The Secret of the Stones (17 page)

Chapter
27

Cartersville,
Georgia

Allyson
looked skeptical, squinting her eyes slightly.

“There’s
something else you need to realize about the Mormons’ relationship to the
Indians,” Joe went on.
 
“Remember,
I mentioned they believed that Native Americans were actually the lost
tribe of Israel.”

“What
do you mean ‘lost tribe?’”
 
She was
apparently unfamiliar.

Sean
turned to her to explain.
 
“The
Church of Latter Day Saints believes that American Indians were actually a lost
tribe of Israel from Biblical times.
 
Although there are only a few vague scriptural references to such a
group, the founding fathers of the church believed this firmly.”

Joe
nodded in agreement.
 
“Joseph
Smith, the man who created the Mormon doctrine, claimed that while he was out
in the woods one day, an angel came to him and told him to dig a hole.
 
The angel said that he would find
something amazing if Smith would do as he was told.
 

“Smith
said that he eventually found two golden plates with strange inscriptions on
them.
 
On these plates, were
supposedly the lost scriptures about Christ’s ministry to the Americas.”

“So
what happened to these golden plates?”
 
She asked.

“No
one knows,” Joe replied.
 
“In fact,
Smith claimed that only he was allowed to see them.
 
Many people were suspicious of such a claim.
 
Smith had been a known charlatan.
 
But some did believe him and supported
his new ideas.
 
This was
essentially how the Church of Latter Day Saints came about.”

The
picture was becoming a little clearer.
 
Still, neither Sean nor Allyson was certain.
 

Joe
could tell they weren’t sure, so he nailed home his main point.
 
“You see, whether the Mormon beliefs
are correct or not doesn’t matter to us.
 
What matters is that they basically revered the Native Americans, almost
as if they were gods among men.
 
Some Mormons even believed that the Indians were actually angels.”

Sean
put it all together to make sure he understood.
 
“Ah.
 
So if the
people of the church helped the Indians or angels, as was believed, they would
be rewarded by God.”
 

“Correct.”
 
Joe smiled as he saw the realization on
both of their faces.

“Now,
the final piece of the puzzle is also the first piece,” he went on.
 
“You see, it all comes back to the four
golden chambers.
 
Thousands have
fought and died, searched and sacrificed, all to find the lost rooms of
Akhanan.
 
I would say that you two
are probably closer than anyone has been in two thousand years.
 
But before you can take the final step,
you have to learn why it is that the chambers exist.”

“I
thought you said they were ceremonial, used by the ancient Indians of the
land,” Sean stated.

“Nope,”
the grin never left the scruffy face.
 
“I only said that was what everyone else believes.
 
The real reason they are here goes much
deeper.”

He
turned all the way around, facing his computer.
 
“How do you think the Native Americans got to this
continent?”

The
guests waited, unsure if the question was rhetorical or not.
 
Sean decided to answer. “The mainstream
historical theory as to how the Native Americans arrived is that they came
across an ice bridge up in the Bering Sea.”
 
He felt no reason to ask any more questions since there was
a creeping feeling answers were coming soon anyway.

“Correct,”
Joe said, a mischievous look on his face.

Sean
continued, “But Tommy never believed that.
 
In fact, when he discussed it with me several years ago, I
had to agree that story did not make a whole lot of sense.”

“And
why is that?”

Allyson
leaned in closer to listen.

“Well,
it would take extremely low temperatures, even for an ice age, to cause that
amount of sea water to freeze over to the point where the those two particular
land masses could be connected.”

“Good
point.”
 
Joe took a sip from his
fresh cup of coffee.
 
“And it
hardly seems that anyone would have been living up in Siberia at that point,
much less been able to survive the temperatures in that area during an ice
age.
 
And then of course, the
crossing of an ice bridge, in itself, would have posed many dangers.
 
It is much more probable the natives that
settled in this part of the world would have arrived by a different means than
some fanciful frozen ice overpass.”

At
this point, Allyson had to speak up, “What exactly are you saying?
 
If the Indians didn’t arrive that way
then how did they do it?”

“Sean,
you want to take this one or should I?”
 
The man’s voice had somehow become, even more lively with the current
discussion.

“By
all means, you’re the expert.”
 
Wyatt motioned with this hand telling his friend to go ahead.

“First
of all, we need to ask ourselves, why would a group of people from such a far
off land come here to begin with?”
 
He waited for a second before continuing.
 
“Throughout history, there have been many reasons people
left their home countries.
 
However, persecution is one of the primary reasons.
 
Heck, the United States is here because
colonists from Europe wanted religious freedom.
 
So, they loaded up their boats and sailed west.”

“Are
you saying the Indians came here to escape religious tyranny?”
 
Allyson interrupted.

“Not
at all,” Joe stated quickly before moving on to his next point. “The other main
reason that people have left their native lands throughout history was to
establish larger kingdoms.
 
Empire
expansion was a necessity.
 
Manifest destiny has essentially been the motto for every major nation
since the dawn of time.”

“So,
were the Native Americans settlers from an empire across the sea?” she
continued the questioning.

“You
got it.
 
And it’s going to blow
your mind which empire they came from.”
 
Joe looked at Sean and then back at Allyson.
 
“The crazy thing is, our biggest clue has been sitting right
here in our back yard for nearly four thousand years.”

Turning
back to the computer he pulled up a website that apparently had information
about the history of the ancient Native Americans.
 
After entering a few words, a new page came up under the
heading of Fort Mountain.
 
“Now,
this place is fascinating.
 
Sean, I
know you have heard of it.”
 

Wyatt
nodded in agreement.

Joe
pointed to a picture on the screen of a rock fortification, “This stone wall
stretches for about 795 feet on the top of a mountain near the town of
Chatsworth, Georgia.
 
It isn’t a
wall in the sense you might think because there was no mortar used; the rocks
were just piled on top of each other.”

“Why
is it there?”
 
Allyson inquired.

“That’s
the funny thing about it.
 
It’s
like our very own Stonehenge.
 
For
decades, no one has been able to understand its purpose.
 
It isn’t a defensive wall because it’s
linear.”
 
Pointing at the computer
screen, he showed the two of them an overhead diagram of the wall stretching
like a crooked snake across the top of the mountain’s topography.
 
“No one would build a wall like that if
they wanted to defend themselves.
 
With no cliffs or precipices on the sides, the enemy could just walk
around behind it.”

“So,
it had to be used in some kind of ceremony, then,” Sean inferred.

“Well,
that is one of theories.
 
Some
historians think that the wall was used as some kind of sun worship
temple.
 
Since it stretches from
east to west, they supposed that it was built to track the movement of the
sun.
 

“Others
hypothesized that it was a sacred matrimonial place for Cherokee
newlyweds.
 
That story suggests
that the couples would go there to spend their first night of marriage
together.”
 

Stopping
to zoom in the overhead picture, he went on, “Another oddity of this site is
the two dozen pits that dot the landscape within the wall.
 
Most of the experts agree that these
exist as a result of looting or people excavating the area throughout the
centuries.”

“Let
me guess,” Sean said, “you don’t buy that.
 
Do you?”

Joe
smiled up at him from the desk.
 
“Of course not, buddy.
 
Alright, getting back to the wall, you see the outline of it on this
overhead, right here.”
 
His
rough-skinned finger traced the outline of the wall on the screen.
 
“Now, when I first saw this, the
pattern completely slipped by me.
 
I never realized what it was until I was researching something on
another website.”
 
He opened up a
separate window on the internet and typed in the web address for the British
Museum of Ancient Egypt.
 

Sean
started to ask why the man was showing them something about Egypt when it
suddenly hit him like a lead ball.
 
On the museum’s intro page an outline of the Nile River appeared.
 
His eyes grew wide at what his friend
was implying.
 
“No,” he
stammered.
 
“That’s not possible…”
his words trailed off in disbelief.

“Not
only is it possible, it’s exactly what you think it is.”

Allyson
was unfamiliar with the geography of Egypt and didn’t seem to realize at what
Joe was hinting.
 
To make certain
they both understood the implications of what they were looking at, Joe took
the topside map of the wall at Fort Mountain, and flipped it vertically.
 
Then, using an overlay transparency
tool, he moved the outline of the wall over top of the window containing the
map of the Nile.
 
It was nearly a
spot on match.
 

Abruptly,
she grasped the magnitude of what she was seeing.
 
“I don’t understand, though.
 
Why would that wall in north Georgia match a map of the Nile
River?”

Joe
looked at her with patient, brown eyes.
 
“Because Allyson... Egyptians built it.”

Chapter
28

Nevada

The
black and gold antique telephone rang loudly.
 
The old man wondered who would dare call at this hour of the
night.

Annoyed,
he rolled over and clumsily pulled the device from its cradle, ceasing its
painful noise.
 
“Hello,” he
answered in a sleepy voice.

“Sir,
things are progressing as planned.”

Instantly,
the gray head shook away the drowsiness.
 
“What is your status?”

“We
are holding for the moment, sir.”
 
There was a pause.
 
Then,
“What would you like me to do?”

After
a few thoughtful moments passed, he answered, “Wait until morning.
 
Then eliminate the problem.
 
Accidents happen all the time on
country roads.”
 
The final sentence
was layered with insinuation.

“There
are…other factors.”

No
hesitation, “They are expendable.”

“Understood.”
 
The younger voice on the other end was
direct, methodical.
 
“What
about…the other asset?”

“For
right now, simply observe.”
 
The
old man had grabbed his glasses from the nightstand and placed them on his
nose.
 
There would be no going back
to sleep for a few hours now.
 
“Make certain everything is proceeding according to plan.”

“Yes,
sir.”

“If
the other asset deviates in any way, you know what to do.”

“Of
course, sir.”

“Anything
else I need to know?”
 
It was time
to wrap up this late night conversation.

“Not
for now sir.”

“Good.”
 
With that, he placed the phone back
down.
 
With both hands, he rubbed
his eyes under the metal-framed glasses.
 
Everything was going according to plan…so far.
 
Still, he knew there were dangerous elements in play and
everything had to be properly managed.
 

He
was close now.
 
Nothing could be
taken for granted.