Juan Gómez-Jurado - Contract with God aka The Moses Expedition

‘I can understand what made this man do what he did. But this mission has been delayed for too long, and it cannot be delayed any more. Pappas, please get back to work and knock down the wall.’

‘Mr Kayn, I can’t do that without knowing what’s going on here,’ Pappas answered.

Brian Hanley and Tommy Eichberg folded their arms and went and stood next to Pappas. Kayn didn’t even look at them twice.

‘Mr Dekker?’

‘Sir?’ said the large South African.

‘Please, exercise your authority. The time for niceties is over.’

‘Jackson,’ said Dekker, signalling.

The soldier lifted her M4 and aimed it at the three rebels.

‘You’ve got to be joking,’ complained Eichberg, whose large red nose was a couple of inches from the muzzle of Jackson’s automatic.

‘It’s no joke, honey. Start walking or I’ll shoot you a new asshole.’ Jackson cocked her weapon with an ominous metallic click.

Ignoring the others, Kayn walked over to Harel and Andrea.

‘As for you young ladies, it has been a pleasure to be able to rely on your services. Mr Dekker will guarantee your return to the Behemoth .’

‘What are you saying?’ howled Andrea, who despite her difficulty in hearing had caught some of what Kayn had said. ‘Damned son of a bitch! They’re going to extract the Ark in a few hours time. Let me stay until tomorrow. You owe me.’

‘Are you saying that the fisherman owes the worm? Take them away. Oh, and make sure they leave only with what they’re wearing. Have the reporter hand over the disk containing her photos.’

Dekker pulled Alryk aside and spoke to him quietly.

‘You take them.’

‘Bullshit. I want to stay here and deal with the priest. He killed my brother,’ said the German, his eyes bloodshot.

‘He’ll still be alive when you get back. Now do as you’re told. Torres will keep him nice and warm for you.’

‘Fuck, Colonel. It takes at least three hours to go from here to Aqaba and back, even if we’re driving at top speed in the Humvee. If Torres gets his hands on the priest, there’ll be nothing left of him by the time I get back.’

‘Believe me, Gottlieb. You’ll be back in an hour.’

‘What are you saying, sir?’

Dekker looked at him seriously, annoyed by his subordinate’s slowness. He hated having to spell things out.

‘Sarsaparilla, Gottlieb. And make it quick.’

AL MUDAWWARA DESERT, JORDAN

Thursday, 20 July 2006. 7:14 a.m.

Sitting in the back of the H3, Andrea half closed her eyes in a vain attempt to deal with the dust that was pouring in through the windows. The explosion of the fuel tanker had blown out the vehicle’s windows and cracked the windscreen, and even though Alryk had repaired some of the holes with duct tape and a few shirts, he had worked so quickly that there were still places where the sand blew in. Harel complained, but the soldier didn’t reply. He was holding the steering wheel with both hands, his knuckles white and his mouth tense. He had raced over the large dune at the entrance to the canyon in only three minutes and was now stepping on the accelerator as if his life depended on it.

‘It won’t be the most comfortable trip in the world, but at least we’re going home,’ Doc said, putting her hand on Andrea’s thigh. Andrea grasped her hand firmly.

‘Why did he do it, Doc? Why did he have explosives in his briefcase? Tell me they planted them on him,’ said the young reporter, almost pleading.

The doctor leaned closer, so that Alryk couldn’t hear her, although she doubted he could hear anything with the noise of the engine and the wind flapping the temporary covers on the windows.

‘I don’t know, Andrea, but the explosives were his.’

‘How do you know?’ asked Andrea, her eyes suddenly serious.

‘Because he told me. After you heard the soldiers talking when you were under their tent, he came to me for help with a crazy plan to blow up the water supply.’

‘Doc, what are you saying? You knew about that?’

‘He came here because of you. He saved your life once before, and according to the code of honour his kind live by, he believes he must assist you any time you need help. In any case, for reasons I don’t quite understand, it was his boss who got you involved in the first place. He wanted to make sure Fowler was on the expedition.’

‘Is that why Kayn mentioned the thing about the worm?’

‘Yes. For Kayn and his people you were just a way of controlling Fowler. Everything’s been a lie from the very start.’

‘And what will happen to him now?’

‘Forget about him. They’ll interrogate him and then… he’ll disappear. And before you say anything, don’t even think about going back there.’

The reality of the situation left the reporter stunned.

‘Why, Doc?’ Andrea pulled away from her in disgust. ‘Why didn’t you tell me, after all we’ve been through? You swore you’d never lie to me again. You swore while we were making love. I don’t know how I could have been so stupid…’

‘I say a lot of things.’ A tear slid down Harel’s cheek, but when she continued her voice was steely. ‘His mission is different from mine. For me, this was just another of the silly expeditions that take place from time to time. But Fowler knew it could be the real thing. And if it was, he knew he had to do something about it.’

‘And what was that? Blow us all up?’

‘I don’t know who set off the explosion this morning, but believe me, it wasn’t Anthony Fowler.’

‘But you didn’t say anything.’

‘I couldn’t say anything without implicating myself,’ Harel said looking away. ‘I knew they would get us out of there… I… wanted to be with you. Away from the excavation. Away from my life, I suppose.’

‘What about Forrester? He was your patient and you left him there.’

‘He died this morning, Andrea. Just before the explosion, as a matter of fact. He’s been ill for years, you know that.’

Andrea shook her head.

If I was American I’d win the Pulitzer, but at what price?

‘I can’t believe it. So many deaths, so much violence, and all for a ridiculous museum piece.’

‘Fowler didn’t explain it to you? There’s much more at stake here…’ Harel stopped talking as the Humvee slowed down.

‘This isn’t right,’ she said, looking out through the cracks in the window. ‘There’s nothing here.’

The vehicle came to a rough stop.

‘Hey, Alryk, what are you doing?’ Andrea said. Why are we stopping?’

The big German didn’t say anything. Very slowly, he took the keys out of the ignition, pulled up the handbrake, and got out of the Hummer, slamming the door.

‘Shit. They wouldn’t dare,’ Harel said.

Andrea saw the fear in the doctor’s eyes. She could hear Alryk’s footsteps in the sand. He was coming around to Harel’s side.

‘What’s going on, Doc?’

The door opened.

‘Get out,’ Alryk said coldly, his face impassive.

‘You can’t do this,’ Harel said, not moving an inch. ‘Your commander doesn’t want to make an enemy of Mossad. We’re very bad enemies to have.’

‘Orders are orders. Get out.’

‘Not her. At least let her go, please.’

The German brought his hand to his belt and pulled his automatic pistol from the holster.

‘For the last time. Get out of the vehicle.’

Harel looked at Andrea, resigned to her fate. She shrugged and with both hands grabbed hold of the passenger handle above the side window to exit the vehicle. But suddenly she tensed her arm muscles and, still gripping the handle, swung her feet out, hitting Alryk in the chest with her heavy boots. The German let go of the pistol, which fell to the ground. Harel lunged head first at the soldier, knocking him down. The doctor leapt up immediately and kicked the German in the face, splitting his eyebrow and damaging his eye. Doc lifted her foot over his face, ready to finish the job but the soldier came to, grabbed her foot with his huge hand and spun her violently to the left. There was a loud sound of breaking bone as Doc fell.