“Let’s assume that’s the case.” Dane chewed his lip, turning the details over in his mind. “We’ve got a group associated with the Dominion hiding out on the upper floor of their church, waiting for a tsunami to hit. While their own people are safe from the disaster, they send out killers to take out any undesirables who might have lived through the flood.”
“We’re still left with the question of how they knew the tsunami was coming when no one had any warning,” Avery cut in.
“We think we know how it happened.” Tam grimaced and looked away for a moment.
“Spit it out. We’ve seen all kinds of craziness in our lives. Can’t be any worse.” Dane propped his feet on the table, folded his arms, and waited.
Tam took a deep breath and let it out in a rush. “We think the Dominion has found Atlantis.”
Chapter 9
“You have got to be kidding.” Kasey stared at Tam in disbelief.
“It’s not as crazy as it sounds,” Bones said. “Stick with us and you’ll see all kinds of things you never thought were possible.”
“So what’s the story?” Dane knew Tam would not share this with the team unless she was reasonably certain that the information was correct.
“As to that, I have someone I’d like you all to meet.” She opened the side door and escorted a young woman inside. “This is Doctor Sofia Perez. She has a story I think you all need to hear.”
Sofia Perez was an attractive Latina woman in her early thirties. Her soft brown hair hung just below shoulder length, and her brown eyes were big and round. Her skin was bronzed by the sun and she had about her an air of youthful vigor. She settled into the last empty seat, while Tam remained standing, and looked around, giving everyone a tight-lipped smile.
“Doctor Perez,” Tam began, “why don’t you begin by telling everyone about your most recent project?”
“Please, call me Sofia.” She shifted in her seat, took a deep breath, and began. “I’m an archaeologist and one of my areas of interest is Atlantis. It’s something I’ve mostly kept private for obvious reasons.”
Dane nodded. Professional archaeologists frowned upon colleagues who treated seriously what they considered far-fetched legends. Publicly declaring belief in something like Atlantis could derail a career, and someone like Sofia would be especially vulnerable, being both young and female.
“I spent a number of years researching Atlantis and made what I believed was a major breakthrough — a site in southern Spain that, I believed, fit Plato’s description. But I lacked the resources and connections to excavate. About a year ago, a man, known to me as Mister Bishop, contacted me. He had somehow found out about my work and wanted to fund my research. I was suspicious at first, but when the first check didn’t bounce, I stopped worrying about it.”
Joel cleared his throat. “I have to confess my ignorance of the Atlantis story. I always considered it, forgive me, nothing more than a myth, and an absurd one at that.”
“Believe me, I understand.” Sofia smiled at him.
“Why don’t you give us a quick summary of the Atlantis story?” Tam asked. “Other than Bones, I suspect even those of us familiar with the story are fuzzy on the details.”
“All right.” Sofia rose from her chair and smiled. Clearly, she loved her subject.
“The story is told in Plato’s dialogues: the “Timaeus” and the “Critias.” He claimed to have learned the story from the writings of Solon, a Greek legislator and poet who heard the story from Egyptian priests during his travels in Egypt around 500 B.C.E — about one hundred fifty years before Plato.
“According to Plato, Atlantis was a utopian civilization and a great power. They worshiped Poseidon, and their residents were half-human, half-god. Their great navy permitted them to travel the world, and they mined precious metals and kept exotic animals. The city was located somewhere in the vicinity of, or beyond, the Straits of Gibraltar. The story is vague in that respect. Their home city was made up of a series of concentric islands separated by canals, with a great temple in the center. Atlas ruled as their high king, though sources name multiple kings of Atlantis and indicate there were as many as ten Atlantean cities, with Plato’s being the motherland.
“I could go on all day, but for brevity’s sake, I’ll fast-forward to the end. Plato said the Atlanteans fell into moral decay and were eventually destroyed by a great deluge as their city sank into the sea in a single night. Virtually every scholar considers it a cautionary tale, but I believed that, even if Plato’s story wasn’t accurate in every detail, there was a true story there somewhere. So, I dedicated years to digging into the myths, legends, and theories. Finally, my work led me to Spain.”
“So, did you find it?” Bones grinned at Sofia. Here were two of his favorite things: a crackpot theory and a beautiful woman. Avery shot a dark glance in his direction but kept silent.
“Yes.” Sofia beamed at her smile seemed to brighten the room. “Near Cadiz, we found the remains of an ancient city. Its architecture bore resemblance to that of ancient Greece with elements of Egyptian architecture as well, as did its writings. The city itself was laid out in accordance with the Atlantean legend. We found a series of circular canals and, at the center, the temple of Poseidon.” She glanced at Tam. “Do you want to show them the pictures?”
Tam clicked the remote and a snapshot of an ancient temple, half-buried, appeared on the screen. The architecture was striking, the details fascinating. The room fell silent as image after image flashed before them: an ancient temple, a statue of Poseidon, an altar reminiscent of Stonehenge, a pyramid-shaped structure. It was overwhelming. When Tam stopped on an overhead shot of the dig site, showing the concentric circles that surrounded the temple, no one spoke.
Sofia looked up and down the table, her eyes narrowed as if she feared they would scoff.
“Why haven’t we heard anything about this?” Kasey asked. “If you discovered Atlantis, your find would be one for the history books.”
Sofia took a deep breath. “Shortly after we opened up the temple, Mister Bishop, showed up. He brought armed men with him and they killed everyone. Well, almost everyone. I escaped, obviously.”
“I’m not seeing the connection to our situation,” Dane said.
“What if I told you that, after this Mister Bishop slaughtered Sofia’s team, a freak tsunami flooded the dig site, destroying everything?” Tam raised an eyebrow. “But it was no ordinary tsunami. It struck the area of the dig site and left the areas on either side unaffected.”
“Sounds familiar to me,” Willis said.
“But our business is the Dominion,” Bones said. “Where’s the missing link?”
“Mister Bishop…” Dane said. “Do you mean Bishop Hadel?” Bishop Frederick Hadel was the leader of the Kingdom Church in Utah, and purported to be the leader of the American branch of the Dominion.
“I don’t know anything about this Dominion, or about Bishop Hadel,” Sofia said, “but when I saw what happened to Key West, I immediately recognize the similarities to what happened at my dig.”
“Sofia told her story to the people at the US Embassy. That’s when I became aware of her,” Tam explained. “I get pinged when certain words or phrases come up in government communication. We know the Dominion is interested in Archaeology of ancient mysteries. That combination, along with the name Bishop, was enough to bring her to my attention. Her description of him matches Hadel to a T.”
“Odd, isn’t it? The Dominion usually takes an interest in items of religious significance. How does Atlantis fit in?” Dane asked.