Simon Toyne - The Key

Liv realized now why Dr Anata’s tone and behaviour had been so horribly familiar. Like those detectives she had followed to unsuspecting doors, Dr Anata had been carrying the burden of death with her. Only this time it wasn’t news of some victim in the morgue, it was the prognosis for her survival.

‘How long have I got?’

‘The current phase of the moon ends tomorrow night,’ Gabriel said, his voice tight and controlled. ‘We have two days to find the ancient site of Eden or the Sacrament will die inside you, you will die with it, and God alone knows what will happen to the rest of us.’

Liv looked out through a dusty window to a uniform line of trees stretching away from the shack. Blossom drifted down from them like snow and above them, low on the horizon, she could see the partial moon, curling like a fingernail in the lightening sky.

‘You said you’d found two things,’ she said, watching it melt away, as it had in her dream, which now made a terrible kind of sense.

Dr Anata reached over and turned the laptop round so Liv could see it. ‘I found this,’ she said.

On the screen was a browser window with a picture of a cracked clay tablet.

‘This is the Imago Mundi, the oldest known map in the world, and part of the permanent collection of Babylonian artefacts in the British Museum. Imago Mundi literally means “map of the earth”, and many — myself included — believe it was inspired by the Starmap.’

Liv leaned forward and studied the photograph. A section at the top of the tablet was crammed with strange symbols and below that were two perfect circles — one inside the other — containing another symbol that Liv recognized immediately as the Tau.

‘I came to the conclusion that, if this was inspired by the Starmap, then the two would exhibit similar characteristics and principles. Maps are always designed to be uniform and stick to certain rules so that as many people as possible can interpret them. Modern maps, for example, always have north at the top, and the oceans coloured blue. And the one thing about this map that is consistent with every other from the same period is this.’ She pointed at the T in the centre of the circle.

‘It’s always right in the middle and everything else is relative to it. In the past, scholars assumed it was the Tau and must refer to Ruin, because of the city’s long associations with the symbol. But when cuneiform started to be decoded in the nineteenth century they discovered their mistake. The upright actually represents a river and the crosspiece a city, under whose walls that river flowed.’ Dr Anata pointed to a symbol carved into the right-hand side of the crosspiece. ‘Babylon. At one time it was the greatest city on earth and the centre of the civilized world. So naturally the very first map-makers placed it at the centre of everything.’

‘And you think the Starmap will do the same?’

Dr Anata nodded. ‘The route back to Eden will undoubtedly begin where all ancient journeys did, at the site where Babylon once stood.’ She pointed a silver-ringed finger at a spot on the map. ‘Al-Hillah — in the province of Babil, south central Iraq.’

Liv looked across at Gabriel, his face pinched in painful memory as he stared down at the point on the map marking the place where his father had been killed.

‘We should load up the jeep and get going,’ he said, rising from his chair. ‘The border’s a good few hours away. We don’t have much time.’

Vatican City

Clementi put the phone down and tapped his password into the secure server. He had been talking to Harzan for almost an hour, learning first hand everything they had found, and though the news had made him feel elated, he had ended the conversation feeling slightly anxious. It was more urgent than ever that the thorn in his side that had been bothering him since the explosion in the Citadel must be removed. For his grand scheme to be compromised by the inopportune investigations of a few terrorists would be tragic. Pentangeli’s words kept echoing in his head:

… throw everything you have at finding these people, before they stumble on to something that could really do some damage.

During his lengthy conversation with Harzan, a new email had arrived. Clementi opened it now, eager for more good news.

It was a field report, filed by the one remaining active agent. Clementi skimmed through it. The agent confirmed what the news footage had already shown him: the girl had got away. There was no new information as to where she had gone. In the agent’s opinion, the escape effort had been coordinated by the other survivor, Gabriel Mann, and the two of them were now on the run together.

Attached to the report were several photo files showing images of items found in the girl’s luggage; her passport, the ruined Bible, and various pages from her notebook. One of the pages contained a list of place names: Ethiopia Assyria Euphrates Al-Hillah Eden????

Clementi stared at the last three names.

They were getting close, much too close for comfort. If they managed to find the compound out in the desert then…

He paused.

Then what? Two people facing down a small, private army. He smiled. Pentangeli had it the wrong way round. Clementi didn’t need to ‘throw everything he had’ at finding these people; they were clearly already on their way to find him, or the sacred spot in the desert at least.

He reached over, picked up the phone and dialled Harzan’s number from memory. There would be no need to send out a search party — all he had to do was set a trap.

Babil Province, Western Iraq

Hyde stared out of his window at the brightening sky. He had already been up since a couple of hours before dawn, organizing the security and construction detail for the new site out in the desert. Outside he could hear the noise of trucks and other vehicles revving up ready to move out. He’d been all set to go with them, but now Dr Harzan had dropped this in his lap.

Sometimes he felt like a raw recruit, being handed all the crappy jobs no one else wanted. At least in the army there had only been one chain of command, so you knew who was above you and therefore which way the shit flowed. He remembered what the Ghost had said when he’d brokered the exchange for the relic.

These people may come here searching for something. If they come, let me know.

At the time he’d thought hell would ice over before he’d ask the Ghost for help. But with the three wise men draining his resources out in the desert, he figured he should swallow his pride and do the pragmatic thing. He would pay the man for his help, establish a power structure of master and servant. It wasn’t his money after all.

He unlocked the lower drawer of his desk, pulled out the newspaper and dialled the number written in the margin. This time the Ghost answered.

‘You have news for me?’

Hyde shook his head, already exhausted by the day. ‘Would a simple “Hello” kill you?’

The Ghost said nothing.

Hyde pinched the space between his eyes, trying to massage away his headache. ‘OK, let’s cut the small talk then. Those people you spoke about, the ones you said would be coming to search for something in the desert? They’re on their way.’

‘How old is this news?’

‘Fresh off the press, as far as I’m aware. I’ve been asked to find them quickly and you said you could help. You remember that?’

The Ghost said nothing.