Jayden looked down on Carter, whose sunglasses prevented him from seeing if his eyes were open or not. “You okay?”
“Think so.” Jayden reached out a hand and pulled his friend to his feet. Then he pointed to the edge of the plateau, some twenty feet away, where their parachute was blowing over the side of a sheer drop.
“Hate to see it go. It served us well,” Carter said, watching it blow away.
Jayden nodded, watching until he could no longer see the green tarp as it drifted away in the winds and out of sight over the side of the precipice. “Not to mention we’ll have to set up our tent directly on the cold, wet ground tonight. But Carter, your knack for incredible escapes never ceases to amaze me. I seriously thought we were goners back there, and I’m super-glad to be alive. But right now I’ve got one question.”
“What’s that?” Carter said, picking up his pack and dusting the snow off of it. Jayden looked around the wind-blasted plateau, at the steep drop-ff to their left, the long slope behind them back down to the Treasure, Inc. team, and the edge of the plateau straight ahead, with what appeared to be a sizable gap before the mighty Mount Ararat rose again, this time straight to the summit.
“What now?”
Chapter 24
“So what now?” Phillipo asked his brother, a cold wind whipping his hair. Daedalus threw up his hands. He carried a fixed blade knife in one of them because he no longer had his gun and he hated to be or appear weaponless. He wished he had gotten the chance to use it on Carter Hunt, and maybe even his Asian sidekick, too, but for now it seemed they had eluded him once again.
He levelled an icy gaze at his brother, and his two expedition members in turn. “Now we split up. I will be going back into Dogu. My first order of business will be to have the timbers tested to vouch for their authenticity as to whether they could be from the ark. Assuming they are, I will then begin arranging a clandestine full-scale archaeological salvage operation — the first of its kind — of the true and genuine Noah’s Ark. All of that is a lot of work to do, and so I will be departing shortly.”
Phillipo appeared gut punched. “And the rest of us?”
“Like me, you also have much to do, and in two parts. First, you will hunt down the men who stole our map and get it back. Killing them would be worth an appreciable bonus to all three of you. Conversely, not getting the map would mean a serious demotion within our esteemed organization.”
The two expedition members who were not blood related to Daedalus appeared upset, but said nothing. Phillipo, on the other hand, could not contain his emotions. “But what difference does it make that they have the map, when we have the timbers? We have the ark!” He made a grand sweeping gesture with his arm back down the mountain toward the lake basin.
Daedalus was not swayed. “They know where the timbers and the ark are, you idiot! If they get down off of this godforsaken mountain, they will be able to tell everyone about where it is and what they have seen.”
Phillipo gasped while the other two men flinched at his use of the Lord’s name in conjunction with such a holy site. But Daedalus steamrolled on.
“And the map itself is valuable. It came from the Titanic. Have you already forgotten what we went through to get it?”
“Actually they got it, sir,” one of the team members said. “We took it from them, remember?”
Daedalus shot him a dagger stare. “And was that easy?”
The man shook his head. “I didn’t say that.”
“He also has my gun. Get it back if you can — there will be a handsome bonus for that as well. It is not traceable, but it has killed people before and could be used to match ballistics reports the world over. Let’s get going. You three will hunt down that map, and kill those two thieves if at all possible. I will head back to our campsite, take a small sample from each timber that I can easily carry by myself, and make sure the timber and our gear is still well hidden. Then I will head back to Dogubeyazıt, first, and then Ankara, to do as I said. We can stay in touch by satellite phone. Check in every four hours.”
His three team members stood there, looking dejected at the prospect of traipsing up the snow-covered mountain after two armed and resourceful men.
“Don’t just stand there, let’s move! Your jobs will be easier the sooner you catch up to those thorns in our side. Now go!”
With that, Daedalus turned and stomped down the mountain into the wind.
Carter lost track of how long they’d been trekking. He knew he could find out by looking at his trusty Omega dive watch, but he thought it best at this point to be blissfully unaware. They’d marched straight to the end of the plateau. Looking down from there, it was a rocky slide to another slope. They had opted to take the somewhat perilous route rather than hike back down the mountain toward Daedalus’ outfit. They didn’t know if they were still coming after them, but knowing Daedalus, they wouldn’t give up. The best thing to do, Carter decided, was to take a circuitous route back into town by walking all the way around the mountain and not returning the same way they came.
Jayden pointed up at a sheer rock wall. “I’m pretty sure we’re not going to be able to make it back up to the main slope by going that way.”
Carter actually laughed out loud. “Pretty sure? There’s no way whatsoever we’re going to make it up that, even with the incredibly extensive array of climbing equipment we have at our disposal, which includes all of two ropes and one carabiner.”
“Yeah, my solo free-climbing is a little rusty these days.”
They eyed the craggy, near-vertical ice-covered wall in silence. This style of formation was rare on Mt. Ararat, but they had ventured onto a less-travelled route. At length, Carter spoke. “We’re just going to have to go down this way, then walk around the long way until we can cut back across.”
“Walking sounds good. As opposed to ice-climbing, or running to dodge bullets. I’d kill for a nice stroll in the park right about now.”
“Not the best choice of words, Jayden, because we might just have to. Kill, that is. But let’s take your stroll and hope for the best, shall we?”
They headed down the relatively gentle slope that led away from Doğubayazıt, taking the path of least resistance, knowing it also led farther away from where Daedalus’ team was last sighted. They took turns shouldering the backpack with the single remaining strap, since it was their only bag. “I guess there’s no need for you to literally shoulder that burden alone,” Jayden quipped. But Carter was thankful that he had offered without being asked. He was a good friend to have and hoped that the two of them would make it out of this okay, although right now he wouldn’t have put much of a bet on that.
They settled into a monotonous rhythm, hiking downhill overall, but encountering flat or even slightly uphill stretches here and there before leading down again. He would gladly take the physical drudgery over the excitement of being shot at, that was for sure, and he knew Jayden, as just about any rational human, would as well. As the day wore on into late afternoon, their elevation gradually decreased. Even so, snow and even patches of ice still coated the ground here and there, requiring them to maintain a good watch on the ground ahead or risk a slip-and-fall or maybe twisting an ankle.
When they reached a ledge overhanging a dry patch of flat, smooth rock, Carter suggested they make camp for the night, since they wouldn’t be making it all the way back to town before nightfall anyway. Hiking at night was unsafe, and even if they used lights, that could attract a lot of attention.