Adam Palmer - The Moses Legacy

He tried calling out, ‘We’re British!’ in the hope that these magic words would calm them down. But before he could say anything more, the shooting started.

Goliath was beginning to regret leaving the hospital. The burns on his flesh were no longer as painful as they had been, but they still troubled him. He had come so near and yet lost everything when that evil woman – whoever she was – had thrown that gasoline bomb into the jeep.

He had left that message for Daniel Klein, but so far received no reply. Was it because Klein was suspicious? Or was it because he hadn’t received the message?

Realizing that Senator Morris didn’t have his new number, he phoned the senator, ignoring the time difference.

‘Where the fuck have you been?’

‘I left the hospital and got a new phone. My old phone got destroyed when the jeep went up in flames.’

‘Are you being followed?’

‘No. I was careful.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘ Yes! I was careful.’

‘I hope so. You’re not the sort of man who can hide in a crowd.’

‘You got me out. Thank you.’

‘I had to call in a lot of favours when I heard the news about the attack on the road. You did the right thing calling the embassy, but I can’t afford to get involved openly.’

‘I’m sorry. I just wanted to let you know where I am, and to apologize for screwing up. They got out of the tomb… and someone attacked me on the road-’

‘I know all that! I watch the news.’

‘So you know I lost them. I’m sorry.’

‘This isn’t a time for regret. This is a time for action! Those Jewish scumbags have cost me the most precious thing in the world.’

Goliath heard crying on the other end of the line.

‘What… what happened?’

The senator told him about his daughter. In the past it had been Senator Morris who had comforted Goliath. This time, it was Goliath’s turn to play the comforter.

‘She will be avenged. I will do anything you ask of me.’

The strength came back to the senator’s voice.

‘I think it is time I told you my whole plan. If you are going to risk everything, then you must know everything.’

Over the next few minutes, the senator told Goliath exactly what he was planning to do and what Goliath had to do to help him achieve it. At the end, Goliath spoke.

‘But they will not trust me. Why would they share such precious ancient knowledge with me?’

‘They won’t. That is why you need to find Daniel Klein. They will trust him. You must use him to get them to show you where to go. Once they have shown you the exact location, you will not need Klein any more. You will not need any of them any more.’

‘I left a message for Klein, posing as a friend. But he has not answered.’

‘Keep trying.’

As soon as they had ended the call, Goliath called Daniel’s number again, not sure if it would be worth leaving another message.

‘Hallo?’

It was a voice! A human being, not a message. Someone had answered.

‘Hallo. Is that Mr Klein?’

There was silence on the other end of the line. Silence? Or hesitation?

‘No. This wrong number.’

The English was poor. This was obviously a local who spoke only rudimentary English. But the person did not hang up. Why not? That was normally what people did if someone called them in error. Or maybe the person at the other end was waiting for him to hang up.

‘Wait. Is that…’ He recited the number out loud. Again there was hesitation.

‘I don’t know.’

‘Wait a minute. Is that Daniel Klein’s phone?’

Goliath didn’t know what mental agonizing was going on at the other end of the phone.

‘He left phone in boat. We’re waiting for him to come and collect it.’

‘Wait… look… is Mr Klein coming to collect the phone? I need to talk to him.’

‘He must come back to get phone.’

‘Does he know you’ve got it? The phone, I mean?’

‘We can’t call him. But he left it on boat.’

‘ We? ’

The man on the other end said nothing.

‘What boat?’

‘My father and me take him on felucca.’

That explained the ‘we’. Goliath had pretty much twigged it at this point. This person – probably no more than a boy – wanted to keep the phone. But he wasn’t a thief. Then Goliath thought about the local culture and had an idea.

‘Look, I’m a friend of his and I need to contact him. I can also help you give the phone back to him. In fact…’ he paused for effect, ‘there’s a reward for finding the phone. Baksheesh.’

‘Yes?’

‘If we can meet and you can tell me where you last saw Daniel Klein, I can give you two hundred dollars and make sure that he gets the phone back.’

‘Okay. Where you want to meet?’

‘I don’t know. You know Cairo better than I do.’

‘Yes, but where is easy for you to finding?’

Goliath realized how helpful the boy was being. He wanted to choose a place that Goliath could find easily. ‘Okay, how about the Sphinx?’ Goliath could see Giza from his hotel window. A taxi ride would take no time at all. ‘I can be there in half an hour.’

‘How I know what you look like?’

‘I’m very tall. And I have some bandages on me. I was injured in a fire.’

‘Okay. I see you in half hour. I bring the phone.’

‘Wait a minute! What’s your name?’

‘Na’if.’

The boy rang off before he could reply.

Na’if… it sounded like naive. How appropriate.

A trail of bullets from the Israeli patrol boat raked the water in front of them. Daniel realized that by this stage even turning back would be regarded by the Israelis as aggression, or at least non-compliance. So he cut the engine and let the boat carry on coasting forward. To further indicate his surrender, he raised his hand and stood up slowly.

Gabrielle did likewise, but then looked back, prompting Daniel to follow suit. What he saw was the Egyptian navy boat approaching at speed. At the same time, the Israeli boat had also stopped. Daniel realized what this meant. They had not yet entered Israeli territorial waters and were possibly still inside Egyptian waters. That meant that they could be taken back to Egypt.

No, the Israelis would not have fired into Egyptian waters… but might have fired on a vessel in international waters if it was deemed to pose a threat. They might have thought that the boat was packed with explosives and that he was a suicide bomber. Under those circumstances, they would have fired rather than attempt to board.

In fact he was no more than a fugitive from Egypt for trying to leave evading border control, but the Israelis didn’t know that. It occurred to him that maybe the Israelis knew who he was. They might have heard those absurd stories about the infectious disease and believed that he and Gabrielle were walking biological weapons.

‘What’s happening?’ asked Gabrielle.

‘I think we’re still in international waters.’

‘So neither of them can take us against our will.’

Daniel was irritated by her legal naivety. ‘Actually, they both can.’

‘Well, let’s hope it’s the Israelis.’

Looking at the approaching Egyptian boat and the stationary Israeli one, Daniel realized that her hope was in vain. ‘I don’t think it’s going to be.’

Gabrielle put on her snorkel. ‘Do you know what free diving is?’ she asked.

‘Free diving?’

‘It means swimming underwater, holding your breath for as long as you can.’

‘You mean we trade in getting shot for drowning?’

Her face hardened. ‘This is it, Daniel – our Butch and Sundance moment.’