Adam Palmer - The Moses Legacy

What was happening? Why had they heard the door slam? He could understand an old man like the guardian suffering a stroke or a heart attack. But that wouldn’t explain the slamming of the door.

‘I think he locked us in,’ Daniel proffered.

Mansoor looked at Daniel contemptuously. ‘Why would he want to do that?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Daniel, embarrassed at the absurdity of his own suggestion, yet seeing no other answer. ‘Islamic fundamentalism, maybe. Anti-Westernism.’

‘He’s a Bedouin,’ Mansoor snapped tersely, as if this alone were sufficient explanation. And with that, Mansoor raced out of the chamber up the first staircase, with the others in hot pursuit.

As he followed, Daniel thought about Mansoor’s words. Contrary to popular Western prejudices, Arabs in general were the least likely amongst Muslims to be radicalized. The Bedouin especially tended to be pro-Western and particularly pro-British.

The Bedouin had a strict code of honour and one could get on the wrong side of them if one failed to appreciate this. But neither Daniel nor Gabrielle had done anything to offend Nasir. Indeed, one of the traditions of the Arab code of honour – especially strong amongst the Bedouin – is Dakheel, the protection of the stranger who is within one’s tent – even at the risk of one’s own life.

And tent did not literally mean a tent only, but the area of one’s home turf. To a family patriarch, this could be his house and those of his extended family. To a local sheikh or village mukhtar, it could mean his village or neighbourhood. In the case of Nasir, it would surely mean the tomb of which he was the appointed guardian. But as Daniel contemplated this, his thoughts were interrupted.

‘Oh my God!’ screamed Gabrielle as she reached the entrance corridor.

Mansoor was leaning over the dead figure of the guardian of the tomb.

Sarit had watched Daniel and the others drive across to the western valley, and she had watched Goliath follow them on foot. She waited for Goliath to disappear into the distance and then set off after him.

The killing of Goliath had now been sanctioned by the Israeli Prime Minister and it was up to Sarit to decide how to do it. Normally a kidon assassin would work in a team of at least four, but it had taken them time to catch up with Goliath and time was of the essence now that they knew his intentions.

Sarit’s original plan had been to run him down on the way there and kill him. But she realized that someone in the main valley might see. Even if she didn’t get caught on the spot, she knew her rented car could be identified and traced back to her. So she let him go and then followed, watching him through her binoculars.

But as she drove towards the valley, she saw the jeep that Daniel and the others had been in drive past her in the opposite direction. And it was not Mansoor at the wheel. Indeed, neither Mansoor nor either of the others were in the jeep. It was Goliath – and he was on his own.

In an instant she realized what had happened. She was too late! He must have killed them.

Damn! She had screwed up, big time.

She realized now that she should have gone after him and run him over. Then, instead of worrying about people finding the body and linking it to the rented car of an Irish tourist, she should simply have buried him in the sand. They would never have found him.

Instead, she had given him time – time to do his dirty work. Time to kill three more people and time to get the clothing sample that he had been sent there to find. That was far more serious. Three people dead was bad enough, and that was on top of the other killings: Carmichael, Roksana and the nurse at the hospital. If Goliath was allowed to fulfil Senator Morris’s evil scheme it could be the fate of an entire nation.

So she had to stop him – and stop him now.

But then another thought came to her. What if he hadn’t killed the people in the tomb? What if he had merely locked them inside? What if they were still alive? Shouldn’t she go there to check?

Then she realized why she couldn’t do that. First of all, revealing herself to them would compromise her identity and her mission. Secondly, time was of the essence. They could probably survive in the tomb for several days – possibly even weeks if they had enough water. But if Goliath escaped now she might not get a second chance to catch up with him – at least not while it could make a difference.

Even in a worst-case scenario, they could survive for several hours, and she could always put in an anonymous call alerting the authorities to their whereabouts. But she couldn’t afford to lose Goliath’s trail. He already had a head start, but she was still in contention. Moreover, she had a pretty good idea where he was going.

She swung the car round and headed back along the spur road in pursuit of her quarry.

‘His neck’s been broken,’ said Mansoor. The sorrow in his voice was genuine; although he did not know the guardian personally, the man had been loyal. And he almost certainly had a family.

‘What are we going to do?’ asked Gabrielle, her fear growing.

‘Let’s not panic just yet,’ said Mansoor.

‘But no one knows we’re here!’ she replied. ‘You never told anybody! You didn’t phone in or anything.’

‘When we don’t make contact tomorrow they’ll know something is up. They’ll know where to look. They’ll see our jeep.’

‘If it’s still there,’ said Gabrielle. ‘I heard a car drive off.’

‘That must have been the car of whoever did this,’ said Daniel. ‘Whoever locked us in must have got here somehow – presumably by car – and whatever you heard, it was probably them driving off.’

‘Not necessarily,’ said Mansoor. ‘It’s possible to walk across from the main valley.’

‘I’ve got an idea,’ said Daniel, taking out his mobile phone.

Almost in unison, the other two whipped out theirs. Daniel pressed the button to illuminate his and noticed that there was no signal. He tried a number, but got nothing. A brief glance at the others confirmed that they had not had better luck. He had hoped that because they were almost at surface level, they would get at least a weak signal – enough to call for help. Then he realized that they were behind an iron door and shielded on all sides by a thick layer of rock. Aside from that, the coverage in this country was none too good at the best of times.

‘We’re gonna die here!’ said Gabrielle, breaking down in tears and gasping for breath. Daniel put a comforting arm round her in the hope of calming her fears. Her sobbing declined in intensity and her breathing became shallower. Meanwhile, Mansoor quietly arranged the guardian’s body into some semblance of a dignified position. And then, quite abruptly, a smile graced his lips.

‘What?’ asked Daniel.

Mansoor reached into the tomb guardian’s pockets to produce a giant bunch of keys.

For a second, Daniel too was caught up in the euphoria, but then reality set in. ‘What good does that do us? We can’t reach the padlock.’

The door was shut not by a lock that could be reached from inside, but rather by a padlock on the outside. The door could only be unlocked from the other side.

Then Daniel saw something. ‘Look.’

The others turned in the direction he was pointing. It was a loose, fist-sized piece of rock, embedded in the wall, but with the break lines clearly visible.

‘What?’ asked Gabrielle in confusion.

Mansoor understood. And as Daniel took out his pocket-knife and opened it to prise the rock out of the wall, Mansoor crouched down to help him. Between them, they managed to free the piece of rock, which was about the size of half a brick and had a nice pointed corner.