Please when you return to New York come see me, but don't come back unless everything else is settled.
I send my love.
Betty"
* * *
Jake was engrossed in the new site that Sarah was working on. He found it rather refreshing to work with a shovel and remove the layers of earth instead of working on a river retrieving logs. The new site was farther up the hill and was more of a sentinel place that looked down on the ancient village. During the next five days he worked and gradually they got down to the layer where each shovel-full of earth had to be screened and this added to the excitement. This level was rich with the signs of life as shown by a bone needle, hide scrapers and a couple of finely carved bone figures of animals and a strange human like creature.
So by day, Sarah and Jake worked side-by-side with the labourers. The hole was gradually enlarged exposing the layers of earth, which contained the remains of an ancient civilization.
"You know this is fun. There is always the potential of striking it rich, hit the mother load!"
"Well, I hope you aren't expecting gold and precious stones. I don't think that was even thought about at the layer you are working on. I can't tell without having some Carbon-14 dating tests and I'm not going to do that until I find something extraordinary. I could be wrong but most things we find are common things, it's their information which is valuable."
Jake and Sarah became more attuned to each other's needs and the fear they felt in New York gradually faded.
"I bet this place will turn into a cauldron in the summer. Maybe back when there was forest it would have been different, but the shape of the valley is like a bowl and it collects the heat," Jake observed.
"It does get hot." Sarah replied, "and by the time May is over, it's far too hot to do anything so I let the workers return to their families. Some live days away and so it's a summer break for them as well. I'll go back to the university and put everything we have retrieved into a properly documented collection. Then I'll choose objects that are different or unique or that I'm not familiar with and get a Carbon-14 test done on them. Back at university I'll do all my writing. In the beginning of the season, it's a nice break to get away from the office and endless meetings. But as the field season wanes I look forward to writing my reports. I've got several papers to do this year, and I'll need to defend my discovery of that Roman figure. It can be fun, but its much better now that I have you at my side."
For Jake everything was different; everything was new. He learned the techniques of writing scientific reports. He learned how to describe a layer and work a surveyor's transect. That was at least something he knew. He had an uncle who was a land surveyor and he had spent one summer tramping the woods and recording where a new highway would go. It was not much different than doing a company prospectus or writing up profiles on investments.
He had to admit some parts of being a stockbroker had been interesting. It was nice to look at an expanding company and work through their potential assets, management team, the past history of the CEO, and the engineers or scientific authorities and determine if the company would be worthy of further investment. His thumbs down could destroy a company or a thumbs up could attract investment that could then be used to expand.
New York seemed so far away, and so different from the sun and fresh air that filled his lungs and brightened his heart. Sarah too had changed. He had watched her in her element and saw how skilled she was. No wonder she had made a name for herself. The National Geographic had done a rather interesting article, it was more of a treatise than a full-blown article, but it had sparked discussions and he knew she was anxious to finally discover the link between Rome and North America that Sarah was sure was there that could not be explained away.
Digging in the ground was a strange way to earn a living, but trading on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange or recovering water logged timbers from the riverbed was just as strange. It was different, yet he knew that he couldn't be happier. The way Sarah's face brightened when he came to her was a wonderful gift, but he feared that somewhere, sometime their bubble might burst. There was still the problems around the General's death and the mystery of Sarah's father's last flight. He tried not to think of it, but in quiet moments they came back to trouble his mind. What Belinda had said about brothers worried him. If the shooter was the same man who had been on the bomber 23 years before, then the General's death and Jake's questions had evoked a terrible attempt to shut up anyone who tried to pry into the past. It was a desperate attempt of a 'someone' who could not afford an investigation. Jake was sure the word 'brothers' was the key. If the shooter was the brother of whoever arranged the shooting of General Forest and his secretary, then Jake thought he had a way to flush out their enemy. Maybe something about the shooter, the fillings in his teeth or a scar would be linked to a missing person or a criminal. The scar that the side gunner had told him about was said to resemble a crescent moon, but it sounded more like a birthmark than a scar. Maybe that was what it was and birthmarks and scars were often used to identify people.
Maybe that's what Belinda was warning him about. Brothers! They could be siblings --the shooter and the mastermind. Would they look like each other? It would be so much easier if they were twins. Now that was an interesting idea! If they were identical twins then a photo of the dead assassin would help trap the mastermind who might also have a birthmark. When he got back to the States he'd check out some of the military brass and see if anyone resembled the shooter. Jake suddenly felt excited. The police could have an artist retouch the face to remove the beard but the crescent moon birthmark wouldn't be removed unless it was surgically removed. Having a mark like that right on the temple might be too dangerous to remove.
Sarah walked into their tent. "My, why such a pensive look?"
He shook the cobwebs from his mind and looked up at his wife. "You look like you have a secret."
She smiled. "Tomorrow in the village is the start of a two-day celebration of the patron saint of the village and the region. I usually give the workers two days off and Peter asked if he could go again. He wants to show that new student who arrived last month the sights. I guess he had given up on this married woman. So I told him that was fine. We could celebrate and by testing the local wines or we could stay here and have the camp to ourselves. It's been a long time since we've had much privacy."
Jake caught the suggestive smile and the body language, which were hard to miss. "I think I'd rather celebrate here. We can go to the village another time."
Chapter Sixteen - Yucatan 360 Ad
The sea was bright and beautiful and the wind in the morning made the waves fight for the right to crash along the beach, but it was not a vicious fight because no one was harmed and the sea and the wind sometimes worked together. An elderly couple sat just out of the wave's reach looking out to sea.
"Octavia I sometimes wonder if our life would have been better if we had stayed in Rome or actually reached Britain," Marcus said.
Octavia looked up at her husband. "My dear, we have had a good life, even though we do not know what land this is. We have prospered. Our children are married and we are grandparents. Soon any signs of our existence will be blended into the faces of our friends, but that must be as God wished. I have no doubts. I must admit I found learning a new language difficult, but even that was solved in time. We see laughing children and we no longer are treated as foreigners. It was a fortunate thing to live through that storm that took the lives of so many. Some day someone from Rome will come to this land. I hope when that happens they come as friends and don't come breathing fire and wrecking havoc with sword or javelin. But that is not in our control.
We have had a good life and I love you for it." After sitting quietly for a short while Octavia said, "Come, the wind is getting stronger. We may soon be in for a storm."
Marcus put his arms around his wife. It was nearly 40 years since that had been cast up on this sun-rich shore. He occasionally
wondered what had happened back in Rome. Did the Mongols butcher and lay waste their city? He had hoped at one stage that a ship might come but it hadn't. He had a strange feeling that this place was a land that was unknown and so far away that sailing vessels would never attempt to come in this direction. It was like being on the other side of the world, in a land that was unknown to his culture. He knew his wife was happy, as the little bands of survivors had merged with the natives. It was fortunate the Tiberius and his wife Venus had been outgoing and friendly when they first met that native family. The gift of a necklace and a dagger had broken the ice and the potential hostilities that might have happened were replaced with friendship.
The chief had died just last week. But he had become more than a friend; he had become a part of their family with their son marrying his daughter.
But life goes on. He knew too that old age was fast catching up to them. He didn't want to think about what might have been; yet he was satisfied. This land was rich and it was now his home. They had buried Mushika, the chief up on the brow of the hill so that he could look down on the village and still see the ocean. His prized possession, Tiberius's dagger was buried with him. It was strange that they had recovered only a few tools and weapons from the floating wreckage and they had long since been worn out from use. He had never needed to use his sword. It was an antique that remained in a corner of their hut. The fort was no longer needed and had rotted away as they had been assimilated into the life of the village situated in the bowl shaped valley that protected their village from the storms that infrequently attacked the shore. If they had been living in their fort when one of those fierce storms hit they would have been swept away. No wonder the natives did not live near the shore. He felt the change in the air and knew his wife was right. A storm was coming. They turned and started to slowly climb and follow the path back to their village where their grandchildren were playing and where their lives were centered.
Chapter Seventeen - Retribution
Jake and Sarah were working at the new dig site. Sarah recognized the bones she uncovered and knew that she had discovered one of the ancients. This was what she had hoped for. Jake heard her cry of excitement and climbed down the ladder to see what she had found.
"Jake, it's a burial site. This is wonderful."
Jake looked at the partially uncovered leg bones. "I feel sort of sad. Here this old man has lain undisturbed for hundreds of years and now we uncover him, take measurements, check on his teeth, speculate as to his age and how he died. I hope when I meet my Maker I don't have an archaeologist poking me and taking me apart all in the name of science."
Sarah looked back at him and wondered if he was serious or was he just pulling her leg?
Jake chuckled, "but if that archaeologist was young and extremely beautiful, like you I guess I wouldn't mind if she played with my bones."
Sarah laughed and then poked him. "You have an insatiable appetite. It's a good thing I enjoy sex as much as you. As for an archaeologist finding you in a thousand years, I hope it's a young graduate student like Peter. He'd carefully record your measurements and conclude you died at the ripe old age of 103, fathered many children and kept his wife content."
Jake grinned, "I didn't know you could tell all that from a leg bone?'
She blushed, "You know, we archaeologists must make allowances for the site where we are working. I told you that working down in one of these shafts was constricting and well I can feel you pushing against me and one bone is rather active and tells me that my husband is thinking passionate thoughts."
Jake saw the laugher in her eyes held her close and kissed her. "I can't help myself. It's all because of you, getting me down here and then flirting with me. I'm helpless."
Sarah pushed him away. "Helpless, my foot! I'm going up and having a shower and then you can come and show me how helpless you are."
She climbed up the ladder, but not before Jake did pull her leg. "You shouldn't be tormenting me like this!"
"Just you wait, I'm going to torment you big time in a few minutes."
Jake laughed and heard Sarah chuckling as she disappeared over the edge of the hole. He turned and looked at the leg bones.
"Well, old man I hope you don't mind, but I guess while I'm here I might as well see what other secrets you are holding."
He began to scrape away the earth from the bones and gradually he uncovered the complete skeleton. Should he go up and tell Sarah the news or should he wait and let her complete the discovery? He hit a metallic object with his trowel and then paused. He hadn't discovered metal elements before. He carefully used his fingers to remove the last of the sand around the chest. The skeleton had been placed in his grave with both hands together holding an object. He felt a surge of excitement. This was something that would finally substantiate Sarah's earlier discovery. He eased the object out of the tired fingers.
He knew what is was and that only increased his excitement. He tucked the object into his waist and started to climb the ladder. Sarah would be overjoyed. She must have finished her shower by how. If not he'd join her and wash off the dirt that had fallen down around him as he was excavating. He could hardly wait until he saw the surprise in her eyes.
She wasn't at the shower stall and so he walked quickly over to their tent.
He opened the flap and there was Sarah with only a bed sheet covering her. But it was the look in her eyes that warned him. A chill like an ice-cold hand started at the base of his spine and quickly climbed up his vertebrate, freezing him along the way.
"Sarah, what is wrong?"
He turned and only in the edge of his vision did he realize that she wasn't alone. The blow smashed down against his cheek. It may have been meant for the back of his head, but his turning had changed that.
He felt himself falling and he heard Sarah's cry. Through the haze he saw a man grimacing at him.
"So, you are Jake Dorchet! You have caused me a great deal of pain and I want you to feel a little pain too before I put a bullet in your head."
Jake knew who he was. "Why are you doing this? We have never harmed you."
The man's face didn't change; there was no mercy to be expected in his eyes.
"You and all your questions." The man turned and looked at Sarah. "Your father ruined everything. My brother only had to get the locking device and we would have succeeded. But no, your father disarmed the bomb and then changed the combinations so it was impossible to access it without the right numbers. We had planned it for months - - we stole the bomb then planned the flight. It should have worked. The storm sort of delayed things, but even that wasn't the reason everything got screwed up. We have our own men on that flight. I didn't know the bombardier would crack up. I didn't know he'd try to jettison the crate holding the latest prototype, but when he started to smash open the crate and your father saw what was in it, then the game was up. He would have been stopped if that stupid bombardier hadn't taken a big step into oblivion.
By the time my brother got the one of the engine fires out and the plane back on a level flight path, your father had deactivated the bomb. He tried to reason with your father, he even promised him money. His life would have been spared, but he just laughed at my brother, no one laughs at my twin. Your father had the locking devise in his hand and was going to bail out. Misha had to stop him. He didn't die with the first shot. He sort of staggered, looked up at my brother and crawled to the bomb bay. Misha shot him again, but he still struggled and then stepped out into space. Don't you see if it weren't for your father, things would have been different?"
As the man talked Jake's vision cleared and he saw the tell tale moon shaped crescent on the left temple. The brothers were identical twins, virtual images of each other! But one brother was dead. Shot by a New York policeman because he had killed General Forest. He had deserved to die and now the brother; the man who Jake realized had reached the pinnacle of the U.S. armed forces was going to silence all the remaining leaks. He and his brother had killed o
thers, the General, and the girl who had come become a famous mistress to many of the politicians in Washington to name only two. Jake wondered if Belinda had discovered the secret about the brothers while in the bed of this traitor.
"You won't get away with this!" Sarah said.
The man laughed, he knew he could and would get away with killing the last two people who had information that could send him to the electric chair. He had so desperately wanted to get out of the U.S. and back to where he felt he had a home after the war, but that had died with his failure to get the bomb safely delivered. As he climbed the military ladder he suddenly found that he had people who wanted to use him. As he gained higher and higher ranks he knew that he was in an ideal position to feed information to his colleagues behind the iron curtain. So he just grinned, as the daughter of the man who had caused his first failure tried to pretend that help was close by.
She was a fool like her father had been. His brother cursed the name of Ted Redbourne until the day he died. His brother should have easily escaped from taking out the nosy general and his secretary. But fate had once again stepped in and ruined everything.
The man turned and cursed her. "Your father ruined everything. We could have gone back to Russia and become national heroes. But he took that away from us. We had to stay here in America. Our parents came to America from Hungary before the war because they wanted to have a better life. But all they got was a job that was demeaning and they scraped by in a ghetto in New York. That's why my brother and I knew the Soviet way was better. That's why I embraced their offer to do something for their cause. But you father just laughed at my brother, taunted him and even grinned at him as he fell into the darkness. You are going to pay. I hate you all."
Jake tried to forestall the mad killing. He wanted to somehow distract him, confuse him.
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