Everyone repeated the Amen.
Strangely, Andrea felt better, even though she did not understand what she had heard, nor was it part of her childhood faith. An empty, lonely silence hung over the group for a few moments until Dr Harel spoke up.
‘Should we return home, sir?’ She extended her arms in a gesture of silent supplication.
‘We shall now comply with the
halak
á
8
and bury our brothers,’ Kayn replied. His tone was calm and reasonable, in contrast to Doc’s hoarse exhaustion. ‘Afterwards, we’ll rest for a few hours and then continue our work. We cannot allow the sacrifice of these heroes to be in vain.’
Having said this, Kayn returned to his tent, followed by Russell.
Andrea looked around and saw nothing but agreement on the faces of the others.
‘I can’t believe these people are buying this shit,’ she whispered to Harel. ‘He didn’t even come near us. He stood several yards away, as if we were suffering from the plague or were going to do something to him.’
‘We aren’t the ones he was afraid of.’
‘What the hell are you talking about?’
Harel didn’t answer.
But the direction of her gaze did not escape Andrea, nor the look of complicity that passed between the doctor and Fowler. The priest nodded.
If it wasn’t us, then who was it?
64
Document Recovered from the e-mail Account of Kharouf Waadi, used as a Letter Box for Communications Between Terrorists Belonging to the Syrian Cell
Brothers, the chosen moment has arrived. Huqan has asked that you prepare yourselves for tomorrow. A local source will provide you with the necessary equipment. Your trip will take you by car from Syria to Amman, where Ahmed will give you more instructions. K.
Salaam Aleikum
. I only wanted to remind you before departure of the words of Al Tabrizi, which have always served as an inspiration to me. I hope that you will draw similar comfort in them prior to setting out on your mission. W
‘God’s messenger said: a martyr has six privileges before God. He pardons your sins on shedding the first drop of your blood; He delivers you to a place in paradise, redeeming you from the torments of the grave; He offers you salvation from the terror of hell and sets upon your head a crown of glory, each ruby of which is worth more than the entire world and all that exists within it; He will wed you to seventy-two
houris
with the blackest eyes; and He will accept your intercession on behalf of seventy-two of your kin.’
Thank you, W. Today my wife blessed me and bid me goodbye with a smile on her lips. She said to me: ‘From the day I met you I knew that you were made for martyrdom. Today is the happiest day of my life.’ Blessed be Allah for having bequeathed me someone like her. D
Blessings upon you, D. O
Isn’t your soul filled to bursting? Would that we could share it with someone, shout it to the four winds. D
I too would like to share it, but I do not feel your euphoria. I find myself strangely at peace. This is my final message, since I leave in a few hours with my two brothers for our appointment in Amman. W
I share W’s sense of peace. Euphoria is understandable but dangerous. In a moral sense, because it is the daughter of pride. In a tactical sense, because it can cause you to commit mistakes. You should purify your thoughts, D. When you find yourself in the desert you’ll have to wait many hours in the hot sun for Huqan’s signal. Your euphoria could quickly turn to desperation. Search for the things that will fill you with serenity. O
What would you recommend? D
Think of the martyrs who have gone before us. Our struggle, the struggle of the
umma
, is composed of small steps. The brothers who slaughtered the infidels in Madrid achieved one small step. The brothers who destroyed the Twin Towers achieved ten such steps. Our mission signifies a thousand steps. It aims to bring the invaders to their knees forever. Do you realise? Your life, your blood, will bring about an end that no other brother can even aspire to. Imagine an ancient king who has led a virtuous life multiplying his seed in an enormous harem, defeating his enemies, expanding his kingdom in the name of God. He can look around himself with the satisfaction of someone who has fulfilled his duty. That is how you should feel. Take refuge in that thought and transmit it to the warriors you will take with you to Jordan. P
I’ve meditated for many hours on what you told me, O, and I am thankful. My spirit is different, my state of mind closer to God. The only thing that still causes me distress is that these will be our last messages to each other, and that, although we will triumph, our next meeting will be in another life. I’ve learned so much from you and have passed on that knowledge to the others.
Until forever, brother.
Salaam Aleikum.
65
THE EXCAVATION
AL MUDAWWARA DESERT, JORDAN
Wednesday, 19 July 2006. 11:34 a.m.
Hanging from the ceiling in a harness twenty-five feet above the ground in the same place where four people had lost their lives the day before, Andrea couldn’t help feeling more alive than she ever had in her life. She couldn’t deny that the imminent possibility of death excited her and in a strange way it obliged her to waken from a dream she had been stuck in for the last ten years.
Suddenly questions about who you hate more, your father for being a homophobic bigot or your mother for being the stingiest person in the world, begin to fade before questions like, ‘Is this rope going to hold my weight?’
Andrea, who had never learned to abseil, asked that she be lowered to the bottom of the cave slowly, partly through fear and partly because she wanted to try out different camera angles for her shots.
‘C’mon, guys. Slow down. I have a good one,’ she yelled, leaning back her head and looking up at Brian Hanley and Tommy Eichberg, who were lowering her with the aid of a hoist.
The rope stopped moving.
Below her lay the wreck of the excavator, like a toy smashed by an angry child. Part of the arm stuck out at a strange angle and there was still dried blood on the shattered windscreen. Andrea pointed her camera away from the scene.
I hate blood, hate it.
Even her lack of professional ethics had limits. She focused on the bottom of the cave, but just as she was about to push the shutter she began to spin on the rope.
‘Can you make it stop? I can’t focus.’
‘Miss, you’re not made of feathers, you know?’ Brian Hanley shouted down to her.
‘I think it’s better that we keep lowering you,’ Tommy added.
‘What’s the matter? I only weigh eight and a half stone - can’t you deal with that? You seem a lot stronger,’ Andrea said, always knowing how to manipulate men.
‘She weighs a lot more than eight stone,’ complained Hanley in a low voice.
‘I heard that,’ said Andrea, pretending to be insulted.
She was so excited by the experience that it was impossible for her to be angry with Hanley. The electrician had done such a great job in lighting the cave that she didn’t even need to use the flash on her camera. Opening up the lens more allowed her to get great shots of the final stage of the dig.
I can’t believe it. We’re a step away from the greatest discovery of all time, and the photo that’ll appear on every front page will be mine!
The reporter observed the inside of the cave closely for the first time. David Pappas had calculated that they needed to build a diagonal tunnel down towards the presumed location of the Ark, but the route - in the most abrupt manner possible - had come across a natural chasm in the earth that bordered the canyon wall.
‘Imagine the walls of the canyon thirty million years ago,’ Pappas had explained the day before, drawing a small sketch in his notebook. Back then there was water in this area, which is what created the canyon. When the climate changed, the rock walls began to wear away, producing this terrain of compacted earth and rocks that surrounds the canyon walls like a giant coating, sealing off the type of cave that we hit on by chance. Unfortunately, my mistake cost several lives. If I’d checked to make sure the ground was solid on the floor of the tunnel . . .’
‘I wish I could say I know how you feel, David, but I have no idea. I can only offer you my help, and to hell with the rest of it.’
‘Thank you, Ms Otero. That means a lot to me. Especially since some members of the expedition are still blaming me for Stowe’s death just because we argued all the time.’
‘Call me Andrea, OK?’
‘Sure.’ The archaeologist pushed his glasses back shyly.
Andrea noticed that David was almost exploding with the stress of it all. She thought of giving him a hug, but there was something about him that made her increasingly uneasy. It was like seeing a painting you’d been staring at suddenly illuminated, revealing a completely different picture.
‘Tell me, David, do you think that the people who buried the Ark knew about these caves?’
‘I don’t know. It’s possible there’s an entrance in the canyon that we haven’t discovered yet because it’s covered with rocks or dirt - somewhere they used when they first put the Ark down there. We’d probably have found it by now if this damned expedition wasn’t being run in such a crazy way, making things up as we go along. Instead, we’ve done what no archaeologist should ever do. Maybe a treasure-hunter, yes, but it’s certainly not how I was taught.’
Andrea had been taught how to take photos and that’s exactly what she was doing. Still contending with the spinning rope, she reached her left arm overhead and grabbed a piece of rock that was jutting out, while her right hand aimed the camera towards the back of the cave: a high but narrow space with an even smaller opening at the far end. Brian Hanley had installed a generator and powerful lights that now cast the large shadows of Professor Forrester and David Pappas against the rough rock wall. Each time one of them moved, fine grains of sand fell from the rock and floated down through the air. The cave smelled dry and acrid, like a clay ashtray left in the kiln too long. The professor kept coughing, even though he was wearing a dust mask.
Andrea took a few more shots before Hanley and Tommy grew tired of waiting.
‘Let go of the rock. We’re going to lower you down.’
Andrea did as she was told and a minute later she was standing on solid ground. She undid her harness, and the rope went back up. It was now Brian Hanley’s turn.
Andrea approached David Pappas, who was trying to help the professor to sit down. The old man was shaking and his forehead was drenched in sweat.
‘Drink some of my water, Professor,’ David said, offering him his canteen.
‘Idiot! You drink it. You’re the one who has to go into the cave,’ the professor said. The words brought on another bout of coughing. He ripped off his mask and spat a huge glob of blood on the ground. Even though his voice had been damaged by his illness, the professor could still hurl a sharp insult.
David put the canteen back on his belt and went over to Andrea.
‘Thank you for coming to help us. After the accident, the professor and I are the only ones left . . . and he’s not much help in his state,’ he added, lowering his voice.
‘My cat’s shit looks better.’
‘He’s going to . . . well, you know. The only way he could delay the inevitable would be to get on the first plane to Switzerland for treatment.’
‘That’s what I meant.’
‘With the dust inside that cave—’
‘I may not be able to breathe, but my hearing is perfect,’ said the professor, although each word ended in a wheeze. ‘Stop talking about me and get to work. I’m not going to die until you get the Ark out of there, you useless idiot.’
David looked furious. For a moment Andrea thought he was going to answer back, but the words seemed to die on his lips.
You’re totally screwed, aren’t you? You hate his guts but you can’t confront him . . . He hasn’t just cut off your nuts, he made you fry them for breakfast
, thought Andrea, feeling some pity for the assistant.
‘Well, David, tell me what I have to do.’
‘Follow me.’
About ten feet into the cave the surface of the wall changed a little. Were it not for the thousands of watts lighting up the space Andrea probably wouldn’t have noticed it. Instead of bare solid rock, there was an area that seemed to be formed of bits of rock piled up on top of one another.
Whatever it was, it was manmade.
‘My God, David.’
‘What I don’t understand is how they managed to make such a solid wall without using any mortar and without being able to work on the other side.’
‘Maybe there’s an exit on the other side of the chamber. You said that there had to be one.’
‘You could be right, but I don’t think so. I’ve taken new readings with the magnetometer. Behind this block of stones is the unstable area we identified with our initial readings. In fact, the Copper Scroll was found in a hole just like this one.’
‘Coincidence?’
‘I doubt it.’
David knelt and touched the wall gently with his fingertips. When he found the slightest crack between the stones he tried pulling with all his might.
‘There’s no way,’ he went on. ‘This hole in the cave has been sealed on purpose; and for some reason, the stones have become even more tightly compacted than when they were first put there. It could be that in two thousand years there’s been downward pressure on the wall. Almost as if . . .’
‘As if what?’
‘As if God himself had sealed the entrance. Don’t laugh.’
I’m not laughing
, Andrea thought
. None of this is funny.