Chasm Waxing: A Startup, Cyber-Thriller (34 page)

“
Now you’re another story,
Becca,” said Josh. “My dad is right. This trip is too dangerous for
the both of us. We
can’t
both rot in jail.”

Becca smiled and shook her head.
“There’s no way I’m staying behind. If you’re going to be Clyde;
then I’m your Bonnie.”

After a long
lunch,
the three
reconvened. Kishore also joined them. Josh configured the
augmented reality system. With the AR
interface
to the AI system
functioning,
everyone
put on their A-HoloGlasses. Nucleus had two AR
platforms:
A-HoloGlasses
and A-Glasses. A-
HoloGlasses
were more
immersive
than
the A-Glasses.

When looking through the
A-
HoloGlasses
, holograms were
visible
and could be manipulated. Josh
created
TextWorld
to function in both VR and AR environments. The
AR experience was more collaborative than
VR,
because wearers could still
freely interact with their colleagues and the physical world. The
VR experience was like going into a dark cave to shut out the
world. Then, an interactive movie played.

“
TextWorld
, create 3D A-Map showing the
location of the Ark of the Covenant.” The A-Holo environment
projected a 3D map complete with the Temple Mount, the Ophel, and
the City of David outlined. The geo-marker hovered just to the west
of the Gihon Spring.

“
TextWorld
, show satellite imagery of
this location.” The terraced dwellings, overlaid by the geo-marker,
were now visible.

“
TextWorld
, show historical pictures of
the City of David.” Josh swiped through
a number of
images, mostly
hand-drawn
renditions of how the city looked during the life of King
David. Then, he stopped on a photograph of particular
interest.

An aerial picture from
1936 displayed the hilly region, with the geo-marker
superimposed.
The image more clearly highlighted the crescent moon shape of
area’s topography. The map labeled the overall area as the ‘City of
David’ and the ‘Acra.’ It was
totally
free of any structures. All
that existed
on the City of David
site, south
of the Temple Mount, was
terraced agricultural fields.

A quote from the book of
Micah displayed under the photo, ‘Zion shall be plowed like a
field. Jerusalem shall become heaps of
ruins,
and the mountains of the
temple like the bare hills of the forest…’

Josh saw a look of
amazement sweep
across
Jared’s face. “Wow,” said Jared. “It sure would
have been easier to dig for the Ark in 1936. Can you make a time
machine?”

Josh chuckled. “TextWorld,
go back.” The
present-day
satellite image reappeared, along with the
geo-marker. “This is
the
area
where we have to excavate. Again, I
don’t know the precision of the geo-marker. But, I think it’s as
close as I can get. Let’s talk through our plan, now that
we’ve
zeroed in
on the location.”

Jared spoke first. “We
have to acquire
a property,
buy
archeological
gear, stealthily get
the
equipment
to the site, pretend we’re remodeling the property to hide
our excavation, and surreptitiously remove
dirt. We can’t have the
authorities or neighbors asking questions. I’m sure I’ll need
to grease the skids in Jerusalem to expedite the permitting
process.
The
key is to
conceal
our excavation, by acting like we’re remodeling
the property.

“
I’ll use my Israeli real
estate connections to see what I can do about purchasing
a property
as
close to the geo-marker as possible. I’ll use a bunch of shell
companies and off-shore accounts to hide the transaction from the
FBI and NSA. I must appear
to be
an Arab
buyer. I also have some associates
in the Israeli building industry
.
I’ll find someone that will cooperate
with our pretense of remodeling. I’m not going to mention the Ark
to anyone. But they’ll need to know that secrecy is
paramount
.

“
I thought about a couple
of things during lunch. One is getting you guys out of the country.
The other concerns the dig. I have a client in Mexico City that I
think will
be very useful.
H
e owes me some favors. He’s a Jew by the
way. I’m not sure if you’re aware, but Mexico City has a thriving
Jewish community.

“
M
y client’s name is Juan Elias.
Or
at least,
that’s what he tells me. But everyone calls him, ‘El Jefe.’
El Jefe owns a construction company. He digs very elaborate
underground tunnels complete with ventilation, power, and transport
systems—via minecarts. He has
a
number of
architects and mining engineers
on staff. If
adequately
rewarded,
I think he’d allow us to borrow
some of his
team. His
tunnels
run right under the US border;
from Matamoros, Mexico to Brownsville, Texas. If they’ve remained
hidden, they might be a viable way for you
to sneak
out of the
country.”

“
I don’t understand,” said
Josh, dumbfounded. “Why is someone in the Mexican
construction
industry
digging elaborate tunnels under the
border?”

Becca sighed. “Geez Josh,
for someone so smart, sometimes you make me wonder. Mr. Adler, I
don’t know what your client in Mexico City does but,
TextWorld,
display
images of Joaquin Guzman drug
tunnels.” The A-HoloGlasses
showed
numerous pictures of tunnels
that the Mexican drug lord used to smuggle drugs into the US. Becca
swiped through the
photos
.

“
Oh, now I understand,”
said Josh. “I can’t help
it,
Becca. I wasn’t on a
first-name
basis
with the FBI before I hit puberty.” Josh winked at her. Some of the
tunnels were as much as 100 feet
deep
.
Ingenious mechanisms were used to conceal the entrances.
Guzman
himself
used a tunnel to escape a
maximum security prison. Other images displayed tools they’d need
to acquire: shovels, picks, generators, electrical wire, emergency
oxygen tanks, a ventilation system, and minecarts.

“
What are the
mine
carts
for?” asked Josh.

Jared replied, “I think he
used them
to quickly transport
items
through the tunnel. They’d be
terrific for us to help expedite dirt removal and move the
Ark
—when you
find it. I made some calls during
lunch.
I think the best way for you to
get into Israel is to travel from Mexico City to Amman, Jordan.
Then you can cross the border, just north of the Red Sea. That’s
the location of the Rabin crossing point—in the port city of Eilat.
My contact said it’s one of the more lightly traveled border
crossings.

“
I’m stuck on an
archeologist
. I
do know some academics at Hebrew University, but I don’t trust them
with such a sensitive issue. Kishore, I know you’ve got some
interest in
archeology
. What do you
think?”

“
Yeah,” replied Kishore,
“I took a course in Indian
archeology
at Berkley. We went on a dig
at the Lothal site. Lothal was a
Harappan
port town in India, about 4000
years ago. I also try to stay current
on
the subject.

“
I have a couple of
thoughts. First,
some
sophisticated archeological drones have
hit the market. They can help with excavation and
exploration. They’re
expensive,
but they’d be a lot faster
than digging
with
picks, shovels, and air hammers. You want to find
the Ark and get out of Jerusalem—ASAP. Also, depending upon how
close the property is
to
the Ark, I think you’ll want to start the
tunnel at least
four stories down, if not more.
Otherwise,
nearby residents will
hear your equipment.

“
The Hebrews would’ve had
to
dig
tunnels to hide the Ark.
Hopefully,
you can connect with their
ancient tunnel systems and follow them to the Ark. Sonar systems
can be added
to the robots
to help locate those old
tunnels
.”

“
I think the robots
are
a great idea,
if we can afford them,” said Becca.

Jared laughed. “Well, Josh just made
$5M this morning. And that was after only two hours. I think we can
work something out.”

“
Great!” replied Becca.
“I’ve been thinking about the
archeologist
. I was talking to my dad
earlier this morning on encrypted chat. He told me that one of his
church members was a Professor of Archaeology at the University of
Memphis. He said the professor was
very
knowledgeable about
biblical
archeology
.

“
I think, while we’re
taking the
time
to implement this plan, we should go to Memphis.
We can visit with my dad and meet the professor. We can see
in
person
if the Professor will be willing to work within our
constraints and lead the excavation. We can also use the
trip
to advance our pattern of
life operation.”

“
That sounds like a good
idea,” said Jared. “While you are doing that, I’ll work on
acquiring real-estate close to the geo-marker. The whole plan is
contingent upon us securing a property—no property;
no excavation
.
And, I’m going to get you guys some passports.”

11:05 p.m. (EDT), Thursday, October
29, 2020 – Blacksburg, VA

Top of the Stairs, 217
College Ave

“
Top of the Stairs” was
Becca’s favorite college bar. It was just outside of Virginia Tech
University. “Y’all, we have huge news. Josh and I are engaged!” She
held out her hand to display a
three-karat,
emerald cut, diamond
ring.”

Becca’s friends gasped, followed by a
raucous cheer. “Congratulations! Let’s toast.”

The three
coeds
, Josh, and
Becca all clanked their shot glasses and downed the Don Julio ’42
tequila.

“
Wow,” said Josh. “I
usually hate tequila, but that was smooth. Maybe it has something
to do with the price of the shots?” He laughed. “If you’ll excuse
me, we’ve been driving all
day,
and I need to make a pit
stop.”

“
He’s hot,” said Natalia.
“Cute dimples. But as your best friend, I’m a little hurt I didn’t
meet him sooner.”

“
I’m sorry. It’s just all
moved so fast, and we’ve both
been
slammed
at work. But
you
are the first to
know.”

“
Oh, alright,” Natalia
replied. “How could I stay mad on such an important night? When’s
the date?”

“
We don’t know yet. We’re
going to take it slow, but I think sometime next
summer.”

“
Can I wear the ring?”
asked Natalia. “It’s
absolutely
stunning.” Becca knew the
younger Natalia from high school in Texas. From periodic trips to
Blacksburg, Becca got acquainted with Natalia’s roommates. The
youth of her friends allowed Becca to live life
vicariously
through their
simpler perspective.
The work
world was so different from college life.

Once Josh
returned
, Becca
said, “So in celebration, right after Christmas, we’re taking a
road trip across the country in a new A-Car. Josh just placed our
order with Nucleus. We’re going to start in Connecticut, and drive
clear across the country. We’ll stop to see my dad in Memphis, hit
the Grand Canyon, Vegas, and then finally end up in L.A. Then we’ll
drive
up
the West Coast.”

The group toasted again. “To road
trips!”

After a few more hours of fun, Becca
and Josh left. Becca promised Natalia that she’d keep in touch with
more details.