The Atlantis Gene

Vincent Tarea, “head of field operations for Clocktower Jakarta” (75) and the man responsible for kidnapping the two boys, speaks via video link to most of Jakarta’s analysts, case officers, and operatives. He informs them that Clocktower has been compromised, and he blames Vale. Dispersing Clocktower’s Jakarta personnel to multiple safe houses is an attempt, Tarea believes, to leave Clocktower vulnerable to attack. His plan—with the aid of Immari security forces—is to secure Warner, who is in Vale’s custody, and “neutralize” Vale.

Cohen watches the video screens nervously, anticipating an attack while simultaneously trying to decode Vale’s message. Using a decryption technique, he produces the following sentence: “Gibraltar, British found bones near site. Please advise” (79). The message is a possible reference to Neanderthal bones found in a cave in Gibraltar in the 1940s, a discovery that radically altered science’s understanding of Neanderthal development, which was more advanced than previously thought.

His efforts yield another sentence: “Antarctica, U-boat not found, advise if further search authorized” (80). During World War II, the United States sent a large fleet of ships to Antarctica searching  for Nazi bases and technology. While they hadn’t found anything then, the accompanying photo of