The world above and in front of them came crashing down. The bomb exploded off-target two hundred feet behind where the slope started in the natural portion of the cave. The fireball killed every man on his feet and buried the rest. The pillars of the temple cracked and started falling as Jack and the others broke for the water below them. They felt the heat burn their skin as they dived just as the earthen roof came cascading down.
Collins was the last to dive into the water and it was he who saw Dahlia as she was catapulted forward, cartwheeling through the air. She landed in the rushing torrent of water and immediately disappeared. Collins dived in and grabbed a handful of hair. He pulled her to the surface just as they shot into the mouthlike cave, and then the world around them went dark.
Jack held on to Dahlia as he tried to relax his body and allow the current to take them where it wanted. His only struggle was to keep the unconscious woman's head above water. At certain points, he found, the harsh current went far beneath the underground roof of the ancient river as it sped along. He saw momentary flashes of light ahead and heard the shouting of the others above the din of the rushing Blue Nile. Bright mineral deposits gleamed wetly as they screamed passed.
Jack's shoulder struck a stalactite and he careened into the smooth, age-worn wall, then a rip current pulled him and Dahlia under. Collins thought that this was where the river disappeared far below the desert and would not rise again until its waters mixed with those of the surface Nile far from where they were.
The roar of the river was growing even louder as Jack came close to passing out for lack of air. Suddenly the dark world filled with light and the waters warmed by twenty degrees as Jack kicked upward. The great current died out as he broke the surface into bright daylight. As he took in great gulps of air, he was never so glad to see the sun as it set low over the western horizon.
As he placed his arm around Dahlia's neck and started kicking, he felt hands and arms around him, pulling him through the water until his feet started dragging in the mud. He was pulled onto the hot sand lining the river. He heard Dahlia coughing and throwing up water next to him and he angrily shoved her body away from his own.
'Damn, Jack, you caught the biggest fish in this damn river,' Everett said as he leaned down and made sure that the woman wasn't going to choke to death. 'Freshwater piranha, I believe.'
Collins coughed up water and rolled onto his stomach. Then he turned and looked at Everett.
'Next time we stay and shoot it out. That was not fun,' he said as he looked beyond Carl. 'We lose anyone?'
'All accounted for. Will broke his nose, Professor Leekie is crying about losing the temple, and Ryan is bitching that he lost his wallet, but it looks like we'll all live.'
Jack pushed himself into a sitting position and looked from Carl to the blond woman lying on her stomach.
'We better find a phone and pass on the bad news.'
'Think she'll talk?'
Collins stood on shaky feet, trying to clear his head. Then he looked down at the woman, who was just coming to.
'Yeah, she'll talk, or she may find herself being left in a country where people disappear all the time.'
Jack, Carl, Mendenhall, and Ryan were standing behind the two-way glass looking into the interview room. Virginia, feeling sick after her supersonic flight from Nellis onboard an F-15 Eagle, was to handle the interview with Lorraine Matheson--Coalition code name Dahlia--who was presently sitting in a straight-back chair with her hands cuffed to its armrests.
In Nevada, Sarah and her geology team were watching the video feed in hopes of gaining an advantage in their scroll research.
'And they developed this Wave technology from copies of the same scrolls we have in our possession?' Virginia asked, with her arms placed firmly across her chest. Her demeanor was calm, but inside she was seething that this woman could order death and assassination as easily as ordering breakfast.
Dahlia was dressed in the same clothes she'd been wearing when she was apprehended. Virginia understood, from a woman's point of view, that this was grating on her.
'Yes.'
Jack had received Dahlia's background check from Europa, who had hacked the FBI mainframe and pulled out her rather mundane file from its stored archives. Lorraine Matheson was the daughter of a wealthy author and was a graduate of U.C., Berkeley. She had squandered some years at the CIA as a researcher before finding the job boring. All through her young life, she had tried to be the exact opposite of her left-wing father and friends. She had eventually quit the CIA and drifted into freelance work in 1978. That was where her file ended.
'We know that certain members of the Coalition are related by blood to other Ancients, so they have heard the same stories about the Atlantean Key and the Wave being the cause of the destruction of Atlantis. Why does this Tomlinson believe he can control it?'
'His science teams estimate that the Wave will be enhanced by twenty million decibels, and the tone grooves on the diamond are a pinpoint decibel control for specific faults and their geologic makeup. That's all I've learned from Tomlinson; he's rather tight-lipped about his plans.'
In Nevada, at the mention of geologic makeup, Sarah started thinking. The familiar thought was again at the edge of her memory, then it was gone.
'What is the Coalition's ultimate goal in all of this madness--to take over the world?' Virginia asked.
'You really don't understand anything, do you? The Coalition is out to eliminate the leadership of nations that are a drain on the material wealth of others. They play games with the support offered by building up armed forces used for only one purpose: the subjugation of their own people. Tomlinson seeks to eliminate them from the world stage. Not their people, as in the past attempts, but their leadership.'
'If this is so, why the assassinations of western leaders and why a war in Korea that could bring down or weaken the United States?'
'The United States has always favored the status quo of the world. A weakened America will be swayed to mind its own affairs. Leaders financed wholly by the Coalition will receive the wealth of the world--food, money, and comforts will be supplied to their people. You see, why conquer when you can purchase. The use of the Wave is for those countries that will not let go of the old ways. It expeditious,' Dahlia said with a smile.
Jack and Everett walked in and handed Virginia a file folder.
'Before we concern ourselves with the real questions you will be asking, have you delved into the more recent materials concerning your friends the Ancients?'
Collins just looked at the woman, not really concerned with what she had to say about Martha and Rothman.
'I think you may be somewhat shocked that they are not the innocents you may have been led to believe.' Dahlia raised one eybrow and smirked.
Virginia sat in front of Dahlia and looked at her without saying anything for a moment. Jack and Carl stood with their backs against the glass and waited.
'I believe at this point I should be asking for legal counsel,' Dahlia said, looking from face to face.
'Nah, we don't use 'em,' Everett said from his place next to Jack.
Virginia opened the folder and pulled out a sheet of paper, then turned it around and laid it so that Dahlia could read it clearly.
'Do you recognize the letterhead on this document?' she asked.
The seal of the president of the United States was embossed at the top.
Dahlia looked and then leaned back in her chair. 'Yes.'
'Do you see the signature?'
'I have.'
'This document clears you of all crimes committed in the United States and her allied treaty nations. In essence, Ms. Matheson, you are hereby pardoned before the facts are brought to public knowledge of the brutal crimes committed against the citizens of the United States. It is a document the new president did not want to sign. Am I clear on this point?'
Dahlia didn't blink an eye; she only waited.
