The Decrypter: Secret of the Lost Manuscript (Calla Cress Techno Thriller Series: Book 1) (26 page)

Nash’s brows knit.  “I thought you were an orphan, Cal.  Isn’t that what your whole search has involved?  Looking for information on how you came to be adopted?”

“Yes, but I've reason to believe that my real parents may have given me up for a reason
or
a mission.  Then something happened to them.”

“Do you think they’re still alive?”

“I don’t know, Nash, but this is my only lead.  They worked with this manuscript years ago.  If I locate what the Deveron is hiding, perhaps I’ll find out more about them.”

He tilted his head slightly.  “I understand.”

“I've been on a lonely journey for a long time.  There’s so much agony in not knowing who you are, or where you are from.”

Nash sympathized and decided not to pursue the matter any further.  Over the months, he’d observed Calla chase every lead that involved a hunt for her parents’ identities, to no avail. 

He wished he could relieve her anguish and obliterate it completely from her downcast face.  “I don’t like what this pursuit is doing to you.” He thought for a second. “But I believe you’ll find the answers.”

She soaked in the concern that burnt in his eyes.  Even in the intimate moment, she could not tell him what her heart knew.  Her chin trembled.  “Nash, I’m so grateful for our friendship.  Please, let’s not ruin what we have.”

Pained by her rejection, yet hopeful, Nash managed a roguish smile and kissed her on the forehead.  “I don’t want to lose you. All right, let’s see what else we can find.”

Calla picked up the manuscript and the journal.  “We need to find a bigger space.”

They cleared space on the carpet and spread out the ancient papers.  Calla focused on the delicate papyrus.  “Each of these round shapes, on the outskirts of this circle, represents a goal of some sort.  We’ve found one, the rock that Jack has.”

Nash sank to the ground beside her.  “I read about the Deveron in a classified NSA file published about twenty or so years ago.”

“What file was that?”

Nash went over to Jack’s computer.  “Let me see if I can find it.”

Calla rose and followed him. He closed the open application and logged onto a restricted government website.

“How do you have access to these CIA files?” she asked

He shot her a wink. “Many ways.”

He typed in a series of passwords.  After moving through a sequence of windows, a file-archiving site popped up.  He scrolled through numerous files until he reached the one that he was looking for.  “It says here the Deveron document was definitely at British, Secret Intelligence Service offices years ago. In 1968.  The CIA obtained the document through an MI6 source, who loaned it to them for twenty-four hours.” He smirked.  “Looks like we Americans wanted to run some tests.  Perhaps interpret it.”

“Does its show what they found?”

“Not much to help us.  A British agent repossessed it before the CIA could investigate or even make a copy.”

“Where did the document come from?”

Nash read a little further.  “Ah yes at the ISTF meeting, they mentioned that the manuscript itself was found by a certain Deveron, a person in the eighteen hundreds.  It’s not clear how.”

“So that’s why it’s called the Deveron Manuscript.”

 “CIA believed it was a map.  How they came to that conclusion is anyone’s guess.”

Calla shook her head.  “I find it ludicrous for the government to be involved in some sort of treasure hunt.”

“Aren’t they all?  This report sides with the asteroid belief.  According to this, there’re supposedly three carbonados in total.  The manuscript leads to their locations.”

“That would explain the three circles and the trinity powers on page one of the Deveron.”

“One carbonado diamond was found in 1966.”

Calla leaned towards the screen.  “Where?  Who found it?”

“It doesn’t say.  My guess is if the Deveron belonged to your parents, then they probably found it.”

“Why was research on the document never completed when it came back to Britain?”

Nash searched further down the screen.  “It doesn’t say.”  He turned from the screen.  “I’ve done some digging, and personally think it was stolen.  This is how it ended up in the Pushkin Museum in St. Petersburg.”

Calla mused over the revelations as her hand landed on her cheek.  “Allegra would have known that.”

He inhaled deeply. “We have one stone following our translation.  This is what I found.” He showed her the notes he’d scribbled the day before.

2.

Greater power has no more than this.

Courage is the source of my strength.

Here I fought like a lioness, I ate like a bull.

I danced to your praises and they ripped me apart.

Yet overall, I remained.

Though I died, I remained courageous and victorious - I was never defeated.

Calla re-read his notes quietly for several minutes.  She ran a hand through her hair.  “This next clue in the manuscript is talking of physical power, strength and maybe even influence.  The language used is stronger and more aggressive.”

“A power?” Nash asked.

Calla pointed to the circles on the manuscript.  “Yes! Look at the main line again.”

Nash obliged.

In three dominances you rule, move, and ensure your being.

Calla picked up the first page of the Deveron. “History shows us that there are three things the human race covets most: knowledge, through communication and language; power through strength and wealth through resources.  The first circle of knowledge led us to Watcher and the carbonado in Oxford.”

“Hmm…this second circle here is therefore talking about literal, physical power.  Like a powerful nation, an army—”

Calla pursed her lips.  “Allegra’s notes say that the three carbonados are a great distance from each other, possibly on different continents.  They probably can’t co-exist on the same axis, like the north and south poles of a magnet.  If the second rock is as powerful as the one we have, whoever hid them did not want them to be near each other.  We’re definitely looking for a place.”

“But seriously, Cal, this riddle could mean anything.  It could be
any
powerful nation or group throughout history or modern times.”

“Not just any group.”  She smiled.  “Have you ever been to Greece, Nash?”

He fixed his gaze on her, wondering what her sharp-witted brain had contrived.

She flipped her head back beaming.  “We better let Jack know.”

* * *

6:01 P.M.

ISTF Laboratories

Geology and Petrology Division

“Fascinating!” Jack whispered to himself.

The overhead, florescent lights flickered off for lack of movement on the floor.  He leaned over some documents.  With the laptop screen booted, Jack made some calculations.  He glimpsed behind him. 

A lone analyst sat three desks from Jack.  The man’s ears were covered with a mega-sized headphone, his head bobbing in rhythm to the loud bass of house music that could faintly be heard reverberating.  Two others worked on, rows behind him, concealed behind their screens.

Jack had hidden the rock in his leather messenger bag.  In about thirty minutes, there’d be no one about, just him and the security staff. 

On occasion, he would work late into the night. This could be one of them.

A janitor appeared on the main floor, lugging a cleaning cart behind him.  He switched on the noisy vacuum cleaner and started his cleaning shift.

Jack decided to finish up and make his way to the microscopy lab on the seventh floor.  It had been a controversial move, but strong campaigning from the geology staff had enabled the installation of a state-of-the-art lab, accessible to all ISTF staff. 

Not truly a geologist, Jack understood enough about sediment rocks and metallurgical substances to determine the materials he was dealing with.  His interest in geology had been a hobby from a young age after finding fascinating rocks on the Indian Ocean shores of his country.  He would examine Calla’s stone using the lab’s microscopes. 

Jack took a deep breath.  Perhaps he was a step closer to being all he desired, not decorated with fame or accolades, but a step ahead of criminal mind-sets and behavior. Mind-sets, he was sure ran in his family. 

He recalled how embarrassed he had been when his father was arrested one night for attempting to slice his mother’s lover’s cranium with a broken vodka bottle.  Though convicted, his father had walked free after three years in the state penitentiary, leaving a very bitter aftertaste in Jack’s mind. 

He later found out that his father had harbored pirates who frequented the Indian Ocean, terrorizing western tourists, and lived most of his life on the grimy funds they paid.  That was why Jack had been so ready to leave the islands.  And thank God, his scholarship had seen to it.  Nothing around his upbringing was customary, his parents, his house, and even the dreads he wore.  He had to achieve something phenomenal in the inventions arena if he were to tame the demons of mediocrity that tailed him.

Tonight could be important. It could be one step in the direction of being the finest technology specialist capable of designing superior systems that apprehend criminals.  That’s why he had joined ISTF when he was first head-hunted by Mason, if only to apprehend delinquents like his father.  And now that he’d spent some time with Mason, zeal was reignited.

Jack saw so much of his father’s mannerism in the man.

One by one, the night workers on the floor filtered out and the floor quieted.  Only the night watchman kept him company. 

The lights flickered again, prompted by movement sensors.  The cleaning janitor switched off his appliance and rolled it along with the cart to the next department. 

Without hesitation Jack shut off his computer, picked up his bag from underneath his desk and crossed to the end of the room.  He pulled open the door that led into a corridor and shut it behind him.

He rode the elevator to the seventh floor.  Once outside the lab, he pulled his security card from his pocket that allowed him special clearance. 

Seated at a low table, a security man leaned forward by the lab door draining a mug of warm coffee as he snacked on a meaty pretzel.  His head was buried in a popular car magazine, and as he lifted his head, he caught Jack’s approach.  “Ah, Jack!  It’s always great to have your company up here.  It can get pretty lonely.”

Jack approached his desk.  “Hey Liam, I need to sign in for a couple of hours.”

Liam set his reading down and passed him the signature tablet. “She’s all yours.”

Jack signed in.  “Is there anyone in there?”

Liam shook his head.  “Not unless they slipped past me.”

“Will you need the full power at your station?” Liam asked.

“Yes.  Thank you.”

Liam shoved open the lab door and turned on the main lights.

“I can take it from here; you don’t need to stay on.  If you need to go, I can man the machines myself.”

Liam seemed content with that prospect.  “Cheers.  Don’t forget to lock up.  I’ll be leaving in about ten minutes,” he said as he marched away, head high and chest out.

The lab was arranged around seven microscopy hubs, each constructed as hexagonal tables.  At the back, hand specimens, collected over the course of several years, had been stored for various lab exercises.  Jack had on occasion used these elements for experiments. 

He chose the station closest to the back of the room and gently set his bag on the table.  Turning to the research-grade microscope fitted with a CCD video camera, he switched on the overhead station lamp. 

Jack waited a few more moments before turning on the equipment.  He gently pulled out the carbonado.  As it came into contact with his skin, it glowed cerulean and a faint shade of magenta. 

Jack studied the eccentric stone. 
What the heck are you?

For a better glimpse, he switched off the light.  The stone continued to gleam with intensity around the room.  Jack’s eyes followed the reflections on the wall as they blazed shades of colors he’d never seen. 

He placed the stone under a microscope.  Under the viewing lens, the luminosity only intensified.  He moved on to another instrument at the table, an alpha particle, x-ray spectrometer.  Created to measure the abundance of chemical elements in rocks and soils, he placed it in contact with the rock.  As he maneuvered, a protective layer started to form around the stone - a force shield.
It’s responding to light.

 Jack purposed to use the hand lens, the lab’s impressive magnifying glass over on the workbench along the wall. A close-up view of the minerals, textures and structures in the stone, could reveal much more.  He fetched the gadget and placed the rock within its reading saddle.  The lens began to calculate.  The digital numbers on the small display at the front spun with such rapid intensity, that Jack failed to keep up with the speed.  Calculation reached apex point and came to an abrupt halt.  Had the machine possessed more capacity, it would have continued counting.  He peeped through the lens. 
Uh huh.  Just as I thought.