“Yes it is. But there’s a limit to how much credibility can be placed on it. The real killer — if you’ll excuse the pun — was a ketuba between Lanosea and Bar Giora. But we’ve got that.”
“Your man Sam Morgan,” said Daniel, bitterly.
“That’s right. And now the last piece of the puzzle is that treasure. You see that’s the key to the whole thing. That treasure can prove a link between the manuscripts and Masada… and can effectively authenticate them. So now I must ask you to put the jewels back in the bag and hand it over.”
And just to make it clear how determined he was, he waved the grenade slightly, just enough to remind them that he had it and was ready to use it. Daniel began putting the jewellery back into the jute bag, slowly.
“Hurry up!” snarled HaTzadik angrily.
Ted knelt down to help Daniel. Then Daniel rose to a stooping posture and took a few steps towards HaTzadik, noticing as he drew closer that the pin was still embedded firmly in the grenade. Realizing that he had an opportunity, Daniel practically thrust the bag into HaTzadik’s free hand, knowing that this would momentarily deprive his adversary of the opportunity to pull the pin. In that same split-second he reached over and pressed on Shalom Tikva’s thumb, in an effort to force him to drop the hand grenade. But the manoeuvre failed as HaTzadik jerked his hand back, pulled the pin with the other hand that held the bag and then tossed the grenade behind Daniel.
Daniel spun round to see the grenade land somewhere on the ground. But in this darkened chamber it was hard to tell where. When HaTzadik pulled the bag out, light entered the chamber from outside. Ted shone his torch on the ground to add to the light and help them locate the grenade. But they both knew that with a four second fuse, the chances of survival were slim.
Then the light of Ted’s torch caught the grenade and in an instant, Daniel dived onto the ground, scooped it up, threw it out through the opening and hit the deck. Almost in time with his forearms hitting the ground, there was a massive explosion. In that same split-second, a pile of dirt and an avalanche of rubble rained down upon them.
Chapter 86
The cable car had arrived and Sarit was already walking briskly on the wooden walkway when she heard the explosion. At that point the brisk walk broke into a run. Within seconds she was through the archway at the entrance and onto the plateau.
She arrived to see people swarming around an area ahead of her and a little to the right. Some looking concerned, others crouching down. A couple of men in dark green uniforms — border guardsmen — were telling people to stand back. As she raced up to the scene, she heard a man who was crouching down saying “I’m a doctor.” The border guardsmen left him alone, but ushered the others back.
She arrived to see the self-styled doctor trying to revive a man in the black religious garb common amongst the ultra-orthodox. One of the border guardsman tried to interpose his arm and push her back. She pulled out her ID and flashed it at him. He backed off without another word.
The man on the ground was a small man and Sarit knew immediately who he was: Shalom Tikva. She felt like telling the doctor not to waste his efforts. But she had more important concerns right now. Where was Baruch Tikva? And where were Daniel and Ted? She turned to the border guardsmen.
“What happened?”
“There was an explosion. That’s all we know.”
The other guardsman had a theory.
“Probably a grenade.”
Sarit needed to know more.
“Concussion or fragmentation?”
The border guardsman shook his head. He was whistling in the dark.
The doctor leaned back from Shalom Tikva, also shaking his head. He answered Sarit’s question.
“Concussion.”
Sarit realized that he was probably a military doctor, or at least had experience of treating military casualties. But if it was a concussion grenade, who had thrown it? Neither Daniel nor Ted were likely to have had such an item in their possession, still less to have used one.
Then she surveyed the immediate environment and had a thought.
“What’s that?”
She was pointing to the large ditch. A member of staff looked where she was pointing and then at Sarit.
“It’s the sewage cistern. We’ve been doing some maintenance work on it.”
“Is there supposed to be an opening there?”
“Of course. It was accessible, but entry was prohibited.”
In that instant, Sarit realized exactly what had happened. The only thing she didn’t know was if they were still alive. Without explaining her actions, she leapt into the ditch and started clawing away at the rubble, tossing it aside in handfuls and attacking it with the ferocity of a mother trying to save her baby.
Some one made the mistake of trying to stop her. She back-elbowed them.
“There are people trapped in there!”
Some one asked “how do you know?”
“Just trust me, I do!”
Seeing the determination in her eyes, first the border guardsman and then some of the members of the public, clambered into the ditch and started digging away at the earth and rubble, bare-handed.
Chapter 87
“Daniel… Daniel are you okay?”
Somewhere in the haze of his semi-consciousness, Daniel recognized Ted’s voice. It was that same eerie feeling of the calm after the storm that he had after the explosion in the cafe that had nearly killed Leah Yakarin… the same feeling of pain, discomfort and not quite being there that he had when he woke up in that hospital room after the fire in the house in Ashwell.
Only, this time, when he opened his eyes, it was dark.
“I can’t see!” he yelped, in a state of panic.
“I lost the flashlight.”
Ted’s tone was reassuring.
So I’m not blind at least.
It was still a hope. Until he saw light he couldn’t be sure. He sat up and felt room to manoeuvre around him. They weren’t buried alive. But in the absence of light, and assuming Ted was telling the truth, they were trapped. He had to be sure. He had to know if there was anyone out there to help them.
“Hallo!”
Ted joined him in calling out.
There was an echo as their voice travelled down the cistern into the open. That was reassuring. They could probably get out if they went down rather than up. But it was a long way and they couldn’t see. There might be a sheer drop along the way, or at least a steep one. And without light they would have no way of knowing.
Of course if there was an opening at the bottom, there ought to be light. But if it was around several bends, then it might be very feint. As Daniel’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, he began to see. There was a small amount of light. He remembered reading somewhere that normally ones eyes are adjusted to the dim light when one first wakes up. That’s why people who have just been awoken cannot stand bright light. But maybe that only applied to a long period of sleep.
Determined not to stay here and wait for the cavalry, he started tearing at the rubble and throwing it behind him.
“We need to get out of here!”
Ted joined him, throwing all of his effort into the endeavour.
Suddenly, at a point above where they were clawing and digging, a speck of light appeared. Some one was outside… some one was trying to help them. Daniel called out
“Hallo!”
“Daniel? Daniel is that you?”
He recognized the voice… a woman’s voice.
“Sarit?”
“Yes it’s me. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Is Ted with you?”
“Yes, he’s okay too.”
The hand-digging became more intense now that it had borne fruit. The fact that they were alive and easily accessible meant that it was worth making that little bit of extra effort to get them out. In little more than five minutes they were free, shaken and dazed but still in good nick, as Ted described it.