Chapter Eighty-Three
Sam fired three short bursts from his M16 and the machine gun sprayed Edward Worthington before he could finish his next sentence. He and Tom then quickly crossed the secret path over the dark ravine.
“How much time have we got?” he asked.
“About five minutes,” Billie replied.
Letting go of Andrew, she began examining the sphere again.
Sam looked at the code and then at the sphere. “Can you deactivate it?”
“I have no idea. I mean, it must be possible, but I wouldn’t have a clue how.”
Andrew began to move. His face was white with sweat beads. Blood frothed at his mouth as he exhaled.
Sam stepped toward him. “Where do you think you’re going?”
Andrew tried to speak, but the bubbling blood in his lungs made it difficult to hear what he was trying to say.
Sam grabbed him and tried to listen closely. “What is it?”
In barely an audible whisper, Andrew replied, “I can stop it.”
“Why should we trust you? You’ve spent the last five weeks trying to get me killed. We know that you were the leader of the Phoenix Resistance.”
Andrew spoke again, but no one could hear his words.
Billie stepped in. “Because I have no idea how to stop this thing, and the timer is now displaying two minutes!”
They helped him to stand next to the sphere. It glowed positively with him. As though he’d been rejuvenated by the ancient sphere, Andrew began rapidly working with his hands along the myriad of symbols.
Billie looked at him. The wounds to his chest were now almost entirely gone. “Who are you?”
His disarming smile returned, and Andrew said, “My name’s Andrew Brandt, and I have waited nearly two hundred years to infiltrate the Phoenix Resistance and protect the sphere of Atlantis.”
Sam grabbed his arm. Previously badly wounded by Billie’s knife, it was now almost entirely healed. “That’s impossible. No one lives that long.”
“You’re right. It is impossible,” Andrew replied, like a creature from beyond our reality. “If you want to live, I suggest you both leave now.”
“What are you going to do?” Billie asked.
“I’m sending Atlantis where it will be protected for another thousand years.”
He entered the code to Atlantis and the Sphere glowed blue. He held on to two specific symbols. Sam had studied them before, but had never truly worked out what their purpose was. Literally, one translated to life, while the other, death.
The ground began to shake and small stress fractures slowly reached up toward the ceiling of the massive cavern.
Tom looked at the large crack in the wall. “Sam, Billie. It’s time to go, the roof’s going to come down soon.”
“We’re right behind you.”
Sam stopped at the edge of the chasm and glanced at Andrew once more. His eyes were alive, and he appeared happy – finally in possession of the greatest power on earth.
Chapter Eighty-Four
Billie was the first to slide through the incinerator and back into the vault. She pressed the button for the elevator. Her large brown eyes appeared larger, if that was even possible, while they waited.
“Sam, do you realize what this means?” she asked.
“Billie, I just watched a man virtually return from the dead because he touched a blue sphere, and now, the entire building is collapsing beneath us. So, no. I have no idea what any of this means!”
“Think about it. What if the Master Builders were the only survivors of the great flood who maintained the full knowledge of the technologies of Atlantis?”
“And why did they of all people retain the knowledge, when others joined their fellow hunter gathers in the mountains and survived?” Tom asked.
“What if the reason they maintained the knowledge was they were immortal?”
Sam stepped into the elevator. “That’s impossible.”
“They were Gods! The ones the ancient Atlanteans worshiped. Poseidon was a god. They were immortal.”
“That’s impossible.”
“No. Everything’s impossible until it has been done. Just because no one’s ever heard of it, doesn’t mean it’s not true.”
“Yes it does. That’s exactly what it means. It’s made up.”
“But it would answer everything. We know that the Master Builders were just a few super intelligent people, who used armies of men to build their great works. How could the same person build the pyramids if they didn’t live forever?”
“You’re talking about legends, the Holy Grail – nothing more.”
“Yes, but today we stepped inside Atlantis, entered an ancient code that was otherwise planning on sending a comet hurtling toward earth.”
“Okay, so we’ve had an unusual day. For now, I will accept that there’s a possibility they lived a much longer life than what we know of. Andrew told us that he spent nearly 200 years trying to infiltrate the Phoenix Resistance, but that’s a long way off saying they were Gods.”
“Okay, but it’s worse than that.”
“What’s worse than that?”
“If what we think is true, then the Master Builders are still around. That means they’re here, in our time. Weaving their Machiavellian webs of purpose, but for what ultimate desire, or where, we have no idea.”
Sam had another cold shiver down his spine.
“That thought’s really going to send terror through the heart of the Secretary of Defense.”
Outside the elevator a blue glow had encompassed the building. The entire structure shook for a couple minutes and then the light and vibrations stopped completely.
Billie looked at her feet. They had finally stopped moving. “It’s over. Atlantis is gone.”
Chapter Eighty-Five
Sam looked over to see the Secretary of Defense. She was on her phone – most likely giving the President her account of the events. She hung up and walked toward them.
“I suppose a thank you is in order.” It was as close as the Secretary of Defense had ever come to thanking him for his services. “You must know that the events of the past five weeks must be buried as deep as Atlantis. As for our involvement in it, we will deny everything. And Russia will continue to stay out of it. Any public appreciation would be out of the question.”
“Of course.” He smiled at her. Sam wondered how much her appearance of disliking him was a pretense. She smiled back. It was almost seductive in its array of meanings. Somehow, while he’d let his guard down on the pretense of flirtation, she had sensed his reticence.
She smiled pervasively at him. The way a beautiful woman knew to seduce any information out of a man. He couldn’t stand the woman, but there was no denying she was insatiably beautiful. Her coy, flirtatious smile ended abruptly, as though she’d seen straight through him. Back to her normal, arrogant self, she said, “You learned something, didn’t you?”
“About Atlantis?” He smiled. “No, only more questions. But seeing as your organization is in the business of plausible denial, I won’t try and interrogate you for their answers.”
“Not about Atlantis. You made an unexpected discovery about the Master Builders, didn’t you?”
He shook his head. “No, I’m afraid not.”
Sam had been introduced to one of the greatest theories about the Master Builders since he’d first heard of their existence. It would change everything about the future, but he would be damned if he was going to tell her what he’d learned before he found some proof. Even he thought Billie’s explanation was fanciful, at best.
Chapter Eighty-Six
Sam sat down on the balcony of his father’s Fifth Avenue Penthouse overlooking one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Tom poured the glass of champagne for everyone. Billie took a glass and so did Matthew, Sam’s skipper of the Maria Helena, who had flown in that night to celebrate.
Holding his own glass up high, Sam said, “A toast, to the human race. May we learn from
our mistakes, so that we gain the right to survive.”
They each drank quickly.
“So, what are you going to do now?” Sam asked, staring at Billie.
“You and I both know where I have to go,” she replied.
“Where?” Tom asked.
“If the ancient Master Builders really were immortal, it would finally explain some of the research that my grandfather did. I have to return to one of the earliest archeological sites I ever visited – to a place my grandfather took me when I was just a little girl. And then I have to complete what he started.”
“So you’re leaving us again?” Matthew said.
“I’m afraid so. But don’t worry. When I have the answers that I’m looking for, I’ll call your boss for some help. Sam, I’ve saved your ass enough times over the past decade. One of these days, I’m going to call in that favor, and you and Tom are going to help me complete this thing.”
Sam poured another glass, drank it, and then replied, “I’m looking forward to the day that we both have answers on that account.”
The night carried on, and the four of them consumed far more alcohol than any of them intended. Finally, Sam looked at Matthew and said, “Tell me Matthew, what’s happened?”
Matthew shook his head. “What do you mean?”
“I know you. There’s little that would make you leave your beloved ship, the Maria Helena, alone for more than a few hours, let alone an entire twenty-four of them. I appreciate you’ve come here to celebrate, but in all the time I’ve known you, you’ve never once sat down and had a glass of anything with me until tonight. So, now I ask again, what’s happened?”
Matthew’s face flushed. “There’s been another rogue wave.”
“Any casualties?”
“Yes, another ship – the Global Star.”
“That makes three of my father’s liners this month? He must be ropable. I’m surprised he hasn’t called to tell me to fix it.” Sam stopped and looked at Matthew’s expression. “Christ, he sent you to retrieve me, didn’t he?”
“Yes. He’s lost three of his ships.”
“But the weather’s been good.”
“That’s just it, Sam… rogue waves occur out of complete randomness. There’s no way to predict when one will strike. On average, every 4th wave is one and a half times the median height of the waves in an area, whereas every 16th is double. However, only one out of every 800,000 is a rogue wave, described as more than ten times the median wave height.”
Sam nodded his head. He was mildly inebriated and he’d heard the science of rogue waves previously. “So what? Rogue waves occur randomly in nature.”
“And yet three have occurred within the Bermuda Triangle in the past month. The shipping captains have started to complain its bad luck; the insurance companies are crying fraud; and I’m afraid something much more sinister is happening.”
Sam thought about it for a moment before replying. “You have any idea what the hell might be causing that, Tom?”
“Not a clue. If it was hurricane season, or something, maybe. But there’s currently no severe weather warnings on the forecast.”
“Okay, I’m away for a few days. I promised Aliana we’d go somewhere far from the ocean. Then I suggest we take the Maria Helena for a cruise into Bermuda in hunt of whatever’s creating these artificial rogue waves, and put a stop to it. . .”
The End
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Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Chapter Fifty-Two
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Four
Chapter Fifty-Five
Chapter Fifty-Six
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Chapter Sixty
Chapter Sixty-One
Chapter Sixty-Two
Chapter Sixty-Three
Chapter Sixty-Four
Chapter Sixty-Five
Chapter Sixty-Six
Chapter Sixty-Seven
Chapter Sixty-Eight
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Chapter Seventy
Chapter Seventy-One
Chapter Seventy-Two
Chapter Seventy-Three
Chapter Seventy-Four
Chapter Seventy-Five
Chapter Seventy-Six
Chapter Seventy-Seven
Chapter Seventy-Eight
Chapter Seventy-Nine
Chapter Eighty
Chapter Eighty-One
Chapter Eighty-Two
Chapter Eighty-Three
Chapter Eighty-Four
Chapter Eighty-Five
Chapter Eighty-Six
Atlantis Stolen (Sam Reilly Book 3) Page 24