“So, the way Malta looks today is just the tip of the iceberg,” Cassie murmured half to herself.
“Tip of the mountain, at any rate,” Griffin agreed. “The land mass of the Malta archipelago would have been much greater at one time. There would have been settlements scattered all about in low-lying areas.”
“Anybody who liked coastal living would have gotten wiped out during the flood,” Cassie observed.
“And not merely on Malta,” Griffin added. “There might have been as many as three super-floods while the glaciers were melting. Numerous coastal areas and land bridges around the planet may have been submerged. We’re only just now discovering underwater roads and buildings where there should be none. Damsay in the Orkney Islands, Yonaguni-Jima in Japan, an entire city twelve miles out in the Gulf of Khambat, not to mention the ancient structure buried under the ice cap in Antarctica. Scholars are at a loss to explain these phenomena because no one is considering the possibility of catastrophic global flooding.”
“I guess disaster movies aren’t so far-fetched after all,” Cassie said half to herself.
“If we agree that the astronomical alignment of Mnajdra implies a construction date around 10200 BCE, then the only subsequent flood powerful enough to submerge part of the island would have occurred around 5600 BCE—the same deluge which created the Black Sea. It may, in fact, be the same flood which buried the temple at Gobekli Tepe if the waters of the Mediterranean temporarily rose high enough.”
“Maybe we should think about setting up some underwater troves,” Maddie said dryly.
“The suggestion is less fanciful than you imagine,” Griffin countered. “We’ve recently developed technology sensitive enough to detect these underwater structures. All of them lend credence to a matristic civilization which once spanned the globe. We will need to address these finds sooner or later.”
“I vote for later,” the operations director replied. “Right now, we’ve got more urgent issues on the table. Like what this slideshow has to do with the search for the Bones of the Mother.” Maddie’s comment brought them abruptly back to the present.
Griffin switched off the computer and raised the lights. “Since the Minoans have already shown a predilection for megaliths as astronomical markers, it seems reasonable that they may have buried their next relic on Malta or one of the neighboring islands.”
“I’m with you so far,” Erik agreed. “But that’s around forty temples. How do we know which one to check?”
“It just so happens we’ve quite recently established a trove on Malta.”
“You mean there wasn’t one there already?” Cassie was surprised. “With all the goddess artifacts that have been found on the island?”
“The Etruscan trove keeper used to manage it,” Maddie said, “but the volume of artifacts discovered lately has forced us to give it its own trove designation. The keeper is kind of new, so I don’t know how much help she’ll be able to give.”
“Well, at least it’s a place to start,” Erik offered hopefully.
“And you’ll need to get started PDQ,” the operations director added.
“Why, what’s the rush?” Cassie asked.
Maddie regarded her colleagues with an ominous expression. “Brace yourselves for some bad news.”
Chapter 16 – Bad News Travels Last
The three Arkana team members all stared at the operations director, waiting for her to explain herself.
Maddie sighed. “I got some disturbing intel right before our meeting started, but I decided to hold off until Griffin finished his presentation. You know how rattled he gets when somebody throws him a curve ball. I wanted to hear what he had to say while he was still rational.”
“I beg your pardon,” the scrivener said in an offended tone.
“Never mind that,” Cassie broke in impatiently. “What’s the news already?”
It seems Daniel is on the move.”
“What!” Griffin gasped. “How could he be? He can’t know anything more than we do.”
The operations director laughed mirthlessly. “You connect the dots. Since he’s implicated in Hannah’s disappearance, do you really think he wants to hang around the compound and play twenty questions with his father?”
“Who’s Hannah?” Griffin and Eric spoke in unison.
“You didn’t tell them about that either?” Cassie turned toward Maddie accusingly.
“Whoa, slow down, kiddo,” Maddie made a time-out gesture with her hands. “From the minute I got here this morning, I’ve been bombarded with updates from the compound and on the phone with Faye. No time to give these guys the scoop.”
“Who’s Hannah?” Erik repeated.
“She’s one of Metcalf’s wives,” Cassie jumped in. “She ran away and came to hide out at my place.”
A barrage of questions followed from both men. It took Maddie and Cassie half an hour between them to bring their colleagues up to speed about Hannah’s age, her pregnancy, what she knew about the relic quest, the mysterious lab, and the secret weapons training.
After the explanations were given, Erik crossed his arms and let out a long breath. “One thing’s for sure, toots. You’re gonna be juggling live coals as long as she’s hanging around you.”
“The situation will be very awkward,” Griffin agreed. “Hannah must continue to believe we’re dead, that the Arkana doesn’t exist and that you’re acting alone to retrieve the relics. Do you really think you can carry it off?”
“Won’t know til I try,” the pythia said off-handedly. “Besides, I’ll be away most of the time. Faye’s the one who’s going to have to field those questions on a daily basis. She’s had a lot more practice at being diplomatic.”
The two men exchanged looks of concern. Erik shrugged. “No point in worrying about consequences now. It’s a done deal. Maybe we can find out something useful from her. Maybe something she doesn’t even know she knows.”
“And how are we supposed to get her to tell us that?” Cassie asked.
“Not us,” Erik corrected. “You. She thinks we’re dead, remember? And it’s not so much about getting her to answer
