Adam Palmer - The Boudicca Parchments

“Let’s see.”

Daniel lifted it closer to himself, but held it at such an angle that Ted could shine his torch on it. Daniel read the words, including Icheni. Then Ted translated again.

“That says simply… Queen of the Icheni. Just what we thought in fact… Daniel?”

Daniel was staring at the writing, very intently.”

“I think I’ve just made a discovery.”

“We’ve made several discoveries,” Ted replied, the confusion heavily invasive of his tone.

“No I mean, more than that. Look at that letter.”

He took out his pen and pointed to the second letter of the last word.

“What about it?

“It’s the Hebrew letter Kaf of Khaf… the one I told you about… the one that can be pronounced like a K or alternatively like the ch in loch.”

“Well what about it?”

“Well it’s written in the style that of the Hebrew alphabet about two thousand years ago, just like the parchments.”

“Well that makes it authentic doesn’t it?”

“Yes and that form is only marginally different from the form used today. I mean on religious documents they still use that style today. The only difference is like the difference between say Times New Roman and a more blocky sans serif typeface.”

“Okay,” said Ted, still not sure where this was going.

“Well in that form of the Hebrew alphabet, the letter Kaf is only slightly different from the letter Samech. If I can show you.”

He put down the torc and took out a pen and a scrap of paper from his pocket.

“This is a Kaf…”and this is a samech… see the similarity?”

k s

“Yes I see. But what’s your point?”

“My point is, Ted, that this kaf here on the torc — presumably by a Jewish scribe — is written in such a way that the left side is almost enclosed, so that it could very easily be mistaken for a samech.”

“You said that. But so what?”

“Well suppose some one wrote a manuscript, in Hebrew or Aramaic, referring to the Icheni or Ikeni. And then some one else came along — some one to whom Hebrew or Aramaic were not a first language — and they wanted to translate what they were reading into… say… Greek. With the Kaf written like that, then might they not a word like Icheni or Ikeni be easily mistaken for… I ss eni… or allowing for the ambiguous initial vowel… Esseni ?”

“Holy moly!” said Ted.

“I’m surprised it took you so long to figure it out,” came a voice from above them.

They looked up to see Shalom Tikva leaning into the entrance to the cistern… holding a hand grenade.

As Masada loomed up ahead, Sarit was driving Israeli style: with little regard for the laws of the road and even less for the laws of physics. She knew how easy it was for even the best intelligence and security services to bungle things by underestimating the threat and she had no intention of letting Daniel become another casualty of such ineptitude!

They should have arrested Shalom Tikva as soon as they had evidence that he had ordered a killing. The fact that he had used ambiguous wording in his instructions to his son, would not have been a barrier to a guilty verdict in a trial by judge, the only sort of trial available in Israel. And they should not have let Baruch Tikva slip through the net. The British should have caught him there and when they failed to do so, passport control should have caught him when he re-entered Israel.

The British had been quick enough to arrest Daniel on the flimsiest of evidence and had unreasonably refused him bail on the strength of the fact that he had fled the country the last time they falsely accused him. The fact that he had been vindicated didn’t seem to matter to the judge.

And yet Baruch Tikva had been able to attack a police van and kill two policemen, yet go on to escape and even make an attempt to abduct one of Daniel’s nieces. Then two of Daniel’s nieces had been kidnapped by the henchmen of Shalom Tikva and only then did the police and Security Services go into action and start arresting them.

But by then it was too late. Because by then, Shomrei Ha’ir knew that the authorities were on to them and they scattered into the four winds.

And now they knew that these enemies of the state were making their last stand — going after Daniel Klein for reasons that had still not become clear. He had made a few discoveries about Jewish history. But what had that set them against him? How did an expert on ancient languages — and a British professor of archaeology — manage to fall afoul of a Bible-toting sect of Jewish fanatics? Was there some connection between the modern zealots of Judaism and the ancient zealots that Daniel was researching and studying?

That was surely unlikely. These ancient sects that have existed for centuries were the stuff of a whole new wave of historical thrillers, but they surely had no basis in reality? Besides, the ancient zealots were nationalistic Jews, whereas the modern ones were decidedly anti -nationalist. Indeed anti-Zionism was the hallmark of most ultra-Orthodox Jewish sects. With one or two exceptions, it was the moderates who supported Zionism.

She had spoken to Dovi a couple of times on the way and he had assured her that a Border Guard unit had been dispatched there. It was a sensitive area, so there would be Border Guardsman and soldiers nearby anyway. But it was unlikely that they would have been given pictures of who they were looking for. And what if HaTzadik had sent other people. How would they know who to look out for?

The most they could do is look out for anyone trying anything fishy. That meant they would have to be re active rather than pro active.

Sarit was still going fast when she turned into the bus forecourt. Private vehicles were supposed to park further away, but when a security guard approached and started giving all that swaggering “I’ve got a dick and you haven’t” Israeli macho, she just flashed a badge at him and told him to back off.

The Mossad had no jurisdiction on the home front, but when in Israel they carried ID that enabled them to avoid hassle from other law enforcement officials.

Ignoring the security guard who was no doubt watching her ass and mentally undressing her, she ran towards the tourist centre and the cable cars.

“What are you going to do?” asked Daniel hesitantly.

“Hand over the bag,” said HaTzadik.

“Is that what this is all about?” asked Daniel. “A few pagan baubles? Not some pious cause after all, but just the old God of mammon?”

“It’s nothing like that,” Shalom Tikva snarled. “You couldn’t even begin to understand.”

“I think I’m beginning to,” said Daniel. “You’re not greedy. But like any other terrorist gang, you need money to finance the revolution. You justify it by telling yourselves that the money is to change the world, not to live the high life.

The mockery wasn’t entirely real. He was trying to goad HaTzadik into talking. Partly this was playing for time, but partly he wanted to understand what was going on. What did Shalom Tikva mean when he said “I’m surprised it took you so long to figure it out.”

“We didn’t do it for the treasure. We weren’t even sure that it existed. Although I suspect Sam Morgan was.”

“Sam Morgan?”

Daniel remembered the name from what Sarit had told him. Sam Morgan, Sarit had determined, was the man ho had killed Martin Costa and tried to kill Daniel at the house.

“A man who is helping us — or at least was helping us.”

Did this mean that Sam Morgan was dead? Or that they had fallen out?