The Atlantis Code by Charles Brokaw

The text follows Professor Thomas Lourds, a linguist pulled into a dangerous international search after he helps translate a mysterious, unknown language found on an ancient bell in Alexandria, Egypt. This discovery places him and his producer, Leslie Crane, in the crosshairs of Cardinal Murani and his militant operative, Gallardo, who represent the powerful Society of Quirinus obsessed with controlling artifacts linked to the lost civilization of Atlantis. Lourds, aided by Leslie and the highly skilled Russian police inspector Natasha, journeys across Europe and into West Africa to collect other ancient instruments—the cymbal and the drum—and investigate the murder of a fellow scholar. The conspiracy converges on an archaeological excavation in Cádiz, Spain, where Lourds is forced to translate the inscriptions that reveal the Atlantean civilization was destroyed by the immensely powerful, sacred Book of Knowledge. After locating the Book in a hidden underground library, Lourds and his allies manage to escape the murderous cardinal and his men in the collapsing caverns.