King Solomon's Journey (The Dominguez Adventures) (2 page)

            At last, he approached the ramp to get on the interstate. He looked around, “Okay Raven, the road is ours. Can you fly?” he bellowed as he stomped the gas pedal.

            "Hell Yeah", Antonio yelled, as the sheer force threw him back in his seat, he felt alive, electrified. He accelerated into the opening curve as the ramp gave way to the interstate; Raven took it as if she were riding on rails. 

             “Yeah, you can fly.” They had about 60 miles of open road to Albuquerque. Not giving a damn about a ticket, the thrill would be well worth the price..

             “Raven, do you feel the need to speed?” Antonio did not consider letting up until he hit the magic mark. At 100 mph, the other cars seemed to stand still when he went racing by in the fast lane.   

            Antonio allowed Raven to continue her fast pace until he saw the sign for the Los Lunas exit loom up ahead.  He slowed Raven down, and sat back and watched the scenery go by at a more pleasant pace. Once he neared the turn for Hidden Mountain, he let his eyes go to her peaks, and was, as always thrilled to be near her.

            With Raven parked near the railroad tracks, he removed his sunglasses and placed them in the customized console. Once he removed his field pack from the trunk, he made sure it held all he would need. Twice before, he had stumbled upon small crevices in the mountain that led down into small caves. Since the first time when he had been unable to explore due to a lack of preparation, he had always made sure he carried a small length of rope, a few Carabiners, TCU's, climbing harness and his crampons. The day was too perfect not to take some time to kick around up on the summit. He crossed the rancher’s land following the path; it was a short hike to the Decalogue stone.

            At the summit, there was evidence that suggested temporary ancient living structures were there for a significant period. Among that, evidence was the scattered clusters of manmade holes or dugouts.

            On the east side, not far from the carved bearded man holding an offering, there was a solitary glyph. 

            At the Summit, he looked around at the holes in the Earth. Antonio remained skeptical about the use of the giant handmade craters many of his colleagues' coined ‘dugouts’. The most common theory claimed that the holes were military foxholes. He pondered, standing near one of the craters. Who in the Hell had been the enemy? Lobos? He took a few steps, turned, and evaluated the surrounding terrain. Without warning – the ground beneath him collapsed.

            Plunging into the dark cavern, a protruding ledge halted his fall. He reached for something to grasp. Unable to maintain a grip, he rolled past the edge, and fell into a second descent. Plummeting deeper into the ancient volcano, his head ricocheted off the jagged wall. His body slammed onto the bottom.

            He felt dizzy and a stream of light lurked down from the opening and began to blur his vision. Dazed and confused, he faded into a foggy abyss, as the atmosphere’s light appeared a pale, dingy hue.

            Antonio squinted at the stream of light above his head. Groaning he reached to touch his head, knowing he had been unconscious, but not sure how long.

            A flash as bright as lightning on a summer day forced him to throw his hands over his eyes. When he peeked through the small crack made by barely allowing his eyes to open, he was no longer alone. A man suddenly stood before him, wearing a priest’s robe. Trying to ask for help, his mouth moved, but words failed him. Apparently, what he was trying to say didn't matter; the old man was here to talk; not listen. Somehow, the ancient man communicated without speaking, and he needed Antonio’s help.

            The man faded slowly, dissolving into the fog. Antonio sensed a task of great importance - read the messages…believe…find her…find them. Intense fog made it difficult to focus; delirium began to set in as swirling clouds created a widening vortex.

            While attempting to steady his vision, a form came forth from the depths of the haze. His tightened eyelids opened slowly, with caution. The form before him took shape. He blinked again, in disbelief; a beautiful woman appeared before him. As she came closer, her form grew more vivid. Questions soared through his mind. Who was she? Where was he?

            Again, Antonio tried to speak, unable to make a sound. Silence surrounded him. She was splendid, stunning him with a beauty so remarkable; he had no one to compare her with. Her eyes glistened, sparkling with myriads of color, as if they could see within his very soul; from her he had no secrets. Long strands of deep, red hair cascaded past her shoulders, swirling in the mist with a life of their own.

            In the absence of words, her feelings unveiled within him without words. Overwhelmed by love, her essence surrounded, permeated him with inconceivable passion. Somehow, she was familiar, as if he knew her. Antonio knew he loved her.

            Synchronized, they reached for one another. He yearned to touch her, but couldn’t. A warm tear escaped his eye as she faded away. Watching her disappear, her name manifested in his brain, Amanda Messenger. His scream rang out in silence. He pleaded from the depths of his soul, wanting her to stay, or for him to go. Instantly, gone, she left him. Incomplete, he lay hollow without her.

            Disturbing his grief, an instantaneous vacuum-force tugged him, pulling his mind and body back into reality. His soul remained somewhere in the moments that had proceeded, staying with the unknown woman in a realm Antonio didn’t understand.

            The imaginary dissolved into reality. Upon emerging from the daze, his head pounded ferociously. He touched his forehead and noticed blood, realizing now that he lay at the bottom of the old volcano.

            Antonio reeled in pain as he struggled to find his pack. Locating it, he found a cloth inside and applied it with pressure to the gash on his skull. He hesitated to begin moving, and surmised his bones were still intact. The flashlight spotted his broken glasses, barely functional enough to help him find a way out of the cavern.

            His pocket flashlight scanned the surroundings. An object produced an outline less than a foot away. Reaching out, he touched it. The long sphere had the characteristics of a scroll, squinting in the murky light; he saw it wasn't a single scroll, but a bundle of scrolls in a soft bag.

Instantly, he knew the ancient man contacted him through a vision, a premonition of his impending discovery.

            Wait, he was knocked-out cold. It had to be a dream. The entire experience must have been a vivid hallucination. Unsure, Antonio could not shake the loneliness that he now felt. The woman was a phantom, a ghost, but the Scrolls were corporeal, real, and possibly the discovery of a lifetime.

            Dim light further distorted his impaired vision. He needed to get out of the cavern, now. Carefully, he placed the precious bundle of Scrolls in his pack.

            His head was still bleeding, so he improvised using his belt to compress the bandage against the wound. Secured and ready to make his escape, he looked back into the dark with the light. He shook his head. Dumb ass - she isn’t there, she never was.

            In reality, his fall wasn’t nearly as far as he first imagined. He hoisted himself up to the height of the small ledge. Above him, a large overhang was close enough to reach. Gripping with his hands, he used his feet to climb as he swung his body up, and his legs around. Struggling to reach the top of the ledge, he threw his rope and found an anchor that could hold his weight.

            One last time, the light shone into the cavern’s depths. Feeling the woman’s presence still there, he feared that he was leaving her behind in the nothingness.

            Damn...I must have brain damage. He gripped the rope and lifted himself out. Once standing safely on top, he secured the holes opening by covering it with the surrounding rocks. He needed to get away before anyone saw what happened.           

***

            Back at Raven, Antonio popped the trunk, laying the pack down, he opened it inside the trunk checking the condition of the Scrolls; he would not investigate them until later. Checking his head, the bleeding stopped. The bloody shirt came off replaced by a t-shirt from the trunk.

            He got into Raven glad for the prescription sunglasses he had left on the console, with his regular glasses broken from that fall, he would have been unable to drive. The engine started. “Okay, Raven, take us home, we have hit our ‘eureka’ moment and our 'oh shit' moment all in the same day.”

            "Raven you will have to get used to me talking to you." Antonio was turning the car around and spoke to it just as he did Es Fuerte.

            "Damn my head hurts. Lucky I didn't break my neck, but then again a concussion can kill you. Or at the very least give you hallucinations."

Antonio was silent for a moment as he navigated away from the mountain.

            "Although if the scroll is real, what does that tell us about the old man or the woman?"

            "Do ghost generally leave presents, even priestly ghosts? Does a beautiful woman who captures your soul with one look have your best interest at heart? After all Raven, in Jewish myths that date back to the early Sumerian times, Lilith was a succubus, and beautiful."

            That thought made Antonio's headache even worse. His mother had been right; all his youth she had told him the story of Lilith; one day if he did not behave, she swore a succubus would come for him.

            Overall it had been one helluva day; the extreme high of finally picking up Raven to the absolute low…literally of tumbling down inside the mountain. Was the scroll still in the trunk, or had he dreamed that part as well? It took all he had not to stop every 20 minutes to ensure it was actually there, between that and the frequent looks into the backseat checking for succubus and ghost kept his mind off the pain. Antonio just wanted some aspirin, his lab and a clean shirt, only maybe not in that order.

Chapter 2

“Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous.”

— Albert Einstein (The World As I See It)

            The hour and a half home was an eternity. The woman was still haunting him, as well as the incredible feeling he had actually seen a ghost. The Scrolls were real making it hard to buy into the whole 'knock on the head makes it a dream' theory yet what else was there.

            Taking out his phone, he dialed. “Joe, listen, I need for you to go through the storeroom and find one of the sealed cases we use to ship artifacts to the museum. It needs to be at least twenty-four inches by twelve inches, say eighteen inches deep. I am about an hour away.” After listening to Joe's answer, he disconnected and concentrated only on his driving; blocking all other thoughts from his mind, he focused only on getting there quickly, but legally.    

            Raven needed to behave on the way home, now was not an opportune time to have a Trooper pulling him over; he was looking like a Cuban street fighter. A Trooper would check his trunk confiscate the Scrolls, and possibly damage them, before he even inspected them.

            The rest of the way home, the woman, and the Scrolls took turns as the scene played in his head. He knew thinking of the woman was ridiculous. The woman of his dreams was in his dreams; that deserved the ironic laugh that echoed inside Raven.

             The phone rang.

             “Joe?”

             “Great, that was quick.”

             “Yeah, meet me out there.” Antonio whipped Raven around the circle to the back of the guesthouse he was anxious to open the Scrolls.

            “Hey Joe,” he called as he moved to the back of Raven to retrieve the pack.

            Joe's welcoming smile quickly turned into a look of concern upon seeing Antonio's injuries.

            Antonio was like a son to him, and he and his wife Maria took care of Antonio and his home. They had been with him pretty much since the beginning.

            Seeing the look on Joe's face, Antonio hastened to say; "It's not as bad as it looks, I promise."

            "I don't think Maria is going to believe that. But I will, until I see different." Joe appreciated the quick pat on the shoulder Antonio gave him, and explained what he had done as Antonio walked beside him towards the camouflaged lab.

            "I put the case in the lab, and figured you wanted everything turned on, so it's all set for you.'

             "Do you think Maria could locate a pair of glasses for me? I broke mine.”

            “Sure I'll go to check.”

            “Thanks, Joe.”

            Antonio disarmed the security system, and cleared the table next to his equipment, and then he turned on the protective lighting. Carefully removing the scrolls from their cover, he bent to look more closely at their exterior. The Scrolls appeared intact and undamaged. Joe walked in with his old glasses.

            “Thanks Joe.”

             “No problem, Maria wants to look at your wound. She says she is fixing you something to eat.”

             “Thanks Joe, I will be inside soon, I am going to make some copies.”

             “Okay.”

             “Hey, Joe,” Antonio threw Joe the keys. He smiled, “Put Raven in the garage, please.”

            Putting on gloves, Antonio carefully unrolled the first Scrolls with care, as the ancient hieroglyphs were revealed, Antonio literally began to tremble, it was unimaginable, but the script was Ancient Hebrew. He unrolled the rest of the scrolls, wanting to make copies, as soon as possible, it was best to handle them as little as conceivable. The copies would allow him to translate without damaging the originals.

            After taking photographs, and copying each one, he excised a tiny scrap from one corner of the first scroll, and then he secured the precious antiques.

            Antonio called Joe from the workshop; "Joe, do me a favor. I am going to leave an envelope on the hall table, call Terry over at the airport and ask him to swing by and pick it up. I need it air-shipped out tonight to the address on the envelope." With a final look around, Antonio ensured all traces of the scrolls existence disappeared.