by M. B. Lewis
Behind them, they heard the click-clack of high heels as Patricia entered the room and stood in front of them.
“Patricia . . . I can’t believe you’re involved in this.” Kadie was dumbstruck. “You’ve got to let us go. Please, we won’t say anything.”
“I’m afraid it’s too late for that, my dear,” Patricia said. “You’ve found out too much, I’m afraid.”
“Why’d you kill Mac?” Duke said, struggling against his binding. One of the men behind him clobbered the back of his head with a fist, and Duke let out a loud grunt.
Curt sneered at the pilot. “For fun. I didn’t like the guy.”
Kadie sniffled, her nose running. “Why did you kill Samuel? And Isaac?”
“I assumed you would figure that out.” Curt’s response was smug. “It was easy. Sam—”
“You’re probably wondering what this is all about,” Patricia said, interrupting Curt. It was clear she was in charge. Duke was right—Curt was no more than an errand boy.
“It’s certainly not about a cure for the hantavirus,” Kadie said.
“No. No, it’s not.”
“And I suppose the CIA never contacted GDI about any virus?”
“You are correct again. Such a smart girl. All of that was to build the teams we needed. We realized we’d need something big to bring in the brightest minds in the world.” Patricia pulled a chair in front of them, five feet away. “Samuel turned out to be too bright. He discovered what we were actually searching for. That was information we couldn’t have floating around out there. If the other team members learned we were searching for a Christian artifact, they would have abandoned the project. That’s why he was killed. We didn’t know who he had been talking to until you led us to Mister Abelman. That’s why he was eliminated. He would have talked.”
Kadie’s eyes stopped watering. “So, you’re killing people because of the Pilate Scroll? I don’t understand—why is that necessary? You find the Scroll, and you can sell it and get the money you want. You don’t have to murder anyone.”
Patricia snickered. “My dear, you are so cute. That’s why I love you so much—you’re so innocent.” She rose from the chair and walked around to stand behind it. “We’re not after the Scroll to sell it.”
Kadie looked at Duke, who had turned to her at the same time. His face appeared as confused as she felt. They both turned back to Patricia.
“If you don’t plan on selling the Scroll, then why do you want it?”
“We want the dowels.”
“The dowels?”
“The legend says the dowels used in the Scroll were made from the true cross. Jesus’ blood is embedded within the wood. The Romans coated the dowels in amber to seal the wood, thus preserving Jesus’ blood within the dowels.”
“You mean—”
“Yes,” Patricia said. She was beaming. Her eyes sparkled, and her smile stretched across her face. “We plan to extract the DNA from the blood sample within the dowels and clone Jesus of Nazareth.”
40
Istanbul, Turkey
Global Disease Initiative Mobile Headquarters
* * *
“You people are crazy,” Kadie said. “You honestly think you can clone the Son of God?”
“We’ll see, won’t we?” Patricia said. “That’s kind of the point. Is he the Christ or the carpenter? We will answer the question that has baffled mankind for centuries. And I will be the one who finds the answer. Finally, I will have my seat at the table and solidified my place in history.”
Kadie realized this was about ego and pride. Patricia was not who she made out to be either.
Duke tried to stand when one of the thugs pointed his weapon at him. Kadie grabbed Duke’s forearm. Someone from behind moved in and tied them to their chairs.
“You do realize,” Duke said, “there are at least six movies about dinosaurs that explain why this is a really, really bad idea?”
Curt smirked and started to respond when Patricia put her hand up again. Kadie noticed Patricia had Curt wired like a puppy. He didn’t move or speak unless she said so. Duke was right. Curt was no Delta Force soldier. She couldn’t imagine one of those guys being a puppet on a string.
“We’ve taken precautions,” Patricia said.
Kadie shook her head. “Precautions won’t mean a thing when the general population finds out what you’re doing. There will be riots in the streets.”
“My dear, there won’t be any riots. Christianity is all but illegal in most parts of the world. Creating a clone will only validate why cloning has been banned in most places. We’ve had systematic evolution in place for decades now. The flooding of Europe with extremists. The spread of atheism and agnosticism throughout the Western world. The destruction of churches, synagogues, museums, and artifacts . . . all by design. By the time word gets out about this, there won’t be anyone around to protest. And those that do will be arrested.”
Kadie fumed at her words. “You’re right. The progressives in America have struggled for years to make Christianity a crime, and they’re almost there. First, they removed the tax-exempt status of the Christian churches but not Islamic mosques. Fallout from the COVID-19 virus of 2020 led Americans to give up their rights, and the progressive politicians praising the looting following police shootings only made it worse.”
Patricia smiled. “Yes, it’s almost complete. When Congress authorized the prosecution of pastors for preaching against subjects the progressives cherished—the criminalization of Christianity is well on its way. In several European countries that have been overrun, it is a crime.”
“What do you want with us?” Kadie was defiant.
Patricia sauntered back toward her. “We need you to find the Aramaic Vase.”
Kadie shifted in her seat. “How can we find it? You’ve had teams searching for over a month, and no one’s found it yet.”
Patricia set her hands on her hips, and the corners of her mouth perched up. “We’ve found a code and directions to its resting place. We still need you to decipher the Aramaic and Latin. And you’ll do it if you want your brother to live.”
Brian’s face was flushed, but the tears had stopped. He looked confused, angry, and scared.
“Why am I here?” Duke said. “My employer will want to know what’s happened to his aircraft and his crew.”
“Why are you here, Mister Ellsworth?” Patricia said. “You should have continued on your journey after dropping off our materials. But you chose to reach out to your damsel in distress. An attempt to whisk her off to safety, no doubt. If you’d have minded your own business, your friend might still be alive.”
“Still, why do you need me?” Duke said.
“It’s simple. We have too many team members here who know nothing about what we are searching for. They’ll find their demise eventually in a tomb that collapses around them. Most of their roles, at this point, are inconsequential. But you, Mister Ellsworth, have an airplane I may need. And my lovely linguist is necessary to interpret our treasure. So, it works out well. You two will do the leg work to find the Pilate Scroll. If you don’t, the boy dies.”
“How can we find the scroll?” Kadie pleaded. “We’ve got nothing to go on.”
Patricia’s eyes narrowed, and she moved off to her left. One of her goons handed her a large, heavy, leather-covered folder. “We discovered this recently in the Hagia Sophia museum here in Istanbul.” She offered the binder to Kadie.
Inside the binder was a single piece of paper ripped at the top but still containing three lines of text. And beneath it—a Sator Square. Kadie gingerly picked up the paper. It had to be, ten, maybe eleven centuries old. Too hard to tell now. Kadie read the writing inscribed in Latin:
It stands among his mother’s treasures.
The rivers weave between subtle mountains of granite and stone.
The wedge in the valley leads to the entrance of the city of channels.
The Sator Square was the most intriguing aspect. Why was i
t there? A Sator Square is an ancient palindrome; the earliest discovery traced back to Pompeii in 79 AD. It consists of rows of five words, each word five letters each. The two words on the bottom are the two words on the top spelled backward. To make the puzzle more interesting, the square accomplishes the same thing vertically:
* * *
“What do you think this means?” Kadie struggled to wrap her head around this. The clues didn’t seem complicated, but she was worried about Brian and had difficulty concentrating.
Patricia paced in front of them. “We know Constantine had possession of the Vase and brought it to Constantinople. The question is, where did the Aramaic Vase go after that? And when? It stands among his mother’s treasures implies Helena. Legend says Constantine built a hidden cathedral in honor of his mother. Most, if not all of her treasure, is rumored to be stored in that cathedral.”
“And where is that?” Kadie said.
Patricia offered a slight shrug of her shoulders. “We believe the Aramaic Vase and the Pilate Scroll might be in the ancient city of Helenopolis. Constantine built this to honor his mother. It only makes sense that the legendary cathedral is there as well.”
“Helenopolis? That’s the city of Altinova. It’s south of here, not far.”
“Correct.”
“Why do you think the Scroll is there?” Kadie was convinced the Vase was in Venice, but they didn’t ask her, and the last thing she was going to do was stir the pot and put Brian in danger.
“The Sator Square,” Patricia said. “When you analyze the words in the square, it is loosely translated to say, the farmer Arepo uses his plow to work.”
Kadie was well aware of the interpretation of the Sator Square. She researched it extensively in college and was aware there was much more to the puzzle than the obvious.
“There is a small mountain range, more like hills actually, that sits south of Altinova. After extensive research, we found that a wealthy farmer named Arepo lived in the region over a thousand years ago. We believe the cathedral is on this man’s property, in a valley somewhere in those mountains.”
Kadie rubbed her chin. That was a stretch based on what she could tell the paper said. “Are you sure this is the right location?”
“Yes. Without a doubt.”
“I don’t think it’s there. I think—”
“Of course, it is. Why else would we find the clue in Istanbul? This is no coincidence. It’s there. Why would Constantine build a cathedral for his mother in someplace other than the city built to honor her?”
Kadie bit her lower lip. Patricia wouldn’t listen to her. Best to let this play out. “How does the rest of the description apply?”
“The channels referred to in the passage are the sites on a mountain slope where the water begins to flow between identifiable banks. We believe the geography matches what the writings describe. The Sator Square confirms the farmer’s land. Constantine, or his people, wrote this so the Vase would never be lost.”
Kadie’s head jerked up. “This isn’t from Constantine’s era.”
“Why do you say that?”
“The paper. This is from around 1100 to 1400 A.D. If the paper were from Constantine’s era, it would be papyrus or parchment. Paper itself, didn’t arrive in Europe until 1150 A.D. when it came to Spain during the Crusades.”
Patricia nodded, a blank expression across her face. “Let’s get moving.”
41
Istanbul, Turkey
On the road to Altinova
* * *
Kadie rode in the back of the SUV next to Brian. She had her arm around his shoulders; her hand caressed the hair on the side of his head. Patricia sat up front; the head of the GDI team didn’t like her analysis of the paper they had found in the Hagia Sophia, perhaps because it contradicted her conclusion. No matter, they’d find out soon enough.
The small convoy trudged through the dense traffic of downtown Istanbul. In the SUV ahead of them, Curt sat in the back seat, his gun no doubt pointed at Duke in the front next to the German driver. Their hoods weren’t used this time, either because they felt it wasn’t necessary or because they didn’t want to draw attention to themselves. The two SUVs crossed the bridge over the Strait and headed east. They then turned south toward Altinova. After several minutes, the crowds and chaos of the city gave way to the countryside. They turned onto another highway until they passed over another bridge and reached Altinova. The coast stood lined with shipping docks, and they drove through the small neighborhoods and hamlets spread throughout the countryside.
“Where are—we going?” Brian said.
Kadie gazed out the window at the passing terrain. “See those hills to the east? We’re going somewhere over there.”
“Why?”
“We’re going to search for something they call the Aramaic Vase.”
“Why g-go look—for that there? W-we saw lots—of vases in the museum.”
She turned to look at her brother. “This is a special vase. Inside, it’s supposed to hold the Pilate Scroll.”
Brian scrunched his forehead, deep in thought. “Oh.” Brian seemed content with that answer. “H-how do we know it is there?”
“We don’t.” Kadie thumbed at Patricia in the front seat. Kadie lowered her voice to a whisper. “She thinks the Vase is here. I’m not so sure.”
The caravan of two left the highway and started taking a series of small roads that turned back into a tiny valley nestled between two hills. Something nagged at Kadie, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
“I’m sorry I got us in trouble—Kadie,” Brian said. A tear rolled down his cheek.
She wiped the tear away and hugged him hard. “You didn’t do anything wrong. These are bad people doing bad things.”
“I-I thought you worked with them?”
Kadie paused. How could she explain what was happening?
“I do . . . I did. Let’s just say I was tricked into working for GDI. Now that I know what they do, I wanted us to leave with Duke. But they won’t let me because they need my skills to get what they want.”
Brian nodded. She hoped that made him feel better about the situation. They rode in silence for another twenty minutes before the caravan came to a stop in a dense forest.
Curt stepped out of the Range Rover in front of them and opened the passenger door, dragging Duke out. His hands remained tied behind his back. Her teeth clenched as she imagined how uncomfortable that had to be driving here.
“Let’s go,” Patricia said over her shoulder.
Kadie opened the door and climbed out; Brian scooted out after her and rushed to Duke. The boy wrapped his arms around the pilot, and Kadie’s heart melted
“I found it, Kadie,” Brian said. “I-I found what we awe—looking for.” His enthusiasm caught her attention.
“What?”
“It is right here.” Brian pointed at the round object in Duke’s back pocket. “The pilot’s Skoal.” He laughed out loud, and Duke managed a chuckle, despite his tied hands.
Kadie smiled and started to laugh herself when she saw Curt’s head jerk toward Brian.
“What did he say?” Curt exclaimed. His face contorted in anger.
“He didn’t say anything,” Kadie said. “He made a joke.”
Curt drew his hand back and flung it at Brian. Kadie screamed, too far away to help.
Just before Curt’s hand slammed Brian’s face, Duke leaped between the two, taking the blow on the top of his head before falling to the ground.
Brian’s eyes were wide, and he froze. Kadie reached him before Curt could regroup for another strike.
“That’s enough,” Patricia ordered. Curt backed off his assault on Brian but kicked Duke in the ribs as he lay on the ground. “We still need him. We need them all.”
“But he knows.”
“They all know, Curt. We passed the point of no return a long time ago. Our only objective is to find the Scroll.”
Kadie knelt next to Duke to help him to his
feet. “Are you okay?”
Duke nodded. “Yeah. It’s only a flesh wound.”
“Where?”
“Just kidding. Monty Python joke.”
The corners of Kadie’s mouth tilted downward. “I’m not so sure we’re in the right location,” she said softly.
“I’m not surprised.” Duke stretched his neck, and they moved over to Brian. “I thought you said this thing was in Venice?” he whispered.
“It seemed like a logical location.” Kadie continued to speak in a hushed tone. “But they’re interpreting the paper to say the Pilate Scroll is in Altinova.”
Patricia’s driver stepped forward with some satellite imagery.
“Gather ‘round, people,” Patricia said, pointing at a map. “Here’s where we’re going.”
42
Altinova, Turkey
The forest hills
* * *
Patricia gave a brief synopsis of her plan, and the group headed into the mahogany-brown forest to search for the ancient Arepo farm. Patricia’s driver led the way, followed by Duke, Kadie, and Patricia. Curt walked behind Brian, and his driver brought up the rear. The two drivers and Curt all had firearms. Kadie glanced back at Brian. He breathed heavy and constantly looked behind him at Curt. The boy was scared. He clenched the Pelican case with his drone tightly against his chest. Brian was initially reluctant to leave the SUV after Curt’s outburst, but Duke had convinced him he and Rupert were needed. The GDI security man had a semi-automatic pistol in a holster, and a pistol-grip shotgun slung over his back. At least Curt didn’t have a gun to his head. For now.
The group meandered along a faint trail that weaved its way toward the base of a small hill surrounded by creaking trees that stretched away from the leafy surface. Birds and small animals scattered as the group trudged through the forest. Small branches and leaves crunched under her boots as she trailed Duke. After about fifteen minutes, the German stopped.