Deep in the cave, beyond the light, he heard footsteps. They were faint, cautious, as if someone were approaching the entrance—someone who didn’t want to be heard.
David got Kate’s attention, raised his finger to his lips, and sidestepped away from the opening, taking a position outside the tunnel. He pointed his rifle at it, ready to fire. It would be Shaw—he was sure of it, and he would be ready.
Dorian leaned into the cockpit and eyed the Immari helicopter that sat in the square below.
“Put down beside them?” the pilot asked.
“Of course. May as well send a text message saying where we are. Or light a flare.”
The pilot swallowed. “Sir?”
“Put down somewhere else. They could be waiting near the helicopter to ambush us. We’ll survey the ground by foot.”
Dorian checked his phone again. No messages. Why?
Was Adam dead?
He hoped not. That would be the final loss, the very last family he had, his only relationship in the entire world. His brother. The only person in the world he trusted to capture Kate Warner. And he was somewhere in Rabat. But why? What was here? Dorian was sure history could be his guide, reveal the exact significance of Rabat, but who gave a damn? History was so much work.
“Do any of you know the history of Rabat? Any significant cultural points?”
The soldiers turned to him, blank looks on their faces.
The pilot called over the intercom, “Mdina was the Roman capital in ancient times. The Phoenicians and the Greeks before them governed from there as well.”
Who fills their head with this useless shit? Dorian thought. “Very interesting… But we’re not in Mdina, are we? What’s in Rabat?”
“They buried their dead here.”
“What?”
“The Romans placed a premium on sanitation. And safety. They built walls around their cities and wouldn’t let the dead be buried within the walls. Rabat was a suburb—”
“What the hell are you saying? Get on with it!”
“There are burial chambers here. Ancient ones. The catacombs of St. Paul.”
Dorian considered this. Yes, it was exactly what David and Kate would be here for—dead bodies, ancient genetic clues to the cure. How many thousands of years were buried below this ancient city, in the stone chambers used over the ages? Had someone hidden an ancient body among these burial chambers, cloaking it, hiding it in plain sight? It didn’t matter. All he needed was her, the code, the knowledge in her mind.
Slowly, the figure emerged from the darkness. David gripped the trigger. He depressed it slightly, ready to fire.
The man emerged from the tunnel, his hands raised.
Janus.
Kate stood from the table. “Thank God. I need your help.”
Janus closed the distance to her. David instinctively followed the scientist with his gun.
“You found it?” Janus asked.
“Yes—”
“The Ark—from the Tibetan tapestry? It was here? All this time. The alpha. Adam?” Janus asked.
Kate nodded.
“Extraordinary…” Janus mumbled as he eyed the computer. “May I?”
“Of course, please.” Kate stepped aside.
“Where’s Kamau?” David called, over his shoulder.
“We got separated after the scream.”
“He’s alive?”
“I certainly hope so,” Janus said, as he typed on the computer, his eyes scanning back and forth.
A minute passed with David focusing on the tunnel entrance and Kate and Janus staring at the computer.
Janus nodded. “This is it—the point of origin, the first human to receive the Atlantis Gene. If we combine the genome with those bodies from the bubonic plague and survivors of the Spanish flu outbreak, it all makes sense. I think they can isolate all the endogenous retroviruses from this dataset.” He turned to her. “This is it, Kate.”
Kate grabbed the sat phone and plugged it into the computer. She worked the computer. “It’s uploading.”
Janus paced away from the computer, toward the entrance to the tunnel.
“You can’t go down there,” David said.
“I am afraid I must,” Janus answered. He turned to David. “For a scientist such as myself, this is the opportunity of the ages. The first human of a wholly new tribe, the genetic cataclysm that began all that came after. The history, the science. Despite the risk, I have to see it with my own eyes.”
“Stay here—”
Janus slipped into the tunnel before David could stop him.
Kate disconnected the sat phone from the computer and dialed quickly. David took up position between her and the tunnel’s entrance.
Paul, I just sent a new data set—Yes—What—No, I didn’t check the message.