“Go on!”
“There are 3520 cubits to the mile, which means we’re dealing with a distance of 800 miles between each temple.”
“That can’t be right,” Sam protested.
“It’s right,” Billie said, emphatically.
“No, it isn’t. Let’s take the temple at the distance between the Pyramid of Giza and the one that sunk in the Mediterranean Sea as a reference point. You would agree that if all the distance between each of the temples is equal, then all we need to do is work out the distance between any two temples closest to each other to determine the distance?”
“Sure.”
“The distance between the Great Pyramid of Giza and the submerged temple in the Mediterranean Sea is 1152 miles. I know, because I looked it up when we first examined the stone tablet and noted that there was an even spacing between each of the sapphires.”
“That’s right,” Billie agreed, undeterred.
“But if 3520 cubits make a mile, then 281600 cubits is nowhere near 1152 miles.”
“No. It’s 800 miles”
Sam ran his palms through his thick hair. “But you said you were certain you were right?”
“I am.”
“How?”
“Because ancient Master Builders didn’t work on a base ten system.”
“Of course, they worked on a duodecimal base of twelve.”
“Yes. And would you like to guess what 800 in base twelve converts to?”
Sam grinned. “Let me guess, 1152.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Sam considered the revelation that Billie had discovered.
“If this is right, you know what this means?”
Billie said, “We map out the known temples to work out the rest of the map?”
Sam nodded. “It also means that the stone wasn’t the original map.”
“It’s not,” Billie agreed. “I’ve already checked.”
“How old is it?”
“I carbon dated the ivory horse representing the Conqueror. It’s roughly four hundred years old.”
“About the time the previous stone was damaged and one of the remaining Master Builders made a replica, working the weight out in base ten, but continuing to calculate the distance using base twelve.” He was genuinely impressed. “Remarkable that you worked it out.”
“I got lucky, and Elise helped. You’re the one with a lifetime of maritime experience and searching for hidden treasure under your belt, so now what do we do?” Billie asked.
“Map out every known temple and see if Elise can run a computer program to fill in the gaps, by inserting the distance of 1152 miles between each one. Also, see if you can find out anything else on the constellation of Aquila. In the meantime, my attendance has been formally requested by the Secretary of Defense.”
“What does she want?” Billie asked.
“She didn’t say. She’s probably just found out we borrowed the Sikorsky Black Hawk experimental stealth helicopter without her permission, and now she wants to know why.”
“What are you going to tell her?”
“The truth.”
“But the note you and Tom found attached to the Göbekli Tepe Death Stone specifically warned you that she was being watched, and that it was imperative we don’t tell her the ancient astronomer stone still exists?”
Sam smiled, sardonically. “Not the whole truth, simply that we needed the helicopter to locate something regarding your abduction. The Secretary of Defense still wants us to find out as much as we can about the Master Builders. It’s a matter of national security that we stay ahead of them.”
“You think she’ll buy it?”
“Not for a minute.”
Chapter Thirty
Sam approached the address the Secretary had given him on foot, after traveling from the airport to the Diamond District by taxi. She’d told him the building where they’d meet was just one block north of the famous 47th Street stretch of diamond commerce. He’d walked along 47th Street from 5th Avenue to 6th, and then gratefully turned north after dodging dozens of hawkers claiming to have the best deals on diamonds if he’d only follow them.
Sam wasn’t in the market for a diamond, nor much in the mood for hawkers. The Secretary’s summons had, as usual, come at a time when he had important business elsewhere. Furthermore, she knew he did, and she knew just how important and urgent it was. He could only assume this was just as important and urgent. Why the meeting had to take place at a gemstone appraisal lab was beyond his understanding.
When he arrived and stated his name, the receptionist rose and had him follow her to a room where he found the Secretary waiting. The room was clearly a laboratory, with microscopes, spectroscopes, a jeweler’s loupe, and various other tools and electronic equipment that he couldn’t identify. With the Secretary was a small, elderly man who resembled Albert Einstein, with a shock of wild, wiry, white hair, a bulbous nose, and a pair of thick, black-framed glasses that looked two sizes too large for him.
“Mr. Reilly, thanks for finally joining us,” the Secretary greeted him.
He turned his palms upward. “I came as soon as I could…”
She didn’t let him finish. “This is Simon Greenfeld, an eminent gemologist. He has confirmed what I’m about to tell you.” She turned to the older man. “Mr. Greenfeld, please give us the room.”
Greenfeld had not spoken, nor acknowledged Sam in any way. He gave an odd little bow to the Secretary and left the room without any apparent reaction to how strange it was that someone could dismiss him from his own laboratory. The Secretary waited until the door had closed, and then brought her hand forward, palm up. In it lay an uncut diamond half the size of a chicken’s egg.
“Wow, nice stone,” Sam said. “What is it?”
“That’s potentially one of the world’s most valuable diamonds,” the Secretary answered.
Sam looked at her face. She hadn’t cracked a smile since he walked in. “That’s great news. So, who’s the lucky guy?”
The Secretary ignored his comment. “Two weeks ago, it turned up on the New York diamond exchange, with an estimated value of one hundred million dollars.”
“Wow,” he repeated, this time genuinely. “And they let you walk out of the shop with it?”
“Well, it would have been, if it was real.” The Secretary laid the stone on the lab counter and folded her arms.
“It’s a fake?”
“Yes and no.”
“Really?” Sam smiled. “I figured it either is or it isn’t, right?”
“Technically, it’s real. It has the same properties as a diamond that was formed by heat and pressure deep in the Earth. However, that isn’t the way this one was formed. You might have heard of synthetic, or lab-grown, diamonds?”
“Sure. They use them for industrial purposes.”
“Right,” she confirmed. “They’ve also been growing them for the jewelry industry for more than twenty years, and it takes real expertise to distinguish them from mined diamonds.”
“I thought fake diamonds could be easily distinguished.”