“Go on,” she said.
“The great drying came,” he said, looking up. “I think this refers to something we call the 5.9K event. About six thousand years ago, northern Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Asia went from a relatively humid climate to the deserts we see today. The cause is unknown, but based on the type of seeds discovered and fossils in the record we know it happened rather rapidly.”
She nodded, appearing to understand. “Go on.”
“If this is what they mean by the ‘great drying,’ then we can peg the time of this scroll being written or stamped to somewhere between 3900 and 3400 BC.”
“Okay,” she said. “What else?”
“It goes on to say that word went forth as to barrenness of the Garden in Edin, but that was a lie, the trees continued to bear fruit.”
“So the Garden in Edin was the last place these trees grew,” she said. “Could that be the source of the Bible story?”
“Very possible,” McCarter said.
He watched as Danielle scribbled down more notes. She seemed closer to frustrated than impressed.
“What else?” she asked, still not looking up.
“According to the scroll, an island known as something like ‘the Table of Sand’ existed in the center of a great river. Only the king of the people and the strongest and most honorable of his soldiers knew of its whereabouts. They kept it secret, guarded it day and night, and in return they received gold and onyx.”
“Items also mentioned in the Bible,” she noted.
He nodded and continued. “The kingdom became wealthy because they gave to the leaders of other lands the fruit of this garden, and those who ate of it lived for ages longer than those who did not.”
At this point, Danielle exhaled and looked up. “That’s all very interesting, Professor, but I’m afraid it doesn’t help me much.”
“Perhaps I could be more helpful if I knew what you were dealing with,” he said.
She hesitated. “Maybe you’re right,” she said. “A radical group stole this scroll. They claim they can prove that God doesn’t exist and that they’ve taken the power of life and death for themselves. Normally we’d write them off as lunatics full of talk, except they may be close to building a powerful biological weapon.”
McCarter’s heart all but froze.
“For some reason they’re interested in this,” Danielle continued. “Because of that, we are as well. Except it doesn’t seem to have any connection to the threat, even if it means something symbolic to this cult.”
McCarter thought about what she was saying, and tried to see the connection himself.
“Does it tell you anything of value? Anything beyond a different version of the Genesis story?”
“It tells you how to get there,” McCarter said.
“To get where?”
“To the Garden in Edin,” he said.
She paused, looking at him as if she’d heard him wrong.
“I thought the Bible already told us where Eden was,” she said.
“It does,” McCarter said. “Except the geographic description doesn’t really make any sense. That’s why people have been looking for it unsuccessfully for thousands of years.”
He glanced at his notes. “The Old Testament or the Torah describes Eden as being in the east. That doesn’t exactly narrow it down. It also describes rivers that either led into or out of Eden, but even here we find confusion. In addition to the Tigris and Euphrates, which we all know about, one river the Bible references is named the Pishon, which is said to flow around the entire land of Havilah, where gold and onyx are found. All this points us to Iraq, possibly Iran, but very definitely the Middle East. Havilah means ‘stretch of sand,’ by the way, which connects nicely with the ‘table of sand’ from the scroll.”
“That sounds helpful,” Danielle said.
“The problem is,” he said, “it then goes on to describe another river called the Gihon, which flowed around the entire land of Kush. Unfortunately, Kush is strongly thought to reference a well-known kingdom in Ethiopia along the Nile. This is not just the work of modern scholars. The Bible constantly refers to Kush in connection to the Nile.”
“I see what you mean,” she said. “These are not very good directions.”
“Not good for finding one place,” he said, “But if there’s more than one Miraculous Garden of Life …”
“Of course,” she said, sounding impressed, “you never cease to amaze me.”
“Thank you,” he said, feeling very proud of himself.
“Can you tell me how to find one of them? Any one of them?”
“This scroll tells us of a specific journey from the Garden in Edin. And it gives it a marker that we could use to find it today.”
“I still don’t see why that would matter to them. How does finding Eden disprove the existence of God? It’s like saying the discovery of Camelot would prove that King Arthur wasn’t real. It’s backwards.”
“Unless,” McCarter said, “something in Camelot proves that someone else was king.”
“Maybe,” she said. “But that’s for theologians to argue. We’re trying to prevent these freaks from obtaining whatever they need to finish this weapon. Unless you’ve found something like that in there, I’m afraid this is a dead end.”
“Sorry,” McCarter said. “Or maybe I’m not. Maybe I’m happy about that. But there’s nothing in here about weapons or the power to kill or destroy.”
She went silent for a moment, scribbling more notes, and he thought it might be the opportunity to ask a question.
“Are you going there?”
For the first time, she smiled. “You’re not coming along if we do,” she insisted.
“Of course,” he said. “Not now, but I’ll make you a deal. I’ll tell you where it is, and once you and Hawker have gone in — done your thing and killed all the baddies — I get first crack at the excavation.”
He paused. “That is, assuming you don’t get yourselves blown up by terrorists, jailed by government authorities, or smote down by angels with flaming swords. Like those who are prophesied to be guarding the place.”
“Angels with swords of fire,” she said. “Maybe we should hope they are guarding the place. Might save us a lot of trouble and the world some agony.”
“Maybe,” he agreed.
“You know where it is,” she guessed.
“Not yet,” he insisted. “But there are enough landmarks in this description to give you a general area. From there you can begin the search. It might actually be easy to find.”
As he spoke the words, McCarter remembered scoffing at a similar statement Danielle had made during their trip to the Amazon two and a half years ago.
“You realize the irony of what you’re suggesting,” she said.
He laughed. “Yes, but the Miraculous Garden in Open Plain of Edin has a marker, and with a little help from your friends with the satellites, we should be able to pin it down rather quickly.”
She looked conflicted: part eager, part suspicious. He could only imagine the weight she carried on her shoulders. He guessed she hadn’t told him the worst of it.
“Figure it out,” she said finally. “I’ll let you know.”
CHAPTER 34
Hawker stood on a second-floor terrace. It overlooked a courtyard, complete with gurgling fountains, manicured palm and olive trees, and a twelve-foot wall topped with vicious-looking iron spikes, security cameras, and razor wire.
The up-lit palms soared past him, taking on new shades as the daylight faded and the dusk approached.
Traveling by boat through the night and half the next day, he, Sonia, Savi, and Nadia had made their way through the Persian Gulf to Kuwait. A slip at a private marina waited for their unnamed boat and thirty minutes by car had brought them here: Savi’s home.