AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Herb's right," said Pitt. "any bones that remained on surface ground would disintegrate in time."
Lily became very still. She gazed almost mystically at the nearby crest of Gongora Hill. "I can't begin to believe we're actually standing within a few meters of the treasures."
An icy calm seemed to settle over them for a few moments. Then Pitt finally echoed the other's thoughts.
"A lot of good men died sixteen centuries ago to preserve the knowledge of their time," he said softly, eyes staring into the past. "I think it's time we dig it free."
The next morning Admiral Sandecker was passed through the compound gate by Secret Service guards. He drove along a winding lane to the President's hideaway cottage on the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. He stopped his commercial rental car in the drive and removed his briefcase from the trunk. There was a crisp chill in the air, and he found it invigorating after the steamy temperatures along the Rio Grande.
The President, dressed in a warm sheepskin jacket, came down the steps from the porch and greeted him. "Admiral, thank you for coming. "
"I'd rather be here than in Washington."
"How was your trip?"
"Slept most of it."
"Sorry to bring you up here in a mad rush."
"I'm fully aware of the urgency."
The President put a hand on Sandecker's back and steered him up the steps toward the cottage door. "Come in and have some breakfast. Dale Nichols, Julius Schiller and Senator Pitt are already attacking the eggs and smoked ham."
"Assembled the brain trust, I see," Sandecker said with a cagey smile.
"We spent half the night discussing the political impact of your discovery."
"Little I can tell you in person that wasn't in the report I sent by courier."
"Except you neglected to include a diagram of your proposed excavation."
"I would have gotten around to it," Sandecker said, standing his ground.
The Pre
sident was not put off by Sandecker's attitude. "You can show everyone over but."
They broke off the conversation for a few moments as the President led him through the log-constructed house. They walked through a cozy living room decorated more for modern living than a hunting lodge. A small fire crackled away in a large rock fireplace. They entered the dining room, where Schiller and Nichols, dressed as fishermen, rose as one to shake hands. Senator Pitt merely waved. He wore a sweatsuit.
The Senator and the Admiral were close friends because of their closeness to Dirk. Sandecker caught a hint of warning from the elder Pitts somber expression.
There was one other man the President hadn't mentionedHarold Wismer, an old crony and adviser of the President who enjoyed enormous influence and worked outside the White House bureaucracy. Sandecker wondered why he was present.
The President pulled out a chair. "Sit down, Admiral. How do you like your eggs?"
Sandecker shook his head. "A small bowl of fruit and a glass of skim milk will do me fine."
A white-coated steward took Sandecker's order and disappeared into the kitchen.
"So that's how you keep that wiry shape," said Schiller.
"That and enough exercise to keep me in a perpetual state of sweat."
"All of us wish to congratulate you and your people on a magnificent find," Wismer began without hesitation. He stared through glasses with pink lenses. A snarled beard almost hid his lips. He was bald as a basketball; brown eyes wide to give a slight popped look. "When do you expect to move dirk?"
"Tomorrow," Sandecker answered, suspecting the rug was about to be pulled out from under him. He pulled a blowup of a geological survey map showing the topography above Roma from his briefcase. Then he followed it with a cutaway drawing of the hill indicating the planned excavation shafts. He laid them out on a free section of the table. "We intend to dig two exploratory tunnels into the main hill eighty meters below the summit. "
"The one labeled 'Gongora Hill'?"
