Nothing New Under the Sun Read online

  Nothing New Under the Sun

  A Carter Devereux

  Mystery Thriller

  Book 1

  By JC Ryan

  Editor Rosamond Carter

  Copyright 2014 by J C Ryan

  This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork herein is prohibited. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. All rights reserved.

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  MYSTERIES FROM THE ANCIENTS

  THOUGHT PROVOKING UNSOLVED ARCHAEOLOGICAL MYSTERIES

  This book is exclusive to my readers. You will not find this book anywhere else.

  We spend a lot of time researching and documenting our past, yet there are still many questions left unanswered. Our ancestors left a lot of traces for us, and it seems that not all of them were ever meant to be understood. Despite our best efforts, they remain mysteries to this day.

  Inside you will find some of the most fascinating and thought-provoking facts about archaeological discoveries which still have no clear explanation.

  Read all about The Great Pyramid at Giza, The Piri Reis Map, Doomsday, Giant Geoglyphs, The Great Flood, Ancient Science and Mathematics, Human Flight, Pyramids, Fertility Stones and the Tower of Babel, Mysterious Tunnels and The Mystery of The Anasazi

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  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  PART 1

  Chapter 1A dozen white roses

  Chapter 2Freydis

  Chapter 3The next phase

  Chapter 4The True Sons of the Prophet

  Chapter 5The CEO

  Chapter 6One brief moment of time

  Chapter 7That’s mandatory

  Chapter 8Family dinner

  Chapter 9Inshallah

  Chapter 10 Approved!

  Chapter 11 Tu eres muy bonita!

  Chapter 12 There is only one happiness in life

  Chapter 13 In harmony with the universe

  Chapter 14 Dearly beloved

  Chapter 15 I guess that makes me Adam

  PART 2

  Chapter 16 City of lights

  Chapter 17 Are we still on earth

  Chapter 18 Hail unto thee Ra in thy rising

  Chapter 19 I have a theory

  Chapter 20 Instrument of divine justice

  Chapter 21 A fitting tribute

  Chapter 22 We can’t be sure

  Chapter 23 His decision was made

  Chapter 24 They had a lot to discuss

  Chapter 25 The anniversary

  Chapter 26 A pack of information

  Chapter 27 They shook hands

  Chapter 28 Give this to the Sultan

  Chapter 29 A-Echelon

  Chapter 30 I have no doubt

  Chapter 31 A time bomb was already ticking

  Chapter 32 More than anyone would care to admit

  Chapter 33 They Trusted No One

  Chapter 34 We need more information

  Chapter 35 A fun event

  Chapter 36 Little mythical golden birds

  Chapter 37 This nagging feeling

  Chapter 38 Visit those sites

  Chapter 39 Needle in a haystack

  Chapter 40 Mr. President

  Chapter 41 Not negotiable

  Chapter 42 You’ve never been to Jerusalem

  Chapter 43 Where would it all end?

  Chapter 44 Books of the Elders of Medicine

  Chapter 45 He knew they existed

  Chapter 46 What information do you have?

  Chapter 47 The Sirralnnudam

  Chapter 48 The Triangle

  Also by JC Ryan

  About JC Ryan

  This is the first book in The Carter Devereux Thriller Series.

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  Copyright 2016 by J C Ryan

  This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork herein is prohibited.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  All rights reserved.

  Your Free Gift

  As a way of saying thanks for your purchase, I’m offering you a free eBook if you join my newsletter here: JC Ryan Books

  MYSTERIES FROM THE ANCIENTS

  THOUGHT PROVOKING UNSOLVED ARCHAEOLOGICAL MYSTERIES

  This book is exclusive to my readers. You will not find this book anywhere else.

  We spend a lot of time researching and documenting our past, yet there are still many questions left unanswered. Our ancestors left a lot of traces for us, and it seems that not all of them were ever meant to be understood. Despite our best efforts, they remain mysteries to this day.

  Inside you will find some of the most fascinating and thought-provoking facts about archaeological discoveries which still have no clear explanation.

  Read all about The Great Pyramid at Giza, The Piri Reis Map, Doomsday, Giant Geoglyphs, The Great Flood, Ancient Science and Mathematics, Human Flight, Pyramids, Fertility Stones and the Tower of Babel, Mysterious Tunnels and The Mystery of The Anasazi

  Don’t miss this opportunity to get this free eBook.

  Click Here to join the mailing list and get it now.

  Prologue

  Ten miles off the Coast of Florida, USA

  Carter Devereux leaned over the rail of the barge, dallying with one of the women who operated the crane while he looked down at the diver coming up to the surface.

  A diver’s masked face broke the surface a few yards away from him. It was Ahote – he couldn’t get his mask off quick enough. “Carter!” he yelled. “What do you have for testing for gold?”

  Carter’s heart started racing. “I’ve got a few basic chemicals. What do you have?”

  “Get them over here!” Ahote yelled again, unable to contain his excitement.

  Carter spun around and ran down the stairs to get the testing kit from below deck. He arrived back just as Ahote climbed on board.

  “Sabrina is bringing up something big!” Ahote shouted above the noise of the crane’s engine.

  Although Carter could speak several languages, and understood several more, he couldn’t make out any of the rest of Ahote’s babbling – it could have been English or Hopi, or maybe even a few others. Carter could not comprehend anything else he was saying.

  Just when Carter was about ready to grab Ahote by the shoulders and shake him to calm him down, Sabrina emerged from the water indicating to the crane operator to start the pull.

  Sabrina climbed on board stripping off her mask and tanks, dropping them on the deck. Turning to look at Carter, she smiled.

  Carter remembered the smile from the last time he’d been with Sabrina - on an unauthorized night dive – and grinned. Sabrina was part Greek with a fiery temper but had a sweet side that rarely surfaced unless they were alone.

  Sabrina was an Olympic class swimmer, tanned, with long black hair and a bust line that could stop traffic. Somehow, Ahote always found the hottest women to work for him, much to the consternation of his wife, Bly.

  “I’ve got it!” the winch operator cried out as the net broke the surface. It landed on the
deck with a dull thud as seawater poured everywhere.

  Ahote, a Hopi Indian, whose name translated as ‘restless soul’ ran to the object in the net and started scraping away the encrustation. He found something sparkling and gave it to Carter. “Here, test this!”

  Carter was on summer break from a Boston University where he was working on his Master’s degree in archeology. He’d found records of a sunken Spanish galleon off the coast of Florida and convinced his grandfather, Will Devereux, to fund the undersea expedition.

  Will, intrigued at what they might find, employed Ahote’s salvaging company to undertake the actual diving operation to locate the galleon with the aid of underwater radar. They failed to find the galleon, but instead found the remains of an unnamed Viking dragon-prowed longship two days ago.

  Carter opened the lid of his chemical kit box and started the test. A few minutes later he shouted, “I don’t believe this! … It doesn’t happen! Ever.”

  “We got gold?” Ahote shouted, dropping to his knees next to Carter.

  “It’s not possible” Carter shivered with glee as the rest of the crew surrounded them. He turned to Ahote. “Is your wife still on the mainland?”

  “Yes, she is. Why do you want to know?”

  “Have her bring the champagne,” he said. “It’s solid gold! All of it! You never find gold on a site! Unless…unless….” He never finished that sentence.

  Sabrina grabbed his head and planted a passionate kiss on his mouth – holding him for a long time.

  While he was trying to tell everybody they all were going to be rich beyond measure, Sabrina dragged him down below deck, peeling off the rest of her diving suit as she went.

  When Ahote’s wife Bly arrived with the alcoholic beverages as requested, Sabrina was coming up from the lower deck wearing only the bottom part of her bikini.

  Bly was busy tying up the rope to the side of the barge when she spotted the topless Sabrina. “What in God’s name is going on?” she yelled at Ahote. “I hope you have a damn good explanation for this!”

  “Gold, my love. Pure gold is what’s going on.” Ahote grinned.

  Bly’s aggressive demeanor vaporized like mist before the sun as she started breaking out the champagne - the party raged through the night.

  Ahote and Bly finally disappeared into the wheelhouse and stayed there. Bly reappeared the next morning wearing a big smile.

  There was more gold than anyone would ever have thought possible at the bottom of the Viking ship. Even after the taxman had taken his share, there was well over $100 million that the crew divided before going their separate ways.

  The last Carter heard from Sabrina was a post card from her resort in Fiji. She had a special Christmas card made up of her standing next to the rough young men she kept on hand to do a variety of jobs at her resort.

  How a Viking longship came to be off the coast of Florida was anyone’s guess. The discovery of the ship caused a rumpus across the historical and archeological communities. Archeologists were still debating over how the ship ended up thousands of miles from the Viking lands in Europe and as many miles from the only known Viking settlements in Nova Scotia.

  Viking longships were built for fast attack and not long sea voyages, making them unsuitable for hauling anything heavy for long distances.

  PART 1

  Chapter 1

  A dozen white roses

  Ten years later.

  Carter Devereux held the sword and worked on focus which was crucial in the Chen style of T’ai Chi Ch'uan and even more so in the use of weapons. His master had finally allowed him, after years of studying the non-weapon styles, to take up the art known as the way of the sword.

  For 30 minutes, he practiced the Jian - thrusting sword - position. There were at least 49 positions to learn with this weapon and he intended to come to terms with them all. He visited his master’s training hall, the Center of Harmonious Gratitude, located over a Chinese restaurant in downtown Boston, twice a week. It was small, just under a thousand feet, but Master Hong took very few students. Carter would spend hours holding the postures Master Hong imparted to him despite the nauseating odor of a variety of unfamiliar foods cooking below and whiffing up through the floor. He dared not disrespect his Master by showing his aversion to the smell, as it was Master Hong’s primary income.

  He put the sword down and went back to the stances of the weaponless style. Master Hong stressed the fact that no one ever completely mastered a martial art; they only became less cumbersome at it. Carter had progressed better than most - his dedication was legendary among Master Hong’s students.

  Carter made his first appearance at the center eight years ago, shortly after his twenty-seventh birthday. He had wanted to pursue an oriental martial art ever since watching an old Bruce Lee movie on late-night television when he was a kid. Someone told him about the old Chinese man who taught a very traditional form of T'ai Chi Ch'uan, or ‘Tai Chi’ as most westerners called it, which roughly translates into ‘The Supreme Ultimate Fist.’ The style was thought to have originated with Buddhist monks who needed a method of protection while they traveled across the ancient Chinese Empire. It was considered a ‘soft’ martial arts style since the practice reacted to violence as opposed to initiating it.

  Master Hong had an extraordinary philosophy regarding whom he would teach. He felt non-Chinese should not be allowed to learn the secrets of the tai chi style he taught. Therefore, first, when prospective students turned up he would ignore them, and they tended not to come back. Second, should they come back; he would show them some pain. They would leave humiliated and not show up again. Finally, if they returned for the third time, he would teach them since it meant they must have been Chinese in an earlier life and deserved to be taught.

  Carter’s first day at the center, not knowing the old man’s philosophy, was his most difficult. He found himself ignored - forced to sit on the sidelines and observe, not knowing what was going on. The second appearance Master Hong unleashed every student on him until he had engaged each one in combat. He’d barely managed to climb the stairs to his condominium afterward, but he had no intention of giving up. The third time he’d arrived at the center, Master Hong smiled and started to teach him the basics.

  Carter concluded his morning practice with a set of deep breathing exercises. For him, tai chi was a daily ritual he had not neglected since the day he started eight years ago. He showered, had a light breakfast, packed his briefcase, and made his way to his office on the University campus.

  When he arrived at his desk, it was almost eight. He prided himself on arriving before the clerical staff and working well past office hours. His dedication had served him well over the years and awarded him a tenured professorship of archeology at the young age of 25. Having an opulent grandfather whose money funded several of the tall buildings on the campus grounds didn’t hurt either. Nonetheless, Carter achieved his academic and financial successes through sheer brilliance, hard work, and enthusiasm for his subject.

  His grandfather’s prosperity meant he never had to worry about funds while studying. While other students were stuck in pointless internship positions over the summer breaks, Carter could spend his on archeological digs in the Middle East, South America, and undersea exploration.

  To those who called him a lucky man, he always imparted a bit of wisdom learned from his grandfather; “Luckily good fortune is often found in partnership with conscientiousness.”

  He turned his attention to the box on his desk, which had intrigued him since its arrival an hour earlier, taking his time to examine it. When the shipping department brought it to him, they saved the packaging so he could see where it had originated. The return address was in Spanish and listed Peru as its point of origin. The rest of the return address was smeared and hard to read, causing Carter to surmise the sender didn’t want the location known. He wasn’t concerned - any package coming to the University was examined by campus security and passed through an X-Ray machine. Th
e anthrax scares ten years ago had mandated this additional level of safety.

  The box was wood with a thin strand of string tied around it in a constrictor knot. Who went to such trouble just to secure a box? Thinking better about it, Carter took several pictures of the box with his smartphone. Instead of cutting the string from the box, he used an awl from his desk to untie it. He would keep it with the box in case he wanted to know more about the source.

  The lid hinged on one side of the box. Security might have been able to tell him the contents before he opened it, as they surely would have seen the insides as it passed through the scanner, but it would have ruined the surprise for him. Inside, he found cotton packing. Again, he was intrigued. No one packed objects in cotton these days - too expensive. Most of the time they used vermiculite, Styrofoam peanuts, or bubble packing, but the sender considered the contents of this box special enough to use cotton wadding.

  He peeled back the cotton to expose a golden hummingbird. With a cotton glove on his hand, he picked it up. Although the figurine was about an inch long and three-quarters of an inch wide, it felt heavy enough to be gold. He would test the metal composition later, but Carter was willing to bet this was 24 karat gold.

  Who sends a gold artifact through the mail? The postal systems of the world were rife with underpaid workers who just might be tempted to list an uninsured package, as a ‘loss’ if they thought something inside was valuable. He looked at the packaging from Peru - there was no postal insurance stamp on it. Someone was willing to take the risk of this artifact’s loss in the mail just to get it to me.

  He pulled a loupe out of a drawer and looked closer. Wait a minute; this isn’t pure gold. The gold on most of it was shaded red, which meant it was some kind of alloy. The gold used in the construction of the figurine was altered to give it the red hue before the hummingbird was made. The eyes were black. From the way they glimmered under the light, Carter decided the eyes of the bird were obsidian, plentiful in South America, but difficult to fashion.