The Secret of the Desert Stone (2 page)

Dr. Cooper looked below and saw nothing but ocean waves and a tiny, distant barge; he looked above and saw the face of Zeus coming around, then coming around again, much closer, as the pillar kept rotating and reeling him in.

As Lila stepped hurriedly along the wall, approaching the pillar even as it rumbled and rolled slowly toward her, she looked for a stone, a stick, anything large enough to jam under the pillar to wedge it to a stop.

Dr. Cooper ran out of rope. “AWWW!” He was hauled over the top of the pillar as it turned, held fast by the harness around his body and feeling like a roast pig on a spit. If only he had a knife!

Then Bill's rope ran out and the rough surface of the pillar broke his grip. With a cry of pain, he fell to the temple floor.

Out of balance! The base of the pillar began to rise, the top began to sink.

Lila hopped onto the pillar, step-step-stepping as it rotated under her feet, inching her way out from the wall and toward the base where Jay and Jeff were getting tangled in the ropes. No good. She wasn't even half Bill's weight. The pillar was still rolling and tilting toward the sea.

CHUNK!
Somebody jammed a stone under the pillar, and it stopped rolling. A man leaped from the wall to the lower end of the pillar, and it sank under his weight.

Back in balance!

“Lila!” Dr. Cooper hollered. “Bring your knife!”

The stranger, a man with blond hair, nodded to her. “Go ahead. I think we can keep it in balance now.”

She stepped carefully along the pillar, balancing herself, until she reached the wall. She could see her father, one hand clinging to Zeus's eye and his foot planted in Zeus's mouth, struggling to free himself from the harness. She looked back. The stranger was helping Jay and Jeff untangle themselves.

She stepped out on the pillar, nothing but a sheer drop to the ocean below her, and inched her way out toward her father, the knife in her trembling hand.

The stranger had his own knife and cut away the ropes that had tangled around Jay and Jeff. With his help, they climbed on top of the pillar and sat on it.

“Just like a teeter-totter,” said Jay.

But Lila was still edging toward the other end, toward her father.

“Uh . . .” Jay asked the stranger, “how much do you weigh?”

“About one-sixty,” the man replied.

Jay looked down at Bill, who was still dusting himself off after his fall. “Bill? How much do you weigh?”

“Two thirty,” Bill replied.

The stranger asked Jay, “How much does your sister weigh?”

“Enough,” was all Jay answered as their end of the pillar began to rise.

Dr. Cooper took the knife from Lila's hand as he felt the pillar pitch down toward the ocean again. “Lila! Get back! Get off the pillar!”

She spun around and tried to run back. The pillar pitched some more and she slipped. Her fingers dug into hieroglyphics and her foot came to rest on Zeus's beard as the pillar sagged and rocked and the stones in the wall started crumbling.

Jay, Jeff, and the stranger moved as far back as they could, but the pillar was beginning to slide through the wall and there was no stopping it.

“It's gonna go!” Jeff hollered.

Dr. Cooper sliced through the harness rope and got free. “Go, Lila,
go!
”

She crawled, scrambled, and made it to the wall. Now the pillar was sliding past her, bucking and scraping over the stones.

Dr. Cooper grabbed at Zeus's beard, then some hieroglyphics, then some relief carvings, climbing up the downsliding pillar and getting nowhere until he ran out of pillar to climb on. A hand reached out to grab his just as the pillar slid free of the wall and plummeted toward the seashore below. In an instant, Jay, Jeff, and the stranger yanked him to safety atop the wall.

The pillar dropped silently, as if in slow motion, growing smaller and smaller, until it dove into the sandy beach like a spear, making the ground quiver—and making Dr. Cooper wince.

It teetered there a moment then tipped like a big tree toward the ocean . . . directly toward the waiting barge as the barge crew dove for the water.

KAWHUMP!
The barge bucked, rolled, and almost capsized from the impact. A mighty wave washed up on the shore.

Lila shut her eyes. They all held their breath. They could hear the last mist from the huge splash hiss down upon the surface of the water.

And then . . . it was quiet.

“Well whaddaya know . . .” Bill muttered.

Lila ventured a peek and saw the barge rocking a little but still afloat. The pillar, with Zeus glaring up at them, was lying in the barge a little crooked and with one end hanging out, but none the worse for wear. The barge crew paddled around in the water, wide-eyed and upset, but safe.

Dr. Cooper started breathing again. His kids, his crewmen, and the stranger could only sit there on the wall, shaken, dusty, thankful to be alive, and totally amazed.

At last Dr. Cooper found his voice and said, “Well . . . we got it on the barge.”

Silence. Somber faces.

And then Bill cracked a smile. Jeff snorted a laugh through his nose. Jay burst right out laughing. Dr. Cooper allowed himself a smile, then a grin, then a laugh, shaking his head in amazement. When Lila saw her father laughing, she figured everything was okay and began to laugh too. They all started hugging and shaking hands, happy to be alive, happy with success.

“I don't believe it!” said Lila.

“God works in wondrous ways,” said Dr. Cooper.

“Boy, doesn't He!” replied the stranger, shaking Jacob Cooper's hand.

Then, looking at the man directly for the first time, Dr. Cooper recognized him. “Brent! Brent Anderson!”

Brent Anderson smiled broadly. “Hi, Jake. Working?”

“Can't you tell?”

They both laughed and then embraced like old buddies.

“What in the world are you doing here?” Dr. Cooper asked.

“I came to find you.”

“Jay! Lila! Meet an old friend of mine, Brent Anderson! He's a missionary to Africa.”

“Was,” said Brent, shaking hands with Jay and Lila. “And, hopefully, will be again.”

Dr. Cooper could hear trouble in Brent's voice.

“What's happened?”

Brent's face became grim. “Idi Nkromo and his revolution. He and his military have taken over most of the country of Togwana.”

Dr. Cooper nodded with recollection. “He's been in the news lately. A rather dangerous character, I understand.”

“Oh, he likes killing anyone who stands in his way, or questions his actions, or doubts his power— and mostly, he hates Christians. He's ordered the churches closed; he's killed and imprisoned believers. Sandy and I barely got out of the country alive.”

Bill and Jeff could sense a serious conversation coming. “Uh, Jake, we'll start stowing the gear,” said Bill.

“Thanks, guys,” Dr. Cooper replied.

The two men made their way back along the wall. Jay and Lila got up and were about to leave them alone, too, but their father said quietly, “Stick around.” They sat back down on the wall beside their father.

Dr. Cooper's voice was quiet and compassionate. “You got out all right? You and Sandy and the kids?”

“Yes, we're fine. They're back in the States now. I'm on staff with the mission board until . . .” Brent smiled wistfully.

Jacob Cooper knew his friend. “You're thinking of going back to Togwana?”

Brent nodded. “I'm not finished there, Jake. There's one last tribe of people who live across the desert who have never heard the gospel. Rumor has it they're a deadly bunch, headhunters and cannibals who would just as soon eat strangers as welcome them. But God wants me to take the gospel to those people, and I believe I will, Idi Nkromo or no Idi Nkromo. It'll happen, Jake.”

Dr. Cooper admired faith like that. “I'm sure it will.”

Now Brent looked his friend in the eye. “Good, because you just might be a part of it.”

Jacob Cooper raised one eyebrow and then exchanged a glance with his kids. “Is this going to be dangerous?”

Brent nodded. “It might be.”

“Count us in,” said Jay, which brought him a corrective look from Lila.

Dr. Cooper wanted to hear more. “How can we help?”

Brent Anderson looked over his shoulder, and they all followed his glance across the excavation. There, looking almost ghostly in long, wraparound garments and intricate, bone jewelry, stood two Africans, apparently men of high office in their country. They were both tall and powerful, with eyes that could bore holes right through you.

“Strange things are happening in Togwana, Jake, things that no one can explain, and that's why I'm here. These men were sent by the Chief Secretary of the Republic of Togwana.” Brent gave Dr. Cooper a probing look. “They came to find a spiritual man, a man close to God with wisdom to solve great mysteries. They first came to me in America, but I've brought them to you.”

As Jacob Cooper looked into the burning eyes of the two towering visitors, he had a feeling he and his kids would soon be going to Africa.

TWO

W
hen their plane finally landed in Togwana, the Coopers saw military jeeps and trucks parked near the tiny airport terminal. Soldiers were standing about in khaki uniforms and black berets, and even two weather-beaten Russian MIGs were parked under some palm trees. Obviously, a military government was in charge now—in charge of
everything.

As she looked out the airplane window, Lila couldn't help wondering aloud, “What are we walking into?”

“A brave new world under Togwana's new dictator,” answered an attractive African-American woman in her late thirties sitting in the seat directly behind them. She immediately extended her hand. “Dr. Jennifer Henderson, Stanford University.”

Dr. Cooper gripped her hand. “Uh . . . Jacob Cooper, and this is my son, Jay, and my daughter, Lila.”

“I suppose you were invited by Bernard and Walter back there?”

The Coopers shot a discreet glance toward the rear of the plane where the two somber gentlemen from Togwana were sitting. They'd given their names as Bernard and Walter.

“They wanted somebody who knows rocks,” Dr. Henderson explained, “and that's why they invited me. I'm a geologist. How about you?”

“I'm an archaeologist,” Dr. Cooper answered. He could have mentioned that he was founder of the Cooper Institute for Biblical Archaeology and specialized in ancient civilizations of the Bible, but he said no more than necessary. The Coopers couldn't be sure who this woman really was; they didn't know if she could be trusted.

“So they want at least two professional opinions regarding their little mystery,” said Dr. Henderson.

“I'll be interested to know just what the mystery is,” said Dr. Cooper. “The letter from the Chief Secretary was rather vague.”

“The Chief Secretary is supposed to be meeting us with a car—and some more information, I hope.”

Bernard and Walter helped carry their luggage and led them to a gate that passed through the airport security fence. It was there that they met a quickstepping, uniformed man with braids on his shoulder and medals on his chest. He smiled broadly and beckoned to them with fluttery little waves from both hands. “Hello! Doctors Henderson and Cooper, yes?” He offered his hand in greeting. “D. M. Mobutu, Chief Secretary of the Republic of Togwana!”

Dr. Cooper shook his hand. “Dr. Jacob Cooper, at your service. These are my children, Jay and Lila.”

He shook their hands vigorously, almost comically.

Then he came to Dr. Henderson and had a special greeting for her. “Ahhh, Dr. Henderson, I have looked forward to this moment.” With a graceful flourish, he took her hand and kissed it.

She stuck to business. “And I've looked forward to the challenge of the work we're here to do. How soon can we get started?”

Mobutu surveyed the sky. “The weather is improving. You may get your first glimpse of our little problem on the way to the presidential palace.”

Dr. Cooper was puzzled. “I'd like that. We're all eager to hear the details of your situation—”

“Come! We have a car waiting!” He called to the two escorts, “Philip! Thomas! Bring their bags!”

“Don't you mean Bernard and Walter?” Dr. Cooper hinted.

“Oh, yes,” Mobutu quickly agreed, “Bernard and Walter. Yes!”

Instead of going through the small terminal, they hurried down a narrow walk under a thick canopy of trees and out to a side street. Waiting there was a long, white limousine with tinted windows. Bernard and Walter loaded the luggage into the trunk while Mobutu opened the big passenger door.

“Air conditioned,” he said proudly.

The American guests were ready for that and got inside. Bernard and Walter, their mission completed, hurried up a trail into the jungle and were gone.

When the driver hit the accelerator and the limousine lurched away from the curb, it felt like a getaway.

Mobutu sat with them, trying to maintain his cordial smile but looking nervous. He peered out the windows as the limousine raced along the narrow road, first through green jungle then past crude farms and small, mud homesteads.

Dr. Cooper tried to get a conversation going.220; So . . . you work for President Nkromo, is that correct?”

Mobutu smiled broadly. “Oh, yes. As chief secretary, I am quite close to the president. I am his special assistant.” Then he added with emphasis, “And our new government is working very well. The president is powerful. He has brought order to our country!”

Dr. Cooper simply nodded and smiled. He could sense that Mobutu was having trouble believing his own glowing boasts.

The limousine entered the ragged, unimproved outskirts of Nkromotown, still mostly small homes, barns, and chicken coops made from mud brick, and occasionally, concrete. People and pigs, children and chickens, cattle and oxen wandered freely in the fields, thickets, and side streets.