None of that was going to change things for David Hall. If Gulder had his way, he would remain here until the end of time. The end of his time, anyway. If Judith asked about him, or suspected that he had been executed, Israel Gulder could truthfully say, no, he hadn’t. He’s been seized by a religious vocation.
He had thought hard about escape, but there was simply no way. No tunnels to be dug, no windows to hang from, no clambering up a column here in the cloister and scampering across tiled roofs to the twenty-foot stone wall, there to drop into deep ravines on every side except the front, where the top of the wall was rounded and covered in shards of glass. The monastery itself was perched on a spire of badly eroded rock and built to withstand the siege engines of the twelfth century.
A steady wind blew up the side of the mountain during the day, rising to banshee intensity when storms came across the Mount Lebanon massif to the north and swept down their valley.
Our valley. Listen to me, he thought.
He had not seen a single human being through the windows, and he wasn’t sure he’d even seen all the monks. He’d heard them, though, when their soft chants broke the predawn silence. He wondered how long it would be before he asked to join their nocturnal vigils. He had the beard for it, if not the voice.
He was, as Shakespeare once phrased it, thoroughly mewed up.
35
Judith Ressner was alone, soaking her tired feet in the hotel’s bubbling hot tub, when Ellerstein came back from the bar, carrying two glasses of wine. Judith was wearing her bathing suit under a beach wrap. She had a silk kerchief tied around her head and was wearing dark sunglasses. She had intended to swim some laps to undo the stress of three media events that day but simply lacked the energy. The government had put her up in the hotel to make it more convenient to do press conferences. When she’d gone back up to her room, there’d been a message from Ellerstein saying that he wanted to buy her a drink that evening and that he had something important to talk about.
“Bless you, Yossi,” she said, making room for him to sit by her side. He took off his shoes and socks, rolled up his pants, and slipped his feet into the hot water. Judith smothered a smile; in his business suit, he looked ridiculous.
“Cheers,” he intoned and tasted the cold white wine. Then he made a face. “Scotch would be better.”
“This is fine. One Scotch and I would keel over into this water.”
“Keeping you running, Ms. World-Famous Archaeologist, hanh?”
She nodded. A hotel guest came into the spa and gawked at Ellerstein sitting there in his street clothes.
“So, you ever hear from Mr. Hall?” he asked gently.
She shook her head. “No. I think the government boys must have threatened him. I’d really like to talk to him, but—”
“But those same government boys don’t want that, either, do they.”
“No, they do not. I had one call from that Israel Gulder, who congratulated me on the way I was representing the nation. He also approved of the way we finessed the discovery methodology.”
“Yes, I’ll bet he did. Listen: Did Gulder tell you the American went home? Back to the States?”
She looked over at him. “Not in so many words,” she said, “but he certainly implied it. He said the less contact, the better for all concerned, more weasel-words like that.”
Ellerstein nodded thoughtfully. “You know, well, of course, you don’t know, I have been making some inquiries. Back in the States.”
“Yes? And?”
“They don’t know where he is.”
She put down the wineglass. “What?”
“They don’t know where he is. A professor I know there made a call to a friend in the U.S. Immigration Service there in Washington. Immigration haven’t seen his passport coming back into the States. No one was especially concerned or anything like that, but there it is.”
“So that means what, exactly? That he is still here, in Israel?”
“It is possible.”
Judith blinked and looked away. That could mean only one thing, she thought. No, actually, two things. Either the Israeli government still has him, or they’ve— She looked back at Ellerstein, who saw the alarm in her face.
“No, I shouldn’t think they did that,” he said. “My guess is that Gulder has him in one of those ‘secure locations’ the Americans put their vice president in when he talks out of turn. To keep a lid on that weapons business.”
“Yossi—”
“I know, Yehudit, I know. Of course this is all speculation. He may have gone on a world cruise for all we know. Except—”
“Except what?”
“Except I checked with the security people at his hotel. They said some police people came and gathered up his stuff — luggage, clothes in his room, his computer. No explanations, just came and got it. They signed the hotel release forms. I asked to see the forms.”
“And?”
“These were not police people. These were Shabak people. I recognized one of the names.”
“You never did tell me what your connection with Shabak was,” she said.
“It was a temporary thing, Yehudit. Back to Mr. Hall.”
“Yes, indeed. If you’re telling me he’s being held prisoner in this country, then I’m going to do something about that.”
“That’s what I came to see you about, Yehudit. I need to know something: When Mr. Gulder called you, did he imply that Mr. Hall’s good health depended on your keeping quiet about his part in the great discovery?”
“What?”
“Just think back for a moment. You said ‘words like that.’ Like what, exactly?”
She thought about it. She had finished her wine and hadn’t even noticed. Ellerstein pushed his glass toward her, and she took it. “Well,” she said, “I think he said that it would be in everyone’s best interest, especially Mr. Hall’s, if his name never arose in connection with the discoveries. I didn’t think it significant.”
“How do you feel about all that, Yehudit? It was his discovery, after all.”
“Don’t remind me, Yossi,” she said with a sigh. “I feel dishonest. But I’ve rationalized it this way: The discovery is the important thing, not me or my part in it. As David Hall said: Everyone remembers the Dead Sea Scrolls; no one remembers the Bedouin shepherd who found them. Plus—”
“Yes?”
“Well, when he called me down to Metsadá, I was ready to kill him. For going back down there. For digging, as I suspected he had been. He said then that he was satisfied in vindicating his girlfriend’s theory and that, in return for my helping him, the discovery would be mine alone. I didn’t think much about that at the time; I was too excited when he told me what was in that cave.”
“I can imagine. I still can’t quite believe what amazing things came out of that cave. Herod’s Temple. Incredible. Most incredible. I still haven’t seen them. The lines are too long, still.”
Yes, she thought. Everything was still pretty incredible. Especially the inscribed bricks. That could wait, though. Did the government have David Hall somewhere? She didn’t want to admit to Ellerstein that she missed him, but she very much did. Imprisoning him was wrong, but better than putting him in the ground.
‘Well,” Ellerstein said, drawing his feet out of the water, “I think I’m going to make a call on Israel Gulder. If they have Mr. Hall sequestered somewhere, perhaps I can arrange for you to see him. You do want to see him, yes?”