Curse of Atlantis (22 page)

“THE WEEK
'
S END?!” Javier shouted loudly.

“Do not raise your voice to me again,”
Dimitri
said coldly. “I am the only line between your daughter’s life and death. It would be a shame if I failed to report in time to save her.”

Javier nodded nervously, then said, “My apology for the outburst… If we find another artifact, how much extra time will we have?”

“I don’t know if it WILL buy you more time.
To be blunt, if he doesn’t see results very soon, you all will be replaced.
To say you are spending borrowed time is an
oversimplification,”
Dimitri
warned.

“Is there nothing we can do to extend our time?” Javier asked.

“Finding the pyramid is all you can do
at this point
,” he replied coldly.

Javier nodded in understanding.

With a simple
return
nod, the two Russians turned and headed for their car. As they drove away, Javier felt a crushing weight upon his shoulders.

“
ONE
WEEK?!” he blurted out loudly. “This is BULLSHIT!”

Javier’s profanity was the first time any of the three had heard him use it. It was out of character for him, and they knew he was unraveling fast.

“Javi, I promise you, we won’t sleep until we find it, but let’s not waste another minute discussing what could happen. Even more so now, we need to focus on that pyramid,” Burt said, his voice controlled and deliberate. “Anything short could spell disaster.”

Javier nodded reluctantly. His anger and desperation still raged inside him. Picking his pack up off the ground, he walked to the car and got in. Turning to the others, he said simply, “Let’s go.”

Without a word, the three filed into the car, determination registering on every face.

~~~~~  ~~~~~  ~~~~~

The day finished off as a complete failure. The four men pushed through their desperation and exhaustion and managed to examine three mountains in one day. The Herculean feat went completely unrewarded. From the excessive use over rough terrain, the GPR malfunctioned and had to be repaired. With Jack’s knowledge of electronics, he was able to diagnose
the problem: a contact
had broken away from the printed-circuit-board, rending the device useless. Thinking quickly, Jack had seen a torch lighter in Darrien’s car and quickly retrieved it. Heating up a small piece of wire, he was able to use it to melt and ultimate
ly
solder the contact back in place.

As it was, the time spent cost them dearly and they worked into the evening hours to finish their task. With nothing to show for their efforts, the four drove back to the tiny rented villa and prepared for the following day’s search: tired and broken.

With late evening turning into early morning, the four finally made time for sleep. Trying to maximize his rest, Darrien slept on the floor while Burt took the couch. Three hours after they laid down, the alarms rang and
they
started the race back to the mountains.

Working frantically, they barely took time to eat or drink. Racing to maximize the daylight hours, they shortened their tests and risked lower degrees of accuracy in order to achieve their goal of three mountains per day.

After nearly fourteen hours of frenzied searching, they completed their final test for the day. Staring at the results, Javier shook his head in disgust.

“Impossible. It’s got to be here. What are we doing wrong?” he shouted out in deep desperation.

Burt looked at the data. Scanning through quickly, he confirmed Javier’s statement.

“I’m sorry, Javi. We still have a few more days. All is not lost just yet. With the speed that we’re moving, we should be able to finish the list before the end of the week. I know it doesn’t feel like much, but the list
we compiled contained the most
likely locations for a pyramid to be buried. With only a few more mountains left, I’m certain we’ll find it in time,” Burt reasoned.

“Javi, there’s still a little light left to the day. I’m sure you’re hungry and thirst
y. Why don’t we go down into
town and rest an hour or so. We can get a bite to eat and recharge batteries,” Jack suggested.

“No… I won’t do that. As long as there’s light, I’ll keep going,” he said, resolutely.

“Aren’t you getting hungry?” Darrien asked.

“I’m starved, but it’s not like I’m going to waste away. I’ll eat after this is all over with,” he replied grimly.

“Ok, here’s the plan. The next mountain is a short walk across the ridgeline. The three of us will move the equipment to the other side,” Burt said, pointing to Darrien and Javier. “Jack, take the car and go into town and get some food. We can continue on the next mountain while you’re gone.”

“If that’s ok with you, Darrien?” Jack asked.

“I am honored to help out in any way,” he responded.

Handing Jack the keys to his car, he said jokingly, “Please don’t scratch it.”

“I’ll be back well before it’s dark,” Jack said.

With a quick wave, he ran down the hill towards the beat up old Range Rover.

~~~~~  ~~~~~  ~~~~~

Jack drove quickly through the old country roads, then onto a main road that paralleled the coastline. Heading north, he squinted hard and tried to see his companions at the top of the next hill. With the sun beginning to set, it silhouetted the profiles of the mountain tops
,
all but obscuring any detail that might be seen in daylight. Unable to find his friends, he stepped on the gas and concentrated his focus on driving faster.

Ten minutes after finding the main road, Jack entered the town of
Paliaopoli
. Stopping at the first café he found, he roared into the parking lot and slammed on the brakes. Quickly, he leaped from the car and ran into the building. Placing an order of food to go, he walked back outside and waited at an outdoor patio.

Checking his watch, he remarked at his timing.

“
Eight o’clock
. At this rate, I’ll be back in time to eat and find that stupid pyramid,” he said to himself.

Looking back up at the mountains, he searched again for the three. With the suns rays now beginning to set behind the western range, it cast its shadows off the eastern faces of the mountains. One by one, Jack mentally checked off all the peaks he had stood on. As his eyes scanned from north to south, he suddenly focused on the mountain he had spotted weeks before while riding in the boat. He had noticed a lower pair of ridgelines that ended abruptly, half way up the face of the larger mountain. The mountain had been ruled out by Javier due to its size, but now Jack began to see something in the shadows that he hadn’t seen in the bright sunshine.

Squinting hard, he concentrated on the formations that rose up from the valley floor. Rubbing his eyes, he refocused again, this time using his imagination to see images in a place where there were none. The more
he
watched, more the sun
'
s shadows played tricks on
his
mind.

Suddenly
, Jack stood up and ran for the old car. Leaping off the elevated porch, he took a few steps, reached into the car for Darrien’s binoculars, then raced back up to his table. As the eyes of the patrons glared at his commotion, he quickly sat and braced his arms on the tabletop for better support. Placing the field glasses to his eyes, he carefully adjusted the lens. Staring intently through them, he watched the sun’s setting rays glance off the lower hilltop just above the ridgelines, casting a shadow below.

“What the…” Jack said, his puzzled stare stopping him in mid-sentence.

As the sun set lower in the sky, the shadow between the ridgelines moved lower as well. Jack continued his stare, unsure of what he was looking at. Suddenly, he stood up. Looking around at the patrons casually dining, he found their indifference intriguing. Looking through the glasses once more, his heart began to race.

“No way,” he said loudly, calling attention to himself once more.

As quickly as he could, he pulled his cell phone from his pocket and snapped some photos. From behind
him,
he heard a voice call to him.

“Sir, your order is almost ready. Would you like to pay now?”

Jack turned to see the smiling host
es
s standing behind him. He smiled back, then rushed past her.

“Keep it warm, I’ll be back shortly,” he said, as he leaped from the porch once more.

Jack drove like a man on fire. Every turn squealed the tires. Every shift of the gears wound the engine into redline. As he struggled to keep the car on the road, he speed dialed Javier’s cell phone. Moments later, he heard the sound of a tired voice answer.

“Jack? That you?” Javier asked, his voice sounding wary and weak.

“Javi, drop everything where it is and race down the mountain. Do it now,” Jack blurted out over the rush of wind. “I think I found it.”

“Jack, what’s going on? What do you mean
'
race down the mountain
'?
” he shot back confused, then added, “We can’
t leave the equipment here. It
cost thousands of dollars.”

“Javi, you’ve got to trust me. Leave the equipment now and run down that mountain. I’ll pick you up at the bottom,” Jack shouted once more.

“I don’t understand?” he replied, now growing agitated.

“Javi, I found it. I found the freaking pyramid. You gotta move,
NOW
!” Jack shouted excitedly. “Time’s running out. If you hurry, we can still catch it.”

“Catch it?” Javier shouted back. “Never mind, we’re on our way down.”

“Good man. I’ll be at the base in ten minutes,” Jack said, relieved.

Jack entered the dirt road that led to the base of the mountain. Driving as fast as he dared, he slid the old car around corners and sped of
f bumps
on the path, sending the car momentarily airborne. Spee
ding around the final
corner,
he
saw movement up ahead.

“I’ll be damned. That guy can move when he needs to,” Jack laughed to himself.

In seconds, he slammed on the brakes, throwing a cloud of dust in the air.

“Hurry guys, jump in,” he shouted.

“Jack, did we hear right, you found the pyramid?” Burt said, leaping into the back seat.

“Seatbelts guys. This is going to be a ride from hell,” Jack announced.

He stomped on the gas, popped the clutch, and spun the rear end of the car around in one quick movement. Speeding back down the dirt road, the occupants held on tightly as Jack negotiated the twists and bumps. In minutes, he screeched the tires onto the paved street and headed toward the coast. With the daylight hours fading fast, Jack never slowed his pace. Finding the main road once more, he ignored the stop sign and sped up the coast.

Checking over his shoulder, he watched as the large mountain in question came into view. He drove for another mile until he found the first available viewing site. Slamming on his brakes, he pulled off the road and leaped from the car.

“Hurry, follow me!
” he yelled, heading for an elevated pile of rocks on the other side the road.

Carrying his binoculars, he looked over his shoulder,
ensuring
his passengers were close behind. As he hurried to the top of the boulders, he waited for the three to catch up. In seconds, all four men stood and stared toward the west.

“Ok
,
Jack, what are we looking at?” Javier asked anxiously.

“See that mountain there in the distance. It’s the one I pointed out on the boat ride,” Jack said.

“Yeah, we excluded it due to its height. The tsunami could never have reached that high,” Burt responded.

“Correct, it is too high, but check out the two ridgelines below it. It’s not as pronounced as it was a half hour ago, but look at the shadow. What do you see?” Jack asked, now taking his cell phone from his pocket.

“I don’t see anything,” Darrien called out immediately. “Looks like a hill.”

“Yeah
,
Jack, if that’s supposed to be pyramid, I’m not seeing it,” Javier said.

“As I said, the shadow is almost covering the whole face of the hill but if you were here a half hour ago, this is what
you would have
seen,” Jack said.

Lifting his cell phone in front of the three, they took a moment to examine the picture. As the
ir
eyes focused on the photo, the reality of the image took time to register. Scanning back and forth between camera and hill,
their
disbelief quickly became truth.

“No way!” Darrien blurted out in shock.

“Are you sure?” Javier asked excitedly.

“Look at that shadow. It’s nearly a perfect pyramid,” Jack replied. “And look at those ridgelines. They’re too
damned
straight to be natural.”