by John Sneeden
“Carmen! No!”
Zane. He’d spoken just in time. She lowered her gun.
“Did you find anything?” he asked.
The boy. She turned, but he was gone. She pivoted in every direction, but the room was empty. Either he’d climbed out the window, or he’d passed through the gap in the wall.
“Carmen, what’s going on?”
She faced him. “Did anyone pass you on the stairs?”
“Of course not.” His eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about?”
“Someone was up here. A… a child.” She held Zane’s gaze. “You sure you didn’t see anyone?”
“A child?” His frown conveyed a tinge of disbelief. “I didn’t pass anyone on the stairs, and I didn’t see anyone here except you. What did he look like?”
Carmen didn’t answer. She’d worry about convincing him later. To be honest, she still wasn’t sure what she’d seen. She met his gaze. “How did you know I was here?”
He took a step toward her and held out her robe. She smiled. She might as well have left a sign out front.
“Put it on. We need to get out of here.”
Carmen took it from him and slipped it over her head. “Something happen?”
“We found something you need to look at.”
“What is it?”
Zane started toward the stairs. “We’re not sure yet, but we think it’s something big. I’ll fill you in on the way.”
***
Camilla Lawson hovered at the window, her eyes fixed on the building across the street. The two should be coming out at any moment. As usual, her instincts had been correct. After noticing the one with the strange gait, she’d followed at a distance, eventually managing to approach from the rear. Familiar voices reached her ears. Now it was impossible to deny it. They were here. All of them. Once she came to grips with the truth, her shock transitioned to anger. She’d warned Roger that leaving them in the pit was a mistake, and it was now obvious she’d been right. Some way, somehow, they’d found a way out.
Eventually, the olive-skinned woman—the one who’d used the name Mariella—had broken off from the others and ventured down a side street. Curious as to why, Camilla had followed her, watching as the woman took off her robe and entered the building Camilla was looking at right now. Not wanting to be seen when the woman came back out, Camilla had slipped into the building across the street. A short time later, she saw someone else coming down the street. She couldn’t see his face, but based on his height, she guessed it was the longhaired man. After picking up the other one’s robe, he’d pulled out a pistol and disappeared inside.
There was movement across the street, pulling Camilla back to the present. The two were leaving now. What were they doing? She thought of calling a team in to kill them then realized it might be helpful to watch a while longer. Something was going on, but she couldn’t figure out what.
Besides, there would be plenty of time to kill them later.
CHAPTER FORTY
“YOU CAME LOOKING for me because you found a chasm?” Carmen asked as they walked. “I’m guessing there are dozens down here.”
“It’s not just a chasm. It’s located inside some sort of temple and has a low wall built around it, which seems to indicate it has some significance.”
“That does sound strange.”
The two continued on in silence.
Carmen had decided against sharing any details about the boy, at least for now. It was obvious Zane thought it was some sort of hallucination. She did tell him about the rats since they were something they might encounter at some point going forward. Fortunately, Zane had heard something going down through the walls when he arrived at the building, confirming her story.
A columned temple rose at the end of the street. Massive stairs ran up on all sides, giving it a look similar to the Parthenon, a place Carmen had visited many times.
“I wasn’t expecting anything this big,” she said as they mounted the steps.
“You’re only seeing one end. It runs back around a hundred fifty or two hundred yards.”
They climbed the stairs and passed under the columned portico. Inside, Carmen saw the glow of flashlights a short distance away. Amanda and Emily were bent over a circular stone wall that resembled a well.
Amanda lifted her head as they approached. “We can feel a draft.”
Carmen joined them and directed her flashlight into the void, but the beam was swallowed by darkness. If there was a bottom, they certainly couldn’t see it from the surface. As she hovered over the gap, her face was caressed by a slight waft of air. Surprisingly, it was warm.
Carmen patted the wall as she straightened. “Odd that they didn’t cover it. I wonder if it’s a well of some kind.”
“That’s one thing we did figure out.” Emily aimed her beam deeper into the temple. About ten yards away was a stone block with streaks of red stains.
“An altar?” Carmen asked.
Amanda nodded. “It looks like sacrifices made at the altar would be brought over here and dropped into the chasm.”
“For what purpose?”
“To worship some being or beings in the underworld.”
Footfalls approached. Carmen saw a flashlight beam coming toward them from further back in the temple. Soon a silhouette appeared. Keiko. And she carried a large stone block under one arm. Carmen frowned at the sight.
Amanda saw Carmen’s confusion. “We’re going to conduct a test.”
“A test?” Carmen lifted an eyebrow.
Keiko set the block on the wall. “I’m going to drop this into the hole and see how long it takes to hit bottom. I will then make all the calculations necessary to determine the depth.”
“Okay.” Carmen had to admit it would be interesting to find out exactly how deep it was.
Keiko lifted the block with both hands and extended it over the chasm. Despite seeing such displays many times, Carmen still marveled at the humanoid’s strength. The block weighed at least a hundred pounds, and yet she was able to hold it like a pillow.
After keeping it in place for a few seconds, Keiko let the block go. Immediately, it swished out of sight. Carmen leaned over the edge and cupped a hand to her ear. She waited but never heard anything. Finally, she straightened and looked at the others. They all shook their heads.
Keiko remained still for another minute before finally straightening. She looked at Zane. “I registered no sound, sir.”
“You didn’t pick up anything?”
“Nothing, which is strange because my auditory sensors are able to pick up sound waves from up to a mile away.”
“A mile?” Emily asked skeptically.
“Any significant sound, yes.”
“It doesn’t seem possible,” Carmen whispered.
Zane looked at Keiko. “What if the stone hit water?”
“I would’ve heard that.”
Amanda seemed focused on something else. “Where did you get the stone?”
Keiko turned and pointed. “From a structure on the far end of the temple.”
“What kind of structure?”
“A monument perhaps? I’m not sure.”
“I’d like to see that,” Amanda said. “Can you take me there?”
“Let’s all have a look,” Zane said.
As they moved through the temple, Zane fell in beside Carmen. “I wanted to apologize.”
“For?”
“For my cynicism earlier. I know you saw something back in the building. You don’t lie, and you weren’t hallucinating.” He hesitated for a moment then continued. “Even though Keiko said the oxygen levels are fine down here, I’m just not sure they are. I’ve felt a little dizzy a couple of times, and I guess I translated my issues to you.”
“Don’t worry about it. If I hadn’t seen him with my own eyes, I might not have believed it myself. By the way, are you okay? Being dizzy isn’t a good sign.”
“I’m fine. Thankfully, it didn’t last long.”
“I think you’re hallucinating.” Carmen elbowed his side.
Zane laughed. “I wonder if there are people living down here. You’re heard the stories before… people isolated and yet surviving for centuries without being discovered.”
“Ordinarily, that might make sense, but in this case, his attire didn’t fit.” She walked in silence for a moment, debating whether or not to share all the details. At this point, what did she have to lose? He said he believed her. She looked at him. “Zane, he was wearing a suit like people wore back in the eighteen hundreds. I know you think I’ve gone stark raving—”
Zane held up a hand. “You saw what you saw. I believe you. We just need to figure out who he is and why he’s down here.”
Carmen was about to respond when she realized the others had stopped ahead, training their beams on something. As Carmen approached, she saw a stone box resting atop a mortared stone foundation. It looked like a coffin, but it was much longer than any coffin she’d ever seen.
“A tomb,” Emily said.
“It’s actually a sarcophagus, which contains the remains of the dead,” Amanda explained.
Emily shot her a look. “Isn’t that the same thing as a tomb?”
“Actually, a tomb would be the building or vault housing the burial containers.” She played her beam down its length. “I’ve seen quite a few of these over the years but never one this large.”
“You can’t think of anything that might explain the size?” Carmen asked. “Maybe there’s more than one person inside.”
“Not typically. A burial container of this size is highly unusual.” Amanda ran her hand along the top. “The only way to know for sure would be to move this off and see what’s inside.”
“Why don’t we all give it a push?” Emily asked.
“Too heavy,” Amanda said. “We’d need a crane to lift that off.”
“Thankfully, we have a crane…Sort of.” Zane nodded at Keiko. “Think you can move it?”
She sized it up for a moment. “Yes, I believe so.”
“Have at it,” Zane said.
Keiko stepped to the center and rested her hands on the slab cover. Carmen heard the hydraulics whine as Keiko pushed. If anyone could get it off, it would be her. According to her specs, she had the strength of six men.
Initially, the slab resisted the humanoid’s efforts. Was it too heavy even for Keiko’s strength? Then, just when it seemed the humanoid might be about to give up, the sound of stone-on-stone grating came forth. The top began to move.
After she pushed it half way across, Zane held up a hand. “Stop.”
Everyone pressed forward with flashlights. Amanda gasped at the contents. There, spread out along the bottom, was the largest skeleton Carmen had ever seen.
“Good heavens,” Emily said.
“I’m guessing that’s the center for the Bashan basketball team,” Zane said.
Carmen moved her beam up the giant’s leg. The femur had the girth of a baseball bat. The rib cage was so large a child could probably curl up inside. The head was equally impressive. The cranium was the size of a melon, and the enormous eye sockets, bulging frontal bone, and heavy brow gave it a menacing appearance. Carmen shuddered to think what this man must have looked like alive.
Emily was looking at something beyond the skull. “Guys, check it out.”
Carmen moved closer, adding her beam to the others. A gold crown twinkled in the cones of light. It lay on its side, having fallen off the skull at some point. Carmen leaned over and studied it. Intricate designs were carved on its surface, and the gold encrusted jewels. Some of the precious stones glistened with colors she’d never seen before.
“A king,” Amanda said. “The question is, ‘king of what state?’”
“I think I may have the answer,” Emily said.
Everyone looked around, unable to locate her. Finally, Carmen pointed to a glow at the end of the sarcophagus. When they arrived, they found Emily on her knees, illuminating three lines of letters engraved in the stone.
“What is it?” Zane asked her.
“I don’t know.”
Amanda lowered next to Emily. Her eyes narrowed as she ran her fingers across the surface. “The letters are mostly worn, but I can see enough to tell it’s Hebrew.”
“Don’t you read Hebrew?” Carmen asked.
“I have some knowledge of it, but I can’t read this.”
“Let me see it,” Keiko said.
Amanda scooted over, and Keiko lowered down beside her. The humanoid studied the script for several minutes. “I can only read the first line. The rest is too worn.”
“And what does the first line say?” Amanda asked.
Keiko ran a finger from right to left. “Here lies Og, King of Bashon.”
Amanda’s eyes widened. “Are you sure that’s what it says?”
“Yes.”
Carmen thought the name sounded familiar—very familiar—but she couldn’t quite place where she’d heard it before. “So he’s a king?”
“Not just any king.” Amanda beamed. “He was a Nephilim giant.”
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
AMANDA STOOD AND stared at the sarcophagus as though seeing it for the first time. “Og sheds light on the whole thing.”
“Sheds light on what?” Zane asked.
“This city, everything. Let’s go back to the beginning. The Book of Enoch tells us the fallen angels descended on Mount Hermon. Shortly afterward, they took human females as wives and produced giant offspring known as the Nephilim. This was an act of abomination to God, and one of the reasons he brought the worldwide flood was to clean up the tainted gene pool.”
Amanda pulled out her phone and searched for something. “In the same chapter, we also find a very interesting tidbit of information about the Nephilim. Verse four reads, ‘The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward.’” She looked up. “That means they were present even after the flood.”
“How can that be?” Emily asked. “Weren’t they destroyed by the flood?”
“Presumably, the ones from the initial incursion would have been destroyed, yes. We can only infer the fallen angels continued to commit the acts post-flood, producing more Nephilim. Or perhaps, a few survived the flood. We’re not told.
“What we do know is that giants were present after the flood. I’m sure all of you are familiar with the stories. For example, I know you remember the account of Moses sending spies into Canaan. When those spies came back, they reported seeing giants there. In fact, the giants were so large the spies said they felt like grasshoppers in their sight. And who can forget the story of David and Goliath? Goliath was also a giant.”
Carmen listened with interest. The subject of the Nephilim had also come up on a recent Delphi operation in the Amazon rainforest. She wasn’t present for most of that operation, but she knew about the mountain temple the operatives discovered there. Amanda believed the temple might have been built by the Nephilim because statues had been erected in honor of the fallen angels. Unfortunately, the temple and all other evidence had been destroyed by a massive explosion.
Amanda continued. “So we know Nephilim giants were present after the flood. That brings us back to Bashan, the northern region of Israel. The Books of Numbers and Deuteronomy both tell us God sent Moses to conquer the area that included Bashan due to the continued presence of Nephilim tribes, and in one of those battles, the forces of Moses killed King Og.” Amanda patted the sarcophagus for emphasis. “Guess what? Og was a Nephilim—or at least a descendant of Nephilim.”
“The man whose bones rest in this sarcophagus was slain by the forces of Moses,” Carmen said. “That’s pretty amazing.”
“It’s possible Moses might have slain Og himself,” Amanda said.
“Assuming this really is Og,” Zane said with a hint of skepticism. “At this point, who knows?”
“Well, the size of the skeleton seems to fit the biblical description.” Amanda was looking at her phone again
. “Listen to this passage from Deuteronomy. ‘For only Og, king of Bashan, was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bed was a bed of iron. Is it not in Rabbah of the Ammonites? Nine cubits was its length and four cubits its breadth, according to the common cubit.’” She looked at Zane. “In other words, he was about thirteen or fourteen feet tall.”
Zane nodded.
“You’ve sold me,” Emily said.
“So do you believe the legend is true?” Zane asked Amanda. “Do you really believe we may be near the entrance to the underworld?”
“I’ll admit I’ve been a bit skeptical about the map and the key. Then again, the map did lead us to this underground city. Not only that, but now we find a burial box containing what appears to be the bones of Og. So is hell’s gate somewhere down here? At this point, it would be intellectually dishonest to say it’s impossible.”
Carmen wondered if it was time to let the entire group know about the child she’d seen. Admittedly, Zane’s initial doubts had rattled her, but she didn’t take it personally. After all, Zane held himself to the same standard. During a recent Delphi operation at CERN, he’d traveled to the facility’s underground tunnels to save a man who’d been kidnapped. While there, both he and the man saw something—a large creature, perhaps a Nephilim—and yet for a time, Zane had labeled it a hallucination, the product of smoke inhalation.
That brought her back to the child. At this point, why should she hide what she saw? The group deserved to know what was out there.
She turned to Amanda. “Do you think it’s possible there is demonic activity here?”
“Absolutely. Why?”
She let out a sigh. “I saw something earlier… when I left the group.”
Amanda’s eyes widened. “What? Why didn’t you tell us?”
“I did tell Zane but wasn’t sure if I should tell everyone until I was sure of what I’d seen. Hearing you talk about the history of all the things that happened here gave me the little nudge I needed to share what I saw.”
“So what exactly did you see?” Amanda asked.