“I hired you to be a professional,” Hall said sternly. “So act like one.”
Aussie could easily dish out the insults, but could never stand being the brunt of one. He angrily waved a hand dismissively in the air and fell back down the incline, stewing.
Butcher Boy stepped forward and laid a hand against Alyssa’s forearm. “You’ll have to forgive him, ma’am. Aussie gets a little wound up sometimes.”
“Yeah, I get that.”
“If you like, I can escort you inside.”
She raised the flat of her palm to him. “It’s not necessary,” she told him. “I got it.” She hunkered down and flashed the light inside, noting the pock marks in the wall from the bullet strikes. Idiot!
“Be careful,” said Noah.”
“I will.”
She lifted her foot and set it down on solid landing, following up with the other until she was completely inside. “For you, Dad,” she whispered.
“Alyssa?”
She could hear the worry in Noah’s voice. “I’m all right, Noah.”
“Don’t go too far.”
She couldn’t help but smile. Noah was just as caring about her welfare as her father was. She aimed the light in all directions, the beam alighting on black silica walls. Every time she made a pass with the beam, her heart seemed to hitch in her chest. The hallway was beautiful, the geometrical planes perfect, the walls as smooth as glass. When she cast the light above the access, she exhaled with something that sounded like awe.
Above the entryway was the archaic lettering of man’s beginnings:
α Ϯ Д Ѡ
“Ms. Moore?” It was Obsidian Hall. “Are you all right?”
“You got to see this!” she hollered, sounding exuberant. “Noah!”
The old man slipped into the opening with his lamp in the lead and was quickly followed by Hall, his team, Savage, Eser and Harika. Aussie, still incensed, entered last.
As she stood as quiet as a Grecian statue looking wonderfully amazed and mesmerized at the same time, everyone gathered around her and followed her gaze to the space above the opening.
α Ϯ Д Ѡ
“Does that mean anything of significance?” asked Red.
“It means everything,” she answered. She moved closer and reached up, wanting to run her fingertips across the etchings. But she was too short.
Noah nodded, smiled, suddenly realizing what it said.
“What?” asked Carroll. The young warrior was standing next to his brother Red when Noah’s face lit up. “What’s it say?”
“I never imagined,” he said softly. “I just… never… imagined.
“Never imagined what?”
Alyssa pointed to the letters and read them off one at a time starting from the left side. “E-D-I-N,” she said. “Eden!”
CHAPTER TWENTY
At the vibration of Aussie’s gunfire, the creature’s olfactory senses heightened, which incited the beast to raise its head and expand its frill, the collar-like expansion a sensory mechanism capable of detecting sensations for up to two kilometers since the creature, by nature, was virtually deaf.
From all points of the chamber came the metered tapping of claws, causing ambient air to vibrate. The creature swiveled its head back and forth, its frill acting as an anatomical radar by picking up the rhythms and processing them.
…tic-tic… tic-tic… tic-tic…
And then a period of silence followed as its brain functioned strictly on olfactory drive, the synapses of its intellect transmitting messages quickly, causing its scaly hide to prickle the same way the hackles of a dog rise when sensing great danger.
A moment later it began tapping its claw once again, this time at the pace of a nervous tempo, which brought similar responses.
…tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap… tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap… tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap…
…tap-tap… tap-tap-tap-tap… tap-tap…
One by one they slid off their perches with graceful agility and raced toward the source of gunfire. Having been hardwired to defend their territory, the great beasts hastened to guard their province as they had done for tens of thousands of years.
Suddenly, a thought struck Alyssa. Her father was here — somewhere. Whatever was left of him was probably hidden in one of the chambers.
“The walls,” somebody said. Alyssa snapped out of her disconnect and to see Eser and Harika running the flats of their palms against the black silica. “It’s like glass,” said Eser to Noah in Turkish. Since Eser and Harika could not speak a word of English, Noah was only too glad to act as interpreter.
Alyssa joined them by running a hand over the surface. “It’s black silica,” she said.
“Here?” asked Hall.
Black silica is sand that comes from a source rock called mafic, and is consistent in areas where the extreme difference between the ocean temperature and the temperature of flowing lava cause the lava to fracture into tiny shards of black glass. Such conditions exist in the Pacific Ocean, most predominantly the Hawaiian Islands. And though there were multiple volcanoes in Turkey, Mount Ararat included, the conditions weren’t conducive to creating black silica. How did so much of it end up half a world away?
“All right,” said Aussie, “so the walls are nice and pretty. Let’s move.”
“Aussie.” Butcher Boy spoke as if it was a firm command to stand down.
Aussie took a moment before nodding. “Aye, sir.”
From that point, every minute seemed to crawl with the slowness of a bad dream to Hall and his unit. Alyssa wanted to catalogue every ancient meaning and archaic script, which appeared everywhere. Hall stood with mild interest, wondering if he could remove a squared unit of wall and hang it in one on his stately rooms aboard the Seafarer like a painting. But there were even greater treasures, he considered, with a trove of goods somewhere below. “Is this necessary?” he finally asked.
Alyssa gave him a onceover and noted that his shirt and pants were filthy, and the posh Oxfords he wore were scratched beyond expert buffing. What Hall thought was a smile of geniality forming at the corners of her lips was actually a smile of humor at the way he looked.
“Is what necessary?” she said.
“This,” he said, pointing to the myriad symbols on the walls.
“It’s history, Mr. Hall. And because it is, it will be recorded as such.”
“There are far greater treasures,” he answered, “beneath us.”
“No more than what’s right here in front of us,” she answered. “We will not rush this. So you need to be patient.” She went back to her studies, leaving Hall to chew on his lower lip.
“Fine,” he said. We’ll do it your way, for now.
Noah and his Turkish seniors were recording what appeared to be the wedge-like symbols of cuneiform, with Savage standing uncannily patient with his hands clasped in front of him. Hall’s team stood in a straight line along the perimeter of light, the entire team looking directly into the veil of darkness.
Not one of them moved.
Hall sidled up to Butcher Boy, turned to make sure he was out of earshot from Alyssa and her team, then leaned closer to whisper his ear. “I’m running out of patience—”
“Shhhhh.” Butcher Boy held his hand up to quiet him. Nobody took their eyes away from the wall of darkness.
Obsidian Hall whispered into Butcher Boy’s ear. “What?… What is it?” Butcher Boy was incredibly still — as was his entire team, each man focused. “What is it?” he repeated.
Butcher Boy barely moved his lips. “We’re not alone,” he said.
Hall said urgently, “What do you mean?”
“There’s something in the shadows.”
Hall looked down at the line of men who stood unnaturally still, their assault weapons raised and leveled. Hall listened. Then: “I don’t hear anything.”