Whatever they found tomorrow, she felt the weight of that history. It was more than a fascination with archaeology and ancient artifacts. It was a sense of seeking something larger than herself, one of the great stories in the human narrative that affirmed the human connection to God.
She shivered. It felt like there was a presence nearby, something watching and waiting. It was an odd, otherworldly feeling. She looked down the moonlit canyon. Nothing was looking back.
My mind is playing tricks on me, she thought.
Just the same, the feeling stayed with her for a long time.
CHAPTER 43
They stood some distance away from the foot of the mesa. Nick scanned the massive formation with binoculars, looking for a way up. The day was clear, the sun bright in a cloudless sky. The morning was still cool before the heat of day. The mesa was hundreds of feet high, formed of reddish stone streaked with lighter colored rock.
"Looks like there's a goat track going up the side."
Nick handed the binoculars to Ronnie.
"You would need to be a goat to go up it," he said.
Selena took the binoculars and studied the narrow track as it crawled up the side of the mesa. About two thirds of the way to the top it curved around the edge of the sheer rock wall, out of sight
"I don't think that path is natural," she said. "Look where it curves around out of sight. There are steps cut into the rock."
She handed the binoculars back to Nick. He focused on the spot.
"I think you're right."
"The tomb is up there," Selena said, "I know it is." Her voice was excited.
"Something is, anyway."
They found the beginning of the trail, crude steps cut into the side of the mesa. They were little more than depressions, rounded and treacherous, eroded by time and weather. Nick put his foot on the first one. Bits of rock crumbled away under his weight.
"Been a long time since somebody went up these," he said.
"We go slow, it should be all right," Diego said.
"Stick close to the wall. I'll lead. Diego, you take our six."
"Hey, this is a walk in the park. Nobody shooting at us."
They headed up the side of the mesa. The ground fell away beneath them. Nick was used to heights but he knew better than to look down. He kept his eyes on where he put his feet. There were places where all that remained of the steps was a short slope of crumbling rock, a trap waiting to send one of them to certain death below.
After what seemed like a long time they came to the spot they'd seen from below where the steps went around the side of the mesa. Around the curve the steps led to a wide, flat shelf shaded by a rock overhang. A dozen feet back from the edge was the outline of a cave, filled in with a wall of rock that blended in with the rest of the cliff face.
"Got to be a reason for blocking off that cave," Diego said.
"It must be the tomb," Selena said.
"Only one way to find out." Nick laid his pack on the ground. He took a long drink from his water bottle and walked over to the sealed cave. He took out his knife and began digging into the packed dirt around the rocks.
"Let's open it up."
An hour later the rocks were piled to the side, revealing an ancient wooden door.
They stood together looking at it.
Diego looked up at the overhang. "No way you'd spot this from the air."
"This might not be the tomb," Nick said. "It could be an old monastery. Either way, it's what the scan picked up."
Lamont sat down and massaged his leg.
"How's it holding up?"
"Nothing to worry about. I thought you said we were going for a stroll."
"We are," Nick said. "It's just a little more vertical than I'd figured."
"I wouldn't want to try those steps in the rain," Selena said.
"Or wind." Diego opened a bottle of water and drank.
Nick activated the comm link.
"Director, do you copy?"
A click, hissing atmospherics. Harker's voice came through after the satellite delay.
"5 x 5 Nick."
"We've reached the objective. There's a door closing off a cave in the side of the mesa. It could be a tomb or something else. We haven't gone inside yet."
"Good work."
"Once we're inside, we'll be out of contact. No way a signal is getting through this rock."
"Understood. Report back when you know what you've found."
"Will do. Out."
Nick looked at the ancient door. "Let's see if the King and Queen are receiving," he said.
CHAPTER 44
Nazar Al-Bayati was a man of many resources. One of those resources was embedded in the heart of Israeli intelligence, a man who seemed to all outward appearances a Jew. In reality he was a Shia Muslim. Jibril was circumcised, something no Muslim would have permitted, the result of a childhood mishap that had required the simple operation. It had been a source of shame in his childhood. Now it was proof of his falsely proclaimed religion. He'd been raised on the border with Lebanon and recruited by Hezbollah in his teens by a man who saw the potential in his unfortunate accident.
Jibril spoke fluent Hebrew and was a gifted actor, a survival skill he'd developed from an early age. He needed all his skills to conceal the hatred he felt for the Zionists.
His co-workers knew him as Gabriel. Not everyone who worked at Mossad was a spy. Like any large bureaucratic institution most of its employees were office workers. Jibril's job was to make sure that the endless stream of paperwork churned out every day reached the right desks. He was a familiar sight, wheeling his cart around Mossad headquarters with classified files destined for one of the many offices.
Even in a world of suspicious men, people like Jibril were invisible. He had become part of the daily environment, something taken for granted like electric lights or potted plants. Everyone was used to seeing him. If someone had been asked to describe him, they would've had to think about it.
In Mossad HQ, a simple inter-office memo could contain valuable information. Everything Jibril discovered went to Al-Bayati, the man who had saved him from a life of poverty or martyrdom. The martyrdom might still come, but Jibril was untroubled by that. Death was a release and paradise waited for the faithful.
He wheeled his cart into the office of the brigadier who served as liaison with the special ops units of the IDF. Coordinated operations with military units were funneled through him for authorization. Sooner or later, they all ended up in this room. Jibril thought about the man, a self-important cog in the vast Israeli intelligence network. The general was the sort of person who thought himself above the rules that applied to others, which was why he sometimes left files unattended on his desk. It was the kind of mistake that would have gotten a lesser employee in serious trouble. As it was, there were rumors he would soon be forced to retire.
Word had reached Jibril that Al-Bayati wanted information on any operation in Western Saudi Arabia or the immediate vicinity. As he placed the day's memos on the general's desk, Jibril saw a file with the winged sword of the Duvdevan on the outer cover. He looked around. No one was watching. Jibril opened the folder. As soon as he started reading he realized that this was what his patron was looking for.
Jibril took out his phone and began taking pictures of the file.
CHAPTER 45
The door into the cave was made of thick cedar, turned dark and dry and hard by the passage of time. Iron hinges held it fast in a heavy wooden frame. A pitted ring of black iron hung in the center, mounted on a back plate in the shape of a six pointed star.
"There's the star again," Selena said.
"It opens out," Ronnie said.
Nick grasped the ring and pulled. Nothing happened.