A giant, and she meant giant, statue of Ashur dominated the temple. The God had to be at least fifty feet tall with a ruby the size of her fist as his eye. His wings were open, which was not the classic style, yet felt completely authentic.
Ashur’s wife, Enki, took up the facing wall. She was no Kate Moss. The goddess had ample curves and an emerald for a belly button.
The rest of the gods of the Assyrian Pantheon decorated the other walls and ceiling. Even the floor was carved with these ancient gods. And even though there was far less bling in this cavern, it was worth so much more.
Yet the King did not pause. He continued across the cavern until he reached a plain looking door.
With the urging of Brandt behind her, Rebecca finally crossed the threshold and walked through the Temple. She couldn't help but crane her neck the entire way. She glanced behind Brandt to find Sallah doing the same thing.
The King did not open the door until the entire party joined him.
Rebecca pulled next to Xexes.
The plain, unadorned door seemed strangely out of place. Yet from the look in the king’s eyes, it was the most important door they were going to enter.
“I believe what you both seek is down the staircase.”
Rebecca glanced over her shoulder to Sallah. The man's face expressed hope as no words could.
“Are you sure you want to go down there? Once you have seen what is there, it can never be unseen.”
Rebecca nodded vigorously. She had never been so sure she wanted to discover artifacts more than she did right now. And, of course, Brandt nodded. This was the whole point of why they had come to the Rab-talia in the first place.
The King opened the door, and they followed him down dirt steps. The walls of the passage were plain and seeping water. The rains from above were rapidly soaking through the ground.
“I suppose it should have been no great surprise that you two found your selves on my doorstep on this of all days.”
“What days?” Rebecca asked, but the King did not clarify himself.
Instead, silently they descended deep into the earth.
The torchlight illuminated a plain door at the base of the steps. There was a large iron bar locking the door. Brandt stepped forward and helped the King lift the bar. It seemed like this door hadn’t been opened in quite a while. The men put their shoulders into it. The wood scraped along the dirt creating a sound that made her teeth hurt.
This was a much smaller cavern and was completely unadorned. Not a single piece of gold, silver or jewels could be found. There was just an alcove in the opposing wall that was lit from an unknown source.
Whatever was within that alcove was too small to be seen from here. The King stepped out of the way, waving them in.
Rebecca was hesitant to walk the short distance. This was not at all what she had expected. However Sallah, rushed past her to the small altar. His excitement gave her feet motivation.
The man stopped right in front of the altar, then gasped, stumbling backwards. Rebecca had to catch him before he fell to the ground. As she righted him, she looked over his shoulder, uncertain of what had caused the extreme reaction.
Brandt strode past her, looked at the altar, then turned back to her with a quizzical look on his face. “It's just a piece of wood.”
Rebecca's mind spun with possibilities. Could it be the cross that the Savior had been crucified upon?
However legend stated the cross was made of Dogwood. The piece of wood on the altar was a lighter type of wood.
“Gopher wood.”
Rebecca looked over at Sallah. Her mind tried to give context to the man’s statement.
* * *
Bunny knew the reference, but didn't want to step on Rebecca's toes.
Stark raise an eyebrow. “If you know the answer, say it.”
It wasn't quite that simple. But as the silence stretched on, Bunny became more confident.
“I believe Sallah is referring to the type of wood that God commanded Noah use to build his ark.”
Bunny waited for a reaction, any reaction.
“She is right,” Sallah stated. “I believe that this is a relic from the original ark.”
“What the?” Stark said. His eyes open wide. Even his mother seemed surprised. Rebecca still didn’t say anything for a few more moments.
“The ark?” Rebecca asked.
“If you’re referring to the ark that Noah built, then yes,” the King stated.
Even though that came out of left field, the statement helped to make sense out of the past few days.
The Assyrian Empire was just beginning to crumble at the time of the biblical Noah's Ark. Some have even suggested, the great flood was what had destroyed the Assyrians.
“You are trying to tell me that this piece of wood came from the ark that was built to help man survive a worldwide flood?” Rebecca queried.
Again Bunny knew the answer but was very reluctant to speak it.
The King laughed, a hearty laugh. “You biblical literalists. Not all that is written is true. Those were man's words long after the events. My people were there.”
Bunny tensed. Seldom was Rebecca spoken to in such a tone. She worried how her mentor would take the disdain.
* * *
Rebecca had to stifle a scathing retort. She was anything but a biblical literalist. Seriously, this man didn't know her at all. Brandt put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. Her cheeks must have been blushing a bright red.
“Then explain to me,” Rebecca asked the King.
Xexes smiled. “The Quran got it better. The great flood was only in the holy lands. And the animals that Noah took were not all animals, but his livestock.”
Rebecca had heard all of this theory of course.
Yet somehow she had defaulted back to the biblical version. Perhaps she was a little more of a literalist then she would like to think. It looked like she had given the Judeo-Christian Bible more weight than the Quran. Not very academic of her. Funny how, as much as you thought you were unbiased, that bias crept in.
She stepped closer to the small piece of wood. It had deep striations and appeared to have large amounts of pitch rubbed into it.
Which of course matched the biblical account.
Rebecca turned to Sallah. “You knew this might be here?”
Sallah nodded. “It was my greatest hope.”
“Why?”
He reached out and traced the woods with his finger. “We're the Foremen. We have been tasked to build the new ark. This great flood will in fact encircle the entire world. The key to this new ark is buried in this old wood.”
* * *
Brandt joined his wife next to Sallah. “But if you're charged from God to build the ark, why hasn't he given the instructions you need?”
Sallah smiled, “But he has. We just lost them to the ages,” Sallah explained.
“I don't understand what you mean?”
Sallah’s smile never faded. “Noah knew of the second flood and etched God's words into the wood of the ark. The Foremen were founded to take on this sacred task. We suspected that the Assyrians knew of Noah's Ark's location, but that wasn't confirmed until today.”
The King shook his head. “I'm sorry to inform you, but the location has been lost to time. I only have this splinter to help you. We can no longer stand in the way of prophecy.”
Rebecca cocked her head. “You mean you're going let us have this?”
They never got the King’s answer as the earth shook from a large explosion.
“Report,” Brandt barked.
“An RPG, but it was long range, I can't see the source,” Davidson stated.
“The garage is secure,” Lopez reported.
“As is the outer perimeter,” Prenner said.
Brandt turned to the King. “We're under attack. Do you know who is behind this?”
“I was about to ask the same thing,” the King replied.
Both men turned to Sallah. He pointed t
o his chest “Me? I have no part in this.”
Brandt looked back at the King. “I have no assets in the region so it's definitely not us. It feels more like someone after you and your gold.”
The King frowned. “The Azerbaijan government has been harassing us, demanding that we are withholding taxable income. Our position is that our heritage belongs only to us.”
“You think that’s the military out there?”
The King sadly nodded.
“Don’t fire upon the opposing forces, unless you absolutely have to,” Brandt ordered. He turned to Rebecca. “We may have to try to make a run for it.”
The King shook his head. “No, have your men come in. There is a passage out through here. You can outflank them. Escape.”
“You aren’t coming with us?” Brandt asked.
“I'm afraid this is our fight.”
“Because if this is the military you are fighting, I don't mean to be rude, but they're gonna kick your ass.”
“Perhaps, but my feeling is my people’s responsibility is over. With nothing to defend any longer, I'm not sure we would know how to live in this world.”
Brandt searched the man's eyes. Speaking warrior to warrior, he could see the man's resolve. There would be no talking the King out of it. Brandt had to worry about his own people. They had plenty to live for.
“You heard the man. Everyone rally to me,” Brandt ordered.
* * *
Stark wasn’t full out panicking, but he was close. His foot twitched, his left eye was out of focus, and he felt like puking.
For such a large force, the military had stayed relatively under the radar. They must have known where all the satellites were. But now that they had begun the offensive, it was obvious how many of them there were.
The only bright spot in all this was that it looked like ground forces only. They didn't seem to have anything in the sky. It was probably the weather, keeping any helicopters or jets from taking off.
He watched as the three team members abandoned their positions and headed into the main house. It got better after that, since the household was now bustling.
It looked like the King was coming up the staircase pretty dang fast.
Stark was trying to figure out where this escape tunnel may come out. The King hadn’t been all that generous with the coordinates. Although he probably shouldn't complain, the guy had done them a solid.
“Bunny,” Rebecca stated. “I think the wood is encoded with a cipher. It is dug into the wood.”
Bunny replied, “Is it a series of dots?”
Rebecca sounded surprised. “Yes, as a matter of fact it is.”
“That is the royal code the Assyrians used back in the day. I’ve got a guy who says he has cracked the code, but he doesn’t show any actual evidence of that on his blog.”
“As soon as I can get a pic out, I’ll send it to you,” Rebecca stated. “Maybe give him just a few lines and see if he can make any sense of it.”
“Sallah isn’t able to help?” Bunny asked.
“Apparently not,” Brandt answered.
Hmm. It sounded like there was some tension there.
“Bunny,” Stark said. “Shoot that info over to Mom. She’s a code slayer.”
Before his mother could demure and he could insist on it, Tika walked into Bunny’s room.
What the…
* * *
Bunny was way too busy getting the Assyrian code information to notice who had walked into her room. Nurses made regular passes, apparently just to annoy her.
But no one was talking, which for Stark was nearly impossible.
Bunny’s eyes flickered up. Then she did a double take.
“Tika,” Stark blurted.
That couldn’t possibly be Tika. Maybe the body shape was the same, but everything else, not so much. The woman had red hair. And not any red hair, but Bunny red. She even had the curls tumbling out of a messy bun like Bunny. And the makeup. It was exactly the same right down to the cat tail curl at the edge of her eyes. Her newly green eyes. Tika must have been wearing contacts.
It was like looking at a shorter, bustier version of Bunny.
What the hell was going on?
“Tika?” Stark said again. “What…”
The young woman smiled. “Nobody is going to recognize me now, are they?”
Um, no, because you look like me, woman.
“I figure while Bunny is in the hospital, I can do the running around for us.”
Which on the surface that made a little bit of sense, but Bunny thought this went way, way deeper than a simple con. The powers that be knew that Bunny had a broken leg and was laid up in the hospital. If she suddenly showed up running around, they would know something was up and Tika’s ploy might actually draw more attention to this hospital room than they would like.
“Tika, I could have just fashioned you a video visage like ours,” Stark explained.
“I know,” Tika said putting on a little pout.
Were those false eye-lashes? Seriously, woman, if you can’t cut it, don’t try to fake it. And a push up bra? Really?
“But the tech doesn’t work in person, so I wanted to make sure I would pass inspection.”
Bunny had a lot to say to the woman, but not here. Not with Stark and his mother in the room.
Was Tika trying to attract Stark? Or Davidson? If it was Davidson, honey, that isn’t going to work. Tika could never fake Bunny’s scars, and that’s what Davidson loved more than Bunny’s beauty.
Or was it Stark? From the way Tika was blushing and flicking those long eyelashes, it was him. But really? Seriously? You just think you can look like me and he’ll fall for you?
And how twisted was that?
But the way Stark was looking at the IT girl, it might just work. Perhaps this was a good thing. Stark was a good guy. He deserved someone who was into him. Enough to apparently take over someone else’s identity to woo him.
Stark and Bunny’s relationship had taken some strange twists and turns over the past few years. Whenever she was “off” with Davidson, Stark had definitely upped his game, thinking he might have a chance. What he didn’t know was that whenever she and Davidson were “off,” she was actually more obsessed with the sniper than ever, looking for clues that he might be missing her as much as she was missing him.
Poor Stark never had a chance.
Not that it was his fault. Once you got past the fact that Stark either wore the same shirt every day without washing it or he had at least seven Battlestar Galactica, “Frack This,” tee-shirts, he really was a sweet guy. And loyal too.
Until another redhead showed up.
“Tika,” Stark said, then gulped hard. “Why don’t you sit down over here? I might need some help on his code.”
Right, like Stark ever needed anyone’s help except his mother’s.
Don’t be so bitter, Bunny chided herself.
This could be a good thing.
Right.
Bunny seriously doubted it, but didn’t want to look like the jealous quasi-friend. She could be civil. She could work with this.
Although it was hard to think she could pull that off as she looked over at Tika. It was like looking at herself with a few more quarts of Ben & Jerry’s on her hips.
Weird. Super weird.
CHAPTER 10
Davidson ducked. Another RPG hit the garage, shattering the structure. Luckily Lopez was already halfway to the main building. Prenner was hauling ass from the other side of the compound.
Men were pouring from the buildings, heading out to confront the assaulting force. Davidson wished them luck. The army was coming up swift and fast, and extremely well-armed. He feared it was going to be a slaughter tonight.
But he had his orders, so he ran, meeting up with his teammates, hitting the door at the same time. They raced through what looked like it used to be a very nice home with intricate, ancient artifacts, but now most of the pieces were smashed on the floor and the ceiling w
as threatening to come down from the RPG assault.
“Where to?” Davidson asked a passing woman, clutching a small baby to her chest.
She must have realized by his uniform and English, who he was. She pointed to a door on the other side of the dining room.
They raced past the remains of what looked like a divine dinner, his stomach rumbling.
So now he was wet and hungry. Great.
It didn’t matter. They had to haul ass as the bombardment worsened. The house shook around them, the ceiling cracking as they ran.
Prenner hit the door, flinging it open, then launched down the stairs. He set a hard pace, taking the steps two or three at a time, which normally Davidson would be fine with, except he was dripping all over the place, making the steps slick and treacherous.
They hit the landing running. Prenner jerked open the golden door and even the point man’s feet stopped moving. They had all heard about the room, but seeing it was totally different. It was truly awe-inspiring. He’d never seen so much gold in his life.
And the gems? They sparkled in the low light.
Finally Prenner’s sense of urgency returned, and they charged through the cavern to find the second staircase. These sects really loved their underground passages.
Davidson should be happy. It was going to get them out from under the army’s assault.
Then they came to the second room, or more technically the second temple. Again. Wow, just wow. He knew how hard it must have been for Rebecca to leave this cavern. It was like history came alive and smacked you upside the head.
They slowed to a walk, soaking in the grandeur before they hit the third staircase. This one was steep and not well kept up. The edge of the steps crumbled away if you hit them too hard, which slowed them down a bit.
Finally they were at the, hopefully, last landing and walked into the plain door. This cavern was small, almost claustrophobic, especially with six people inside. There were no tapestries, no gilded statues, just a small piece of wood on a plain altar.
“That’s it?” Davidson asked.
Rebecca shrugged. “Supposedly.”
Davidson, trained by the Knot, was very knowledgeable regarding Noah’s story. But never in a million years did he expect to be standing in front of a piece of the ark.
The 3rd Cycle of the Betrayed Series Collection: Extremely Controversial Historical Thrillers (Betrayed Series Boxed set) Page 11