“We found the site, the materiel, even a gold cherubim wing, looked like it was broken off the Ark.” Cassandra paused, then, wonder in her voice, “Grandfather, I hear it buzzing at me, and Ajax feels its warmth. It is real, it is amazing.”
Jason asked carefully, “Your mother? And the rest of her team?”
Cassandra’s eyes filmed with tears. “Mother’s bones aren’t here, but all the rest of the teams’ are. We couldn’t tell what killed them. It was as if they’d simply fallen down dead. We’re thinking someone poisoned them but we don’t know who.
“Sir, even though the Ark isn’t here, we have the cherubim’s wing.”
“Any clues to what happened to your mother and the Ark?”
Cassandra swiped her hand over her eyes. “Yes, Dr. Gregory dug up an old crate and inside we found a map. In Mother’s handwriting.” She held up a sheet of paper. “We hope it’s the location of the Ark, but she doesn’t say. I’ve scanned it and you should have it now.”
Jason pressed a button and the page appeared before him.
Ajax said, “As you can see, it’s a map of a mountain, not just any mountain, sir. It’s our mountain.”
“Castel Rigone?”
“Yes.”
“But it’s been excavated,” Jason said, “and searched and searched—”
Ajax said, “Then we haven’t searched hard enough. Mother left this for us to find, she knew we were the only ones who could. We pray she somehow managed to avoid being killed and got the Ark out of the Gobi and back to Italy. We are heading back home today, to Castel Rigone.”
Cassandra was shaking her head. “I’m not convinced. How could Mother have gotten the Ark back and buried without anyone’s knowledge? All we know is that the Ark was stolen from the palazzo and lost in a sandstorm in the Gobi. I have the proof—the cherubim’s wing, broken off the Ark. Grandfather, as I told you, I can feel its energy, it’s welcoming me. Do you think the letters from Pope Gregory X are accurate?”
Jason said, “Our family has operated all these years under the assumption that yes, they are, that the Polo brothers stole the Ark from the pope, his plan to present it to Genghis Khan. It would seem you’ve found the evidence to prove that. Despite the idiotic move of stealing the staff from the Topkapi, you did manage to find the cherubim’s wing.”
Ajax lurched back, fury on his face. He felt Cassandra’s hand on his arm and regained control of himself. “I wouldn’t say it’s proof. For all we know, this piece was simply broken off the Ark and buried here. Why? I don’t know. None of this makes much sense. Do you understand any of this, Grandfather?”
Jason said, “I will accept that the Ark did reside in the Gobi—for a very long time. Didn’t you find anything useful, some evidence of why the entire team died? Where your mother possibly could have gone?”
Cassandra said, “No. And we don’t understand this. As I said, if Mother somehow made it out of the Gobi alive, why didn’t she contact us? We’re her children. We could have gone to her.”
Ajax said, “It’s possible someone followed Mother, poisoned the team, but who knows? Fact is, I don’t know what to believe, Grandfather. All we know is she’s gone, the Ark is gone as well, and all her team is dead. She left us a map, and it intimates that the Ark is at Castel Rigone.”
Cassandra said, “Grandfather, remember the storm you engineered ten years ago to clear her specific site? Well, it makes no sense Mother would have wandered out of the safe zone. So maybe she’s still somewhere out here in the Gobi, with the Ark, still hiding, or captured, unable to contact us. Maybe another storm—”
Jason shook his head. “Listen, you two, there will be no more storms, not in the Gobi. We’ve done too many lately in search of her camp, we can’t run the risk of someone taking too close a look, especially considering the magnitude of the most recent event.”
Ajax said. “I know you didn’t think it necessary to go so large, but if you hadn’t, I doubt we would have discovered Mother’s site. Surely it was worth it. If we have one more we can search farther away—”
“The magnitude of this storm left over three thousand dead in Beijing, and that’s only the latest count. You never weigh the chances of success or the likely destruction and loss of life before you want to take action. I see no upside to creating another storm. And our next incursion is already in play, and it will wreck enough havoc.”
“But—”
“Cassandra, you showed me the Genesis balance sheet. To survive we need more money, and quickly, particularly after your lavish grant to that Polish archaeologist.”
Ajax said, “This is the hurricane heading for the gulf? Oil futures are down, I take it?”
Jason said, “Everything is in motion. There will be plenty of warning, so people can evacuate. You will both go to Castel Rigone as you planned.”
Ajax said, “What worries me, Grandfather, is that the Ark might not have ever made it to Italy.”
“Go back to the palazzo. Search again. And I want you to bring me the cherubim’s wing. I must see it for myself.”
Jason tapped off the hologram and sat back in his chair. Tangled visions of his beloved Helen flashed through his mind—then one final vision. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. So many more steps to take.
He thought of all his and Helen’s efforts to keep the Genesis Group’s true purpose a secret, and they’d succeeded, beyond their wildest hopes. But the twins could ruin it all—he couldn’t believe they’d actually had the wretched fake staff of Moses stolen from the Topkapi—how could he have foreseen their doing that? Even if he had foreseen it, what could he have done to stop them?