C. Palov - Ark of Fire

Anxious about the upcoming mission, he hit the Intercom button on the phone console. “Any word on the flight plan?”

“I’ve just received the official approval, sir. You’re wings up at thirteen hundred hours.”

“Excellent,” Stan said to his chief of staff before disconnecting.

Despite the fact that English food rivaled mess tent slop, he looked forward to greeting the new day in London. The Miller woman had set the schedule back a full twenty-four hours, and though he was frustrated by the snafu, he felt curiously uplifted, ready, willing, and able for the task he was about to undertake. Besides, in the larger scheme of things, Edie Miller and her consort were insignificant. Minor players in a drama penned by the Almighty twenty-six centuries ago.

He glanced at his watch. He had enough time to post his daily blog entry.

Seating himself at the desk, he used his two index fingers to type the opening Bible passage, a favorite from Psalm 11.

He will send fiery coals and flaming sulfur down on the wicked . . .

CHAPTER 32

“At this juncture I should probably mention that I’m not an adventuresome person. I like stability. Predictable, watch the same TV program every Monday night, stability. The only thing in my life that gets changed on a regular basis is the lightbulbs.”

At hearing Edie’s voice, Caedmon glanced away from the Oxfordshire scenery that passed in a limestone blur on the other side of the oversized coach window. Having touched down at Heathrow two hours ago, they were now en route to Oxford.

“How curious. You strike me as a most intrepid woman.”

“Appearances can be deceiving.”

“Indeed.” He pointedly glanced at her attire.

Their clothes having taken a shabby turn for the worse after yesterday’s foot race, they’d each purchased a new set of garments at the airport boutique. He’d selected tweeds, wools, and a beige anorak. Opting for more colorful plumage, Edie had chosen a yellow knit cap, a red military-style jacket replete with epaulets, and knee-high riding boots into which she’d tucked her denim jeans. While he resembled one half of a stodgy English couple come to town, she looked like a Mondrian painting come to life. He would have preferred that she select earth tones. Colors that faded into the winter scenery. Should an RIRA operative happen to catch sight of him, he would suddenly have two enemies to contend with rather than the one.

“Do you think MacFarlane and his goons will actually find the Ark of the Covenant?”

“It’s an outside wager, at best,” he replied. “Over the centuries many have searched—all in vain. Although if found, the Ark of the Covenant would be the most astounding discovery in the annals of mankind.”

Edie closed the Bible they’d purchased in the gift shop at Dulles airport. “It’s been a while since I last read the Old Testament, being what you might call a New Testament kind of gal.” She stuffed the King James Bible into the Virgin Airlines shoulder bag that they now used to convey their meager belongings. “Somehow I’d conveniently forgotten about all the death and mayhem associated with the Ark. Just now I was reading about the battle of Ebenezer.”

“If memory serves correctly, Ebenezer was where the Philistines not only defeated the Israelites but managed to steal the Ark of the Covenant.”

“And wasn’t that a big mistake? Within hours of installing the Ark inside the Temple of Dagon, the Philistines discovered the statue of their deity smashed to smithereens. But, of course, that was nothing compared to the plague of boils that suddenly afflicted the entire city of Ashdod. In the ensuing panic, the Philistine king wisely decided to return his ill-gotten booty to the Israelites.”

“At which point the Philistines loaded the Ark of the Covenant onto a cart and rolled it to the Hebrew town of Bethshemesh.”

“Where, as you mentioned yesterday, fifty thousand residents were indiscriminately slaughtered because of a curious few who dared to peek inside the Ark.” Edie’s brow furrowed. “You know, I’m trying hard, but I just can’t get a handle on an all-loving, all-forgiving God instigating that kind of brutality.”

“I, for one, don’t believe that God had anything to do with the Ark’s devastating powers.” Caedmon leaned back in his coach seat, crossing his legs at the knee. “Rather I believe that the Ark’s power was entirely manmade. To comprehend its supposedly supernatural power, one must understand how the Ark was constructed.”

“You said that the Egyptian bark was more than likely the prototype used by Moses.”

He verified the statement with a quick nod. “I am certain of it. First, consider the materials used. Both bark and Ark were manufactured from gold. An enormous quantity of gold, to be precise.”

“Well, gold is one of the most valuable metals known to man.”

“More important, gold is an extremely dense metal that is chemically nonreactive. Although it can’t be proved, some biblical scholars believe that the gold used on the Ark was nine inches thick.”

“You’re kidding? That would make for a huge hunk of gold.”

“Indeed.” Riffling through the shoulder bag, he removed pen and paper. Culling to mind the detailed descriptions given in the Old Testament, he managed to produce a fairly accurate rendition of the Ark of the Covenant.

“As you can see, the gold box was covered with a lid known as the mercy seat.”

Edie chuckled. “Not the hot seat?”

Caedmon smiled at his companion’s wry remark. “The mercy seat was adorned with a matched pair of gold cherubim mounted on the lid. Mind you, these weren’t the adorable putti that clutter the paintings of Peter Paul Rubens. The cherubim who stood sentry atop the Ark were fierce, otherworldly creatures, not unlike the winged figures of Isis and Nephthys that adorned many an Egyptian bark.”

“Underneath all that gold, the Ark was made of wood, wasn’t it?”

“Acacia wood, to be precise, the tree native to the Sinai Desert. In ancient times, such wood was thought to be incorruptible. Additionally, it would have acted as an insulator.”

Her brown eyes opened wide, the realization having just dawned. “And gold is an excellent conductor. Since the acacia box was lined, inside and out, with gold”—using her hands, she made a sandwich, leaving several inches of air between her palms—“the Ark would have been an incredibly powerful condenser. And given all the dry desert air in the Sinai, I bet the darned thing would have packed a very potent electrical punch.”

Despite her quirkiness, Edie Miller possessed a nimble mind; the woman was fast proving herself an enigma.

“Touching the Ark with one’s bare hands would have resulted in instant death,” he said, confirming her theory. “Moreover, the Old Testament is rife with tales of the Ark producing skin lesions on people who came into close proximity. Interestingly enough, recent research has verified that skin cancer is an occupational hazard of working near high-tension power lines.”

“So how did the Israelites protect themselves?”

“The high priest wore specialized ritual clothing when handling the Ark, and the Stones of Fire was part of his protective wardrobe. Because the Ark built up an electric charge due to all the jostling while in transport, it was carefully wrapped in leather and cloth.”

“Which acted as a protective barrier so that the guys stuck with carrying it wouldn’t be tossed on their collective keisters,” she astutely, if not, irreverently, remarked.