Sam grinned as he saw the vault, where at least ten people lay dead. Each had been massacred by heavy machine gun fire. “On second thoughts, we might not be the only ones interested in this guy.”
“No Sam, it appears you’re going to have to wait in line.” Tom scanned the room, which was now covered in blood. “Whoever beat us here came well prepared and heavily armed. But the question remains, where did they go?”
“That part’s easy.”
“Really? Where?”
Sam walked up to the incinerator and said, “Right here.” It was shaped like the head of a giant crocodile. Like all good storage places of valuable secrets, the vault housed a large incinerator, which its clients could use to remove the evidence of any unwanted truths. The red metal of orichalcum shined like the devil.
“How did you know?” Tom asked.
“Billie once brought me here. Many years ago. She told me that her grandfather, who was searching for an ancient civilization, used this vault to store all his information on it. The image of the incinerator was so unique that although I didn’t know where to place it, I recognized it inside Poseidon’s temple.”
Tom poked his head inside the incinerator. It still smelled like burnt residue. “A nice place to hide the entrance to an ancient city. After all, who would want to willingly enter an incinerator?”
Chapter Eighty-One
Billie followed Andrew as he casually walked across the bridge. It swung gently as they traversed it, but nowhere near enough for her to get the advantage required to somehow throw him off. On the other side they crawled through yet another tunnel, which opened up to the third and final challenge — the test of bravery.
Nearly forty stone pillars stood precariously above a deep ravine. Below which, one could see nothing but darkness. At first glance it would be impossible to jump from each stone to the next all the way across the chasm.
Billie stood there, watching, but refusing to show the way.
“My dear Dr. Swan. I’d like to say that we can wait all day, but to tell you the truth…” Andrew glanced at his watch, “we have just under twenty minutes.”
“All right. See those three white stone pillars?” she asked.
“I see them.”
“Good, the long gap between the second and third are merely illusions. The dark ground below is the best disguise.”
Andrew grinned at her. “You first, Doctor.”
“Okay, but I need my hands untied. You have a gun, and you’re at least twice my size, so what are you worried about?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Why do you need your hands to jump across some rocks?”
“Because I need a run off to do so, and I’ll never make it without the full swing of my hands.”
“I don’t care if you don’t make it.”
“Sure, suit yourself. I’ll just wait here and watch you try and jump it.”
Andrew studied the gap. The optical illusion was nearly perfect. Then he stepped up to her with a knife in his hand and shoved it inside the handcuff’s locking mechanism. The cheap lock cracked under the pressure.
Billie lifted her hands slowly. “Thanks.”
He nodded to her, pointing his gun. “Now it’s your turn. Go!”
She turned and ran into the chasm, stepping from one stone to the next until she came to a complete stop. There she stared down at the dark ravine. She picked up a pile of white sand and threw it out into the black expanse.
Instantly, a hidden path, no wider than a person’s foot, could be seen wandering across the remaining 11 or more feet to the other side. Instead of being a straight beam, the secret path snaked around the room, so that no one could simply guess it was there. It was made from an alloy. Unlike the Atlantean’s unique alloy orichalcum which reflected light majestically, whatever material they had built the secret path with absorbed all light. She carefully stepped foot in front of foot until she reached the other side.
“Now your turn,” she said.
Andrew carefully stepped from one stone tower to the next. As with everything she’d seen him do, he appeared confident and surefooted. By the time he’d reached the precipice just before the secret path, she felt the soft ground below her sink. It was dark, and despite shining her flashlight directly on it, the ground seemed to disappear.
She watched as Andrew took his first couple steps onto the hidden path. And then she reached down and picked up a handful of the dirt, throwing it directly at him. The dust blackened the entire secret path, along with the stepping stones leading onto it, leaving Andrew to remain floating high above the chasm.
“My dear Dr. Swan, are you not forgetting that only I am carrying the code to Atlantis?”
Billie forced herself to smile. “I was thinking of a trade. Throw me your bag, and I’ll throw some more white sand.”
“I have a better idea. How about I just retrace your steps.” Andrew then slowly stepped forward, into oblivion.
Billie looked around the room for anything to use as a weapon, but with the exception of the Sphere, the place was barren.
Andrew laughed at her concern. “Did I not mention that I have the good fortune of a photographic memory?” To prove his point, he then skipped along the wandering secret path.
He then walked toward the Sphere of Atlantis. It glowed blue in anticipation. Andrew expertly touched and rearranged several of its ancient symbols, changing them from blue to red. He worked quickly, and like a man who had been born to work on such a machine. Unlike Billie and Edward, who had only ever been merely guessing at the purpose of the ancient and complex machine, Andrew appeared to intrinsically know what it wanted. As though it were alive, and it was waiting for him.
Billie approached slowly. “What are you doing, Andrew?”
“That’s close enough, Dr. Swan,” he said, raising his handgun toward her. “If you must know, I’m changing the course of history for humanity.”
Chapter Eighty-Two
Andrew looked down at the sudden pain in his arm.
He didn’t even see the ancient knife. He could only guess that she’d picked it up from where it had been buried inside the mysterious darkening alloy. Taking a deep breath, the adrenaline sent him into a frenzy of rage. Before he could come to any real understanding of what had just happened, Dr. Swan had charged at his gun with a force that did her lithe frame injustice.
The gun went flying from his hand, landing on the floor. In an instant, he ducked to grab it and Dr. Swan brought her knee up to his jaw. Dazed, his fingers gripped the weapon. He pulled it up to shoot her, but before his hand could move, she’d kicked it so hard that it broke a number of his fingers and sent the weapon flying.
He turned to race for it. Already, she had begun pressing several of the symbols on the sphere. It glowed black with disapproval.
“You fucking bitch!” Andrew swore. “What have you done?” He then elbowed her hard in her face. She dropped to the floor, barely conscious.
Edward stepped into the massive cavern, quickly and with growing confidence he moved in, to pick up the Glock. Without saying a word, he pulled the trigger.
Andrew heard the two shots fire.
Then he felt the burning sensation in his chest.
Taking a deep breath, he heard the gurgle of blood in his lungs. He slid to the floor, an aghast look of despair on his face. His confidence now changed to sorrow and loss. He wasn’t worried, just disappointed.
Dr. Swan was quick to retrieve her knife and hold it close on his throat. The thought made him want to laugh.
Didn’t she realize he was mortally wounded?
Andrew tried to speak, but the knife made it difficult. Still, he tried. She had to know the truth.
Edward started to enter symbols on the sphere. “Quick Dr. Swan — the code! Tell me you have the code to Atlantis!”