Hot Zone (34 page)

57

Having showered and had her arm attended to, Jordan joined Ice on the deck of the Kitty hawk as it powered its way towards North America. Several hours had passed since they arrived on the ship, fully rested with a full stomach, she felt like a new person.

Indeed she looked like a new person, wearing a blue navy jump suit, her hair washed and pulled back in a pony tail.

"Look at you." Ice said, taking his attention away from the black abyss beyond the ship's glare.

"Don't scrub up too bad, huh?" She said.

"Not at all. How are you feeling?"

"Like I just woke up from a dream that I can't quite remember."

Ice nodded: "I get that a lot after a mission. It's all so...surreal." And then: "I'm not sure you'll hear it from any of the guys but you were awesome down there, Jordan. A couple of times I thought you were more in charge of the situation than me."

She blushed: "What choice did I have?"

"The choice to quit or keep fighting. You never quit, you might have wanted to, but you never did. I know Doctor Montoya would have been proud of you." Ice turned to look back out into the darkness.

Jordan paused for a moment, a smile washed across her face. "He would have, wouldn't he?"

Ice thought his eyes deceived him, a by-product of the sleep deprivation. The darkness he had been staring out into turned a blinding white, for just a second, like the flash of a camera.

Jordan thought she saw it too but couldn't be sure, she turned to him. "You see that?"

"Think I did, yeah."

"Me, too." She said and embraced Ice.

In each others arms they stood on the deck, taking in the fresh salty air and the stars as a complete and utter peace washed over both of them. A mushroom cloud formed on the horizon, the final test was complete.

It was over.

58

Three weeks later, after Ghost's burial, Roo, dressed in his navy whites walked up to the small Mediterranean house just two blocks from the beach in San Diego and knocked on the door. Ghost's wife of two years opened the door, holding their six month old baby. This picture almost caused Roo to lose it right then and there. A knot formed in his throat, he wondered how he was going to go through with this.

"Good morning, mam. I was wondering if I could have a few minutes of your time."

Tears welled in the wife's eyes. "How much more time do you people want? You already took my husband."

"It's about that. I have some information about your husband's death, about how he died. Please, may I."

She was stunned, words she didn't expect, "Please, come in."

Roo disappeared into the house.

* * *

In Amsterdam, Dick Finn was sitting at his desk in his cramped office early in the morning when he received a Fedex box. He noticed the box had come from a University in New Mexico and didn't recognize the name.

Curious, he opened the box and tipped its contents of it out on the desk. Three vials of dirt and a vial of some kind of plant rolled across the desk. Then the folder slid out. Typed across the first page, it read: Mururoa Atoll. Pollution study. Source: Dr. Art Montoya

As Finn began to read through the file and the results of the tests done on the vials on his desk he couldn't stop the smile stretching across his face.

His first call was to Bob Dalton. His second to Julia Cramer.

The French never tested in the South Pacific again.

* * *

After things had settled down and Jordan had slipped back into her routine as lecturer at the University, she began learning french so should could break down the entire journal from the compound. Everyday she'd learn a new sentence that would help her understand exactly what the compound was for and what had gone wrong.

It also helped her relive the experience.

At the time it seemed like the worst situation that she could have ever found herself in. But now, looking back on it she had realized she'd learned a lot about herself down there and she had liked what she learned. She was strong, stronger than she could have ever imagined.

It was the Pima in her. She had her grandfather's warrior spirit. Now she had to do something with that spirit. She felt that it was time to put her archaeology experience into practice and get out there and explore the world.

She handed in a request for a one year sabbatical, which was approved and began studying an atlas she had bought.

Jordan Pryde was going to see the world. Not just see it, she was going to
discover
it, in a way it had never been discovered before.

And finally, she got her foot massage.

Ice Riley was on the massage table next to her.

Epilogue

On the small Greek island of Santorini, which had, at one time been called, "Kalliste" which meant "The most beautiful", a teenage boy was guiding his small boat out from Port Athinios into the sunset with a fishing pole and bucket of bait.

Rumor had it that many thousands of years ago a volcanic eruption had caused half of Santorini to slip into the ocean off the west coast. This volcanic activity spawned a thickly vegetative underwater habitat that attracted fish from the surrounding seas. Consequently the fishing off the coast of Santorini was the best in the Greek Isles.

The water was like a glass table on this evening. The sun was about to kiss the horizon when the boy brought his boat to a stop around three hundred yards off the coast. No sooner had he cast his first line he was reeling in his dinner. The fish was putting up a great fight and the boy struggled with it for several minutes before getting it close to the boat. He leaned over the edge of the boat to pull up the fish and at the last second the fish wriggled off the hook and dove deep, disappearing under the boat.

But something held the boys attention.

He saw specks of gold glittering on the ocean floor, and what looked like a rock wall trailing off further into the ocean. He grabbed his dive mask, putting down his fishing pole, took three deep breaths and dove in.

The ocean bottom where the boy had his boat was about thirty feet down, deep enough for him to get down and back on one breath. He swam down toward the gold specks.

What he saw stunned him.

It was a small pot, inside it several gold coins. He snatched a handful of them and began to float upwards.

As the boy rose he traced the direction of the rock wall that lead away, heading into deeper water, and beyond that rock wall he saw it.

A golden dome. And next to that a golden statue of a muscular man lay half buried.

The End