Chapter Eighty-Eight
The southern coastal town of Pozzallo, in the Sicilian Provence of Ragusa, had once been a strategic landing point for trade relations with Spain, stretching back to the Renaissance. These days, its primary resource, like so many other coastal towns, was tourism. People came from all over the world to visit its pristine stretches of shallow beaches and calm waters.
Standing on an old stone fortification named the Pandolfo Palace, a tourist smiled. He had traveled to many places, but this one held the unique distinction of actually being precisely as beautiful as the travel magazines had boasted. It was shaping up to be the perfect summer day. The sun was directly above. He stared out at the tranquil turquoise water.
The tsunami crept toward the low lying shores of Southern Sicily at a speed of four hundred and eighty miles per hour. The crest of the wave stood at barely one and a half feet. It provided the tourist with no reason to doubt his safety. A glance by those on the beach would assume the Mediterranean Sea was behaving normally today, with shallow waves, and no violent crests. Lulled, the tourist, tempted by the pristine waters of the Med, decided to take a swim.
Employed by a high-end European car company, he had recently negotiated a deal worth a cool billion Euros to source lithium for their upcoming Electric Vehicles. The deal meant that the company he worked for wouldn’t have to compete for lithium, and would be able to concentrate on the technology instead. It had also made him very rich. He was being paid with stock-options. If it worked, as he knew it would, he would be a very rich man in the next few years.
Feeling content with that thought, he stepped into the warm water until he was waist deep. He closed his eyes and then floated on his back. The warmth of the sun reached every inch of his body, while his back remained a perfect temperature. Not hot. Not cold. If there was ever such a thing as heaven on earth, this must have been it.
The tourist placed his feet firmly on the sand. The water was up to a little less than his waist. He stared at the beach. Something had happened. Everyone was running toward something. He barely noticed the water receding. People screamed. There must have been an accident.
I hope no one has been seriously hurt…
The water receded further and he was now standing in wet sand, while the water retreated further. Somewhere in the back of his mind, it confused him. He would have turned and looked behind him under normal circumstances, out of curiosity, more than concern. But now, his attention was set, focusing on the unknown drama unfolding on the beach.
He heard the roar of a thousand motorboats at full throttle and turned to glance over his shoulder. There were no motor boats. At least none that he could see. Instead, a wall of water, at least ten feet high, raged toward him.
Where did that come from?
The tourist stood still. He didn’t run. Instead he watched as his death came hurling toward him at nearly five hundred miles an hour. A split second later, the monster struck him — and his world disappeared.
Chapter Eighty-Nine
Sam looked out at the open expanse of dark blue water. Even at full speed, it was going to take at least an hour to reach the Sicilian coastline. Inside the Sikorsky, all three of them were silent. Waiting for a report from the Sicilian coast. When the report came, it informed them that a ten foot tsunami struck the coast, but casualties were relatively low.
Each of them glanced at one another in silence. They each wore the same expression — did we just change history?
Sam said, “How long, Tom?”
He grinned. “You tell me. You’re navigating.”
“No. I mean, how long have you and Genevieve been an item?”
“You don’t think I’d be stupid enough to kiss and tell when it comes to Genevieve, do you?”
“Come on, it’s me?”
“And it’s Genevieve. You know the woman was an assassin or something? You’ve seen her. It’s like she was a hostage breaker. An interrogator who was strongly opposed to the Geneva Convention’s rights for Prisoners of War. I wouldn’t last two minutes when we returned and she’d know exactly how much I told you.”
“What if I told you something?”
“Like what?”
“Like…”
Tom swore. “Holy shit, she was an interrogator! Hell no. I’m not telling you anything until she tells you first.”
“Okay, forget about how long. What I want to know is where do you want it to go from here?”
“After Billie left I waited. I really thought she’d find what she was after and come back for me. As time’s gone by, I realized that was never going to happen. But then I waited, because how does anyone compare to Billie?”
“How, indeed?”
“Then things happened with Genevieve and me…”
“And?”
“It was an accident. A lot of fun. Nothing more. Followed by another accident. Pretty soon, we were both looking forward to our accidents and for the first time in a year I’d forgotten about how much I missed Billie.”
“Wow. You can pick them, can’t you?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“First you fall in love with Billie, who, let’s face it, is beautiful but rough as they get. Now you look like you’re in pretty deep with Gen, who — did I mention, killed her last boyfriend?”
Tom looked sideways from the pilot’s seat and met his gaze. “Christ are you kidding me!”
“Yeah, gotcha.” Sam patted him on the shoulder. “You know I have nothing but admiration for Genevieve. She is a truly wonderful woman.”
“Thanks. Hey, we’re coming up on the epicenter of the earthquake.”
Sam studied the map for a moment. “Are you certain?”
“Yeah. Certain. Check out the GPS coordinates. We’re coming right up on it. Why?”
Sam looked at an island below. It was shaped like an oddly formed eight on its side. More like the symbol for infinity or a lemniscate. “That island isn’t on the map.”
Tom banked the helicopter to the right and circled the island. It was still dripping wet. Seaweed, algae, and fish lined the solid sandstone planes, while the single mountain held a massive lobster. “Is it just me, or does it look to you as though that island was just born?”
“No. It looks to me like the island was born a long time ago — the tectonic shift has only just now returned it to the surface of the sea.”
“Never seen that before.”
Zara leaned in toward the cockpit again. “Can you get low enough to drop me on that island?”
Sam smiled for the first time in the past hour. “Yes. I’m sure we can get low enough to step off. I’ll join you.”
Tom met his eyes. “Are you kidding? Aren’t you worried about secondary tsunamis?”
“No,” Sam said. “If this is the epicenter, the tsunamis will be heading outward from here. This place is one of the safest coastlines around.”
Tom continued to circle the island without reducing his altitude. “Why the hell would you want to explore it right now anyway?”
“Because that island is identical to the one Nostradamus told Zara to find — which means the future either intentionally brought us here, or tried its best to keep us from landing. Either way, I want to know what’s on that island.”
Chapter Ninety
Sam watched the helicopter take off. He felt a little guilty about not continuing with Tom on their original mission to search for survivors along the Sicilian coast. His steadfast pragmatism overcame the sensation. This entire thing apparently had to do with some sort of divine plan; a future only Nostradamus had seen. If this island held the key to the Nostradamus equation, then he had to find it.