The Doomsday Key and The Last Oracle with Bonus Excerpts

by James Rollins

  He’d been right.

  Elizabeth freed her camera and took several pictures while Rosauro and Luca joined them, crowding the stairs.

  Gray leaned out. “Dr. Masterson?”

  Through the opening, Elizabeth saw the professor back away.

  “Such clambering is for younger folk than I,” he said, clearly exhausted, limping back with his cane. “Just let me know what you find.”

  “I’ll remain here, too,” Abe added, but his voice sounded more scared than tired. Elizabeth had noted how nervous he had grown the closer they got to here.

  Gray called down. “Kowalski, stay here. In case we get into trouble.”

  “Fine by me,” he answered. “Doubt I could fit through there anyway.”

  Kowalski’s eyes flicked to Elizabeth. He nodded, silently warning her to be careful.

  Thunder again rumbled, felt in the stones.

  “Let’s go,” Gray said.

  He led the way down with his flashlight. Elizabeth followed, trailed by Rosauro and Luca. Her fingers traced the wall. Harappan script flowed down the stairwell. The ancient language had never been deciphered, mostly because of the scarcity of the script that survived. Archaeologists were still searching for the Rosetta stone for this language, some codex that would allow them to crack their ancient code.

  She gazed around her. This could be it.

  Thrilled and amazed, her heart thumped in her chest. She was surprised no one else could hear it. At the same time, she pictured her father following these same footsteps. She imagined his heart had thundered the same as hers. In this moment, she felt a strange intimacy, a closeness they’d never shared in life. And never would. Her throat closed a bit as emotion racked through her.

  The stairwell was not long and ended in a small chamber, cut from the sandstone. Water gurgled and echoed on the far side. A natural spring poured out of a knee-high hole in the wall and flowed through a crack in the floor, then vanished out the opposite wall.

  “A Harappan well cave,” Elizabeth said, recognizing the configuration. “Living alongside the Indus River, the civilization grew skilled at irrigation.”

  Gray shone his light around the space. It was crudely circular. Cut into the stone floor was another chakra wheel. But the center of this one wasn’t empty. A large egg-shaped stone rested there.

  “It’s a copy of the omphalos,” Elizabeth said.

  She and the others were drawn to it. It stood as high as her midriff and was twice as large as the one from the Delphi museum. The dome’s outer surface was carved with trees and leaves.

  Elizabeth swallowed hard and stared around her. “Someone has re-created the original adytum, the inner sanctum of the Oracle, where she cast her prophecies.”

  Elizabeth stepped over to a toppled bronze chair. It had three legs. “Here’s a tripod. The classical seat of the Oracle.”

  “Or oracles.” Gray had wandered a few steps away. He pointed his flashlight to more toppled chairs.

  Five total.

  Elizabeth snapped several pictures. What was this place? What was it doing here?

  Rosauro called from the wall, hiking up her pack. “You might want to see this,” she said.

  Luca stood farther down the wall. His arm was raised to the surface, but not touching. Even in the shadows, Elizabeth noted how his hand shook.

  Elizabeth crossed to Rosauro. A mosaic, nearly black with age, covered the wall. Several tiles littered the floor, fallen away. Someone had wiped sections of the mosaic down, removing centuries of mold and grime. It looked hastily done. Elizabeth imagined her father swabbing a cloth over the artwork, seeking what lay beneath.

  She stared at what was revealed.

  From floor to ceiling, it depicted a siege on a temple set amid mountains. “Parnassus,” Elizabeth mumbled. “Under attack by Romans. It’s showing the downfall of the Temple of Delphi.”

  The next section revealed a room not unlike the one they were in, even with an omphalos in the center—but the stone was shown in cross section. Hidden beneath its dome crouched a small girl, cradled in the arms of a young woman, curled tight together as a Roman soldier searched for them.

  Elizabeth glanced to the stone behind her. It couldn’t be…

  She stepped along the wall. The next tableaux revealed a caravan of horses, donkeys, and carts. At the head of the train, the same slender woman led the child. The long caravan climbed up and over a mountain. The last cart was hauled by two fiery stallions, clearly representing the steeds who drew Apollo’s sun chariot across the skies. But they were not dragging the sun here. In the back of the cart rested the same stone that had protected the woman and child. The omphalos of Delphi.

  Elizabeth turned and faced the stone behind her. She trembled all over. “That’s not a copy,” she said with a shudder. “That’s the original omphalos. The one spoken of in the histories of Plutarch and Socrates.”

  “And see this,” Rosauro said.

  The woman drew Elizabeth to the next scene. It was a picture of the canyon, a joyous scene of the Greeks building temples into the cliffs. The adytum was also depicted, but instead of one Oracle seated atop a tripod, there were five. They circled the omphalos, which smoked like a volcano from the hole at its top. The smoke formed a figure of a young boy with outstretched arms. His eyes were fire, and flames climbed from his open palms.

  Was the boy indicative of prophecy in general or something more specific?

  Either way, Elizabeth found those fiery eyes staring back at her.

  At her shoulder, Gray had also followed the story. He waved an arm along the wall, encompassing the tale.

  “The last Oracle, the child, must have been spirited away after the downfall of the temple. In secret, the Greek temple guardians and supporters fled the Roman persecution and settled here, where they rebuilt among these Harappan ruins, and stayed hidden.”

  Elizabeth remembered Abe’s story of this place. “They remained safe for seven hundred years, perhaps intermingling with the local tribes in secret. And after so many generations, the Greeks were slowly absorbed into the Indian culture.”

  “Then they grew afoul of religious persecution and the growing Indian caste system,” Gray said. “All the bones. A massacre occurred here.”

  Luca spoke at the end of the wall. “And they fled again,” he said.

  They joined him. He stood a step from the churning spring. The art here was not mosaic tiles, but someone had painted a hurried frieze. It was done in black paint, showing the attack of the temples. People fled in all directions, but one group, highlighted by radiant streaks, escaped in a caravan of tall wagons with large wheels. It faded smaller and smaller across the wall, heading far away.

  Luca placed his fingers gently to the wagons. His voice cracked with emotion. “These are our people,” he said. “The Romani. This is where we came from. This is our origin.”

  Gray shifted back. He stared across the wall, his face stunned.

  The Greek guardians escaped with the last child and the omphalos, hiding in this valley and absorbing over the span of seven centuries into Indian culture, then that same culture persecuted them and sent them wandering once again, but under a new name.

  Gypsies.

  Gray waved an arm to encompass the wall. “The story depicted here must trace a genetic line that has been preserved throughout history. Flowing from Greece, to here, and out again. A genetic line of savant power.”

  “This is why we wander,” Luca said, still staring at the caravan. “As the Hindu man said, no place is safe forever. So we kept moving, trying to protect the secret held within the heart of our clans.”

  “Until the secret was stolen from you,” Gray said.

  “A secret that trails all the way back to Delphi,” Elizabeth added.

  She pictured the child back in Washington. Could she truly be a descendant of the last Oracle of Delphi?

  Rosauro stepped to the fresco and pointed to the lines of other figures fleeing the besieged complex i
n various directions. “These refugees,” she said to Elizabeth. “This must be why your father found all the genetic trails led to this region, why the markers are so concentrated in this area, especially among the lower castes. It’s where the refugees were absorbed into the populace.”

  As they talked, Gray had crossed down the wall one more time, studying each image more closely. He came to the last mosaic, the one with the fiery boy. “There’s writing below here,” he said.

  Elizabeth stepped closer. There were three lines. The topmost was a handsome line of Harappan script, the next line Sanskrit, the last Greek. Below the lines rested another chakra wheel.

  “I can’t read the Harappan hieroglyphics,” she said. “No one can. And below that, I can make out only the first few words of the Sanskrit and Greek. The rest has been worn away. What I can translate, reads ‘the world will burn…’” She took some snapshots, especially of the fiery figure. “The rest is lost.”

  Gray leaned lower and touched the chakra wheel inscribed below the lines. “This must be important. It’s repeated over and over.”

  He straightened and turned toward the larger chakra wheel carved into the floor. The omphalos rested at its center. Elizabeth could almost read Gray’s mind. If the chakra was important, then what lay at its center must be doubly so. The man’s eyes narrowed as he stalked over to the stone. They’d only given it a cursory glance.

  “Your father hid the skull inside the stone at the museum. Maybe there was a reason.”

  Gray climbed on top of the domed omphalos.

  “Be careful,” Elizabeth squeaked out, fearful of marring the piece of ancient history. She circled the stone and noted the bottom rim was inscribed with three languages again: Harappan, Sanskrit, and Greek.

  She took more pictures.

  Balancing on top of the omphalos, Gray shone his light down through the hole and into its hollow heart.

  “What do you see?” she asked.

  “Gold…in the shape of two eagles.”

  Elizabeth’s breath shortened. “Are they facing away from each other?”

  Gray glanced back to her. “Yes.”

  “It’s another lost artifact from Delphi, representing Zeus’s eagles. According to mythology, the pair was sent in opposite directions from his shoulders to pinpoint the center of the world. They came to roost at Delphi, marking the navel of the world.”

  “Your father surely must have found them, too.” Gray reached inside. “Maybe there’s some reason they’re hidden here, the same reason your father hid the skull in the omphalos at the museum.”

  As he strained, Elizabeth edged around the stone, continuing her translation of the three lines.

  “I think I can reach them…,” Gray said.

  Elizabeth mumbled the words found there, tracing each letter with her finger. “‘Greed and blasphemy bring doom to all.’”

  Elizabeth stopped.

  Oh, no!

  “Got it,” Gray said as he reached the golden idols.

  Elizabeth snapped straight. “Don’t!”

  Startled, Gray slipped.

  Something loud thumped inside the stone, followed by a thunderous crack underfoot. A low roar followed, coming from the rear of the chamber, growing in volume, like a freight train barreling toward them.

  Everyone froze for a breath, then Gray shoved an arm toward the stairs. “Everybody out!” he screamed.

  Too late.

  From the spring’s hole, an explosion of water blasted out with the power of a fire hose—in a column two feet thick. Fissures skittered across the wall, radiating out from the opening.

  A man-made flash flood.

  The water smashed against the far wall and swept into the room, knocking them all off their feet with the force of its current.

  Elizabeth tangled into the others as the room swelled rapidly with icy water. Gray nabbed her elbow and dragged her toward the stairs.

  “A trap…” She coughed in shock. “Pressure switch! My father…tried to warn us…”

  Gray cried. “Out! Out!”

  She climbed the first few stairs on hands and feet. Behind her, Gray fished Luca out of the water and shoved him toward the stairs. The level had already climbed to the top of her thighs and rose higher with every breath. Gray remained below, braced in the stairwell opening, searching the small cave.

  Elizabeth knew why.

  Where was Rosauro?

  Gray had lost sight of her. She had been closest to the spring when it blew. The blasting water swirled like a whirlpool in the cavern and reflected his flashlight’s beam. He could not see beneath the surface. By now, the water had climbed to his waist. Still, Rosauro should be able to stand, and even if knocked out, her body should be buoyant enough to reveal her location.

  Unless…

  Gray turned to Luca and held out his arm. “Your dagger!”

  With a flash of silver, a blade appeared in the Gypsy’s hand. He slapped the grip into Gray’s palm. In turn, Gray tossed him the flashlight.

  “Hold the beam underwater!” he ordered and dove out into the growing lake.

  The current grabbed him and whipped him around the edge of the room. He didn’t fight it. He let the force churn him to the far side of the cave. He knew when he’d reached it, sensing the raw power of the jetting spring below. He twisted and kicked toward the opposite wall.

  Conscious or not, only one thing could be holding Rosauro down beneath the water.

  Pressure.

  Gray dove to where the spring had drained out of the cavern. In the dim light of the flashlight, he spotted a struggling form trapped in the drainage slot. Rosauro had been sucked tight against the hole, one arm swallowed down its throat. Gray heard of people drowning, pinned to swimming pool drains. This was a force a hundred times as fierce.

  Gray grabbed her free arm and pulled himself down to her. He braced his legs to either side of the trough. She stared up at him. Even in the weak light, he saw the raw panic on her face.

  Gray slashed out with the dagger. He’d lost one teammate to drowning—he wasn’t about to lose another. The blade sliced through the straps of Rosauro’s backpack. Half the bag had been sucked into the hole, holding her trapped. Once cut free, Gray dropped the dagger, grabbed her around the chest, and heaved with his legs.

  For a moment, she remained stuck. Then the pack shifted deeper into the hole, weakening the pressure enough for Gray to pop her out. He tumbled back with her in his arms. He let the spin of the current carry them toward the light and the stairwell.

  The water had risen to within a foot of the roof.

  A grinding boom of stone echoed. The current suddenly slammed harder as the cavern wall gave way behind him.

  Surging forward, Gray kicked off the bottom and up into the flooded stairwell.

  Gasping, he surfaced into Luca’s arms. Luca helped Gray haul Rosauro up the stairs. She coughed and choked. Water spilled from her lips. But she took deep gulping breaths between.

  She used one breath to spit out a curse in Spanish that would burn even the hairs off Kowalski’s ears.

  Behind them, the chamber flooded to the roof, and the water level suddenly churned up after them.

  “Time to go,” Gray said.

  He pulled Rosauro to her feet and waved Elizabeth and Luca ahead. Rosauro was weak-kneed, but with water surging at their heels, she steadied enough to run on her own. Still, she cradled her left arm, strained from the suction.

  They fled upward, chased by a flume of rising floodwaters.

  Reaching the top, Elizabeth slithered backward out the opening, hung from her hands, then dropped to the floor below.

  “Go!” Gray called to Luca when the man hesitated.

  Luca obeyed and disappeared.

  Gray helped Rosauro through the black marble door. She dangled from her good arm, then dropped. Gray followed her as water flooded the last step and washed over him in a wave.

  He leaped away, clearing his fingers a second before the surge of water
struck the door and slammed it closed. He landed and stared up. With the marble door cut at an angle, it could only rotate in one direction. The water pressure now held it closed.

  Self-sealing.

  Turning, he heard a roar echoing from the canyon. Lightning flashed. Churning white water flowed across the valley floor. The canyon was flooding, too, but this was a natural flood—not the consequence of Gray’s ham-fisted fumbling.

  He stared at the volume of water coursing through the canyon.

  No wonder these buildings had been built into the cliffs.

  Gray realized one other thing.

  Luca had noted it, too, and whispered, “Where is everyone?”

  As if hearing his question, Masterson limped into view by the door, leaning on his cane. He’d been out of sight on the porch outside. Probably keeping an eye on the flooding waters with the others.

  “Thank God,” the professor said. “You’d been down there bloody long enough. What did you find?”

  Elizabeth stepped forward, excited. “The answers to everything! It was amazing.”

  “It that right?”

  Behind Masterson, more figures rushed into view.

  Others flooded in from the two side rooms. They all wore black, bristling with assault weapons ready at their shoulders.

  The Russian commandos.

  “You’ll have to tell me all about it,” Masterson said. “Since your father refused to.”

  Kowalski was shoved into view at the outer door, hands on his head. His right eyebrow was split, bleeding down his face. Soldiers forced him to his knees.

  “They killed Abe,” he growled out. “Shot him like a dog.”

  Masterson shrugged. “And why not? He was achuta. Dogs are treated better in India.”

  The soldiers spread out around them.

  Elizabeth stared at the professor, stunned, hardly able to speak. Still, heat fired through her words, realizing the depth of the betrayal here. “It was you! You betrayed my father!”

  “I had no choice, Elizabeth. He’d been getting too close to the truth.”

  Gray went cold. He understood the game that had been played out here. Masterson had been paid to keep an eye on Dr. Polk’s research, to feed his data to his superiors…but once Elizabeth’s father got too close, he had to be taken out of the game.