Chyna Stone Adventures: First Three Novels Read online

  “Don’t lecture me old man, and don’t lie to me either, just tell me what you know.”

  “I know that it’s just a story, Ethan. Over ten years of searching has taught me that dearly.”

  Very well,” Ethan resigned. “It’s clear that you don’t intend to tell me anything voluntarily but my friend Hans over there has a few ingenious ways of making people tell him what he wants to know and he would very much like to know where he’s taking us fishing this Friday. Hans, he’s all yours. Take him down to the warehouse and make him tell you what we need to know.”

  Hans smiled a cruel smile and said,” Come on Milos, let’s take the professor for a little drive.”

  Ethan watched them unbind him, gag him and throw a black hood over his head. Then they cuffed his hands behind his back and led him out of the apartment. Jackson sat in the living room, looking stunned.

  “Get out!” Ethan yelled at him. “Go find something useful to do. I still don’t have a map of where I’m going.”

  Jackson scurried out behind Hans and Milos, terribly frightened by Ethan’s outburst. Smiling at Jackson’s reaction, Ethan turned and went back to look out the window. He knew the professor would be tortured for the information by Hans and Milos, but he didn’t care. It wouldn’t be the first time he had taken that route to get what he wanted in this expedition. In fact, it was how he had made his start on it. Years before, when he was still a student at the Ankara University, he had attended a presentation given by a local historian/ treasure hunter named Amir bin Hassan about The Dorian Invasion.

  He remembered the lecture like it was yesterday:

  “Now, the Dorian Invasion is thought to have taken place in about 1100 B.C., and according to the ancient Greeks, it involved a group of men from the North who spoke Greek, supposedly Doria, that invaded the Peloponnese. That included all the southern islands all the way to Crete. There could have been such an invasion, in which case it might explain the loss of the Mycenaean civilization and also what we now term as the Minoan civilization, but up until now we just didn’t have the evidence. The end of those civilizations led to a Dark Age about which we know very little except from archaeology. In the mythology of ancient Greece, the Dorian Invasion was even connected with the return of the sons of Hercules (Heracles), who we know today as the Heracleidae.

  “What my aim is tonight is to show you that the Dorian Invasion was real. That the Heracleidae really did storm the seas to conquer and destroy the lives of the Mycenean and the Minoans but that it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. You see, for history to move forward, it has to repeat itself and in order to repeat itself, things must fall apart.

  “For the theory of the Dorian Invasion to be plausible there are several details that must be taken into consideration. Firstly, the Heracleidae were not returning to a former home for which they were homesick, they were sweeping down upon the Peloponnesus in war, thus inviting the English translation of the original Greek text to be that of invasion. Secondly, we must prove these are the same people in action here. However, there seems to be a historical distinction between Heracleidae and Dorians. George Grote summarized the relationship as such:

  “Herakles himself had rendered inestimable aid to the Dorian king Aegimius, when the latter was hard pressed in a contest with the Lapithae .... Herakles defeated the Lapithae and slew their king Koronus; in return for which Aegimius assigned to his deliverers one third part of his whole territory and adopted Hyllus as his son.

  “According to the great Archaic Age poet and mythographer Hesiod, there was a steady decline from the age of Gold, to Silver, Bronze, Heroic, and finally, of Iron. The Dorian migration occurred during the Heroic Age. The Greeks claimed heroes as founders for all their most important cities. Perseus, for instance, was founder of Mycenae, in the Peloponnesus; Theseus was the heroic founder of Athens. In the ancient version of events, the Dorian Invasion meant the Heracleidaes, descendants of Hercules of Heracles (and Perseus), swept southward to reclaim land rightfully theirs. They attacked all the areas and cities of the Peloponnesus, except Arcadia, and they accomplished their conquest of the area within 3 generations. But here’s my theory; historians were just guessing at what they couldn’t possibly have known. They were trying to piece together the facts from shards of old stories and the reality of the civilization they were living in hundreds of years after the fact. There was no archeological proof for them to go on at that time, not like we have today. Everything Sir Evans found at Knossos disproves Grotes theory and leaves one burning question: How did such affluent, organized civilizations such as the Minoans and the Myceneans just vanish overnight? Throughout history, we have discovered civilizations that seemed to vanish from existence. What has been the number one cause of these phenomena? It’s been war! The Maya, the Harrapan, Angkor, the Tainos; it’s always been the same. Someone came in and annihilated them. The war that destroyed ancient Greek civilizations the first time around was the Dorian Invasion.

  “The war on the mainland was nothing to write home about. The Peloponnesians were simple, farmer type people who lived a simple existence and the cities where the military forces were concentrated were few and far between. Possibly only Athens gave the invading Dorians a hard time. Their real challenges were the island states, starting with warlike Sparta and then followed by distant Crete. I’m only going to talk about Crete because it was over Crete that the most well know battle of the invasion was fought and where the Dorians had to employ the most cunning in order to conquer. The Battle of Heraklion.

  “I’ll take some questions before I continue.”

  Ethan had made sure to be the first to speak to bin Hassan.

  “Mr. Hassan, you made mention that history has to repeat itself so therefore things must fall apart.”

  “Yes, it’s true.”

  “So, would you agree that part of proving that the Battle of Heraklion actually did happen, even though there’s hardly a thing about it in history books anywhere, is that the repeat of it can be found in the Battle of Salamis?”

  “Oh, young man. What’s your name?”

  “Ethan sir, Ethan Doyle.”

  “Well Ethan Doyle, you are quite astute in your Greek history. That’s really quite a remarkable question. I would say that if we were to conclude that all history repeats itself then what we would be looking at here are two practically parallel events. They occur in two very different phases of Greek history and some one thousand years apart but we have one set of Greeks attacking another and completely wiping civilizations off the face of the Earth, we have the war’s pivotal battle being at sea and we have a woman who commanded the offending fleet, both were named Artemesia. Here’s my question to you Ethan Doyle: do you think the presence of women both named Artemesia is a coincidence? It’s rhetorical, but think about it for a while.”

  The audience applauded. Abdul bin Hassan had them all eating out of his hands. Ethan had never been so intrigued listening to the speculations and theories of anyone before. It seemed that the guy really knew his stuff.

  “I think you all know the story of Artemesia I of Caria and how she teamed up with Xerxes, King of Persia to crush the Greek resistance. If you don’t know that you’re probably studying in the wrong field. In any case, there’s a movie coming out, go watch it!”

  The audience laughed and applauded.

  “I’m not going to tell that story. I’d like to talk about Artemesia of Doria, the traitoress. She married King Minos to infiltrate his kingdom so she could send information back to her father, King Ada. When they knew all they needed to know, Artemesia cleaned out King Minos’ treasure room, loaded up the three ships her father had given Minos as her wedding dowry and sailed out into the Aegean Sea. She didn’t get far before Minos’ pursuing ships caught up with her and they were forced to fight. Of course Artemesia’s ship crushed them but there may have been a storm or strong currents that took them North into the Mikonos archipelago. It is believed that this is where the fleet was either shipwreck
ed by reefs or sunk by storms but whichever way it went, they were never seen again. That was the battle that started the destruction of Crete and when the Minoans, fell so did the rest of Greece.”

  Ethan had felt validated by bin Hassan’s lecture, all along he had known that there was something to all the speculation about the Dorian Invasion. He even remembered it making news a few years before he went to that lecture, that a young Greek boy had found two gold coins washed up on the beach on the island of Fourni. The coin bore the griffin of Crete on one side and the head of a bull on the other. Salvagers had flocked to the area but nothing more was found there.

  It had been effortless to pick bin Hassan up after his lecture; he couldn’t resist the offer to take a ride in Ethan’s Bugatti. They cruised around Ankara for a while talking about history before deciding to stop at a popular cafe. Ethan ordered hookah for them both and Turkish coffee and when Abdul excused himself to use the restroom, he poured the vial of rohypnol into bin Hassan’s coffee. An hour later, Ethan was being helped by concerned security guards to put him into the Bugatti.

  “He just had too much to drink at the bar we went to before. I had hoped the coffee would sober him up but I guess it didn’t work. Thanks.” Ethan had said to them convincingly.

  * * *

  When Abdul bin Hassan regained his consciousness, he was seated in an empty concrete cell tied to the chair. His mouth was stuffed full of cloth and there was a blindfold over his eyes. A strange voice came over a P.A. system giving him instructions.

  “Answer all my questions truthfully. Nod your head for “yes” and shake your head for “no”. Do you understand the instructions?”

  Abdul nodded his head.

  “Do you know more about the fleet of Artemesia than you told the students at Ankara University?”

  Abdul shook his head.

  “You’re lying!” the voice said and Abdul’s body was gripped with the pain of electric shock being administered.

  He began to frantically nod his head when the current was switched off.

  “I’ll ask the question again: Do you know more than you told those students?”

  Abdul nodded.

  The interrogation went on for hours until finally the gag was removed from his mouth. The questions got more complex and whenever he didn’t answer well, he was shocked again. The longer the questioning went on, the longer the periods of electrocution got. It took them three days to get what they needed out of Abdul and when they were done they disposed of him in the desert west of Antalya.

  So no, he wasn’t a new comer to the wonders of torture, it was amazing what physical pain and the promise of it ceasing can do to a man and how it can make every value he ever held for himself melt away in the hopes of survival. The professor would be the same as all the others, he would be selling government secrets for a sip of water within the afternoon.

  Later that evening as Ethan was about to sit down to dinner, his cell phone rang. He picked it up and looked at the caller ID. It was Hans.

  “Hans,” he said, “what’s happening?”

  “Nothing much, Mr. Doyle. I just wanted to make a suggestion about the trip to you and see what you thought of it.”

  “Okay Hans, tell me. If there’s anyone I want suggestions from its you. You’re the only professional I seem to have around me.”

  “Thank you, Sir. Well, it turns out the platform we’re getting is one of the company’s sturdiest but that also makes it the slowest. It’s going to take 48 hours just to get over to Psara another 24 to get anywhere south of there. Without a map, it’s even harder to estimate the travel time.”

  “So what are you suggesting, Hans?”

  “Jackson said his guys have gotten a lead on the location of Stone and the map. Why don’t I go ahead and get the platform out to sea while you and Jackson see if his people can get the map. When you’ve got it, I’ll radio my coordinates and the chopper will bring you out to sea.”

  “Hans, it’s a really good plan, one that I think we should go ahead with whether we find the map or we get the information from Cartwright. I don’t particularly relish the idea of being stuck on that enormous sea turtle for three days to get absolutely nowhere. Its confirmed Hans, you go ahead of us on Friday and we’ll let you know as soon as we have something. I’d just say if you get as far south as Cesme before you hear from us, kill twelve hours and turn around and head back to port.”

  “Understood, Mr. Doyle.”

  Ethan didn’t hear from any of the men on his team for the rest of that night. The next morning Jackson called to report that the professor had finally cracked.

  “Hans told me it took three fingernails,” he said, ‘but Cartwright gave it all up in the end.”

  “Good, good,” Ethan replied. “What did he say?”

  “Apparently there’s another copy of the map right here in Izmir. The professor hid it in a hotel room about a year ago as a backup plan.’

  “Well, it’s our back up plan now isn’t it?” Ethan laughed. “Which hotel is it in?”

  “The Oglakcioglu Park Hotel,” he replied. “I already checked and the room its hidden in is vacant tonight. The guys and I are going in. We’ll have it to you tomorrow morning.”

  “Well done, Jackson. It seems you’re finally stepping up to the challenge.”

  * * *

  Early that morning under the cover of darkness, eleven dark figures crossed the pier at Reneseree Industries and boarded an empty stationary platform vessel called Renaissance which pulled out to sea hours before the break of dawn.

  Meanwhile, at the Oglakcioglu Park Hotel, three men overloaded the electronic lock on the door of suite 1945 and went inside, closing the door behind them. Their target was a document tube hidden in the shaft behind an air vent in the master bedroom; it contained maps of the sea to the west of Turkey and would show the location of the ships of Artemesia the Traitoress. When they entered the bedroom, the lights went on and several F.B.I. agents were aiming guns at them.

  “Freeze.” Agent Stewart said.

  Chapter Four

  Since their arrival the previous afternoon, Oscar had been keeping a close eye on the GPS location of the of the professor’s phone. He had already set his system to alert them if the signal started to move but he still watched it closely since it was becoming obvious that the battery would soon die.

  “Chyna,” Oscar said, “we need to get some eyes on Doyle’s place right away, any minute now the battery is gonna die.

  “We already got someone on the inside to set up some remotes for us,” she replied. “They could come online at any time.”

  “That’s great!”

  At that moment Anthony’s cell phone rang.

  “Okay team,” he said loudly, and everyone started to move towards where he was standing, “we’ve got activity.”

  “Send the pictures through to Miss Stone’s mobile phone, you stay on the line with me,” he said into the phone.

  Then to the room he said, “The three men entering Doyle’s building have all been confirmed to be with him in the apartment now. They’re having some sort of meeting over tea in the apartment’s living room. Oscar, there’s visual from the remotes coming through now, but no audio.”

  “That’s awesome,” Oscar cried as the pictures from six well-placed cameras popped up on his screen. He typed a few rapid commands on his keyboard and the images appeared on the 60” flat screen TV mounted on the wall. Seeing the amazed faces around him he added, “It’s all in the wireless.” Fariha giggled at his joke and he smiled back at her.

  For the next two and a half hours, Oscar watched the men in the apartment sip tea and talk. He had no idea what was really going on without being able to hear the conversation. Then Ethan stood and went over to the window and stood there looking out at the view.

  “What are you doing, Doyle?” Oscar wondered aloud.

  After a few moments, he turned away from the window and started approaching a set of closed double doors. He opened
them and suddenly Oscar saw the professor tied to a dining room chair.

  “We’ve got a visual on the professor,” he shouted.

  Everyone looked up at the huge screen on the wall. There he was, with Ethan standing over him yelling. The professor said something back to Ethan that must have made him angry because shortly after the exchange, Ethan kicked the chair over and Cartwight toppled over onto the floor. Fariha gasped and Chyna balled up her fists in anger.

  Ethan left the dining room still shouting and the tall blond Norseman they had come to know as Hans stood and approached the professor. He righted the man’s chair and let him out of the ties. Then he put a gag in his mouth, a hood over his head and handcuffed his wrists behind his back. They watched as Hans and the Ukranian called Milos, lead Professor Cartwright from the apartment. Ethan watched them leave then he turned to the American, whom they knew as Jackson. There was an outburst and then Jackson went hurrying towards the door.

  “They’re all on the move,” Chyna said to Anthony. “Is the tail in place?”

  “He sure is. One car will stay to keep an eye on Doyle,” he replied.

  Chyna nodded and swiped her code onto the screen of her phone. She opened the GPS app and started tracking the agent who was going to follow Doyle’s men and the professor. She pulled on the tactical vest that Anthony handed her, strapped her SIG to her shoulder and placed three extra clips in the vest pockets. Pulling on her leather jacket and a black baseball cap, she turned to her team.

  “I want you guys to sit tight and get ready to move out fast if we have to,” she said swiftly.

  “Aren’t you going to tell us what the plan is, Boss lady?” Lana asked.

  With a quick glance in Fariha’s direction, Chyna replied, “Everything from here on in is on a need to know basis, Lana. I’ve been forced to involve Agent Stewart and the F.B.I. in this so we’re working under their rules now.”