"So glad the expedition finally made it," he said and smiled. "It was faster going up the other side."
Indy knew they were trapped, but he didn't think that Hasan had seen him. He quickly burrowed down into the snow, covering his head, disappearing from sight.
"Where are the other two—Zobolotsky and Jones?" Hasan demanded as soon as Shannon and Katrina and the two Turks were ushered inside.
"They didn't make it," Shannon said. He thought he'd seen Indy drop from the roof, but now he wasn't sure. "We had some trouble with those bald twins."
Hasan motioned the two men with him to look around. "Where are the Russians?"
"The Kurds and a couple of bears took care of them."
"Too bad. Well, take a look around. I hope you find this place interesting, because you're going to stay here a long time."
"This is the Ark," Katrina said. "You can't deny that it exists."
He smiled at the young woman. "I never denied the existence of the Ark. It's the revelation of it that concerns me."
"Why didn't you just stay in your hole?" Shannon said.
Hasan's thick mustache curled up into an ear-to-ear smile. "You are the ones who will stay in the dark until Judgment Day when your bones will be crushed by the hordes praising the return of the Son."
"And you will be judged as a murderer," Shannon snapped.
Hasan's jaw tensed. "The Janissaries are servants and warriors of God. We are one with His wishes."
"Then why did He let us find the Ark?" Shannon asked.
"Jack, don't push him," Katrina said.
"You are fools, but you are no longer a danger. God has tested us, and we have shown Him that we are ready to defend the Ark from all infidels who would expose it to the world."
"What makes you think you know when Judgment Day is coming?" Shannon persisted.
"Only God knows that. He will reveal—"
The sharp crack of a gunshot cut the exchange short. "On your faces, and don't move."
Indy knew every minute now was precious. Hasan was going to kill his friends, and he wasn't about to let it happen without a fight. Slowly, he lifted his head until he could see the wall and the black hole. One of the Janissaries prodded the snow with the barrel of his rifle near the spot where Shannon had landed. He moved closer to another landing spot and stabbed at the snow.
Then he moved nearer and jabbed the snow near Indy's feet, missing his boots by inches.
C'mon, Indy thought. Closer. A little closer.
Indy couldn't spring from the snow with any effectiveness; it was too deep. Finally, the man moved along toward Indy's head and thrust the rifle into the snow. Instantly, Indy snatched the barrel; the man struggled and tumbled on top of him. They rolled over and over, fighting for the weapon.
Then a shot was fired, but the rifle didn't kick. The Janissary's grip relaxed, and Indy realized the man had been hit. He shoved him up, out of the snow, and the air cracked with the report of another shot. Indy burst through the snow into a sitting position, simultaneously raising the rifle. He spotted another Janissary, fired.
The man crumpled to the ground; Hasan darted from the hole. Indy rolled over, burying himself in the snow again. Hasan fired wildly, and the sound of the shots echoed from the top of the mountain and down through the valleys below.
Indy rose up to return the fire just as a low rumbling erupted. He took aim at Hasan, but he couldn't hold the rifle steady any longer. The ground shuddered; the rumbling grew louder. It was as if the mountain were talking back, and indeed it was. Talking and moving! The sound grew to a roar; the mountain rocked. Avalanche!
The gunfire. Of course.
Indy crawled toward the hole and collided with Hasan. The Janissary raised his rifle, swung it at him, but missed. Indy jabbed the butt of his rifle into Hasan's gut and dived for the hole.
He took one look back as he rolled over and saw a tidal wave of snow fifty feet high roaring down the mountain; the sound was deafening. "Oh, Jesus."
He rolled again and disappeared into the hole just as the maw of the avalanche swallowed the Ark. Snow exploded over and around him. The vessel shuddered and he was tossed onto his back.
They were moving! The Ark slid forward, over the edge of the canyon, a giant toboggan sweeping into the valley over the snow and ice.
Indy tumbled and careened about like a circus performer somersaulting from a trapeze. But there was no partner to catch him, no net to save him. He didn't know up from down; all he knew was that his body was being pummeled. Then, with a tremendous jolt, the Ark came to a rest and he was catapulted through the air, a human cannonball, and his head cracked against something hard.
"Hark!"
Indy blinked his eyes at the sound of the voice. At first, he saw nothing but the darkness. Gradually, his eyes adjusted and he saw the old man. "Who are you?"
"You know."
Indy tried to make out his features. He had a bushy beard and white hair falling over his shoulders. "Merlin?"
The old man laughed. "Think about where you are."
Indy looked around, trying to get his bearings. He saw the ruins of cages. "Noah... don't tell me you're Noah."
"Then I won't."
"What do you want?" Indy asked.
"You're in my Ark. You're my guest. What would you like?"
"To get out of here alive."
"Is that all?"
"Is this really happening?"
"What do you think?"
"I don't know. Where are the others? I don't want to lose them. I want to see them. I want all of us out alive."
"So be it."
"Indy! I think he's coming to his senses. Indy, are you all right?"
Noah's voice still echoed in his mind as he heard Katrina. He blinked his eyes. His head pounded. Katrina, Shannon, Ahmet, and Omar were crouched around him.
"It's a miracle," Shannon said. "We thought you were outside buried in the avalanche all this time."
Indy saw faint light in the distance as he rose up on his elbows. He was near a wall and a pile of snow. "What happened?"
"The Ark slid down into the valley," Shannon said. "But that was yesterday. We've been tunneling through the snow all morning, and we broke through."
"I was piling snow here from the tunnel when I saw you," Katrina said.
Indy sat up and rubbed his face. He was cold and sore and numb.
"Indy, listen," Shannon said. "Do you think you can walk? We've got to get out of here before the tunnel collapses. There's a lot of snow on the Ark."
They helped him to his feet. He felt dizzy for a moment. "I think I'm okay."
As they moved toward the tunnel his vision of Noah came to mind. "Hark?"
"What was that?" Shannon asked.
"Never mind. I'll tell you later. Let's go home."
Epilogue
A month later
New York
"So at that point, we were ready to make our descent," Indy said as he relaxed in an overstuffed chair in Marcus Brody's office.
"You must have been exhausted." Brody rested his chin on his hands as he listened in fascination.
"We all were. It was a tough day, but we made it to a shepherd's hut, and the same Kurds who had shot the Russians gave us our first meal in two days."
Indy brushed a mote of dust off of his tie, which he wore with a brown tweed suit, as he waited for Brody's response.
"Indy, I haven't heard such an intriguing tale since... I guess since you told me what happened to you in the Amazon." He stood up and moved around his desk, working his way through a maze of pottery, statues, and stelae. "I hate to say this to you, but I think it's in your best interest if you keep this episode to yourself when you go to the interview. Especially the part about your talk with Noah."
Indy laughed. "Don't worry about that, Marcus. But I wasn't the only one who saw the Ark. We were all inside it."
"Yes. You and a jazz musician who found God, an Istanbuli taxi driver, a Turkish peasant, and a young lady
whose father was obsessed with the Ark. They won't be taken seriously and neither will you."
Indy adjusted his black, wire-rim glasses. "Well, it's up there."
Brody raised a hand. "Don't get me wrong, Indy. I believe you, but I'm just trying to be practical. Think about it; even if you did convince a team of scientists to accompany you and you raised the necessary funds, what are the chances that you would find it?"
He probably could find the valley again, but the Ark was buried under tons of snow. "I see what you mean."
"Maybe it's best that way."
Indy smiled and leaned forward in his chair. "Don't tell me that you believe this stuff about Judgment Day."
Brody walked over to a window and stared out. "Not so long ago, you would've laughed at the suggestion that there was an ark, any ark on Mount Ararat."
"That's true." Indy stood up and shook Brody's hand. "I've got to go, Marcus. I'm late already."
"I hope it goes well at your interview. I think you'll make a great addition to the archaeology staff.
"Thanks. I'll let you know what happens as soon as I find out."
Indy left the office and descended the steps of the museum. He caught a taxi to Grand Central Station and hurried inside.
"There you are," Shannon said. "I thought you weren't going to make it. We're all ready to board."
"I know."
Katrina stepped forward and hugged Indy. "I wish you were going to California with us."
"I'll be out to see you. Best of luck."
She kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks. I've got something for you." She reached into her purse and pulled out a long, slender object wrapped in cloth.
"What is it?"
"The Ark wood."
"What? You left it with your father."
"No. That was just cloth wound tightly together. It was a gesture. I didn't see any reason to leave the real one, but I didn't want to say anything right then."
Indy held it up. "I know just the museum director who will find a place for it."
Indy turned to Shannon. "The jazz scene in San Francisco will never be the same after you arrive, Jack."
Shannon grinned and took Katrina by the hand. "We'll see, Indy. We'll see."
"You're a lucky guy, Jack. One helluva lucky guy."
"I know."
"Well, I've got my own train to catch."
Indy started to leave, but stopped and turned to Katrina. "By the way, did you hold the Ark wood one last time?"
She smiled, and exchanged a glance with Shannon. "As a matter of fact, I did."
"And?"
"I saw a little boy. He had sort of a funny name. Noah Indiana Shannon."
ROB MacGREGOR
wrote Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, a novel based on the movie script. He is also the author of The Crystal Skull, a novel of adventure and intrigue, and The Rainbow Oracle (with Tony Grosso), a book of color divination. His travel articles have appeared in the Miami Herald, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Newsday and elsewhere. He is also a contributor to OMNI Magazine's "Anti-Matter" section. Besides his work as a writer, he has organized adventure tours to South America for travelwriters, and led the first group of U.K. journalists to the Lost City in the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta Mountains in Colombia in 1987. He lives in Boynton Beach, Florida, where he is at work on his next novel.
AWASH IN EVIL
London, 1927. Since losing his beloved Deirdre in the Amazon a year ago, Indiana Jones has settled down with his Ph.D. and taught Celtic archaeology, thinking he left adventure behind. Yet Indy is rather tempted when a wild-eyed Russian doctor, Vladimir Zobolotsky, tries to recruit him for an expedition to search for Noah's Ark... and then finally takes the dangerous quest after meeting Vladimir's alluring daughter, Katrina.
They set out for Istanbul and Mount Ararat, fabled location of Noah's Ark, when trouble erupts. Kremlin agents, Sicilian "enforcers," and Turkish bandits all attempt to bar Vladimir, Katrina, and Indiana Jones from the archaeological find of the century... and a certain 950-year-old boat-builder...
Indiana Jones and the Genesis Deluge Page 22