Curse of Atlantis (25 page)

“Which would hold the King of Atlantis?” Darrien asked, already knowing the answer.

“Possibly hold the King of Atlantis,” Javier corrected. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. These are just guesses. It might not be gold down there at all. It could be something else. The possibilities are nearly endless.”

“Well, I sure hope it's gold,” Darrien said.

“Why’s that?” Jack asked.

“Anything less and the Russians may not want to waste their time,” Darrien reasoned.

Jack shook his head in disgust and said loudly, “What a shame it is to waste all that treasure on a bunch of parasites. There’s got to be a way to stop them.” Turning to Javier, he continued, “At some point, do you think it might be a good idea to call in the police?”

“I’ve been struggling with that very question for weeks, Jack. The situation is so unstable, it’s hard to know what to do. Any hint of police and I’m certain they’d just vanish… and we’d never see Serena again,” Javier responded, the words growing harder to speak.

“Maybe before we make the trade,
we should call the police then,” Jack suggested.

“Without much time to plan, I’m afraid they’ll just come in with their guns blazing. Serena wouldn’t stand a chance,” Javier said, grimly.

“So what should we do?” Jack asked.

“Exactly as they say and hope they’re men of their word,” Javier replied, his tone hardly convincing.

“That’s not very encouraging,” Jack responded, bluntly.

“It wasn’t meant to be,” Javier said, flatly.

“So where do we go from here?” Darrien asked.

“For starters, I’ll be giving Burt a call almost immediately
. Once he’s informed, I’ll be calling Berta. The poor woman deserves a piece of encourage news
. After
that,
we’ll need to set up the resources for the excavation so
that
as soon as we have approval, we’ll be ready to start digging. While all that
’s
happening in the background, we’ll be searching for the entrance to the chamber,” Javier said. Pointing to the images on
the
screen, he continued. “I can see the tunnels and the chamber
s
, but there’s no apparent entrance just yet. We’ll be concentrating our efforts at the base. Hopefully, the equipment will turn up something quickly.”

“I’m also going to check the scrolls again. Maybe we missed something. If they showed the burial chamber, maybe the entrance is hidden somewhere on them too,” Jack added.

“Good call, Jack. It certainly couldn’t hurt,” Javier responded.

~~~~~  ~~~~~  ~~~~~

Two hours later:

Pulling in the short driveway of their small rented villa, Javier’s phone suddenly came alive. Loud and annoying, he struggled to retrieve it from his pants pocket. As the beat up old Ranger Rover came to a stop, he jumped out
,
reached into his pocket
,
and extracted the phone, accidentally answering it.

“Hello? Javi, you there? Hello?” a faint sound came from the phone.

Javier qu
ickly
brought the phone to his ear and answered.

“Burt, is that you?”

“Absolutely, in the flesh,” Burt replied, sounding bright and energized.

“I was just about to call you. We have great news. We confirmed Jack’s discovery. That hill is in fact, the pyramid,” Javier said, excited, yet subdued.

“That IS fantastic news, Javi.
Congratulations
! We’ll have to celebrate when I get there tomorrow,” Burt responded, with a sense of relief.

“Tomorrow? Burt, we need those permits
NOW
! You’ve got to stay and work on the Greeks. We just can
’t
afford any more delays on this,” Javier implored. “You know what’s at stake. If we don’t…”

“Javi, I got the approvals,” Burt said, cutting Javier off before he finished. “We can start as soon as we need to.”

Burt listened to the long silence as he waited for Javier’s reply. As the seconds ticked by, and the silence grew, he wondered if he had lost his connection. Checking the face of the phone, he could see he was still connected to Javier.

“Javi?” he
said
in an even tone.

Still, there was no response.

“JAVI, you there?” Burt shouted into the phone.

Burt heard the unmistakable sound of a sniffle on the other end of the line.

“Javi, you OK?” Burt asked, now concerned.

A wave of relief swept over Javier as the full impact of the news finally registered in
his mind
. For the first time in over a month, he finally had
a
sense of hope, albeit small. Choking up, he struggled to hold back his emotions. Clearing his throat, he finally found the strength to speak.

“Sorry
,
Burt, I’m here. I wasn’t expecting that kind of news. We’ve been working against such overwhelming odds… I guess I’m just relieved to finally catch a break,” Javier said, wiping a tear from his cheek.

“It’s ok, Javi. I’m feeling pretty relieved too. It’s been a hard battle and it’s nice to finally have a couple of successes,” Burt said, in sympathetic tone.

“What time do you arrive tomorrow?” Javier asked, getting back to business.

“Mid-morning, around ten.”

“That’s great, Burt. I could sure use your help recruiting resources for the dig,” Javi said.

“Javi, leave that all to me. I’ve been dealing with these people for years. I know exactly who to call and what to do. You just concentrate on getting into t
hat damned thing,” Burt ordered
respectfully. “Do you have any idea where the entrance is?”

“None. The readout shows what looks like the burial chamber in the center with some smaller chambers positioned off to the side. There’re also a few tunnels that appear to connect the chambers, but none seem to exit outside the pyramid,” Javier responded.

“Guess you’ll have your work cut out for you. You might end up having to dig out the base to find it,” Burt suggested.

“I’d hate to lose all that time doing that. Jack and I are going to take more readings over the next day or so. I’m hoping to pinpoint it,”
Javier said in hopeful tone.

“Well, after I’ve made the arrangements, I’ll be able to devote all my time to helping you guys. Don’t worry, Javi. You guys have done the hard part. Finding the entrance should be a walk in the park compared to what you’ve accomplished,” Burt complimented.

“A walk in the park sounds pretty good right about now,” Javier responded with subtle humor.

Chapter 17

For two days, Javier, Jack
,
and Darrien spent their time setting up the equipment and mapping the extents of the pyramid. The work was monotonous and exhausting. After two days in the hot sun, working dawn to dusk, their efforts were barely rewarded.

“I just don’t get it. We were able to find the base of the pyramid and map the chambers and halls at that elevation, but nowhere is there any indication of an entryway. Am I missing something here?” Javier said in frustration. “What am I not seeing?”

Jack shrugged his shoulders. He felt just as frustrated as Javier
did
. He looked at images taken from radar and compared them to the 3-dimensional image on the computer display. Back and
forth,
he checked and rechecked data. Staring now at the computer, he answered, “I don’t know, Javi. Something just doesn’t look right. I can make out what looks to be large corridors leading to various chambers, but they’re blocked by the outside wall of the pyramid. I wonder if they sealed it up after they buried the king.”

“I’m thinking the same thing,” Javier responded, now moving in for a closer look.

“So what do we do now? Do we just pick a location in front of one of those halls and start digging?” Jack asked.

“I don’t think we have much choice. Fortunately, we don’t have to wait to start digging,” Javier responded. “Burt called and he was able to set up some heavy equipment to start excavating tomorrow.”

“Wow, that was great timing,” Jack said.

“Yeah, he’s been a real life saver for us,” Javier remarked casually, then continued. “I’m thinking we’re just going to start right in the very front. There seems to be a good-sized corridor in the middle of the pyramid, just beyond the outside wall. We can have the bulk materials removed by heavy equipment, but after that, we’ll need to use shovels and brooms to clear away the actual surface of the pyramid.”

“Sounds logical,” Jack responded.

Looking off in the distance, Javier spotted a small hill that sat just off the roadside, lower in the valley. Pointing it out to Jack, he handed him a pair of binoculars and said, “We have spectators.”

“So soon? We haven’t told anybody about the excavation yet
.
” Jack replied, bringing the binoculars to his eyes.

“They aren’t private citizens and they’re not from the Press,” Javier said.

“Russians?” Jack asked, simply.

Javier nodded in frustration.

“Maybe that’s not a bad thing?” Jack responded, trying to stay positive. “If they weren’t watching, they wouldn’t be interested.”

“Good point, Jack,” Javier responded.

~~~~~  ~~~~~  ~~~~~

One Week Later:

Javier nervously checked his watch as he paced back and forth at the site of their first intended dig. The previous week was hell as they all anxiously waited for a makeshift dirt road to be constructed up the side of the hill to the base of the buried pyramid. The half
-
mile section of road that extended from the existing path seemed to take forever due to delays on equipment and
in
obtaining the materials to complete the task.

As Javier watched the first dump truck roll up in front of him, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. Within a half hour, most of the equipment and men were ready to begin the excavation.

Having instructed the heavy
-
equipment operators in the exact location of their work, he stood back and anxiously watched the backhoe’s bucket plunge into the ground. Tearing up the soil and rocks, the operator lifted the half-full bucket from the ground, rotated
around,
and dropped its contents into the waiting dump truck.

“Finally, after an eternity, they’ve started,” Javier said to Jack, standing beside him.

“If it had taken any more time, I was going to start digging with a shovel,” Jack replied.

“I would have used a spoon, if I thought it would’ve helped,” Burt joked, the
n
asked, “How far down do they have to go before they hit the base?”

“About forty feet,” Jack answered. “Give or take a few feet.”

“Hmm, I’m glad I waited,” Burt responded.

As Jack and Burt carried on with casual conversation, Javier’s eyes were glued to the work being performed. Within a half hour of their start, the bucket on the backhoe hit something hard. Javier immediately raised his hand, halting the process. With a shovel in hand, he rushed into the carved out site and began to dig. Joined b
y
Jack and Burt, the three men cleared away the remaining loose soil.

As their shovels clanked on the hard surface, their enthusiasm grew. Seeing the action taking place, Darrien grabbed
a
spare shovel too and joined in. Soon, a large area of soil was cleared and what remained was the distinctive light colored rock: limestone.

“This is it, guys. This is the base,” Javier said, now growing excited.

Flat, smooth
,
and seemingly continuous, the surface of the stone continued into the dirt. Like a large hand-tooled platform, the craftsmanship was impressive.

“Wow, somebody spent a lot of time working this stuff. Limestone is a fairly rough stone. Getting it this smooth is really impressive,” Burt said.

“Strangely enough, I don’t see any separation lines in them either. I wonder how big these stones are?” Jack asked no one in particular.

“I
wonder if they even are stones,
” Javier replied.

“Of course they’re stones. What else could they be?” Jack responded.

“What I mean to say is, I think this is one solid base. They probably cleaned away the topsoil down to the bedrock, then leveled it to create a base for the pyramid,” Javier responded.

As they continued to shovel away the dirt, Jack started seeing indentations in the rock. He stopped for a moment and stared at them. Something about them seemed unusual. They didn’t look natural. He reached down and rubbed away the dirt in the small divots of the rock’s surface.

Suddenly, he stood up. Staring at the rock, his eyes were mesmerized by the sight.

“Jack? What is it,” Javier asked, noticing Jack’s condition.