22 MAY 1940

UNION STATION

PETERSBURG, VIRGINIA

He parked the car at the very end of the lot and it was about as far away from the main building as you could get. When Elliot Ness got out of the drivers side he pointed away from the building because he knew what the question was going to be. He also told Jones, “see that rail car over there?”

Indy looked it over. There was a side railing where six cars were sitting. They were hooked up to their own locomotive but, currently, they were all quiet even if there were several lights on inside of them. Also, the darkness could not hide the men in suits who were patrolling around the train. That gave Indy some idea about who he was going to meet with. Ness had been tight lipped about it and, besides that, it had long since been obvious to Indy that the guy really didn’t know anything to spill, anyway.

Elliot’s depth of knowledge was somewhat confirmed in how irked he sounded when he told Indy, “well this is the end of the line for me. You head on over there. They’re expecting you.”

As the man got back in his car, Indy did offer one protest, “I might need a ride back to the hotel Elliot.”

As Ness turned the car on and began to back out he simply replied, “call a cab.” He drove off without another word.

Indy walked up to the rear car where he found himself challenged by all the suits. Indy held up his arms as they patted him down. They did so without malice and even acted as if it were no big deal. One of them politely opened the back door to the car and invited Indy into the well lit interior. He walked on in and the suit closed the door behind him.

The men in the rear car were not who Indy had expected to meet. Even so, the one man who seemed to be in charge was something of a surprise and not a bad one at that. Indy shook hands with him, “you know I actually met your father one time. I was a great admirer of his work, particular that car he loaned me.”

Charlie Edison’s eyes opened wide and he laughed as he replied, “you mean THE car? He let somebody else drive it?”

Indy played it off, “well I had done him a favor and, you know.”

Charlie Edison laughed even harder, “well Doctor Jones, with a character reference like that I have to say my mind is well made up.” He then asked for almost everyone else in the car to give them the room. Then Edison introduced the only other man who stayed. Of course, Indy had never met this guy before but, he was well aware of who Bill Donovan was. The guy had been something of a trouble shooter for FDR and was apparently a rising star in the world of black bags, one that Indy was all too familiar with.

Donovan did not seem as pleased with Indy as Edison was. The man had a bulldog face and demeanor, “I suppose you are wondering what all of this about Doctor.” Donovan let that sit for a moment and then added, “or maybe not.”

At that point, another man entered the car from the front and he was profusely apologizing for being held up. The man had a slight Scottish accent but, was otherwise unremarkable. He seemed almost surprised to see Jones, “why Indy, happy to see you again. I was told they might be bringing you on board.”

Indy snickered, mostly to hide his own apprehension, as he replied, “we’re not on a ship Ernie. Course, then again, the way I’ve been handled I wouldn’t be surprised if I wind up on one.” He aimed the last remark towards Donovan who only sneered once more.

Charlie Edison actually seemed sincere when he replied, “I’m sorry we had to do it that way Doctor Jones. I suppose you aren’t that accustomed to so much subterfuge. It’s not exactly life on campus.”

“Oh,” Indy replied taking off his hat and coat, “you’d be surprised Mister Edison. Course, I think my one real question here is what is your angle in dragging me all the way from England, stuffing me in a hotel, and then letting the Untouchables be my personal body guard. What are you now anyway? An engineer like your father? A scientist maybe? What?”

“Actually nothing so distinguished Doctor Jones,” Edison replied. “I’m just a crusty old politician who just happens to be running the US Navy. After my boss died last year that kind of dumped this little pet project, of FDR’s, in my lap. I had made plans to resign my cabinet post and run for office but, given the nature of this project, I don’t feel that I can.”

Indy sat down in an empty chair even if he was not invited. No one protested and he was not really sure he would care even if they did. He shrugged Edison’s last statement off and asked, “what project is that?”

Edison reached down in a satchel case and pulled out a folder stamped classified. He tossed it to Indy and even if Donovan was not so happy about it. Indy opened up and started looking at the photo’s inside. They were all close ups of something that was actually larger but there was no one picture that showed what the entire artifact was. Each picture had a single character on it and Indy did not take long in studying it. He had seen them before. Then, at the bottom of the stack, he found some pictures of what was most obviously a cover stone that had both symbols and more familiar looking ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. After that, there was a paper with a short summary and translations of the cover stones.

Indy closed the folder after only a minute or two and then he said, “well, to start with, your translation of the glyphs are wrong. As for the rest…”

Donovan leaned forward and was intensely interested, “the rest being Doctor?”

Indy shrugged, “I’ve seen them before.” That almost caused Littlefield to have a near stroke. He almost started babbling but, Indy cut him off, “these are the same symbols you showed to me and Sallah back in thirty, isn’t it? You know that meeting we had at the museum in Cairo?”

“Oh,” Littlefield began to recover, “why yes I remember that now. That wasn’t long after Doctor Langford and I had…”

Donovan rudely interrupted with a question, “Sallah? How many people know about this Doctor Littlefield? Who is he anyway?”

Ernie stumbled as he tried to explain, “he was the foreman on the work crew when we first found it. How is he not going to know about it?”

Before the accusations could escalate, Edison put Donovan on a leash and stated, “so let’s just clear the air here. Doctor Jones, you already know where these pictures come from, don’t you?”

Indy remained as calm as he had when he walked in the door, “of course I do Mister Edison. I’ve never seen it but I’ve had the artifact described to me in some detail. Quite a few people in my profession know about Langford’s discovery but, most of them just don’t take him that seriously. I’m taking it that you do.”

Edison took a deep breath and then answered, “given recent events, I don’t think we have much choice in the matter.”

Indy raised a brow at that, “what recent events?”

“I’ll let someone more qualified than me tell you about that, Doctor Jones.” Edison looked somewhat disturbed when he went on saying, “In fact I’m not sure if I’ll ever understand recent events.” He then gestured to the front door, the one that led to the next car, and then told Ernie to escort their guest forward. As Indy was about to walk out, Edison did ask, “oh, Doctor Jones. You said the translations were wrong. What was wrong with them?”

Indy replied smoothly and without much fanfare, “it doesn’t say doorway to heaven. It says Stargate.” Indy noticed that Donovan almost choked when he heard that. That confirmed it for Indy. He let it go and walked into the next car. Here, Indy found the man he had originally expected. The man was in a wheel chair, wearing leg braces, but seemed rather spry the way he rolled himself around. Past the wheel chair, everything else about the man was all too familiar from the news reels and that was right down to the ritzy looking cigarette holder he used.