Adam Palmer - The Boudicca Parchments

“Is it open to tourists today,” asked Daniel. “The accessible parts I mean?”

“No it was closed in 2005 for safety reasons, because rain and ground subsidence threatened a partial collapse.”

“Couldn’t they strengthen it with maintenance work?”

“They tried… and they even reopened it in 2007. But then they had to close it again for further safety work in 2008. It’s still closed to the public today, although there is still some archaeological work as well the ongoing maintenance. That’s how they discovered the rotation mechanism as well as the manuscript. Interestingly, although they found a banqueting hall, they still haven’t discovered anything that could have served as a kitchen.”

There was movement next to them, as a middle-aged man with a moustache and short beard was led to the table next to them. He sat down and started perusing the menu.

“Got it!” said Sarit.

“The kitchen?” asked Daniel.

“An article about finding the manuscript.”

“And?”

“It says exactly what you said Ted. They found a waterlogged Jewish-style parchment in the part of the ruins that housed the rotation mechanism for the great banqueting hall. Ah, this is interesting. It was restored with the help of a manuscript restoration team from the Hebrew University.”

Ted pressed for information.

“Anything about the contents?”

“Yes. It says that although the lettering system was Hebraic, the underlying language was unknown but did not appear to be Semitic, Greek, Latin, Etruscan or anything indigenous to the region.”

“Do they show any pictures of the manuscript?” asked Daniel.

“No.”

“Where is the manuscript is now?” asked Ted.

Sarit flicked her finger against the screen several times, in order to scroll down

“It’s now in… the Vatican library.”

“The main library?” asked Ted.

Sarit squinted at the screen.

“Er… no. It’s in the secret archives.”

“Is that a problem?” asked Daniel. “I thought the secret archives are open to accredited scholars.”

“They are,” said Ted. “But you need an introductory letter from an accredited institution. Now I could get one from Cambridge, but it’ll take a few days and we don’t know if they’re on to me — either the police or the people who tried to kill us.”

“And I can’t even go near University College,” said Daniel.

“Maybe I could get my contacts to forge letters of introduction?” Sarit suggested.

Ted shook his head.

“That wouldn’t work.”

“Would they check them out?” asked Sarit.

“Normally no,” Ted explained. “But normally there would be prior contact, arranging the visit, the date and the time and giving the applicants details and explaining the purpose of the research. Then the presentation of the letter of introduction would be the final formality. In this case we haven’t got any of that. And if we apply now it’ll take a while. And if we use your name Daniel, we increase the risk to you.”

“Can’t you go alone?” asked Sarit. There’s no arrest warrant outstanding for you .”

“And who’s going to transliterate the Hebrew?”

“ I could. I read Hebrew. And as far as I know the form of Hebrew text hasn’t changed much in the last two and a half thousand years.”

“Yes but you’re not an accredited scholar.”

“You could say I’m your assistant.”

“They wouldn’t agree,” said Ted. “They’d say ‘your assistant can wait outside or go to a cafe while you do the research.’ Sorry, but that’s how they operate.”

Daniel sat forward, seized by an idea.

“We might just have something to bargain with.”

“What do you mean?” asked Ted.

“The ketuba . They might be interested in that. Evidence of Judeans in Roman Britain within thirty years of the crucifixion?”

“Yes but there’s no evidence that they were early Christians though.”

“No, but one of the witnesses was Aristobulos. And remember the early Christians were essentially messianic Jews. We could hold out the tantalizing prospect that it might have been Aristobulos of Britannia.”

“But it’s just a picture of the ketuba . We haven’t got the original parchment. And the first thing they’ll suspect is a forgery.”

“No but that’s the other thing. We do have your map … and it does have Hebrew lettering that appears to be a non-Semitic, non-Romance, non-Greek language. If we can show them that we have some idea what language their document is in — don’t tell them specifically, but make it clear that you have the ability to translate it if it’s the same as on the map — then they might grant us special access.”

Ted thought about this idea.

“You know Daniel, it might just work. The only question is how are we going to get there?”

“I don’t understand,” said Daniel.

“Well if I understood correctly, you were sprung from custody and you’ve been on the run ever since. So presumably, you haven’t got your passport with you. And even if you did have, you must be on some airport watch list by now.”

The disappointment was hard to withhold from Daniel’s face.

“You’ve got a point there.”

“Passports are no problem,” said Sarit firmly. “I can get them for both of you.”

The man at the neighbouring table was still looking down at the menu, trying very hard not to react to what he was hearing.

“Shamir,” said Dovi, answering the phone in his pithy style.

“It’s Uri at SHaBaK.”

“Yes.”

“We have a little problem with our friends in Shomrei Ha’ir .”

“Specifically?”

“Well we stepped up surveillance on Shalom Tikva after his son’s antics in London and now it seems that Daniel Klein’s sister Julia has brought her daughters here to get them out of harms way.”

“Out of the frying pan into the fire, as it were.”

“Yes well maybe some one should have warned them.”

There was a hint of criticism in the General Security Services man’s tone.

“My officer is babysitting for Klein. She didn’t have any direct contact with his sister.”

“Well anyway, the SHaBaK officer continued, the point is she’s here now.”

“And what’s the problem?”

“The problem is they know?”

“ Who know?”

“ Shomrei Ha’ir. ”

“How?”

“We don’t know what happened in England — ‘cause that’s not our department — but it seems Julia, her mother and her daughters were followed from the airport by one of HaTzadik’s loyal men.”

“What he just saw her there and recognized her?”

Dovi was incredulous.

“No, not exactly. It seems that he was waiting for her… waiting and watching.”

“But that means they knew she was coming.”

“Exactly. But as I said, it’s not in our remit to keep tabs on them abroad.”

“All right, I get the message,” said Dovi irritably. “But how much do they know?”

“Ah yes, that’s what I’m coming to. You see we’ve set up nearby and we’re using a laser scan of the window.”

This was a technique in which a laser was aimed at a window and a camera monitored its micro-vibrations and converted it back into sound. Any sound generated in that room or even audible in that room could be detected by this method.

Even double-glazing wasn’t a problem as the laser could penetrate to the inner glass and the camera could be aimed at that same inner glass to pick up the vibrations. In some ways that was better because there would be less noise from the outside of the glass affecting the audio pick-up. However in practice most of the old buildings in Mea She’arim didn’t have double glazing and so there would be some external interference. But as there was no major stream of motorized traffic in the area, the audio pick-up would be of reasonably good quality.