Heisman crossed his arms. “That’s how the journal ends, with Archard fleeing his enemy. But I think we can piece together what happened after that.”
“The Laki eruption,” Gray said.
“The site of that volcano is not far from the coastline. Archard must have made it some distance, but then catastrophe struck.”
Gray had witnessed such an event himself. He pictured the explosion, followed by the violent volcanic eruption.
Heisman sighed. “After that, we know from Jefferson’s letter that our Frenchman went into deep seclusion, regretting the actions he had taken, actions that led to the death of more than six million people.”
“Until he was summoned twenty years later by Jefferson to undertake a new mission. To join Lewis and Clark on their sojourn west.” Gray let the pieces fall together in his head. “According to the date on the map you showed us earlier, Jefferson concluded the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. That very year, Jefferson commissioned his friend Captain Meriwether Lewis to put together a team to explore those former French territories and the lands west of there.”
Gray’s head buzzed with the certainty of his assessment. “Fortescue went with them. He was sent to find that spot on the Indian map, to find what Fortescue himself believed was the heart of the new colony, that lost city.”
Seichan kept pace with him. “And he must have found it. He vanished out of history, and Lewis was murdered.”
Gray turned to Heisman. “Do you have a map that marks the trail that Lewis and Clark took?”
“Of course. Just one moment.” He and his assistant combed through their stacks and quickly found the right book. “Here it is.”
Gray stared down at the page. He ran a finger along the trail, starting at Camp Wood in St. Charles, Missouri, and ending at Fort Clatsop on the coast of the Pacific Ocean.
“Somewhere along this route—or close to it—has to be the location of the lost Fourteenth Colony.”
But where?
His phone rang again. He’d left his cell on the tabletop; a glance at it showed Sigma’s emergency number.
Seichan saw it, too.
“I’ll be right back,” he said, and headed again to the door. Seichan dogged his heels and joined him in the hall.
He flipped open the phone. “Monk?”
“It’s Kat, Gray. Monk’s on his way over to meet you with a car.”
“What’s wrong? What’s the news from Japan?”
“Bad. An assault team killed nearly everyone at the facility.”
He swore silently. They’d been too slow.
Kat continued: “But two key personnel survived. Japanese authorities fished them out of the neutron detector’s water tank. Rather clever place to hide. They were whisked into PSIA custody at our request.”
PSIA was the acronym for the Japanese intelligence agency. Calling in the latter was a wise precaution. If no one knew about the survivors, Sigma command had a chance to get a step up on the Guild. Kat knew it, too.
“I’ve been on the phone with one of them,” Kat said. “An American postgraduate student. She reports that before the attack, the Japanese physicists had been making no headway on discovering the source of the latest neutrino surge. But she related something odd, something that was noted by the other physicist who survived. He was concerned about some spotty neutrino bursts he’d detected. I didn’t give this detail much thought until she told me where those readings originated.”
“Where?”
“Maybe one or two sites out west, but he couldn’t pinpoint the locations due to the background rush of neutrinos from the larger spike. Of the two he was able to identify, one was in Belgium.”
She let this piece of news hang. It took Gray only a breath to recognize its significance. He remembered Captain Huld’s description of the hunters who’d come to Ellirey Island before Gray and his team. He’d said they were from Belgium. Monk must have made the same connection. It could be a coincidence, but Gray wasn’t buying it.
He told Kat as much. “The assault team in Iceland was from Belgium. That’s got to be significant. But what about that other spot the physicist noted? Where is it?”
“It’s in Kentucky.”
Kentucky?
Kat went on: “Monk’s on his way over to pick you up. I want you to check out the location. You’re wheels-up in fifteen minutes. We must take full advantage of this intel while we still can.”
Gray sensed some hesitancy on her part. “What does Director Crowe think about all of this?”
“He doesn’t. I’ve not been able to raise him since we got this news. He was heading deep into the desert. I’ll keep trying to reach him while you’re en route. But we can’t wait. If things change, I’ll let you know. I’m also in contact with the president’s chief of staff.”