Tomb of Zeus (Atlantis) (8 page)

All eyes focused intently on him. All in attendance knew his escalating message would not go unresolved.

“It is with my greatest sorrow and disappointment that one of you has betrayed us. One of you has become the enemy of our great society. One of you must die…”

A low hush moved through the audience. Nervous eyes shifted from side to side, scanning for the alleged offende
r. Slowly, barely detectable, two men moved through the sea of humanity. They converged on a single man standing toward the front of the crowd.

Hearing movement behind him, he turned quickly, but only too late.

“Noooo!” he shouted in shock and disbelief.

Before he could finish his words, the two men pulled stun guns from inside their robes and imbedded the probes of the weapons into the man’s neck. Instantly, he fell to the ground, writhing in pain. The two men quickly dragged the man before the altar amidst the startled cries of the shocked onlookers.

The high priest grabbed the golden scepter, then came quickly around to the front of the altar and stood before the accused man. Holding the scepter high above his head, he spoke:

“Jackson Norris, you are accused of high treason against the Society of Arae. You have procreated with a common human. You have tainted our bloodline. You have betrayed us all.”

“Not true,” Jackson retorted through clenched teeth, his pain making it difficult for him to speak. “She had an abortion. The bloodline is still pure.”

“It’
s too late. You’ve proven you are a risk… and you must die for your carelessness.”

Before Jackson could speak, the high priest lowered the scepter for all to see. He rolled his thumb over a switch, creating a low hum that sounded from the wand. A split-second later, he laid
the tip of the weapon on the back of Jackson’s neck, creating a path for the electricity to flow through. A shocked audience gasped at the sight of the condemned man, convulsing on the stone floor, foam and spittle ejecting from his contorted mouth.

A minute
later, Jackson ceased to move. He was dead.

The high priest switched off the scepter, then nodded to the two men with stun guns. Quickly, they dragged the body from the assembly of speechless people. He cleared his throat and spoke:

“The threat to our society is now been purged. My apologies for the ugliness.”

There was only silence as the assembly of men and women digested the scene they just witnessed.

As the high priest walked back to the altar, the strange silence was suddenly broken. From under his robe, his cell phone rang loudly. His facial expression quickly changed from embarrassment to anger as he fumbled for his phone. Looking down at the display, he immediately recognized the name: Helena Romanos. His expression changed to frustration as he pushed the answer button. Turning to the audience, he excused himself for a moment.

“Yes, what is it? I’m in the middle of a ceremony,” he said, his tone hushed and agitated.

“It’s been found,” Helena blurted loudly.

“What’s been found?” he asked, now growing angered at Helena’s cryptic words.

“The scepter… Zeus’ scepter,” she shouted into the phone.

“What do you mean, Zeus’ scepter?” he asked, his mind not yet willing to accept her words.

“Just what I said: those archeologists who found Poseidon, claim they just found Zeus too. They’ve found a new chamber and feel it’s got to be him, Zeus’ that is. They said that because they found Poseidon’s trident buried with him, they’re sure they’ll find Zeus’ scepter with him too,” Helena responded, stretching the truth to add credibility to her report.

“So they haven’t actually found it yet?” he replied, his tone now skeptical and irritated.

“Karl, they’re one hundred percent confident of their find… and it all makes perfect sense. They found two golden statues inside the Atlantis pyramid indicating who the monument was built for: Poseidon and Zeus. They found one burial chamber with Poseidon inside. They just found another chamber. Who else could it be? It’s got to be Zeus. And if they found Poseidon’s trident, doesn’t it make perfect sense they’ll find Zeus’ scepter? And before you call me stupid again and tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about, this information isn’t coming from me. I didn’t make any of this up. This comes directly from the mouths of the archeologist.”

“First of all, you
are
freakin stupid. What have I told you about using my name over the phone? If anyone’s listening, our world could be exposed. I should have you severely punished for such stupidity.”

“Sorry sir, I guess I forg
ot with all this excitement going on. I won’t do it again… promise.” Reeling from the threat, she paused to collect herself, then continued. “Sir, what do you think? Isn’t this great news?”

His excitement of the news
quickly diffused Helena’s infraction. A smile curled around his face at the thought of finally holding the prized scepter. His mind raced with visions of him ruling the world with the great weapon. His heart pounded and his hands now trembled as he re-grasped his phone.

“Sir, are you there?” Helena asked.

Her words snapped him from his dreams, causing him to refocus.

“Yeah, I’m here.”

“So what do you think, Sir? Did I come through or what?” Helena gloated, hoping to invoke some form of praise from the high priest.

“Yeah, I guess,” he offered reluctantly.

Helena felt wounded, but held back her emotions. The success of her future depended on her next words.

“Sir, I’m heading to Kythera now and should be there first thing in the morning. I think I could be of great value to you there. With my degree in archeology, I should be able to understand the details of the excavation better than most. I could keep you up to date on their progress, like what I did when the
y first discovered Poseidon.”

He thought about her words. She
had
proven herself useful with Poseidon’s discovery.

“Ok, get there ASAP. I’ll call
you first thing in the morning after I’ve made a few calls. Don’t screw this up,” he said bluntly, then hung up the phone.

With his back to the audience, he noticed an eerie silence inside the cabin. He turned around to a sea of intrigued stares. He smiled, then moved to the golden scepter. Picking it up purposefully and holding it for all to see, he spoke:

“My friends, we all know our history. Throughout the ages, we have suffered at the hands of our enemies. We were nearly extinguished by the Romans and forced to renounce our lineage. Their treachery could not break our spirit. Their evil merely forced us to carry on in secret. For nearly a thousand years, we guarded our sacred history. Then, the Knights Templars tried to bring ruin to our secret society, but their evil too, was thwarted. Their fall became our revenge. Now, a thousand years later, we are at the steps of greatness and the world will soon know their place… at our feet.”

He paused for effect, then continued:

“Today is truly a great day for the Society of Arae. For nearly seven thousand years, the mystery behind Zeus’ lost scepter has gone unresolved. All leads, all searches have been in vain… until now. News agencies from Greece are reporting the discovery of Zeus’ burial chamber. Furthermore, experts are predicting they’ll find the great scepter buried with him. My friends, our wait is finally over.”

----- ----- ----- -----

The following morning…

In a small outdoor café, overlooking the shore of Palaiopoli, now renamed Atlantis, Helena sipped her coffee. Glancing back at the great white limestone pyramid, she felt a wonderful sense of anticipation as she plotted her next moves. Turning back toward the water, she stared out at the low waves lapping at the shoreline and allowed her mind to move from tangent to tangent. At that earlier hour, 6:15am, she was the café’s first customer. All was peaceful and quiet.

Taking a sip off her coffee, her peaceful respite was interrupted by the sound of her vibrating phone. She stared at it momentarily with nervous anticipation as it moved across the table top with each cycle of vibration. Picking it up, she stared at th
e number. Feelings of animosity as well as excitement, conflicted her thoughts.

She reached for the phone and
pressed a button.

“Good morning Sir, so glad you called. I’ve got some great ideas I wanted to share with you.” she answered in businesslike tone.

“I’ve already made arrangements. This is what we’re going to do,” he started, rudely ignoring her comments.

“But Sir, I think I have some great ideas that could help out,” Helena persisted.

“Never mind that. At 8am your time, you’ll meet with one of my assistants at the Papyrus Café on the northern side of Atlantis. He’ll have all your paperwork ready and will explain the details of our plan. I’ll be checking on you periodically and will be expecting results,” he stated bluntly.

A moment later, Helena heard the sound of a disconnected line, then a dial tone. She stared at her phone in disbelief.

“What a complete ass,” she blurted in anger. “Who hangs up a phone like that? I’m so sick of his crap.”

She took a deep breath and tried to exhale her frustration. While she c
almly finished her coffee, she could only speculate on the high priest’s plans.

----- ----- ----- -----

Atlantis, Greece

The Papyrus Café

Helena sat outside the café in a private table she selected, away from other patrons. As she sipped her coffee, she noted the time: 8:10am.

“Hmm, late,” she muttered to herself, disapprovingly.

Moments later, a casually dressed man with gray curly hair in his early sixties, entered the small patio
of tables and headed for Helena. She stiffened slightly at the sight of the man, and smiled. Without a return smile from the approaching stranger, she adopted a businesslike posture and stood up to greet him. She extended her hand:

“I’m Helena Romanos,” she said, her voice devoid of emotion.

“I’m Christian Laikos,” he responded. He motioned with his hand, “Please, have a seat.”

Helena stared at him a moment. She had a sense of familiarity about him.

“Do I know you?” she asked.

“Our community is small. I’m sure we’ve crossed paths before.”

Helena only nodded.

“Karl Sita called me last night. We’ve worked out a plan. I’m sure I don’t need to remind
you of its importance,” he said, cryptically.

Helena nodded once more.

“For you the plan is very simple: you’ll be tasked to monitor the progress of Zeus’ excavation,” he stated flatly.

“That’s what I’ve been doing already,” she responded eagerly. “I plan on disguising myself as a tourist. That should get me close enough to the action where I can start asking questions. I’m sure I’ll be able to keep Karl up to date with the most recent info, way faster than if we’re just depending on the news to report it.”

Christian smirked in condescension.

“You’re response is spectacularly naïve. I’m guessing you really don’t know what Arae is capable of, do you? Suffice it to say, you’re about to get... as the saying goes, a crash course.”

He scanned the area around him, insuring no one was close by, then slipped a manila envelope across the table.

“Inside this is your new identity, as well as other related documents: passport, driver’s license, some cash, etcetera. We’ll be employing your archeology degree, as well as your other “assets”.”

“What do you mean, “other assets”? What do you want me to do?” she asked suspiciously.

“I won’t comment on the plan outside of your role, but in a nut shell: you’ll be adopting a new identity. You’re new name will be Helena Galanos. We kept it close to your original name so you wouldn’t get confused,” he said, in insulting tone. “You’ll be employed by the Department of Tourism as an inspector of antiquities. Starting tomorrow, you’ll be hand delivering temporary permits to Javier Arista with the threat of pulling them at any time. This will keep them “motivated”, if you understand my meaning.”

Helena ignored the earlier insult and smirked in understanding.

“We’ve just learned that Mr. Arista has brought back a close friend: one Jack Roberts. Jack was instrumental in helping Mr. Arista locate the great pyramid and Poseidon’s tomb. They were inseparable at the time of their search. We suspect they’ll have the same relationship this time as well. This is where we’ll employ your “other assets”. We expect you to seduce Jack. With you holding both, the temporary permits and his emotions, we’re quite certain he’ll be free with information, allowing us
to walk in and take the scepter.”

Helena was stunned. She hadn’t expected the twist in the plan.

“So you want me to be a whore?” she blurted angrily.

Christian quickly scanned the area, insuring Helena’s outburst hadn’t drawn attention. Satisfied no one heard, he gave her a one word answer: