Free The Atlantis Revelation by Thomas Greanias

him?”
    “I don’t know,” she said, moving to his ear. “Hard to tell with most of them.”
    “What does Midas do for the Alignment?”
    “Mining and money,” she said, clearly displeased to be discussing business. “His mining operations help governments, and his futures trading firm in London evens things out in the financial markets. As per Alignment protocols, his top traders use astrological charts to hedge their bets. That’s why Midas Minerals & Mining is also called M3.”
    “And I thought M3 was my old BMW sports car.”
    “M3 is a constellation,” she said.
    Conrad perked up. “A constellation?”
    “Canes Venatici. It’s thought to represent the two dog stars of—”
    “The herdsman in the sky, Boötes,” Conrad said, unable to forget from his last run-in with the Alignment that the White House in Washington, D.C., was by design aligned to the alpha star of Boötes, Arcturus. Boötes was mythologically connected to the constellation Ursa Major—the Great Bear—from which Russia took its own identity. “I hate all this Alignment bullshit.” He hated it because it reminded him of how ignorant he was of just how deep the celestial machinations and symbols of the Alignment went, and how far back—eons and eons. It was like encountering an alien race. And Mercedes had knowingly thrown in her lot with them.
    It was all very suspicious, and he was already past the twenty minutes Andros had given him.
    Conrad gently folded his hands around hers. “Where is Midas taking the Flammenschwert ?” he asked.
    Her face was blank. “ Flammenschwert ?”
    “It was the name of a hammerhead torpedo the Nazis developed using some advanced technology. It means ‘Sword of Fire.’”
    “I know what Flammenschwert means,” she told him curtly. “My German always was better than yours. But I know nothing of any Flammenschwert. ”
    “Oh, you think Midas took his yacht out to deeper waters this morning simply for pleasure cruising?”
    “Yes,” she said, clearly irritated.
    “So you never wondered why he outfitted his superyacht with a submersible and a chopper pad?”
    “I always assumed it was for effect.” She sniffed.
    He looked into her eyes—wide open now—and felt she was telling him the truth. It made sense to him that she’d projected onto Midas some of the foibles of her past and the men who were part of it, including him.
    “Know anything about the four-digit code Midas is looking for?” he asked.
    The slits returned. “How do you know about it? Did she tell you?”
    By “she,” Conrad figured Mercedes meant Serena. “No,” he told her, letting her read his own eyes. “You think it’s for the Flammenschwert ?”
    “No,” she said, and Conrad could see the light go out of her eyes as she sat on the bed. “It’s for a safe deposit box.”
    “And Midas owns it?”
    “No,” she said. “You asked me if Midas has purchased anything lately. He owns the bank in Bern that holds the box. Gilbert et Clie.”
    Conrad wasn’t sure he understood. “So he bought the bank to get to the box? That’s one way to raid a tomb. What’s in the box?”
    “Nobody knows. It belonged to some Bavarian prince. Ludwig von Berg.”
    “Baron von Berg the Nazi?” He had to force himself to keep his eyes fixed on hers, to not let them drift to the closet where Andros had stashed the bag with the skull.
    “Yes, yes,” Mercedes said. “It’s an older type of box with a chemical lining. It has a four-digit alphabet code. One wrong letter in the combination, and the contents of the box are destroyed. There’s only one chance to open the box. And Midas needs whatever is inside within the next seven days.”
    “Seven days?” Conrad asked, realizing the world was going to be introduced to the Flammenschwert in short order.
    “Seven days,” she repeated. “Good Friday, two days before Easter.”
    “Is that significant to the Alignment?” Conrad asked. “Is there a connection?”
    “I don’t