by Dan Arnold
That answer told Jake the young man was someone who respected the value to science above any religious or political consideration.
“Now, you tell us what it means to you, Dr. Walker.” Ruben said.
Jake thought about his answer. It was complicated for him.
From a purely scientific perspective finding the Ark of the Covenant was the most significant experience imaginable to anyone involved in researching the ancient world?
On a more personal and spiritual level, seeing the box that contained the stone tablets carved by Moses, some of the manna that appeared like frost but was both nutritious and imperishable, and Aaron’s rod that budded, was beyond his wildest imagination. As with other, less notable discoveries, it would be an immensely valuable contribution to the evidence for the accuracy of Biblical history.
On another level, the complexity of the geo-political significance was frightening. The idea that they might be killed in the attempt to secure it was never far from his mind.
He took a deep breath.
“For me it’s a tremendous honor. What we’re doing could help maintain peace in the Middle East, secure an irreplaceable object of art, and further my understanding of human history. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I wouldn’t miss it for anything. OK, gentlemen, that’s all. Let’s get started.”
Nine
“Jake, will you walk with me out to my car.” Professor Horowitz asked.
“Alright, while I’m doing that, you men start breaking through the wall of the tunnel. You will make the opening on the left side, twenty meters from where this tunnel meets this cavern. Work quickly, but as quietly as possible. Do not go through the opening into the tunnel on the other side of the wall. I’ll be right back.”
As they walked through the crowd of tourists, neither man said a word.
Professor Horowitz stopped beside his car.
“Remember this, Jake; three days. Three days is all you’ve got. There is at least one other group coming for the artifact.”
“I thought you said you were the only person alive who knew the location.”
“Yes, until now, only I knew the exact location. Evidently there have been some intelligence leaks recently. It would’ve been better to do this some weeks ago, but we weren’t prepared. By now, there are people who know the object is probably somewhere under the Temple Mount. We estimate it will take three days for them to get organized. By then you’d better be gone. Do you understand?”
“Do you think we can do it?”
“As I recall the conditions, if you work hard and all goes well, you could reach the room tonight. Unfortunately, we can’t be sure what the conditions are like now. Having to clear a lot of debris will slow you.”
“How long will it take you to make the arrangements we discussed?”
Mordechai pulled out his mobile phone.
“You’ll have the fork lift, the truck, and the cartons within the next two hours. The plane will be fueled and the pilots on standby in the same amount of time. The clock has started. The timing and schedule are all on you now, my friend.”
“We’ll get it done, Morty.”
“From your mouth to God’s ear. If anyone can, it will be you. I wish I could be with you, but I’ll be drawing attention away from here.”
Jake nodded, reaching out to shake hands with his friend.
Mordechai shook Jake’s hand, saying, “May the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob guide you and protect you in this work.”
“Well thanks, Morty, but you said you aren’t a religious person.”
“I’m not, really. I just felt like I should say that.”
“I’m glad you did. It sounds better than ‘good luck.’”
Mordechai cocked his head to one side and narrowed his eyes at his friend.
“Do you believe in luck, Jake?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Neither do I. Not anymore. As I said, God be with you.”
“…And with you, Morty. I’ll be in touch.”
Professor Mordechai Horowitz nodded and climbed into his car. With a final wave, he drove away.
“Not religious, huh?” Jake said, as he watched the car disappear into traffic.
Jake found the three men stacking the stones they’d pulled away to create an opening in the side of the tunnel. All three wore body armor, helmets and backpacks. While it confirmed his suspicions, Jake thought this odd and a little bit ominous, considering they would be working in cramped spaces. Looking at them, he felt about half naked, but perhaps not under protected.
“Dr. Walker, how did you know where to breach the tunnel wall?” Ruben asked.
“Call it a good guess.”
“No, I don’t think it was a guess. You knew exactly where we should start.”
“Let’s just say I have considerable experience with ancient tunnels and the techniques used to seal passageways and disguise them. I’ll need a light to look inside the adjoining tunnel.”
Lorenzo pulled a small, LED tactical flashlight from his pocket. He twisted it to broaden the beam.
Jake leaned in through the opening, shining the light up the tunnel. After a moment he tightened the beam, focusing on first the roof, then the edges of the floor.
“OK. This looks safe. Grab some tools and follow me.”
The men walked a few yards into the new tunnel, looking around with electric torches. This tunnel was about four and a half feet wide and almost six feet tall, lined with flat stones similar to those they’d pulled out to create an opening. They had to walk in single file. Jake being the tallest member of the team had to stoop to lead the way.
David was curious.
“Why did you say this looks safe? Is there danger of a collapse?”
“Yes, this tunnel is probably at least a couple of thousand years old. It was built without wooden beams to hold up the ceiling; instead, they used these walls to hold up stone slabs. That’s why it’s so narrow in here. It’s a good design and it’s done the job, but it’s ancient. We need to proceed with caution. Ruben, you stay about three meters behind me, then Lorenzo behind you. David, you bring up the rear.”
“Why did they build these tunnels?” Lorenzo asked.
“…For several reasons,” David answered from his place behind them. “Sometimes certain people wanted to be able to move about without being seen on the streets. In ancient times, as it is today, smuggling was common. In a time of war, fortified cities like Jerusalem were often put under siege. Tunnels were built to allow people to flee, or to sneak supplies into the city. In a dry climate like this, it was also common to have underground cisterns, and early sewage systems were just tunnels under the cities.”
Jake was impressed with the younger man’s knowledge. Evidently he was a student of history. Jake was smiling at that thought when his electric torch shone on something in the distance.
“It looks like there’s a wall straight ahead. It’s a junction with another tunnel. Somebody already pulled down a part of that wall to gain access to it.”
“Is there someone else down here?” Ruben hissed.
“No, I don’t think so. It looks to have been done many years ago. Wait here, I’ll check it out.”
Jake stopped at the pile of rubble. Unlike the neatly stacked stones the three men had organized when they breached the wall behind them, the stones here had been pried out and left where they fell. The opening was too jagged and narrow to carry anything through.
Jake took a moment to search for hidden booby traps in the rubble or around the opening. Finding none, he waived the other three men forward.
“We’ll have to clear this opening and widen it. It shouldn’t take the four of us more than half an hour. Let’s start by pulling this rubble out of the way.”
They formed a chain, Jake lifted from the pile, passing the rock back to the next man and so on. David stacked the stones in a corner.
While the tunnels maintained a fairly stable and cool temperature, underground and without any airflo
w, moving slabs of rock in the tight space soon had Jake sweating. He bumped his head on the ceiling more than once. His straw cowboy hat offered little protection. He thought about asking if the men had an extra helmet. This was the most physically challenging thing he’d done in weeks.
He was somewhat relieved to see that, even though they’d shrugged out of their backpacks, the other men were sweating as well.
He smiled. How well he remembered that helmets and body armor weren’t designed to wick away moisture. Hunting Taliban guerrillas in the Afghan summer heat had been far more brutal.
When the opening was wide enough to allow them to carry the Ark of the Covenant through, they took a rest break.
With their flashlights extinguished, they sat in total darkness. Not only was the blindness a strange sensation, the complete silence was only punctuated by their breathing and the rustle of their garments.
“I expect we’ll see rats down here, don’t you Dr. Walker?” Lorenzo asked.
“You guys can call me Jake. There’s no need for formalities from now on. No, Lorenzo, there probably won’t be any rats in these old tunnels. There’s nothing to eat down here but dust.”
“Sure, just dust and us,” Ruben said, his deep voice rumbling in the darkness. “If you get trapped down here, Lorenzo, in the darkness, you’ll never see them coming.”
Jake chuckled at that. After a moment he turned on his light.
“You men wait here. We turn left in this next tunnel and walk about three hundred yards to another junction. I’m going to scout ahead. If you hear a cave in; come running.”
David twisted his neck and said with a wink, “If we hear a cave in, we’ll be running, but probably not toward you.”
Jake chuckled and shrugged before he stepped through the opening. Something on the floor of the new tunnel caught his eye. When he touched it with his foot, he discovered it was a length of fabric, covered in dust. So dusty in fact, it appeared to be a wrinkle on the floor of the tunnel. He bent down and picked it up, shaking off some of the dust. It took him a moment to recognize it as a wound bandage. An old, blood stained bandage, probably less than a dozen years old.
“What do you have there?” Ruben asked.
“It’s a bloody bandage.”
“So bloody what?” Lorenzo quipped.
“No, I mean it’s soiled with old blood.” He handed it through the opening.
“That’s odd. What do you make of it?”
“Evidently someone who was injured passed through here.”
“Right, I get that. What’s your point?”
“That fabric is modern and intact. It means someone was in this tunnel in recent times.”
“Is that unusual?”
“These tunnels aren’t on any map, and this whole area is off limits to any explorers. The last time anyone was reported to be in here was several years ago. I heard there’d been some trouble. It’s the reason no archeological research is permitted on or under the Temple Mount.”
“Did you hear about anyone being hurt?”
I did, but just a somewhat vague mention.”
“How close are we to the Temple Mount?”
“I’m not sure, but not as close as we will be. This tunnel leads that way.”
“Then we’d better proceed with extreme caution.” Ruben stood up and slipped into his backpack. “I’m going with you.”
The other two men stood as well.
“We’ll all go. It doesn’t make sense to divide the team,” Lorenzo said.
Jake said, “No. I need David to go back and see if the supplies I requested have arrived. Either way, David, as soon as they do, make sure the cartons I requested are in the truck. After that, come straight back here. Wait a second. In the interest of what you called extreme caution, Ruben, there’s something I should tell you all.”
All three men looked at him.
“One or more of these tunnels is booby trapped.”
“How in the world do you know that?” Ruben asked.
“Professor Horowitz told me. He said he did it himself to prevent unwanted visitors to the hidden chamber.”
“What are we talking about, explosives, machine guns or what?”
“No, they’re just old fashioned deadfalls, pit traps and trip wires.”
“I guess that’s bad enough,” David said.
“You should be safe going back and forth from here. I’ve been making sure the way was clear, so far. Still, don’t take any side trips or decide to try something new. Got it?”
David nodded.
“Yes, sir, I’ve got it.”
“OK, as I said, I only mention it out of an abundance of caution. Remember, when you get back here, turn left in the tunnel behind me. We’ll wait for you at the next junction. Off you go.”
David nodded, turned on his light and began walking back down the tunnel. The three men watched as he and his light receded into darkness.
Ten
Jake, Ruben and Lorenzo spread out and began walking up through the new, wider tunnel. The dust was especially thick here. Each step raised little clouds. Lorenzo, being stuck at the back of the column, got the worst of it.
“I always thought mine shafts and tunnels were wet, with water dripping off the ceiling and running down the walls. Why is it so much dustier in this tunnel?” He asked.
“That’s a good question, Lorenzo. I’ve been wondering that myself. Typically you wouldn’t find this much dust, unless…”
In the light of his torch, Jakes eyes saw something the others couldn’t see from behind him.
“Uh oh, this is a problem,” He said, stopping his forward progress.
“What is it?” Ruben asked, trying to see around him.
Jake was shining the focused beam of his light on the ceiling above them. He swept it forward so all three of them could see what he’d seen.
“There’s been a cave in. It looks like the tunnel ahead of us is blocked.”
“Should we go back?” Lorenzo asked.
“No, this is the only approach to the chamber where the Ark is hidden. We have to go this way.”
“So, now what?” Ruben asked.
“Wait here, I need to have a closer look.”
“Well, be careful. We don’t want the whole ceiling to come down on us.”
Jake shone the light on the walls and ceiling around them.
“It’s safe enough here. No worse than the tunnel we just left.”
Jake walked on. As he drew closer, he saw a pile of rubble completely blocking the tunnel from floor to ceiling. A more thorough inspection revealed that it might be possible to climb over the pile of debris because there was a gap of a few feet between the bottom of the collapsed ceiling and the top of the rubble. The question was, how far did the cave in extend? He was also curious about what caused it.
Shining his light along the edge of the rubble field, several feet farther along he spotted what might be another dust covered bit of cloth. He scrambled three or four feet up and over the debris to where, lying on his belly, he was able to reach down to the fabric.
When he brushed it with his fingers, dust fell away enough to reveal the fabric was heavy and might’ve been dark grey in color. He gave it a tug, but it wouldn’t come free from the rubble. Crawling closer, he pulled some of the smaller rocks and dirt away from the fabric with his right hand. His hand came away with dark hair entangled in his fingers. It gave him a slightly queasy feeling.
Gripping the light in his teeth, he crawled a little bit closer to where he could see the partially crushed skull his fingers had uncovered. The fabric was the collar of some sort of jacket or vest. The human remains had been buried there long enough to become mummified. The blackened and shrunken face stared at him with empty eye sockets.
A different person might’ve recoiled from the grisly discovery, but for Jake this was just another day in an explorer’s life.
Since he was already up on the debris pile, he twisted the light to a tighter beam and sca
nned over the top of the rubble. He estimated there was about another twelve feet of the ceiling that had come down, nearly filling the tunnel.
Ruben and Lorenzo were waiting right where he left them.
In the light of their torches he must’ve looked terrible, because Ruben immediately asked him if he was alright.
He realized he was probably covered in dust from crawling around on the debris.
“I’m fine. Evidently someone triggered one of the booby traps. About eighteen or twenty feet of the ceiling came down. I found a body in the rubble. There may be more.”
“Can we get through at all?” Lorenzo asked.
“Yes, we’ll have to clear enough to get through, but we can get it done.
“Eighteen feet? That’s like six meters. How long will it take us to clear that away?” Lorenzo asked, handing him a bottle of water.
Jake twisted the cap off the bottle.
“Thank you. The short answer is—too long. The good news is we don’t have to clear it all away. We only need to clear a space high enough and wide enough to move the Ark through.”
He drank about half the bottle of water, before he added, “I figure we can do that in five or six hours.”
“What’s the plan?” Ruben asked.
“We’ll need to go over the middle. If we start on one of the sides, rubble will slide down off the top as fast as we remove it. There’s already two or three feet of open space at the top. We need to make that into four of five feet, so we can carry the Ark through there.”
“That ceiling is unstable. It sounds like a good way to get killed.” Lorenzo said.
“…As good a way as any,” Ruben said.
Jake chuckled.
“It could be worse.”
“How’s that?” Lorenzo asked.
Jake winked and said, “It could be raining.”
Eleven
“I’d rather it was raining,” Lorenzo mumbled into the black and white checkered scarf he’d wound around his face to filter out as much dust as possible. “I’d rather have mud than all this dust.”