Tomb of Zeus (Atlantis) (35 page)

Ron pointed to the golden stairs that led to the bottom.

“This way, Sir,” he said simply, heading down, leading the men.

Minutes later, with the massive plastic tent removed from the chamber, the group of men gathered just outside the entrance.

“Sir, please be the first to gaze upon the mighty Zeus and his cherished scepter,” Ron shouted aloud in ceremonial tone.

Jack caught himself chuckling, then coughed to cover his act.

As Karl entered the still-warm chamber, his eyes squinted in its brilliance.

“Amazing,” he said, now in awe.

He glanced to the center of the room and grin
ned at the sight of crystal coffin resting on top of the golden altar.

He shot a look back to his men and shouted, “My God, it’s Zeus. It’s actually him.”

Instantly, the five men rushed around the edges of the coffin. They stared down at the bones with great honor and respect. They ran their hands over the top, as if trying to absorb his power.

“There it is… his scepter,” Karl announced, his voice quivering with excitement.

“His scepter?” Helena blurted in shock.

She shot Jack a hateful stare, then slowly moved forward to see for herself. As she neared, her father caught movement in the corner of his eye. He turned quickly to see her approach. For a brief moment, he viewed her presence as an intrusion, then nodded, signaling her to come close. Helena smiled in relief. As she stood over the crystal casket, her mind raced with desire. There, only a foot from her hands, was the one element that gave her life meaning. She wanted it desperately.

“How do we open it? There doesn’t seem to be a way in,” Karl asked, still giddy with joy.

“We’ll have to examine it…”
Javi started.

“I’m sure there’s a special lock somewhere on it,” Jack shouted, cutting Javi off in mid-sentence.

He moved quickly toward the front of the coffin and felt around with his hands. He smiled to Javi as he worked. Javi nodded back in understanding.

“Yup, just as I thought. There’s a locking mechanism right here, just like the one on Poseid
on’s crystal coffin,” Jack said proudly.

He pushed on a spot and a small round tile recessed below the surface, pushing out another rod next to it. He pulled on the rod. A soft ‘pop’ sound
ed from the coffin’s top.

“Ok, now we just lift and slide the top off,” Jack s
aid excitedly.

Karl glared at Jack and said abruptly, “You can stand back with the others now.”

Jack bowed in reverence, then moved back next to Javi. Javi’s eyes widened as he glared at him. Jack only smiled. Karl signaled to the guard to remove the coffin’s lid. Instantly, Ron, Adam, and three others rushed over and carefully lifted it off.

As they carried the top off to the side, Karl yelled to them, “Careful, don’t scratch it. I want this for a souvenir in my office after we’re done.”

With the five guards holding the lid, Karl reached in and slid his hands under the three foot long crystalline scepter. He drew it out and stared at it in wonderment.

“It’s made of crystal… intricately carved,” he announced.

Upon further examination, he shouted with astonishment, “Its internal mechanisms are made from precious stones and gold and silver… I think!”

As he bounced it lightly in his hands to feel its weight, he smiled and said, “It’s surprising
ly light too.”

“Lord Sita, try it out. We must see its
power,” one of the men demanded respectfully.

Karl gripped the handle lightly and pointed it at Javi, Jack and Duni. Instantly, three guards behind them, cleared out of the way.

“You can’t do this?” Javi shouted.

“We didn’t do anything. We helped you,” Duni reasoned.

Karl grinned and said simply, “Peasants.”

Jack stood
with defiance and smiled smugly.

“You’re not afraid?” Karl asked, angered now by Jack
’s insolence.

“You really don’t w
ant to kill us,” Jack responded in challenging tone.

“I can’t believe this. Who do you think you are? You’re first,” he grinned sardonically.

As Jack continued to grin, Karl pointed the crystal weapon. He lightly squeezed the handle and felt the weapons energy began to build.

“I’m reall
y going to enjoy this,” he said with evil delight.

“So am I,” Jack taunted
.

The crystal scepter glowed momentarily, then shot a bolt of energy rearward, out of the handle and into Karl’s chest. He shook with intensity, then collapsed to the ground.

Helena glanced at her father, then to the scepter. An evil grin crossed her face.

“Helena, No!” Jack shouted.

She bent over and grabbed the weapon off the floor, then pointed it at everyone in the room.

“You fools. You thought you could treat me like trash. You thought I was worthless, insignificant. It’s you that are worthless trash… and now it’s your turn to die,” she shouted, her voice seething with hatred.

She squeezed the handle, then suddenly, in a repeat of her father’s death, a bolt of energy shot out of the handle and into her chest. She collapsed on the floor next to her father.

Before anyone could react, Jack sprang from his location, scooped up the scepter and pointed the hand
le at the guards.

Ron quickly let go of the crystal lid, then reached inside his coat.

“That would really be a big mistake, Ronny ole boy,” Jack said casually.

Ron ignored the warning. As he pulled his weapon, Jack squeezed the handle. Instantly, a bolt of energy shot from the end of the weapon and into Ron’s stomach. As he fell dead, the five holding the lid, dropped it to the ground, smashing it to pieces. They rushed for their weapons.

Jack casually pointed the scepter at them and squeezed the handle. He moved his weapon from left to right as the energy spewed from the end, instantly killing the five guards. He spun around and aimed at the three near the door. Quickly they raised their hands in surrender.

Pointing it back to
Karl’s men still standing by Zeus’ coffin, he motioned them to move by the guards. Javi and Duni darted away, standing behind Jack.

“How did you know?” Javi asked cryptically.

“Know what?” Jack responded.

“About the weapon? How’d you know it’d shoot out the back?” Javi asked.

“Remember how I told Helena there wasn’t a scepter?” he responded.

Javi smiled.

“Yeah, that’s right. I lied,” Jack joke. “Did you really think I was just going to hand a powerful weapon over to that nut job?”

“Well… I did, right up until you just told us you wouldn’t,” Javi joked.

“Yeah Jack, when you got back yesterday from the chamber, you never let on that there even
was
a scepter,” Duni said.

“Sorry, a slight oversight on my part,” he teased. “Anyway, once I got into the chamber, I saw Zeus’ coffin here, missing one important item.”

“The scepter,” Duni said matter-of-factly.

“Uh huh. Fortunately though, I found it
lying in the corner, embedded in some ice. Not sure how it got there, but no matter… there it was. Once I broke it loose, I figured I’d disarm it so those goons couldn’t make any trouble with it. With a little bit of work, I was able to open the back of the handle. Once I did that, I flipped around a couple of the components inside, then closed it back up again,” he explained. He paused a moment then continued, “I was going to just place it in the coffin with Zeus but decided to give it a try. I held it by my side, then squeezed the handle. A second later, the damn thing shot backwards and hit the wall behind me. I was going to change the components around again, but then realized that anyone who was going to use it was probably going to kill themselves with it… and seeing how I knew it was going to be the bad guys being killed, I just stuck the thing in Zeus’ coffin and walked away. Of course, I didn’t count on Helena’s death.”

“Yeah, I’m still shocked by it. She reminded me of Serena,” Javi said, his daughter’s image now vivid in his mind.

“I’m not shocked. That girl wasn’t just a nut job. She was an evil, calculating nut job,” Duni said, shaking his head with conviction.

“Well, al
l I have to say is, if it wasn’t for you, Jack, we’d all be dead right now. We owe you our lives… again,” Javi added.

“We’re not out of the woods yet. We still have to contend with
the rest of the goons stationed around the pyramid and camp,” he said, in worried tone.

“Why don’t we just use the scepter?” Duni asked.

“Because it doesn’t make you invincible. You may be able to cut down a bunch of men in front of you, but what about the men you don’t see? They could simply wait till you pass and then kill you when you’re not looking,” Javi explained.

“Which is what makes the Society of Arae’s obsession with the scepter so ridiculous. Like they could really take over the world with one tiny little weapon,” Jack mocked.

Listening to Javi’s, Jack’s and Duni’s conversation, one of Karl’s men, spoke up:

“You’re correct Jack, when you say one tiny little weapon couldn’t take over the world. That was never our intention. Once we had it in our possession, we would’ve had it analyzed and made millions of them. Your simple minds just can’t comprehend what Arae i
s capable of, can you?” he spat defiantly.

“We do now,” Jack replied
flippantly.

Suddenly, outside the chamber, gunfire erupted. Automatic weapons could be heard echoing across the pyramid.

“What the
hell
is that?” Duni shouted.

“Our men eradicating the impure blood from this pyramid,” the defiant Araean stated confidently. “Mark my words, you’ll be next. If you give up now and hand over the scepter, we might let you live.”

“Can you believe the balls on this guy?” Jack said to the others. He turned back to the defiant man and continued, “Dude, you’re so deluded. If anyone comes through that door, I’m shooting you first.”

He stared back at Jack with nervous eyes, realizing his life was now in jeopardy.

“So what do we do?” Duni asked, his fears growing with each round he heard fired.

“We wait,” Jack replied. “It’s all we can do.”

With the scepter pointed at the men, Javi, Jack and Duni waited nervously behind the golden altar. Nearly fifteen minutes later, the gunfire finally ended.

Moments
afterward, a voice shouted from outside the chamber:

“Mr. Arista, are you safe?”

Jack looked at Javi and smiled.

“You in
the chamber, identify yourself,” the voice shouted again.

“Who are you guys?” Jack shouted.

“I’m Inspector Garrison of Interpol. My men have the building surrounded. Are Javier Arista, Jack Roberts and Dunixi Kanelos safe?” he shouted again.

“Yes, we’re all safe,” Duni yelled, excitement and relief overtaking him.

“Fantastic. Listen to me carefully: I want everyone to come out slowly, hands held high so we can see your fingertips. Any sudden moves could be disastrous for you. Come out now,” he ordered.

Jack looked over to the men by the door. He pointed his weapon menacingly at then and said, “That means you. Get moving.”

As the men filed out of the chamber, standing on all side of thems, from all angles, hundreds of men pointed their weapons and waited.

Inspector Garrison walked casually up to Javi, Jack and Duni and smiled.

“I recognize you from your photos. I’m Inspector Garrison of Interpol. Are you guys all right?”

“We are now,” Duni blurted loudly, now grinning ear to ear.

“We received a call from an Inspector DiApopolus from Greece. He alerted us to your crisis. Sorry for the delay. It wasn’t easy amassing a small army and landing them here undetected.”

“I’d say you p
lanned it perfectly,” Javi said cryptically, grinning to Jack.

Jack looked around and noticed a dozen bodies lying about. Pointing to the chamber, he said, “By the way, there’
re a few more dead guys in there, in case you’re counting.”

“A few? How many exactly?”

“Eight in total,” Jack responded after a moment of counting.

“Eight? You three overpowered eight guys? What kind of weapons were you using?”

“A scepter… a
very
special scepter,” Jack replied with a knowing grin

Three months later…

Using the list Jack extracted from Helena’s phone, Interpol tracked down members from the Society of Arae. Their conspiracy and complicit activities relating to the scepter were publically exposed. Many were charged. Other members’ careers were ruined.