Will sprinted back to the archway where his employer and the Frenchman now stood, safely concealed behind the corners of stone.
“There is no other way out of the chapel, Sir. We have the entrance surrounded. When they come out it will be like shooting fish in a barrel.”
Lindsey’s eyes narrowed. “Good. Make sure there are no survivors.”
Chapter 28
Sean and his companions had scoured the entire pit for over an hour, searching for a clue to the whereabouts of the lost ark of Noah. The rough walls and dusty floors had not given up their secrets, if there were any. Firth sat down on a small, semi-circular platform near the painting of Saint Gregory. He’d grown tired of the search and had, once again,S become his grumpy self.
It was a battle Sean was growing tired of fighting with the professor. He understood the frustration, though. There wasn’t anything to be found in the depths of the pit. At least nothing of profound clarity. Sean would have given almost anything for a simple x that marked the spot.
Adriana stood close by. Her hair had been pulled back in a ponytail, revealing her smooth, thin neck. For a moment, Sean was distracted by her natural beauty and caught himself staring. When she turned her head, he quickly diverted his gaze to the wall just behind her.
“What are you thinking?” Jabez interrupted from across the room. “Have you seen anything that might resemble a map?”
“No,” Sean shook his head, disappointed. “Maybe we are thinking about this the wrong way.” He stepped into the center of the room and slowly spun around in circles, eyeing the walls carefully. “If you were Gregory, and you wanted to make sure you left a clue for someone in the distant future to find the ark, you wouldn’t want just anyone to find it. Right?”
Jabez and Adriana nodded. Firth had his hands on his knees, listening with vague interest.
“So, who would you want to find it?” he asked in his most cynical, English accent.
“What is the recurring theme we keep running into?” he asked, but got no response other than blank stares. “Righteous. Immortality is for the righteous. Who are the righteous?”
“Priests?” Adriana offered.
“Followers of God,” Jabez included with only slight confidence.
Both of their answers made sense, but didn’t help with the question as to where the clue might be, if Saint Gregory had even left one at all. For a minute, silence returned to the dimly lit chamber as the four occupants considered the question.
Sean stared at the ground near Firth’s feet while he tried to think of an answer. It came to him suddenly as he observed the strange undulations in the floor. Near the Professor’s feet, it wasn’t as flat as the rest of the rest floor. There were small ridges and dips, as if the stone tiles had been carved away by miniscule rivers of water.
Firth noticed his curiosity and wondered what Sean was looking at. “What is it?”
“Move your feet, Professor,” he ordered. Firth did as requested and stood back up, moving off to the side.
Sean got down on one knee and ran his hand along the dirty floor then felt along the stone nearby. There was definitely a difference. He could see it more clearly now that he was down on his knees.
“Adriana, could you hand me the brush out of my backpack?”
She nodded and stepped over to his black bag that he had set on the floor against the wall. A moment later, she fished out what looked like a small broom, typically used on excavations or archaeological digs. She passed him the tool, and he immediately got down on his one hand, and with the other began sweeping away the ancient dust.
“What is it?” Jabez reinforced the professor’s question. “What do you see?”
Sean never stopped brushing vigorously at the floor, increasing a small pile of dirt with each stroke. “The righteous are penitent, Jabez. The penitent kneel before God. So, the righteous kneel to find their way to immortality. Saint Gregory left his clue here in the floor where only the most humble, penitent person would find it. The years of dust have covered it up, but not entirely.”
He continued sweeping away the dirt and debris until a strange mark appeared in the floor a foot or so away from ripples in the stone. Sean worked faster after seeing what his efforts had produced, and a few minutes later, he stood back up and stepped away.
The other three crowded around and stared down at the cleaned space on the floor, mouths dropped to their chest, eyes wide with wonder.
An X had been carved out of the dark stone near the platform. A line was also gouged out that led from the center of the X to a place in the middle of the miniature ridges and valleys.
Sean smiled broadly, but was still a little astounded. “Well, that is interesting.”
“Incredible,” Firth got down close to the floor and examined the oddity. “It would appear that Saint Gregory left us a clue after all?”
“Yeah, but what does it mean?” Sean asked. “Those look like mountains. Is that Ararat? I mean…we are pretty close to it.”
Jabez shook his head. “No. Ararat Mountain only features two main peaks. And the area surrounding it is flat. This is a range of mountains.” He waved his hand around the area of hills and valleys. “There is another possibility I had not considered.”
All eyes in the room went to Jabez as he thought about the idea. “Ararat Mountain is not the only Ararat in the region.” The others stared at him, begging with their gazes. “There is a small city to the northeast of here by the name of Ararat. For as long as history goes, there has been a settlement there. Some people have claimed that it was established by Noah’s ancestors.” His voice lowered slightly as if he were concealing a secret. “That town is on the edge of a mountain range much like this one designed by Saint Gregory. It would appear that he has left us a direct path to the ark of Noah, somewhere in those mountains.”
“Good enough for me,” Sean stated, pulling his phone out of his pocket.
He snapped a few pictures of the map Gregory had left inlaid in the stone floor.
Firth stood up. A scowl crossed his face once again. “Wait just a minute. That is hardly a definitive map. Even if it is correct, we could find ourselves wandering through those mountains for weeks or months without finding something. We need a reference point.”
“This is it,” Sean pointed at the X carved into the stone floor. “This is our reference point.”
“That could be anywhere,” Firth argued. “It could be this prison cell, or a town to the northeast, or it could be in the Himalayas.”
The room fell silent again after the professor made his point. Jabez stared hard at the ground.
When he spoke, it was full of conviction. “This is definitely that mountain range, Professor. It is not far from here. We can take the town as the center point of the X and use that to figure out which way to go into the mountains.”
Sean was still sold on the idea. “Those mountains accessible by SUV?”
“In many areas, yes. There are lots of old roads that go through them, all the way up to the north part of the country.”
“Gentlemen,” Firth interrupted. “This could be nothing. What if we get out there into those mountains and get stuck or don’t find what we are looking for?”
Sean turned to the professor. “Doc, you’re a man of science. Right?” Firth nodded. “Well, sometimes, even scientists have to take things on faith. That’s just the way it is. And right now is one of those times. Now, if you would prefer, we can drop you off in the next village and leave you there until we come back. Or you can find your own way home. But if I were you, I would be extremely interested in taking a chance on this. Because if we are right, this will be the most incredible archaeological discovery in the history of mankind.” He watched as his speech sunk in to the professor’s head.