Alex Mitchell - The 13th Tablet

December 16th, 2004. Cambridge

Jack had been tossing and turning in his king size bed since five a.m. He’d spent the previous day in London making sure he wasn’t followed and had driven off to Cambridge in the evening. He felt much happier for having seen Stella and knowing that, for the time being, the spooks were off his back and Mina’s. That left Oberon Wheatley and the other mysterious pursuers. But now that he was in Cambridge, he kept wondering how he was going to find Mina. He had opted to stay in a comfortable hotel on the banks of the River Cam, right in the city centre. He had asked discreetly after Mina at various hotels and guest houses near the train station, but no-one seemed to remember her. He only had one choice left, which was to go to the University Library and wait until she showed up.

Mina called the Genizah research unit and spoke to the secretary. She explained that she was Daniel Bamart’s guest and if someone called Jack Hillcliff came by the unit asking for her, she would be very grateful if they could give him Daniel’s address in Hildersham. Later that morning, Mina and Joshua had their first serious conversation about her research. She explained that she was looking for a Jewish gentleman who had lived in Hildersham or in Cambridge in 1755 and for any correspondence that may have existed between Hildersham and Safed from the 18th century onwards. Joshua looked at her strangely and said he wasn’t aware of any such correspondence. They were sitting in Joshua’s office, which contained a huge archive made up of filing cabinets and shelves upon shelves of documents that lined the walls. He said it was all at her disposal. He then explained that she would have to search the archives from different angles, as he didn’t have a specific 18th century section. It was thematic, divided according to parish records, public records, land ownership and so forth. She thanked him and got down to work. He smiled at her, and walked out of the office.

Daniel returned from Cambridge at lunchtime, carrying extra wellington boots for Mina. Father and son lead her through Hildersham’s muddy fields to Linton for a pub lunch. At least it wasn’t raining that day. Mina was trying to be cheerful but she kept wondering if Jack would find her. Daniel seemed more embarrassed than usual as they walked back to the house together chatting, as Joshua lagged behind.

‘Mina, can I ask you a personal question?’ asked Daniel with difficulty.

‘Yes, of course,’ she replied.

‘Do you have someone in your life? I mean, you seemed a bit sad today and I just wondered if…’ he broke off.

‘Daniel, can I be frank with you?’

‘Don’t be too tough on me. I know you American girls can be blunt as hell.’

They both laughed.

‘I’m sort of involved with someone.’

‘Ah,’ said Daniel sadly.

‘I hope I wasn’t too blunt?’ she asked.

‘No, no. A direct answer to a direct question.’

‘Daniel, can we be friends? I think we could be good friends and right now, I really need one,’ said Mina.

Daniel was disappointed but respected her frankness and genuine offer. He straightened up, and shook off his infatuation.

‘It’s a deal.’

Same day

St John’s Wood, London

In a dark room an old man was sitting at his desk, deep in thought. A shadowy silhouette had crept into the house from the garden. Thinking that he heard an unusual noise, the old man left his desk and stepped into the corridor. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He returned to his study…the shadow moved up the stairs, then unhurriedly and noiselessly stepped onto the landing of the second floor. He walked down the corridor to the old man’s study. He knocked on the door. The old man looked up to face a bearded man in a dark suit.

‘Master,’ said the bearded man, bowing respectfully.

‘Good,’ said the old man, ‘You’re back. Are our people posted at all the major libraries?’

‘Yes master, Oxford, Cambridge, London, Aberystwyth and Edinburgh. One of our men thinks he recognised Miss Osman’s friend outside the University Library in Cambridge.’

‘Hmm. Send more men there immediately. We can’t afford to lose their trail again. What about Ephraim in New York?’

‘All is in place, he will act tonight.’

‘Any digital copies?’

‘They’ve already been destroyed.’

‘Good. We may not be as dark and nameless as we were in the olden days, but we certainly know how to vanish in the night. Clear out this place. I’m moving to the other house.’

Jack had explored the main reading rooms of the University Library but Mina was nowhere to be seen. Since then, he’d been sitting patiently in his car, waiting for her to show up at the library’s main entrance. He was trying to guess what she might have done if she’d already been there and left. It was mid-afternoon when he plugged his mobile phone into his laptop and started surfing the internet, reading about the library and its various research units. He came to the same conclusion as Mina and decided to ask after her at the Genizah Research Unit. Maybe she’d already been there and they would remember her. Half an hour later, having learned all he needed to know, Jack was on his way to Hildersham.

Same day. New York.

Natasha knocked on Oberon’s office door.

‘Come in,’ he said, looking up from his computer screen.

Natasha walked into the room. Oberon glanced at her sideways. She seemed nervous.

‘What’s the matter, Natasha?’

‘I’m going to need to access the vault, sir.’

‘Why?’

‘The tablet is back in Malibu, isn’t it?’

‘Yes it is. What’s going on, Natasha?’

‘Something very strange, sir. The three translators have disappeared, as well as the camera I used to photograph the tablet.’

‘Did you copy the digital images on our server?’

‘Yes sir.’

‘And?’ he asked patiently.

‘They’re gone too’, she answered, looking away.

‘What? How is this possible?’ he blurted out.

‘Someone hacked into our system and deleted the files and that same someone stole my camera from my own office.’

‘Don’t we have security systems?’ he asked.

‘I checked last night’s CCTV recordings but all they show is a blank image. Either they were all out of order or someone disabled the cameras.’

Oberon was furious.

‘You’re in charge of security!’ He screamed at her, ‘That’s why I pay you so much. And you don’t have a single god damn answer?’

‘I need to fly right now to Malibu and check the vault.’

‘You’ll leave this office when I say so. I want you to get to the bottom of this. The vault’s security is state of the art.’

‘But…’ began Natasha.

‘But what?’ asked Oberon.

‘This is the work of someone who is highly trained and extremely clever. I think he or they are after the tablet. It could be Mina Osman and her friend.’

‘Mina Osman? You must be joking,’ he spat with contempt.

‘No, her partner. He handled three of my best men in Mosul as if they were boy scouts, retrieved Mina Osman from the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea and shot his way out of Safed. I’m sorry sir, but I think we’re dealing with a tough son of a bitch.’

‘OK. Find out who he is. We leave for the mansion tomorrow morning. Set up the flight. Make sure there is extra security at the mansion tonight.’

‘I’m on it,’ she answered and left the room.

Oberon tapped nervously on the mahogany desk, and then picked up his laptop and hurled it against the wall.

Malibu suburbs. Early afternoon.