The site
The city of New York, Sun was beginning to rise. In a small apartment East of City, a handsome man with auburn brunette hair, green eyes and well shaped body was sleeping peacefully until his phone alarm went off. Ethan who was sleeping on his bed spins around, looking at his phone, he turns the alarm off and stands up.
He is a 27 year archaeologist and today is a big day for him. If luck is with him he can boost his career further and make a name for himself in the archaeologist community so he got up super early this morning.
going to the kitchen and Turning on the coffee machine he goes to take a shower sleepy and anxiously , finally it's happening after one month of Undertaking field surveys, research and excavations (digs), it's time to identify whether any heritage assets is present in that area, he couldn't believe that he was selected for this project in this stage.
The area was found after some tourists stepped on the wrong or right spot in the Las Vegas desert and revealed a few ancient buildings.
It was a miracle that made the news, a groundbreaking discovery that could change the history as they know it and the company he worked for got the Permissions to send its archaeologists.
After so many applications, they finally allowed him to be part of it and he was damned if he missed it. So after eating breakfast and coffee, he got ready and left for the airport.
On the way He was thinking about his mentor, Earnest Henson, one of the best archaeologists in the US. It was a pity he died 3 years ago, he would be proud of him if he was here.
He was a good old man whose work was his life and had wild and crazy theories about some archaeologist sites, nevertheless if it wasn't for his guidance he surely wouldn't make it this far.
Sometimes he wondered why the man select him to be his protege, it's not that he was special just some orphan trying his best, the man thought him One of a important life lesson,
Connection mattered more than anything else.
Ethan who was so lost in his thoughts didn't notice how time flew by, before knowing it he was in a taxi driving outside of Las Vegas.
Looking at the same repeating scene outside of the car, he got bored and fetched a book out of his backpack and started to read.
As Ethan was reading his book he was interrupted by the taxi driver voice;
"Excuse me sir, are you by any chance one of the archaeologists working on the ancient site?"
" Yes I am, how did you know?"
Ethan answered as he put away his book.
" I have been driving people this route since they found it and there is no one coming here besides some particular groups."
This was a surprise for Ethan, it's true he hadn't heard anything new on the news about the site but the area was a natural attractions center.
" It's my understanding that the place is a tourist spot? What happened?"
"The government. They closed the area after they found the site."
" The government? "
" Oh boy you're a newbie, I hoped you knew something about what they found there."
The driver said with a disappointed voice,Ethan was doubtful about what he heard, they didn't inform him about government presence there.
Looking at the driver's license on the back of the front glass, he noticed the name of the middle aged Indian driver is Samudra Naran.
he hasn't met the man before and obviously he had no reason to lie to him even so he figured that he will know the situation when he arrives there and didn't put much thought in it.
" Sorry, you're right it's my first time here but I promise anything we find, it will be a history changer."
The driver just nodded and didn't say anything else.
He wasn't bluffing even though he hadn't seen the place, he heard rumors about it from some colleagues that got accepted before him, they had informed him it was a temple older than persepolis, they were a little cryptic about it and said he should join the project as soon as possible. 'connections, right?'
anyway It would take some time before he reaches the site and he just took a five hour flight and he was a little tired, he closed his eyes for a second not minding the curious driver anymore.
next thing he knew was the driver interrupting him again;
> Excuse me sir , we are here.
Opening his eyes and taking a look outside, Ethan was taken back by sight of a lot of military cars and soldiers around.
The place seemed to be a temporary military base, it didn't look like an archaeologist site at all so turning his head toward the taxi driver asked;
" Are you sure this is the right place?"
" I'm sure sir, that would be $50."
The stupid driver should have said the military instead of the government.
Seeing an annoying smile on the driver's face after a little hesitation he paid the driver and got out of the car.
taking a closer look around he saw a tent in the middle of the road that seemed to be the entrance of the fenced area.
Ethan with caution stepped in the direction of the tent, surprisingly no one stopped him or paid any attention to him.
entering the tent he saw two young soldiers, one sitting behind a desk typing on a laptop and another standing guard.
They just searched him and checked his ID and let him through and just said ;
"wait here for a car to pick you up."
He wasn't sure how he was supposed to react and went along with it but Every second it passed made Ethan worry more, this didn't look like a typical excavation site and he was wondering if he without knowing got himself involved with some troublesome matter.
Soon a military Humvee showed up with two soldiers saying that they were his escorts.
Sitting between the two soldiers, he felt like a criminal, even though he hadn't done anything wrong.
He was nervous and intimidated even so after couple of seconds he couldn't suppress his curiosity anymore and asked the soldier next to him;
"I'm sorry sir but I'm a new archaeologist and just got here. Can you tell me what is going on?"
" You will be debriefed when we get to the tent."
The soldier didn't seem talkative and didn't budge no matter what question Ethan asked, making the atmosphere even more awkward.
'It seems they found something other than ruins, maybe an inactive nuke from ww2 or something' Ethan thought, trying to compose himself.
Soon they reached the supposed tent…
seeing one of his colleagues sitting on cheer in the end of the tent and discussing low voice with someone else , he figured that he's the last one to reach here so picking a seat next to him and interrupted his conversation.
" Hi Arnold,congratulations it seems you made it too , do you know what all this is about?"
Arnold turned his head in annoyed manner, trying to see who interrupted him and sees Ethan face, a smile formed on his lib's as he answered;
" Oh hi Ethan, thanks and no unlike you I just got the acceptance email last night but I heard a commander is going to explain the situation, oh he is here."
Arnold wanted to introduce him to the person he just met but the commander's sudden entrance made the tent quiet.
Ethan was also going to keep the conversation going but he doubted that Arnold knew more than him and now was not the time so he let it be.
The commander walked upright in front of the seats with an assertive posture.
It was a large tent and there were around 40 people sitting here, from the look of things most of them were archaeologists, hell he even recognized some of them but no one made a sound.
The tent became so quiet that a tiny bit of the sound of a pin wasn't heard.
He was sitting on the corner in the last row and next to him was Arnold Collins , a 36 year friend from the company.
They worked with each other on a couple of projects and from what he understood about him in recent years he loves archaeology and he's a great father.
Arnold has been married since he was the same age as him and had a little girl two years later.
Even though he was at work most of his time, he never let that keep him away from his daughter and his life, that was why he admired the man.
As the crowd was silent, the commander started to speak in a strict tone;
" Hi, my name is Ross McKinney and I'm in charge of the site. I'm sure all of you are the best in your field work."
Well that's new, a military in charge of an Archaeological site was unheard of so he looked at Arnold for answers, Arnold just shook his head suggesting that he didn't hear anything like this either.
" What you do here is important to national security and because of that you were carefully accepted for this project but before we continue you need to sign a confidentiality agreement. If you agree, please be cited for documents to be ready.
If not, please leave the tent, don't worry, all your expenses are covered by the US government and I thank you for your service."
The commander spoke as little as he could and didn't leak any information, saying that he just looked at the crowd, seeming amused by their expressions.
He wasn't disappointed the crowd looked stunned for a second before whispers broke out.
Ethan with a serious face looks at Arnold and said;
" an archaeologist signing an NDA?"
" I know, It seems like a lame joke, are you going to sing it?"
" I don't know, I was worried at first but this might be a lifetime opportunity, worst case scenario I will abandon the project. What about you?"
" I am not sure, well if the US government pays well, I don't mind signing an NDA, I can buy a house for Elena, what do you think?"
" She's 8."
" she won't be for long."
Ethan just rolled his eyes, he was sure he wasn't joking about it, the guy adored his daughter and all he talked about when they worked together was her and her future.
"What about you Mr Clark?"
Arnold asked you to his left seat, looking past Arnold, Ethan saw an old man with white hair answer;
" All I care about is the new language"
They barely made eye contact and the old man just smiled and said;
" You must be Ethan Noble Wendel, nice to meet you"
Ethan didn't expect the old man to know him while stretching out his hand to shake old man's hand, answered;
"Ah, Yes and you are?"
"Common Ethan, it's Elvin Clark"
Arnold said to him, making his mind go heywire for a second.
" you're famous linguistic expert? And you know my name?"
This day is full of surprises, he was genuinely curious why someone as famous as him knew his name from.
As he looked at Arnold to see if he had mentioned his name to this legend but he heard him speak again;
" Your mentor and I were close friends, he spoke highly of you."
Ethan didn't remember seeing him at the funeral but again there were a lot of people and media present there and he wasn't in the right state of mind either.
He had some questions but the commander coughed, making the tent quiet once more.
looking around he noticed no one left the place and some soldiers were distributing some paper around.
