by Adam Hiatt
“He called me to his office one day and asked why mountains were held at such high esteem and reverence by the ancients,” Jaxon said. “Naturally, I proposed that the mere height of some mountains would set them apart as places of peace and tranquility. He concurred, but added that they were also places that humans seldom visited. They were undefiled and removed from what he called the vicissitudes of civilization.”
Reddic leaned forward and took in the breathtaking mountaintops of the valley as Jaxon spoke. “They were the most visible and prominent objects around, yet they were also the most inaccessible. Mountains were considered sacred places in all religions, he told me. I found strong evidence that manifests that they still are today, but in a slightly different capacity. Now they have become places of pilgrimage.
“For example, thousands of Christians frequent the Mount of Ascension and the Mount of Transfiguration in the Holy Land. Jews revere the Temple Mount and Mt. Sinai. The Greeks have the Acropolis and the mythical Mt. Olympus. Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, and Muslims alike venerate Adam’s Peak in Sri Lanka. Egyptians believed that mountains were the aakhut, the boundary between the two worlds. The list goes on and on.”
“What are you telling me? That you think the stone is hidden on a mountain?” Reddic asked.
“To answer your question, yes, I think it is, but in a different type of mountain. Remember, pyramids and ziggurats were regarded as artificial mountains. They were specifically constructed as places of divine contact with the worlds above and below. The Persians and Babylonians used to tell the fortunes of their people from the tops of their ziggurats.”
“It’s a solid theory, Jax, but aren’t there over a hundred pyramids in Central America? We would have as good a chance finding the right mountain in the Andes as we would a pyramid here.”
“You’re right on the money.” Jaxon reached into his pant pocket and pulled out the sheet of paper. “If you didn’t have the cipher decryption then you wouldn’t have a chance in the world of finding the right pyramid. It could still be buried for all you know.”
“It’s not buried, is it?”
“No, it’s not. Now, we’ve established that the first part of the message insinuates that something makes the moon have four seasons. But that doesn’t really make sense, does it? But what if the word ‘seasons’ actually means divisions? Then the moon would have four divisions or sides, right?”
“Denoting a man-made structure and not the moon itself,” Reddic offered.
“Bingo. Next we have a phrase that implies that the sun knows its descent. Whose descent, that of the moon? Astronomically speaking I believe it’s possible, but in this case I think it’s meaningless. What if the phrase is making reference to a structure that has a solar aspect, a phenomenon associated with a grand concept of time? In other words, a structure oriented west toward the setting sun.”
“That’s reasonable, I suppose. Still, I’m curious to hear what you’ve come up with for the last part of the message.”
“Ah, now we’re getting somewhere.” Jaxon’s eyes seemed to twinkle as he spoke. “In 1974 Hugh Harleston Jr., after almost thirty years of intense trial and error, discovered the historic Mayan unit of length. He named it the hunab, after the Aztec god of measurement, Hunab Ku. Basically, one hunab is 1.05954 meters. Having said that, I think the number 2,268 was a known distance in hunabs.”
“So what would that be, about two and a half kilometers?” asked Reddic.
“Yeah, just about,” Jaxon said. “Let’s recapitulate for a moment, shall we? We know that mountains and pyramids were intrinsic to ancient religious worship, right? We also know that if the text is accurate, and we’re interpreting it right, then we need to be looking for a four-sided structure symbolizing the moon, another structure facing west toward the setting sun, probably representing the sun, and a noticeable landmark of some fashion that is roughly 2.5 kilometers long.”
“I’m all ears. Where are we going?”
“It’s easy,” said Jaxon, smirking. He yanked the roadmap off of Reddic’s lap and drew a circle. He handed it back and pointed. “This is where we’ll find the Stone of Truth.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
About five miles behind the Volkswagen Bug the olive-skinned man in the red Fiat cruised along. He intermittently glanced at the small computer sitting on the passenger seat. On the screen were two small black dots, which represented his vehicle and that of the Americans.
He followed the signal from the bus terminal in Mexico City to the university at Puebla. However, he failed to learn much there. He couldn’t pursue the targets on foot. He feared that the taller American might have spotted him at the terminal. Therefore, if he were seen again in Puebla the American’s suspicions would have been confirmed, he would have known he was being followed. As it was, he could safely track the fools from a distance.
The driver, however, grew more agitated with every passing kilometer. He knew that he would soon have to give another update to an increasingly irascible Amjad Muhktaar. The last report he gave from Puebla was devoid of any pertinent information. The Hispanic girl that he paid to eavesdrop on the Americans proved to be a waste of valuable funds. All she could tell him was that they had stormed out of the library with a sense of urgency, an observation he could have made from his vantage point two hundred yards away. This time he would do better. Disappointing his honorable leader for a second consecutive time was unthinkable.
He stole a quick peek at the computer screen and wondered where the Americans could be going. There was nothing but arable land and mountains all around. He couldn’t think of a reason why they would travel in these parts. Were they looking for something, like a town or a person? The Arabic driver knew little of their purpose. All he knew was what the great Imam had told him; that they were decadent infidels who sought power to destroy Islam. If it were up to him he would kill them here in the middle of nowhere.
The speedometer on the Fiat began to rise as he was engulfed in his thoughts. The two dots on the computer screen got closer. Taking in deep breaths, the driver calmed his nerves and slowed the car to cruising speed. He remembered the teachings of the Holy Koran, where al sabr, or patience, was spoken of on ninety separate occasions. He knew he couldn’t kill them now. Muhktaar wanted them alive for some reason. He would follow the green car until he knew where they were going and then he would deliver his report. And then, if Allah permitted, he would execute the infidels.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
The rural provincial highway abruptly changed from asphalt to dusty dirt road. Until that moment the Volkswagen had proved to be a suitable mode of transportation. But the shocks were old and substandard, making every bump and rut that the car hit feel like a neck-jarring amusement park ride. They were nearing the spot that Jaxon had circled on the map, an area thirty miles to the northeast of Mexico City. Looking out through the driver’s window Reddic could see two massive structures rising like mountains from the high desert valley floor in the midst of a modern metropolitan area. They looked like pyramids, but their shape greatly differed from those of the Pharaohs in ancient Egypt. They were truncated, stepped in tiers from base to top, not angularly proportioned in dimension like a triangle.
The car veered onto a narrower road that bypassed the city and led to the enormous mounds of earth. After two kilometers the road ended at a rectangular jungle-green building adorned with colorful indigenous murals hanging from the exterior walls. Jumping out of the Bug, Reddic noticed that one of the pyramids was only a few yards to the north. Awestruck, he hurriedly passed through a vending area and ambled on toward it, surmising that the base could easily have filled two square city blocks, if not more. It was composed of large chunks of adobe brick and dirt and looked to exceed two hundred feet in height. He was unable to see the top from where he stood.
He circled around to the west end of the pyramid and watched throngs of people climb steep steps that ran up the face of the structure. Those who were standing at
op the summit looked insignificantly tiny compared to the shear mass of pyramid. Turning away, he peered up and down the broad, straight street in which he stood. Spanning at least forty yards in width, it appeared to stretch over a mile from one end to the other. Ceremonial stepped talud-tablero platforms, each about four yards high, and patches of prairie grass flanked both sides of the ancient gravel roadway. On the south was a large, sunken dilapidated plaza with multiple stone and brick ruins jetting upward from within the walls of the vast quadrant.
On the opposite end of the avenue was another giant pyramid. It had five visibly distinct tiers and was built upon a natural uprising. Though not nearly as large as the first pyramid, its architecture was more aesthetically striking because of the exactness of each level’s cuts and angles. In the background was a hill whose shape was oddly similar to the manmade structure below. Various native plant and tree species, such as the white sapodilla, pine, oak, juniper, ditch reeds, and bulrushes separated the monuments from the modern-day developments that surrounded them.
“Impressive, isn’t it?” asked Jaxon, watching his brother from behind.
“It’s amazing,” Reddic countered, spinning around. “Have you been here before?”
“Yes, several times. Follow me,” he said, motioning. “I want to show you something.”
They sauntered back to the greenish building, brushing past a stone sign reading, MUSEO DE SITIO TEOTIHUACÁN. The interior of the museum was air conditioned and had several large glass exhibits showing artwork, sculptures, pottery, faceplates, and other archeological findings from the area. In the center of the room was a rather impressive model, built to scale, conjecturing what the city must have looked like during its zenith.
Looking over the model, Reddic noticed that the urbanization of the city was extraordinary. Everything was symmetrically constructed to follow the orientation of the main street. He read through various placards that explained and described the individual pieces of the replica. He learned that the city was laid out exactly fifteen degrees, twenty-five minutes east of true north, an orientation that contrasted with that of the Olmecs and other great builders of Mesoamerica.
The focal point of the city was the central main street and its three pyramids. The street was called the Avenue of the Dead, an appellation derived from a myth maintaining that sacrificial victims used to walk the Avenue before having their hearts removed by pagan priests upon the tops of the pyramids. A notation on the model indicated that the main section of the Avenue extended about two and a half kilometers.
He read the names assigned to the pyramids. The northernmost, facing to the south, was designated as the Moon Pyramid. The central, facing to the west, was consecrated as the Sun Pyramid. At the southernmost point was a pyramid much smaller in size than the other two; it was commemorated as the Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl. Rows and rows of living compounds and mercantile corridors were built on both sides of the Avenue.
“Some archeologists believe that a fire swept through and destroyed the city sometime during the eighth century,” Jaxon said. “It was once one of the largest metropolises in the world, comparable to Rome. A quarter of a million people lived here, worshiping and sacrificing from the tops of these pyramids,” he said, waving his hand over the model. “When the Aztecs discovered the city centuries later it was abandoned. They named it Teotihuacán, which supposedly means birthplace of the gods. You see they thought that the universe started here and that these monuments were physical representations of its creation.”
Reddic shook his head, grinning. “What’s so funny?” Jaxon asked.
“It was there all along, in the message,” Reddic said. “The moon with four seasons or divisions obviously referred to the Pyramid of the Moon; knowing the sun’s descent meant the Pyramid of the Sun’s westward orientation; and two thousand two hundred and sixty-eight was a measurement for the Avenue of the Dead, equaling 2.4 kilometers. All the elements are accounted for. It’s even more logical knowing that the Aztecs were the ones who established Teotihuacán’s name.”
“Dr. Langford would call it “inconspicuously obvious”. After all, scholars believe Teotihuacán was founded sometime during the early part of the first century AD, if not earlier. Yet without the códice no one would even think of searching here.”
“Looking at this model worries me, Jax. I just realized that the stone could conceivably be anywhere within the old city limits.”
“I disagree and I’ll tell you why. When you look at the model what do you perceive was the most important building in the city?”
“Hmm,” Reddic moaned, analyzing the plastic reproduction. “I would have to say the Pyramid of the Moon, for two reasons. First, its location at the end of the Avenue makes it stand out. Second, those small structures built in front of it look like visual demonstrations of its hierarchy.”
“Yes,” said Jaxon. “It does give purpose and completion to the Avenue, but there is a third reason you haven’t mentioned. It’s why I wanted you to see the model.” He sidestepped to the right, moving closer to the southern end of the model.
“You’re going to like this,” he said. He pointed at the Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl inside of a large square. “The Spanish called this the Citadel. On each one of these structures were sculpted stone heads of a plumed serpent, thus the cognomen Feathered Serpent Pyramid. What’s intriguing is the number of smaller temple structures within the plaza that surround the main pyramid.”
Examining the plaza, Reddic saw that there were four evenly spaced platforms on the north, west, and south sides. On the east there were only three. “I see fifteen,” he said.
“Yes, there are fifteen. However, if you analyze the symmetry of the plaza you’ll notice that the arrangement of three on the east side is incongruent with the remaining twelve. I think it’s that way for a reason that I’ll explain later. So let’s push that aside and focus on the twelve structures just below. You can see that they’re equally balanced in a manner appearing to surround the Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl. Let me ask you a question. Do you remember what Dr. Langford wrote about the Eben Shetiya?” Jaxon asked.
“Yeah, that twelve stones turned into one foundation stone. Believers of the legend have a mark of twelve dots circling one to symbolize the genesis of the Eben Shetiya. The men that follow Khalid Hasaan all have the sign on their right hands.”
“That’s precisely correct. Now, along those lines, I want you to look at the whole model and try to envision what I’m about to propose. I’ve been thinking about it for the last hour.” Jaxon moved to the other side of the model and stood directly across from Reddic. “It was evident that a strong visual and planning relationship existed between the Avenue of the Dead and the Moon Pyramid. Just looking at the Avenue gives the impression that everything moved toward the Pyramid of the Moon, sort of a manifestation that it was the central component of the site. My contention then would be that it must have represented the foundation stone. Think about it, here at the southern end of the Avenue are twelve structures, like the twelve stones of Jacob’s altar. At the opposite end of the main street is the most singular piece of the city. The Avenue of the Dead connects them, almost as if it’s symbolizing a union.”
“Hold on a second. Let me see if I understand you correctly,” Reddic said. “You’re suggesting that the architects of Teotihuacán may have consciously designed this city as a material representation of an obscure legend that may or may not have been real?”
Jaxon’s face flushed. “Yes,” he said softly. “It’s consistent. I have no reason to believe otherwise, unless you have another theory.”
“And you don’t think you’re overanalyzing just a bit? You just arbitrarily eliminated three pieces from this plaza to make your theory work.”
“I believe it unequivocally. Now if you don’t mind, I would like to complete my defense before you throw another false accusation at me,” Jaxon said astringently.
Reddic, arms extended with the palms up said, “By all means.”
“Thank you. In regard to the three platforms in the Quetzalcoatl plaza, I need to explain the significance. Within a religious context numbers were rarely taken as a literal quantity. Instead, they were frequently utilized to represent a symbolic meaning of some form or fashion. For example, the number seven denoted completion or perfection whereas forty typified something great or a large amount. The number three, on the other hand, was frequently used to represent a covenant or pact, but it was also used to give a warning or precaution, which is exactly what I think its purpose was inside the Citadel. I believe those three structures may have been a subtle warning indicating that the Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl was not the city’s foundation stone.”
“So from that we can deduce it’s the Moon Pyramid and not the Sun?” asked Reddic.
“Very good point. You already noticed that the Avenue opened up into a small square right in front of the Moon Pyramid itself. Just a few minutes ago you made mention of the ritualistic platforms inside the plaza standing before the pyramid. If you count them you’ll see that there were exactly twelve. So I ask you, do you think that it was a coincidence that there were two places with twelve structures facing a pyramid?”
Reddic thought for a moment. As much as he wanted to contrive a contrasting premise just to provoke his brother nothing came to mind. All he could do was shake his head. Jaxon’s theory was actually quite insightful. He was right about it being consistent with everything they had come to discover, or extremely coincidental at the least. Nonetheless, if the legendary stone did in fact exist, and was hidden somewhere in Teotihuacán, then the Pyramid of the Moon was the most sensible location. It was actually quite brilliant.
Time for continued deliberation, however, was getting short. Khalid Hasaan and his snake apprentice, Amjad Muhktaar had many connections and resources. Despite all the precautions that were taken, Reddic knew that they would inevitably be tracked down; it was only a matter of when. Whatever they planned to do they needed to do it quickly and make their way back to Washington. Hopefully, they could do it without any more surprises.