“We are good people, and we respect your country,” Jayden said.
“The man smiled and nodded at him. “It is good to hear that.”
Jayden began to recite from memory: “Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned, everywhere is war. And until there are no longer first-class and second-class citizens of any nation, until the colour of a man's skin is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes.”
The African’s eyes widened and he burst into friendly laughter. “You know Haile Selassie, our great former king! That is from his famous speech!”
Even Carter appeared surprised.
Jayden smiled sheepishly. “I know it from the Bob Marley song. By the way, I love your country’s flag and the whole Rastafarian theme everywhere,” he said, nodding to the painted fence.
Again, the gatekeeper smiled. “Ah yes, and an excellent song it is! You know that Bob visited our country one time, in 1978, probably before you were born,” he finished with another laugh.
“So in the spirit of One Love,” Jayden said, “is there any way we could have just a few seconds’ look inside, so we can tell our friends back home that we’ve laid eyes on the true ark?” Jayden did his best to make his gaze as from-the-heart and natural as possible. And the employee did make eye contact with him while continuing to smile. But again he shook his head.
“I am very sorry, but the answer can only be no. No one is allowed in there, not even if you were Bob Marley himself would I be able to let you in there, my friends. I do hope you understand.”
At this Jayden could only nod. He had tried. But Carter had one more ace up his sleeve.
He held up some cash bills, blocking any view of them from the church with his body. “Maybe if we could not even actually go inside, but just have a look through the door for five seconds? Five seconds!” Carter pleaded, gesturing with the bills, not a trivial amount.
The smile disappeared from the worker’s face as he eyed the money. “Please put that away. We could both get into a lot of trouble. I am sorry but the answer is still no. I will forget I saw that,” he said, eyeing the bills as Carter stuffed them back into his pocket. The employee closed the gate and turned the key in the lock until it clicked. “Now please return to the main church. Enjoy the rest of your stay in our country.” He glanced down at the pocket where Carter had stashed the bills and frowned one more time before walking away in the direction of the church.
“We better go,” Carter admitted in defeat. They walked back out to the front of the main church in full view of everyone, including the employee. From there, they hailed a cab and got in, giving the driver the name of one of the larger hotels they’d seen in town. Carter knew it was within walking distance of others, and they would be booking a room at one of the others so that even the driver wouldn’t know where they were staying. It probably made no difference, Carter knew, but at the same time it was a simple enough step to take to provide a modicum of security, and Carter and Jayden had found out the hard way that it was good to stay in the habit of being discreet when in this line of work.
During the cab ride back into town, they avoided any talk of their objectives, but made small talk about where they might eat that night, how hot it was out, the kind that any tourist might make. After being dropped off at the Sheraton and paying the fare with a tip that was generous, but again, not overly memorable, they walked into the lobby and had a drink at the hotel bar. The idea was to stay just long enough to be able to throw off the driver, or anyone else who might be observing them, before relocating to the hotel where they would actually be staying the night.
“Besides, Jayden said, a beer sounds just about perfect right now.” But there were a fair number of patrons bellied up, and the soft reggae music playing in the bar didn’t leave them with confidence that it would drown out their words, and so again, tactical talk would have to wait. They enjoyed their extra-large St. George Ambers, left cash on the bar and then walked out back onto the sidewalk.
“Hotel Aksum is right up the street,” Carter said as they began to walk. Not long after and they were taking an elevator up to the fifth floor after booking a room for the night. Jayden tossed his backpack on the floor and immediately checked the mini-fridge.
“Bummer, not pre-stocked.”
“Probably a good thing,” Carter said, “Because we’re going to have a busy night.”
Jayden eyed him suspiciously. “Infiltrate the chapel?”
Carter nodded slowly. “I want to take a look in there. It won’t be that hard.”
“There will be a guard in there,” Jayden said. But they both knew that was no real obstacle for them, two seasoned naval warriors. “To make things as easy as possible, we should pick up a pair of wire cutters at a hardware store.”
Carter frowned. Even if they paid cash, they’d be seen doing that.
“Either that or we lug a blanket all the way there,” Jayden said, eyeing the beds, “and throw it over the top of the razor wire so we can climb over.”
“No, it could be traced back to this hotel after we leave it behind. Even though we’re booked on fake names, there’s no need to establish any connections.”
Jayden perked up. “We could buy one of those general tool kits that has everything, including a wire cutters, so it’s not like we’re buying only that, which is way more suspicious.”
Carter nodded. “Good idea. We’d better get going. We’ll pick up some tools, maybe a flashlight or two, get some dinner in town. Then late night tonight…”
“Go time!” Jayden was excited. While he picked up his backpack and took out the things he needed for the trip into town, Carter checked the hotel drawers. It was an old travel habit he’d developed, since one never knew what was left behind, or even had had been left on purpose. The desk drawer had the requisite Holy Bible, and he was about to close the drawer again when he reconsidered. He picked up the book, thinking it could possibly come in handy since the ark stories, both that of the Covenant and of Noah, were biblical in origin.
“Let’s go, dude, I’m hungry!” Jayden called from the doorway. Carter put the Bible in his backpack so he wouldn’t forget it later and headed for the door.
Chapter 32
Midnight in the town of Axum brought a darkness that was not quite as complete as what they had experienced high on Mt. Ararat or in Iran, but still lacking light pollution much more than the typical western city. After being dropped off by a cab at a nearby hotel, they walked a mile or so to the Church of St. Mary of Zion. It was closed at this hour, which Carter and Jayden considered both good and bad. Good, because it meant there would be fewer witnesses around to observe their activities. Bad, because they had no excuse to be here and no one else to blend in with.
They made a beeline for the side of the Chapel of the Tablet that faced away from the main church, since there was no road facing that side. When they reached the fence there, Jayden removed the new clippers he’d purchased in town from his pack while Carter kept a careful watch. The fence had crossbars so that Jayden was able to climb up high enough without a hand from Carter to reach the razor wire with the clippers. These were thick, circular steel coils, not simple barbed wire strands, and it took some doing, and a couple of minor nicks that drew blood from Jayden’s hands, even through the pair of work gloves he wore for the task. But he cut through one entire section, and from there they were able to pull it off to the side and tangle it into the fence itself so that there was a razor-free section in the middle.