Helios (Cerberus Group Book 2) Page 20

  “I was thinking more along the lines of Schopenhauer,” Carter said. “Death gets us all in the end. Everything we do only leads to suffering, either for ourselves or someone else. Entropy will eventually destroy the universe no matter what we do, and since life is pretty much miserable for most creatures, eradicating life from the universe is a merciful act, sparing future generations from pain and suffering.”

  “That’s dark,” Pierce said.

  “Geniuses are a little more susceptible to philosophies like that, because they want to understand the big picture and think everything should make sense like a balanced equation. They end up getting scared by what they see.”

  “Tanaka and Shiva stayed friends,” Dourado continued. “And continued to be pessi-bros or whatever. Tanaka worked at HAARP for a while, and then joined Pradesh at a place called Jovian Technologies, but then Shiva disappeared during the Blackout incident in Paris a few years ago.”

  “I remember that,” Fiona said with a groan.

  “Tanaka was pretty quiet after that,” Dourado continued, “Stopped posting on the Vehement forums and focused on his work.”

  “Unfortunately,” said a new, unfamiliar male voice, “his work was helping me figure out how to turn the Black Knight satellite into a planetary-scale solar reflector.”

  Marcus Fallon, Pierce thought. The boy who couldn’t resist playing with fire.

  “So that’s all he wants? Global annihilation? No negotiation?”

  “Seems that way,” Dourado answered.

  “Do we know where he’s going?”

  “Not a clue. He could be anywhere. All he needs is an antenna array with a 10 gigahertz transmitter, and he can stop the sun.”

  “What about the men who attacked the monastery? Were they working with him?”

  “Given the timing of the attack, I think that’s a safe assumption. Tanaka has been building his doomsday network for a long time, and thanks to the Internet and his Vehement connections, it’s worldwide.”

  Gallo shook her head. “Who knew there were so many people out there rooting for the end of the world?”

  “There are a lot of them, and they don’t care if they live or die.”

  “Well, they’re all going to be disappointed when we shut down the Black Knight. Permanently.”

  Dourado let out a cheer and in a gruff voice said, “Today, we are canceling the apocalypse!”

  Carter was a little more subdued. “You found the sun chariot?”

  “Not exactly.” He recounted their misadventure with the shekinah creatures and the revelation in the Cave of Moses. Dourado interrupted only once with the cryptic pronouncement, “So there is a cow level.”

  Pierce assumed it was a pop culture reference. Dourado made a lot of those.

  “The Ark of the Covenant,” Fallon mused. “It’s a real thing?”

  For the first time since making the call, it occurred to Pierce that he was being a little too free with information. “That’s right,” he said.

  “And it’s an artifact from the same aliens that made the Black Knight?”

  Fallon was quick, and well-informed. He also knew more about the meta-material than any of them. Okay, Pierce thought. Time to extend a little trust. I just hope this doesn’t come back to bite me in the ass.

  “Tanaka has the Roswell fragment, and I think we know what he plans to do with it. Unfortunately, since we don’t know where he’s going to do it from, finding the Ark and using it to shut down the Black Knight is our best option.”

  “We don’t have much time,” Fallon pointed out. “Do you know where it is? In the movie, it was in Egypt. But then they took it to Area 51. Is that where it is?”

  “No. Though it pains me to say, that was just a movie. And the premise was flawed. According to the movie, the Pharaoh Shishak—or Shoshenq—took the Ark when he raided the Temple of Solomon in 980 B.C.E. The raid actually happened, but Shoshenq didn’t get the Ark. It’s mentioned again in the Bible record during the reign of King Josiah more than three hundred years later.”

  Carter spoke up again. “The Ark is in Ethiopia. In a chapel in Axum.”

  Pierce smiled to himself. “That’s one of many rumored locations. There are so many different Ark stories, it’s no wonder it’s never been found. The Ethiopian legend is based on a Bible reference about the Queen of Sheba visiting King Solomon. Two thousand-odd years later, the Christian emperor of Ethiopia built on that story to legitimize his right to rule. According to this new version, Sheba was another name for Ethiopia. Solomon secretly married the Queen and she bore him a son, Menelik, the first emperor and progenitor of the Menelik dynasty, which supposedly endured until 1975. Solomon entrusted the Ark to Menelik, who bore it away secretly to Sheba, where it has been ever since.” He shook his head. “It’s a pretty fanciful story, concocted for political reasons.

  “For my money, the most plausible story is recorded in the Second Book of Maccabees. Shortly before the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and carried all the Jews off into exile, the prophet Jeremiah was ordered by God to take the Ark and the Tabernacle and hide them in a cave on Mount Nebo, the place where Moses died. He shut the cave up and never told anyone its location, promising that it would only be revealed when God gathered his people together again and showed them mercy.

  “Jeremiah was the son of a Kohen, a Levite priest descended from Moses’s brother Aaron, and incidentally the derivation of the modern Jewish name Cohen. The Bible account is very explicit about the fact that only a Kohen could safely enter the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle and approach the Ark. To me, that weighs in favor of Jeremiah being the one to relocate the Ark.”

  When no one raised an objection, Pierce went on. “Mount Nebo is in modern-day Jordan, but there’s some disagreement about whether that identification is accurate. Judging by the fact that nobody’s found the Ark in the last twenty-six-hundred years, I’m guessing it’s not.

  “Cintia, head back to Rome and start digging in the archives. See if you can give us a better search area. We’ll head on to Amman and get in position.”

  “What about me and Erik?” Carter asked.

  “Do what you can to help Cintia.”

  “I’ll meet you there,” Lazarus said, speaking for the first time. “I should have been there with you.”

  “From what Cintia’s told me,” Pierce countered, “It’s a good thing you weren’t.”

  “All the same, I’m no use to anyone staying in the rear with the gear.”

  Pierce weighed the offer a moment. As much as he would have liked to have the big man with him, looking out for them, there really wasn’t a need for additional protection. With Tanaka’s deception exposed, the security leak that had led the gunmen to them in Sinai was plugged. Besides, Tanaka would almost certainly shift his resources to the matter of finding another transmitter and guarding it. Finding the Ark was going to require actual archaeology—solving an age old mystery and digging in the ground—not the brawling, gun-toting, tomb-raiding of an Indiana Jones.

  “I appreciate it,” Pierce said, “But I’m hoping we’ll have this wrapped up in a few hours. Stay with Felice.”

  Lazarus didn’t press the issue, and it occurred to Pierce that his last statement might have been misinterpreted. He had meant to imply that Carter might be in need of comfort in the wake of the devastating news out of the Northwest, but perhaps the big man had understood it to mean something else.

  Stay with Felice so that you’ll be together when the end comes.

  If he failed to find the Ark, to solve a mystery that had confounded searchers for more than two thousand years, it just might come to that.

  “You know, on second thought, if the Ark isn’t at Mount Nebo, we’re going to be back to square one. We need to cover our bases. Erik, you and Felice head to Ethiopia and check out the church in Axum. If we both strike out, at least we’ll have crossed two possibilities off the list.”

  He tried to sound upbeat when giving them the assignment. It was
busy-work, giving them something to do so they wouldn’t feel useless. The odds of the Ark being in Ethiopia were about a billion-to-one. However, as he had once pointed out to a certain cheerleader who had given him similar odds of ever going out with him, a billion-to-one meant there was still a chance.

  “On it,” Lazarus said.

  “What about me?” Fallon asked. “What can I do?”

  Pierce resisted the impulse to tell Fallon that he had done quite enough. He settled for something only slightly more diplomatic. “We’ve got this under control, and I’m sure you’ve got some house cleaning to do. If the world doesn’t end, you’ll know we succeeded.”

  THIRTY-ONE

  Geneva, Switzerland

  A car was waiting for Tanaka at the front entrance to Tomorrowland. He did not recognize the driver, but that was not unexpected. The Children of Durga were many, but scattered far and wide, separated not only by physical geography, but also by culture and faith.

  Not all of Durga’s children recognized their mother, but they did share a common unifying vision: a belief that the end of the world was not merely imminent, but urgently needed. For some, the end would bring a Rapture of the faithful or entry into a paradisiac afterlife. Others believed that destruction was a necessary part of the phoenix-like cycle of rebirth, and that a cleansed planet would bring about a new and better age. Only a few shared the true vision of Durga: the enlightened knowledge that life was a bitter joke from a cruel universe.

  Tanaka didn’t know Durga’s true identity. No one did, though Tanaka thought Shiva might have. But while the two of them had shared a bond far deeper than mere friendship, Shiva had only hinted at the depths of his relationship with Durga.

  Although born in India, a land immersed in Hindu mythology, Shiva had not chosen his alias for religious reasons. Shiva is the consort of Durga, he had explained to Tanaka. The mahashakti, the form and formless, the root cause of creation, preservation, and annihilation.

  Tanaka had understood that was not meant to be interpreted literally, but it suggested a very intimate relationship between the young man—who had been an orphan and an outcast—and the mysterious leader of their cause. Durga might have been a parental figure, the person who lifted young Shiva up out of poverty and set him on the path. Or perhaps a former lover. Or both. Although Durga was a form of the Goddess in Hinduism, that did not mean the person behind that alias was female.

  Shiva was gone now, but the cause remained. Durga remained, and had made direct contact with him in the weeks following Shiva’s disappearance.

  Aside from Shiva, a true Child of the Goddess, Tanaka had never met another follower in person, but that did not matter. Their unity of purpose found its truest expression in the virtual world, where they could share ideas unburdened by the limitations and animal urges of physical bodies.

  However, there was only so much that could be accomplished on Internet forums and chat rooms. Misery and suffering existed in the real world, so the Annihilation, the Great Victory of Durga, the end of death itself, could only be accomplished there. Tanaka would be the instrument of Durga’s victory.

  Security was also a concern. Compartmentalization and anonymity ensured that only a few knew the full scope and purpose of the plan, and this was of particular concern as the plan came to fruition.

  The driver did not know who Tanaka was or that he carried the Roswell meta-material, nor did he know with certainty that the recent earthquakes were the beginning of the end. He might be Christian or Muslim, or something else altogether. All he would have been told was to pick someone up outside the gates of Tomorrowland and to do whatever that person instructed.

  And one other thing. He handed Tanaka a throwaway mobile phone.

  Tanaka opened the message center and read the only entry there, an anonymous text sent only a few minutes earlier. No words. Just a single question mark.

  A message from Durga.

  He typed out a reply.

  >>>Got it.

  A few seconds passed, and then a new message appeared.

  >Second test was a success. Objective achieved.

  Before he could reply, another text arrived.

  >Sent men to Sinai. Contact lost. Success there unlikely.

  Tanaka took the news like a physical blow. He had passed along the information about George Pierce’s search for an ancient relic with a possible connection to the Black Knight, but he had not really considered it to be much of a threat to their endeavor. Durga felt differently, and judging by the outcome, the concern appeared warranted.

  >>>What does that mean for us?

  >Uncertain. What is status there?

  Tanaka started typing in a response, deleted it, started again and then deleted that, too. When he had slipped away from the transmitter building, Fallon had been unconscious and the three visitors were all in mortal danger. If everything had gone according to plan, all four were now dead, but if he had learned anything from the day’s activity, it was that things did not always go according to plan. Proclaiming victory would be premature, but if he equivocated without good reason, the entire endeavor might be derailed. He settled on a compromise that seemed workable.

  >>>Unknown. Recommend we keep an eye on things here.

  There was a pause, then another text appeared.

  >Agreed. Have your driver stay behind to assess outcome. Continue to prime objective.

  “Stop the car,” Tanaka said, as soon as he read the message.

  The driver pulled to the side of the road.

  “Go back. You’re supposed to keep watch at Tomorrowland.”

  The man glanced over and frowned. “Just me?”

  “I have work to do elsewhere.”

  “And…you’re taking my car?”

  Tanaka almost laughed aloud. “I’ll leave your car at the airport.”

  The man was not pleased about surrendering his personal vehicle to the cause. It was easy to be a true believer on the Internet. Sacrificing material possessions in the real world was a lot harder.

  “Trust me,” Tanaka went on. “Very soon, you won’t need a car or anything else, ever again.”

  THIRTY-TWO

  Mount Sinai, Egypt

  For a long time, Abdul-Ahad did not move. He felt exhausted, completely drained. He could not see a thing. His entire body felt numb, the nerve endings in his skin overloaded. It was as if the pure light unleashed with the destruction of the jinn had bleached him to the bone.

  But he was still alive.

  At first, the realization had filled him with despair. Had he been wrong about attacking the jinn? Was that why he had been denied entry into Paradise with the others? But as he lay there, blind, numb, and helpless, he realized why he was still alive.

  His ears worked just fine, but for a long time, all he could hear was the soft crunch of jinn roaming about on the mountain slope, and much fainter, the cries of alarm rising from the monastery. Then, he heard voices, speaking English.

  The agents of the anti-messiah were still alive.

  There was nothing he could do to stop them, not in his current condition, and not by himself. But there were other ways to fight.

  Israfil must be told, he thought.

  God was not finished with him. There was work yet to do.

  THIRTY-THREE

  Geneva, Switzerland

  “The Lost Ark,” Marcus Fallon shook his head in disbelief, as the conference call ended. “Well, I guess it isn’t any crazier than the idea of using an alien artifact to shut down the sun. Or are the two connected? I can’t keep it all straight. Is this all for real?”

  Carter stared at him, but it was the pink-haired woman, Dourado, who answered. “If Dr. Pierce says it is, believe it.”

  She turned away, as if the matter warranted no further consideration and began discussing travel plans with Carter, while the big man, Lazarus, looked on, saying nothing.

  Fallon felt like the odd man out, a stranger in his own home. They were done with him. He was of no fu
rther use, and they didn’t seem to care if he knew it.

  He was a little surprised, and not in a good way, at the audacity they had demonstrated thus far, moving into Tomorrowland like a military strike force, destroying his property, commandeering his computers. While it was true that he was partly to blame for the mess, that didn’t excuse their rudeness.

  We’ll just see about that, he thought.

  “So what happens next? I mean, once Pierce finds the Ark?”

  Carter looked up again. “You heard him. Shut the Black Knight down and make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

  “That’s not acceptable.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “The Black Knight is the key to breaking free of the Earth, colonizing other planets. You don’t just throw an opportunity like that away.”

  Carter shook her head. “Maybe you’ve forgotten already, but the Pacific Coast is underwater. The world is in shambles, and that would be true even without Tanaka trying to send us all to Hell. That’s where your opportunity has gotten us.”

  “Sure, there were mistakes,” he said, “but that’s no reason to burn all the progress we’ve made. If the Ark is the key to controlling the Black Knight, then we need to do more research with it.”

  “You mean you need to do more research,” Lazarus said, in a low voice that sounded more than a little threatening.

  “Yes, as a matter of fact, I’ve already laid the groundwork. Invested millions. If Tanaka hadn’t gone bat-shit crazy, I would already be on my way to working out the kinks. I deserve a piece of this.”

  Carter continued to regard him with cool indifference. “I guess you could make a legal case for that. Of course, you would have to admit some responsibility for these disasters. And make the case that you could behave responsibly with it.” She shook her head. “I know you mean well, Marcus, but you know what will happen if you try to move forward with your research. Someone will turn it into a weapon, just like what Tanaka wants to do.”