Nick rubbed his hand over his chin. "It's as good an idea as any."
Lamont said, "Selena's right. Moses would have had a hard time climbing up the route we took."
"What about over there between those two tall rocks?" Ronnie said.
They walked over to the place Ronnie had pointed out. The rocks marked a natural path, a dry streambed carved out by centuries of weather. It wasn't the kind of trail you found in a park, more like a suggestion of a way through the boulders. Someone had carved a picture of the sun on one of the rocks. Another picture of an Ibex was etched into a rock farther down the side of the mountain.
"Looks like somebody used it to climb up here," Lamont said.
"Right," Nick said. "We'll go slow. Keep your eyes peeled for one of those eyes or anything else that stands out."
They started down the rocky slope. About ten minutes later, Ronnie stopped.
"I need to take a leak. Go ahead, I'll catch up."
He walked a little way off the trail into a grouping of boulders, waiting for the others to get ahead. He unzipped and began to relieve himself.
Then he saw the eye, carved in one of the rocks. Chiseled into the rock beneath the drawing were Hebrew letters.
He zipped up and called to the others. "Hey guys, I found something."
A minute later they all stood beside him.
"That eye is the same as the one in Beersheba," Nick said.
"What do the letters say?" Lamont asked.
"It's biblical Hebrew," Friedman said. "It says 'water and cave.'"
"This has to be the next marker," Nick said. "But what does it mean? Water and cave could mean anything."
Friedman took a picture of the letters on the rock.
"I think I might know," Rivka said. "There's a place that's famous in the story of David and how he became king."
"Go on," Nick said.
"It's in the book of Samuel," she said. "King Saul believes David wants to kill him and pursues him to a place of water and caves."
"Ein Gedi!" Friedman said.
"That's right," Rivka said. "This marker has to refer to Ein Gedi. I can't think what else it would mean, especially since we're on the trail of David's tomb. It's an oasis near the Dead Sea. It's famous, quite beautiful. It's been set aside as a natural preserve. There are springs, waterfalls, and many caves. People have been going to the springs for thousands of years. The animals come there to drink in the summer. Ein Gedi means 'the spring of the goat.'"
Nick said, "If it's so famous, wouldn't anything hidden there have been found a long time ago?"
"Not necessarily. There are a lot of caves, and some of them aren't easily accessible. It would take years to explore them all. There are several archaeological sites in the area that take up priorities."
Friedman said, "The region is mountainous. There's a lot of limestone, ideal for cave formation."
"So now we're going to go find a cave no one else has noticed, in an area with lots of caves?" Lamont asked.
"You have a better idea?" Rivka said.
Ronnie looked out over the desert. He pointed at plumes of dust rising into the air from approaching vehicles.
"Looks like the tourists are starting to show up."
They headed down the mountain.
CHAPTER 20
They'd gotten about three quarters of the way down the side of the mountain when Nick suddenly stopped. He reached up and began scratching his ear.
"Shit," Lamont said. "You're messing with your ear."
Ronnie and Selena looked at each other.
"What are you talking about?" Friedman asked.
"It's hard to explain," Selena said. "Sometimes when we're about to run into serious trouble, his ear starts to itch."
"That's ridiculous," Friedman said.
"I'm afraid it isn't," Selena said.
"Might be nothing," Nick said, tugging on his scarred ear, "but it feels like trouble."
"Gideon and Miriam are down there," Rivka said. "Don't you think we would've heard something, if there was trouble?"
"What could possibly be wrong?" Friedman asked. "We're in the middle of the desert. There's nobody around for miles."
"Except for those vehicles we saw," Lamont said.
"They're probably tourists."
"We don't know that," Nick said. "Doctor Friedman, I want you to stay here while we go the rest of the way, until we know it's safe."
"Poppycock," Friedman said.
"What? Nobody says that anymore."
"I will not stay here while you indulge some fantasy about your ear. I'm tired and I want to sit down and get out of the sun. I'm going down with or without you."
Nick looked at Friedman's stubborn expression and decided it wasn't worth the trouble to argue. He took out his pistol and checked to see if there was a round in the chamber. The others did the same. Friedman looked at the guns and shook his head.
"You're serious about this, aren't you?"
"Better safe than sorry, Doc," Lamont said.
"Since you insist on coming with us, stay well to the rear," Nick said.
"I protest."
"Protest all you like, but you stay in the rear. You understand?" Nick's voice was hard.
"Do as he asks, Alan," Selena said.
"You too?"
"He's trying to protect you. Do as he says."
Friedman took one look at Nick and nodded.
"Good," Nick said.
"How you want to play it?" Ronnie asked.
"If I wanted to make trouble, I'd watch our vehicles and wait for us to show up. They're out in the open. Once we leave the rocks, we're exposed. The way this trail is going, I figure we'll come out about fifty yards to the right of the cars. We started up to the left of them. If somebody's there, they'll be watching for us to come back the same way."
"Maybe," Selena said.
"If I'm wrong about this, I'll buy everybody dinner and apologize. In the meantime, we go slow until we can see who's down there."
"I'm going to enjoy that dinner," Friedman said.
They climbed down toward the desert floor, following the bed of the ancient stream. Tall rocks on either side prevented them from seeing the cars, but it worked both ways. Anyone at the cars wouldn't see them coming.
They reached a point near the bottom of the slope where the old streambed petered out and the cover of the boulders began to give way. Nick slipped behind the last of the covering rocks and looked through his binoculars. The Israeli jeeps were about forty yards away. Two new vehicles were parked nearby, the cars they'd seen approaching from higher up. He couldn't see anyone in them.
Gideon was in the front seat of one of the vehicles. It looked like he was asleep, with his hat pulled down over his eyes. Miriam stood outside, resting her hand on the fender and looking away from them, toward the spot where they'd started up the mountain hours before.
"What do you see?" Selena asked.
"Two new vehicles, empty by the look of them. Looks like Gideon is sleeping in one of ours. Miriam is standing outside. She seems to be waiting for us to come back."
"I told you so," Friedman said. "I've had enough of this."
He stepped out from behind the rocks and started toward Miriam.
"Wait…" Nick said.
"Miriam," Friedman called. "Over here."
She turned to look.
Rivka started to follow Friedman.
Nick grabbed her arm. "Wait. Something doesn't feel right. Why isn't Gideon getting out of the car?"
He looked again with the binoculars. Something red stained the side of the vehicle under the closed door by Gideon's seat.
"Friedman," Nick yelled. "Get back here!"
Friedman waved a hand dismissively and continued walking toward Miriam. She ducked down behind the car. Friedman stopped, confused.