Free Atlantis Stolen (Sam Reilly Book 3) by Christopher Cartwright

hold all the cards. She nodded her
head in acceptance.               
    Edward then said,
“No, its best that you and I go searching for Atlantis, while Sam and Tom lead
them away. If they think you’re dead, they will go after the next best lead
they have, and that means Sam and Tom.”
    A man approached.
He had a solid build, pale skin, and brown hair cut in a short military style.
“Dr. Swan, this is Mark.”
    The man shook her
hand. “Pleased to meet you again Dr. Swan. I’m afraid the last time we might
have gotten off on the wrong foot, although it was in your best interests. May
I please welcome you to this submarine and apologize for how you came to be
aboard.”
    She took his hand
and replied, “Nice to meet you Mark. I don’t blame you for nearly getting me
killed. For that, we have Edward.”
    Billy looked at
the man’s eyes. They were an intense blue, and a pleasant enough smile. But,
although she didn’t say so, there was something about him that gave her the
creeps.
    Edward looked at
her. As though he’d read her mind, Edward said, “Mark has worked for me for the
past twenty years and is exceedingly loyal – to those who pay him well. He will
be your bodyguard.”

Chapter Sixteen
    Billie stood
warming her hands by the fire. “All right. If your grandfather buried it, why
don’t you know where it is?”
    Edward ignored
her question, as he had so many others. “Let me tell you what I know from my
sources so that you can clear up any of my confusions – and I have so many
these days.”
    He didn’t wait
for her to acknowledge her acquiescence, and instead continued. “You found a
series of pictographs on a sarcophagus inside an ancient pyramid. All of which
represented a known place of historical significance. The only one that had not
been officially discovered, was Atlantis. Then you found a looking glass, which
somehow allowed you to see the image of each of the archeological sites.”
    She nodded her
head, not wanting to give away more than she had to.
    “I’ve read your
notes, and see that you could calculate the exact distance between the location
of the pyramid and each of the sites by measuring the distance between the
center of the map and each of the pictographs. And you were able to work out
that of the 13 sites displayed on the seeing tube, or looking glass as you
called it, six were above the equator, while six were below it and the
thirteenth, or looking-glass was directly along the equator.”
    He paused long
enough for her to add anything if she felt like, which she didn’t.
    He then
continued. “What I don’t understand is how you derived a need to visit
Amsterdam?”
    “We calculated
three separate known cities which roughly matched the distance that we
calculated from the main site. These were, Amsterdam, Nice and New York.”
    “And you chose
Amsterdam first, because...”
    “The pictograph
that represented what we believe to be Atlantis, depicted a circular city, with
dozens of canals, protected via dikes. When I looked at the three cities, and
the image of Atlantis, I thought, ‘Which one most closely resembles the
original city?’ Thus, I came up with Amsterdam, which luckily happened to be
the big break.”
    “That’s very
good, Dr. Swan. A fanciful story at best. I think if I were to sit down here
with a map and calculate the exact distance from the Gulf of Mexico and those
three cities, I would most likely find three very different answers.”
    Billie felt a
warm flush of blood flow to her cheeks. He’d caught her in a lie. Even if she
had no reason to be honest with him, it made her feel guilty.
    She didn’t even
try to deny it, and Edward continued. “In Atlantis you realized that you needed
a code – Let’s call it the code to Atlantis. Without it, you have no ability to
access any further information from its inner sanctum, and nor do you have any
control over the timer that you’ve begun.”
    Billie kept her
thoughts to herself on the