John Lyman - The Secret Chapel

“Get some rest,” Leo said. “I have a feeling we won’t be getting much over the next few days.”

The tables in the mess tent began to empty as Leo followed Lev out into the rapidly cooling desert air. Both men stared up into the star-filled heavens in silence. This initial gathering of those called to this spot in the middle of an empty wilderness was coming to an end, and one by one, they felt their way into darkened tents, where they collapsed onto their cots. Soon, sleep overcame all who were not on sentry duty on their first night in the Negev Desert.

The Negev Desert-Day 2

A dusty yellow ring that seemed painted around the sun provided a hazy backdrop over the awakening camp. As the day wore on, the pastel horizon of the dawn gave way to a brilliant clear-blue sky, and the unrelenting heat began to make itself felt across the desert. Breakfast in the camp had ended an hour earlier, and people scurried about, finishing projects they had started the night before.

Out in the desert, the sound of gunfire echoed against the surrounding mountains as Alon introduced John to military weapons. The big Israeli commando had taken John under his wing, becoming a surrogate big brother to him. Much to John’s relief, Alon had pointed out that the Hawaiian print shirts John and Leo were wearing were glaringly inadequate for the harsh desert environment, so he had furnished them both with some long-sleeved white cotton shirts, khaki shorts, and olive-colored hats that had soft wide brims that hung loosely down around the sides.

“What kind of backpack is that, John?” Alon asked, peering at a small hole beginning to form around the bottom.

“A cheap one. I bought it a few months ago, before I came to Europe. Didn’t have much money.”

“I think what you’re carrying deserves better.” Alon walked over to a truck and pulled out a general issue military backpack like those used by the Israeli army. “Here, John. Put the brick in this. It’s made of Kevlar. This material will even stop a bullet.”

John had given Alon and the others a chance to examine the brick the day before at the villa. They were all full of curiosity at the strange painting of a jet hitting one of two tall towers and the obvious reference to the disastrous 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York City. The same question was on everyone’s mind: how did that image get painted two thousand years ago on a stone brick found under the Vatican? Most puzzling of course was the question of why. Lev and his team had still been unable to find any clue to the brick’s significance or its relation to what they were looking for in the desert.

The stray dog was already gaining weight as John continued to make sure he had plenty of food. He had decided to name him Camp, since he was now recognized by everyone as the official mascot of the entire camp.

Returning from a scouting mission of the region, the turbine engines of one of the helicopters drowned out any conversation as Leo and Lev emerged from the dust created by the spinning rotors and called for everyone to gather in the mess tent.

Lev stood up first. “Shalom, everyone. This morning we scouted the area around our campsite, taking pictures and looking for signs of life or anything out of the ordinary. There’s probably no one around us for at least fifty miles. Because of the sensitive nature of our work here, that’s probably a good thing. I want to turn this meeting over to my daughter, Ariella, so she can explain the archaeological aspects of the mission and also go over any hazards we might encounter out at the excavation site just to the south of our camp.”

Ariella brushed the hair back from her face and stood up next to her father. “This morning we used ground-penetrating radar and took some infrared pictures of an area revealed to us by the code in the Bible. The images from these two sources reveal some unusual anomalies in the substructure of the earth beneath the sand. There also appear to be remains of several man-made objects close-by. This is the area where we will begin our excavation, so be very careful in your digging. We have learned from the Bible code that something very old lies in this area of the desert, and many of you have heard that this object is connected to none other than Satan himself. Be that as it may, this is where we will begin our search. If anyone here decides they want to leave, please raise your hand, and we’ll make sure you have a seat on a truck leaving for Jerusalem within the hour.”

Predictably, everyone in the tent looked to their right and their left, but no one raised their hand.

“Good. Any questions before we get going?”

One of the young female staff members from the villa spoke up. “I’ve never been on an archaeological dig or anything like this before. What do we do?”

“There are several archaeologists here who will guide you out at the excavation site. Just follow their instructions and work at your own pace. Drink plenty of water, and see the medic if you start to feel weak or dizzy from the heat.”

Lev pulled an unlit cigar from his mouth and stepped forward. “Also, a lot of you have asked me who the leader of this expedition is. We discussed this subject among ourselves this morning and decided the leadership will be shared equally between Father Leo Amodeo and myself. If you have any needs or concerns, feel free to ask either one of us. If we disagree on anything, we’ll put it to a vote in front of the whole camp.”

“We really should get moving, Father,” Ariella said. “Are there any more questions?”

No one spoke. They were all deep in thought as they lifted themselves away from the tables and began to file out of the tent to the waiting vehicles. Climbing up next to Lev in the back of one of the trucks, Leo glanced at Ariella sitting in another vehicle and wondered what it would have been like to have a child like her. “That’s some daughter you have, Lev. She’s smart and takes charge when things need to be done.”

“Believe me, I know. Since she was a little girl, she’s been very independent and headstrong. My wife died when Ariella was only ten, so I’ve had to raise her pretty much by myself.”

“Maybe we should have made her one of the leaders,” Leo said, causing both men to chuckle. He looked at Lev and studied the furrowed lines around his eyes, remembering their conversation of the night before. Was it possible that he was sitting next to a prophet; one that people would be talking and reading about a thousand years from now?

The truck lurched forward, and the small line of vehicles drove the short distance to a spot in the desert pinpointed by Daniel from the coordinates he had discovered in the code.

As soon as the trucks stopped, Ariella jumped out and began taking GPS readings of the site. Lev followed her with a bundle of wooden stakes with small white flags attached and directed the staff to pound them into the ground around the perimeter. Daniel then used a surveyor’s instrument to take laser sightings over the surface, marking an area where the group began placing more stakes, this time with yellow flags, inside the perimeter. In the very center, all the flags were red and formed a large circle.

By nine in the morning, the sun beat down on the site with a fiery stillness as Ariella instructed the others to start digging along the perimeter by the white flags. They were assisted in their digging by a small backhoe that had just arrived from Jerusalem. In an effort to provide some shade, reinforcements from camp, including the cooks, had been called in to help erect an enormous canopy with open sides over the area where they would be digging. A much smaller open-sided tent was erected close by for use as an onsite archeological headquarters for the excavation.