“Okay Tom, I think we’re clear. Your turn.”
“Coming right up.”
Sam dug a makeshift snow cave with the remaining power of his ADS machine. And then carefully began exiting the awesome machine. Opening the exit below him, he climbed down. After opening the antennae to his satellite phone, he pressed the call button.
“Did you find out where Atlantis is?” The Secretary of Defense was quick to answer.
“Yes, Manhattan!” Sam replied. “But there’s more that we learnt, too.”
“It’s going to activate in the next 48 hours.” She said the words slowly, with her usual air of superiority.
“You knew?” Sam asked accusingly.
“Of course I bloody well know what the Atlantis device does. We were there in 1908! We knew it’s due to be triggered again, but we just prayed like hell that the second damn temple wasn’t on our side of the Atlantic!”
“We still have to work out precisely where, and we don’t have long to do so.”
“Yes, leave that to me, I’ll put all our manpower into it,” she said. “But do you have the code to Atlantis?”
“No.”
“Then it’s all over, anyway,” the Secretary Defense said.
“No it’s not. Because I think Billie might have found it.”
“I thought you said that awful woman had been kidnapped?”
“She has been. Most likely by a man named Andrew Brandt. From what information I’ve gotten on him. He’s a Rhodes Scholar. He was exceptional at math, and appeared to be in the process of being groomed for a position with NASA.”
“So, what happened to him? Why didn’t we get him?”
“Altruism or science for the betterment of mankind wasn’t part of his plan. Instead, he took the fortune his father had left him and opened up a merchant bank — The Phoenix Associates. From what we’ve learned about him, he specializes in unique and often highly illegal acquisitions. His problems started well before he was born. His father, and grandfather, were part of a secret organization known as the Phoenix Resistance for thousands of years. They swore to protect the Secret of Atlantis — I can only imagine this would be the code we’re after. Perhaps through the ages they’ve lost it, or they never had it to begin with. Ultimately, I think they kidnapped Billie because they thought she could find it for them.”
“And you think they’ll bring Billie to Atlantis?”
“I’m certain of it. In fact, I doubt they even know where Atlantis is themselves. All we need to do is beat them to Atlantis. Find Atlantis, we find Billie, and if we can get her back alive, we’ll have the code.”
Up ahead, Sam heard the familiar whir of a couple Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk.
He looked at Tom. “We’ve got company.”
Tom nodded his head and prepared the remaining RPG to be fired.
“What is it?” the Secretary of Defense asked.
“We’ve got to go. We’ve got incoming. Sounds like a couple Sikorsky.”
The Secretary of Defense said, “Those are my birds on an extraction mission for you. Don’t you dare damage my hardware, or it will come out of your bank.”
“That’s the first bit of good news I think you’ve ever told me,” he said, while motioning to Tom to put the RPG down.
“I have a jet waiting to take you to JFK airport. I personally will meet you on the ground. We don’t have much time to pull this off!”
“Understood.” Sam thought about that celestial ceiling within Poseidon’s temple. Its purpose suddenly struck something in his mind. “Madam Secretary, there’s one more thing.”
“What?” her reply was curt.
“Contact the head of NASA’s Near Earth Object Program. It’s just a hunch, but I need to know if there’s anything large heading toward earth.”
Chapter Seventy-Four
Billie sat still. There was little of any use that she could do in her current position. She tried to force herself to relax long enough to sleep. She would need all her wits about her if she was going to beat Andrew when the opportunity arose. For nearly twenty-four hours he had kept moving her. Someone had bound her eyes tight with an impenetrable piece of leather, almost immediately afterward handcuffing her to a steel brace bar inside the helicopter. From the helicopter Billie was moved to a jet, most likely privately owned she guessed, because she heard no one else on it with the exception of the man who had taken her.
Andrew, if it was even him, had sat opposite her on the jet drinking something that smelled like rich cognac. Then after a few hours, the smell of his dinner became painful. It was roast beef with vegetables. She could imagine the look of gravy poured over the peas, carrots, and potatoes as she heard the man savoring each bite.
She had waited for him to speak, not wanting to provide him with the upper hand. He wanted her to feel helpless, she gathered. Billie had no intention of giving him such pleasure, so despite her hunger and being deprived the ability to piss, she remained silent. It was a game he was playing with her, but for what purpose she had no idea. He had not spoken a word to her since kidnapping her, when he simply told her that she would die, but first there were a few things he wanted her to clear up.
She could almost feel him staring at her. Enjoying her discomfort — waiting for her to get herself really fired up with the anxiety that overcame most people in her situation. He was savoring the moment, and she imagined him wanting to do something to provoke her, but carefully restraining his carnal desires. Delaying immediate gratification for something much greater — her complete supplication.
Well, she wouldn’t be giving him that.
What’s the worst thing he can do to me? Kill me. Okay, so he’s already established that he’s going to do that. Based on that, any way I can alter the outcome will be in my advantage. If I only have a day to live, it will be worth it to ruin his.
But what does he really need from me?
The answer came immediately to her head — Power! She doubted it was sexual. Already, she’d begun to feel like she knew the man. Edward had told her all about his past. He was a rich kid, given money and power by his father. But he was also a Rhodes Scholar, which meant he was exceptionally astute. He was the head of an eleven-thousand-year old cult aimed at ensuring the secret of Atlantis reached its violent fruition. And that made him a fanatic. Even terrorists rarely carry on throughout multiple generations — but to maintain the desire to destroy humanity for eleven thousand years takes fanatical persistence. The more she thought about it, the less she believed what he desired was at all sexual.
No, he craves power and by the sounds of things gets off over it, the sick fuck. But that’s not what he needs me for. I have something, or else he would have simply put two bullets in my head as he had the rest of the people on the ship.
Could he still need the code to Atlantis?
Edward! — Her thoughts quickly moved to the old man, and her heart slumped with the almost certain knowledge that he was now dead, his carcass most likely being eaten by crocodiles. They had all died. There was no reason why she should care more for him than anyone else. But he’d been kind to her. More than that — he had taken her under his wing as he would his own daughter. He never quite got around to explaining it to her, but she knew that the old man had a sad story with his own daughter.
She stopped herself having the luxury of self-pity, and returned quickly to the task of finding what Andrew was after.
So if Andrew already had the code to Atlantis, what did he want?
Could it be that he doesn’t actually know where Atlantis is?