“Yes, sir.”
“I have kept the AIAA afloat for years through corporate grants. If it wasn’t for me, then Professor Moore and his lackey clan of subservient gravediggers would have been nothing more than teachers working in lackluster colleges, rather than at valued dig sites. This has been a long time coming for me. I paid my dues and now I stand at the threshold of greatness. The moment you agreed to accept my funding to keep the AIAA alive, was the day you became my bitch. In other words, you have nailed your soul to the devil’s altar.”
“My intentions were honorable.”
“Your intentions cost me millions — honorable or not. You don’t run the show. I do.” There was silence over the speakers. “Are you still there?” asked Hall.
“I’m here.”
“Does Ms. Moore know that my corporation has funded past digs, most recently the Göbekli Tepe dig?”
“She would never have allowed it if she knew the truth. Neither would her father — given your reputation. It would have broken their hearts, but they would have let the AIAA go under before they accepted a dime from you.”
“So in rushes a man of regard, such as yourself, who is unwilling to stand by and watch an old friend’s vision of leading a crusade to find Eden end up as a pipedream. You paved the road to hell with good intentions to keep this from happening. How noble of you.” Hall continued to watch the sweeping motion of the sharks as they circled ceaselessly and without purpose. “Ms. Moore may prove to be an asset, so get the documents to her. In the meantime, I will gather a team.”
“A team? For what?”
“If there are dangers within Eden, then it would be prudent to go in with an armed unit to keep what happened to Professor Moore from happening to us.”
“She’ll never agree to that.”
“Make her agree,” said Hall. “If not, then your purpose has been served. Let’s not have a repeat of what happened to Mr. Montario happen to you.”
There was a long pause, and then, “Yes, sir.”
“Good enough. The documents are on their way, so check your laptop.” With that, Obsidian Hall cut off the connection.
He continued to graze the tips of his fingers over the smoothness of the crystal skull while holding the black journal in his other hand. There was no doubt in his mind that John Moore, given his anal quality of pursuit and documentation, had encrypted the coordinates within the bindings of the little black book. Now it was up to Alyssa Moore to determine them.
He looked at the skull and considered the legend that it had the ability to speak or sing, and that it contained the answers to some of the great mysteries of life and the universe. But so far it had granted him nothing; not even the secrets of the professor’s journal.
And then he gazed at the paintings, at the vases and antiquities, at all the treasures and realized that he was surrounded by priceless riches that would never hold up to the prizes of Eden. He closed his eyes and could only imagine. The moment he stepped one foot inside the temple, he would have the woman killed.
And all the riches of Eden would be his.
CHAPTER NINE
Alyssa Moore barely left her tent, choosing instead to remain within its hot confines as the desert sun blazed overhead. There were reliefs to be catalogued and studied, pillars and foundations to be examined, but no one denied her the right to mourn the loss of her father. Everyone at the site grieved by missing the man who was gentle and kind, a man who was congenial and never raised his voice or levied a curse in anger, a person who never failed to cast a smile, regardless of the pressures he was under.
And as much as Alyssa followed in his shadow, she knew she was the polar opposite to what he was. She was sometimes impatient, not with others but with herself, always expecting perfection with everything she did, always trying to make her father proud when she knew that he was already proud. She wanted to be more, always going above and beyond, even when she knew she could reach no further. And whereas he was always politically correct and grounded, she was sometimes blunt and fiery with an acid tongue. But they made a great pair, their opposites creating a wonderful balance.
As she sat there, she watched her father on the screen of the video phone as he was leaving for Eden. He was smiling and animated, speaking at the lens of the phone with childlike excitement. It was so good to see him like this, she thought. To see him loving life and what he did to the very end. How many people, she asked herself, truly loved what they did?
Closing the lid of the phone and having every intention of transferring the video to a disc, she took stock of her surroundings. It looked as if a whirlwind had rushed through and cast everything about. Then she realized that she was the whirlwind, venting in a way of catharsis. As the day went on and the heat inside the tent became intolerable, she peeled back the flap and began to reassemble her life. She started by cleaning up the mess and setting papers and forms and photos into orderly fashion, and then rearranged her desk so that things made sense. In her way, she was trying to accept things as they were by moving on.
“I saw the tent flap up,” said Noah. “So I took it as an invitation.”
She turned and smiled. “You’re always welcome, Noah. You know that.”
It was good for him to see her smile again, even if it was a false one. He looked around and made a face as if his surroundings met his approval. “Very nice,” he said. “It’s a far cry from yesterday.” He then looked at her with a paternal gaze. “I didn’t mean that to sound poorly. I just meant—”
She cut him off by raising her hand, her palm toward him. “I know what you meant,” she told him. “I just thought it was time to move on.” She then opened her arms to indicate the inside of the tent. “So I thought I’d start here.”
“Very good, my dear.”
“Noah?”
“Yes, Ms. Alyssa.”
She always hated it when he called her Ms. She could remember bouncing off his knee as a little girl, always closer to him than she was with her own uncles. He could at least address her without the formality. “Noah, it’s just Alyssa,” she stated. “We went over this.”
He smiled. “I so like to rile you,” he said. He stepped further into the tent. “It’s good to see you back to your old self again.”
She raised a cautious finger. “I’m not there yet,” she said. “It’s still hard to let go.”
His smile tapered off. “Yes, of course. I only meant that it’s good to see you moving on.”
“That I am,” she said, moving to her desk.
From Noah’s vantage point, he could not see what she was doing but he thought she was gathering documents of some kind and putting them in their proper place. “Ms. Aly—” He caught himself. “Alyssa?”
The corner of her lip lifted into a smile. “Now you’re getting it,” she told him.
“I need to know,” he began. “Are you ready enough?”
She looked at him straight on. “To take over for my father, you mean?”
He nodded his head, looking sheepish. “Yes.”
“Noah… I’m always going to feel emptiness,” she said. “My father was everything to me. You know that. But I know that I have to move on, as well. So I need to gather my father’s records and schedule a plan. Are you up for that?”
“Of course, my dear. But perhaps I can help.”
“Noah, you’ve been by my father’s side for more than thirty years. I need you by my side too. I need your skills of interpretation.”
Noah appeared stoic. “We will bring honor to your father’s legacy,” he said. “This discovery belongs to him.”
“I agree.”