December 23rd, 2004. Thai Airways flight
The plane to Bangkok was packed with British tourists leaving behind their offices and heading for the beach. They were wearing shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops and were looking forward to a well-earned holiday in Thailand. Mina was amazed to see how lightly dressed they all were. In the shopping area of Abu Dhabi, where they had a short stopover, she was reminded of the variety of dress codes co-existing at airports all around the world. The contrast between her fellow travellers and the white-robed sheiks and their entourage was quite a vision to behold. Mina watched the queues of men of all ages and from all social classes waiting for a connecting flight to Mecca and felt quite moved. Was it their fervour? Or was it their anticipation of revealed mysteries, their communal faith? She clearly remembered her father’s serene smile when he returned from the Hajj, many years before. She must have been ten years old and had kept asking her mother where daddy was, until one day he walked through the door and swept her off her feet in a long-awaited hug.
December 24th, 2004. Don Mueang, Bangkok airport
Mina was trying to get her head around the time zone difference. The duration of their trip had been twelve hours, but because of the seven hour difference between Britain and Thailand, instead of arriving at ten p.m. it was actually five in the morning on Christmas Eve.
Having retrieved their luggage, Jack returned to the waiting room to find Mina, yawning on a bench.
‘Mina, I finally managed to reach my mother at the hotel,’ he said, his broad smile showing just how relieved he was. ‘I told her we’d be with her for dinner. We’ve got a flight to Phuket around eight tonight, how about a little sightseeing in the meantime? I propose leaving our bags in a locker and going exploring.’
‘That sounds lovely!’ she answered, shaking off her drowsiness and picking up her bag.
After a hair-raising taxi ride through Bangkok’s busy streets, Mina marvelled at the strangeness of her surroundings and the beauty of the various temples along the Chao Phraya River. The driver came to a screeching halt just outside the National Museum. Jack paid the man and then turned to Mina, ‘Believe it or not, even though I’ve been to Bangkok many times, and even to this park,’ pointing at the leafy Sanamluang park opposite, ‘I’ve never once visited the National Museum.’
‘A good thing too, we’ll discover it together. I always start a visit to a new city with a museum trip.’
‘It’s as good a place to start as any,’ said Jack. ‘I usually memorise the main streets and then go for a walk.’
‘Museums make me feel more grounded. They reassure me, you know, the fact that all human beings have a sense of their own history, their own roots.’
‘Well, you sure look like a fish in water the moment you enter a museum!’
She laughed and held his hand as they walked into the museum.
The collections were distributed in different buildings, some of which Mina found to be more refined than others. The Siwamokhaphiman Hall was an impressive ceremonial building made of traditional materials. In this case, she preferred the building itself to the prehistoric collection it contained. But what really impressed them was the Phra Buddhasihing, a famous sacred image of Buddha, held in the so-called Buddhaisawan Chapel, and a huge sculpture of Ganesh.
Jack knew this god well from his previous trips to South East Asia and had much affection for the elephant-headed god. He found this sculpture of the dancing deity particularly endearing.
All in all, Mina found the museum’s collection fascinating but the descriptions, when there were any, amounted to no more than one-line legends. The city was utterly turned towards tourism. It was colourful and noisy, with gift shops, travel agencies and hotels. At every street corner, touts invited visitors and tourists to enter their establishments right off the street, whether to massage parlours or restaurants. In comparison, the national museum, at least in its presentation, felt almost like a cultural understatement. They sat at a table in the museum’s inner courtyard and ordered a cool drink. Mina was finding it difficult to adapt to the weather, and felt more at ease indoors. It wasn’t so much the temperature that bothered her but the tropical climate, humidity mingled with heat and the lack of any breeze. Her clothes stuck to her body and she wasn’t used to sweating this much. One person’s discomfort, however, is another’s pleasure as it obviously appealed to Jack from the way he was checking out her glistening cleavage.
‘It’s a strange place, Jack. I know I haven’t been here for more than a few hours, and call me callous, but I don’t feel that people here are in touch with their past.’
‘I’m not sure anyone really is, but it’s funny you should say that. Most of Thailand has embraced capitalism and Western culture to such an extent that I’ve often had the same feeling. Someone once said to me that “the gods have left Thailand.”’
‘I know they’re Buddhist, but what does it represent here?’ asked Mina.
‘What do you mean?’ asked Jack in turn.
‘As far as I understand it, Buddhism came from India, and was a monastic order. In India, lay people weren’t Buddhists. How does it work in Thailand?
‘You must have seen the beads and necklaces some men wear around their necks.’
‘Yes, I noticed that the pendant was often the same, sort of triangular in shape.’
‘It’s a small image of a monk or a saintly man,’ said Jack, ‘while Buddhism is still monastic in its general form, it has little to do with what went on in India centuries before. A large section of the population is made up of monks. Many young men go to a monastery for a few years and eventually leave to get jobs.’
‘I don’t understand,’ said Mina.
‘Well, it’s the best way for young people who can’t afford to attend proper schools to get an education, free of charge. Some enter the orders for a year or two mainly to learn English.’
‘So what’s the main religion?’
‘Well, apart from those who are Christian and Muslim, especially in the South of the country, you could say they worship their ancestors and I think that Buddhist monks sometimes officiate at weddings, but that’s a recent change. You often find them at funerals.’
‘You seem to know a lot about Thailand.’
‘I had a good friend here. He taught me a lot about the country.’
‘Had?’ Mina asked, not believing her luck as Jack unveiled another layer of his mysterious past.
‘Hon died five years ago.’
‘I’m very sorry Jack.’
‘It’s OK. It’s been a long time.’
‘How did he die?’ she asked.
‘Quite tragic really. He was a doctor in Chiang-Mai. He went to a remote village to train local nurses and was bitten by a very poisonous snake.’
‘I hope you don’t mind me asking you about this?’
‘Of course not Mina,’ he said, kissing her tenderly. ‘So, have you seen enough of the museum?’
‘Yes, sir,’ she replied, jokingly.
‘Hungry?’
‘Famished.’
‘Good,’ he replied, ‘I know just the place to go.’
Jack and Mina were sipping their double espressos after a sophisticated meal at the Oriental Hotel. The exquisite outdoor terrace restaurant overlooked the Chao Phraya River. They both gazed for a while at the boats sailing past and tried not to laugh too much at the wealthy wives of western expats sitting at nearby tables, pouting disdainfully at everyone. They walked through the older parts of the Hotel, admiring the sepia photographs of the Hotel’s rich and famous guests since Queen Victoria’s time, and then into the foyer where they left the hotel and hailed a taxi.
‘So where are we going next, Monsieur Jack?’
‘My favourite,’ he glanced at her mischievously, ‘a massage.’
‘I thought massages were kind of seedy in these parts?’ she said, somewhat taken aback.
Jack laughed, ‘They can be… but not where I’m taking you.’
‘Where are we going?’
‘Surprise,’ he said, and stopped any further questions with a kiss.
Before long, they stood in front of the Grand Palace, in Bangkok’s historic centre. Here was the beating heart of the city. Most monks lived nearby, within walking distance of this, the greatest of all the shrines and glittering temples in the City of Angels. Mina gazed with awe at the temples, or wats as the Thai called them, constructed with millions of small pieces of coloured glass and ceramic, and spectacular gilt roofs. There were many temples but the one that struck her the most was Wat Pho, or the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. It was the largest temple in the city and was famed for its gigantic gilt Buddha, which was over forty metres long. Even the statue’s feet were more than three meters in size and its soles were covered with intricate decorations in mother-of-pearl. What surprised Mina most was the sound of money tinkling as pilgrims and tourists donated coins to the priests so as to gain merit from the Buddha.
‘So where’s the spa? I thought we were going to have a massage?’ asked Mina, jokingly.
‘Ah. Women, you lose all patience from the moment you hear of a good pampering.’
‘I don’t see you complaining,’ said Mina.
‘True. Follow me.’
After a short walk through the temple complex, Jack suddenly stopped in his tracks, ‘Voila.’
Obviously a great many visitors to the Wat Pho complex came for an invigorating massage rather than for religious zeal. Jack paid out two hundred bahts for each of them and they entered the real world of Thai massage, an odd mixture of yogic postures, deep muscle massage and body pressure points which the practitioners pressed on painfully hard with flat wooden sticks. Relaxing into the massage, Mina let her thoughts roam freely and through a curious association of ideas, started thinking about time-travel. They had lost a day, travelling to Thailand, although the actual journey had not lasted much more than half that time. She had the strange sensation of being a thought away from something important that she should remember. It was just out of her grasp. Trying to chase it down would never work, so she let go of her thoughts and focussed on enjoying the massage fully.
Mina and Jack walked hand in hand on the river bank until they reached a pier, where a tiny booth offered boat tours exploring Bangkok’s backwaters. Jack bought a two-hour tour. The boat moored and Mina and Jack boarded, waiting in line behind other tourists to show their ticket. Only one traveller got on without paying his fare, a chubby monk in saffron-coloured robes. No-one seemed to mind, Mina guessed that in Thailand monks probably didn’t pay for public transport. He sat there, near the helm, his plump face looking out at the watery furrows on the boat’s flanks, as it sliced through the river. Mina was mesmerised by this overweight monk, holding his begging bowl tightly against his chest. Most monks woke up early in the morning and left their monasteries to beg for food from passers-by on the streets of Bangkok. This one had obviously been collecting money, as his begging bowl tinkled every time the boat swayed in the wash.
The riverside landscape was fascinating, with many of the houses perched on stilts. Families were going about their daily lives, far away from the bustle of the city’s tourist trade and big business skyscrapers. Stroking Mina’s hair distractedly, Jack couldn’t help thinking about the tablet and its meaning.
‘Mina?’ Jack said.
‘Yes?’ she answered, dreamily.
‘How sure are we that it will happen?’
‘Oh,’ she said, a little disappointed that Jack had not opted for a more romantic sentiment. ‘We can’t know for sure, but Daniel’s calculations have confirmed that past disasters were predicted by the authors of the tablet.’
‘So what are we really talking about?’ asked Jack, matter-of-factly.
‘I hope nothing will happen, but if something does it will probably be an earthquake.’
‘Can’t you give me a more educated guess?’
‘OK. The tablets describe events to come, as well as how to forecast them. Unfortunately the Mosul tablet was only partly preserved and the Jerusalem one… basically we don’t know how they forecasted the events, but my personal feeling…’ she broke off.
‘Yes?’
‘… The events described are incremental in magnitude and destructive power.’
‘You mean they get worse over time?’
‘Yes, they make me think of warnings.’
‘Of what?’
‘Of worse things to come.’
‘And I thought you weren’t religious.’
‘I don’t feel like joking, Jack. What time is it?’
‘Almost time to get back to the airport to catch our flight. We’re getting off at the next pier.’
Jack’s mind drifted back to his time in Iraq. He wondered how the qanat work had progressed, if the villagers had followed his notes conscientiously and been successful in channelling the water. Since the fateful day he had met Mina, he had pursued an ancient tablet in four countries and come up against Wheatley and Shobai, possibly the deadliest foes he had ever faced. ‘Some month,’ he thought to himself.
Phuket airport.
Mina watched over their luggage as Jack bought two Thai SIM cards for their mobile phones. She looked around her, welcoming the warm and windy weather. ‘A good thing Jack didn’t send his mother on a skiing holiday,’ she thought. Jack returned half an hour later.
‘Let’s get to Patong beach as soon as possible. We should make it for Christmas dinner as planned.’
As they walked out of the small airport to the taxi rank Jack noticed two men who seemed to be scrutinising the arrivals. The men’s faces lit up when an old woman appeared at the gate. They were evidently greeting their mother. ‘I’m becoming totally paranoid,’ Jack sighed inwardly.
‘Here’s a tuktuk,’ Jack said, hailing one of the strange looking motorised versions of traditional rickshaws. Their young driver greeted them, with the ubiquitous wai gesture, bringing both hands to his chest and bending his head slightly towards his hands. He then picked up their bags and stowed them behind their seats. He jump-started his engine and with a loud popping noise, the tuktuk was on the road.
‘They’re funny things aren’t they?’ Jack said, ‘Tuktuks aren’t as manoeuvrable as motorbikes, but they’re really useful in areas where traffic congestion is a problem, like Bangkok. Here it’s a bit for show, as it’s a holiday destination and in fact there’s hardly any traffic.’
Mina rolled her eyes. ‘Boys and their toys,’ she thought to herself.
‘It may be tacky, but it’s a lot of fun to feel the wind in your hair!’ she retorted.
‘I thought you’d enjoy it. Still, the journey will take roughly half an hour, just enough time to be covered from head to toe with dust. You’ll definitely want to freshen up at the hotel after it.’
‘I’m sure you will too, Jack. You seem to forget I don’t spend all my time in libraries. You don’t want to know what I look like after a three week excavation campaign.’
He smiled at her. The sun was radiant and the sea breeze cool and pleasant. He loved seeing Mina’s evident excitement at being in Thailand. This was her first trip to South East Asia and Jack promised himself he would return with her another time, just the two of them. He knew some remote and majestic islands on the other side of the peninsula that would be perfect. He could not tear his eyes away from her striking profile, as she gazed at the landscape unfolding on either side of the open-air vehicle.
Twenty minutes into their trip and the driver turned around briefly. ‘Here Hat Surin,’ he yelled over the buzz of the tuktuk, pointing to a beach on his right, ‘then we go Laem Sing, Hat Kamala and Hat Patong.’
Mina did not register any of the strange sounding names the driver had called out. She was just enjoying the ride.
Patong beach. Hotel
Jack spoke with the hotel manager who confirmed that his relatives had received his message, but that they were off on a boat tour. They would be back in an hour. The contrast between the hotel’s lobby and Patong beach’s rowdy atmosphere was stark. Mina was overwhelmed by a tourist industry brought to its paroxysm. It was as bad as the infamous Pat-Pong quarter in Bangkok: noisy mopeds, techno and pop music blaring out from all sides, billboards sprouting in every language under the sky — advertising everything from go-go girls to smoothies and Singha beer. She was glad to have escaped to the relative peace of this hotel. After a while a porter came by to pick up their luggage. She followed him out of the hotel to a row of discrete bungalows. She savoured the warmth of the air on her skin, and was looking forward to swimming in the sea, only fifty metres away from the bungalows, which were built right on the beach. They reached their bungalow, hidden from prying eyes by wild tufts of bamboo and large, overhanging palm trees. It had a large porch and a beautiful view of the seafront. As soon as the porter left the room, she undressed and walked into the bathroom. It was a large room with stone flooring and tiled walls. With great relish, she lathered her entire body with soap and stood still under the powerful flow of the shower. Then, she sat on a flat rock, still under the shower and felt so relaxed she almost fell asleep. Jack entered the bathroom, got undressed and filled two wooden buckets with warm water. He turned off Mina’s shower and told her to remain seated on the rock and close her eyes. He then poured the warm water from the buckets gently over her. He refilled the buckets and repeated this a few times.
‘Mmm. That felt so good.’
‘You’re welcome,’ he said, kissing her shoulder. ‘I’ll take a quick shower and then we can meet up with my mum and sister in the reception area.’
‘Didn’t I say you were worrying for nothing?’
Mina felt her hands shake ever so slightly when she saw Jack’s mother and sister waiting for them at the reception. She adjusted her dress again. Was it too short, too long?
‘Hi mum, Jen,’ said Jack giving them both a hug. ‘Jen, my Mum, Maureen, Mina Osman, my girlfriend.’
Jen was a plain girl in her late twenties, with mid-length straw blond hair. She was very tall and her body moved slightly awkwardly as she approached Mina. Jack’s mother, in her mid-sixties was a plump brunette with piercing blue eyes. She stood there, a little hesitantly and Mina saw straight away that they had thought Jack was coming alone. Mina could not decide whether she wanted to kiss Jack for confirming that they were a couple or punch him on the jaw for not telling his mother that she’d be coming. In the end she did neither and shook hands with Jen and Maureen.
‘I’m delighted to meet you both,’ she said.
‘Same here,’ answered Jack’s smiling mother and pulled Mina into a big hug.
Jen gave Mina a hug as well and before Jack could understand what was going on, everyone was hugging each other.
‘I’m so happy to meet you,’ Jack’s mother kept saying to Mina.
Jack couldn’t take much more of the hugging, so he disengaged himself from his tearful but smiling sister, ‘Right. Let’s go for dinner.’
‘We’ve already tried out lots of the restaurants, but there’s a real nice place with authentic Thai cuisine, close by,’ said Jack’s mother.
‘It’s really awesome,’ added Jen.
Knowing his mother, Jack could just imagine the restaurant: an ordinary joint with a congenial owner smooth-talking his mum into believing the most absurd things about ‘traditional Thai cuisine.’ But he was happily surprised by his mother’s choice of venue for their Christmas Eve dinner. It was not at all the tacky restaurant he had imagined but a small well-established restaurant, owned by a Frenchman who had married a local Thai woman. They had opened the place a few years back, offering simple and well-prepared food, using only fresh produce from the island. It was a delightful meal. Jen kept smiling at Mina and Jack, she was so happy and proud to be spending time with her brother. When Mina went to the bathroom, both women starting peppering Jack with questions.
‘One at a time, you’re not making any sense!’ said Jack.
‘How did you meet?’ asked Jen.
‘In Iraq. She was working at the university in Mosul, on leave from Columbia University in New York.’
‘They have a university out there?’ asked Jack’s mother.
‘Yeah,’ answered Jack.
‘She’s awesome,’ said Jen.
‘I like her. She seems real smart, but she’s no snob,’ said his mother.
The conversation went on and on in the same vein. Jack wondered if he could take much more of it. When Mina returned, she looked worried. Jack stood up immediately.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked.
‘I’m not sure. My phone was on silent. I’ve just realised that I have twelve missed calls from Daniel.’
‘What? You gave him your Thai number?’
‘Yes. I emailed it to him, just in case.’
‘In case of what?’ Jack replied, frustrated by Mina’s carelessness. ‘What if the Bamarts’ phone was tapped?’
‘Well, I don’t know. But Daniel’s obviously trying to reach us, isn’t he?’ she said. ‘I’m going to call him back’ she added, and walked out to the beach front to make the phone call.
‘What’s wrong with her?’ asked Jen.
‘I’m not sure. She needs to make a phone call. She’ll be back in a few minutes,’ said Jack.
Mina dialled the Bamarts’ number in Hildersham.
‘Hello?’ said Daniel.
‘Daniel, it’s Mina,’ she said.
‘Mina! Thank God! I’ve been trying to reach you guys all day,’ he yelled down the phone.
‘Can you call me back on this number?’
‘Yes of course,’ he said, and hung up.
She sat down in the sand, and tried breathing deeply through her nose, to calm herself. She jumped as the phone started ringing in her hand.
‘Daniel?’
‘Yes.’
‘What’s going on? Why have you been trying to reach us?’ asked Mina.
‘It’s a catastrophe, a disaster!’ he answered frantically.
‘What? What’s a disaster? You’re not making any sense!’
‘I made a terrible mistake in my calculations,’ he replied, lowering his voice.
‘What do you mean? Did you make a mistake when transposing the dates from the Akkadian calendar to the Gregorian or Julian calendars?’
‘Nothing like that. I misread Jack’s notes. I…’ The line went dead.
Jack stepped out the restaurant and found Mina sitting in the sand holding her head in her hands. He knelt beside her.
‘So?’ he asked.
‘The line went dead. He said he made a mistake in his calculations.’
Her phone rang suddenly.
‘Mina?’ said Daniel.
‘Yes. Daniel, Jack is next to me. I’m putting it on loudspeaker, so the sound won’t be that great.’
‘Hi Jack. You both need to hear this.’
‘What?’ asked Jack.
‘Well, I made a mistake. It’s most embarrassing, I calculated everything but I misread two of Jack’s figures.’
‘You do have an appalling handwriting, Jack,’ Mina said. But Jack didn’t take any notice of her. ‘What mistake, Daniel?’
‘Well, instead of the events happening in 2014…’
Mina and Jack looked at each other with growing unease.
‘Yes?’
‘… Guys, it’s going to happen now, exactly ten years earlier, in 2004. In two days time in fact.’
Jack and Mina went dead silent.
‘Mina? You still there? Jack? You need to contact the appropriate authorities right now. You both need get out of there with your family. There’s no way of knowing what’s going to happen and how safe you are in Thailand,’ Daniel said. He had obviously been thinking of nothing else since realising his mistake.
‘I understand,’ said Jack, ‘but are you sure this time?’
‘Yes, one hundred percent.’
‘The problem, Daniel,’ said Jack, ‘is that we still don’t know exactly what is about to happen, nor where exactly it will hit. That means I’m not sure who to contact.’
‘But something is going to happen; think of everything you’ve gone through, Wheatley, Shobai’s people scouting for this tablet through the ages… it must mean something! It must be for real!’
Jack felt his stomach churn. He had to spring into action. ‘OK Daniel. We won’t stick around to find out if it is or isn’t,’ he answered, ‘we’ll get back in touch once we land in the US. We’ll try to contact the appropriate authorities.’ Jack added, ‘Not that anyone will believe us.’
‘Alright. I’m really sorry about this,’ said Daniel.
‘It’s not your fault,’ answered Jack through clenched teeth, before hanging up the phone.
Jack reached for Mina, who was shaking violently. They held each other tightly, then stood up and returned to the restaurant, where Maureen and Jen were wondering what on earth was going on.
‘Mum, Jen, don’t freak out. We all need to return to the hotel right away and pack.’
‘Why, what’s happened?’ asked Jen.
‘I’ll explain everything later. Hopefully we’ll manage to get flights out tonight, or at the latest tomorrow morning. All you need to know right now, is that something catastrophic is about to happen in this region and we need to get the hell out of here.’
‘Alright Jack,’ said his mother, trusting her son instinctively.
They left the restaurant and separated near their hotel. Jack gave his mother and sister a few more instructions and left with Mina to find an internet cafe. They located one off the main street, next to a shop selling anything and everything from telephone cards to sandals. Mina realised she was still wearing winter shoes. She hadn’t even had time to buy sandals. They sat at one of the terminals and Jack starting looking for flights.
‘Who should we contact?’ asked Mina.
‘I’m not sure, Mina. We need to work that out.’
‘Why don’t you just call your “friend” in the secret service or whoever she is?’
‘I told you. I can’t do that,’ Jack replied, ‘it would start off a whole snowball effect of questions. Believe me, we’re better off staying off their radar. No, we need to figure it out ourselves.’
‘What would be the first point of call in a situation like this? Some sort of Earthquake centre, or Seismic tremors?’ asked Mina.
‘I guess, but then again, it’s supposed to happen in the Indian Ocean, so maybe we should contact NOAA.’
‘That sounds pretty biblical,’ said Mina.
‘N.O.A.A.’ said Jack, spelling out each letter, ‘not Noah! It stands for the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA.’
‘Ah, where are they based?’
‘I’m not sure. Let’s look it up online.’
Mina typed the word ‘NOAA’ and ‘Indian Ocean’ into Google. Lots of results came back, but searching some more, she found their switchboard number in Hawaii.
‘Here’s their number,’ said Mina.
‘Thanks.’
‘I’ll look for flights, while you contact them.’
Jack pulled out his phone and dialled the number in Hawaii.
‘Hi, Major Jack Hillcliff here, US Army. I’d like to speak to your director.’
‘I’m sorry, he’s unavailable right now. Can I take a message?’ said a man with an irritating nasal voice.
‘It’s an emergency, please patch me through.’
‘An emergency? About what?’
‘Listen carefully, man, I’m only going to say this once. A terrible earthquake is about to happen, in the Indian Ocean,’ said Jack.
‘Where exactly Sir?’ he answered. ‘Why do I always get all the nut jobs out there?’ he thought to himself.
‘I don’t know,’ answered Jack.
‘Well, It’s a large area and we’ve had no readings so far about anything of the kind, Sir. Where are you getting your information from?’ asked the man.
‘Who am I speaking to?’ asked Jack.
‘I’m Bob Rear, the Centre’s secretary.’
‘Right, Bob. The earthquake will occur on the 26th. The source of this information is classified top secret.’
‘Classified, hey. Two days from now? Do you think I’m stupid?’ said Bob.
‘No Bob, I don’t think you’re stupid.’
‘Everybody knows it’s impossible to get seismic readings two days ahead of an earthquake. Even if it were possible, we at NOAA would certainly know about it before anyone else, especially if it occurred in the Indian Ocean, and certainly before some dubious Major from the US army.’
‘Now you’re being unnecessarily rude,’ said Jack.
‘I’m sorry Sir, but I don’t have time for crank calls.’
‘This is not a crank call. Christ!’ said Jack, losing his calm.
‘Sir, you’ve seen too many movies! What was your major in College? Conspiracy theories and UFOs?’
Jack turned to Mina. He was fuming.
‘I’m going to kill this guy,’ he said.
‘Calm down Jack,’ said Mina, ‘what’s going on?’
‘Listen,’ Jack shouted down the phone, ‘I’m deadly serious. I need to speak to your director, right now!’
The line went dead.
‘He cut me off!’ Jack said, ‘that asshole of a pen-pusher cut me off.’ He re-dialled the number but this time no-one picked up the phone.
‘Will you try again?’
‘I don’t know. After all, we’re trying to convince scientists, their eyes glued to the most sophisticated seismic detection instruments in the world, that a three thousand year old Mesopotamian tablet has foretold a devastating earthquake in two days time. I can see why they’d think we’re crazy.’
‘I guess so,’ said Mina.
‘I’ll try again, but first we need to get flights out of here pronto!’
Same day. Mumbai, India.
Oberon Wheatley was sitting at his desk, in his brand new offices in Mumbai, reviewing recent operations on his multiscreen, state-of-the-art computers. He smiled to himself, thinking that from the moment he had outsourced his computerised weather forecasting systems to India and to a number of other emerging countries, his company shares had skyrocketed. He had thousands of experts all over the world striving towards one goal, that of updating and calculating every possible change in the weather, even in the most remote regions of the world. His client list kept growing. In some areas, even the military needed his updates. Most weather channels used his systems, indirectly of course. They had no idea how he produced his results. Using his dedicated staff, together with his massively powerful supercomputers, it was certainly not qualitative research, but number crunching beyond what one could dream of. He had brought sweatshops into the modern digital era.
His thoughts drifted as he fantasised about what he could achieve if he recovered the Mesopotamian tablet. With a proper translation and some serious thinking, he’d surely manage to decrypt its untapped knowledge. And once that happened, the sky was the limit! He’d know when natural events would take place, and where. He’d buy up entire regions. The price of land and property would quadruple after a disaster struck nearby. Complex money-spinning schemes kept unfolding before his hungry eyes. He had to get his hands on the tablet at all costs.
Wheatley’s phone rang. He checked the caller ID, and recognised his secretary’s number in New York.
‘Yes, Miss Dawson?’ said Oberon.
‘Sir, you have a call from a Mr Wilde. Should I put him through?’
‘Yes please,’ he said.
‘Mr Wheatley? Wilde here.’
‘Is this line secure?’ asked Oberon.
‘Yes, sir.’
‘What’s going on?’
‘We’re not sure, but you asked us to listen in on any unusual calls to all major weather centres. It seems that Major Hillcliff just called NOAA in Hawaii from a mobile phone in Phuket, Thailand.’
‘Jack Hillcliff?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘What was the call about?’
‘We’re not absolutely sure, as the line was very bad, but it seems he was trying to warn NOAA of a pending emergency, some earthquake, but they didn’t take him seriously and finally hung up on him.’
‘I want you to track his mobile phone immediately and find out exactly where he is staying in Phuket. Call Natasha as soon as you have results,’ said Oberon, before smashing the phone down in its cradle.
‘Damn!’. He dialled Natasha’s number.
‘Yes, sir?’
‘Prepare the jet for Phuket, Thailand. We’re leaving right away. Find us a yacht and get me the number of that Bangkok thug I did business with a few years ago.’
‘Do you mean Ong-Tha, the lunatic guy with the cut-up face?’
‘Yes. I’ll explain everything when we’re in the air. Meet me at the jet in half an hour.’
Two hours later. Phuket, Thailand.
Jack was still trying to reach NOAA, but nobody picked up anymore. He had even tried calling from a local phone box, but to no avail.
‘Any luck with booking flights?’ he asked Mina.
‘There’s nothing before tomorrow, late morning.’
‘OK, let’s take them.’
‘Why don’t we leave Phuket now and stay overnight in Bangkok?’
‘No, we’re better off staying here tonight. Let’s go back to the hotel,’ said Jack.
Mina needed a walk on the beach front. She wanted to hear the sound of the waves hitting the shore, it would help her calm down and gather her thoughts. Jack decided to accompany her and they walked for about an hour.
‘I can’t believe it’s going to happen so soon,’ she said.
‘I know exactly what you mean. Until this evening and since leaving the Bamarts actually, I’ve felt almost no pressure. We had a decade to prepare and compare our notes with all sorts of specialists, agencies, either to confirm or deny our worst fears.’
‘It just doesn’t feel real. I mean, look at this beautiful beach! How can anything change this?’
‘Don’t forget that according to your and Daniel’s assessment, the earthquake is going to occur somewhere in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Thailand may be completely safe.’
‘Then why are we getting on the first flight out of here? Who are you trying to convince, Jack?’
‘I’m not trying to convince anyone. I just don’t like taking any chances if I can help it. That’s all. Maybe nothing will happen tomorrow, maybe something will, and Thailand will be spared, but either way I’d rather hear about it from a safe distance.’
When they returned to the hotel, Jack left Mina packing her things and stepped out into the warm night air, heading for his mother’s bungalow. Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw. The glass door was smashed open, chairs were upturned and the contents of their suitcases were strewn all over the floor. He looked in the bathroom and in Jen’s room, both equally wrecked, but there was nobody to be seen. They had been kidnapped, he knew the signs only too well. Looking around he found a note near the phone. It read, ‘No police or you no see women again. We call you.’
Jack ran down the beach, back to their bungalow. Mina’s suitcase was ready, on their bed, but she wasn’t there. He felt his mind was about to explode. ‘It’s impossible,’ he thought. How could they have also taken Mina, in the few minutes he had been away? He sat on the bed, deflated and motionless for what seemed an eternity then he heard footsteps coming from the porch. He moved noiselessly to the bay window and hid behind the curtains. Someone was entering the room. Just as he was about to strike, Mina spun round to face him.
‘Jack? What the hell?’
‘You’re here, you’re alive! Oh my god!’ he said, holding her tightly in his arms.
‘Of course I am. I just needed say au revoir to the lovely beach. What’s going on?’ she asked, all her fear and anxiety returning in waves.
‘Mum and Jen have been kidnapped. While we were in town booking the flights.’
‘Kidnapped? By whom?’
‘I don’t know. Here’s the note I found.’
Mina read it quickly.
‘It’s very rudimentary English. Probably written by locals.’
‘I came to the same conclusion.’
‘But why?’
‘I don’t know. They’re American after all. Maybe their kidnappers thought they were wealthy and could fetch a nice ransom?’
‘I’m so sorry Jack. I can’t believe this is happening just as we are leaving the country!’ said Mina.
‘No. There’s probably something else going on,’ said Jack.
‘I think we should call the police,’ said Mina.
‘No way. I know this place, there’s corruption everywhere and thugs have contacts within the police departments. We’ll have to play ball and pay,’ said Jack.
‘So what do we do now?’
‘For now, we wait.’
An hour later, Jack was still standing next to the window, on the lookout for any strange visitors. Mina had been re-reading her notes on the Jerusalem tablet, and had now fallen asleep, fully clothed, on the bed. The silence in the bungalow was broken by the sound of Jack’s mobile phone beeping in his jacket. He had received a text message, he looked at it, and immediately woke Mina up.
‘Jack, what is it?’
‘Read this,’ he said, showing her his phone.
Dear Mina, I hope you have had time to rest. What a shame that we should meet again under somewhat strained circumstances. Major Hillcliff, if you want to see your family again, make sure you have a certain tablet with you and call me on +911911911911. O. W.
‘Is that a real number?’ Mina asked Jack. She was shocked by the casual tone of the message.
‘Yes. 91 is the international number for Thailand. What a sick joke, nine eleven.’
‘I could kill the smarmy bastard!’ hissed Mina.
‘I know! I wonder how they knew we were here?’
‘How did he get hold of your phone number?’
‘The phone’s the key. They must have intercepted my call to NOAA’ said Jack, ‘they figured out we were in Phuket and sent out the local mafia. We just happened to be out.’
‘And they kidnapped your mother and sister instead,’ she said.
‘Maybe. The worst part is that he wants the clay tablet we unearthed in Hildersham… but we don’t have it any longer. Shobai’s men destroyed it.’
Mina didn’t answer straight away. There was something odd about Oberon’s message.
‘I don’t think so Jack,’ she said softly.
‘What the hell do you mean?’ he snapped.
‘Please don’t lash out at me. I’m just trying to be constructive.’
‘Sorry Mina, I’m just beside myself.’
‘OK. No-one but Shobai, the Bamarts, you and I know about the Jerusalem tablet. So Oberon must be referring to the tablet he stole from me in Israel, the Mosul stone tablet.’
He looked at her quizzically.
‘You think Shobai ran off with Wheatley’s tablet?’ Jack asked her.
‘Why not? They’ve stolen everything else.’
‘And…Wheatley thinks I am the one who stole the tablet back from him? I like this.’
‘Yes. Seems logical to me.’
‘But we need to be sure he really doesn’t know about the Jerusalem tablet before I call him.’
‘We can’t be sure. We’ll just have to assume our explanation is the right one.’
‘It’s quite a gamble.’
‘We’ve got a bigger problem. We don’t have any tablets,’ Mina said.
‘But he doesn’t know that,’ Jack replied.
‘You know Jack, I might be barking up the wrong tree. Why would Oberon need the actual tablet? He must have had photographs taken of the stone one?’
‘Damn. You’re right. It doesn’t make any sense.’
‘So? What are you going to do?’
‘I’ll call him tomorrow morning, once I’ve taken care of a few things,’ said Jack.
In the middle of the night, three heavily armed men approached the bungalow’s porch with extreme caution. On their leader’s signal, they all rushed forward smashing down the front door. One of the men flipped the light switch. There was no sign of Jack or Mina. The leader lifted his hood, revealing a ravaged face, covered in scars. He dialled a number on his mobile phone.
‘Wheatley?’
‘Yes?’
‘No-one here.’
‘I see, they must have changed hotels.’
‘What do you want me to do?’
‘Nothing. Thanks for your help. My secretary will settle your expenses. It really doesn’t matter. I’m sure they’ll make contact tomorrow morning, they have no other option. Then we’ll see who’s the smartest.’