submarine escape dock, and now he was glad he did. Without it, Garrett would be in the custody of the US Army.
Garrett had piloted the submarine to a marina in Orcas Island’s Deer Harbor. There, they stole a sailboat and scuttled the submarine so it wouldn’t be discovered. Then it was an easy sail to Vancouver, British Columbia, where Garrett’s funds in the Cayman Islands secured a chartered Lear, no questions asked. Cutter knew where to procure perfect fake passports.
Locke would eventually find out he had escaped, but Garrett had an eight-hour head start, maybe more. He would be in and out of Noah’s Ark before Locke could determine where he’d gone. By that time, Garrett would have the only other sample of Arkon in the world.
He twirled the USB drive in his fingers and smiled at Svetlana, who sulked at their predicament. She and Cutter had taken the setback harder than he had. Garrett’s serenity came from the knowledge that, like Cutter, he always had a backup plan. The US government would freeze his assets, but they didn’t know about all of his money. With hundreds of millions of dollars still at his disposal, even a disaster of the previous night’s magnitude could be overcome.
Switzerland would become his new haven. The Swiss lab, built under a medieval castle purchased under an untraceable pseudonym, would be able to perform the same function as Oasis. It was not as comfortable, but it would do the job. Once he had the sample of Arkon in his possession, it would take a only matter of weeks to synthesize the new Arkon-C. By the time the authorities figured out where he was, it would be too late.
The only task now was getting access to Mt. Ararat and Noah’s Ark. He knew its location, thanks to Hasad Arvadi, but like Arvadi, Garrett had never actually been there. He had not tried reaching it before now because the Turkish government protected the mountain with zeal. An expedition to the area three years before would have been watched carefully and would have brought unwanted attention to his plans. Now that his plans were exposed, he would have to risk going directly to it. With enough money for bribes and Cutter and the two guards at his disposal, Garrett felt sure that he would be inside Noah’s Ark in less than 24 hours. Then he would take the second Arkon sample and disappear.
Garrett entertained himself by thinking about how he would get retribution for the invasion of Oasis and the delay of his plans. He was a patient man and had a vision for the long term, but that didn’t mean he was beyond exacting revenge. During the weeks it would take to complete his goal to make a New World, he would hire the best assassins money could buy, and Tyler Locke would find out how painful his curiosity could be.
In Gordian’s Seattle laboratory, Dilara carefully pulled the delicate scrolls from the tube with rubber-tipped tongs. A huge examination table had been set up so she could lay it flat, and the humidity of the room was dropped to 25 % to protect the document. To Locke, the cool, dry air felt like a January evening in Phoenix. Grant and Miles stood to the side, watching Dilara spread the document out with her white-gloved hands.
Although time was quickly slipping away, Dilara moved slowly and deliberately. She was firm about protecting the ancient scroll. Since all they needed was the translation, Locke suggested she unfurl the scroll in the lab and photograph it. That way, they could take the photographs with them and keep the original scroll safe. While she prepared the scroll, Locke was busy setting up the high-definition camera in its articulated frame.
The key would be how long it would take Dilara to decipher the language printed in faint script. It seemed to be a primitive variant of Hebrew.
“How old is this paper?” Locke asked.
The hint of a smile continually played at the corners of Dilara’s mouth. She was excited about the archaeological significance of this find, even if it meant the possible end of the world.
“It isn’t paper. It’s papyrus. Same as used in Egypt. Without carbon dating, there’s no way to tell for sure how old it is, but I’d guess at least 3000 years old, pre-dating the Dead Sea Scrolls.”
Grant whistled.
“The scroll itself is a huge archaeological discovery,” she said. “Only Noah’s Ark could outdo it.”
“Let’s hope something in there actually leads us to it,” Locke said. “I’m ready when you are.”
“Just a few more minutes. I have to handle this like you handle explosives. The slightest miscue, and I could reduce it to dust.”
After she was through unrolling it, Locke shot a photo of each section. In turn, the pictures appeared on the screen at the end of the room, five times the original size.
“Can you translate?” Locke asked.
Dilara peered at the first segment. “I think so. It’s proto-Tannaitic Hebrew, the language used in the Copper Scroll of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It’s unusual and not seen often, and it’s very difficult to translate. Only a few people in the world can sight read it. My father was one of them.”
“And lucky for us, it sounds like you’re another.” Locke pressed a button on the room’s phone. “Did you get these photos uploaded, Aiden?”
Aiden’s voice came back over the speaker phone. “Absolutely. I’m transferring them to your laptop. I’ve also begun to parse them. If I can get a translation matrix from Dr. Kenner, we might be able to automate some of it.”
“Good. The goal is to find out anything the scroll says about Noah’s Ark.”
“Oh my God!” Dilara said, still reading.
When she didn’t elaborate, Locke said, “What?”
“There’s a lot more here than just Noah’s Ark,” Dilara said. “It’s a version of the entire book of Genesis. This would be the earliest version ever found of a biblical document. It describes God making the heavens and the earth, the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, but enhanced, in more detail than I’ve ever seen. Remarkable!”
“I hate to interrupt,” Locke said, “but we do have a time crunch. When we come back, you can take all the time in the world to read this. Can we skip ahead to Noah?”
“Yes, I know. I’m sorry. Next section. Next section. Next section. Stop!”
She stepped closer. Her eyes were so wide as she read that Locke thought they would fall out.
“This is it!” she said.
“Does it say where the Ark is?”
“Not exactly, but now I can see why my father was retranslating the Bible. Remember how he had crossed out words and replaced them in certain chapters? For example, this line here could be interpreted as the Ark being within the mountains of Ararat.”
“How does that help us?”
“I don’t know.” She kept reading, then stopped, and a puzzled look crossed her face. “Huh? That’s new.” She paused.
“Will you stop that?” Grant said with a laugh when she didn’t explain. “You’re driving us nuts.”
“Sorry. There’s a section here that’s not in the Bible. It talks about a map.”
“A map to Noah’s Ark?” Locke said.
Dilara nodded. “It also describes two amulets of such power that they can destroy the world.”
“That fits. At least now we know we’re looking for an amulet, although how an amulet can hold a prion disease is still a mystery. Where’s the map?”
“It tells of a city. I can only guess the pronunciation. Something like Ortixisita. In this city, there is a temple called Cur Ferap.”
“Have you heard of them?”
“They sound familiar, but I can’t quite remember. If I had my books here…”
“Aiden, you hearing this?” Locke said toward the speaker phone.
“I’m already looking it up,” came Aiden’s reply. “I’ll try all possible vowel substitutions and narrow my focus to the area around Mt. Ararat.”
After a few seconds, Aiden said, “Got it. There’s a city in western Armenia called Artashat. Originally built in 180 BC as Artaxiasata. It’s well-known for a monastery on its outskirts.”
Dilara snapped her fingers. “Now I remember! Khor Virap! The prison for St. Gregory the Illuminator!”
“You’re good, doctor,” Aiden said. “I’ve got a great picture of it. I’m sending it through to your screen.”
As soon as Locke saw the photo of Khor Virap, he was sure that’s where they needed to go.
“Aiden,” he said, “have them get the jet ready for us. We’re going to Armenia.”
Locke continued to stare at the picture and started to believe they might actually find Noah’s Ark after all.
