The Last Chamber (24 page)

“The second part comes from our hearts,” he continued. “Like the young
lady said, we long to make our hearts happy. Reason would make you think that
if we make our hearts happy, our minds would be at peace.”

Sean hadn’t heard the professor talk like this since he’d met the
grouch. Now, all of the sudden, he was a philosopher? Still, he listened
patiently to see where the old man was going with his point.

“The last, and probably most important part has nothing to do with our
hearts or our minds. In fact, it has very little to do with us as individuals.
It has to do with the bigger picture, the grand scale of things. It is what we
are called to do.”

He let the words hang in the old sanctuary for a few moments. Sean
understood what Firth was saying. Sometimes, what people wanted didn’t really
even matter. It was what the world needed of them, what life needed of them.

Firth narrowed his eyes. “What the universe needs of us takes all
precedence. And sometimes, it may not be what is best for us. It may even call
us to give up our lives. But if that is what is needed, that is what we must
do.”

It was a heavy thought. But Sean understood. Adriana had looked up
from her tablet while the professor was talking. His words had caught her
attention too, and clearly must have struck a nerve.

Sean spoke up. “What are you sayin’, Doc? That I shouldn’t retire?
That I shouldn’t try to relax? I think I’ve done my time helping out the
universe.”

The professor cocked his head to the side for a second and shrugged.
“I’m not saying you shouldn’t do those things. All I am saying is that when the
need arises never turn your back on it. You must accept the call no matter what
the consequences.”

Jabez slammed the front door to the church and plodded into the
sanctuary, effectively ending the conversation.

“I’ve never seen snow like this before. It’s a good thing we stopped
here for the night.” He looked at the three grave faces, not sure why everyone
was so glum. “Is something wrong?”

“No,” Sean perked up. “Everything is fine. So, the snow is coming down
pretty hard?” He stood up and walked over to a window.

Time had given the clear glass a grimy, dusty film. There were boards
over most of the glass. But Sean could see out through a small opening in the
wooden planks. Large snowflakes poured from the sky through the dim glow of the
streetlights. In the short time they’d been in the church, a thin layer of snow
had accumulated on the sidewalk and street. He wondered how long the storm
would last and how much snow it would dump on the region. His thoughts returned
to Tommy and his job with IAA . Was Firth telling him not to quit? Sean knew Tommy
would be okay. There were plenty of good people who could do what Sean did for
the agency.

Firth’s voice startled him from a few feet away. He turned to find the
professor standing right behind him.

“I’m not telling you not to quit,” the professor said, virtually
reading Sean’s mind. “I’m just telling you that if you are called, you must
answer. It’s who you are.”

Sean nodded, understanding. He understood what Firth meant. The
professor gave a single nod.

Adriana’s voice cut through the silence. “I think I found something.”

Firth and Sean turned their attention back to where she sat; her face
virtually glowed in the darkness. Jabez was leaning over the back of the pew,
staring at the screen. Sean rushed back over to her and looked at the screen,
the professor followed closely behind. The older man seemed to be letting
curiosity get the best of him for a change.

The Spanish woman’s delicate finger rested on the screen. It was
pointing at a strange rock formation. The shape was a long rectangle canyon,
cut oddly from valley between two mountains.

“I haven’t seen anything like this before,” she stated.

“How big is that area?” Sean wanted to make sure they were looking at
the right spot.

She turned her eyes back to the electric glow of the display. “From
what I can tell, it is only a few hundred feet long and about half as wide.”

Sean turned to Jabez then the other direction to see what Firth would
say.

His mouth was agape. He shook his head slowly. “It can’t be,” he
whispered in awe. After a moment, he stood up straight and looked down at
Adriana. She had moved her attention to the old archaeologist. “It would seem,
young lady, your theory about the footprint in the sand might have been correct
after all.”

Atlanta, Georgia

The clock on the dashboard read a few minutes after four. Joe and
Helen had hurried from their home in the foothills down to Atlanta. Helen
reasoned it would be better for them to visit the Biosure facility during
operating hours rather than after. With more people milling around, they would
be better able to go unnoticed. Breaking in when no one was around would surely
draw the attention of the building’s security.

A little recon had revealed what Helen had suspected. While the
company employees did have ID cards, access was granted via a five-digit code.
Thanks to her nifty work on the computer, they basically had unlimited access
to the entire facility.

A steady stream of people dressed in business suits flowed in and out
of the main entrance. The gray building was immense. It rested on the side of a
hill overlooking one of the main expressways. Hundreds of huge windows along
all facades provided the interior with views and natural sunlight from every
angle. Enormous concrete columns supported an overhanging second floor on the
entire front side of the structure. The letters spelling out the company name
jutted out just over the entryway.

“Hardly a small-time operation,” Joe quipped as he and his wife stared
at the monstrosity.

“Shows you how much money is in the pharmaceutical industry,” she
commented.

Joe laughed. “Looks like you and I went into the wrong line of work,
huh?”

She shook her head and smiled. “I wouldn’t trade my soul for all that
money.” Her southern accent carried a twinge of bitterness. “Especially with
this company.”

Joe and Helen had been married a long time, but he was starting to
find out there was way more to his wife than met the eye. He stared at her for
a moment as she peered into the building.

“We should head in,” she interrupted his thoughts, “while there is a
steady stream of traffic.”

He nodded and opened the door while she exited out the passenger’s
side of the car. They had both donned business suits, hoping to look as
professional as possible. Joe had wondered if they should have lab coats until
his wife had apprised him that most of the people coming and going from the
facility would be marketers, accountants, and other cubicle dwellers. He had
dug out an old, navy blue suit from the closet that was probably five years out
of style. His hope was that no one would notice. He hadn’t had to wear a suit
tie in years. Fortunately, he remembered how to tie the thing.

“You clean up pretty good,” Helen had told him as he stared goofily at
himself in the mirror.

Of course, she had looked stunning. For a country girl, Joe’s wife
could pull off the sophisticated city look whenever she wanted to. She was
wearing a sleeved black dress that sported a dramatic v-neck. A few buttons on
the side of the loose skirt added a unique element of style. Her matching
high-heel shoes completed the look. When he’d seen her standing in the mirror
behind him he couldn’t help but gawk for a few seconds. She had even added some
waves to her hair, making it cascade over her shoulders like a shimmering golden
brown waterfall.

They passed several rows of cars, walking as casually as possible as
they approached the entrance to the facility. A brown-haired man in gray suit
pants and a white-button up shirt, probably in his mid forties, strolled out of
the glass doors talking busily on his cell phone. He carried his jacket over
his shoulder. The conversation was something about sales and advertising. His
voice trailed off as he made his way into the parking lot.

Helen looked at Joe and prodded him to keep moving. “We have to look
like we belong,” she urged.

Joe smiled awkwardly and opened the front door for her. She nodded
politely and entered the building ahead of him. Inside, the facility was a web
of activity. A security desk sat off to the side where a guard was busy
checking off a form. Men and women in suits, lab coats, and a few business
casual outfits hustled up and down the stairs, and across the floor. In the
center of two spiral staircases, a circular water fountain stood in the middle,
sending water spraying into the air in a constant stream. The pool of water was
surrounded by a short wall crafted from mountain stone. Different kinds of
plants and foliage accented the corners and pillars in the atrium. And several
long, metal cylinders extended down from the ceiling, each holding a bright
white light bulb in the center.

Helen had done her research before the drive down to Atlanta. She had
memorized the layout of the building so they would look like they knew where
they were going. The longer they stood still in a spot, the more suspicious
they would appear.

“This way,” she said, making sure to keep moving.

He tried to keep up, staying close to Helen’s side, but she was
walking fast, like all the other people in the building appeared to be.

“The entrance to the packing facilities should be around this corner.”
Her assessment proved correct as they rounded a turn in the walkway. Straight
ahead was a set of double doors with a keypad just to the left of them.

Helen went straight to the keypad and entered in the five-digit code
she had enabled earlier on her computer. Joe shouldn’t have been surprised when
it worked, but he was. There was a quick buzz of an electronic lock then a
click just before the door swung open. She glanced sideways at him with a smirk.

“Oh, you’re good,” he praised her as they passed beyond the threshold
and into a more sterile-looking hallway.

It reminded him of a hospital corridor. As fantastic as the atrium had
been, the hall was the polar opposite. The walls were bare, and the tiled floor
seemed antiquated compared to the modern exterior. The two hurried along at a
brisk pace, but tried not to look like they were hurrying. It was a fine line.

The passage wrapped around to the back of the facility. Along the way
Joe and Helen passed several doors, none of which were the ones they were
searching for. Helen’s pace began to slow slightly, and she looked back a few
times at some of the doors they had already passed.

“You remember which one we’re looking for, right?” he tried not to
sound panicked.

“Yeah,” she didn’t sound confident. “I thought it was right here but…”
They came to a sharp bend in the corridor and were greeted by a steel door at
the end of the hall.

There was a keypad next to it just like the one they’d seen at the entrance
to the passageway they were currently in. The only difference was the man in
the security guard outfit sitting next to it.

Ararat, Armenia

“It will have to wait until the morning,” Jabez said as he stepped
away from the group huddling around the electronic glow of the tablet. “And it
may be later in the morning if this snow keeps up.”

Sean turned his attention back to the image on the screen. “My concern
is that even if we are able to get out on the road and into those mountains,
will we be able to recognize this place?”

Adriana zoomed in on the key spot on the map then tapped a few other
places on the screen. A green pin plopped onto the oddly shaped canyon.

“Now we have a digital waypoint to follow. GPS will guide us straight
to it,” she explained. “I just hope the roads are safe enough. With all the
snow, some of the mountain passes could be potentially dangerous.”

Sean’s face blushed slightly. “Yeah, I should have thought of that.”

The stress was getting to him. He should have slept well the previous
night in Istanbul, but instead he had tossed and turned in the soft, luxurious
bed. All he could think about was stopping the mad man, who called himself some
kind of prophet. He thought about calling Mac to see if his friend had made any
progress with the Biosure investigation, but he resisted. Joe would need at
least a little time to figure out a way into the facility, and even more time
to get the samples to Dr. Solomon.

“I suppose for now, we will just have to try and be patient,” Adriana
cut into his thoughts.

He snapped out of it and nodded quickly. “Yep. Guess all we can do is
hunker down and ride out this storm.”

“The forecast says it will clear out later tonight and that the late
morning temperatures will be in the upper forties,” Jabez informed the group
before wandering away to talk to some of his men.

“Hopefully it gets close to that warm up in the mountains,” Sean
commented. “But the temperature drops three degrees every thousand feet you
climb in elevation. So, it’s unlikely it will be that warm up there.”

Adriana’s eyebrows crinkled together and she turned to face him. “How
do you know that?” She wondered. “That is a fairly random bit of knowledge.”

Sean let out a snort. “I learned it in a high school ecology class I
took. Weather is something I’m fascinated by,” he explained. “I don’t know why.
I’ve just always found it interesting.”

“You really do have your mind’s fingers in a lot of cookie jars, don’t
you?” she asked the question with a thin smile.

“I guess,” he shrugged. “I’d like to have them in a few less jars.”

She switched off her tablet and shoved it back into her small
backpack. A few seconds later, she removed the leather book Sean had noticed
her reading before. He let his curiosity take over and prodded.

“What is that? I noticed you reading it earlier.”

She held it out to him. “It’s a journal I found while I was in
Germany.” He took it out of her hand and examined it.

The inside was full of stuff he couldn’t translate. He recognized many
of the Greek letters, mostly from his days at the University of Tennessee. But
what any of it meant was a mystery. Sean knew how to speak a few languages, a
few of them ancient, but Greek wasn’t one of his specialties. It was, however,
one of Adriana Villa’s.

“What kind of journal?” he asked as he fingered through the pages.
“Obviously, it’s very old.”

“Yes,” she agreed. “It is quite old. If I had to guess, I would say
mid to late seventeenth century.”

He nodded. “Looks that way.” Sean had come up with the same assessment
based on the materials used for the pages and the cover.

Scrolls, books, and tablets were all traceable to a specific period of
time in history based on the materials used. Cultures could also be identified
by whatever the message had been written on.

“It seems the person who wrote this was very interested in finding an
ancient Greek device,” she stopped his progress momentarily and flipped back to
the cover.

Her finger rested on the image of the strange mechanism. It appeared
to have gears and wheels, with a few hands on it, almost like a clock, but
seemingly not a clock at all.

“I’ve seen something like this before,” Sean said with a tone of
uncertainty. “I can’t remember where, though.”

She nodded. “You are talking about the Antikythera mechanism. It was
discovered in 1900 off the coast of the Greek island of the same name. No one
could determine its use for over a hundred years. A research team claims that
the device’s use was to give captains of nautical vessels a more accurate way
to chart the stars and planets. It is a logical conclusion, since seafaring
ships used celestial bodies to guide their voyages.”

“You don’t sound convinced,” he eyed her suspiciously.

Her eyebrows flicked up for as second. “I cannot say I am entirely
convinced. Though that may have been the purpose of the one discovered near
Antikythera, this book suggests there were others. And they were not created
for a singular reason.”

Sean’s curiosity was definitely piqued. “So, what then?”

She smiled. “I don’t know yet. I haven’t finished the book.” Adriana
pulled the journal out of his hands with a gentle tug.

He returned the smile. “I’ll let you get back to your reading then.
But I’d like to hear what you learn about it.”

Her expression changed to one of doubt. “I thought you said you were
going to retire? That you were tired of all this?”

A snort of laughter escaped his nostrils again. He couldn’t get
anything past her. “Yeah. I know. But I’m not retired yet.”