John Lyman - The Secret Chapel

Daniel, working on a hunch, grabbed a metal detector and began walking in a straight line away from the perimeter. The needle on the meter spiked, and he heard a loud tone in his earphones. The sound faded before increasing in intensity again as he approached an area where the detector registered another large metal object. He made some notes and walked back to the excavation to confer with Lev and Ariella.

“I think what we have here is an entire convoy of trucks,” Daniel said. “The readings go on in a straight line, and the objects are roughly the same size as the one we just uncovered. There is one object smaller than the rest at the end of the line. It’s about the size of a car.”

Lev looked out over the site. “Let’s dig that one up first. It’s probably the commander’s vehicle.”

One of the men jumped into the backhoe and they struck out for the end of the line along with several workers. Within twenty minutes, they began to uncover the burned remains of a jeep. Some of the drab olive paint was still evident, but nothing else remained to give any hint at the country of origin.

Digging more carefully now, Ariella began to use a small spade. She worked the soil around the jeep until she began to see bones. They were the blackened bones of a hand. Replacing the spade with a brush, she gently spread the soil away from around the bones until she spotted the edge of a small white piece of paper lying close-by in the sand. Reaching down with her fingers, she gently lifted up what appeared to be a partially burned photograph and held it in her hand. Tears began to form in her eyes. The scorched but well-preserved picture was that of a young woman and a baby, and somehow, Ariella knew that she had just uncovered someone’s husband and father.

It was past noon, and the sun was directly above the site, turning the desert floor into a furnace and prompting the medic to call for a halt to any further work until the temperature fell to safe levels. Lev lifted his daughter from the site as everyone gathered around and Father Leo blessed the body of the soldier. With a sense of overwhelming sadness, they all climbed into the back of a truck and rode back to camp in silence.

While lunch was being prepared, the group recovered in the refrigerated air of the communications tent. Pictures of the items Ariella had found were e-mailed to the university and within the hour, the team had received confirmation that the military convoy they had just uncovered was British. In a strange twist, they were informed that, coincidentally, a thirty-man patrol had vanished in this desert in 1948 when the British had been in the process of pulling out of Palestine after the U.N. partition of the Holy Land. All efforts by the British government to locate the patrol had failed due to strange weather phenomenon that hampered the search until they were forced to quit. The final report read, “Loss of unit in presumed military action with unknown aggressors.”

“They never knew for sure what happened to those men,” Lev said. “At least their families can have some closure now.”

“Do you think it has anything to do with what we’re looking for?” Leo asked, hoping Lev had some sort of picture in his mind of what had happened out there in the desert.

“Probably just a coincidence.” Lev seemed lost in thought, as though something else was troubling him.

Moshe was at the communications console, finishing a conversation on his satellite phone, when he looked up at the two leaders. “We have a political issue to worry about now. We’ve uncovered a military grave site, and it’s already getting attention in Jerusalem and in England. We need to step up our operations.”

Leo glanced over at Lev. “What do you think about going to a twenty-four-hour schedule? It will be cooler at night, and we still have a lot of ground to cover.”

The sweat was beginning to dry on Lev’s head in the coolness of the tent as he ran his hands through his hair. “I’ll have another generator and some more floodlights flown out tonight. One of my staff got heat exhaustion today and had to be flown to the hospital in Jerusalem. Some more of my top people are flying out here in a few hours to help.”

“We also have another problem,” Moshe said. “The young man who quit this morning and hitched a ride into Jerusalem on one of our trucks has vanished.”

“What do you mean vanished?” Leo asked.

“He jumped out of the truck when it came to a stop at a red light and ran away down a side street.”

Alon entered the tent, catching the last part of the discussion. “He must have been pretty freaked out about something.”

“No, there’s more. We checked his name against our database and couldn’t find him. He’s not one of ours.”

“How the hell did that happen?” Alon practically shouted.

Moshe twirled one end of his moustache. “He must have found his way onto one of our trucks on the way out here last night. He never would have made it through security onto the grounds at the villa, so it probably happened when the trucks stopped for gas in Jerusalem. We have a lot of new students living at the villa now, and many are still new to each other. He probably just kind of blended in after everyone was getting back into the trucks from the restrooms. He was smart enough to know that we would be on to him today, so he pretended he’d had enough and hitched a ride out of camp.”

“Great security.” Alon was beside himself. Although Moshe was the security chief for the entire organization, Alon had been given direct command over camp security, and it had been breached.

Alon spoke through clenched teeth. “Have we found out who he is or what he was looking for?”

Moshe watched Alon continue to seethe. “We don’t have a clue at this time. He could have been one of those Vatican security people who have been following Leo and John.”

“That thought had crossed my mind,” Leo said.

Moshe wanted to help calm Alon. “Well, it’s too late to do anything about it now. We’ve run a security sweep of the camp to check for bugs and explosives. Nothing’s turned up. Why don’t we all go over to the mess tent and have lunch? We can’t resume work on the dig anyway until it gets cooler.”

“That sounds good to me,” John said, feeling hungry as usual. “I think I’ll go check on Ariella and see if she’s hungry too.”

Lev winked at Leo. “Good idea, John.”

The men walked toward the mess tent, discussing the day’s events and planning for the work ahead that night. Alon was so angry about the security breach he was unable to talk. His face was red, and he brushed off any attempt to make him feel better. The others decided it was better to leave him alone for a while.

For the next few hours, the camp came to a virtual standstill courtesy of the blazing afternoon heat. Alon’s fiancee, Nava, entered the mess tent and sat next to Ariella. She leaned in close and spoke in a soft voice. “I need to get Alon out of here for a while before he drives me and everyone else crazy with his security precautions. We’ve been engaged to be married for a little over a year now, and I can count the times we’ve been together on one hand. My schedule as a military helicopter pilot is so demanding that I’m afraid we’re going to drift apart. Do you have any ideas?”

Ariella thought for a moment before answering. “Why don’t I get John, and we’ll all go on a little picnic to a place I know close-by?”

“That’s a nice idea, Ariella, but don’t you think it’s a little too hot for a picnic? Where is this place?”

“There’s an oasis I’ve been to that’s like a little paradise in the middle of the desert. It’s surrounded by palm trees and has a clear freshwater pool. There’s even a spring-fed waterfall. The problem is, it’s about seventy miles to the west of here, and it would take hours to get there by land.” Ariella gave Nava an exaggerated wink, hoping she would catch the hint.