‘How soon?’ Fisher asked.
‘As soon as everything can be arranged. We’ll have to deal with the Congolese government, hire guides and porters. And we’ll need security too. The DRC isn’t super-safe right now.’
‘No shit,’ muttered Rivero.
‘So decide whether or not you want to be involved as soon as you can,’ Nina told them. ‘If you want to stay together as a team, that’s good. But if the network has to hire replacements, they need to know.’
A discussion began amongst the film crew. Lydia and Rivero appeared the least enthusiastic, Fisher undecided, while Howie was positively excited at the prospect. ‘We get to explore an uncharted jungle?’ he said, grinning. ‘With a lost city in the middle of it? C’mon, that’s awesome! Imagine seeing that model spread out ahead, only for real. That would be…’ He struggled to find a suitably hyperbolic word, settling for one he had already used. ‘Awesome!’
‘It’d be a hell of a feather in our caps,’ mused Fisher. ‘If we actually did find the city, it could be Emmy material. This could really boost all our careers. What do you think, Lids?’
‘I don’t know,’ said the New Zealander uncertainly. ‘I get what you’re saying, Steve, but it’s another two weeks. And we’d be roughing it in the jungle too.’
‘Come on!’ Fisher said with a smile. ‘Where’s that Kiwi spirit?’
‘In the bar of a nice comfortable hotel?’
Ziff came to Nina. ‘Can I talk to you for a moment? Alone?’
‘Sure. I’ll let you discuss it,’ she told the crew before following Ziff from the tent. ‘What is it?’ she asked him.
He twiddled his beard before replying. ‘It seems you’ve made up your mind that you are going to search for Zhakana.’
‘That depends on the Congolese government,’ said the redhead. ‘But if they give us the go-ahead, then yeah, I want to do it.’
He carefully considered his next words. ‘Then… I would like to come with you.’
The request startled her. ‘Really? If you did, that would mean handing over the First Temple dig to someone else.’
‘I know. And it is not a sacrifice I would make lightly, believe me! My career — my life — has been dedicated to finding relics of King Solomon. His name is my middle name — I suppose it was my destiny!’ He chuckled, but quickly became more serious. ‘The First Temple is an incredible discovery. But you saw the other passage down there; it is completely blocked by rubble. It will take weeks to dig out.’
‘So you’re thinking that while the rest of your team are doing that, you could take a quick side-trip to find Zhakana?’
‘I know that exploring the jungle will not be easy. But at my age, nor is bending down to lift heavy stones!’ Ziff smiled. ‘Delegation is part of being a good leader, wouldn’t you agree?’
‘I dunno, I still have trouble staying hands-off,’ Nina replied.
‘I had noticed.’ He gazed over the sprawl of Jerusalem beyond the Temple Mount. ‘This city is full of history, Nina. But… it is buried. Each new generation builds on top of what was there before, and it gets harder to see what is hidden below. Zhakana, though? It could still be there, exactly as Solomon left it. And I would like to see that.’
‘You think it’s stayed untouched?’
He nodded. ‘I translated more of the inscriptions. Makeda’s people never went to the City of the Damned unless they had to. They believed it was cursed. The people who built it died out thousands of years before.’
She was intrigued. ‘How did they die?’
‘Solomon said that according to the legends of Sheba… let me think of the exact words.’ A brief frown of concentration. ‘“That which gave them their power as an empire, that which they used to conquer their enemies, brought their own walls crashing down and left them barren but for monsters and demons.” Melodramatic, but I don’t believe Solomon was exaggerating. He was reporting what he had been told.’
‘“That which gave them their power,”’ Nina echoed. ‘The Shamir? Or the Mother of the Shamir, rather?’
‘He built the Palace Without Entrance to hide the Imashamir, and to make sure that nobody without the wisdom to use it could ever reach it. So whatever it is…’
‘Could still be there,’ she finished for him.
He nodded. ‘Solomon used the Shamir to build the First Temple. God granted him an incredible gift. The legend goes that it disappeared once its task was done, but perhaps Solomon returned it to its home.’
‘Or its mother.’
‘I do not think that we will really find a great worm inside the Palace,’ said Ziff with a wry smile. ‘But we may find something even more amazing. That is… if you are willing to let me join you.’
She didn’t reply at once. She didn’t dislike the Israeli, but neither had he been the easiest person to work with. He was territorial, and she suspected was more than a little jealous of her fame. But he was intelligent, experienced, well-versed in ancient languages like Old Hebrew… and as he had pointed out, King Solomon was his area of expertise.
‘It won’t be easy,’ she finally said. ‘Do you really want to slog through the jungle looking for something that might not even be there any more?’
‘Do you?’
‘Well, yes,’ she said, surprised by the question.
‘Then you know why I do. You are not the only archaeologist with an obsession. Mine is Solomon, and if I discover another unknown wonder of his, then I can die happy!’
Nina smiled. ‘I hope it doesn’t come to that.’
‘Ha! So do I. My grandchildren would be very sad.’ He looked her in the eye. ‘If you are still unsure if you want me to come on an expedition, I am sure I can persuade the Israel Antiquities Authority to provide additional funding. But… I hope you would want my help for more than mere money.’
‘I would, yeah.’ She cocked her head. ‘Are you absolutely sure you want to come?’
‘Yes.’ There was no hesitation.
‘Okay. Then… welcome aboard, I guess!’ She extended her hand; he shook it.
‘Thank you.’
‘Don’t thank me yet. We might spend two weeks in the jungle being eaten by mosquitoes and find absolutely nothing.’
‘Let us hope we find something more worth our time.’
‘Yeah. We should let the others know.’
Inside the tent, they found that the documentary crew had reached a decision. It was unanimous, though Lydia and Rivero’s trepidation suggested both had come close to dissenting. ‘I just got off the phone with Mike,’ said Fisher. ‘We’re in — with certain provisos.’
‘Which are?’ Nina asked.
‘You said two weeks. That’s too long. We’re saying eight days in-country. So if you’re right and it takes two days to reach the place, and it takes another two to get back, that gives you four days to explore.’
Nina had wanted more time, but reluctantly nodded. ‘Okay. Eight days in the DRC. What else?’
‘Pay and conditions we’ve already agreed with Mike and the network. The issue I want addressed up front, right now, is: who’s in charge.’
‘Meaning?’
‘Meaning I’m the director, and I call the shots. Off-screen as well as on. If I decide we need to pull out, for any reason, then we go. You don’t get to make us wait because you’ve found a particularly interesting piece of pottery. We won’t have hospitals just a phone call away — we’ll be in the middle of nowhere in an unstable Third World country. Everyone in the team is my responsibility, so my top priority is keeping us all safe. Including you.’