Morrison smiled slightly at him then turned back to the display. “Do you want to get real answers, or continue the name-calling?”
There was silence for a moment before Nelson took back the meeting. “We’ll move forward with your suggestion, Leif. In the meantime, we have to assume that this individual is serious, and decide what to do about it.”
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs shook his head. “We can’t pay the money. We don’t negotiate with terrorists.”
Morrison grunted. “We all know that’s bullshit. We’re always negotiating with terrorists, we just do it through third parties.”
The head of Homeland responded. “Yes, but who do we use this time? We’ve got two hours before he detonates again.”
The CJCS waved a hand, as if dismissing everything said. “Assuming this wasn’t a one-off. Perhaps we should wait and see if he’s bluffing.”
Morrison frowned. “An expensive bluff. I suggest the money be pulled together so that it can be transferred if that decision is made, pull up our scenarios for this type of situation, as I’m sure someone has thought of this before, and then the President and his team can decide whether or not the economic fallout is worth paying the man. In the meantime, we’ll try to figure out who he is, and stop him before he gets a chance to detonate more of these cables.”
Nelson agreed. “Sounds good. We’ll reconvene in one hour.”
The meeting broke and Leroux followed Morrison out of the room.
“I want your entire team on this.”
Leroux nodded. “Understood.”
Morrison paused, raising a finger. “I’m not sure you do. Your entire team. That means the professors’ problems aren’t even on the back burner.”
Leroux suppressed a frown. “Yes, sir.”
33
Professor Gadeiros’ Residence
Atlantis
Before the fall
“Everybody is talking now. They can’t hide it anymore.”
Ampheres stared at the man, Mestor, who had saved him earlier. “That may be, but we know it’s already too late.” As if to emphasize his point, the ground shook once again, the tremors coming more frequently, as if the earth were about to give birth to something horrible. “If we don’t evacuate now, there may be nothing left.” He stared at his mentor, Gadeiros. “I wish you would reconsider.”
The old man shook his head emphatically. “I still have my reputation, and that may count for something in the coming days. I will continue to voice my warnings, and hopefully, some will heed them and save themselves. But you must leave now and join your family and mine on the boat. There is no more time to waste. You must set sail the moment you arrive.”
Ampheres’ shoulders slumped, his heart still hammering with the pressure of what was being asked of him. A few months ago, the tremors and steam were a curiosity, something to be investigated, not feared. He was a professor, a husband, a father. Not the savior of Atlantis. If he were, shouldn’t he have been the one to put together an expedition to save his people? No, Gadeiros should be the one to lead them, but the old man was determined to be a stubborn fool.
Old man.
Ampheres regarded his mentor for a moment, noticing for perhaps the first time just how gray the man’s hair was, how wrinkled the skin, how hunched the shoulders. He hadn’t seen him in so long, he had been seeing the man of a decade ago instead of the feeble figure he had become. His mind was definitely there, but the spring in his step was long gone, and he likely wasn’t long for this earth, certainly not if forced to live those last days on a perilous journey to save civilization. He frowned, and his mentor smiled.
“You realize I’m right, don’t you?”
Ampheres’ eyebrows rose, his eyes widening slightly. “You appear to still know me better than I know myself.”
Gadeiros chuckled. “I have a few decades more experience in reading people than you have, my friend.” He leaned forward, patting Ampheres on the knee. “Don’t worry about me, my friend. I will continue to spread the message, and when the time comes, I will sit in my courtyard, a glass of wine in my hand, and toast the apocalypse, beside the grave of my wife, content in the knowledge that you and the others will rebuild after we are gone. And with a clean slate, who knows, perhaps what you create will be even greater than what our ancestors accomplished.”
Ampheres drew in a deep breath then exhaled loudly. “You do realize that this amount of pressure does no one any good. I fear you will still be grading me from the afterlife.”
Gadeiros laughed, tossing his head back. “I just might!”
Mestor held up a finger, silencing the two men as he made for the window. He pushed the curtain aside slightly, then cursed. “The Enforcers are here!”
Ampheres leaped to his feet, holding out a hand for Gadeiros, who waved it off, turning to Mestor.
“You know what to do.”
“Yes, Professor.” He bowed. “It has been an honor.”
Gadeiros smiled. “The honor has been mine. Now, I ask you to place your faith in my apprentice, and protect him as you have me.”
“You have my word.”
Gadeiros turned to his former student. “Tell my daughter and grandchildren that I love them.”
Ampheres’ eyes burned and his chest ached as he struggled to control his emotions. “I shall.” He didn’t bother to ask this man who had once been like a father to him, to change his mind. There was no point. And no time. He bowed, closing his eyes, then felt Mestor’s hand on his arm.
“We must go, now.”
Ampheres nodded and followed Mestor to the rear of the house, glancing over his shoulder to see Gadeiros lean over and pour another glass of wine.
I’m sorry it won’t be in your courtyard, my friend.
Mestor shoved aside a cabinet, a passageway revealed behind it, as someone hammered at the front door. “Hurry!”
Ampheres stepped into the passageway, Mestor following before pulling the cabinet closed behind them. A torch was lit a moment later, and Mestor led the way, the shouts of the arriving Enforcers fading behind them.
Goodbye, my friend.
34
Zek Gerald Residence
Outside Beja, Portugal
Present Day
Acton tested the zip ties binding his hands, and kept his disappointment hidden. They were tight. Too tight. That not only meant they were cutting into his skin, but that they’d be extremely difficult to break. He rocked slightly in the kitchen chair he was strapped to. It creaked.
Good. Break the chair, and your hands and legs are free.
It told him these men weren’t professionals. Real pros would have bound their hands and ankles together, and left them on the floor with a guard. These men had strapped their hands and feet individually to rickety chairs. Unfortunately, there was a great equalizer in the entire situation.
Two of them, in fact.
Two handguns, tucked into the belts of their original two captors. The third, who had met them at the airport, was conversing with them in hushed, angry tones in the next room. Apparently, the third man, named Zek, wasn’t too pleased with the unexpected houseguests.
“What were you thinking involving me in this?”
“I’m sorry, Zek, but I had no choice.”
“Yes, you did. You could have gone anywhere in the world but here. And you should have warned me! Now I’m on camera having picked you and them up. The authorities are going to come looking for me!”
Spud spoke up meekly. “Umm, maybe we should leave. You can say that you didn’t know, and immediately kicked us out.”
Tark growled. “Shut up!”
“No, don’t shut up. That’s the first intelligent thing I’ve heard said here today. You should leave. Now!”
“But where are we going to go? It’s just for a few more minutes, I promise. Once we see the first news reports that it’s happened, then they’ll be set free.”
“And I’ll still be blamed.”
Tark appeared i
n the doorway. “You two getting all this?”
Acton shrugged.
“Would you tell the authorities the truth about my brother?”
Acton nodded. “Absolutely.”
Tark disappeared. “There, see? You’ve got nothing to worry about.”
Acton winked slightly at Laura. Zek was now no longer a threat, and Spud was still malleable, in his opinion.
“Fine. But if I don’t hear this announcement within one hour, you’re all out of here regardless.”
Tark walked past the doorway. “I don’t understand why we haven’t heard anything. They were supposed to detonate the cables over an hour ago. Something must have gone wrong.”
Acton’s eyes widened, as did Laura’s. “Hey, what are you guys detonating?”
Tark reappeared. “Shut up!”
“Listen, like I told your friend, we were surveying a new archaeological site that was just discovered underwater, off the coast of the Azores. Not far from where you captured us. If you’re planning on detonating a bomb or something, then you need to stop. The entire site could sink even farther.”
Tark’s eyes narrowed. “What kind of site?”
“An ancient city.”
His eyes widened. “In the Azores? Bullshit.”
Acton forced a chuckle, hoping to keep the conversation going. “That’s what I thought, but it’s there. And there’s significant evidence to suggest it might be the lost city of Atlantis.”
Tark’s eyebrows shot up, and Zek appeared at his brother’s side. “Are you serious?”
“He never kids about archaeology,” replied Laura.
Zek stepped into the kitchen. “I thought Atlantis was just a myth.”
“So do most people. So did we. This could be the first physical evidence that it actually was real.”
Zek sat across from them. “And if my brother’s bomb goes off?”
“It’s not my bomb, it’s the group’s.”
Zek dismissed his brother’s protests with an annoyed flick of the wrist.
“The city is on the side of the volcano that makes up Pico Island. Yesterday’s earthquake caused a landslide that revealed part of the city. An explosion could cause the entire city to slide farther into the ocean. Far enough, and we may never be able to properly explore it, or perhaps even find it.”
Zek stared up at his brother. “If this is true, then you have to stop what you’re doing.”
Tark’s eyes bulged. “Are you kidding me? We’re trying to save the future! Who cares about the past?”
“Bah! I’ve listened to your nonsense for years, and you’ve accomplished nothing beyond posting some YouTube videos.”
“That was before we had money. Now look at us!”
Zek gestured toward the next room where CNN International was playing. “Look at what? You claim you’ve placed explosives on the transatlantic data cables, and that they should have already been detonated. Would you even recognize a bomb?”
Tark’s mouth opened for a rebuttal, yet nothing came out as he apparently began to have doubts. “Umm, well, no. But I’m sure somebody would.”
Zek shook his head. “Who in your merry band would? How do you even know that any other charges were placed?”
Tark jabbed at the air between them. “That I do know. We personally placed four charges, and three other teams placed the rest. I know everyone on those teams, and we’ve been in constant communication. I know the charges have been set.”
Zek shook his head. “Yet here we sit, with CNN talking about nothing, like they usually do.” He rose, stabbing Tark’s chest with his forefinger. “One hour, then you’re all out of here.”
35
Operations Center 3, CIA Headquarters
Langley, Virginia
Leroux entered the op center, tense, hating what he was about to do—order a halt to their efforts to locate the two missing professors.
“Hey, boss, found them.”
Leroux suppressed a grin, but a smile still escaped as he walked toward Randy Child’s workstation. “Good work.”
Child spun, his arm in the air, then stopped, the arm coming down dramatically, a finger extended toward Sonya Tong. “Not me. The credit goes to the lovely lady in green and black.”
Tong gave him a look. “It’s teal.” She gestured toward the screen. “I was able to trace the ownership, and we’ve got an unsecured camera on a neighbor’s house. The car is in the driveway.”
Leroux suddenly didn’t feel as guilty. “Okay, excellent work people.” He bowed slightly to Tong. “Sonya.” She smiled, looking away. “But we’ve got new orders. Package up everything you found and send it to Special Agent Kane, along with the non-classified stuff to Agent Reading. They’ll have to run with it from here. We’ve got bigger fish to fry.”
Tong attacked her keyboard as the rest of the room turned their attention to their boss.
“I just got out of a briefing. An unknown individual or group has just delivered a video message to the White House. They’re claiming they have just blown up one of the transatlantic data cables, and are threatening to detonate one every two hours, unless we pay them one billion dollars in less than”—he checked his watch—“ninety minutes. Then the price doubles each time.”
Child swung in his chair. “I’ve reconfirmed that the TAT-14 cable is down.”
“Any idea where?”
“Yeah, less than a mile off the coast of France.”
“Good, that matches my suspicions, so hopefully the assho—sorry, gentleman—who thought I was an idiot, is answering his door tonight, because I’m having UberEats deliver him some crow.”
Child raised a hand and Leroux high-fived him without missing a beat.
“All the intel we have has been sent to your terminals. Start going through it. I want to know if there’s anything in the video that might identify who actually sent it, where it was recorded, where it was sent from. Check satellite imagery to see if we can spot anything suspicious around the data cables, specifically around the one we know has been severed. Let’s do our thing, people, and solve this before anyone else does. Just imagine the Christmas bonus this year for saving the world once again.”
Laughter spread through the room as everyone knew there were no bonuses, and they were underpaid compared to the private sector. But that didn’t matter here. Everyone loved their job, and most would do it no matter what the pay was. Those who cared about such things either never took a government position, or left within a few years once they realized the opportunities here weren’t money, but power. His boss had said something in today’s briefing that had stunned him, and terrified him.
One day he’s probably going to be sitting in this seat.
Did Morrison actually think that one day he’d be the Chief? He still hated being an Analyst Supervisor.
But did he?
He looked around the room, everyone’s head down, doing their jobs, executing the orders he had just given. Nobody questioned him now. He had proven himself despite being younger than many of them. He no longer dreaded entering an operations center or a team meeting.
Holy shit! You’re actually enjoying this!
He sat at his terminal at the center of the room, a slight smile on his face. It was the first time he had realized the fear was not only gone, but that he was comfortable in this position he had been thrust into, kicking and screaming, by Morrison.
But Chief?
Never. But then again, in another twenty years, who knew?
Ugh! Twenty years! I’ll be an old man.
He’d be approaching fifty. It was something he couldn’t even imagine.
“Looks like the message was received through a Russian civilian communications satellite before it hit our terrestrial network.”
Leroux looked at Child. “Can you trace it past that?”
“I’m trying, but it gets trickier with each jump.”
Leroux rose. “Show me where the satellite was positioned when the call went through it.”
A map appeared on the display, the satellite shown with a cone of coverage projected on the surface of the globe. “It’s geostationary. This one covers the northern hemisphere, mostly the North Atlantic, Arctic, Siberia. Top of the globe stuff.”
Leroux grunted. “Civilian my ass. Anything unusual from the Russians within the coverage area?”
Tong turned toward him. “Do you really think the Russians could be behind this? This could be considered an act of war.”
Leroux shook his head. “I doubt the Kremlin is involved, but that country is so corrupt, nothing would surprise me.”
Child grunted.
“What?”
“Well, the Russians are up to all kinds of things, but they’re all pretty normal, except for one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“We’ve got a Russian Ilyushin Il-80 over the North Atlantic that’s been flagged.”
Leroux’s eyes narrowed. “What’s so unusual about that?”
“It’s apparently just flying in a big circle, and has already been refueled at least once. A P-3 Orion noticed it, so they’ve been monitoring from a distance. Some F-15s were sent in to provide support just in case the Russians decide to play any games.”
Leroux’s gut told him this was important. He had no proof, but he never ignored his gut, and neither did his bosses. It was what had him in the big seat now. “Can we get eyes on it?”
Child nodded, shots from the F-15s and the Orion appearing.
Leroux watched for a moment. “Have they been challenged?”
“They were asked if they needed assistance, and were told no, and to back off. That’s it. Wait.”
Leroux tore his eyes away from the footage. “What?”
Child was listening to something, a finger poised in the air. “Okay, another aircraft is entering the area. It’s a Russian Ilyushin Il-78.”
Leroux’s eyes narrowed. “Refueling aircraft? Again?”
Atlantis Lost Page 11