Authors: Ernest Dempsey
Khor Virap
Armenia
Sean and Adriana ushered Firth as quickly as they could through the
passageway. There was a light up ahead, peaking through some cracks. They
reached the end of the corridor and realized there was a large, wooden door
wedged into the floor and ceiling. Sean pushed hard against it, but the
barricade barely budged. Adriana leaned into the obstacle as well, causing it
to grind a little further against the floor. Firth gasped for breath a few feet
behind them.
Sean looked back at him in the pale glow of the flashlight.
“Professor, if you don’t mind, could you lean into this thing with us. A little
help would be nice.”
The older man fired off a quick look of derision, but stepped over and
put his shoulder awkwardly against the façade. The extra weight was just what
they needed, and the door lurched forward and toppled over. Light poured into
the darkness through a cloud of dust. As the dust settled, they realized they
were beyond the walls of the fortress, at the base of the hill. In front of
them, two black helicopters sat silently on the Armenian plain. The pilots were
nowhere to be seen.
“Come on,” Said to the others and warily started across the span
between the foot of the hill and the closest helicopter.
Firth looked skeptical but fell in line behind the other two. He
questioned Sean as they moved. “Do you even know how to fly one of these
contraptions?”
“No,” he answered. “But she does.”
“You do?” Firth cast Adriana a questioning glance.
She shrugged as they reached the flying machine. “Aviation is a hobby
of mine,” she gave a whimsical grin. “And it also comes in handy in my line of
work.”
She opened up the pilot’s door and climbed inside. Sean and the
professor climbed in as well, with Firth in the back. There was enough room to
carry at least six people in the chopper, and it reminded Sean of ones he’d
seen in pictures and movies from the Vietnam War.
Adriana quickly turned knobs and flipped switches. It didn’t take long
before the rotors above the cockpit were whining to life.
“What about Jabez?” Firth yelled into the cockpit over the rising
sound of the engines. “Are we just going to leave him?”
Sean turned around and stared into the professor’s eyes. It was
probably one of the single most intense, determined stares Firth had ever seen.
“Jabez wanted us to go without him, Doc,” he explained. “I could see
it in his eyes.” Sean was clearly distraught, but he also knew there was nothing
he could do to save their new friend.
“You’re just going to leave him?” The professor asked again,
disbelieving what he’d just heard.
“We’ll wait for him for a minute, Doc.” Sean spied the top of the hill
where the driveway ended near the fortress entrance. If there were any signs of
the enemy, they wouldn’t have much time before the chopper would be peppered
with bullets.
The engine continued to gain momentum, and the propeller blurred
overhead. “Ready whenever you are,” Adriana said through the headset. “Just say
the word.”
Sean tried to watch the top of the hill and cave entrance
simultaneously, his eyes jumping back and forth between the two. Worry set in
when he saw the first of the black clad mercenaries at the top of the hill.
Fortunately, they were at a fairly safe distance, but even so, he didn’t want
to chance it. His attention went back to the rock wall and the corridor they’d
left a few minutes before.
“Come on, Jabez. Where are you?” he said quietly through clenched
teeth.
Puffs of dust started kicking up as the bullets started to rain down
from the hilltop. It looked like six men lined the edge of protective barrier
that ran along the driveway at the top.
Sean had just given the signal to Adriana for her to lift off when he
noticed some movement out of the corner of his eye. It was Jabez running at a
dead sprint towards the helicopter.
“Wait a second,” Sean ordered just as she was beginning to get the
machine airborne.
Sean flung open his door and yelled out at the Arab. “Hurry. We have
to move!”
Jabez never looked back up. He could see the rounds of metal pounding
the dirt all around. Some of the snipers had noticed him and now the trail of
gunfire was chasing him towards the helicopter.
Sean jumped back inside as Jabez neared the open back door. As soon as
he reached the open back door, Adriana began to pull the aircraft off the
ground again. Jabez launched into the floor of the back part of the chopper as
it lifted off the ground. Adriana pulled the stick gently, veering the
helicopter away from the small mountain. A few bullets panged off the metal
shell of the cabin for a moment before they gained some distance and altitude.
Jabez breathed heavily in the back of the helicopter, taking in huge
gasps of air while he put on a headset that had been hanging on the wall.
Sean turned around and looked back at him. “I thought you weren’t
going to make it,” he said into the microphone that wrapped around near his
mouth.
“I didn’t think I would either,” the Arab replied. “But I appreciate
you waiting on me.”
“What about your men?” Adriana interrupted the mushy conversation.
“I will let them know not to return to the fortress. We will certainly
need the trucks to navigate the mountains north of Ararat. We could fly, but I
seriously doubt there will be many good places to land. Not a lot of level
space in that mountain range.”
Adriana leveled out the helicopter high above the Armenian plains. Off
to the left, the two peaks of Ararat Mountain loomed ominously. There had been
something mysterious about the place, like it had long held a secret that the
world needed to know. Now that mystery was mostly gone. If the ark of Noah was
somewhere else, Ararat would become just another mountain.
“It is beautiful,” Adriana commented as the soared by in the afternoon
sky, leaving the mountains behind and pulling up new ones in the distance.
Sean thought about it for a few minutes. Firth stared out the window
at the enormous peaks. He must have been cold because he pulled his jacket
tighter around his torso.
“There is another problem you have yet to consider,” the professor
said after a long period of silence.
The headsets were filled with the strange background noise associated
with flying in a helicopter.
“What’s that?” Sean twisted his head to look at Firth. He had almost
reached his limit with the professor’s negativity.
Firth faced him while Jabez leaned forward, finally having caught his
breath. “Even if the map we found in the pit was legitimate, we don’t have a
starting point.” He cocked his head back and gazed at the Arab. “How big is
this town of Ararat?”
Jabez shrugged. “Maybe thirty thousand people. Perhaps more.”
The professor raised his hands as if demanding an answer. “You see?
While that is a small town, it will still cover a considerable amount of land.
How do we know the center point for where Saint Gregory started his journey?
You can’t exactly draw a line with a map if you don’t have a starting point.
And if you begin with just anywhere in the city, you could end up being far off
course in the middle of the desert mountains.”
Sean realized his point and turned around to face forward. He could
see the outline of the city up ahead in the distance against the backdrop of
the mountains.
“He must have left another clue,” Adriana said, her eyes still locked
on the horizon in front of her. “Gregory doesn’t seem like he would have just
scribbled some information on the floor of a dungeon without having first
created a waypoint.”
That had to be it. Sean scratched his face while he considered her
statement. He hadn’t shaved in a few days and his stubble had become a little
itchy. For a second he was distracted by wondering how men with beards could
tolerate the irritation. He refocused his mind back on the task of figuring out
what Saint Gregory could have left behind to guide them to the ark.
“Jabez,” he said and turned around again. “Do you know if there is a
something in the town of Ararat like a monument or some kind of tribute to
Gregory?”
He shook his head. “No. I do not know of anything like that. However,
there is a statue in the middle of the town that is very old. Some people have
said it has been there longer than the city itself, that the first inhabitants
placed it there.”
Sean’s eyes narrowed. “What kind of statue?”
Khor Virap
Armenia
Lindsey’s mercenaries ran down the hill in front of him and DeGard
with Will and Kaba in the lead. The old man couldn’t move very fast, which
wasn’t an issue at the moment considering the helicopter would take a few
minutes to start. He just hoped Wyatt and his friends hadn’t tampered with
anything. It was unlikely they’d had time since their escape had been narrow.
The chopper would be tight with Kaba and Will, plus his four remaining men. It would
have to do. He didn’t want to leave anyone behind. Or did he?
The Frenchman was nearing the end of his usefulness. Lindsey wondered
how much more he could get out of the former professor. At this point, they
were simply following Wyatt.
He and DeGard rounded the bend at the bottom of the hill and
approached the helicopter. Kaba was already warming up the engines and the
other men had taken seats in the back.
Will was walking swiftly towards the two slower movers. “I’m pulling
up the transponder right now. We will know exactly where they are and where
they’re headed in a few minutes.”
“Excellent,” Lindsey responded between labored breaths. A cold gust of
air picked up and rolled across the flat, carelessly flipping his white hair
around.
He was still considering the fate of his French employee. While he
would be more than happy to have him tossed out of the helicopter as he’d had
done to another man a few weeks before, it would be a shame if the need for his
expertise arose on the final leg of the journey. He would let DeGard live…for
now. It was a certainty, though, that the man’s usefulness would run out soon.
Then he would give the Frenchman his reward.
As if hearing his name in Lindsey’s thoughts, DeGard spoke up. “Where
do you think they’re going?” he asked above the noise of the helicopter’s
engine.
“We’ll know shortly,” Lindsey shouted back.
He left the Frenchman standing alone for a moment before the birdlike
man caught back up again. The two climbed into the chopper. The men on board
made room for Lindsey, and were sure to give him enough space. For DeGard,
however, they did not, forcing him to squeeze into a small space on the edge of
the seat next to a man with a wide jaw and a piercing set of grayish blue eyes
that seemed to stare straight through.
DeGard tried to make himself comfortable but was clearly unable to, so
he resigned himself to the fact that he was just going to be ill at ease for
the foreseeable future. He hoped that their destination wasn’t far away.
Will turned around and shouted into the rear cabin. “Looks like they
are headed towards a small town to the north. Won’t know until they stop if
that is where their destination is. But it’s the only town in the area.”
“Why would they go there?” Lindsey asked into the headset. “Unless
they think there is something of significance in the town.”
“The ark wouldn’t be there?” Will reasoned. “You don’t think the city
was built on top of it, do you?” He didn’t sound like he was convinced that was
a plausible idea. But anything was possible.
DeGard shook his head on the edge of the opposite seat. “I don’t think
that is why they are headed there. It must be because of another clue. What is
the name of the town?” His nasally voice was even more grating through the
radio than in normal conversation.
“The town of Ararat,” Will answered.
“What?” Lindsey turned back around and stared in disbelief at his
chief assassin. “What did you say?”
“The name of the town is Ararat.”
Lindsey faced DeGard again, this time with a glare of righteous
indignation. “Did you know that this town existed?”
DeGard’s face was full of confusion as he shook his head. “No,
Monsieur. I swear it. I was not aware that there was a city by that name in
this region. I only knew of the mountain.”
The old man wasn’t sure whether or not to believe him. But the sincere
expression on his face was genuinely confused as to Lindsey’s line of
questioning.
“Do you not realize what this means?” he pressed.
The epiphany hit DeGard, and his eyes showed it by growing wider. “Do
you think Wyatt found a clue that leads to the city of Ararat instead of the
mountain?”
“It makes perfect sense.”
Kaba interjected as she lifted the helicopter off the ground and
guided it towards the northeast. “There are series of mountains there that begin
just outside the city. There is a legend about those mountains, though.”
Will looked over at her, but she kept her eyes forward as they pulled
the darkening sky to the east into view. “What legend? You knew about this
place” he pushed.
“I didn’t think there was any connection to what we were looking for.
The ancient scriptures suggested that the ark of Noah came to rest on Mount
Ararat. It did not say anything about the city or the mountains outside it.
Given the current circumstances, it certainly seems like the little town could
hold another clue as to the location we seek.” She still kept her eyes straight
ahead, never wavering in her voice or her gaze.
Lindsey let out a deep sigh. His irritation at DeGard had left him for
now. But he still wanted answers. “What about the legend, Kaba. Leave nothing
out.”
“There isn’t much to tell. The locals believe there is some kind of
power in the mountains. They generally don’t go there if possible. Some say
there are rebels camped there, and when people stray, they are kidnapped and
forced to serve as soldiers. Others, though, believe there is something more
sinister at work.”
The old man’s eyes practically glowed at the new information. “That
must be it.”
Her eyebrows lowered. “I’m sorry. I do not follow.”
“Don’t you see? If anyone happened upon the ark, they could have been
killed by any traps that had been left by the ancient ones.”
DeGard took a turn at throwing in his two cents. “Or it could have
been much worse, if you believe the tale in the Bible.”
Kaba kept her eyes on the horizon while everyone else in the chopper
turned to the Frenchman with the long, pointy nose.
When he continued, his tone was lathered in sarcasm. “It says in the
book of Genesis that the Lord put an angel at the gates of Eden with a flaming
sword to protect the way. Is it possible that the angel still guards the path
to Eden and that is what happened to all the victims who disappeared in the
mountains?”
Lindsey’s eyes narrowed. “I sense your cynicism, Monsieur, and I
understand that you do not believe. But now that you mention it, I think it
could be entirely possible.’
DeGard prodded. “And just how do you think you are going to get by an
angel, Monsieur? If that is what you think you will find.”
Conviction filled the man’s old eyes, and the wrinkles around them
tightened slightly, producing more on other parts of his face. “I don’t believe
it is an angel guarding the gates of Eden. I think it could be something else.”
The Frenchman’s eyebrows stitched together, unsure where his employer
was going with the line of thought.
“So, if not an angel, what was it?”
Lindsey had a glint in his eyes. “What if the angel was actually some
kind of ancient security system?”
DeGard was unconvinced. “You mean something like booby traps?”
“Could be,” Lindsey didn’t disagree. “It is very plausible that the
ancients simply decided to call the device or devices an angel to further sway
others from seeking the location of the garden and the forbidden tree, as the
Bible says, ‘lest they live forever in sin.”
The idea seemed to settle in DeGard’s mind for a few moments. It made
sense. He’d seen things throughout history done the same way. Ancient Egyptians
had harnessed the power of geological static electricity and made it look like
the power of their gods. The Greeks and others, including some from
Scandinavia, had claimed lightning and thunder was the result of Zeus or Thor.
Over exaggerating things had resulted in a greater amount of control over the
populace. People, after all, were ignorant, especially if an expert or a
religious leader were telling them what to do and what to believe. Better safe
than to incur the wrath of the gods.
“So you think the angel and the sword of fire was an exaggeration,
conjured up to keep the people from thinking about sneaking into the garden?”
He wanted to make sure he understood what the man called The Prophet was
insinuating.
“I think it’s more than plausible, Professor. I am almost certain of
it.”
Will interrupted the conversation from the cockpit. “Looks like they
have stopped moving, Sir. The other bird should be just outside of town. Either
they have ground transportation or they’ll be going on foot to wherever they’re
headed.”
“It will be difficult to sneak
up
on them in the
helicopter,” Kaba added. “They will hear this contraption coming from miles
away.”
Lindsey went into deep thought at her point. She was right. They would
need to hang back if they wanted to make sure Wyatt and his friends were
unaware they were being followed. But if Wyatt ditched the helicopter and
proceeded in ground vehicles, there would be no way to track them. The old man
knew he needed to be on the ground to effectively track Wyatt’s group without
being spotted.
“Surely there must be a place we can acquire some ground transportation.”
Lindsey said finally.
Will took his employer’s meaning and immediately began searching on a
tablet for the necessary information.
They would have to move fast to avoid losing Sean Wyatt and his little
band. Something kept tugging at the back of his mind. What were they trying to
find in the town of Ararat? It had to be another ancient clue, something that
would point the way towards the final destination in this long, crazy journey.
“Sir,” Will interrupted his thoughts. “I think you might want to take
a look at this.” He handed the electronic device back to Lindsey.
The old man gripped it with freckled, old hands. His eyes stared at an
object in the center of the screen. It was an overhead view of the town of
Ararat. And the thing he saw in the middle of it caused hope to arise anew in
his heart.
“Triangulate a path from that point,” he ordered Will. “It looks like
our problem is solved.”