‘David has very discerning taste in friends,’ Tom said with an easy smile, shaking Allegra’s hand. ‘Welcome to Jerusalem.’
‘It’s good to meet you. I’ve often watched you covering the Vatican from Rome,’ Allegra replied, struck by the open camaraderie between the two men.
‘A beer thanks, Abdullah,’ Tom said, looking around. ‘Strange. That lard-arsed blowhard from the Rockefeller isn’t here. Blessed relief.’
‘Lard-arsed blowhard?’ Allegra asked, intrigued.
‘Monsignor Derek Lonergan,’ David explained. ‘He’ll be doing the briefing tomorrow.’
‘Lucky you,’ Tom observed. ‘Any progress on getting access to the scrolls?’
David shook his head. ‘At the moment we’re having trouble even getting an office. Every time the scandal of the scrolls is raised it makes news for a while and then you guys move on.’
‘Usually because someone’s blown up another bloody bus,’ Tom said. ‘That hardly touched the sides. Three beers thanks, Abdullah.’
‘Access to these scrolls seems to have had a pretty chequered history,’ Allegra observed.
‘Things have eased a little,’ David said. ‘In 1991 the new Director of the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, discovered a long forgotten photographic record of the scrolls in a safe. Unlike the Vatican, the Huntington believes in intellectual freedom. In the face of all sorts of legal threats the Huntington published the photographs, but I have my suspicions there is still more to come. The Vatican is guarding access to the originals, not to mention the actual dates of the scrolls, with all the ferocity of bin Laden’s bodyguards, and the appalling irony is that ever since the 1967 war several of the academics who do have access haven’t set foot inside the country, something that Lonergan strenuously denies.’
‘I think I saw him give an interview once on that very issue. Big man?’ Allegra asked.
Tom grinned. ‘With an ego to match. British American. David and I have already made up our minds about him, so it will be interesting to see what you think.’
‘You don’t like him much?’
‘Not a lot,’ David answered. ‘An elitist academic, but the Vatican like him because he supports their line. I wouldn’t be surprised if they employ him.’
Tom Schweiker was absorbing every detail of the conversation between Allegra and David. Where the Vatican was concerned he had his own reasons for getting to the truth. Not that he would ever quote David, unless they both agreed there was a reason to do so. David was a friend and Tom Schweiker always took a long-term view. David Kaufmann was far too important a source to burn in the quest for a short-term front page headline.
‘The Vatican team puts the origin of the scrolls around two hundred years before Christ,’ Allegra said. ‘That’s probably true for some of them, but from the research I’ve done, some have definitely been written around the time of Christ, and they reflect both his and earlier teachings. Carbon dating would solve the question simply and decisively, but the Vatican has resisted that from the very beginning.’
‘I think you’re right,’ David said. ‘Their defence is too ferocious and anyone who disagrees is likely to feel the full force of the Vatican’s power, as one or two very distinguished academics have found to their cost. I have a very strong suspicion the Vatican is hiding something.’
Allegra nodded. ‘I’ve always had the feeling that the Vatican wanted to put as much distance between Christ and the Dead Sea Scrolls as they can.’
‘Why?’ asked Tom.
‘If it can be proven that Christ studied under the Essenes,’ Allegra said, ‘it would threaten the very essence of Vatican teaching, not to mention Christ’s divinity, the uniqueness of his teaching, and ultimately whether he was really out to start a religion.’
David was impressed by his new colleague’s willingness to question tradition, no matter how deeply rooted in history. He realised there was much more to Allegra than she was letting on. Aware that he was staring intently at her, he briskly turned towards Tom. ‘To the average punter that probably doesn’t matter much,’ David said, ‘but anything that links Christ with the Essenes is likely to give the Vatican a bad case of the vapours.’
‘I wonder if the Omega Scroll will come up at the briefing tomorrow?’ Allegra ventured, wondering what sort of reaction she would get from Tom.
Tom grinned. ‘Lonergan will give the impression of a welcome, but don’t expect too much cooperation, especially on the Omega Scroll. He’ll deny it even exists and I suspect they will do everything they can to make sure you both see as little as possible. Better go,’ he said. ‘Ferret Face is having a bad hair day. Lovely to have met you, Allegra. No doubt we’ll be seeing a lot more of you.’
‘Ferret Face?’ Allegra asked, curious.
‘His producer. Nasty piece of work apparently,’ David replied as they followed Tom out of the bar.
After they had left, Abdullah reached for the phone.
The small travel clock had a very persistent ring and Allegra fumbled for the button to silence it, blinking in the morning light coming through the big bedroom window. For a few seconds she had no idea where she was, until the fuzziness of her jet lag slowly cleared. Instead of the normal university ‘cell’, the Medina scholarship had provided a spacious one-bedroom apartment that was only a ten-minute walk from the Mount Scopus campus. The apartment building was nestled at the end of a quiet leafy cul-de-sac and boasted sweeping views from her bedroom and living room balconies. In the distance she could make out the Old City and greater Jerusalem. The early morning sun had caught the 35-ton golden cupola of the Dome of the Rock, the best known and most striking part of the Jerusalem skyline and the third most holy shrine in all of Islam. To the right of the Dome and beyond it Allegra could make out the drab grey cupola of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre that had been built over the reported site of Christ’s crucifixion in the Old City’s Christian Quarter. To the left of the Dome was the valley of Kidron and the Mount of Olives. Allegra stretched out contentedly. She had the morning free for a stroll through the university to get the university sign-up procedures out of the way, and plenty of time to get ready for the briefing with Monsignor Lonergan. She found herself looking forward to seeing David again.
Suddenly her peace was shattered as the whole building shook. When the shaking stopped Allegra got off the bed and gingerly opened the door to the bedroom balcony. The street outside was quiet and there didn’t seem to be any damage or any sounds of sirens, but she wondered if there would be aftershocks.
Not being sure what ‘ish’ meant, Allegra was ready a little after two, but it was nearly three before Onslow broke the peace of the neighbourhood. David leaned over and pulled the wire that served as a door handle on the passenger side. ‘Sorry I’m late,’ he yelled, a boyish grin on his face. Allegra would learn that a time qualified by ‘ish’ meant just that.
‘Did you get the tremor here?’ he shouted, accelerating out of the cul-de-sac.
‘It frightened me a little. Is there much damage?’
‘Only minor. We get them here every few years although this one was a little bigger. It registered six on the Richter scale and the epicentre was near the Dead Sea but there’s not much out there so I guess we’re lucky.’
For the second time in two days Allegra maintained a survival grip on the dashboard as David roared across greater Jerusalem, weaving in and out between the buses and sheruts and anything else that stood in his way.
‘You don’t see the need for a horn?’ she asked innocently, as another pedestrian leapt back to the safety of a streetside store.
‘No point. They can hear us coming a mile off.’
Allegra raised her eyebrows but David studiously ignored her. Inwardly she smiled. There was clearly quite a lot of the ‘little boy’ in David Kaufmann, she thought, something that made her warm to him even more.