They soon turned off onto a smaller road, and after a mile or so turned off again onto a steep road that wound its way up a rocky hill.

  “He’s taken her to a remote location,” Thatcher said.

  The comment did nothing to soothe Riley’s nerves.

  A small wooden bridge marked the spot where the road narrowed and became a rocky track. “We’re getting close now,” Riley said.

  “What do you want me to do?” Ellis asked him. “Should we park here and go on foot?”

  Riley leaned over to point to a clump of trees. “Go another half mile and then stop over there,” he said.

  Ellis hadn’t gone quite half a mile when they saw a small hut up ahead, standing alone on the hillside. He immediately reversed the car and then pulled off the road behind a big boulder.

  Riley was out of the car in a flash, his gun drawn, sprinting up the hill with Thatcher and Ellis hard on his heels. Riley was only halfway to the hut when he saw a man jump in the car and drive away in the other direction. Riley couldn’t tell at that distance if the man was Berat.

  He sprinted to the hut door and flung it open, his heart in his mouth.

  14

  EASTERN ANATOLIA

  ONE HOUR EARLIER

  Abigail awoke in a blind panic. She fought against a wave of nausea. It took her only seconds to realize she was in a trunk.

  She hoped Riley was all right. Why had Berat gassed them all? And why had he abducted her? Was he a Vortex agent? But if so, why did he only take her?

  Abigail was somewhat claustrophobic, but the trunk was large. She felt around inside for something she could use as a weapon but was unable to find anything apart from a large sheet.

  A wave of terror overwhelmed her—was the man going to murder her and wrap her in the sheet before burying her? She fought to control her breathing as her throat constricted in fear. She tried to think logically. If he was going to kill her, surely he would have done so by now. He had abducted her. But why?

  Abigail forced herself to think it through to take her mind off her fear. The man had seemed interested in the fact that she could translate ancient Greek. Was he taking her to the scroll? Or did he have the scroll all the time? Either way, the only thing that made sense would be if he had abducted her so she could translate the scroll.

  Unless of course he was working for Vortex, although Abigail had no idea why Vortex would want to kidnap her. Surely they would already have translators in their employ.

  She braced herself a little too late as the car went over a bump. She couldn’t hear any noise apart from the roar of the car’s engine. She had no idea if they were on a city road or a country road, but she couldn’t hear any horns blasting or any trains or other loud sounds. At any rate, it would be logical for Berat to take her to an isolated location.

  Abigail’s mind went blank. It hurt simply to think. No doubt all her questions would be answered soon enough. She lay there, wishing the car would come to a stop and the man would tell her what was going on.

  It was over an hour before the car did stop. Much to her alarm, the trunk stayed shut for several minutes. Was Berat taking care of some business there and then intended to drive on further?

  Abigail didn’t know whether to be afraid or relieved when the trunk finally opened. She blinked as the sun shone directly in her eyes.

  “Now, I don’t intend to hurt you, unless you do something silly,” Berat said. “Do you understand?”

  Abigail tried to nod, but a sudden sharp pain struck her neck and traveled all down her right side. She at once clutched her shoulder. “Yes,” she said in a small voice.

  “You can scream all you like and no one will hear you,” he said, “only the bears.”

  “Bears?” Abigail repeated.

  “Yes, there are bears in these hills,” he said, “so don’t even think about trying to run away. You won’t get far, and I’m armed.”

  He pulled his jacket aside to reveal a gun.

  Abigail trembled. “What do you want with me?” she asked.

  The man looked surprised. “Isn’t it obvious? I want you to translate the copper scroll.”

  “You have it?” Abigail exclaimed.

  He didn’t respond. “Wait there and don’t move. I’ll shoot you if you try to make a run for it.” He walked over to the hut, looking back over his shoulder at Abigail as he went. Abigail hadn’t noticed the hut until then. It was a rough stone building the same color as the rocks surrounding it.

  He carried some crates out of the hut and placed them in the trunk. The word, ‘Explosives’ was written in English with Turkish words beside it.

  Why was he loading explosives into his car?

  Berat took her by the elbow and dragged her roughly over to the hut, and pushed her inside the door. He indicated she should sit on a couch that looked as uncomfortable as the one he had in his shop, only smaller.

  Abigail sat on the couch, moving her neck this way and that, trying to relieve the pain from her cramped neck.

  The man handed her a plastic bottle of water. “Like I said, I’m not going to harm you. I just want you to translate the scroll.”

  Abigail rubbed her forehead with her left hand. “I don’t understand. Who are you working for?”

  The man frowned deeply. “Working for? I’m not working for anybody. For generation after generation, my ancestors have kept the Croesus treasure safe from marauders. Now this group, or organization, or whatever they are, has killed Eymen. This is the closest anyone’s ever gotten to the copper scroll.”

  “But the men I was with are trying to keep those men from finding the copper scroll,” Abigail said.

  The man continued to frown. “I can see you believe that, but I don’t share your confidence. What government agency wouldn’t want that gold?”

  “When I translate the scroll, and you find the location to the treasure, what will you do with it?” Abigail asked him.

  “The word passed down from our ancestors to us is that the treasure is in a subterranean cavern. I need to find it so I can blow up the entrance, so no one can enter ever again.”

  “But they will simply excavate,” Abigail said.

  “I will make sure no one knows it’s there.”

  A small trickle of fear ran up Abigail’s spine. Was he saying he wasn’t going to leave any witnesses? Did that mean he was going to do away with her too? Once she translated the scroll, she would know where the treasure was.

  “What do you need to translate it?” he said. “Do you need some sort of dictionaries or something like that?”

  “Quite possibly,” Abigail said. “Still, I might be able to translate most of it.”

  The man lowered his backpack to the ground. He opened it carefully and produced a box. He opened the box to reveal another small box, and inside that was a small box carefully wrapped. The process reminded Abigail of Russian nesting dolls.

  Finally, he put on a pair of cotton gloves and opened the last box.

  He beckoned Abigail over. “The copper scroll.”

  Abigail gasped. Before her was an ancient artifact over two and a half thousand years old. It was magnificent.

  “Don’t touch it,” Berat warned her.

  “Of course not,” Abigail said. She bent over it. “It’s in good condition.”

  “We’ve been very careful with it,” Berat said. “What does it say?”

  “It’s inventory,” Abigail said. It actually was inventory. She had planned to say it was, even if it wasn’t. She had no intention of telling him the treasure’s location. Anything but that.

  “An inventory of treasure?”

  She nodded. “It says the treasure is in five different locations, but the main location is inside the Temple of Artemis.”

  That was the truth, and Abigail considered it too vague for Berat to find the treasure.

  “Go on,” he prompted her.

  “It’s a partial list of treasure. Do you want me to read the items?”

  “Not specifically,” he said, “but give me an idea. You don’t have to read the whole thing. Just get to the bit where it mentions the location.”

  “It mentions vast amounts of gold and treasure.”

  Berat clenched and unclenched his fists. “Quit stalling. Get to the location. It must be at the end.”

  Abigail pointed to where the scroll was broken. “It doesn’t give the location at the bottom,” she said. “It’s still listing the inventory there.”

  The man’s face flushed beet red. “You’re lying!”

  “I’m not,” Abigail protested. “I’m telling you the truth. You can see for yourself it’s broken and if, as you say, the location is at the end of the scroll, then you can see for yourself that the scroll is broken before it reaches the end.”

  Berat put his face close to Abigail’s. “You’re lying,” he hissed again. “I was told the scroll lists the location at the end.”

  Abigail looked at the scroll once more. “But it doesn’t. There are two words at the end which might be a clue.”

  The man appeared to have lost his temper entirely. “What are they?” he yelled, completely enraged. He reached for Abigail’s arm and twisted it behind her back, just as a shrill sound rent the air.

  He dropped Abigail like a hot potato. He put the copper scroll back in the backpack, nowhere near as carefully as he had removed it, and ran outside. Abigail hurried to the door and watched him drive away.

  Abigail had no idea what to do. It was then she realized her phone was still in her jeans pocket. She could have cried with relief. She pulled it out to call Riley when she saw a white SUV travelling up the dirt track at speed.

  Was this Riley? Or was it Vortex? She had no idea.

  Abigail was looking for somewhere to hide when the door burst open.

  It was Riley. Abigail ran over and flung her arms around his neck. He held her close, stroking her hair. “Are you hurt?”

  Abigail shook her head but didn’t let him go. “No, he wanted me to translate the copper scroll,” she said into his chest.

  From the corner of her eye, she saw Ellis and Thatcher walk into the hut.

  “Where’s Berat?” Riley asked, still stroking her hair.

  “He had an alarm. He knew you were coming. An alarm went off.”

  “He must’ve had an alarm on the posts at the bridge,” Thatcher said. “Was he alone?”

  Abigail nodded. Riley finally set her aside. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

  “Yes. He seems a bit of a fanatic, but he isn’t working for Vortex. He said his family has been guarding the treasure for generations, even though he had no idea where it was, apart from the fact it’s in an underground cavern. He has explosives with him. He’s going to find it and blow up the entrance to make sure no one ever finds it. He also said he would get rid of any witnesses.”

  Riley looked angry.

  Ellis and Thatcher had disappeared, presumably to search the vicinity.

  “I actually saw the copper scroll,” Abigail said.

  “You did?” Thatcher said as he walked back into the room. “Did you translate it?”

  Abigail nodded. “It said Croesus divided the treasure into five separate locations, but the main one was at the Temple of Artemis.”

  “At Ephesus?” Thatcher said, looking confused.

  Abigail shook her head. “No. Berat said the treasure is inside the Temple of Artemis in an underground cavern.”

  “Maybe there’s an underground cavern under the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus,” Thatcher suggested.

  “Yes, possibly,” Abigail said. “There was a Temple of Artemis at Sardis as well, and Sardis was the capital of Lydia.”

  “So let me get this right,” Riley said. “The copper scroll didn’t tell you the location of the temple?”

  “The scroll was broken at the end and it ended on two words,” Abigail said. “They must be the clue to its whereabouts.”

  15

  SELCUK

  “No Amazons.”

  “Do you have any idea what that means?” Ellis asked her.

  After Abigail remained silent for a few moments, Riley said, “It might help to think out loud.”

  Abigail nodded. “Good idea. Two words—not much to go on. The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus had a large frieze depicting the Amazons—you know, the famous mythical warrior women. And there’s a strong connection with Croesus as well. He made very generous offerings to the Oracle at Delphi as well as generous donations to the rebuilding of the temple of Artemis at Ephesus. Herodotus wrote that Croesus paid for many of the columns, so it’s not known whether he paid for the entire temple to be rebuilt as well. Archeologists did discover a column drum with the inscription ‘Dedicated by Croesus’ on it. What’s more, there are Lydian inscriptions from the time of Croesus mentioning the cult of Artemis.”

  “What remains of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus today?” Thatcher asked.

  “Not much at all, I’m sorry to say,” Abigail said. “Basically, just a huge column. There’s not much at all to see.”

  “Do you think that’s what the reference to the Amazons meant?” Thatcher asked her. “The fact that the temple was destroyed?”

  “But it wasn’t destroyed at the time of the copper scroll,” Abigail pointed out. “It would have been still standing.” She tapped her chin. “I think I know what it is!”

  She looked up to see three impatient faces. She pushed on. “Croesus was fond of helping the Greeks—he consulted the Delphic Oracle and he rebuilt the Temple of Artemis, either in whole or part.”

  “You’ve already said that,” Ellis said with barely veiled impatience.

  Abigail waved one hand at him in dismissal. “No, I’m getting to the point. The Amazons were depicted on the frieze at the temple at Ephesus because legend states they fled there when escaping from Hercules. There was also a Temple to Artemis in Sardis, Croesus’s capital.”

  Ellis interrupted her once more. “Does it depict Amazons?”

  “It’s not standing today,” Abigail said, “but I very much doubt it depicted Amazons. There was no geographical link to them as there was at Ephesus. Some ancient writers did suggest there was another Temple to Artemis, a subterranean one, in which Croesus hid most of his treasure.”

  “Sounds like looking for a needle in a haystack,” Riley said.

  Abigail shook her head and tried to quell her growing excitement. “No, that’s just it! When I was a doctoral student, I knew a scholar who started to excavate at Sardis, but he ran out of funding and couldn’t get any more. He went on to dig at Jezreel and then Dor because it was easy to get funding for those sites. He told me he had, in fact, uncovered evidence that there was a subterranean Temple to Artemis near Sardis. He published on it.”

  “What did he say?

  “He only mentioned some small finds, but he said it was located above the Pactolus River. When I was a doctoral student, I was his research assistant on the Lydian dictionary. I still have my email correspondences with him.”

  “Can you search them on your phone?” Riley asked.

  Abigail clutched her stomach. “Yes.”

  “All right, let’s go. Let’s find a café somewhere where we can eat and decide what to do next.”

  Abigail could see that neither Ellis nor Thatcher approved of such action, but they didn’t say anything. “Find one on a busy street,” Riley said to Ellis.

  Abigail pulled out her phone, but Riley shook his head. “Wait until we get there,” he said softly.

  Abigail had no idea why, but she nodded.

  As soon as they walked inside the little café, Riley said to Ellis, “Get a table. I want a quick word with Abigail.”

  Both Ellis and Thatcher hesitated but walked away.

  Riley waited until they were out of earshot. “Abigail, when you look through your emails, don’t say aloud what you find. I want you to show anything you find to me, but don’t tell the others. Also, don’t mention the professor’s name in front of them.”

  “Why?” she asked.

  Riley frowned, and at first Abigail thought he wouldn’t answer. After continuing to frown for some time, he did. “I don’t know who to trust.”

  Abigail was shocked. “You mean you don’t trust Ellis or Thatcher?”

  “I don’t trust anybody,” Riley said. “Something is just not right about this situation and it’s making me uneasy. So when you find the emails, show them only to me.”

  “What if they ask me about them?” Abigail said.

  Riley patted her shoulder, sending electric tingles running through her body. “Leave that to me.”

  His hand remained on her back as he guided her to the table.

  Abigail logged into her email on her phone and then tried to set the search for years earlier. It wasn’t as easy as she thought it would be. She was still searching when the food arrived.

  “Aren’t you going to eat?” Riley asked her.

  “I have to find it first,” she said. It took her a while to find the emails, given they were years earlier, but once she found the group of emails, it wasn’t hard to find the one she was looking for. She swiped to make the text bigger, and read the entire email.

  Professor Briggs said he had uncovered a site of tomb robbers killed by an earthquake. With them were gold figurines depicting Artemis as well as gold brooches containing seeds linked to the cult of Artemis, and this led him to believe they had robbed a nearby Temple of Artemis. He had also found a cave entrance, which he believed was a subterranean entrance to the Temple of Artemis.

  Briggs said he had discovered the cave entrance on the day he was to leave, so he didn’t pursue it any further, and of course, he didn’t return when he couldn’t get any funding. He’d asked Abigail to keep the information to herself because he didn’t want robbers to go in there and remove artifacts illegally.

  Abigail couldn’t believe her luck. She tried to mask her features as she handed the phone to Riley.

  “Found something?” Thatcher said.

  Riley answered for her. “Possibly. I’ll tell you when we’re back in the car.” He put Abigail’s phone inside his jacket pocket.