‘Certainly, Abdullah. I thought you’d never ask.’ Derek Lonergan was in high spirits. The great academic halls of Europe were awaiting his presence.
‘A fresh glass,’ Abdullah said, replacing the empty one and pouring a generous shot of Tullamore Dew.
In the room behind the bar Abdullah carefully put Lonergan’s first glass on a shelf out of reach. He had no idea why the American journalist wanted a glass used by Lonergan but he had long ago learned not to ask questions and had simply pocketed the 200 shekels with a polite smile.
A week later, after Lonergan had left for Europe, David decided to try to find out what Lonergan might be hiding in the vaults of the Rockefeller. It was high risk, and would mean his career if he was caught, but he had faced higher risks in the past and he had a strong feeling that whatever Lonergan had, it was important.
David greeted the security guard with a smile as he headed out to join Allegra in the museum’s courtyard for lunch.
‘Morning, Hafiz!’
‘Morning, Dr Kaufmann.’
‘How are the children?’ David asked.
Hafiz had been working at the museum for twenty years and David had a genuine affection for the old Palestinian. Hafiz had four children and for all of those years he had pulled double shifts to get the money together for their education. From eight until three he did duty at the front desk, and on top of that, three nights a week he drove a security car on mobile patrol, a routine he still followed. Hafiz considered himself to be one of the lucky ones, as not many Palestinians in Israel had jobs.
‘Fine thanks, Dr Kaufmann. Abdul has been accepted for university,’ he said with a proud smile.
Allegra watched as David chatted amiably with the old guard, oblivious to the tourists streaming in and out of the museum’s exhibitions. She had a sneaking suspicion that she was falling in love with David. They had become so close in such a short amount of time, it seemed that they often knew exactly what the other was thinking.
‘I’m very fond of Hafiz and you can sometimes find out a great deal from security guards,’ he said, answering her question before she could even ask what he was up to. He leaned over, making a show of nuzzling her neck while he outlined the plan he had in mind.
‘David,’ Allegra replied in a soft whisper. ‘Do you think we can pull it off?’
‘I’m not going to put you to that sort of risk,’ David said, ‘but I’ve got to get to the truth here.’
‘Point one,’ Allegra said. ‘We do this together, so start talking in terms of “we”. Point two. How do we avoid all the security cameras?’
‘We work back and do it after the security desk is closed for the night and the external patrols take over. There’s only one camera down there and that can be disabled. Talking with security guards is not all idle chat you know.’
Allegra’s dark eyes flashed with excitement. ‘Do you really think we can crack the vault?’
‘If Private Silberman were around that wouldn’t be an issue, but like all good students I’ve been practising.’
The red movement sensor high on the far wall clicked on as David checked the lobby to see that Hafiz had left. Satisfied, he returned to collect Allegra and the small bag he had brought into the office that morning.
‘Got your gloves?’
Allegra nodded, her initial excitement giving way to nervousness.
‘They’ve put the security camera in a really dumb position,’ David said when they stepped into the same corridor he had headed down with a gun in his hands all those years before. ‘We can approach it from behind and I can reach it quite easily.’ David took a piece of black cloth from his bag and climbed onto one of the wide ledges directly beneath the camera and threw the cloth over the lens.
‘Won’t they suspect something?’
‘They might, but what if they do? They’ll check the vault, find nothing missing and assume it’s malfunctioned. They haven’t changed this vault since 1938,’ he said. ‘I don’t think security is their long suit.’
Allegra watched as David pulled a stethoscope out of his black bag. Joseph Silberman had given David the stethoscope, along with a set of lock picks, as a memento when he had left the Army to join Mossad. David spun the dial to the left to clear the tumblers and rolled it one revolution to the right until he picked up the click of the cam and lever mechanism, just as Silberman had shown him.
‘Twenty-five is still the last number,’ he said, ‘and it’s only got three tumblers.’ It took David about twenty minutes until he picked up the soft ‘nikt’ of the last tumbler slot being lined up. Twice the time that Joseph Silberman had taken but David was pretty pleased with himself as he turned the wheel and the big retaining bolts slid aside. Allegra’s heart was pounding. David was calm but the excitement of discovery was reflected in his eyes as he clicked on the lights and looked around.
‘Look! In the far corner,’ he said, pointing towards a battered red trunk marked ‘Lonergan’ and ‘Personal’, secured with an old brass padlock. David chose a torque wrench and a small half-diamond shaped shallow angle lock pick from his bag. He inserted both and without applying any torque on the lock’s plug, pulled the pick out to get a feel for the stiffness of the pin springs. Satisfied, he applied a light torque and using Silberman’s scrubbing technique, moved the pick backwards and forwards, gradually increasing the torque so that each of the driver pins set on the sheer line. One by one the pins set until he was able to turn the plug and the ‘U’ of the lock popped free.
‘I’m getting better at this,’ he said, grinning as he swung the trunk lid open.
Allegra just shook her head and smiled. Inside the trunk was the olive wood box Lonergan had secured as his ‘commission’ for arranging the Vatican’s fifty million dollar purchase of the intact copy of the Omega Scroll.
David let out a low whistle. ‘Fragments,’ he said. ‘Hundreds of them.’
‘What are they?’ Allegra asked, pointing to the three fragments in the small plastic bag taped to the inside of the lid.
‘Don’t know, but there’s only one way to find out.’ David took a pair of tweezers from his bag and put the three fragments on top of a trunk nearby.
David recognised the ancient Koine immediately. ‘Allegra! The Omega Scroll. It’s here!’ he said, staring at the three fragments. ‘These are in Koine and the Omega was the only Dead Sea Scroll to be written in that language. The Omega’s messages were meant for the wider world,’ David said. ‘Koine was the dialect of Greek spoken in the Roman Empire in the East.’
The three fragments were a clear indication that the rest of the scroll was to be found in amongst the others, but they could only be pieced together by someone with extraordinary skill, and time.
‘That bastard Lonergan has known about this all along,’ David said, deep in thought.
‘Trouble is,’ Allegra said, ‘how do we get this box out of here?’
‘We don’t,’ David replied finally, taking out some large plastic envelopes from his bag. ‘We leave the box in the trunk. We put the fragments in the safe in our office tonight and tomorrow we get them out in broad daylight.’
‘Isn’t that a bit risky?’
‘Not as risky as being stopped by the night security patrol.’
David carefully transferred the fragments into the envelopes, re-locked the trunk and closed the big vault door. He removed the black cloth from the camera and they slipped back up the corridor.
As they walked to the car park a figure loomed out of the shadows.
‘Working late, Dr Kaufmann?’
Allegra felt her blood freeze.
‘No rest for the wicked, Hafiz,’ David replied with a smile.
‘I’m sorry to have to ask, Sir, but do you mind if I have a quick look in your briefcase. We’ve had some petty theft in the museum lately and, while I’m sure you’re not stealing the biros and paperclips, they are insisting we make random checks of all people leaving the building.’ Hafiz was clearly embarrassed, torn between doing his duty and loyalty to David.