The wave struck and she was gone.
Chapter One Hundred and Seven
The next morning the Secretary of Defense sat in one of the dozen or more sitting rooms in the White House. Her legs were crossed while she ate toast for breakfast and drank strong coffee. She casually read the security briefings for the day.
Less than an hour earlier, she’d been informed that the President Elect had been killed by a one in a trillion rogue wave, which struck a navy vessel while she was reviewing it. The ship had fortunately survived but she was washed off the deck and into the sea.
An extensive search was under way, but so far they had not found her body. Interestingly, she also discovered the head of a certain oil corporation, had been executed in Saudi Arabia for crimes against his nation. She read the next line down. A previous Nobel Prize winner in the area of nanotechnology had hanged himself.
She skimmed the rest of the notes. At the very end of the list, there was an article about a brilliant scientist. Apparently, a man named Luke Eldridge had discovered a new battery he’d named Elixer Eight which stabilized thorium so that it could be stored safely. His design was still in its infancy, but if proven correct, it would change the world’s entire reliance on fossil fuels, potentially within the next decade.
She smiled.
No, there was no way they could kill the President Elect. It was abhorrent just thinking about it. But somehow, Sam Reilly was a different sort of creature. She imagined many of the similar sorts of programs her organizations sponsored led people to irrational beliefs that they were above the law.
Sam Reilly was different.
In him, she’d seen his hard fact sense of duty — not just to America, but to the good of the entire world. He knew he wasn’t judge, jury and executioner. He’d come to her for permission. She’d refused, but Sam had gained what he wanted — her acknowledgement that it was the right thing to be done.
And he had done it. She didn’t care how. Fact was, it had been done. If it was ever proven to be more than an accident, Sam in all likelihood, would serve the death penalty if he was ever caught. She doubted that would happen. Sam Reilly was much too smart for that.
Good boy, Mr. Reilly.
Epilogue
The Maria Helena motored south following the celestial map of the golden eagle until it brought them to the Falkland Islands. Perched on the fifty-second latitude and approximately 400 miles east of the Patagonian Coastline, the Falkland Islands were barren in their idyllic landscapes and beauty.
Sam studied the aerial footage of the island. Then he looked up at the night’s sky. It was crystal clear and full of stars. The seas were relatively calm for the latitude. The wind was minor by comparison — approximately 15 knots, it felt like ice. He pulled the collar of his large winter jacket over his neck.
Tom looked at him. “You’re certain this is the place?”
“Elise says she’s run the celestial markings through her database of night skies. This is the place. The Antiqui Nautae once lived here.”
“Now we’re going to need to find it the old fashioned way.”
Sam flicked through some aerial photographs of the area where the Antiqui Nautae supposedly hid their treasure. “The place is barren. If they hid anything, let alone all their worldly possessions, someone would have noticed by now.”
“Unless they buried it?” Tom suggested. The glint of gold fever was in his eyes — again.
“What do you want to do? Go digging for it?”
Tom held the artifact up to the sky directly above him. Six of the seven stars aligned perfectly. The seventh was just slightly off. He pointed towards the island. “ We need to move in that direction, until the sky directly above matches with the holes in this artefact. We’ll never be able to get specific enough to find a place to dig. If anything, we’ll be looking at an area approximately twenty miles wide.”
Sam stopped flicking through the satellite images. “Here it is. I bet you any money.”
Tom looked at the image. It was the side of a barren mountain that met the sea. The photograph had been taken as a large wave erupted from inside the mountain. “What is that?”
“A blowhole.”
Tom smiled.
Blow holes were formed as sea caves are eroded landwards and upwards into vertical shafts, until they expose themselves to the surface. Given the right sea condition the pressure inside the cavern can build up with enough seawater to make it gush out the opening. In some circumstances, the blowhole can be miles inland, but is normally relatively close to the sea.
“Now there’s a place to hide buried treasure for centuries. Not only is it one of the most remote islands on the planet, but inside a blow hole! No one would ever find that by accident. Even if someone wanted to they’d most likely die in the process.”
Sam grinned. “Unless they had specialist equipment?”
“You want to dive it?”
Sam pulled his beanie further over his face to protect his face from the wind chill. “It’s going to be cold.”
“I’ve dived colder.”
Sam laughed. They both had.
An hour later Tom dropped into the icy cold water. Wearing a quarter inch laminate dry suit and a thick Polar Fleece underneath, he felt the cold rush over his body. So much for protecting against the elements.
He checked his equipment at ten feet and settled into the water. “You coming Sam, or did the cold put you off?”
Sam’s dive light approached. “I can’t believe you convinced me to dive this thing in winter.”
“It’s payback for making me dive in the Alps a few years back.”
Sam chuckled, “Come on. Let’s get this over and done with.”
As they approached the island, they could see the rock ledge broke into a cave and became a natural crevice that ran deep into the island. They followed it for three hundred feet. Carefully judging the inward movement of waves to follow and then gripping the side of the rocks to prevent themselves being sucked back outwards on the backwards shift of water.
At the end of the shaft moonlight shone on an opening to the surface. The crevice opened up to a large cave. As the pressure built up and filled the cavern, high pressured seawater would be forced up through the opening. “There it is Sam, but I don’t see any treasure.”
Sam flashed his light to the other end of the cavern. “There’s a second lava tube heading vertical over there.”
Tom studied the spot where Sam had shined his light. No moonlight fell from it, which meant the opening didn’t reach the surface.
“Okay, let’s try that one.”
Tom swam to the vertical opening. He ascended twenty feet before reaching the surface of the water. He took his dive regulator out of his mouth and breathed the air. The water height varied with each wave, but never rose anywhere near the top of the vertical lava tube.
Sam surfaced. Looked around the tunnel. “Are we going up there?”
“I guess so.” Tom held onto the porous rock and began to climb.
At the top the tunnel dropped down again. He followed the ancient lava tunnel until it came to a dead end. He shined his flashlight around the room. It was spherical and most definitely man made. The black obsidian, into which the entire room had been carved, glistened like black glass.
Sam walked in a moment after him. “Now this looks like the perfect place to hide treasure.”
“Except there’s no treasure.”
Sam shined his flashlight around the room. It was definitely manmade. He couldn’t even imagine the amount of hours it would have taken to build such a place using primitive tools.