Brian Sadler Archaeological Mysteries BoxSet

by Bill Thompson

  As the train sped west through Pennsylvania Dr. Harvey made notes. There was a lot of work ahead before this project could begin. Torrance had insisted it start with the summer digging season – only a few months away. But the academician had cautioned him that the permit process would be long and difficult. His expectations for a summer dig were unrealistic.

  Thomas Newton Torrance’s response had surprised Dr. Harvey. He had laughed. “I’ve found that greasing the wheels makes the machine move faster. I’d be pleased to be involved in the initial discussions Sussex has with the archaeological authorities in Mexico City. I’m certain I can be of assistance in getting things moving.”

  From experience Dr. Harvey felt TNT was overly optimistic. He’s like most of the wealthy patrons I’ve seen, the man thought to himself. He thinks throwing money at a problem will solve it. I don’t think that’s going to work this time.

  But he was certainly willing to give it a try. Ten million dollars didn’t come along every day and this project would give the university major publicity if it came to fruition. And if there really were secrets under the temple…well, that could be exponentially more valuable for Sussex.

  As things turned out Thomas Newton Torrance was both right and wrong. Things happened, but not because of his ability to grease wheels in the Mexican government. In fact Torrance had no involvement at all in getting the permits Sussex needed. The wheels were greased all right, but in an entirely different way and by a totally different person than TNT – a man with even more power and influence than the outgoing, slightly shady near-billionaire Englishman.

  When Dr. Martin Harvey arrived back on the campus of Sussex University he went straight to the office of the college president and broke the news of a $10 million commitment to begin the long-delayed exploration at Palenque. He told his boss he thought the permit process would be a lengthy and difficult one – impossible, perhaps.

  “The body of King Pakal still lies in its sarcophagus eighty feet down inside the temple,” he said. “I can’t imagine the Mexican archaeological authorities allowing us to dig right next to it, but we would have to because the room is so small. I’m excited about Mr. Torrance’s commitment to the project but I have to confess I doubt we will see it happen for years, if at all.”

  The university president seemed both thrilled at the news and unconcerned at Dr. Harvey’s pessimism about how long things might take.

  “I have a secret weapon. I don’t know if it’ll work or not but I think Sussex has a better chance to make this happen than any other institution.”

  Dr. Martin Harvey didn’t know what his boss meant by that. But he soon found out as things began to happen incredibly quickly.

  The first call the university president made was to his old Sussex fraternity brother and current United States Ambassador to Mexico. After the Ambassador heard the news, the two old friends talked about John Chapman, the President of the United States. Archaeology was Chapman’s passion. Since he took office the President had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money funding projects he found interesting. Both men thought the President would love this one. It had mystery and adventure written all over it.

  The Ambassador made just one call, President Chapman just one more, and the deal was done. It was just that simple. Sussex University got its permits. A team would be digging at the Temple of the Inscriptions in the summer to see if there was anything to the Mayan legend of an ancient artifact hidden deep within the earth.

  Dr. Harvey had called Thomas Newton Torrance the moment the permits were approved. After offering congratulations TNT said, “I’d like to request that one of your graduate students be the supervisor of the dig at Palenque. Although I don’t know him personally I’ve followed the work of Cory Spencer. I’d consider it a personal favor if he oversaw the project, reporting of course to the university but keeping me informed as well.”

  And as easily as that the wealthy entrepreneur got the man he wanted installed as supervisor. Cory Spencer would lead the search for an artifact TNT believed would shake the world’s foundations.

  Chapter Five

  A national security briefing document was slipped under the President’s bedroom door early every morning along with the Washington Post. When he awoke, Chapman retrieved them both and returned to bed, where he liked to watch TV and have his first cup of coffee. Chapman had one additional document delivered each day – privately he considered this one far more interesting than the top-secret daily briefing. The night staff used Google to search for keywords and generated a paper, sometimes only a couple of pages long but sometimes more than twenty and often filled with pictures. This document kept President Chapman on top of things happening in the adventure and intrigue of archaeological excavations around the world.

  In one recent document President Chapman had seen Thomas Newton Torrance’s name. He had heard of Torrance before – the financier’s escapades made the financial press regularly – but his dealings weren’t significant or interesting enough to capture the President’s attention. This time Chapman saw Torrance’s name in an article about the new dig at Palenque. The archaeological publication chose to paint a very flattering picture of the entrepreneur, ignoring the activities that others termed corporate raiding or outright banditry. It called Torrance an entrepreneur and a generous man, eager to fund his passionate interest in archaeology – an interesting comment given that no one had ever linked TNT with the field prior to this one large donation. For a fleeting moment as he read the article, the President wondered what the real motive was for this British entrepreneur’s decision to spend a huge sum on what could be a complete wild goose chase.

  The President breezed through today’s two briefing papers as the Gulfstream flew toward the Gulf of Mexico on the twenty-five hundred mile, four hour trip. Chapman had brought along an old dog-eared guidebook to the Mayan ruins at Palenque. It had accompanied his first two trips to the site years ago and he wanted to refresh himself about the Temple of the Inscriptions before seeing it again this morning.

  In his call two days ago the Ambassador to Mexico had told President Chapman some details of the discovery. The permit to excavate which the Mexican government had issued to Sussex University’s team had contained very strong restrictions. These were designed to ensure there would be no danger to the tomb of King Pakal, especially to the sarcophagus and its lid, which contained priceless carvings including some of the most detailed and exquisite Mayan glyphs ever discovered.

  Deep inside the Temple of the Inscriptions the university’s dig supervisor, Cory Spencer, and a team of students had worked while a motor droned far above, pumping fresh air into the claustrophobic chamber. The room was hot and stuffy and so crowded that only two or three team members could work at a time. They were not allowed to place any of their equipment on the sarcophagus itself. That meant even less room to work was available between the stone coffin and the walls of its crypt – only a few feet on each side of the sarcophagus.

  A representative of the National Institute of Archaeology and History was assigned to monitor the dig site while excavations were underway. The team tried non-invasive ways to discover openings or rooms around or below the tomb chamber including sonar that couldn’t penetrate the massive stones. Spencer, the team leader, secured the representative’s approval for a minimally invasive plan. The diggers ran long narrow steel rods through the seams between the rocks in the floor and walls of Pakal’s tomb chamber. If a cavity were behind the rocks they hoped the rods would slide through the dirt, allowing the crew to snake a camera inside to see what was there.

  The diggers performed this exercise almost fifty times, inching their way along the walls and floor, and found nothing but solid dirt. After hours one of the female students was still trying, pushing the rod slowly through a crack between two floor stones. She felt the rod move through unyielding dirt but suddenly become easy to push. She had reached open space under the stone!

  She scampered up the an
cient stairway seventy-five feet to the top of the temple and told the dig’s leader what she had found. Cory grabbed a flexible hose with a camera mounted to its tip and went back down into the tomb with her. They bent down to the floor and inserted the hose through the hole where the steel rod had penetrated. The rock was about two feet in height so it took only a moment for the camera hose to clear the rock and hang freely in midair. Cory turned on the camera and looked at a handheld TV screen to which the hose was connected. It was difficult to discern what the camera showed because the area below was dim and the light from the tiny camera faint.

  He was encouraged. “This indicates there’s likely a room beneath this floor. The camera’s so small that it can’t see very far and I detect nothing solid like walls – hopefully that means there’s a considerable open space below us.”

  The team went to their bunks that night excited at the possibilities. Spencer and the governmental archaeology representative on site discussed plans and the latter made a call to Mexico City. He spoke with Dr. Armando Ortiz, the director – el jefe – of the National Institute of Archaeology and History. He was the person in charge of all archaeological digs in the country – the nation’s lead archaeologist. Ortiz personally arrived at Palenque the next afternoon, a clear sign of how significant he considered this news.

  It took a week for the university team and the archaeology representatives to reach an agreement. It was decided that the diggers would remove a two-foot square stone – the one the girl had worked on when she found the hole. They would feed hooks on lines down all four sides of the stone then winch it up, all without touching the sarcophagus of King Pakal only inches away. The slightest error could damage one of the most important relics of the Maya period – the lid of Pakal’s tomb.

  After they removed that single stone a larger light could be lowered into the cavity to see how much area they were working with and what the room, if that’s what it was, contained. With that information they could decide what to do next.

  The team fashioned a pulley system that would be hung from a platform over the stone they were removing. The platform would stand above and to the right of Pakal’s sarcophagus on wooden legs and it would be braced with struts to keep it away from the stone coffin and lid. They submitted their plans to the governmental representative who sent them on to Dr. Ortiz in Mexico City. Approval came surprisingly quickly and nearly three weeks after the discovery they were at last ready to lift the stone.

  On the appointed day three people stood in the cramped space around Pakal’s crypt – Ortiz, Cory Spencer and the girl who had found the space. Three others were on the stone stairway, their hands on the apparatus that would allow the pulley to raise the rock from the floor. The sarcophagus, next to which the pulley system had been constructed, was wrapped in blankets and foam more than a foot thick to protect the ornate lid from any accidents.

  Given the signal from the leader the men began to turn a wheel and tighten the wires that ran from the pulley down below the rock on four sides. The wooden structure groaned and creaked as the wires grew more and more taut. Everyone could hear the strain being put on the wires as they tightened around several hundred pounds of rock. Cory Spencer cast a worried glance at the archaeology representative. If this whole thing collapsed it could be disaster for the sarcophagus lid.

  Everyone in the room held a collective breath as the rock moved upwards about a half inch. “Easy, easy,” Cory said in a whisper as he watched the progress.

  The men who operated the winch moved the rock very, very slowly. It took nearly two hours before it was completely out of its resting place. As Cory and the girl carefully moved the rock to the right the winch operators lowered it to the floor. Now there was a twenty-four inch hole in the ground with only blackness inside the opening. Spencer picked up a powerful light, switched it on and directed it into the chamber they had unearthed. The others heard him gasp. “Oh my God,” he whispered. “Oh my God.”

  Dr. Ortiz stood next to Cory Spencer. He leaned forward and caught a glimpse just as Spencer shut off the light and stood up.

  “What is it?” he asked Cory.

  “You know what’s next, sir. Let’s go to the top. I have to make a call.”

  Immediately the others spoke up. The girl who found the hole said, “Can’t we show the rest of the team what’s down there? It’s only fair…”

  Talking over her, Dr. Ortiz yelled, “I want to see it!”

  Spencer responded with an attitude they hadn’t heard from him before. It was abrupt, harsh, and curt. His face was serious. He looked at Ortiz. “You know about this. You know what has to happen next. I don’t think you want to override my instructions.”

  To the others he said, “Get out of the tomb, all of you. Now. I report to people just like you do. I have to make a call.”

  The student diggers were amazed to see Dr. Ortiz, the highest archaeological authority in the country, acquiesce to Cory Spencer. They all climbed the stairs and emerged on top of the Temple of the Inscriptions, just as Spencer had ordered them to do.

  Cory called the U.S. Ambassador and told him what had been found. The diplomat assumed his was the first call Cory made after the discovery. But it was actually Cory’s second call.

  After Spencer had ushered everyone out of the temple the team from Sussex University didn’t know what to think. In the plaza outside they talked among themselves about their leader’s possible motive in shutting them out of the discovery one of them had made. Within an hour after the men had opened the hole, Cory had ordered his team completely off the site with instructions not to return until further notice. Likewise, Dr. Ortiz commanded the Temple of the Inscriptions closed to the public. He then drove back to Mexico City.

  That left no one at the site for two days except Cory Spencer and the person to whom he had first called to report the discovery. During that time Spencer showed the man what had been found. Strings had been pulled in Mexico City that allowed these two people unrestricted access with no governmental oversight.

  Thomas Newton Torrance was accustomed to pulling strings. In fact he was a master at it.

  Chapter Six

  Thursday

  The day of the disappearance

  President Chapman’s excitement mounted as the SUV arrived at the ancient site of Palenque. The driver pulled into a gravel lot. As usual the Secret Service agents exited the vehicle, scanned the area then allowed the President out.

  Dr. Ortiz had learned about the upcoming visit in a call from the President of Mexico the previous morning. He drove back to Palenque to welcome the party. A heavy man, he was dressed in a wrinkled suit that had seen better days. His open collar shirt was stained with sweat and he sported a scuffed pith helmet. The heat of the jungle was oppressive but Ortiz had worn his finest clothes. It wasn’t every day that an American President made a secret trip to Mexico, and then to a ruin under the supervision of Dr. Ortiz! He wasn’t going to miss an opportunity to show off the famous site and perhaps even get his picture taken with el Presidente Chapman.

  Ortiz introduced the President to Thomas Newton Torrance, explaining that Torrance was the British financier who had funded the project at Palenque. TNT was dressed impeccably in a white linen suit. He looked like the star from the old TV show Fantasy Island. The President thought he seemed totally out of place here in the jungle.

  “It’s a pleasure to have you at the site, Mr. President.”

  “Thanks, Mr. Torrance. I recently read of your involvement here but I didn’t know you had an interest in the Maya.”

  Chapman and Torrance chatted as Ortiz led them down a wooded path that opened into a broad courtyard. There were several ancient structures around a much larger one. “The Palace,” Ortiz announced to the group as he gestured proudly toward the massive building. “And here, next to it, The Temple of the Inscriptions.”

  Sunlight broke through the high trees surrounding the courtyard and illuminated the top of the Temple. The President looked up a
nd saw a view he’d marveled at before – on top of the temple nearly eighty feet above the jungle floor sat a small building with five dark open doorways. It was through one of those doors that the President would find the stairway leading down deep inside the building, to the tomb of King Pakal.

  Chapman’s excitement grew as the men climbed seven stories, their knees straining as they navigated the very tall rock stairs the Mayans typically used in their architecture. No one knew why the builders created steps too tall to scale in a normal gait. Since it was only priests and royalty who ascended to the top, some scholars figured the difficult stairway was a sign from the priests that the common people shouldn’t attempt to navigate their ways to the top. Maybe the holy men were sending a message that the road was too tough for anyone but the anointed. But no one knew for sure.

  At the top they entered the doorway leading to Pakal’s tomb. A hole in the floor of that room was the place where Alberto Ruz had discovered the hidden staircase in 1952. Now it was open and ready for descent but by only one person at a time.

  “Are the lights on all the way down?” the President asked Dr. Ortiz.

  “Yes, el Presidente. I will lead the way for you.”

  Chapman turned to Ortiz. “I’ve been here before. I’ll do it alone. I want to experience what you’ve found by myself.”

  “Ah, of course.” The director’s disappointment shone clearly on his face. “No hay problema, el Presidente. Here is my strong torch for you to take through the opening into the new chamber. The Sussex University crew has removed the rock in the floor. The hole is still tight but you will fit fine. I put a ladder down into the room below for you. Other than the archaeological team and me, you will be the first to see the thing the diggers discovered.”