DeGard began to regain his composure, becoming angry over the fact that his boss had threatened to drop him into a bottomless pit. When he spoke, his voice was still shaky. “We flew by a monastery on the way here. Khor Virap. Your assistant here asked about it.” He pointed a crooked finger at Will.
Lindsey turned his attention to Will then back to DeGard, as if trying to size up whether or not the man was telling the truth. Will confirmed it with a nod, but that still didn’t explain what the monastery had to do with the missing clue to the ark. The old man was irritated, angry, and growing tired of the search. He had come to the eastern border of Turkey believing he would find the greatest treasure ever known to man. Only a few people ever even believed it still existed.
Now, to be so close only to get presented with another obstacle was almost more than he could bear. Lindsey’s patience was running out. And his last hope was in a Frenchman who had been ex-communicated by his profession for unethical behavior. Despite Lindsey’s belief in his own mission, the irony was not lost on him.
His eyes peered deep into DeGard’s soul. When he spoke, it was nearly a hiss. “Why are you bringing up this monastery now? What is it about that place that is so special?”
DeGard took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He bent down and picked up his flashlight while he spoke. “As I told your associate before, Khor Virap was initially built around the turn of the same century I believe this passage was constructed. It would make sense that the people who built it may also have taken the clue and hidden it somewhere.”
“Go on.”
“Khor Virap was originally a prison. Saint Gregory was kept in the dungeon there for over a decade. He is the patron saint of Armenia and was responsible for converting the king, and eventually the entire nation as a result of his ministry.”
Lindsey was beginning to lose interest in the story about the priest. “I don’t care about any of that. What is so special about that monastery? And I warn you, if you are wasting my time, I will not hesitate to drop you in that hole.”
The Frenchman swallowed hard while trying to convey a look of disdain. “It was said that Saint Gregory had miraculous healing powers. That he was able to heal the king. Rumors suggested he had access to some ancient power. To many, it was evidence that he had the power of God at his disposal. The healings made it easy to convert tens of thousands of Armenians.”
Lindsey took a step back, lowering his flashlight. He looked over at Will, whose face was barely illuminated by the whitish-yellow glow of the beams. Will cast him a glance that basically said they didn’t have any other play at that point.
“How far away is this place?” Lindsey asked finally.
“Not far,” DeGard shook his head. “But we will have to cross the border to get there.”
Kaba spoke up. “Not a problem. The border is not heavily patrolled in an area not far from Khor Virap. We should be able to cross over without any problems if we fly low.”
The old man hesitated for a moment, deciding the best course of action. He couldn’t afford any more mistakes. Back in the United States, over two thousand crates awaited his orders to be shipped all over the world. The longer it took to find what he was looking for, the riskier the entire mission became. If the legends about Saint Gregory were true, he may have had access to the fruit of the tree from Eden. The story description certainly aligned with every bit of research he’d done through the years.
The ability to heal, energize, and grant immortality were all components of the tree God had placed in the Garden of Eden. With it, he would be able to live forever and destroy all the sinful people of the world.
Lindsey raised one eyebrow, but his face remained stern. “Very well. Let’s investigate the monastery. Perhaps our friend, Saint Gregory, left us something of interest after all.”
Chapter 26
“So, tell me again what it is you’re doing?” Joe watched as his wife scanned through what looked like a complicated spreadsheet.
Helen had accessed the Biosure database using a bunch of terms he’d not understood. She’d said something about going in through their back door, but after that, everything had been mumbo jumbo to him. Whatever she did, it had worked, and now they were staring at hundreds of order manifests for Biosure influenza vaccines.
“It looks like they’re shipping these all over the world,” Helen remarked as she scrolled down the list of shipping addresses and orders. “I wonder why all the dates are open. Wouldn’t they all be queued to leave on specific days and times?”
Her face expressed the same confusion as Joe’s. It didn’t make sense. Hundreds, maybe thousands of orders were listed there on the screen. But none of them had a shipping date. Joe’s mind was turning as his wife continued to look through the spreadsheet.
“If what Sean said was correct, it sounds like Lindsey is planning to use Biosure to distribute some kind of super virus out into the world. But he wouldn’t do that unless he could protect himself from the virus.” Helen could tell the wheels were turning in Joe’s head.
He rubbed his beard for a few moments before continuing. “So, that is what he’s looking for. He’s trying to find the tree of life from the Garden of Eden because he thinks it will make him immune to whatever it is he’s going to unleash. He must believe it has some kind of medicinal properties that can override the virus.”
Helen looked up from the computer while Joe finished his thought. She glanced back at the computer for a second then returned her gaze to him. “These shipments are all some kind of super bug?” Her face contorted, disturbed at the idea. “They are ready to be sent to major cities all over the globe. It will be a pandemic within days.
Joe nodded. “So it would seem. We have to make sure those shipments don’t go anywhere until we can get a sample to the CDC, and confirm what it is we’re dealing with.”
Helen acknowledged what Joe had said with a quick nod. She turned her attention to the computer screen and began typing furiously. Several different windows popped up while she worked, but before he could see what they were, the boxes disappeared. He had never seen anyone type as fast as his wife. Come to think of it, he had never really seen his wife do anything on the computer. Joe assumed that she used it for browsing the Internet or Pinterest, typical things. Now he could see there was a layer to his wife he’d never known about. She was a government trained computer hacker. The thought actually excited him for a second before he redirected his focus back to task.
She hit the “enter” key and watched as a flurry of numbers and letters passed across the screen. At last, a window popped up that read, “account created.”
Joe leaned over and saw the message. “What does that mean?” he asked over her shoulder.
Helen smiled at his reflection on the monitor. “I just created an all access pass for us to get into Biosure’s headquarters.”
“Are you serious?” his face was in utter disbelief. “You just broke into the Biosure computer system and gave us access to the building?”
“Yep,” she nodded. “I figured it would be safer to send it there than to our house.”
“Honey,” Joe beamed. “Did I ever tell you you’re amazing?”
“Not as often as you should,” she grinned as she looked up at him.
Up until that point in their relationship, Joe had never seen such guile from his wife. And they had been married for twenty years. He had always assumed she was overprotective of him out of fear of being alone. Now, he realized she had probably seen and done things that showed her a world of trouble. Her way of keeping him out of that trouble was to nag him.