Mystery of the Flood: Simon Blake Mysteries, #1

By Özer Mumcu

   Selina Dale Armstrong suspects that her husband, Colonel Armstrong, who died of a heart attack according to official reports, was actually murdered. He calls Major Boris Pavlov to solve the case. Boris Pavlov enlists the help of his friend Prof. Simon Blake. Blake's findings will shed light not only on the murder but also on one of the greatest mythological legends in human history.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Özer Mumcu
• Release date: Sep 29, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215435014

Book preview

Mystery of the

FLOOD

––––––––

by Ozer MUMCU

––––––––

About the Author

Ozer Mumcu was born in Tekirdağ in 1980. He completed his primary and secondary education at Tekirdağ Anatolian High School and Private Tekirdağ Science High School with a scholarship.

He graduated from Trakya University Electronic Communication Technology in 2003, Namık Kemal University Faculty of  Fine Arts Painting Department in 2020 and received a pedagogical formation certificate from Istanbul University in the same year. In 2022, he completed his master's degree at NKU Faculty of Fine Arts.

Since 2006, he has been working as a translator, chess coach and visual arts teacher in various institutions.

Copyright © 2022 Ozer Mumcu

WARNING:

The characters and events in this book are entirely imaginary and have absolutely nothing to do with real people and events.

ENTRANCE

About seventy thousand years ago...

The gigantic creature inside the cylindrical glass chamber filled with liquid closed its eyes as if trying to enter a kind of trance, slightly opening its arms and joining its fingertips together. After a few seconds, a red shape in the form of a triangle appeared on the forehead of the creature, the shape soon became apparent.

It was about time. For too long, he had been treated as an outlaw in this strange prison built by mankind.

Pathetics, he thought, they really believe they can keep me locked up here. 

He concentrated thoroughly. Now he could see clearly.

The image of the giant reactor about fifty miles away was inside his head, down to the smallest technical details. Everything was so vivid that he could touch it if he stretched out his hand.

What he needed was simple. He scanned his mind. He found the coolant of the atomic reactor built below the water level. He smiled slightly at himself. It was a strange smile. The projects of the channels connecting the cooling pumps to the facility were built on the inaccessible floor of the island in the middle of the ocean with the idea that no external element could interfere. For him, it was child's play to do so.

It's 5:15 a.m.

One of the cooling pumps stopped for no reason. The heat produced by the giant reactor could not reach the coolant. Soon after, the backup cooling system was activated. However, it only took a few seconds for it to be disabled.

While all this was happening, interestingly, the alarms did not work. All indicators were normal. Everything was fine for the technical guys in charge of security, who periodically glanced at the monitor.

The situation was noticed too late. By the time the monitor signaled that the cooler had gone off, as it should, the whole place was already shaking and shaking violently...

***

The old man with long white hair and a white coat, who had worn strange glasses, turned to his younger colleagues and said with a depressed expression,

There is no doubt. He did it.

Didn't the shelter area come into play? said the youngest of the other three men in the room.

It works smoothly, the white-haired man replied. But it doesn't work.

It was obvious that he had difficulty standing up as he spoke. He could predict what was going to happen.

It was a common decision of all of us, Professor. We behaved in the way we believed to be right, said the sparsely-haired, blonde in her fifties.

The old man did not respond. 

Are we going to start the procedure? the young one asked. He perceived his own voice as if it were someone else speaking. He was numb all over. He still couldn't believe that this day might really have come. He had lost all sense of reality. The professor replied to the question with a question,

Does anyone have any other suggestions?

There was a short silence. No one responded. That wasn't a real question anyway.

The sparsely-haired blonde doctor asked,

To whom will you give the task? The professor pretended to think. Then,

As you know, he said, there are three people who can take on this job, Jakob, Pieter, and...

Before the professor could finish speaking, the earth began to shake again and with a greater intensity than the first time, and at the same time it was plunged into complete darkness.

***

PART-1

Washington DC,

November 2021

Colonel Armstrong finally lifted his head from the book in which he had been buried for hours. He stretched open his arms and legs, which had been held from immobility. He rubbed his eyes with two fingers. His eyes turned red and the images began to bifurcate. He looked at his watch.

20:18... She'll be mad at me again for being late for dinner...

He put one of the pens on the table in the inner pocket of his jacket and the others in the pen holder. As he was getting ready to get up, there was a knock on the door. It was David who came.

If there's nothing you want from me, I'm leaving, Mr. Colonel...

David Bruster has been by Colonel's side almost from the beginning of his career. A man who was very reliable, mature and free from all ambitions, David had always been with Colonel as a security guard, secretary, driver and sometimes even as a cook, and moreover, with his fatherly attitude, he had given useful advice to his younger boss when necessary, supporting him in difficult situations. In this respect, the relationship between them was beyond the relationship of employer to employee.

Of course you can leave, David.

The man, in his sixties, was buttoning his coat on one side.

It's late, sir, don't overexert yourself He blinked vaguely.

I am getting out now, David...

Seeing the sincere smile on Colonel's face, David quietly turned around, closed the door, and exited. Colonel, moving slightly to the left with his swivel chair, stared out the window pensively for a moment. The weather had cooled down and a light rain had begun.

The young man stood up, put a brace between the books he was working on and closed them. He made his way to the bookcase, which covered the entire right wall of his study room. He paused for a moment, as if he wasn't quite sure what he wanted to do. He then pulled a small key fob out of the right pocket of his jacket. Leaning slightly, he opened one of the closed eyes at the bottom of the library with a key. He was confronted with a number of meticulously arranged files and a small but intact safe. He carefully opened the safe with the other key on his key fob. There was no money, jewelry, weapons, or any valuables inside the safe. Instead, there was a thick bound book that at first glance appeared to be quite old. He slowly pulled the book out of the safe. He opened the lid.

Everything is where it should be...

A fairly determined man, Colonel seemed rather hesitant about what he wanted to do for the day. Finally, he locked the safe, then the closet, and proceeded to the door, grabbed his leather bag from the hanger, and carefully placed the book he was holding in his hand.

Perhaps such precaution is unnecessary, I worry probably in vain...

He hung the bag over his