Driving the third car was one of Ari's agents, Gideon Dichter. Dichter was dark complexioned, lean, with a face like a hatchet. A neatly trimmed beard softened the hard contours of his face. He had the look of a man who had seen the sharp side of combat. That wasn't unusual in Israel. Everyone served in the military, sooner or later. Out of necessity, Israel had become a nation of soldiers.
Everyone was armed except Friedman and his assistant. The Project team had brought their MP7s and their pistols. The assault weapons were stashed in the back of the vehicles. Rivka and Dichter carried Jericho nine millimeter pistols and Uzis.
Friedman wasn't happy when he saw the arsenal.
"Is this really necessary, Nick? We're in Israel, not Syria. I'm not comfortable around guns. Neither is Miriam."
"It's only a precaution, Doctor Friedman," Nick had said. "Where we're going, we're on our own. The Wilderness of Zin is as empty as the Sahara, once we leave the tourist areas. There's no law out there except what we bring with us. I believe in being prepared."
"Well, don't expect me to carry one," Friedman said.
"Don't worry, we won't ask you to. That's our job. Yours is to help locate Solomon's treasure."
"Are there really terrorists where we're going?" Miriam asked.
She had a pleasant voice with an accent that pegged her as a New Yorker. She'd dressed in tan cargo pants and a matching shirt and jacket. Everything was new. She looked as though she'd stepped out of an Abercrombie and Fitch store window.
Safari chic, he thought. Then, you're being unfair.
"Probably not," Nick said. "Like I told Doctor Friedman, it's best to be prepared."
They set out for Beersheba and the Well of Abraham, some fifty miles to the south. An hour later they reached the city. Nick wasn't sure what he'd expected, but a modern city of over two hundred thousand people wasn't what he'd had in mind.
"I thought the Well of Abraham was in a village," he said to Selena. They were following Rivka in the car ahead.
"It is, or was. Now there's a visitor center. It's at the edge of the modern city."
"What's the big deal about Abraham's well?" Lamont asked.
"For one thing, we're in the middle of a desert and water means life. According to tradition, Abraham came here after he left Egypt," Selena said. "He knew how to dig a well and he's supposed to have dug this one."
"Okay, so what?"
"Abraham is one of the patriarchs, and that makes everything he did important. The story of the well is in Genesis. The king of the region back then was named Abimelech. He gave Abraham grazing rights for his animals, but then the king's servants seized the well. Abraham is supposed to have brought seven lambs to the king to settle the dispute. That's where the name Beersheba comes from. It means 'the oath of seven.'"
"This the same Abraham that was going to sacrifice his kid?" Ronnie asked.
"That's him," Selena said.
"Man, everywhere you go in this country, it's like walking through the Bible," Lamont said.
"That's why they call it the Holy Land," Selena said.
"My grandma would've loved this. She was big on the Bible."
The visitor center was located near the gates of the old city of Beersheba, on the banks of the Beer-Sheva River. The river was a parched, sandy wadi. Occasional flash floods in the winter sent water rushing down the dry bed. Except for those rare occasions, there was nothing to see in the river except sand and rock. Deep beneath the dry bed, water flowed. It was this hidden stream that fed the well.
They parked the vehicles. Dichter stayed with the cars while the others went into the center. The well was in a courtyard, surrounded by an iron railing. Tourists milled about, some leaning over the railing and looking down.
Friedman looked at the well and said, "This can't be right."
"What do you mean?" Nick said.
"This couldn't possibly be the well that Abraham is supposed to have made. It's clearly from a much later date. I would guess Ottoman, probably around the thirteenth or fourteenth century."
"Very good, Doctor," Rivka said. "You are correct."
"If you knew that, why did you bring us here?"
"Consider it a small test of your expertise. I wanted you to see what most people think of as Abraham's well. The Ministry of Tourism has invested a great deal in this center. It's one of the major attractions for visitors to our country and provides important information about the patriarch."
"Where is the real well located?" He sounded peeved.
"It's on Tel-Ba'er Sheva, a few kilometers from here," Rivka said. "It's an archaeological site, partially open to the public. That's where the original biblical town of Beersheba was located."
"You're sure about that?" Selena asked.
"You'll see for yourself. You can even see the tamarisk tree Abraham planted by the well. It's mentioned in Genesis."
"I'm glad to hear this isn't the real deal," Nick said. "Everything here is new. If this had been the well mentioned in the scroll, there would be nothing to give us a hint of where to go next."
"It won't take us long to drive there," Rivka said.
They went back to the vehicles, got in and drove off to Tel-Ba'er Sheva. As the vehicles turned a corner and disappeared, a man took out his phone. He looked around him to make sure no one was nearby to overhear and punched in a number.
"Yes."
"They've moved on, probably to the Tel."
"Follow them."
The man put the phone back in his pocket and walked over to a dusty motorcycle leaning against a wall. He started the bike and rode off.
CHAPTER 15
Tel Ba'er Sheba was a large hill located a few miles away from the Arab town of Tel-es-Saba. The biblical city covered about fifty acres and dated back to the rule of King David. Centuries of sand had buried it, but now it was reemerging. Excavations had revealed an extensive network of streets and buildings, laid out in a grid. The town had once been fortified by a high wall, parts of which still stood. The lower part of the wall was composed of large rocks, the upper section of sand colored bricks.
Abraham's well was right outside the city gate.
They parked nearby and walked to the well. It was surrounded by large stones laid in a circular pattern. Two wooden posts held up a shed roof of sticks that provided minimal shade. A few tourists stood nearby, talking.
Nick peered over the edge of the stones encircling the well. "How deep is it?"
"About two hundred feet," Rivka said.
"Must've been fun digging this baby," Lamont said.
"How do they know this one is Abraham's?" Selena asked. "There are lots of wells here and in Beersheba."
"It's in the right place," Rivka said.
She pointed at the remains of a tamarisk tree about twenty feet away. The tree was in poor shape. It was still alive, but most of what had once been a thick, branched trunk had been removed. It looked as though it had been there a long time.
"You see that tree? According to Genesis, Abraham planted that by his well. It's as good a reason as any to say this is the well that he dug."
"We have to start somewhere," Nick said. "Let's assume we're in the right place. The first marker is somewhere nearby."
"The scroll said to look where the water gathers," Friedman said. "Do you think it means inside the well?"
Miriam had been quiet since her question about terrorists. Now she said, "If it is, how are we going to find it? I don't think anyone is going to let us climb down in there."
"I wouldn't put something down inside the well," Selena said. "If I were leaving a clue, I'd put it where it could be seen by someone who knew to look for it."