Prologue

 360 BC, Hekademia, Greece

 Some legacies are made, some are born, but this legacy was meant to be found.

Plato scribbled his thoughts on parchment as they flooded through him. He wouldn’t reveal one of the greatest secrets in the history of the world without a test. That would be similar to Hercules breezing through his twelve trials without learning something significant about himself. The great philosopher concluded that his mission would be to leave clues so that Atlantis could be discovered by one worthy.

Plato was happy to be away from the pressures of Athens for a season, able to convey his thoughts in written form. Zeus, the god of gods, who rules according to law, and is able to see into such things, perceiving that an honourable race was in a woeful plight, and wanting to inflict punishment on them, that they might be chastened and improve, collected all the created things. And when he had called them together, he spake as follows—

A scraping sound outside his villa broke his concentration. Fear rose within him. He knew they were coming for him as they did for Socrates. Blaming him for impiety and corrupting the youth. He would hide any proof. He gathered up his writings and his drawings for the proposed device, fleeing his study.

He exited the back of his summer villa, racing through the deserted streets of Hekademia towards the Academy, clutching his scrolls protectively to his chest. The moonlight cast menacing shadows among the cold, stone walkways. He risked a glance behind him to determine any movement, the darkness playing with his emotions, silhouettes and shadows lying in wait – hidden wraiths waiting for the opportunity to strike. A slight breeze toyed with the perspiration on his brow as he turned his attention to the daunting task still ahead.

He stumbled up the marble entry steps, cursing under his breath at his open-toed sandals. A sharp pain in the large toe of his right foot caused him to shuffle forward with a slight limp. He cast glances behind him as he struggled to escape his pursuers.

Too old to flee with his writings with any speed, he fled towards the student villas that housed some of the most promising scholars. The obvious choice would be Aristotle, the rising prodigy amongst the group. But Plato knew that Aristotle only believed in Atlantis as an allegory and teaching tool. The young man possessed intelligence but still had much to learn. Plato didn’t dare trust him with such an important task when Aristotle might not take it seriously. He had taken a different pupil on a mission to Sicily the previous year and had grown to appreciate the pretentious young man. They had discussed Atlantis at length.

Plato made his decision.

He tucked his scrolls behind some shrubbery, then entered the older pupils’ villa. He shook Xenocrates awake, covering his student’s mouth with a gentle hand. The young man opened his eyes with a shocked look, then relaxed as he viewed the sage teacher holding a finger to his mouth. Plato removed his hand, motioning for him to follow.

They exited the villa to the shadows of a portico. Plato turned to face his pupil in the dim light.

“Xenocrates, I need you to run an important errand for me.”

“Of course, Wise One. What do you need from me?”

Plato retrieved his scrolls from the bushes, handing them to his student. “I need you to take these to Xenophon in Corinth.”

Xenocrates’s shocked look returned. “Xenophon? The traitor to Athens?”

Plato shook his head. The younger generation had been brainwashed by Greek leadership. The Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta had been over forty years prior. Sparta’s strength had been all but eradicated by Thebes more than ten years ago. Sparta would never rise to the world power that it was before. Plato didn’t have time to explain his reasoning.

“Xenophon understands the importance and the implications contained within these scrolls.”

Xenocrates looked down at the documents in his teacher’s arms. “What do they contain?”

“The secrets of Atlantis and the drawings of a proposed device that will point the way to discover it.”

Xenocrates held the scrolls more protectively in reverence. “What do I tell Xenophon?”

Plato nodded, relief flooding through him. His pupil was determined to carry out his request.

“He has been speaking of getting away, desiring to visit Rhodes. Urge him that now is the time to depart and he must not let these scrolls out of his possession until he has found one capable to build the device. Tell him that the discovery of Atlantis depends on him.”

Plato heard shouts approaching the Academy, accompanied by many footsteps. He pushed Xenocrates the opposite way.

“Go now. They will be looking for me, not suspecting you.”

Plato sighed as he watched Xenocrates run barefoot, away from the approaching commotion. He prayed to the gods that Xenophon would be able to escape Greece with his notes in time.

The great philosopher turned to face the accusations he knew were about to strike.

Chapter 1

 Present Day

Reed Robinson fidgeted with the cuff of his bloody, long-sleeved shirt, uncertain how to bring up the topic of conversation that he desired to discuss without seeming ludicrous. He sat at a table, not far removed to the east of the Mount of Olives, in a makeshift tent surrounded by the Israeli army. He and his fellow Princeton professor, Danielle Carrington, had been interrogated extensively as to what had happened on the Temple Mount when each had allegedly died and been miraculously brought back to life, but neither one knew much more than the Israeli intelligence officers. After the soldiers felt that they had learned all they could from the two professors, the Americans had been released.

Hebrew University professor, David Brody, had requested that Israeli soldiers retrieve their belongings from his and Reed’s shared hotel room in downtown Jerusalem. While the three professors waited for the soldiers’ return, all were very aware of the need to discuss their next course of action, but each was hesitant to breech the subject due to the precarious situation of Reed’s wife, Kate, believed to be a prisoner of the Muslim army.

Reed wanted to share with David what he had kept from his interrogators but did not want to do so in front of Danielle. He didn’t trust her, even after the inexplicable experience at the Temple Mount. Danielle still wore her bloody blouse, not yet getting the opportunity to change her clothing. He glanced at her bloodstain, further proof that their harrowing incident actually occurred.

I didn’t dream it. It really did happen.

Reed couldn’t help but reflect on the memory when he was left to his thoughts. He wasn’t ready to share with anyone certain aspects of his experience while he had been ‘gone’ but was eager to speak with David about one topic in particular. He still needed to come to terms with much of what had happened and process what he had learned. He wondered what Danielle had been through during the time that they had been away. Was her experience similar to his? He hadn’t seen her at all during those few inexplicable days – ‘on the other side’ as it were.

Could he have possibly imagined some of it? But nothing had ever felt more real. He still had some strong, negative feelings towards Danielle due to what she had put them through – the deception by her to bring him and his wife to Egypt and on to Israel.

But the real trial for him was that if it hadn’t been for Danielle’s subterfuge, his wife Kate wouldn’t be missing. Her life wouldn’t be in danger. He kept telling himself that she was still alive. He wouldn’t believe otherwise.

He couldn’t believe otherwise.

She had to be alive.

He glanced across the table at Danielle, desiring to ask what had happened to her when they had passed to the other side, but also knowing that if she felt as he did, she wouldn’t be ready to talk about it. Even worse, she might ask him the same question in return and he wasn’t ready to share that yet, especially with her.

But wouldn’t Kate be amazed.

Reality flooded through him as thoughts of his wife put a clamp on his heart.

“No one knows where Kate is,” Reed stated more as a fact of reality than as a question.

David dipped his chin and shook his head. “No.”

“I’m sure that General al-Azim has her,” Danielle responded. “He would keep her for leverage.” Her face paled as if she suddenly realized with whom she was speaking. “I’m sorry, Reed.”

He brusquely brushed off her apology. “I have to find her.”

“I know,” she sighed. “I know. Please believe me. I am so, so sorry. I didn’t know—”

“We can’t change what’s happened. What matters is what we do now and what I’m going to do to get her back.”

“You mean what we’re going to do,” David corrected.

Reed’s expression softened as he turned to his friend and observed his swollen face, results from their skirmish with the giant assassin, Demas. “I never should have gotten you involved in this. I have put you in too much danger as it is. She is my wife and—”

“Not another word about it, Reed.” David dismissed his colleague’s comments with a wave of his hand. “We’ve had this discussion before and we don’t need to have it again. If I didn’t want to be involved, I wouldn’t be, but this has been the best thing that has happened to me in years.”

Reed’s eyebrows raised. “I think your bruised ribs, fat lip and swollen eye would say otherwise.”

David ignored the comment as if it were a daily occurrence, and continued, “Can you imagine the implications if Atlantis is really the location of the lost tribes of Israel?” David smiled at the possibilities. “I would be involved in this whether you wanted me to be or not. I wouldn’t be able to resist such a possibility.” He placed his hand on his friend’s arm. “So we will be finding your wife.”

“Yes we will,” Danielle confirmed, nodding once.

Reed transferred his attention from David to his fellow Princeton professor, his eyes narrowing. “After all that you put us through, Danielle, I don’t know that I want or need your kind of help.”

“Reed, I can only say I’m sorry so many times. Please believe me when I tell you that I will do anything to make this right…to get your wife back.”

She sounded sincere, but how could he forgive her if anything were to happen to his wife. Danielle had deceived him. Being betrayed by such a close ally wasn’t something that he would dismiss easily.

“How can I trust you? Or better said, why should I trust you? I thought that we were friends. Then you put our lives in danger, and now I don’t know if I will ever see my wife again…” He choked on the words, having trouble coming to terms with where his wife might be, or if she were alive.

“I know, Reed.” Danielle released a long sigh, her voice lowering. “I know. You have every reason not to trust me. I can only say it so many times but I do want to make it up to you. I need to make it up to you. Please believe me when I say that my intentions were not malicious. I thought that I was helping to bring about peace.”

“How? By helping a self-deluded madman conquer the world?” Reed shot back at her, referring to General Irshad bin Omar al-Azim, the head of the al-Ahad army that recently failed to invade Jerusalem.

“That wasn’t how he presented it. I thought that I was working towards a better world. Striving for a better life for everyone.”

They studied each other, both determining what to say next.

David interrupted the silence, clearly intrigued by this direction of the conversation. “Danielle, why was the general searching for Atlantis? How did this come about?”

Danielle studied Reed, looking for any sign of forgiveness. When none was shown, she turned her attention to David.

“It came about because of me.” She scrunched her eyebrows. “Well, that’s not entirely true.” She appeared as if she didn’t know where to start. After a moment to collect her thoughts, she continued, “General al-Azim studied all of the great conquerors throughout history, such as Genghis Khan, Napoleon, and of course Alexander the Great – a leader never defeated in battle. General al-Azim studied all of their strengths and weaknesses and eventually became intrigued as to why Adolf Hitler was pursuing religious avenues amidst his battle campaigns. In the general’s mind, he could not comprehend why Hitler was so obsessed with Israeli history while correspondingly hating the Jewish people so much. He felt it was Hitler’s downfall. General al-Azim is intelligent. He learns from history to avoid making the same mistakes as past failed invaders.”

She again paused as if trying to recall some details, then continued, “We found more about what the Ahnenerbe believed existed.”

“The what?” Reed had never heard this name before.

“The Ahnenerbe,” Danielle reiterated. Both Reed and David stared at her, oblivious as to what she was referring. She sighed and continued to elaborate. “The Ahnenerbe was set up by Heinrich Himmler initially to research the history of the Aryan Race, specifically in the Nordic region. But Himmler soon used the organization as a tool to research his obsession with occultism. He launched expeditions throughout the world to satiate his desire to find Atlantis or anything linking the Aryan race to Germany. Both Himmler and Hitler had always believed in Atlantis and that Germans descended from an Aryan race since their Thule Society days.”

Danielle was introducing topics that Reed hadn’t heard of before. “What is the Thule Society?”

“The Thule Society was an occult created by Rudolf von Sebottendorf in Munich which Hitler later morphed into the Nazi Party. The Thule Society was where Hitler met many of the early Nazi leaders such as: Heinrich Himmler, Hermann Goering, Rudolf Hess, Alfred Rosenberg, Hans Frank, Julius Lehmann, Gottfried Feder, Karl Harrer, and Dietrich Eckart. Eckart was a lesser known figure in Nazi history. He was actually the individual that transformed Hitler into a dynamic public speaker. Hitler dedicated Mein Kampf to Eckart.

“With all that was happening at the time, Hitler was initially hesitant to stretch resources to pursue occult research until Himmler found some evidence regarding an unkillable army – the ultimate Aryan Race. At that point, it became a higher priority for Hitler even though he was waging wars on different fronts at the same time.”

Her excitement grew as she saw that her fellow professors were intrigued. “Of course General al-Azim was skeptical at first, but this was too tempting a prospect to dismiss. When he learned of a possible link from his studies of the Ahnenerbe between ancient Israel and Atlantis, the general recruited my help to do some research since I knew a bit about Greek philosophy and Plato.” She sipped from a glass of water then placed it back on the table. “I had offered my expertise in the past,” she added, remorse reflecting in her eyes. “Until that point he had placed me as a sort of spy to climb in social status in the west, but didn’t have much use for me otherwise. But when the greatest weapon that could be devised arose, an army that couldn’t be killed, he assigned me to the task and stressed the importance of what such a find could do for the world…and for my contribution to society. I started with the expeditions sent out by Himmler to find Atlantis which indicated a strong possibility that ancient Israel could be involved and the key to unraveling the mystery of Atlantis.

“I thoroughly researched everything that I could to track down any link between Israel and Atlantis. I linked the physical elements that Plato had classified with the Seal of Solomon, then came across the Sea Peoples and linked them to the ten lost tribes, and well…you two know the rest. I got stuck. I couldn’t figure out what Plato was trying to relay in his dialogues and that’s when I decided to get help from someone that knew more than I did about Plato.”

She looked at Reed, sorrow emanating from her brown eyes. “I am so sorry, Reed. I never meant for this to happen to you and Kate. I just needed more help figuring out what Plato was trying to communicate.” She fiddled with a napkin in her hands. “I really thought that I was working towards a better world, a world of peace promised by the general. And though he did say to achieve that peace some wars would need to be fought, he promised a better life to all so that families would not have to lose loved ones through senseless suicide bombings.”

She paused, a tear flowing down her cheek.

Reed recalled what she had said at the Temple Mount when confronting Irshad. He softened and said as tactfully as he could, “I’m sorry about your father. I didn’t know.”

Surprisingly, the sadness in her eyes disappeared as if she were hiding a joyous secret. He didn’t press the issue due to the sensitivity of the subject and his desire to discuss the more pressing concern – rescuing his wife. If she were still alive. He cringed at the thought. Panic swelled anew within him.

Reed finally relented and asked Danielle what he had been wondering for so long. “How did you get access to my office to make the phone call the agents interrogated me about?”

Her countenance fell, a somber look passing across her face. “I had Charlotte let me in when we were working late one night. I told her that I was subbing for you and needed your notes for a lecture the following day.”

Reed figured it had been either the department’s lead secretary, Charlotte, or Mark, the department head. They were the most logical choices that had access to his Princeton office. His thoughts returned to rescuing his wife. He arrived at a conclusion, slapping his hand on the table, startling his companions.

“I need to go to al-Ahad’s camp and get her.”

David shook his head. “I want to get her back too, Reed, but that is a suicide mission if I ever heard one.”

“Maybe so, but with Demas gone the general won’t expect me to walk right into his lair.”

“I’m not so sure Demas is gone,” David interjected.

“I don’t want to live without her and if I don’t do something, Kate will die. I need to…wait…what?” His fellow professor’s words startled him as he registered what his colleague had said.

David took a deep breath. “There is a possibility that Demas isn’t dead.”

He relayed his experience observing the base of the Temple Mount wall when climbing the Mount of Olives. He saw no evidence of a body, only the pipe on the ground.

Reed mulled this over for a few moments. “No one could survive that fall.” He shook his head, pressing forward with his plan. “If he is alive, then that is all the more reason to rescue her. I’m going in to get my wife.”

“Reed, be sensible. I know we need to rescue her but this plan of action isn’t realistic. We need—”

“I’m not going to just sit around and do nothing. I doubt she has much time. Who knows what is happening to her right now.” Reed choked on the last words.

“I know but—”

“I’ll go,” Danielle said quietly.

Both men stopped to stare at her, dumbfounded.

“What?” Reed wasn’t sure he heard her correctly.

“I’ll go,” she said more confidently. “It’s the only way that makes sense. I look Arabic. I speak Arabic. I know the Islamic customs. I can wear female Islamic garb covering the majority of my face to make it easier for me to enter and exit the camp.” She looked at both men, her confidence growing with each sentence. “You would stick out, Reed. A Muslim army would not suspect a woman rescuer. It’s our best chance.”

He could see the reasoning was sound but he still didn’t trust her. “We are talking about my wife, Danielle. I can’t just leave this to chance…or to you. I need to do something. I need to make sure she’s safe.”

“Then lead Demas away. If he is still alive, he’s going to be hunting you like nothing else he has ever hunted.” Reed started to say something but Danielle continued, cutting him off. “No, Reed. You don’t know him. I have never been so scared of something, or someone, in my life. If you lead him away, then my chances of success greatly improve. He is relentless, cruel, and will not stop. Irshad claims that Demas is the best tracker and assassin he has ever had at his disposal. I am no match for him. Nobody is a match for him. If Demas is chasing you and General al-Azim is busy recovering from the defeated setback of his failed invasion, that will create the best opportunity for me to go in and get Kate before something can happen to her.”

“And to where, exactly, would you want me to lead Demas?”

“Maybe if he still believes that you are searching for Atlantis, the general will have him give you some cushion? That’s what he did before. He was just following us. He could have killed you at any time. And if General al-Azim believes that you’re still searching for Atlantis, his attention will be on you, hopefully telling Demas to back off, thus giving me a better chance to rescue Kate.” She pressed him, seeing that he was considering the option. “You are the foremost authority on Plato. If anyone can decipher a link with Atlantis and lost Israel, it will be you.”

“And me,” David asserted.

Reed recognized the value of having a professor of Israeli history in their search, but still thought this was hopeful thinking. If Atlantis hadn’t been discovered over the centuries, he didn’t see how he would make any difference, but still, Danielle did have the best chance of getting into the Muslim camp undetected. He and David would be obvious due to their color, Reed’s height, and David’s portliness. But he still could not let his wife’s fate be determined by someone else. He didn’t like relying on anyone else to do what he should be doing…especially Danielle. He felt helpless and questioned such a course of action.

What will Kate think if she finds out that I’m alive and that I didn’t come for her?

He needed to get back together with her to share his experience on the Temple Mount. So much had changed within him. He needed to reconcile with her and protect her.

But most of all, he just wanted to be united with her so that they could grow old together.

“I think she’s right, Reed.” David interrupted his thoughts. “If the attention is focused on us, then Danielle will have a much better chance of rescuing Kate. Besides, if we do find Atlantis, it would be a bargaining chip in exchange for Kate.”

Reed shook his head. “And just give a megalomaniac Atlantis?”

“I didn’t say that, but General al-Azim needs to think that we have a chance of finding it. To keep Kate alive, we should keep him distracted. It will give Danielle the time that she needs to rescue your wife.”

Reed knew that his colleagues were right. Danielle was by far the best option to get Kate out of Irshad’s camp alive. And if his wife wasn’t there, at least Danielle spoke the language to find out where she had been taken…or if she was even alive. He tried to confront this last reality but then quickly brushed it aside. She has to be alive. After everything that we’ve been through, she has to be alive. There was so much that he still wanted to do with her. So much of the world to see. He closed his eyes and willed her to be alive.

Please Kate, just hang on.

He opened his eyes, looking to David, then to Danielle.

He nodded. “All right, you’ll need something to tell her to let her know that we’re working together. She won’t trust you.” His brow furrowed in thought. “How will we meet up if,” he corrected his thought process, “when you get her out of there?”

Chapter 2

 After Reed and David had finished collaborating with Danielle, Reed stared at the tent flap long after she was out of sight. Gone in search of his wife. He struggled, pondering if he had made the correct choice in trusting his fellow Princeton professor to find and rescue Kate. So much depended on her ability to do so. He had left his wife’s fate in the hands of another person. The very individual that had betrayed them. Had he made the correct choice?

Danielle is right. I should be searching for Atlantis. Distracting Demas and the general will give her the best opportunity to rescue Kate. He closed his eyes, trying to convince himself that he had taken the best course of action.

David interrupted his thoughts to let him know that they should take advantage of the army’s hospitality to get cleaned up while waiting for the Israeli soldiers to retrieve their belongings from the hotel room. Immediately after his death experience, he had told David that they needed to talk. He didn’t dare do so with anyone around, especially Danielle. But now that they were alone, he struggled with how he was going to approach the subject with his friend.

“David, I’ve been wanting to talk to you about something.”

“Are you talking about when you first saw me after you and Danielle…” The Hebrew professor searched for the words, finally relenting, unable to come up with how to describe what he had witnessed, “you know.”

Reed nodded. “The soldiers hustled us away in such a rush and then interrogated us for so long. We haven’t had a chance to talk.”

The two men entered the temporary showering facilities set up for the soldiers. Others were in the structure, so they delayed their conversation until they were bathed and dressed. They kept their conversation to small talk until they could move to an isolated location without anyone overhearing. They made their way to a rocky ridge just outside of the perimeter of the Israeli camp overlooking the Dead Sea to the east.

Once secluded, David’s patience expired. “I can’t stand it any longer, Reed.” He sat, looking expectantly at his friend. “What happened to you at the Temple Mount? How did you come back to life? How did you rise in the air?”

Reed shook his head. “I honestly don’t know the answers to your last two questions.” He shifted on the rock. “But I believe they will be answered when we find Atlantis.”

David smiled. “Are you saying that you’re a believer now? That we are continuing the search?”

“Yes to both.”

David’s glee was palpable. Reed knew that his fellow professor would love nothing more than to find the lost tribes of Israel, as much, if not even more so, than his desire to discover Atlantis. His brow scrunched in thought. He pondered on what he should share and how he could get his friend to possibly believe him.

David interrupted his thoughts. “If you aren’t certain about what happened on the Temple Mount, then why did you say we needed to talk?”

Reed fidgeted as he contemplated what to say, hesitant to share his thoughts. “This going to sound a bit…unbelievable, but please hear me out.” He took a deep breath, closing his eyes as the memories returned. “I don’t know that I would believe it if I hadn’t experienced it.”

“More than floating in the air? If Atlantis has supposed advanced technology, I don’t know that we’ll see more advanced than that…or being raised from the dead,” he added solemnly.

Reed swallowed, opening his eyes. He started as if to speak, but then stopped.

“What is it, Reed? Seriously, you can tell me anything. After what I witnessed, I don’t believe that you could surprise me with anything else.”

Reed took a deep breath, then exhaled. “Well, I…um…I had a conversation with someone when I was…you know.”

“A conversation?” David blinked a couple of times. “You mean while you were gone?”

Reed got a faraway look in his eyes. “I know it sounds crazy but it felt so much more than just a dream.” He focused back on his friend. “I mean can one really dream when one is dead?”

David had no idea how to respond to such a question. He waited for his colleague to collect his thoughts and elaborate.

Reed cleared his throat. “I think I know where we need to go next.” He raised his eyebrows. “That is if you still want to go with me.”

David let out a huff of breath. “Of course I want to go with you.”

A doubtful look appeared on Reed’s face wondering if his colleague might believe him to be disillusioned. David’s countenance softened, responding in a soft tone to convince his newfound friend of his sincerity.

“This has been the greatest adventure that has ever happened to me.” Reed made a face and started to object, but David continued before his fellow professor could refute him. “No really, Reed. I know we’ve been attacked on multiple occasions.” He pointed to his wounds. “Beaten to unconsciousness. Betrayed.” His voice lowered. “Your wife kidnapped.”

Reed bristled.

David rushed to get his words and feelings to the forefront. “But this is for a greater good. For once, I feel like I’m making a difference in the world, as if I have real purpose in my life. The reason why I am living. We are on the verge of one of the greatest discoveries in the history of the world. I was born for this very adventure that we have undertaken.”

Reed continued to test his colleague’s resolve, finding it difficult to believe that David might actually believe him. “We don’t even know if all of this is a hoax. Atlantis might not really exist.”

A smirk crossed David’s face. “I thought that you were a believer. Are you telling me that you’re having second thoughts?” He shook his head. “I don’t believe that.” He studied his friend, confused by this line of questioning. “What is really happening here? What is it that you are hesitant to tell me?”

Reed smiled in response. “If you would have told me a week ago that Atlantis actually existed, I would have claimed that you didn’t have all of your dogs barking.”

A bewildered look appeared as David tried to comprehend the idiom.

“I would have called you crazy,” Reed clarified.

David smiled and nodded. “And now?”

Reed leaned forward, his voice lower though nobody else was around. “That’s what I want to discuss with you. I believe now that Atlantis really does exist, and that it really is the current location of the alleged lost tribes of Israel.”

“And what has convinced you?”

Reed leaned back, contemplating on what to say next. He didn’t want his friend to think he was losing his mind, but he didn’t know how to explain it easily either.

“Not what, who. As I said, I had a conversation while I was gone.”

“With whom?”

Reed swallowed. “Plato.”

David raised his eyebrows. “As in the Plato?”

Reed nodded.

David looked out over the terrain as Reed’s words sunk in. The Hebrew professor returned his gaze with eyebrows raised and an amused look on his face.

“Well, that’s certainly not something you hear every day.”

Reed searched David’s face for any evidence of mocking or disbelief.

“Are you saying that you believe me?”

“Well, I take back what I said before. I am surprised.” David smiled and gave a shrug. “But you have never given me any reason not to believe you. You seem to be one of the most level-headed and, how do you Americans say it, down-to-earth people that I have ever met.”

Reed thought the conversation was going to be more difficult with a fellow intellectual, but then again, he wasn’t sure if David believed in the afterlife. It wasn’t a topic that came up in every day conversation. They had never taken the opportunity to discuss it. Reed realized he would actually like to know David’s view on the subject. He hadn’t believed in an afterlife until his recent experiences. He wondered how much more existed for him to still discover. He felt like a child again, just beginning to learn.

Reed shifted in his seat, keeping eye contact with his friend. “You don’t think I’m crazy?”

David shook his head. “No, of course I don’t think you’re crazy. You’re one of the sanest people I have ever been acquainted with.” He put a reassuring hand on Reed’s shoulder. “I believe that you really believe that you experienced it. Whether it was a dream or not is not as important as what the conversation contained.” A curious look appeared on David’s face. “What did he say?”

Reed took a deep breath. “He said that we have everything that we need to find Atlantis – except for one thing.”

“Which is?”

“The Antikythera Mechanism.”

David’s eyebrows lowered in thought. “I’ve never heard of it. What is it?”

Reed shrugged. “I have no idea, but Plato said to me that he separated his dialogues from the mechanism so that Atlantis could only be found with both.” Reed got a faraway look in his eyes. “It’s genius really. It would be virtually impossible to link the dialogues and the mechanism together, making it almost a given that Atlantis stays safe from the world until it was time for it to be discovered.”

David surprised Reed by abruptly standing. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go find out what it is.”

Reed exhaled a sigh of relief. He found it refreshing to finally tell someone what he had kept inside, and that David might actually believe him meant a great deal. Maybe he wasn’t going crazy, though the thought had crossed his mind. The last thing he wanted was to put his fellow professor in harm’s way, but he had also found his newfound friend’s companionship amenable and his input invaluable. The Hebrew professor’s desire to learn more of ancient Israel was as great as Reed’s desire to learn more of Plato. Reed really appreciated having David with him as he tried to solve this implausible puzzle of Atlantis into which he had been thrust.

The two professors headed back to camp to await their belongings being retrieved from the hotel.

***

Agent Roth focused on the two professors returning to the Israeli camp, satisfied that the duo would continue their search for Atlantis. The agent for the United States Department of Homeland Security knew that he would someday need to reveal how the two American professors rose in the air. In the heat of the moment, with the hoard of Muslim forces swarming the two figures, he had seconds to devise a way to protect them from the Islamic warriors and transport them safely away. He had exposed an otherwise unknown technology but it couldn’t be helped. He did what he had to do to secure the safety of the two professors.

His brow furrowed at witnessing the two figures rise. He had to admit to himself that even he was stymied as to how the two Americans returned to life. Such an occurrence hadn’t happened, at least as far as he knew, in well over a thousand years. Over the course of his life, with as much as he had experienced, it was rare when something surprised him, but this definitely was a welcomed twist. He had been perplexed when the bodies lay at the Temple Mount for days, wondering if any future success had been frustrated by the two Americans’ deaths.

He reflected back on his shock at seeing the two professors rise, as if they had been sleeping and not killed in cold blood. Agent Roth smiled as he considered the implications. Even he could be surprised from time to time.

He knew what needed to happen next. He left the Israeli camp undetected, as he had done countless times over the course of his life – invisible to all those around him. An imperceptible wraith amidst a sea of bodies. A technology necessary to accomplish the work that needed to be done.

Chapter 3

 Demas tenderly patted his swollen eye as he sat with his back against a wall of the building opposite the professors’ hotel. The streets were vacant, none of the Israeli people certain whether they could venture outside with all of the smoke and remnants of war lingering in the air.

The emptiness didn’t matter to Demas. He didn’t fear battle. He didn’t fear anything – except maybe the thought of losing his prey. He watched and waited for any sign of his nemesis, the very existence of the American professor a blight on his conscience. His pride hurt more than his eye or even his back. He had survived a long fall over the temple complex wall, the pain only a reminder of his humiliation that someone had gotten the better of him. The wretched American had caused him more trouble than all of his previous hunts combined.

His hatred of Reed Robinson consumed him.

The giant assassin now had a quest like nothing else in his hunting history. He would let nothing get in his way. He would do whatever it took to hunt this cursed man down and kill him. Kill his prey like none other he had killed before. He wasn’t even looking forward to searching the eyes of the professor as he died, something that Demas relished with every kill. His loathing took him to a higher purpose. He would learn more from the kill itself than from whatever his quarry’s eyes relinquished.

He would see the destruction of this cockroach of a man, this sorry existence of a lower form of life, of that he was certain.

He had never failed in a hunt. He had tired of the games that the general had played. Letting the professor believe that he was getting away when they were only guiding him to where they wanted him to go. But now, according to the general, Professor Carrington might not be on their side anymore. Demas had not seen the exchange between Danielle and Irshad, but he had watched the recording of the general’s interaction with the professors on the Noble Sanctuary.

How had the two professors survived being shot?

No matter, he could easily take care of the female, but she would only be a distraction compared to what he had in store for the male. He was actually relieved that his prey had not been killed, for it needed to be Demas that ended the life of the infidel that he loathed.

He patted his eye again, an ever present reminder of what the American did. The eye the professor was able to get to when the tremor shook the ground. Demas was disappointed in himself. The American shouldn’t have possessed any hope whatsoever of escaping, let alone get through the warrior’s defenses. Pure luck and circumstance was all it was on the professor’s part.

He had thought about using the man’s wife as bait. Their previous encounters made it obvious that the professor would do anything to get her back. Maybe all he had to do was lure the professor with his wife, but Demas knew he wouldn’t be able to sit around when the thrill of the hunt called to him.

He wasn’t a hunter that hid in camouflage and patiently waited. He was a predator – a predator on the prowl that never failed to make his kill.

He would not fail here.

An army vehicle approached the hotel entrance. Demas scowled as he rolled to one knee, peering through his good eye.

Observing.

Anxious to continue the hunt.

***

General Irshad bin Omar al-Azim sat in his makeshift headquarters with the weight of the current dilemma on his shoulders. The entire Arab world was counting on him to overcome the Zionists and squatters. He had faced a minor setback, but he had recovered from far worse.

He wouldn’t fail a second time.

His altercation with Demas had been unsettling. The large man’s obsession with the American professor was bordering on fanaticism. He felt control over his best warrior slipping.

He couldn’t let the same happen with his troops.

He glanced at the professor’s wife, tied to a chair sulking in despair. She had no idea what had happened at the Noble Sanctuary. As far as she knew, her husband was dead.

He had been dead, Irshad reflected on the scene. I shot the man myself.

He recalled the unnerving sight of the two bodies waking and rising. He shuddered, working to maintain control over his emotions. He couldn’t allow himself to get spooked. His troops must understand and trust that he was in control. The unexplained always frightened the ignorant. He might not understand what had transpired, but what he did comprehend is that a more advanced technology did indeed exist as Plato had claimed. But what garnered the general’s full attention was the reality of obtaining his ultimate goal – an army that couldn’t be killed. He lusted over that power. He coveted to possess it. He craved it with every ounce of his being. He would be unstoppable, like Alexander the Great before him.

No. He would be greater, and all the more revered.

He glared at the American female. She avoided any attempt to meet his gaze, wallowing in her pity. She had been such an attractive creature before, but the fire had left her eyes. No matter, he would keep her close because the general knew that he would do whatever it took to force the professor’s hand to find what he so desired.

Irshad returned his focus to the immediate task at hand. He had to regroup. He needed to unify his troops. He had to reign in Demas before he destroyed the best chance of finding the ultimate weapon…his weapon.

He called in his personal pilots, the brothers Mahmoud and Khalid.

***

Kate lifted her gaze as the two pilots left the tent. She had no more tears to shed. Hope had fled from her days ago. She was all alone with no way to be rescued. Her husband and love of over twenty years now dead. Too late for reconciliation. Too late for any possibility of growing old together. She didn’t care if she lived now. There was nothing to live for.

She raised her chin as she reflected again on her two boys attending their respective colleges.

That wasn’t true.

She took a deep breath, gathering courage deep within her. She did still have something to live for. She wouldn’t lose hope. She would remain strong for her boys. She loved them with all of her heart as only a mother could.

She would fight.

She would see her boys again.