“I’m thinking we need to follow your friend Robert’s trail. Clearly he was on to something. Do you have any idea where he was when he sent you the document? That could at least give us a starting point while a friend of mine does some checking of his own.”
Dima wondered exactly what sort of checking Maddock’s friend might be doing but that wasn’t important right now.
“I’m not sure. There was no return address on the package and the note was cryptic.”
“What about the postmark?” Maddock pressed. “Where was it from?”
Dima felt like an idiot. She hadn’t even looked at the postmark. From the moment she had laid eyes on the fragment she could think of little else. The book of Noah had consumed her. “I don’t know,” she confessed. She hated making the admission. Maddock and Bones were so…competent, and she wanted them to respect her as well. And then she had an idea. “But I know somebody who can find out for us.”
It felt like an eternity as she waited for Addie’s reply. Dima had left the box in which the document had been shipped, inside her desk at work. She had texted her assistant, asking her to locate the package. Finally, two hours later, her phone rang.
“Hey Dima, it’s Addie. So sorry for the delay. I’m a little bit busy since I took over your job for you.” Addie’s tone held only a touch of chastisement.
“I know, and I really appreciate it. I promise I’ll explain when I can, but right now things are…weird.”
“Does it at least involve a good-looking guy?”
“Yes,” she said, glancing at Bones. “Several, in fact.”
“Ooh! Do tell.”
“I will next time I see you. I’ll even bring a few pics. These guys spent a lot of time with their shirts off.” She winked at Bones who was grinning broadly. “Did you find the shipping box I asked you about?”
“I did, but I totally can’t read this postmark. It’s ‘dog’ something.”
Dima frowned. “Did you say dog?”
“Yeah. Tell you what. I’ll snap a picture and text it to you. How’s that?”
“Perfect.” Dima hesitated. “Addie, has everything been all right there? I mean, nobody’s given you a hard time or anything have they?” She hoped that, with the Trident apparently on their trail, Addie and her colleagues were safe, but she still worried.
“They’re college students and I’m a teaching assistant who suddenly responsible for their final grades. They all give me a hard time.”
“That’s not what I mean. Are you safe?” She tried to ignore the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. She just hoped Addie wouldn’t get caught up in all of this.
“Safe?” Addie asked. “Yeah, I’m good. Dima, I wish you would tell me what this is all about.”
“Trust me. It’s better that you don’t know. Just keep your eyes open, okay?”
“Okay.” Addie stretched the word out in true Southern fashion.
“I gotta go. Send me that picture, okay?”
“Will do. Love you.”
“Love you too.” Dima ended the call and waited. Moments later, a text message came through. It was a snapshot of the postmark on the package.
Bones moved to her side and looked as she zoomed in on the image. “Dogub… what the hell is that? Greek?”
“No. It’s Turkish.” She sprang to her feet, wrapped her arms around his neck, and gave him a squeeze. “I know exactly where Robert was.”
Chapter 24
The tour van bounced along the rough dirt road. Up ahead the snow-capped peak of Mount Ararat towered above them. The higher peak of the dormant compound volcano stood nearly seventeen thousand feet, dwarfing the four-thousand-foot high cone of Lesser Ararat. Maddock felt a sudden surge of adrenaline as he looked up at the fabled mountain. He couldn’t believe he was here.
Dima had immediately recognized the name Dogubeyazit as a small city in eastern Turkey, near the borders of Iran and Armenia. It was, she said, a place name any true Noah’s Ark aficionado would know, as it was the closest town to Mount Ararat.
“I’m a little confused,” Bones said. “Haven’t researchers pretty much debunked the theory that the Ararat anomaly is Noah’s Ark?”
The Ararat Anomaly was a vaguely boat-shaped formation located on the northwestern corner of Ararat’s Western plateau. First photographed in 1949 by a United States Air Force reconnaissance mission, the locale had gained fame through various television shows and other media that focused on the search for the ark. The presence of another reputed ark location close by, the Durupinar Structure, only added to the region’s notoriety.
“It has been dismissed as the ark. At least, for the most part,” Dima said. “It’s not easily studied. It’s pretty much buried in ice and the government restricts access to it, but the size of it alone makes it a poor candidate for Noah’s Ark. It’s about as big as a modern aircraft carrier. Still, people persist in believing the legends.”
“Well, the Bible does say it came to rest on Mount Ararat, doesn’t it?” Maddock asked.
“Technically, it was the ‘mountains’ of Ararat, but the translation is far from certain. It could be another place with a similar name. Ancient Hebrew contained no vowels so many of the words in the older portions of the Bible, particularly proper nouns, require a certain amount of guesswork. That’s why God’s name, for example, isn’t certain.”
“His name isn’t God?” Bones asked.
“Some say it’s Yahweh, others say it’s Jehovah.”
“Actually, I knew that. I just like listening to you lecture. You do this tilt of your head that’s kind of hot. I’ll bet you have a lot of male students in your courses, don’t you?” Bones winked at her.
“You are a mess.” Dima smiled shyly. “But yes, I do.” She was obviously warming up to Bones.
“So why do so many people persist in believing the ark is here if the site is such a bad match?” Maddock asked.
“Like Bones said, part of it is the name Ararat. That’s a strong connection to Scripture. Also, the rumors of the ark being located here are quite old. Marco Polo even wrote about it in his travels. He spoke of a mountain in the heart of Armenia where the summit is perpetually covered in snow, and said that this was the place where the ark was reputed to have come to rest. The ark is so imbued in local legend that it’s hard to shake it. Plus, I imagine it’s good for tourism. You know, like the Loch Ness Monster.”
“Hey! That thing is real,” Bones said.
“If you say so.” Dima gave him a patronizing pat on the thigh.
“What do you think Robert was doing here if this probably isn’t the location of the ark?” Bones asked.
“Obviously he was doing related research. And there just happens to be a well-known ark researcher working the mountain right now. I think it likely that Robert spoke to him.”
“Crap. And here I thought we were going to get to do some climbing.” Bones turned an accusing frown at Maddock. “Why did you let me think we were going to climb the mountain to look at the anomaly?”
“Because I knew that, if I told you the truth, you’d complain the whole way over, just like you’re doing now.”
“Fair enough. But I still say we should sneak up there and take a look around. If the third stone is up there, maybe the other two will react to it.” He put a hand to his pocket, where he carried Esau’s stone, and then eyed the small backpack where Maddock carried the Templar’s stone.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Maddock said. “That would be one heck of an undertaking, but we will do it if we have to.”