Valentina looked at him.
"You're joking."
"I am not. The R/V Tolstoy is waiting for you near Cairo. She will take you and Major Rostov to the site."
"Why would they look for Atlantis?"
"They're looking for an artifact."
"What kind of artifact?"
"One that can be of use to us. That is all you need to know."
Valentina knew better than to push further.
"What are your instructions?"
"Observe the Americans. You are not to interfere unless the situation deteriorates and you have no other choice."
"Understood."
"You and Rostov leave tonight. Military transport has been arranged for you. You have proved efficient in the past, Valentina. I expect no less from you now. Orlov wants a result and he's taking a personal interest in you."
"When he pinned that medal on me, he fondled my breast. I don't like him."
"He has marked you for his inner circle," Alexei said. "It's a pool full of sharks. Find what he needs in Egypt. What protects you is your success."
"And if Rostov creates trouble?"
Alexei steepled the ends of his fingers together.
"There are also sharks in the Mediterranean," he said.
Valentina suppressed a smile.
A few miles away in FSB Headquarters, General Volkov was briefing Katerina Rostov.
"You are leaving for Egypt at 2100 hours," he said. "Orlov is playing games. He's placed an SVR operative in charge of this mission. You will be under her orders."
"Who is it?"
"Valentina Antipov. The one who got the medal after Orlov called off the Baltic invasion."
"I know who she is. She's an annoying woman and she's only a captain. How can she be in charge?"
"Orlov has promoted her to Major."
"I don't like her."
"I'm sure the feeling is mutual. However, that is the situation. You do not have a choice."
"What is it you want me to do?"
"You will stop the Americans from recovering any useful information."
"They will be working underwater. I'm no diver."
"You'll have a Spetsnaz team with you. Their job is to take care of whatever is in the water. Yours is to keep the Americans from succeeding."
"It will require a violent solution," Katerina said. "Are you prepared for whatever fallout comes from that?"
"If you do your job properly, there will not be any fallout. Unfortunate accidents happen at sea all the time."
CHAPTER 35
The Sexton's Dream passed through the Straits of Gibraltar. The smooth surface of the Mediterranean gave way to the endless rolling motion of the Atlantic. Selena and Nick stood at the bow. To starboard lay the massive landmark of the rock of Gibraltar. On the port side, Jebel Musa rose in the hazy distance. Ahead lay the vast expanse of the ocean, sparkling with sunlight.
"This is what Plato wrote about in his dialog," Selena said.
"What is?"
She pointed at the rock of Gibraltar and the mountain to the left. "We're passing through the Pillars of Hercules. Gibraltar is one pillar. That mountain over there in Morocco is the other. When Plato wrote about Atlantis he said it was beyond the Pillars of Hercules. It looks like he was right."
"I've never been to the Azores," Nick said.
"It's a beautiful place to visit." Selena brushed away a strand of hair. "There are nine islands, all part of the mid-Atlantic Mountain Range."
"There's a mountain range in the Atlantic?"
"It was formed by tectonic plates moving apart. The Azores are volcanic peaks of the ridge."
"That might explain what happened to Atlantis," Nick said. "What if something they did triggered a volcanic eruption?"
"A volcanic eruption? It would have to be awfully big."
"It's happened before. Like the Minoan civilization."
"Yes, but that's different. There are still plenty of Minoan artifacts to study. Ruins, everyday items, the language. Lots of things."
"Okay, an undersea earthquake then. Big enough to sink the whole civilization. We don't know how big Atlantis was. Maybe it was just an island. Don't the legends mention an island?"
"They do."
"It could've been like the eruption of Krakatoa back in the 1800s. That wiped out a large island and killed thousands of people. Or there could have been an undersea quake. Sexton said the whole area is seismically active. Unstable."
"If we find ruins, there might be something that tells us what happened," Selena said.
Two days later they reached the area pinpointed on the scans. The team crowded onto the bridge. One of Sexton's crew sat at an electronic console watching a large monitor. As the ship moved through the water, changing images in brown and yellow passed across the screen. A scale on the side of the monitor displayed ocean depth in meters. Sexton stood behind him.
"What's your plan?" Nick asked.
Sexton pointed. "You're looking at images from the side-scan sonar system. I've laid out a grid to search, based on the satellite intel you gave me. We'll work our way back and forth across the grid."
He gestured at the screen.
"You can see the variations on the ocean floor. It looks fairly smooth here. If those ruins are down there, we'll find them. There's not much to confuse the image."
"How does it work?" Ronnie asked.
"The scanner trails behind the ship," Sexton said. "The sonar sends down pulses in a fan shape. They bounce back as an acoustic reflection, recorded in slices. The computers piece the slices together and get an image."
An object shaped like a boat's hull appeared, slice by slice, five hundred meters down. It passed out of sight as the ship continued on.
"Probably a fishing boat," Sexton said. "There are a lot of wrecks out here. People have been sailing these waters for a long time."
"How long will it take us to search the grid?" Selena asked.
"The whole thing? A few days, maybe longer. But I don't think we'll have to do that. We're at the edge of the area you identified on those scans, so it might not take long."
"I'm going to check over the diving gear," Lamont said.
"I'll go with you," Selena said.
"I'll help you unpack." Ronnie followed them out as they left the bridge.
Nick stood next to Sexton, looking out through the bridge windows. There was nothing to see except the constant motion of the water. A few white clouds drifted overhead in a clear blue sky.
"How did you hook up with Selena?" Sexton asked Nick.
"It's a long story. Her uncle was murdered. We were asked to look into it."
"We've been friends a long time."
"Selena told me about it."
An image of Selena in bed with Sexton flashed unbidden in Nick's mind. It made him angry. Even though it had been long before Selena came into his life.
"She's special," Sexton said. "You're a lucky man. Me, I've never been able to settle on one woman."
Asshole, Nick thought.
The sonar operator called out.
"I've got images, Skipper."
The two men walked over and looked at the monitor. It showed a long shape on the ocean floor at a depth of eight hundred meters. As the ship moved over the surface regular shapes appeared, far below.
"That's got to be it," Nick said.
"Do you want me to keep searching the grid?"
"No, we'll start here. Get us stopped over what's down there."
As Sexton gave orders to his crew, Nick stepped outside to where the others had laid out the diving gear on the deck. The steady vibration of the engines changed as the boat slowed and stopped.
"Why are we stopping?" Selena asked.
"Sonar shows the ruins of a city below us. Or at least what looks like ruins."
"How far down?" Lamont asked.
"Eight hundred meters, give or take a few."