dig itself. He didn’t want to start off on the wrong foot by blowing debris into the field of study. Consequently, he had a half-mile walk to the dig, and a greeting party waiting for him there.
“Dr. Connery, it’s good to meet you,” Carter said, his hand extended.
“What a surprise, Dr. Devereux! Please, call me Alan.”
“I’m Carter. I’m surprised to find you know me by sight.”
“Well, you have been in the news, Carter. To what do I owe this surprise visit?”
Connery’s crew had gathered around them, and Carter wanted as few ears for this as possible. “Could we meet in private?” he asked.
“Of course! We can go to my tent-slash-field-office. Can I offer you some refreshment?”
“Perhaps some water.”
Carter thought it was going well, so far. Whether it would continue that way would depend on how articulate he was, and how open-minded Alan Connery was.
Once they were settled in camp chairs inside the spacious tent that Connery used for his headquarters as well as for sleeping, Carter grasped the cold water bottle and held it to his forehead. “It’s a hot one, isn’t it?”
“Indeed. But I assume you didn’t helicopter here for small talk. What can I do for you, Carter? Is this to do with some of your, mmmm, unorthodox research?”
“It is, actually. I’m glad you understand. That will save some time. I suppose you know that my wife and I have made some extraordinary discoveries about dolphins, yes?”
“I’d read that. But I’m afraid I don’t know much about it.”
“To make a long story short, we’ve discovered how to communicate with them, and that they are as intelligent as we are in many ways. They helped tremendously with the discovery of the second ancient library I found. Now they need a favor from us.”
“
How interesting! But again, how can I help?”
“I need to know how much exploration of the Labyrinth has been done in subterranean cave systems. Whether by you, or any you know of.”
Connery sat back in his chair. “The Labyrinth! Well, there are opposing theories of where it was located, and both sites have been thoroughly studied. But that’s fairly modern, compared to your usual studies. And what could it possibly have to do with dolphins?”
And here it is, Carter thought. I’m going to have to tell him the whole story to get any help. “Before I begin to explain that, let me preface it by saying I’m keeping an open mind, all right? It would help if you did, as well.”
“Intriguing! Go on.”
“The long and short of it is, one of our most valuable dolphin assets has a missing daughter. I’m sure this will be difficult for you to believe, but they have the same feeling for their offspring as we do. They also keep what we would call oral history, and they communicate not only with vocalization, but with mental images they can broadcast across thousands of miles.”
“Fascinating! If it were anyone but you telling me these things, I wouldn’t believe it.”
“I’m grateful. And I’m afraid I’m about to tax your trust in my veracity. We have reason to believe the younger dolphin has been kidnapped, as it were, by a man who is looking for evidence that the Minotaur of legend was real. Not only real, but also only one of many. An entire race of the things. Furthermore, the dolphins have a memory of just that.”
“What? You’re kidding!”
“I’m not. I’m on the fence about the dolphin’s story, but it really doesn’t matter. The fact is, this person believes it, and he’s holding the daughter to force the mother to show him where they are. And she’s determined he must be stopped, for the good of mankind. Land-humans, they call us,” he added, softening his words with a smile.
“Well, since you put it that way, I understand why you’re willing to help. What do you need from me?”
“I gather you haven’t done any of this exploration yourself. Failing your personal knowledge, I need names of anyone who has, or might have.”