The Sam Reilly Collection

by Christopher Cartwright

  She studied his face. He was certain. That was enough for her. “Okay, we stay here.”

  Billie laughed at the irony of it all.

  “What’s so funny Dr. Swan?” Edward asked.

  “The temple of Poseidon lies at the river bed below us at a depth of nearly 720 feet! As though that’s not impossible to dive on its own, the river is one of the most powerful and turbulent on the planet. And the only two people in the world who are not only dumb enough, but possibly skilled enough to have a chance of reaching it, I sent to Siberia on a wild goose chase!”

  Edward looked at her. “Are you finished with your rant yet?”

  “I think that pretty much sums it up.”

  “Good, because there’s still work to be done. We have less than two weeks to save the world, and I intend to do so.”

  “Did you happen to bring a deep sea submarine with you?”

  “No, Dr. Swan I did not. But don’t worry, I did bring two submersible ROVs.”

  “Of course! We don’t need to bring anything up with us. All we need is to see the inside of that temple and the first half of its code!”

  Chapter Sixty-Nine

  Billie sat in the computer room, watching the live feed from the camera mounted at the nose of their submersible remotely operated vehicle, or ROV for short. Even from the safety of their sports cruiser, the water below appeared turbulent. Edward struggled to maintain the little ROV in position, while the river constantly attempted to force it to run away.

  The ROV was connected to the neutrally buoyant tether which ran from the back of the Andre Sephora like a giant spool of wool. At the base of the monitor a number of instrumental readings were displayed, including depth, water speed, and temperature.

  Sinking past the six-hundred-foot depth marker, Edward suddenly felt his controls become more stable. The water speed increased and the temperature warmed.

  “What just happened?” Billie asked.

  “We seem to have entered a small eddy,” Edward said, his fingers tapping rapidly over the controls.

  The ROV began to rise quickly. Releasing more air, Edward tried to reduce its buoyancy and then powered forward at full speed.

  Nothing happened.

  The ROV was stuck in an upward spiral. Billie watched at the submersible became helpless to the whims of the deep river eddy.

  “Can you do anything about it?” she asked.

  Edward took his fingers off the controls. “Nothing that I haven’t already tried. Now I just get to watch and see what happens.”

  A moment later the image on the screen showed the ROV had punched through the upwards spiraling eddy and was now on the other side. Edward’s fingers continued to work the controls in fast, specific motions.

  “We’re out of it.”

  “Hey, you’re increasing your depth again – fast!” Billie said noticing the sounder showed the ROV had dropped another 50 feet since penetrating the spiraling wall of the eddy.

  Edward looked toward the depth gauge. “You’re right, too fast! We must be caught in a deep river waterfall.”

  The spool of tether, hanging on the back deck, began running as though a giant marlin had taken the bait.

  “Mark, get out the back will you,” Edward said. “I need you to secure the tether and make sure we don’t lose it!”

  “Understood, sir.”

  Billie turned to stop Mark. “Don’t bother.”

  “Why not?” Edward asked.

  “Because we just snapped the ROV’s tether line.”

  Chapter Seventy

  The second ROV was ready to launch twenty minutes later. It was slightly larger, and Edward explained that he was worried the submersible may have trouble accessing the temple of Poseidon, especially if some of the challenges were still intact. Zanzibe had assured them that the temple of their Gods was left unarmed while it sunk into the river so they could study it and try to replicate it as best they could.

  Lowered into the water by a load-carrying umbilical cable, the second ROV remained in its tether management system, known as a TMS, until it reached the bottom of the river. The TMS was a garage-like device, which housed the ROV during the lowering process through the splash zone and then worked to lengthen and shorten the tether so the effect of cable drag where there were underwater currents was minimized.

  The TMS stopped just short of the bed of the river, so that no additional silt was stirred up by the ROV’s propellers.

  “Well, that’s something at least,” Billie said. “Can you turn the main LEDs on?”

  “As you wish,” Edward replied and flicked the powerful lights on.

  The place was completely lacking in environmental light, and reminded Billie of the time not so long ago when Sam Reilly had dragged her from her research in the Antarctic to help his friend, Tom Bower, explore a Mayan Pyramid nearly half a mile under the ocean.

  Surreal in its isolation, the place where the ROV now explored was more distant than nearly every other place on earth. At first it appeared devoid of all marine life, but when Edward displayed the view of the downward camera, the riverbed seemed to be swarming with giant fresh water-crayfish. Although what they were eating to sustain themselves, she had no idea.

  “Any sign of our temple yet?” she asked.

  “Not yet. I’m just waiting for the sonar to come into view.” Edward grinned. “There she is!”

  Zanzibe sat still and watched the computer screen. Although he said nothing, his face depicted bewilderment and awe at the first sight of his God’s true temple, a sight which no one had seen for nearly eleven thousand years.

  The ROV began moving toward the temple. Its powerful electric motor propelled it at a speed upwards of 30 knots. The TMS was attached to the rear deck of the Andre Sephora via a full umbilical system, and then the TMS ran a separate tether to the ROV, making it much more versatile, while providing it with infinite power to exhaust.

  The real dome cover of the temple of Poseidon came into view, and for a moment, Billie found herself holding her breath. Like the replica which the pygmies had constructed many years ago, the dome of this one was covered in orichalcum, and stood at the center of several deep indentations, each one progressively getting deeper.

  Somewhere inside there would be an open doorway to the answers they needed. She forced herself to breathe out and consciously remember to breathe in. Looking around the room, she noticed that the temple had a similar effect on everyone else in the room.

  Only Edward, who was so focused on the need of their mission, appeared immune to its glory. “Okay, Zanzibe, do you have any suggestions where our door is going to be?”

  “I’ve never seen it, but if it’s anything like ours, then the door should be down there, at the end.”

  The ROV moved quickly toward the end of the deepest moat, where the large stone opening stood without its door.

  Edward looked at Zanzibe. “Thanks.”

  There it moved through the first tunnel and into the challenge of strength. With the mechanisms of each of the challenges long since corroded or rotted away, Edward was able to easily navigate through to the next room. The memory of trying to beat the challenges the pygmies had set out in their replica appeared fresh in his mind as he navigated the ROV through the temple’s entrance. Its eerie light scattered in the dark rooms, and Billie watched as Edward’s hands began to shake at the recent memory they stirred.

  Propelling itself over the chasm that had long ago lost its bridge and then finally past the pendulum of sacrifice, the ROV quickly made its way toward the temple of Poseidon. Billie placed her hand on Edward’s shoulder. She didn’t say anything. Nor did she have to. They were both there. The sight instantly brought back the memory of him preparing to sacrifice his life for hers. In the end, the test had been merely to see if one person would willingly sacrifice themselves so the other person could live, and consequently, he had not been killed in the process. It was still one hell of an offering.

  The ROV turned the last cor
ner and entered the ancient temple dedicated to Poseidon – the God of the Sea.

  And there it stopped.

  “What the hell happened?” Billie asked.

  Edward reversed and then plugged in a separate controller. “I was worried this might be the case.”

  “What is it?”

  “The dome’s dry. Don’t you remember in the pygmy replica, the temple of Poseidon remained dry?”

  “Of course, why didn’t we think of that? I don’t suppose your ROV has a pair of wheels?”

  Edward grinned. “No, but it’s got a killer set of tank tracks!”

  A new sound could be heard coming from the ROV’s audio – it was the grating noise of its tank tracks turning. A moment later, the ROV punched through the water and entered the dry world of Poseidon’s temple.

  It was larger than what the pygmies had recreated. Nearly twice as long and more than that high. As the ROV shined its exterior lights on the temple, the gold reflected everywhere.

  “My God, there’s enough gold there to make St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican appear poor,” Edward said in awe.

  Spotting the golden statue of Poseidon himself, still standing on top of his chariot and drawn by the massive six winged horse, Edward drove the ROV toward what they had come for. Edward then changed the view to one of the cameras mounted above and designed to look up.

  The entire roof was covered in intricately carved ivory, depicting a battle of the Gods so great it would have terrified the strongest of mere mortals. Protected by eleven thousand years of isolation within the vault, the carvings appeared perfectly intact. They were curiously wrought with gold, silver and orichalcum. Next to the monstrous horse’s head, which nearly struck the ceiling, was a placard made of pure orichalcum.

  Edward pressed the zoom button, and it came into focus.

  “There it is gentlemen – and my dear Dr. Swan – the code to Atlantis.”

  Chapter Seventy-One

  After making several copies, Billie superimposed it on the second half of the code to Atlantis, completing the image.

  “This is it! We have it. This is the missing link for the code to Atlantis!”

  Edward embraced her. “I knew you were the right person for the job Dr. Swan! Thank you!”

  Jason, the skipper, burst through the door. “We’ve got company.”

  Billie and Edward moved to the window. Grabbing a pair of binoculars, Billie zoomed in on the boats moving toward them. There were two of them. Both inflatable military watercraft – most likely Zodiacs – and closing in on a quarter of a mile up river.

  Aboard were several men carrying AK47s.

  Edward swore. “It’s probably someone from any number of Congo’s rebel armies.” Placing his binoculars back on their holder, he said, “Jason, get us out of here. The Andre Sephora will outrun these petty war criminals.”

  “I’m already on it,” Jason replied, kicking the sports craft’s engine into gear.

  Edward looked at Mark. “Ready the team. Make certain they’re ready to repel boarders if they do reach us.”

  “Understood,” Mark replied, leaving the room.

  Billie felt reassured as the Rolls Royce water jets kicked into life and the Andre Sephora stood up on her bow wave. It would be impossible for the rebels to keep up with them once they reached their cruising speed.

  “I told you we’d be all right,” Edward said.

  Billie went to acknowledge him, but right then, the engines cut out and the Andre Sephora sunk its bow back into the river.

  Chapter Seventy-Two

  A helicopter flew toward them from the opposite direction. It was covered in military camouflage, but showed no sign of country of origin. Edward was reassured by the knowledge that none of the rebels in the area possessed such machinery.

  “Mark! It looks like we’re going to need our plan B! I want the Gatling guns ready to fire, and I want someone to prepare the antiaircraft rockets to fire when that thing gets closer!”

  “Already on it boss!”

  At the edge of the room, Dr. Swan typed rapidly on her laptop, downloading all the information she would need to reach the inner sanctum of Atlantis, including the now complete code to Atlantis.

  Edward smiled at her resilience as he watched Dr. Swan hide the contents on a device no larger than a fingernail. She then prepared to destroy her entire workstation, including her laptop, if the worst were to happen.

  Edward could only imagine what would happen if the code to Atlantis fell into the wrong hands. Behind them, he could see that the two zodiacs had slowed down and the men were preparing to board. He saw the men at the front, carrying AK47s, swing grappling hooks while yelling war cries in their native language. Others simply fired at his hull.

  Surely they must know that a vessel like his would never enter the Congo without arming herself well enough to defend herself!

  “Okay Mark, time to destroy them all!”

  Edward brought up the automated defense system, and placed an asterisk over each of the zodiacs. The computer system then highlighted the perfect angle of firing, and a microcomputer fired.

  The rattle of the four Gatling guns turning filled the room.

  But no rounds were fired.

  All four Gatling guns had had their rounds removed from their rollers.

  For the first time, since the arrival of the rebel army, Edward felt genuine fear.

  His heart pounded as he realized he had a traitor aboard.

  “Quick Mark! Get the men on deck!”

  “I’m afraid I can’t do that Mr. Worthington.” Edward looked up, only to see that Mark had unlatched the safety on his own weapon and pointed it directly at him.

  Edward looked around the deck of his ship for his other men. Then it struck him – no one had come to his aid, because they couldn’t. They were locked below the deck. His most trusted bodyguard had betrayed him.

  “I have to know, Mark. Why?”

  Mark grinned. “I’m sorry, but in my profession loyalty is only ever to the highest bidder.”

  “But you set the price and I always happily paid for it!”

  “Yes, and I was happy with that price. But then, along came Atlantis. And that, my friend, can offer me more than all the gold in the world. It can offer me unlimited power. Even if half the crap that you and Dr. Swan have discussed over the past few weeks ends up being correct, I’m going to be a very rich man.”

  Edward looked at him and tried to speak. He faltered, unable to find words to make any sense of the betrayal, and then he didn’t have to.

  Three shots fired in rapid succession.

  Looking up, Edward was surprised to find he barely felt them. Then he saw the three clean bullet holes open up in a narrow grouping between Mark’s eyes – it wasn’t his own life that had just ended.

  Behind him, Billie had already lowered her Glock.

  “That was close. Again, Dr. Swan, I believe I owe you my life.”

  Billie gritted her teeth. The boarders had already secured the Andre Sephora. “I’m not sure I’ve done you any more good than to prolong the inevitable.”

  Several men came in and grabbed them. He noticed, thankfully, that Dr. Swan hadn’t felt the need to fight to the death. So long as she was alive, there was still hope.

  The helicopter hovered just above the front deck of the Andre Sephora. A man stepped out of the aircraft. Edward recognized the man instantly. How could he not? After all, that man might just be the most dangerous man on earth.

  “Andrew Brandt! I should have guessed you were behind this attack!”

  “Mr. Edward Worthington.” Andrew looked at Billie, struggling to get free from the soldier who held her head in an arm lock capable of killing her in seconds. “And Dr. Swan. How nice to finally meet you. I cannot say how pleased I have been with your efforts. I could never have deciphered the code to Atlantis on my own.”

  He then looked at Mark lying dead on the ground. “I see that you found the employment of my associate, Mr
. Mark Armel, unsatisfactory.” Andrew laughed at his own joke. “No matter, he has served my purpose already.”

  The commander of the soldiers who held them approached Andrew. “What do you want me to do with all of them?”

  “I’ll keep the girl. You never know when she might be useful.” Andrew grinned lasciviously. “As for the rest of them, kill them.”

  Billie swore at Andrew. “You’ll never work it out. I’ll die before helping you.”

  “Don’t worry, my good Dr. Swan. Your death is certainly on the cards, but first there are a few things I’d like some help with.”

  Several shots were fired before anyone knew where they’d come from. Zanzibe, the little pygmy king, had taken refuge in a fishing box, too small from any normal sized person to squeeze. He’d then, released three quick bursts from his Uzi. Edward then felt the man’s strong hands pull him free from his now dead captor.

  In front of him, Andrew had already moved to take Dr. Swan.

  The soldiers at the front of the boat quickly moved to take the back of the Andre Sephora. Machine gun fire pelted through the inner workings of the ship.

  “We have to go,” Zanzibe said.

  Edward followed him to the back of the ship. “What about the rest of my men? Those trapped below deck?”

  “No one’s trapped. They all worked for Mark.”

  “Then where can we go?”

  Edward followed Zanzibe to the back of the ship. “I’ve laid explosives. The ship’s going to explode any moment now!”

  The two dived into the water.

  Before their heads resurfaced, the echo of a massive explosion, sent a shockwave ringing through their ears.

  Edward and Zanzibe swam as long as their breaths would hold them before breaking the surface again. He looked back at the Andre Sephora. There was nothing left. Already three hundred feet away, Andrew’s helicopter departed. “There goes the code to Atlantis – and more important, the most amazing woman I’ve ever met.”