‘For now, absolutely,’ she said. Ziff nodded, then issued more detailed instructions. Nina looked back at the watching camera, composing herself for another sound bite. ‘If there really is a secret chamber behind that wall, then hopefully… we’ll soon find out what’s hidden inside.’
3
The process of photographing the wall was painstaking and, to Nina’s mind, excessively prolonged. She decided not to call Ziff out on it, however. Having a debate with him based on her archaeological knowledge and experience was one thing; haranguing him for dragging his feet, on the other hand, was not something she wanted to do in front of a television camera.
Instead she went back outside. The crew had returned to the surface after Fisher decided the ongoing work was not interesting enough to film. The director was now on his phone — from the snippets of conversation she caught, she guessed to the production company’s offices in Los Angeles — while the fourth member of the small crew lounged under an olive tree, the quadcopter beside him.
Howie Pinkett was tall, tanned and in his early twenties, wearing a corded wooden necklace and matching bangles. Nina had not been surprised to learn that the fast-talking Angeleno was a surfer. He did not lack ambition, though; while his official position in the crew was ‘production assistant’, a catch-all term that boiled down to ‘gopher’, the film school graduate also acted as a second cameraman, digital editor and archivist, and drone operator. Had Lydia ever let him touch her precious sound equipment, Nina was sure he would have taken on some of her role as well. But he most obviously had his eyes on an eventual director’s job, usually staying as close to Fisher as his own shadow. ‘So you really think there’s a secret room down there?’ he asked.
‘I do, yeah,’ Nina replied.
‘That is so cool. Genuine Indiana Jones stuff, huh? Or Eden Crest stuff, I guess.’ He flashed a perfect white smile.
‘Uh-huh.’ Her opinion of her sexed-up Hollywood avatar was not the highest.
‘I guess you can visit the set of those movies whenever you want,’ he went on, sitting up. ‘Any way you could get me an invite? It’d be awesome to watch a big-budget blockbuster being filmed — especially when it’s based on the life of someone I know.’
‘Very loosely based,’ she said. ‘But I’m not really interested in that side of things.’
‘Oh.’ The single word conveyed his disappointment. ‘But still… could you ask?’
To her relief, a distraction came when Ziff emerged from the tent. ‘Nina!’ he called. ‘We’re ready. Are you coming?’
‘I wouldn’t miss it,’ she told him. ‘Okay, everyone, let’s go! Steven, hang up — it’s time.’
Fisher frowned, saying something to his other party that she suspected was uncomplimentary, but ended the call. ‘All right,’ he told Lydia and Rivero, ‘let’s get down there. Howie, you coming?’
‘Got all the drone footage we need, so I’m not gonna miss anything this time,’ Howie replied, springing up. He collected an SLR camera — another of his roles was the team’s still photographer — and strode to the tent with the others.
Nina and Ziff made their way back down underground, the camera crew following. The other archaeologists were waiting below. Lights had been positioned in the chamber to illuminate the wall. ‘Okay,’ she said, indicating one of the patches of missing plaster, ‘I’d say that if we remove this corner here, it should reveal the doorway’s edge. That’ll confirm if there really is something here.’
‘Or if there is not,’ said Talal. ‘Dr Ziff, we are moving too fast. Just because there are cameras here, we do not have to perform for them.’
‘This is not a performance,’ Ziff told him, a little defensively.
‘Then why do this first when there is a real doorway?’ He indicated the blocked exit.
‘I have made my decision,’ snapped the Israeli.
‘So let’s do it,’ said Nina.
‘All right.’ Fisher waited for his crew to get in position, then retreated. ‘Roll it.’
‘I think you should do the honours, David,’ Nina said to Ziff.
‘Thank you,’ he replied, taking a small chisel and carefully sliding its tip under the plaster’s edge. ‘We may be able to remove it in one piece if we are caref—’
A snap — and a chunk the size of a man’s boot print fell away, smashing into gritty powder at the two archaeologists’ feet.
Nina and Ziff stared mortified at the hole, the silence broken by a muffled snort. They both glared at Howie, who was struggling not to laugh. ‘Sorry,’ he said, holding a hand over his mouth.
The awkward moment was broken by a gasp from Yaron. ‘Dr Ziff!’ he cried. ‘It is a doorway! Dr Wilde was right!’
She looked back at the broken section. A vertical line marking the division between the near-perfect brickwork and the misaligned section was clearly visible. ‘Look at that!’ she said, running her fingertip down it. ‘Wow. That’s almost sharp. I don’t know what they used to cut it, but they did a hell of a job.’
Ziff glanced towards the blocked doorway. ‘If this is like the other door, it would be… this wide,’ he said, indicating a point four feet from the exposed edge. He poked the plaster with his chisel. A ragged crack opened in the surface. ‘Yes! Here, I found it.’ He flicked away the crumbled coating.
Nina leaned closer to the wall. ‘I can feel the draught on my cheek,’ she whispered. ‘David, give me your chisel, please.’
He passed it to her. ‘I can’t see anything.’
‘Nor can I, but I can definitely feel it…’ She gently tapped the wall. Specks of grit dropped from a crack in the plaster — then she flinched from a puff of dust. ‘Whoa! Okay, I think I found it.’
She eased away a piece of plasterwork. Behind it was a mortarless gap between two of the cruder bricks. ‘It’s a right bodge-job,’ she said.
Ziff gave her a quizzical look. ‘A what?’
‘That’s what my husband would call it. He’s British, he says weird stuff,’ she added. ‘But this hole goes all the way through.’ She poked the chisel into the gap. It penetrated easily.
‘So what is inside?’ asked Yaron.
‘Only one way to find out,’ Nina told him. ‘David?’
The older archaeologist was caught between his innate caution and the prospect of unearthing something completely unexpected. ‘Finding the First Temple alone is a major discovery,’ he said at last, remembering he was being filmed and turning towards Rivero. ‘Ordinarily, we would proceed slowly, searching one room at a time. But it is clear that this chamber is merely an entrance to something more important. We should open this hidden door, to find out what wonders of the Temple of Solomon are inside.’
Fisher nodded appreciatively; Nina was not the only one who had got the hang of playing to the camera. However, not everyone was as impressed. ‘Dr Ziff, I protest!’ said Talal. ‘The Temple Mount is under the jurisdiction of Jordan, and I refuse to allow this… this performance to go any further.’
Ziff drew in an angry breath. ‘This dig is a joint cooperation between Israel and Jordan. And I am in charge. That is what was agreed.’
‘We are scientists, not television stars!’ Talal protested. He jabbed a finger at Nina. ‘We are not extras in her story!’
‘You wouldn’t even have found this place if it wasn’t for me,’ she reminded him. ‘I told you, my way works.’
‘But now we are rushing and causing damage so that she can… she can trend on Twitter!’