1898. Terry Sansom, a rugged Seaman on the deck of the Agnes Muirhead was struck by the size of the onrushing wave that was making it's way towards him and the ship. Nothing could be done as Terry realized to save himself or the ship. Time was running out and all Terry could think about was the strange cargo that was down in the holds of the ship. The Hurricane that the ship, Agnes Muirhead, was caught in was heading towards the coast of Cuba that lay 90 miles to the west of the ship and was gaining in strength. Nearly fifty years later, after the sinking of the Agnes Muirhead and all memory of her gone, Charles "Lucky" Luciano sat in the sweltering heat of December 1947 at the head of a long table in Havana where he was laying out the plans for a settlement between Albert Anastasia and Vito Genovese to prevent another war that would be as disastrous as the Castellamarese war between Joe Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano back in the 1930s. Lucky Luciano then condemned the Narcotics trade, followed by his decision to take care of Bugsy Siegel, who had been losing money in his casino efforts in Las Vegas. Before the meeting ended, Lucky Luciano announced that a salvage operation in the waters east of Cuba would provide a possible solution in keeping the leader of Cuba happy, and would be assured that the mob can continue their operations on the island nation. In March of 1948 the salvage operation found the location of the Agnes Muirhead and began operations to retrieve her cargo. A few miles away from the salvage operation, Daniel Harrison Forrester was watching the goings on through a powerful set of field glasses. A member of the newly organized CIA's Marine Intelligence group, Meta, Daniel was a veteran of the U.S. Navy, having served in World War 2. The plan was to watch the salvage operation and follow at a discreet distance when it was over. The next day as the CIA ship followed the salvage ship into Havana harbor, Daniel Forrester was wondering what had been so important to the Mafioso, Lucky Luciano in the holds of the sunken ship. Daniel Forrester went ashore on a small boat from the CIA ship and followed the big truck that carried one huge crate into the city. Later, on the outskirts of the city, the truck stopped at an old, worn down warehouse. That night, Daniel managed to sneak into the warehouse where he found the crate unguarded. Daniel found a crowbar and pried open a section of the crate and found himself staring at an old but well designed submarine that he guessed had been built during the U.S. Civil War. Shocked but guessing at the possible use of the submarine for Cuba's defense, he went back to the CIA Ship and made his report. The CIA then being led by Rear Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoetter decided to let things lie for awhile before setting a plan into operation. Just before the elections of 1952 for the next leader of Cuba, the CIA moved in quickly to retrieve the ancient submarine. It was gone, having been sold, they learned later to an unknown party. Luckily, when Fidel Castro had come to power in 1959 the CIA breathed easy, knowing that the submarine was not in his hands but still worried as to who owned it. Later, in 1966, at the age of 18, Harrison Daniel Forrester had joined the U.S. Navy and served in the Vietnamese War while in the Office of Naval Intelligence. In 1972 Harrison Forrester left the Navy and went to work for the U.S. Geological Survey's computerization of their Geographic Intelligence Systems for four years until he was stolen by the CIA's Marine Intelligence agency, Meta. Now working in the very agency his father had worked in during the late 1940s and early 1950s, Harrison felt comfortable. At the same time, the CIA was going through a rough time after the Nixon administration and was being investigated by the Congress for their history of questionable operations over the years. Declassifications were being demanded by Congress to learn what had been going on. Harrison was assigned to go over his father's well documented history with Meta. Harrison came to learn about the old Civil War submarine, the Mafia and Cuba. Quite fascinating, indeed. Harrison decided to do some editing before declassifying it for Congressional eyes and began his own research into the sinking of the Agnes Muirhead and how the submarine came to be in her cargo hold. But before he could use the CIA's resources he was offered a job with Tony Starke's non-profit scientific institute, META, Materials, Energy & Technological Assesment. Harrison decided to pursue his investigation of the old submarine on his own time. Soon, Harrison found himself aiding Tony Starke's operations in Hill Valley in 1977. It was not until nearly 1980 when he could devote himself completely to his private investigation of the mysterious Civil War submarine. Finally, in 1981, after poring over records that showed there were many mysterious sinkings of ships in the late 1860s and early 1870s that the name, Julius Zeulithan appeared as a possible candidate because of his raving speeches across Europe and the United States where he attacked the shipping practices of the major countries of the world and had deemed them evil warlords seeking to destroy the oceans with their steam ships.

1982. Rick Lassiter, the associate producer for the wildly successful CBS Drama show, Dallas, was in his office going over some paperwork when his private phone rang. Rick picked it up and Landon DeVilbiss, his best friend and fellow Atlantean descendant said, "Hi Radames! How are you doing my friend?". Rick smiled and says, "What's wrong, Landon? You only pretend to be courteous when there's trouble, my friend". "Someone is inquiring about Julius Zeulithan, Radames, and it is someone who has worked for both the ONI and the CIA. A man by the name of Harrison Forrester is inquiring about Julius's submarine. It appears that he is the son of Daniel Forrester, the CIA agent who was tracking the salvage operation of the Agnes Muirhead, where the submarine was kept aboard when the ship sank in a storm back in 1898. After all these years since your father bought that submarine from the Cubans, this may pose a problem of sorts". "It may very well be, Landon, but let's not overreact, okay? Let's just see where this leads to, first. Thanks for telling me, Landon". "Your welcome, Radames, and by the way I have checked out that TV show you work for and it's not bad". Radames D'Adamo sat back in his chair, thinking out loud to himself, "Now what could this new trouble lead to, I wonder?".

Harrison, needing some inspiration for his research happens to think of a friend who still worked for the CIA's Meta team, Kurt Austin and decided to call him and pick his brains and maybe use some CIA resources. Kurt is happy to hear from Harrison and despite some hesitation decides to help Harrison by digging around in some old records of the CIA. After several hours of digging through a lot of old musty books that were huge, he came across one that mentions many mysterious shipping losses caused by the man that Harrison had mentioned. Then after two more hours of flipping the pages of these huge books that Kurt reads a passage that Julius Zeulithan had targeted many ships which also included ships coming from Italy or Sicily. To top it off he comes across the name, Agnelli Mataranzano Muirhead, an early leader of the Sicilian Mafia of the 19th Century had emigrated to America and had settled in the Dayton, Ohio area. Wait a minute! That's where Harrison Forrester was from and his family had settled in the Dayton area back in the early 19th century. Something's fishy here, thinks Kurt Austin.

HA! I knew you wouldn't last long! ;) :lol:
Sound good Tony. th:

Kurt Austin called and informed Harrison Forrester of his findings and then decided to inform the CIA of Harrison's inquiry. The next day, Landon DeVilbiss learned through his source in the Director of the CIA's office that Harrison Forrester had used a friend of his in the CIA's Meta agency for information in his search. Landon called Radames D'Adamo about Harrison'e use of a CIA friend to learn more about the old Civil War submarine that had been commandeered by Julius Zeulithan in his maniacal war against commercial steamships in the post Civil War era.

July 2006. Dan Forrester sat on the hillside basking in the glow of the sun and breathing in the fresh air. Dan felt alive and young as he enjoyed relaxing after a brisk bicycle ride on this Saturday afternoon. Thinking back to his research on his family history, Dan knew it would take awhile to find the stories of his family and how they had settled in Montgomery County. He knew it would bring back memories of his own youth and being raised by his parents, Harrison and Karly. His father, Harrison Forrester had already learned some of the family history during his years of retirement from the scientific institute, META.

1952. Slowly the big truck hauled the old civil war era submarine on the one lane road towards the makeshift airport in the jungle of Cuba where the Douglas C-124 Globemaster awaited the arrival. After another hour and a half the 14,400 pound submarine was in the hold of the aircraft after a lot of man power and crude mechanical efforts were spent in the effort. Finally, the aircraft took off and headed towards Central America where it's new owner waited patiently.

June 2006. Rainn D'Adamo was disgusted to see his aging father, Radames still trying to do his best to stay current. Rainn watched as his father tried to make sense of the computer that was in front of him. Rainn tried to explain again but his father just could not even begin to understand. Radames gave up and went to his easy chair and began the process of lighting up his pipe. Relaxed and sitting in his chair with a pipe, Radames began to talk about his family line again to Rainn. Rainn was not caring enough that he was of Atlantean descent, though some of the stories his father told never lacked in vivid action and description. "My grandfather, your great-grandfather Darius D'Adamo had to bury his youngest son because Fearing Gly had shot the young Marro D'Adamo in cold blood and put it down as an act of war. This soldier, Fearing Gly, had heard stories of Atlantean descendants and about the Amasa Stone. He had tried to get Marro to say something about the Amasa Stone. Naturally, Marro did not know much about it because of his age. Randolph D'Adamo, the eldest son of Darius had witnessed the the shooting and had to tell his father about the shooting. Randolph D'Adamo, my father was just four years old but it was seared into him for the rest of his life. Adelbert Hay, another witness to the murder was the son of the U.S. Secretary of State, John Hay. There was supposedly another man by the name of Zeulithan who had witnessed the act. It would be years later when my father would learn that Jonas Zeulithan was the other witness. In a strange twist of fate, my father had bought a civil war era submarine that Jonas's father, Julius had used to destroy commercial steaming ships in a mad attempt to bring the world powers to their knees. My father then used the submarine off the coast of Central America in an attempt to find treasure. He was like an old pirate obsessed about gold". p:

1956. Playa Canoa, an island off the Pacific coast of Panama is the site of Randolph Agarn's search for Spanish gold that he believes is buried on the island. After arriving in the old Civil War era submarine he bought from Cuba a few years back, Randolph rereads a journal he had discovered back in the late 1940s at a Catholic church archives while he was in Bilbao, Spain. He follows the instructions and counts off the paces until he comes upon a tree that is marked with the letter Z and starts digging. Already financially comfortable, Randolph was ecstatic as his shovel scrapes a trunk that's buried. After some struggle to lift it out of the hole and then trying to unclasp the lock, Randolph pulls out his gun and shoots off the lock. Opening the trunk, Randolph spies the gleaming Spanish doubloons reflecting the sunlight. "What will you do with the gold now, Mr. D'Adamo?". Whirling around with the gun in his hand, Randolph finds a tall white haired man with albino eyes and two other men on either side of him. "Nice to see you again, Randolph" states Delphi Moran. "Delph, I didn't expect you on my trail, but then again, it's no surprise to see a fellow Atlantean descendant, whether he be Magi or Mortal at the same place when a fellow Atlantean discovers something that most of mankind can only dream about". Delphi laughs. "Yes, we do have a connection, no matter what divides us, eh, Dolph". "I assume you will take the gold from me, then?". "Not necessarily, Dolph". "Then what do you want?". "I would like to look at the journal, if you please?". Reluctantly, Randolph hands over the journal to Delphi Moran. Delphi stands and reads the journal, confirming in his mind the identity of the man who buried the gold. "May I keep the journal, Dolph?". Stunned, Randolph shakes his head positively. "Good day, Randolph and I hope you enjoy your cache of gold" smiles Delphi Moran wickedly. Watching the three men push their dinghy into the water and row out to a deep spot and then push an engine into the water and start it up, heading towards a yacht. Relieved but puzzled, Randolph ties some rope to the trunk full of gold and pull it to the water where he attaches a buoyant collar to the trunk and ties it to the submarine that is lightly touching the edge of the sand but still floating in the water. He then gets aboard the submarine and hauls the trunk onboard. Separating the gold into smaller containers and taking each container into the submarine where he turns the engine on and backs out into deep water. Once in deep water, the civil war era submarine glides underwater out to his own small ship where he transfers the smaller containers of gold aboard. After he finishes he goes back into the submarine and turns the engine back on and sets it at slow speed and aims the sub back towards the beach and then hurriedly gets back onboard his ship, the Dalmatian.

2006. Somewhere off the Pacific coast of Panama, Dirk Pitt rose to the surface and took out the mouthpiece and climbed aboard the NUMA ship, the Erica Palancenco. Captain Leon Cambias welcomed Dirk back with a smile and helped Dirk get out of his scuba gear and dive suit. A loud noise was heard from the sky and everyone looked up and saw a small plane hurtling down to the water just off the coast of a nearby island. Captain Cambias ran to the bridge and ordered the crew to have the NUMA ship make full speed to the site of the downed plane. In less than 10 minutes the Erica Palancenco arrived on the scene and found the small plane taking on water. Dirk jumped into the water and swam to the sinking plane. Dirk reached the plane and wrestled the door open and spotted a blonde woman unconscious and unhooked the seatbelt and carried her into the water and swam back to the NUMA ship. Later, in the sick bay onboard the ship, Dirk walked in and saw the woman was awake. "Are you the man who saved me?". "Yes, I am. My name is Dirk Pitt and you are onboard a NUMA Ship. Your plane sank after I rescued you". "I am Donna Hamner and would like to express my thanks for your saving my life, Mr. Pitt". "Please call me, Dirk". The next day Donna and Dirk were walking on the beach of the island and something caught Donna's attention. "Dirk, I don't think this is a large rock, take a closer look at this". Both of them looked closely at the large behemoth on the beach. "I think this is an old civil war era submarine!" exclaimed Dirk. "How in the world would something like that be on this island?" wonders Donna Hamner.

1982. William Casey, the Director of the CIA, read the report from Kurt Austin about the connection of the Forrester family, the Mataranzano family, the Zeulithan attacks of the post civil war era and Dayton, Ohio. A thought slowly formed in Casey's mind of a man he had heard of while he was in the OSS, a man in Naval Intelligence during World War 2 and had gone on to be the first director of the Central Intelligence Group. Yes! Sidney W. Souers, who also was from Dayton, Ohio. This was way too coincidental for Casey. Something was there and he worked his mind on it, trying to put together a picture. Suddenly, he recalled a new member of the National Security Council who was the director for Western Europe and NATO was from Dayton, Ohio, one Donald Fortier. Already, he was stretching it and decided to pull back and concentrate.

2006. Old and rambling on about his childhood in Dayton, Ohio, Radames D'Adamo was talking about his friends and the schools he attended, as Rainn listened impatiently. At the age of 81, Radames was finally recalling his childhood with clarity as he had not been able to when he was in his late 30s and 40s. Things seemed clearer about his youth but not of current things. Randa, Rainn's daughter came into the room and Radames beamed at his granddaughter as she hugged him. Then recalling his witnessing of the opening ceremony of the Jefferson Memorial in 1943 at the age of 18 with his friend Landon DeVilbiss. Both their fathers had brought them to Washington, D.C. that year and would talk of their families contributions to American history. Randolph D'Adamo and Wuornos DeVilbiss had to discuss something important while Radames and Landon listened to President Roosevelt give his speech. What they did not hear was a discussion of the eventual transfer of the Declaration of Independence from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. that was already in the process that would take many years.

1943. Washington, D.C. The opening ceremony of the Jefferson Memorial where President Roosevelt gives an address. In the audience Wuornos DeVilbiss listens. Later inside the Jefferson Memorial Randolph Agarn D'Adamo walks up to Wuornos DeVilbiss. "The document was found in Egypt a few months back and it confirms everything about the master plan. Next year when the Declaration Of Independence comes back to Washington after the war is over Archibald MacLeish, the Archivist who owes us a favor will put the numbers on the back of the Declaration Of Independence for us".
Encoded in numerals that were based on a multiple substitution cypher, Archibald MacLeash, a fellow Atlantean descendant wrote out the old Egyptian text numerically based on the document it was being transcribed on the back of.

The war between the Magi and the Atlanteans that caused their continent to tear asunder and plunged into the ocean leaving only so many survivors of both races were the one's who were not among the fighting warriors. Later after Atlantis disappeared under the waters what remained of both the Magi and the Atlanteans who lived peacefully on the other continents were able to peacefully create a plan amongst themselves as they lived in different civilizations that had arose with the new human race that came about. Those civilizations were the Egyptians, Minoan, Chinese, Greek and Assyrian. This master plan was to merge the many advantages of the engineering technology of the Atlanteans and the mystical energies of the Magi. This was a powerful plan to create secret societies within each civilization that would gain the powers and positions of the governments within each civilization. The document that was written laid out all these details and the step-by-step instructions in gaining the control of communications, finance, transportation, food and water consumption within all the civilizations and the following nation-states that followed. One of the many secret societies that became well known later on was the Freemasons.

11:35AM December 13, 1952 Wayne Grover, the Archivist of the United States receives the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution from Brigadier General Stoyte Ross and an escort of 12 Armed Forces Special Policemen in a transfer of the documents that had traveled from Fort Knox in 1944 to the Library Of Congress and from there to the National Archives Building this morning on a cold winter day with an armed services parade down Pennsylvania Avenue to Constitution Boulevard. Just before the formal opening ceremony on December 15 Wayne Grover noticed on the back of the Declaration of Independence some numerals. Wondering what the numerals were left an indelible mystery in his mind for the rest of his life.

1974. Upon finishing their third two year stint in Vietnam, Dirk Pitt and Al Giordino were posted to Hawaii and were assigned maintenance work on aircraft in the hangars at Hickam Field. Dirk and Al were adventurous men and they needed more out of life than changing spark plugs and changing oil, so they invested in diving equipment to explore the bays and coves on weekends around the island of Oahu. Despite joining NUMA the next year, Dirk and Al often went back to Hawaii to do some diving.

1979. Al kicked his fins to come level with Dirk and indicated to him that his air was running low. Dirk acknowledged his good friend but pointed to a cave beneath them. Al focused on the dark craggy entrance, shrugged his shoulders and followed Dirk as he swam inside. Al and Dirk swam into the gloom of the underwater cave. At first Dirk couldn't see anything, but after a few minutes his eyes adjusted to the gloom. The cave was fairly large, probably no bigger your average classroom. As he beamed his dive light around he could make out a school of fish swimming near him an Al.
It was then something caught his eye in the beam of his light. As he started to swim for it, however, he felt Al grab his shoulder, almost in near panic. Dirk turned around and was about to hand signal his best-friend when he saw what apparently had spooked Al.
A Mako shark was coming straight at them! It's gaping jaws with rows of jagged teeth was intent on biting into easy prey.
Dirk was first to react, he swiftly took off his air tank and rammed it into the shark's mouth. Dirk and Al then swim up into the air-pocket. As their heads cleared the surface they gazed upon a large cavern with ancient script hammered into the walls. "Damn,will you look at that"exclaimed Al.."Wonder what it means"
"Thats for better minds than ours to figure out" Pitt said with a smile
"Lets see if our friend has dissappeared yet"
But as he turned to dive back under the water he caught the faint sound of footfalls from the dark side of the cavern. The Ancient scripture and artwork demanded closer inspection, so they waited until the footsteps faded away, then looked up with amazed expressions.
"Do you see what I see, Al?"
Al climbed out of the water and focused more closely at the engravings. "If my eyes don't deceive me, one of them looks like a helicopter and the others look like ships of some kind."
Dirk was nodding his head, "It could pass for a submarine."

After several weeks of harrowing, violent close calls battling Delphi and Boris Moran, Dirk and Al find themselves in Greenland for what would be their final battle with the egomaniacal, power mad, and dangerous creature. Queen Kel was stunned to see her father, Dirk and Al enter the sitting room. "Kel, you know these two gentlemen of course" said Delphi. "Will you be a dear and get the three of us drinks, please". Kel walked out of the room dumbfounded. "So, where is the Pandora's Box, Delph?' said Dirk. "Not so fast my young fellow, let us rest a bit and get comfortable before we begin the ritual of fighting" grinned Delphi. Minutes later Kel returned with the drinks. After making sure they had their drinks and one of her own , "What the hell is going on here?" says Kel.
"Ah, my impatient daughter is ready to get down to tactics I see". "May I say something regarding the past Delph?" says Dirk. "But of course! What would you like to say?' Delphi replies. "Why would you give up the Pandoras Box when you had the chance to keep it and destroy the man responsible for such scientific advances by sending him back in time erasing the knowledge of his work from the world and him?" Delphi sat stunned staring at Dirk. Kel was bewildered by such a statement. Al just sat there nonplussed by what was going on. Delphi was thinking of what to say when Dirk continued, "That is why you did not want us when we discovered your underwater cave and the hieroglyphics that were contained in it". Kel was glaring malevolently at Dirk. With some thought Delphi finally replied, "Yes, that is true because despite my efforts at erasing Harriman Nelson and his N.I.M.R. (National Institute of Marine Research) from the memory of the world the ancient civilization that I sent him back in time to obviously was impressed enough of his technology that he helped the Atlanteans develop their technology slowly but surely".
But fortunately for you Atlantis was destroyed despite their advances in technology' says Dirk. "So why would you not take advantage of using them instead of being obsessed with the Pandora's Box?' "Harriman Nelson was an important scientific and naval innovator who helped the war effort in World War 2 and later with Hyman Rickover develop the modern Navy. With him, Hyman, St. Julien, Clive and I worked together in developing the wonders of science in naval, nuclear, time travel, radar and other advances in science that would benefit the world. But when he organized N.I.M.R. and began flexing his oceanographic, naval and political power I became afraid of what the man was capable of doing. Then he built his nuclear submarine, the Seaview for Oceanographic and Intelligence purposes he became more powerful. He even started the political careers, advances and elections for JFK, Nixon, Ford, Carter and Johnson making sure that they would become Presidents". "But you did not count on Harriman's protege, James Sandecker, from following in the mans footsteps and creating N.U.M.A. Which brought us together during the Starbuck affair. And a whole new fight with a newer and cleverer opponent in me that has brought us here and now. So it was in vain that you had to erase from the world the existence of N.I.M.R. and get N.U.M.A. instead, So what did it get you in the end but a new opponent to stop you in your own efforts for power".
"The technology Harriman helped create was potentially dangerous in his hands and I had to stop him in every way I could. Even erasing the existence of the technology itself" replied Delphi. "But you kept your own time altering device to use when it came time to keep me and Summer from giving you grandchildren". Again Delphi sat stunned as was Kel and Al. "How could you know that?" asked Delphi. "Actually it was in that second rate novel that I mentioned earlier that it is noted that Summer and I had children".

Delphi took off at a run with Al and Dirk following him. Kel sat stunned and then guessed her own future. And pulled out a gun from the desk and killed herself. Al and Dirk caught up with the man in an underground chamber where the Pandoras Box sat floating in an oil pit that was hot. For a moment Al and Dirk realize why its in the oil pit. It needed to be kept warm and the oil pit was obviously where the box had been for many centuries before they found it on the ship off the coast of Greenland.
"You can see I found its original resting place and had to get it back here real quick before you meddling fools got your hands on it" said Delphi. Dirk pulled out a gun and Al followed suit. "I'm shocked you did not have us frisked Delph, You're slipping old man".
"The box or your grandchildren, old man?" asks Dirk. "What do you mean, Dirk?" replied Delphi. "Do you want the box or do you want to see your own bloodline to continue with me and Summer?" Delphi pulls out the time-altering device and looks at it thinking. "You don't give me much choice do you?" Dirk shakes his head. "Damn it!!, My father, grandfather, great-grandfather and on back have been seeking this box forever!!!"
"Why?!?!" replies Dirk. "Because the box has the kind of power that you do not get with developing scientific technology. Have you not heard of the dark magical powers to be found in the box? It's been the two things that man has always coveted; Science or the Magic that both bring the power to create situations, or items that one desires. And I have done my share of scientific work and realized my father, grandfather, great-grandfather were right that with magical power you can do unimaginable things that science cannot achieve because of its own limitations. Our own country's founding fathers were part of the brotherhood of freemasonry who used both science and the search for magical power to recreate the glories of our ancient civilization that was Atlantis!"
"And it was both that destroyed Atlantis in the end because of the abuses and wars over both" replied Dirk. Unfazed, Delphi inched closer to the oil pit. Al and Dirk already anticipated Delphi's move to obtain the box. Both fired their guns as Delphi lunged to the box and clumsily falls on the box floating in the heated oil pit. "Did you not know that this oil pit is just an opening for the largest oil deposit in the world" gasps Delphi.
The man slips from the box into the oilpit and disappears forever. Al and Dirk walk back to the sitting room to find Kel dead. "I don't know if you noticed or not Dirk but I saw Delphi push the button on that time-altering device' says Al. "Yes, I just felt a wave of emotions and memory flooding through me as we entered the sitting room" replied Dirk. With a swelling memory and love for Summer. And the love for the children growing in his heart and hopes to meet in the future.

Wow Tony! :o That's some good writing right there. th: It blew my mind. :blink: :lol:

1986. CIA Director William Casey was doing some research on Dirk Pitt's early years and had just finished reading up on Dirk's battle with Delphi Moran in Greenland where the venomous man had been killed seven years ago and came across a mention of Dirk Pitt's famous grandfather, Matthew Pitt, who had lived in Dayton, Ohio too back in the 1840s as a boy before he started his lifelong career of explorations and his journalistic career of writing about his travels and war correspondence, and erstwhile businessman who would disappear in a plane over the Himalayas in 1944 at the advanced age of 104. Recalling something he had just read over an hour ago about Dirk Pitt's involvement in the search for the Vixen 03 affair and the African Army of the Revolution back in the early 1980s brought to Casey's mind a mercenary who had fought in the African wars of the 1970s who had grown up in Dayton, Ohio. Though Director William Casey would die the next year of a brain tumor, years would pass until the 2010s when Dirk's and Jim Martindale's paths would cross and the two would battle with each other.

2014. After pursuing those responsible for the mining of the Blue Cobalt Diamonds, Dirk learns that Summer has been kidnapped by an Irish mercenary by the name of Jim Martindale. Dirk and Al drove to the airport in the modified yugo and boarded a cargo plane with the yugo in the back of the plane and flew out over the Atlantic to the NUMA Ship "Sierra Seven" and parachuted individually including the yugo near the Sierra Seven. They boarded the Sierra Seven and went to the captain. H.L. Hazard, the Captain of the Sierra Seven stood one inch taller than Dirk and had Salt and pepper hair, a burly chest and a stomach that had the beginnings of a paunch. Al asked about the first two initials of the captain's name and he replied, "Hiram Leigh". Al and Dirk grinned. Captain Hazard gave them the position of UNDER's location. Soon Al and Dirk were in the modified Yugo which now was an amphibious contraption that they sped towards the location of UNDER's location. Soon as they were within a mile of the location they stopped and put on scuba gear and rolled into the water and swam down to the strange looking undersea buildings that UNDER was located in. They had just found a way in when some other scuba clad members of UNDER's security came at them with knives and spear guns. Dirk had brought a knife and Al a dagger and their ensued a deadly fight with Al and Dirk receiving some knicks and scrapes but the security guards were done permanently. Al and Dirk swam into the entryway and had climbed onto the floor when they faced three men with guns. Another fight and Al was knicked by a bullet and Dirk had a bruised forehead. They made their way through the maze of hallways looking in each door they came across. Finally they came to what looked like the central control room and fought a couple of software systems techno geeks and found a door way in the rear of the control room where they found.....the self destruct mechanism of the undersea base was activated. a large screen blazed with numerals counting down the 30:00 untill the entire facility was obliterated by the 3 tons of semtex intalled in key structural locations throughout the corridors and modules. A klaxon was blaring in full cresendo and panicky voices filled the outside hallways. Pitt pulled his trusty M1911 .45 and leveled it at the figure looking at the screen.
"Who the hell are you?" Giordino muttered.
"Names' Martindale. James Martindale. I run a special operations team known as Bravo 2-9. We've taken this facility and are going to destroy it in retaliation for your government's blatant declaration of war against the IRA. You yanks always got to stick your noses in other people's business"
"What can I say?" Pitt shrugged, "We just love to put our hands in the cookie jar when we shouldn't be. Besides your group of retarded morons are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of British citizens last year in a car bombing of the American embassy in London. Sorry friend, but you pissed off the wrong country."
"I think you made him angry" Giordino shrugged. Martindale's face reddened. He motioned for one of his men to come. The henchman, dressed in urban camo BDU'S and armed with a colt m4 carbine with laser scope, and a USP 9mm yanked a female figure towards Martindale's outstreached hand. Pitt's jaw dropped.
Dirk's daughter Summer was wearing standard issue NUMA work clothes. She was bound with handcuffs behind the back and had a strip of duct tape across her lips to keep her quiet. She whimpered through the gag. Martindale smiled the most heinous grin Pitt or Giordino had ever seen. Martindale pulled a serrated hunting knife and pressed it to Summer's throat. She cried out in pain.
"Drop your weapons gentlemen. Especially you mr. Giordano."
"It's Giordino, dumbass."
"I swear to god Martindale, if you hurt her, I'll hunt you down, rip your testicles out and make you eat them."
"I'LL BE GIVING THE ORDERS HERE PITT!" Martindale snapped. Now, Summer and I will be taking a little ride. I'd ask you to join us, but in about 20 minutes this facility will be you tomb. Farewell mr. Pitt." Martindale grabbed Summer and ran into an airlock and sealed it from the inside. Pitt and Giordino ducked for cover as Martindale's troops opened fire.
Pitt and Giordino took cover behind a computer console as 5.56mm ammo tore their hiding place apart.
"Any bright ideas Fearless Leader"? Giordino shouted.
Al found a weapons storage cabinet and found a couple of weapons he and Dirk could use. An Austrian-Steyr and a Lupo. Al used the Lupo to deadly effect as Dirk did what he could with his weapon injuring a couple of men. Dirk was not happy with his weapon. They went to where Summer and Martindale had gone and found some spare scuba gear and swam out. Up on the surface they found a boat speeding off and managed to find the converted yugo and tried to follow.
Al took the wheel of the Yugo and pushed the vehicle to its limit. The speed boat had gained a considerable lead due to its 2000 hp diesel engine and nitrous oxide boosters. Pitt threw the lupo into the water and reached for a modified Ak-74 strapped to the starboard bulkhead and threw the safety catch off.
"Can't this thing go any faster Al! We're losing them!" Pitt shouted over the roar of the Yugo's engine.
"I'm giving her all she's got sir!" Al said mocking the voice of Scotty, the Chief Engineer on Star Trek"
"Aw crap. Look!"
Pitt and Giordino gazed ahead at the enormous shape of a Chinook helicopter hovering above the escaping speed boat. Giordino looked in awe as Martindale and his hostage clambered aboard the ungainly but agile bird and paused at the rear cargo door. Pitt grabbed a pair of Riegel X220 binoculars and saw the IRA terrorist giving Pitt the third digit and laughing maniacaly before he pushed Summer into the aft cargo area. Pitt's face turned beet red. He vowed to chase Martindale down and make him suffer but the crack of automatic gunfire shattered the sky and Dirk's thoughts. The two heroes looked ahead as a soldier popped open the side hatch and started peppering the Yugo with a M249 SAW machine gun.
After exactly 30 minutes, the detonators attached to the semtex charges activated and the under sea base disintegrated as the explosives imploded the structures and sent an enormous collumn of water shooting from the 440 meter depth into the clear blue sky. Pitt did not glance back at the explosion, he had better things to worry about. The gunman in the side hatch of the Chinook continued his furious barrage of fire. In the chopper, Martindale secured Summer to a verical stanchion with the handcuffs and opened the after cargo hatch to provide supressing fire with his M4.
"Dammit, we're losing them!" Pitt slammed his right hand into the dashboard in fustration. This guy Martindale meant for Summer to die slowly and painfully Pitt thought. The question is what the hell does he want with me?
Pitt carefully aimed the AK at the side door panel and the machine gunner. A steady wind had picked up and the Chinook pilot slowed his chopper to compensate for the wind buffeting the bird and throwing off the terrorist's aim. Giordino opened the throttle to its stop and amazingly, the Yugo gained on the chopper,and Pitt could finally close the range with his assault rifle. He fired a quick 2 second burst at the door gunner and was rewarded when the Gunman's body gyrated wildy as a fusilade of 7.62mm ammunition thudded into his body. The soldier dropped his weapon into the sea and his lifeless corpse plunged towards the ocean. Pitt was very amused when the terrorist's body failed to crash into the ocean and instead hung from a safety line attached to a bulkhead in the Chinook's interior. Martindale saw this and shot away the dead weight with his 9mm beretta and continued to exchange gunfire with Pitt and Giordino.
"We can't keep this up forever good buddy!" Giordino yelled exasperated. " We're runnin' low on fuel. I give her another 10 minutes before we're running on fumes"
"Keep going Al!" Pitt said unnervingly. " We lose them and Summer's dead!"
"I got a bad feeling about this-- Oh crap LOOK OUT!"
Pitt's eyes stood wide open as Martindale pulled an long tube out of a case and rammed a rocket into one end and aimed it at the gaining Yugo.
Martindale flicked the safety off his Stinger missle launcher. "These guys don't give up" said one of his men. "Their like a bad friggin rash!"
"Don't worry mate," Martindale smiled grimly, "This'll get them."
He aimed the Stinger a few feet ahead of the Yugo and said coldly: "See you in hell you American fool." He pulled the trigger. The high explosive stinger missile blazed out of the tube and locked onto the Yugo with its radar guidance system.
Giordino saw what was coming next. TIME TO GO!!! He and Pitt dropped their weapons and swan dived into the sea. The missile impacted the Yugo and an enormous fireball arched into the sky. Pieces of Giordino's vehicle flew in every direction. Pitt and his friend surfaced and gazed at the blazing wreckage that floated in the deep green sea.
"You owe me a new vehicle you know" Giordino muttered
Pitt didn't answer. He was too busy thinking of Summer in the hands of that madman. His thoughts got interuppted by the thump thump of chopper blades. The two castaways glanced northeast at the materializing shape of a NUMA helicopter coming towards them.
"You've won this round Martindale." Pitt murmered.
"What did you say?" Giordino asked?
"Nothing." Pitt said aloud. Nothing at all.
Rudi Gunn shoved a hot steaming mug of coffe into Pitt's hands. Dirk downed the steaming liquid whic made his eyes water. Al had dozed off right away in the starboard seat of the chopper's crew compartment. Sleep evaded Pitt. His only thoughts were of his daughter held hostage by that buzzard Martindale, and what he would do to her. Gunn re-entered the crew compartment and sat down in a seat across from Pitt. He glanced at the sleeping mass of Al Giordino.
"How's the coffee?"
"It's good. Juan Valdez would be proud of you."
Rudi chuckled. "Look Dirk, I'm sorry Summer got involved in this. Those IRA people got the drop on us down there. Apparently they killed off a NUMA supply crew at Dulles, stole their Helo, and disguised themselves as the dead chopper crew to gain access to the base. These SOB's had balls to say the least."
"Look Rudi, Dont worry about it." Pitt gulped down the rest of the coffee and looked out at the swift moving ocean. "Who are these people? Who's that Martindale character I had a conversation with?"
Gunn pulled out a dossier and laid it out in front of Pitt. Inside was the war records and a photo of James Martindale.
Rudi sighed, "Martindale is a rough SAS agent who joined up with British intelligence in the late 1970's after having been a mercenary in Africa. He served in the Gulf War, and won the DSC (Distinguished Service Cross) for pulling two of his men out of a burning Humvee that got hit by an RPG in an ambush near Kuwait."
"He had a good record then" Pitt shrugged.
"He was one of the best Dirk." "This guy was one of the most lethal soldiers the SAS trained. That's why they discharged him."
"For What?" Pitt asked.
"On a training exercise in 1994, Martindale was captured by extremists from the IRA's Bravo 2-0 movement. These guys are the worst of the worst. Former disgraced soldier turned mercenaries who want Ireland independent like every other IRA soldier, except these guys don't care who gets in their way." Gunn glanced at his watch. "Anyway, Bravo 2-0 brainwashed him and made him go south. After being released on a hostage exchange program set up by MI6, Martindale displayed severe animosity towards the British government.
He was discharged dishonorably in 1997 for conduct unbecoming of an officer."
"So the golden boy of the SAS goes south. Interesting" Pitt muttered.
"Yeah" Gunn said. It gets even better. "Martindale returned to the IRA and became its commander. Under his leader ship, he insigated the most terrible gureilla warfare since the Tet Offensive back in '68. No one was safe. It culminated in the car bombing of the British embassy in Dublin, Ireland just last year. 234 people dead. After that Martindale went into hiding as Interpol, MI6, and the CIA went looking for him. Two weeks later The president orders U.S. Marines into Ireland to quell the uprising following the attack. He's on Interpol's top ten most wanted."
"What' this got to do with me?" Pitt asked sarcastically.
"I don't know" Gunn sighed. "I just don't know"...
James Martindale looked at Summer who reminded him of his own long dead girlfriend Katherine "Kat" Shannon Tweel. And he thought how years ago he believed Shannon and Dirk had hooked up. He got violently sick at the thought and with blood rage in his eyes reached out to Summer. Summer was somewhat scared but looking for an opportunity to escape. When James grabbed her she took the pain around her neck while she reached the keys in his pocket and unhooked the handcuffs and booted him in the crotch. Then smashed her head into his face and with every ounce she could muster slammed him into the window of the copter. She grabbed his 9mm Beretta and shot two men without serious injury and jumped into the ocean just before the copter reached land and she swam to shore where Martindale was waiting for her. Dirk tracks Martindale to a secluded island where he and Martindale fight brutally and before Dirk killed him, learned that Martindale was bitter because Dirk had taken Kat Tweel. Dirk had been interested in her but had not bedded her despite the temptation and had only comforted her after the brutal treatment Martindale had given her. Dirk find's Summer, who had been bound and gagged and releases her. He finds some papers in Martindale's safe stating that he was working for the African Army of the Revolution, whose leader Ibrahim Lincoln Abbas had invested in Hiram Cole's Underwater Natural Domain Energy and Research's corporation and had plans to use the blue cobalt diamonds to finance the takeover of an African country. Dirk flies to Africa and meets up with Kurt Austin and they plan an attack on Ibrahim Abbas's HQ of The African Army of Revolution. Just before Kurt kills Ibrahim Lincoln Abbas, the black leader of the AAR cowardly cried that he was a descendent of Abraham Lincoln who had been taken to Africa under mysterious circumstances aboard a civil war submarine. And that it was his destiny to lead Africa. Kurt and Dirk then destroy the rest of the AAR in a firefight and blowing up their barracks. Dirk and Kurt fly back to Washington, D.C. and give a report of the destruction of U.N.D.E.R. and of the AAR to Admiral James Sandecker. The government then decides to use the Arizonan deposit of Blue Cobalt diamonds to finance the development of Nevada into a lush and green state and handing the control of the underground sea beneath Nevada to a monopolistic cartel of utilities and water companies.

It was true, indeed that Julius Zeulithan had been involved in John Wilkes Booth's deceptive assassination of a minor stage actor dressed up as President Lincoln in Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. Few people were involved in the plot, but it was at the behest of an Industrial cabal that John Wilkes Booth had offered his service's in the name of national security. It was feared by the Industrialists of what President Lincoln's post war plans were. Julius Zeulithan's private submarine had been used in the plot and had taken the President to Africa. Now that the Civil War era submarine of Julius Zeulithan's submarine had been found on Los Playa island off the west coast of Panama, that NUMA had it taken back to the United States. Dirk was curious, indeed, about the history of the sub.

2006. Michael Sansom, a descendant of the baby son that Terry Sansom had not learned about after his leaving for the trip aboard the Agnes Muirhead, was researching the sinking of the ship and was frustrated at the lack of knowledge. Despite living in Canada now, Michael decided to go to Dayton, Ohio where he had lived for a time when he was young. Thinking that he might learn more about the family that owned the ship, since it had been recorded that the ownership papers had been drawn up in Dayton. After arriving in Dayton, and going through the Downtown library's archives where he learned very little but did come across the name of the company that still existed that had owned the ship. Going online, Michael had mistakenly typed Moorhead as the name and learned about the actress, Agnes Moorhead who was buried at Dayton Memorial cemetery and while visiting the company website learned that she was indeed born Agnes Muirhead, named for her grandfather, Agnelli Mataranzano Muirhead. Going to a genealogical website, he learned about the Martindale family branch of the Muirhead family. Doing a google search he came across some local Dayton history websites that gave details on some local history and a major feud that had occured between the 1840s up to the late 19th Century involving several families. One family that was involved was the McCook family of which reminds Michael an article he had read in the Dayton Daily News about a former congressman was to be at the local Books & Co. Bookstore talking about his book on the McCook family that had many of it's members in the Civil War. Michael decided to go see the former congressman, Charles Whalen and listened to the man talk about the local Dayton family and their involvement in the Civil War. Charles Whalen took his question about the feud that had taken place about that time involving some Dayton history and he answered, "Yes, indeed there was something I learned about that during my research for the book. I thank you, for bringing that up and will give you a sketch of what I learned about that".

I guess you were up all night Tony! ;) Nice work. th: Now if I were to write something that late, it would probably consist of a certain Dirt Pikk and a magical land called NUMA... :blink: :lol:

May 1972. Despite the dead body of the great FBI Director laying in bed, the men ignored him and took the file cartons out of the secret storage room that was hidden behind the bedroom closet and carted them down to the truck, parked outside the house of J. Edgar Hoover and quickly filled the truck and quietly took off into the night.

"Someone is trying to find the Gemstone file, again" said Melbourne DeVillbiss, as he spoke to Rainn D'Adamo. "Why is it always that these things from the past are continuously dug up again and again", said Rainn D'Adamo. "Ever since I took over for my father, something or someone is constantly reminding me of all the past deeds of our fathers and their fathers, it never stops!!". Rainn feels so sick of the heritage he has inherited. "Maybe you should take over, since you feel more than I do, of the responsibilities that have befallen on me". "I would gladly take over, but it would mean going to the council and getting approval from the other families, Rainn". "What is so special about that file that gets everyones attention, anyways?". "Gemstone is the file that J. Edgar Hoover culled many important facts from individual files on the people he kept track of, including all the families that are on the council and the positions that each of the families has held in government, academics, science, business, military and many other areas. It would be a fiasco if it comes out of our collective descendants and their positions in all of these fields and the systematic use of power to keep our historical lineage a secret" says Melbourne DeVilbiss.

1840. Dayton, Ohio. Daniel Pitt was amused at the sight of the executive committee of the new Whig Party as they tried to create order among the 400 men in attendance. At the advanced age of 77 and still in full function of his mind, Daniel was concerned about the possible hijacking of the party by several powerful men. Nick Stockton, a local businessman came up to Daniel and asked, "Are you part of this new party?". "Yes, I have had a part in the bringing together several politicians and like-minded men, who are here today to create a new force in the politics of our country". Thinking ahead, Daniel felt in his bones that if this party can last for a few years, it might be necessary to start a stronger party from the remnants of the Whig Party. Indeed, Daniel Pitt will be part of the founding of the Republican party in 1850. But today was also a joyous day for Daniel because his new bride of several months, Eliza, had given birth to a baby boy that they named Matthew. A fight had broken out and Daniel rushed over to find that some local men who were new members of the new political party were arguing about some property, gypsies and a prominent gentleman by the name of Frederick Choteau, who had offered to settle the matter. Latimer McCook and his cousin, Jesse Martindale had gotten into a fight over some property that they had bought legitimately, but had learned that the local gypsy family, the Stanleys, had already made an oral agreement with the previous owners, Matthias Harrison Forrester and Daniel Pitt. Levi and Matilda Stanley were the parents and leaders of the Gypsy clan. They were the King and Queen of the Gypsies. Daniel found himself furious that the McCook family were trying to buy up local farmland. Henry Mumma and John Wampler, well known and influential families were nearby and had some of their family farmlands settled by the Gypsy clan by squatting illegally on the properties. It was a well known tradition of squatting on property and eventually preying on the family that owns the land into signing over to the gypsies a portion of the farmland. Frederick Choteau had interrupted the fight briefly to help solve the matter but was rebuffed. Daniel couldn't help but notice that Frederick Choteau looked a lot like General William Henry Harrison. Several days later, as the Whig Convention was finally nominating their Presidential Candidate for the national election in November, the Whig Party selected the well known Indian fighter and General William H. Harrison.

July 6, 1804. Aaron Burr aimed at Alexander Hamilton thinking, "This scottish a$$-hole knew about Mattie my son and failed to let me in on the fact that his father was Mattie's maternal grandfather. Curse him!!!!". March 4, 1837. The inauguration of President Martin Van Buren was a dreary day but Martin Van Buren was in high spirits as he gave his speech. What he did not know was that he would only be a one term president whose policies would lead to the creation of the Whig Party. 1840. Dayton, Ohio, where the Whig party held it's convention Martin Van Buren and others were trying to find a Whig candidate to run for president. Secretly he met with the Choteau family representative. An arrangement was made to have a member of the Choteau family whose resemblance of William Henry Harrison would take Harrison's place upon election. March 4, 1841. The look-alike Harrison gave his inauguration speech outside on a blustery day with freezing temperatures. Within 30 days the man was dead. Martin Van Buren had his revenge for his father, Aaron Burr. The Choteau family had back in the year 1755 despatched a young woman from France because she was a half-breed Choteau and she settled on the island of Nevis where she would meet a young man from Scotland with whom she would bear a child with. Afterwards this young Scotsman would travel to America and impregnate another woman who was married to Henry Van Buren. November 1811. The Wabash Valley, Indiana. The Battle of Tippecanoe was a devastating blow to the indians because they would no longer be living east of the Mississippi river. The Indian leader Tecumseh was killed in the battle. His brother, Tenskwatawa "The Prophet" was revealed to be a treacherous deceiver by not negotiating with William H. Harrison, because he knew it was not the real William H. Harrison. He recognized the man as a member of the Choteau family. He was shocked at the man whose family had betrayed the indians. He put a curse upon the young man and those who would follow him in a leadership role of the republic.That young man was later the chosen Whig candidate for president in the election of 1840.The United States would bear this curse until the attempted assasination of President Ronald Reagan. 1979, Tipp City, Ohio Nancy Reagan was secretly meeting an astrologer of indian ancestry. The astrologer, Hetty Von Traxler, was convinced by Nancy Reagan to spare her husband's life. What Nancy did not know was that Hetty was an indirect descendant of "The Prophet". With some chanting and calling upon the collective spirits of the ancients, Hetty removed the curse upon the nation.

March 3, 2026. Several hours after the memorial, Dirk Pitt the third, 12 years of age walks up to his mother, Summer, and asks, "Mama, I know Grandpa Dirk was a hero many times over and saved a lot of people but you have'nt told me much about great-grandpa George or my great-great and great-great-great grandpas. Do you know much about them? And if you do, can you please tell me now? "Well, my sweet son, your great-grandpa George was born in 1900 and lived a full life. He served in both World Wars 1 and 2. He was a Los Angeles cop in the 1920s and 1930s. After World War 2 he went into politics and served as a Lieutenant Governor under Governor Goodwin Knight in the early 1950s. And was elected United States Senator in 1958 and served until 1994. Your great great grandpa Matthew was born in 1840 and rode in an covered wagon from Dayton, Ohio in 1846 across the country to California. At Nine years of age he became rich in the Forty-Niner gold rush as a supplier of goods for the miners. Then he joined the navy when he was 13 years old and sailed with Commander Matthew Perry to Japan in 1853. Your great great grandpa Matthew then served in the Civil War as a Civil war correspondent and after the war became a world traveling journalist reporting on many wars and other topics. He would eventually learn to drive and to fly. He would marry late and had great-grandpa George late in life. Your great great grandpa Matthew disappeared in the Himalayas during World War 2 while on a plane. Your great-great-great Grandpa Daniel Pitt lived from 1763 to 1854. He served in the Revolutionary war. He would be a trailblazer, fur hunter, and surveyor. Your great-great-great-great Grandpa Zeke was born 1720 and lived until 1808. Not much is known about him".

1920s. Los Angeles, California. Once when his father was in town and staying for dinner at George and Louise's, Matthew Pitt got on the subject of his civil war experience and how he, Henry Villard and Whitelaw Reid would battle to be first with a telegraphed story to the newspapers back east. Apparently Henry was furious that Whitelaw Reid got his story off first and fumed that he was always second. Matthew Pitt, enjoying the rivalry between the two never found himself trying to compete against either one. Matthew was confident of his skills. Later it would be the three of them together in the internecine Republican party politics of the 1870s and 1880s despite his travels that would find them competitive and each knowing their respective turfs and butting heads or allying with one or the other. It was a rough and tumble time in the politics of the Republican party with Ohio and New York states dominating the party. Matthew and Whitelaw were from Ohio. Whitelaw being from Greene County and Matthew being from Montgomery County. "It helps to know what you're doing no matter what area it may be, George. Remember that. You know what I found out back then? Even my grandfather, Zeke was political. Though it's hard to believe a groundskeeper for a cemetery could be that way. Hehe".

1750s. Trinity Churchyard, New York City. Ezekiel "Zeke" Pitt had just finished tossing the last mound of dirt on top of a newly buried plot when the grounds administrator hailed him over to the church. Azrael Johnson, the grounds administrator told Zeke to go pick up another dead body. Zeke walked over to the wagon and hopped onboard and clicked for the horses to go. The dead man he was supposed to pick up was Francis Xerates Wharton.

2014. St. Julien sat back from the table satisfied with the meal just completed. A scrumptious omelette with prosciutto, mushrooms and roasted red peppers with hollandaise sauce over the omelette with a touch of basil on top. St. Julien begins ruminating on Hollandaise sauce when the cell phone rings.
Hiram Yaeger, Jr. begs forgiveness for interrupting St. Julien. St. Julien is happy to be interrupted by his good friend Hiram. "I am calling about that research you wanted me to do on Nero's last meal St. Julien and thought I would give you the good news that yes it was recorded and was reputed to be stored in the Vatican archives".
"When my father last traveled in the time/teleportation machine I had him stop by to look and found that yes it was listed in the register of documents listed but there was a note that it had been loaned out to a Mr. Xerates. I just did some research on that name and found that this man was a known agent of Morgana whose brother was of course King Arthur. It looks like this document may have been given to Morgana for some unknown reason. If you want I can try digging more on this but it may involve sending someone back in time or going through a lot of obscure research over in Europe and as you know my father has been helping fight the Choteau family over a wide span of time that reaches back to the Minoans. If you want I could contact your grandson, Nicholas, to see if he has the time to do this".

November 1856. John C. Fremont lost the election to the democratic candidate, James Buchanan. John C. Fremont takes it philosophically. Matthew Pitt is awed by the man's acceptance of the loss. "Well, who knows young Matthew, I may try again. I just have that strong urge to stay active and find other pursuits until another chance comes along. I remember Daniel, your father, Matthew, that he would accept things too and move on. He was a young buckaroo in his heyday as he and many other fur trappers, surveyor and mountain men like Kit Carson, Jim Bridger, Jim Clyman all explored the west. Those were the days. I remember your dad telling me that even your grandfather Zeke helped Jeremiah Dixon and Charles Mason survey the Pennsylvania-Maryland border back in 1764-1766. He also told me a few things about old Zeke and how he was a character".

Having read several private journals, including some from the Pitt family and others, Dan Forrester was fascinated by the stories of the 1840 Whig Party convention in Dayton, Ohio. Having lived in the Northern suburbs of Dayton all his life, Dan realized his search was still in the early stages. Some of the family accounts he had read included the Wampler, Mumma, and other local family journals. The Reid family of New York let him access Whitelaw Reid's papers and poring over a couple of biographies of the man by Royal Cortissoz and Bingham Duncan. Dan decided to contact Ohio Senator Mike DeWine to get permission to visit the Reid home near Cedarville, Ohio. Upon arriving at the private residence of the Ohio Senator, the DeWine family gave him a tour of the house where Whitelaw Reid grew up in the 1830s and 40s. Still harder yet to achieve was his own family's records, which puzzled him. It was possible that his grandfather having been in the CIA back in the 1940s and 50s was sensitive about the family's records being accessed. Dan was interested in the Pitt family and decided to try and contact a certain Dirk Pitt.

Michael Sansom, in his search for answers, came across Dan Forrester's name in some of the log books at the libraries, online researches and other sources that were accessed and decided to contact Dan and hopefully compare notes to see if there's anything of beneficial use to each other.

Hours before he was to take a flight to Washington, D.C. to meet Dirk Pitt at NUMA, Dan Forrester met up with Michael Sansom. Dan learns about the Zeulithan family from Michael and wants to learn more about them. Michael learns more about the Harrison family and the Pitt family from Dan. One thing that Dan Forrester mentioned about his research was the mysterious Zeulithan family that's only briefly mentioned in historical or personal accounts.

February 2014. Suisun Bay, east of San Francisco is the Boneyard of old ships no longer in use. Beneath the waters of Suisun Bay lays the hidden lair of Dr. Malachi Zeulithan. As he rides the elevator in a tube that takes him up to one of the middle ships in the pack of old ships he can't help but grin at his plan. He steps out of the elevator and walks up to the top of an old oil tanker and works his way towards one of the outer ships and gets into a speedboat that streaks out of an opening door in the ship that hides the speedboat

February 17, 1864. The crew of the Hunley is partying after defeating the Housatonic. After awhile everyone is tipsy and when tapping noises that sounds like morse code begins no one is quite sure what to think. Suddenly the side of the submarine is pierced by a metallic prow sharp enough to slice through most metals like butter protrudes into the submarine for a couple of minutes and then backs out allowing the water to rush in drowning the men and sinking the Hunley with all aboard dying. Laughing maniacally, Julius Zeulithan watches from his submarine, the Zeus.

While researching the Zeulithan family of Dayton, Michael Sansom came across a couple of names. Wendell Loring and a Jennifer Donner, who had married into the Sansom family. Making progress on his Sansom family tree and researching about the feud that ensnared several families in Dayton during the second half of the 19th Century was most intriguing. Wendell Loring was a cousin of Jennifer Donner and got caught up in the feud. While looking at the Loring family tree, Michael came across Lothar Loring, a living decendant of Wendell, who was living in the Seattle area. Michael had an idea about the Zeulithan family and went to Washington, D.C. to go through the Library of Congress and the Mational Archives. After signing in at the National Archives and telling the clerk what he wanted to research, a red flag appeared on her computer, informing her to allow the research and inform the CIA immediately.

2014. Still seething at the loss of his lair beneath Suisun Bay, Malachi had to flee from the country and find another place to hide. After some searching he settled on a lonely, abandoned castle in Turkmenistan near Bekdash. Luckily he had most of his data stored on a private data server by a company that he paid to use. When he had gone back to his lab beneath Suisun Bay he luckily saw the law enforcement and military craft swarming around the Old ship boneyard. He turned the speedboat around and had fled before they saw him. Now in this creepy old castle he has to find the equipment to build his lab. Malachi Zeulithan is sitting at his desk debating whether to leave the castle or stay. Then he starts thinking about the National Reconnaisance Office firing him for using his experimental aircraft with special weaponry to shoot down a civilian aircraft in the mountains of Idaho. Now that he has a newly designed aircraft that he has used for the sinking of the six commercial ships he can hope that maybe the U.S. Government will pay him to stop using his flying sub. If he is not paid he will use it to cause more havoc on commercial shipping on all the oceans. This castle, though near water is not the best of location to be closer to the oceans. "I think I will start searching for a better location to relocate as soon as possible" he mumbles. After some searching Malachi finds a tiny South American country, San Martin, to relocate to. A small country with a pliable dictator who can be bought. With some effort in the costs and shipping of equipment he manages to get comfortably established. The weather is humid but definitely warmer. With some expense a couple of generators are purchased to run not just his equipment but a decent air conditioning system as well. And he finds out through the news media that a young, black female teenager named Amanda had been on shore who was stunned to see a small speedboat exit a bigger ship through some special door at the old ship boneyard. "Well, what's done is done" grumbles Malachi.
In Arthur's Bar, Henry Austin and Lothar Loring are sitting at a table talking when in walks a grizzled old man with white hair. At the bar, the old man loudly orders a mug of beer and proclaims to have seen an alien spaceship shoot down a civilian aircraft in the mountains of Idaho some time back. Lothar, barely listening until now perks up and asks the old man to come over. Lothar introduces himself and Henry to the old man. "I am Tibor Fabrizian, an old miner and prospector in the mountains of Idaho' replies the man. "Tell me about the civilian aircraft that was shot down" comes back Lothar. Tibor describes the aircraft to a tee. Lothar seethes when he realizes it was his daughter's aircraft. "Can you describe the aircraft that shot down that small plane?". "Why sure I can!" replies Tibor. He not only describes it but also does a reasonable drawing of it as well. Lothar finds it incredible but wonders how can such an oddly shaped craft be described in such detail if it did not fit any known craft. Henry says, "Let me pass this along to my son, who works for the federal government and see what he can find out. The old, lonely castle outside of Bekdash is assaulted by a team that is lead by Kurt, Dirk and Juan and the men they recruited for the operation. Disappointed that the maniac, Malachi Zeulithan, is not found they report the place is empty to the authorities. When they return back to Seattle, Dirk is assigned a new project and Kurt is given a brief vacation and Juan is kept on to find the madman. Henry Austin, after learning that Kurt is back but on vacation gives him the drawing and tells him of the story about the old man and what he witnessed. Kurt decides to head to Idaho and finds the area where the civilian aircraft was supposed to have been shot down. Looking down from a tiny plateau on the side of a mountain Kurt see's a small lake. He manages to work his way down there and taking a brief swim, he does spy the remains of an aircraft. After resurfacing and drawing several deep breaths he swims back down again. He finds the wreckage and spots the remains of the pilot. Swimming back to the surface and drawing some more deep breaths he goes back down to find something to bring back to the surface. He resurfaces with a small piece of metal that has the serial numbers. Kurt returns to Seattle and heads to Lothar Loring's home. Inside he hands over the metal piece with the serial number. "With my deepest condolence I have returned with this piece of the aircraft your daughter flew and found her remains. I assume you will have her body properly buried". "Thank you young man, I am very grateful you have found my daughter. I would like to ask that you find the monster who did this to her, if you please". "Yes, I will do this and see it through" replies Kurt. Later, Kurt hands the drawing to Gamay to get her opinion. "You know what this looks like? It looks lik a flying submarine but with wings that look like it can skim over water as well as fly" replies Gamay. Kurt is stunned by her thoughtful observation. "Who would build such a vehicle like this though?' replies Kurt.
Gamay spends some time thinking as she studies the drawing. Then it dawns on her why Commercial ships have been sunk but without apparent cause of their sinkings. Now it fits! Then at the same time she saw the possibilities of this "flying sub" for reconnaisance work and she knows that the only possibility of someone with such a budget is the National Reconnaisance Office. She calls the NRO but is given the runaround. Finally she calls the White House and tells the Chief of Staff what she suspects. He promises to get back to her. After a couple of days Gamay is still waiting but decides to fly to D.C. to confront the Administration about this.
Luggage packed, and getting dressed Gamay tells Paul Trout, her six foot husband that she's going to demand information on the mysterious NRO flying craft. "Well, go give them heck, my dear. I'm with you all the way. Just wish I could be there to see their faces" Paul declares. Later, at the airport Gamay leans into the car to give Paul a kiss and waves. She enters the airport , takes care of her luggage and goes to the gate to catch the 9:30pm flight. Early the next morning Gamay calls the White House number and arranges an appointment with the Chief of Staff at 1:30pm. At 1:30pm promptly Gamay Trout walks into Charlie Edwards' office. With a stern glare from Gamay she says "Tell me about the flying sub that the NRO has developed and why it has sunk six commercial ships!!!" declares Gamay. "Calm down and I will tell you the story about this craft, Gamay" replies Charlie. "Does the president know about this and why he is not here?" comes back Gamay. "But, of course the president knows about the project. However, he is holding a press conference at the moment. Now, please sit". "Very well". "Now this was an unofficially sanctioned project by a brilliant, but very disturbed man who created the flying sub. His name is Malachi Zeulithan. And we allowed him to run with it until he shot down a civilian aircraft and then we fired him but we kept the flying craft for ourselves before we decided to destroy it. Then when we heard of the destruction of those six commercial ships we could not say anything about what had been our project. But apparently Malachi created another flying craft for his own purposes. As for going after him we have decided to let others to do that because our hands are kind of dirty in the matter. Now, do you understand why the U.S. Government won't touch the man. I am sorry that you have been drawn into this because your purview does include the oceans of the world. And we can't or won't even sanction your own efforts in finding the man". "So you know where he has relocated to?' replies Gamay. "We have some ideas yes but the only sure thing of course is that he has to be close to the oceans". "Did you know about the man's great-grandfather?" replies Gamay. With a blank stare, Charlie says "No, why should we". "Because Julius Zeulithan, is the man who destroyed the Hunley and disappeared but is presumed responsible for many ships sunk in the late 1860s". After Gamay left Charlie's office, his next visitor is Lothar Loring. "Lothar my friend, what brings you to Washington?" says Charlie. "I am here on behalf of the lobby that recently hired me. The Greece Historical Association. I understand that recently historical artifacts were found some time back in Arizona and the Greek government was most appreciative for the U.S. Government in handing them over to their government. Now they wish to reciprocate in like fashion with knowledge about a certain corporation in Europe that is causing some people to wonder about them. It's the Countess Cecile Corporation and the potential for trouble. It seems that it maybe involved in a power struggle with other megacorporations to plunder the riches of our planet. You remember how we helped Hans Kohl take the liberty ship, John W. Brown, just after World War 2? Right?". "Well, it seems there's a race for ultimate power that we set off by betraying our country. And now I have a young man helping me find the murderer of my daughter in the mountains of Idaho". Charlie breathes inwardly as it dawns on him that it was Lothar's daughter who was the one killed by Malachi Zeulithan. "Oh my, that's right, your daughter was a bush pilot out west especially in Idaho" says Charlie. "You know what, I appreciate the information you just brought to me and we'll look into this discreetly as we can". Charlie, not knowing what to do with this nebulous information that probably won't amount to much because companies are always trying to strangle each other. "Well, it was great to see you my old friend and hopefully it won't be as long until we meet again". After leaving the White House, Lothar is pleased with himself for hinting at the war that's about to begin. It is a nice spring day this April, 19, 2014. He takes a walk to an out of the way cafe and goes up to a table where a young woman is sitting. Helene Moran, daughter of the deceased Kelly Moran looks up into the face of her lover. Lothar, admiring the beautiful greek features of the young Helene is always refreshing to him. Especially at his age. Who knew that the Blue Ice was to be the trigger of a long struggle between powerful forces for 60 years. In discreet corridors of power, Lothar was known as the Grandmaster. It was he who helped his co-conspirator in the John W. Brown affair that helped Charlie Edwards and others begin their political or business careers. He notices a wireless computer next to Helene and smiles. Her face is stricken as she notices a news bulletin on her computer. "What is it, my dear Helene?' Lothar asks. "A large ship in the New York Bay was destroyed and parts of manhattan as well by this madman who is responsible for other commercial ships being destroyed. An unidentified flying craft described as an alien craft by witnesses is the perpetrator. Terrorists were believed responsible at first but apparently this madman named Malachi something announced over broadcast and online media claiming responsibility and unless he is paid a lot of money he promises more destruction" says Helene.