For the next 35 minutes, neither man said anything as they trudged across the barren ice mountain. The ice was rougher toward the interior and their pace slowed, Steve’s more than Karl’s.
“We need to pick it up, Steve.”
Steve made an effort to catch up. “Sorry. A month on the boat has got me out of shape.”
Karl glanced up at the sun. When it set, the temperature would plummet and they would likely freeze to death. The days were long here. The sun rose at 2:30 AM and set after 10 PM, but they only had a few more hours. Karl picked up his pace a little more.
Behind him, he heard Steve shuffling his snow shoes as fast as he could, trying desperately to catch up. Just before he reached Karl, Steve tripped, fell, and began rolling toward a large ravine. The ice broke under him, and he was slipping quickly into a massive crack in the ice.
For Karl, the scene was surreal, unfolding in almost slow-motion, as if he weren’t there. He felt himself unstrap his snow shoes and run toward Steve. He would never reach him — Steve was sliding away too quickly as the crevice swallowed the ice underneath him. Karl took a rope from his belt and threw the end toward Steve in a desperate attempt. To his surprise, it pulled tight, jerking Karl off his feet and slamming him belly-first into the ice, pulling him toward the edge. Karl scrambled to get his feet under him, but the pull of the rope was too much. He was going to go over. He relaxed his hands and let the rope slide through them. His forward motion slowed, and he pushed up and planted his feet in front of him. The spikes on the ends of his boots bit into the ice as he came to a halt. He squeezed the rope, and it pulled tight, making a strange vibrating sound almost like a low violin.
“Steve! Hang on! I’m going to pull you up—”
“Don’t,” Steve yelled.
“What? Are you craz—”
“There’s something down here. Lower me, slowly.”
Karl thought for a moment. “What is it?”
“Looks like a tunnel or a cave. It’s got gray metal in it. It’s blurry.”
“Ok, hold on, I’m going to let some slack out.” Karl let about 10 feet of rope out, and when he heard nothing from Steve, another ten feet.
“Stop,” Steve called.
Karl felt the rope tugging. Was Steve swinging? The rope went slack.
“I’m in,” Steve said.
“What is it?”
“Not sure.” Steve’s voice was muffled now.
Karl crawled to the edge of the ice and looked over.
Steve stuck his head out of the mouth of the cave. “I think it’s some kind of cathedral. It’s massive. There’s writing on the walls. Symbols — like nothing I’ve ever seen. I’m going to check it out.”
“Steve, don’t—”
Steve disappeared again.
A few minutes passed. Was there a slight vibration? Karl listened closely. He couldn’t hear it, but he could feel it. The ice was pulsing faster now. He stood up and took a step away from the edge. The ice behind him cracked, and then there were cracks everywhere — spreading out quickly. He took a step back and ran full speed toward the widening fissure. He jumped — and almost made it to the other side, but he came up short. His hands caught on the ice ledge, and he dangled there for a long second. The vibrations in the ice grew more violent with each passing second. Karl watched the ice around him crumble and fall, and then the shard that held him broke free, and he was plummeting down into the abyss.
On the boat, Naomi watched the sun set over the iceberg. She picked up the satellite phone and dialed the number the man had given her.
“You said to call if we found anything interesting.”
“Don’t say anything. Hold the line. We’ll have your location within two minutes. We’ll come to you.”
She set the phone on the counter, walked back to the stove, and continued stirring the pot of beans.
The man on the other end of the sat phone looked up when the GPS coordinates flashed on his screen. He copied the location and searched the satellite surveillance database for live feeds. One result.
He opened the stream, then panned the view to the center of the iceberg, where the dark spots were. He zoomed in several times and when the image came into focus, he dropped his coffee to the floor, bolted out of his office, and ran down the hall to the Director’s office. He barged in, interrupting a gray-haired man who was standing and speaking with both hands held up.
“We’ve found it.”
PART I:
JAKARTA BURNING
CHAPTER 1
Autism Research Center (ARC)
Jakarta, Indonesia
Present Day
Dr. Kate Warner awoke to an eerie feeling: there was someone in the room. She tried to open her eyes. She was so groggy. And sore. The room smelled musty… dank, almost subterranean. She was sleeping on something hard, a couch maybe; definitely not her bed in her 19th floor condo in downtown Jakarta. Where was she?