Adam Palmer - The Boudicca Parchments

Only, this time, when he opened his eyes, it was dark.

“I can’t see!” he yelped, in a state of panic.

“I lost the flashlight.”

Ted’s tone was reassuring.

So I’m not blind at least.

It was still a hope. Until he saw light he couldn’t be sure. He sat up and felt room to manoeuvre around him. They weren’t buried alive. But in the absence of light, and assuming Ted was telling the truth, they were trapped. He had to be sure. He had to know if there was anyone out there to help them.

“Hallo!”

Ted joined him in calling out.

There was an echo as their voice travelled down the cistern into the open. That was reassuring. They could probably get out if they went down rather than up. But it was a long way and they couldn’t see. There might be a sheer drop along the way, or at least a steep one. And without light they would have no way of knowing.

Of course if there was an opening at the bottom, there ought to be light. But if it was around several bends, then it might be very feint. As Daniel’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, he began to see. There was a small amount of light. He remembered reading somewhere that normally ones eyes are adjusted to the dim light when one first wakes up. That’s why people who have just been awoken cannot stand bright light. But maybe that only applied to a long period of sleep.

Determined not to stay here and wait for the cavalry, he started tearing at the rubble and throwing it behind him.

“We need to get out of here!”

Ted joined him, throwing all of his effort into the endeavour.

Suddenly, at a point above where they were clawing and digging, a speck of light appeared. Some one was outside… some one was trying to help them. Daniel called out

“Hallo!”

“Daniel? Daniel is that you?”

He recognized the voice… a woman’s voice.

“Sarit?”

“Yes it’s me. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Is Ted with you?”

“Yes, he’s okay too.”

The hand-digging became more intense now that it had borne fruit. The fact that they were alive and easily accessible meant that it was worth making that little bit of extra effort to get them out. In little more than five minutes they were free, shaken and dazed but still in good nick, as Ted described it.

“Where’s HaTzadik?” asked Daniel, as Sarit crushed the life out of him with a bear hug.

She disengaged and pointed just outside of the ditch. Daniel saw the fallen man, but no treasure bag.

“Dead.”

Sarit already knew the answer. But she looked over to the doctor, for confirmation. He nodded. But Daniel had to know more.

“What about his son?”

“Was he here?”

“I didn’t see him. But I’m sure he was here.”

He was about to explain about the treasure bag, when a woman’s voice wailed out from a distance.

“Please! Some one help us!”

They looked around to see a couple near the entrance archway looking frantic and desperately trying to get the attention of thee crowd that had gathered round the ditch. It was the woman who had called out. The man seemed to be trying to look in two directions at once — at the crowd and at the entrance.

“What is it?”

“He had a gun! He grabbed our son!”

The border guardsman started racing towards the couple.

“Was it an Arab?”

“No, a doss .”

Doss was a word for ultra-orthodox Ashkenazi Jews. It had acquired mildly derogatory connotations, but like so many other pejorative epithets, the intention depended on the tone.

Daniel and Sarit ran over, with Ted only a fraction of a second behind them. Sarit took the initiative.

“Which way did they go?”

“To the cable car… I think.”

The mother was going to say more, but the sound of a gunshot in the distance struck terror into her. She screamed.

But there was no time to comfort her. Sarit took off first, with Daniel second. Ted was going to follow, but one of the border police stopped him. They had seen Sarit’s ID and that she clearly knew the man who had gone off after her. But they weren’t sure about this man, even though he too had been trapped in the rubble.

Unable to pass Sarit on the narrow wooden walkway Daniel arrived at the cable car just behind her. The cable car operator was lying there bleeding from the torso. He was clutching the wound, but was clearly in pain. Sarit half turned.

“Call the doctor!”

Then she went to work on the cable car mechanism, trying to figure it out. Daniel saw one of the border guardsman on the walkway. Switching to Hebrew, to make himself understood, Daniel called out to him.

“Send the doctor quickly! The cable car operator’s been shot.”

By the time the words were out of his mouth, he heard a whirring sound and looked round to see that the cable car had come to a halt halfway down. Sarit stood up to see a look of concern on Daniel’s face.

“He might harm the child.”

“He’ll try to bargain first. They always do.”

Daniel looked down at the wounded man and started taking off his belt. But it was Sarit whom he addressed.

“Can you do first aid?”

“I’m trained. But the doctor’s coming.”

“Try and stop the bleeding.”

“You can’t put a tourniquet on the torso…”

But Sarit realized that she had misunderstood Daniel’s meaning. He stood up on a metal railing, threw the thick belt over the cables and leapt, sliding down the cables, holding onto both ends of the belt for dear life.

After watching Daniel land on the top of the cable car, Sarit crouched down and applied pressure to try and stem the bleeding. She was still concerned with Daniel’s safety, but she knew that he could take care of himself. And this man who lay before her on the ground was dying. However, she knew that he needed proper medical help and she stepped back the second the doctor arrived.

While the doctor went to work on the cable car operator, Sarit looked down to see Daniel standing on the roof of the cable car. He was opening one of the trap doors in the roof of the cabin and then trying to clamber down.

Suddenly Baruch Tikva reached up and tried to grab Daniel’s legs. He had the size and strength. But Daniel had the speed and agility to keep one foot free. As Bar Tikva made a second attempt to pull him down and make him land badly, Daniel kicked him away with his free foot.

In response, Bar Tikva dragged the boy — who was aged no more than six — to the side door, forced the side door open manually and threatened to throw him out. The boy screamed in terror at what the big man was threatening. He looked to Daniel with appealing eyes, as if begging Daniel to save him.

But Daniel was now driven to anger by the memory of what Bar Tikva had done already. He had targeted Daniel’s nieces and now he was threatening another innocent child, this one selected purely at random. Realizing that Bar Tikva was probably bluffing, but unwilling to provoke him with a direct challenge, Daniel resorted to psychology.

He grabbed the treasure bag that Bar Tikva had left unattended when he tried to grab Daniel’s legs and smiled at Bar Tikva.

“That boy is worth nothing to me. But this is worth plenty to you. If I have it, I can use to validate the manuscripts and expose the truths that you wish to conceal.”

Bar Tikva looked angry. Then Daniel held out an olive branch.

“Let’s trade.”

Bar Tikva contemplated for a moment and then smiled.

“Okay.”

Bar Tikva dragged the boy over to the middle of the cabin, leaving the door, which now remained open. Daniel met him there and handed over the bag in such a way that Bar Tikva was forced to let go of the boy in order to take possession of the treasure bag. As soon as this was accomplished, Daniel lifted the boy and deposited him in a far corner.