The Atlantis Plague (The Origin Mystery, #2)(76)

David folded up the map. “It’s what we’re doing. This isn’t a discussion.” He handed the map to Kamau. “Set our course.”

Shaw simply stood there.

“David,” Kate began. The I need to speak with you look was the only cue David needed. He followed her downstairs to their stateroom.

She closed the door gently behind him. “I’m sorry, but I think we have to—”

“I want you to trust me, Kate. Let me do this.” He waited for her.

Slowly, she nodded. “Okay.”

“We’ll reach Alborán inside five hours—assuming whoever is chasing us doesn’t catch us first. We need to figure out who killed Martin before we get there.”

“I agree. But first, I want us to decipher the rest of Martin’s code, then I want to call Continuity and relay our findings. If… something bad happens at Alborán, at least they will have our research. Hopefully they can find a cure.”

This was her deal: David would help her work on a cure and she would go along with his plan—and trust him. Tradeoffs, compromises, trust. This was turning into a real relationship. I’m good with that. I like that. He nodded. “Yeah, okay.”





Dorian rolled over in bed. “Come.”

The door to his room opened, and a shy sailor inched in. He held out a closed envelope.

Dorian snatched it and ripped it open.

Where the hell are you?

Warner close to deciphering code.

Our destination is Isla de Alborán.

ETA 5 hours.

Be there.

Be ready.





CHAPTER 67


Mediterranean Sea


When David and Kate returned to the saloon, the two scientists were there waiting for them, sitting side by side on the white leather couches, placid expressions on their faces, as if the world weren’t dying from a global pandemic and they hadn’t just been accused of murder. David had to marvel at them. He wasn’t sure if he felt envy or sheer surprise at their composure.

“We are ready to resume. If you are, of course,” Janus said.

Kate and David sat in club chairs adjacent to the couch.

The wood-paneled, glass-accented room was lit only by three candles on the coffee table now, and the ambiance had gone from a well-lighted science conference to a late-night sleepover.

David turned the paper with Martin’s code around on the coffee table, positioning it to face the others as if it were a Ouija board.

Everyone took a moment to reread the note.

PIE = Immaru?

535…1257 = Second Toba? New Delivery System?

Adam => Flood/A$ Falls => Toba 2 => KBW

Alpha => Missed Delta? => Delta => Omega

70K YA => 12.5K YA => 535…1257 => 1918…1979

Missing Alpha Leads to Treasure of Atlantis?


“Several items still confuse me,” David said. “I believe the first two lines are simply notes—one about PIE. As we discussed, I’m quite certain Martin believed the Immaru were the PIE, Proto-Indo-Europeans, or at least a descendant group. The other note refers to an event in 535 and again in 1257. I know what it is, and I’ll explain that in a moment. Then the three lines are a chronology—a time line that overlaps and corresponds to the Tibetan tapestry Kate saw at the Immaru monastery. But I believe Martin’s chronology may be incomplete. Let’s take it step by step.”

David pointed at the word Adam. “Adam, Alpha, 70K YA.”

“In research,” Kate said, “the alpha signifies the first person in a clinical trial—the first to receive a test therapy.”

“Yes,” David said. “I think Adam here is the first human that received the Atlantis Gene. That’s the event in the flood of fire in the tapestry and the first major event in Martin’s chronology. The next is the Flood, A$ Falls, 12,500 years ago. I believe A$ is shorthand for Atlantis. So Flood, Atlantis Falls. When I was in the Atlantis structure in Gibraltar, there was a chamber with a series of… holomovies. I believe they showed this event—the fall of Atlantis at the foot of the Rock of Gibraltar. In the movie, the Atlantean ship hovered just above the water, then set down on the coast, just outside a prehistoric megalithic settlement. Two Atlanteans in suits exited the craft and interrupted a prehistoric tribal ritual, saving a Neanderthal. As soon as they returned to the ship, it was hit by a tidal wave that drove it inland, destroying the ancient city. As the water pulled the ship back out to sea, explosions rocked it, destroying the ship.”

“Where it lay buried for almost thirteen thousand years, until 1918, when my father helped the Immari find it,” Kate said.

“Exactly. The puzzling part is the notation: Missing Delta?”

“Delta signifies change,” Kate said. “‘Missing Delta’… So a change didn’t happen?”

“If we piece together Martin’s code, the tapestry, and what I saw that night in Gibraltar… In the first two floods on the tapestry, the Atlanteans interact directly with humans. Saving them or warning them. This implies a direct relationship.”

Kate sat back in her chair. “What if the Atlanteans were somehow guiding human evolution? Like an experiment with periodic intervention—and that intervention failed to happen 12,500 years ago because of the ship’s explosion: the fall of Atlantis.”