“How long to the old ramp?” he asked the driver.
“No more than twenty minutes, sir,” responded the man.
“Tomás,” said J.E. “Leave one of your best men here. In thirty minutes he is to break into the cable car building, energize the electricity, and start the string of cars up the mountain. Understood?”
“Certainly,” replied Tomás.
J.E. could hear Tomás giving the orders as he directed everyone else to the van. Soon, they were all off at breakneck speed around the base of the mountain.
In the van, J.E. glanced at the monsignor, who was watching him, slightly smiling. “Do you think that will fool them?” he asked at last.
“Fool who?” responded J.E. innocently.
“The Sicarii, of course,” responded the monsignor.
J.E. looked at the monster mountain through the window for a moment and then finally turned to the monsignor and said, “The Sicarii? What makes you think I’m trying to fool them?”
CHAPTER 94
Now outside the truck, Cloe could see a bright field of stars on one side and on the other nothing but blackness. The Karik’s men had donned their night-vision goggles, and she was now being pushed along in the dark. “What is happening? Where are we going?” she asked.
Again, this earned her a backhand across the bridge of her nose. Stinging from tears and pain, she glared at the Karik but kept silent.
He chuckled and pointed toward the summit high above them. She and Michael were pushed and half-dragged up the great rock-and-stone ramp that the Romans had used two millennia earlier to successfully pierce Masada. The climb was very rough because the path had deteriorated over the generations. In some places, parts of the ramp had fallen through or washed out completely. Still, they made progress, and the walls of the stronghold seemed to grow in size as they climbed.
The long slog was disturbed by a slight whirring sound. Cloe recognized this as the Karik’s satellite phone, now set on vibrate mode.
The group paused to catch their breath as the Karik answered the phone and listened intently. “Ha!” he said softly, and then he terminated the call. To Noosh he whispered, “The fools are trying to take the cable cars to the top.”
Cloe heard this clearly and said, “Who? Who is taking the cable cars?”
Before she could blink, one of the thugs had grabbed her, slammed his hand over her mouth, and put a pistol to her temple.
The Karik came very near and said so quietly she could barely hear, “It seems your would-be rescuers have joined the party. My men will have a bit of a surprise for them.”
Cloe’s eyes bulged, but she could say nothing because of the strength of the man holding her mouth closed.
The Karik leaned in again and whispered, “If you say another word, I will have your friend thrown off the edge of the ramp into the valley below.”
Cloe nodded her assent, eyes filled with tears and hatred.
Now about halfway up the stony incline toward the walled plateau, Cloe could see some detail silhouetted against the night sky. There was a great gap in the defensive wall above her. This must be where the Roman war machines had successfully breached the perimeter. Cloe thought about what it must have been like on that day so long ago. The Roman soldiers would have been queued up behind the battering rams and the wooden shelters that protected them from the arrows of the Sicarii. They were more than ready for a fight, having been on this siege for so long. Swords would have been drawn, and Roman archers would have been pouring fire onto the battlements above. As the wall began to crumble under the slamming blows of the ram, some of the soldiers and certainly their leaders would have been wondering why there was no answering fire from Sicarii archers and no sign of anyone on the walls.
But as Cloe knew, there had been none of that because by that time, almost all the Sicarii had been put to death by their own kin. Surely, the Romans must have been suspicious of some trick. Even as the wall fell and they rushed into the interior of the fortress, they would have done so cautiously. As they moved forward toward Herod’s palace, they would have been enveloped by thick smoke from the burning stores that had been set afire by the last of the Sicarii. The defenders wanted nothing useful to be left for the Romans. Perhaps on the wall of Herod’s palace itself, they may have found the last Sicarius, maybe Elazar bin Yair himself, hanging on the point of his own sword.
Cloe shook herself from ancient Masada as the Armenians began to spread out and assume battle positions. She and Michael were pulled down behind a series of large stones that at one time might have made up a part of the wall.
Noosh handed each of them a pair of goggles and whispered to them to put them on. “We don’t want anyone falling and making noise from here on,” he said very quietly. He then made a sign to some of his retainers on the perimeter of the ramp. Cloe watched through the goggles as they moved cautiously toward the gap in the wall. Not only were the lenses able to collect what little ambient light there was and greatly amplify it, but there was an infrared aspect to them as well. The soldiers were a little brighter than everything else around them because of their heat signatures.
Slowly, the Karik’s armed men crept up in the way that soldiers and police have to cover each other in places where they expect to be attacked. Finally, they achieved the wall and went into the stronghold. For a while, Cloe could neither see nor hear anything from the scouting party. Eventually, one of them came back to the breach in the wall and signaled that the coast was clear.
The rest of the party ascended the last few paces into the walled fortress. Noosh then gave orders to spread out in battle formation and to head for the place where the Snake Path entered the plateau on the east side. To do this they traveled to the southeast, taking cover among the ruins of numerous small palaces and garrisons. Cloe thought the Karik must be planning to meet his comrades coming up the Snake Path.
She whispered to Michael, “They seem to be looking for the rest of their soldiers so as to put together the largest force.”
“Yes,” he said quietly. “Perhaps with all his men he will try to overwhelm the Sicarii.”
“But why did he split them up in the first place?” asked Cloe.
Not far from the wall on the eastern side above the Snake Path, the Karik’s thugs stooped and found shelter behind stone ruins. Noosh issued orders in Armenian to the mercenaries. Cloe could see they were modifying their weaponry. Where they had previously carried close-quarters weapons, they were now unslinging long rifles with huge telescopic sights on them. She realized these must have a sight capacity similar to the night-vision goggles they now wore.
“What are they doing?” Cloe quietly asked Michael. As she watched, six of the men aimed the sniper rifles toward the east wall where the Snake Path ascended.
She looked at where they were aiming and saw a dozen or more figures highlighted in the night lenses, apparently hunkered down behind the east wall.
“Oh my God, the Sicarii,” she hissed. “The Karik has laid an ambush for them. They have been watching his men ascend the Snake Path with lights ablaze. That group is nothing but a diversion.”
The Karik, who was nearby and who had heard her whisper, merely chuckled. As Cloe looked for them, she could discern more of the ghostly figures along the wall further to the north.
All of the Sicarii must be here, she thought as she counted the fluorescent silhouettes. They mean to put an end to the Karik here on Masada. Everything has been committed.
In the distance from that same direction came the clanking of the cable car. Its noise became louder as it ascended toward the plateau. Cloe could see the halo of the lights on the car, which was now just below the rim of the wall. As she glanced back at the snipers, she saw they were clearly ready, having acquired their targets.
“Michael, we have to do something!” she whispered urgently.
“Sit down and shut up,” he replied.
CHAPTER 95
As J.E. and his cohorts rounded the base of the m
ountain, the ancient ramp loomed ahead of them. Thousands of tons of rock and dirt had been hauled by slave hands to make the new path up the back side of Masada. Surely, he thought, this must be one of the engineering marvels of the ancient world. “Hold up at the foot of the ramp,” ordered J.E., noting the other vehicle parked nearby.
As the van glided to a halt, Tomás and his men organized their equipment. They had picked up night-vision gear in Rome during their stop for supplies and weapons.
J.E. turned to Tomás and said, “Have one of your men check the truck. Break into it if you must.”
As the team assembled outside the vehicle, J.E. quickly reviewed what they had. There were only eight of them, including the two priests and Tomás. The Karik’s force was twice, maybe three times, their size. Still, it was a game bunch. Even Father Sergio had donned a vest and picked up a Benelli semiautomatic pistol. J.E. listened as the monsignor gave the young camerlengo a crash course on loading, aiming, and firing the weapon.
“Albert, you are amazing,” said J.E. “Is there no end to your expertise?”
“Not expertise,” retorted the monsignor, smiling. “Experience.”
The rest grabbed weapons of choice, resulting in most men carrying close-quarters pistols or automatic arms plus longer-range rifles. It would have been better to specialize, with some men ready for short-range contact and others outfitted as snipers, but they did not have the manpower. Everyone had to double up.
“J.E., the truck was unguarded and unlocked, and my men have searched it,” said Tomás. “According to the paperwork, it’s an airport rental from a local airport. There are rucksacks in the back with equipment and weapons that I don’t think hikers would carry. I think we have to assume at least a part of the Karik’s force may have come this way.”
“What’s our plan, J.E.?” queried Father Sergio.
“Well, from what we could see from the other side, the Karik’s men are also assaulting Masada up the Snake Path. They were pretty apparent going up, so the Sicarii will be waiting for them,” said J.E., scratching his chin. “Now we may have some part of his force on this side ahead of us on the ramp. It’s good that we know, but it doesn’t change our mission, which is to get Mom and Miguel back, which, right now, means getting up the ramp as rapidly as possible and supporting the Sicarii when they get into it with the Karik. We have to assume he has a lot of firepower to come up both ways, and we don’t know what the Sicarii have.”
“Do you have any idea where the jars might be secreted?” asked J.E., turning to the monsignor.
“Based on the history and geography of this place, there are a lot of possible hiding places, including the ruins of barracks and storehouses in or near Herod’s palace that could all be used,” responded the monsignor. “The palace is on the northern point of the mountain. The palace complex was built on three separate elevations, with Herod’s personal palace on the top. If I have to pick a place to start looking, that’s where I would go.”
“There are also dry cisterns and underground caves,” said Father Sergio. “The jars might be there as well.”
“True enough, Father,” said the monsignor. “But my instincts tell me we will find what we are looking for at Herod’s palace.”
J.E. looked up the ramp illuminated by the miracle of his low-light goggles and said, “Tomás, take the point and move us up the incline.”
At that, Tomás half-walked and half-trotted toward the base of the long stone road up to Masada. They silently climbed toward whatever fate had been ordained for them.
CHAPTER 96
Cloe looked up into Michael’s face in shock. She did not see the man who had captured her affections. Instead, she saw the bestial image of her last contact with the Kolektor. In the green, low-light glow of the goggles, evil seemed to emerge.
“Michael …” she said.
“I’m sorry, Cloe, but you have to be quiet and wait for our opportunity,” he whispered, smiling gently.
Cloe looked at him again but saw only Michael. What had just passed? Had she seen what she thought she had seen, or was Michael only as on-edge as she was? She was exhausted. “Michael, I didn’t mean to add to the problem,” said Cloe softly. “But the Karik is laying a trap for the Sicarii, my son, and my friends. We have to do something.”
Just then an enormous explosion erupted from the area of the cable car line. The radiance was blinding with the low-light glasses. Cloe ducked down behind the stone wall, tore the goggles off, and rubbed her eyes. Pieces of steel and plastic from the large car rained down on the whole area. It was apparent that the cable car had taken an explosive round or had hit a booby trap and had been blown to smithereens. Not only that, but the cable had been severed, and the rest of the line could be heard crashing, clanging, and falling into the valley a thousand feet below. There could be no survivors.
“Oh my God,” whispered Cloe. “J.E., the monsignor, and all the rest. The Karik said they were coming up via the cable system.”
“Cloe, I’m so sorry,” replied Michael softly.
“Noooo,” cried Cloe softly. As she turned with tears in her eyes, she was struck wickedly with something very hard, and she knew only darkness.
CHAPTER 97
Cloe was not sure she had been truly unconscious because she had continued to have some sense of what was happening around her. Or had she been dreaming? In any event, she felt she had only been down for a few seconds. As she opened her eyes, the pain flashed brightly. Her head ached like hell. She looked around carefully and found that she could see but could not hear any sound except the roar of a fire burning somewhere in front of her. The cable cars, she remembered. Oh my God.
As she looked around, she discovered she was alone at the rear of the group of stones behind which she and Michael had first taken shelter. Michael was gone! She groped in the darkness and soon found the night-vision glasses. She raised them to her eyes, and as she wrapped the strap around the back of her head, she felt the sticky ooze from the wound she had suffered. She glanced down at her hand and saw the bright warm signature of blood now cooling and turning black at the edges. Someone had slugged her with something hard, a gun butt or rock.
In spite of the pain and her distress, she rose up and saw the Kolektor’s men a few paces ahead of her. They must have thought her either dead or out cold. As she watched, Noosh gave a silent signal, and the sniper weapons fired. A crescendo of light, heat, and noise blasted across the plateau.
Cloe’s eyes turned to the eastern wall where the Sicarii had awaited the Karik’s men in ambush and saw them falling from their positions, shot in the back by the Karik’s assassins. Even as Cloe watched, the heat signature of each Sicarius began to dim as her now lifeless body lost heat.
A second terrible fusillade was fired by the snipers. Weaponless, Cloe knew she could not help her sisters. But she gritted her teeth and resolved that they would not go unavenged.
As the second volley rang in her ears, she darted off to the north. Clotile Lejeune of Madisonville, Louisiana, might be an ancient languages professor. She might be a lot of things, but now, first and foremost, she was Sicarius. She had been saved by them at Hakeldama, and somehow, she would save the last of them.
As Cloe ran toward Herod’s palace on the northern point of Masada, she could hear screams and sporadic gunfire as the wounded were administered the coup de grâce. Her heart was torn apart for the lost and dying. How could it have come to this? The Sicarii had miscalculated terribly.
Anger welled up in her breast. She could feel the birth of her kinship with Elazar bin Yair and the ancient Sicarii who would not be taken by the Romans. Cloe knew she would do what had to be done.
She continued running in a northerly direction, but she was suddenly knocked down by a man running toward the fight on the east wall. She rolled quickly to her feet and faced the assailant. She then dropped to her knees, crying.
“J.E.,” she whispered.
CHAPTER 98
“They are all dead,
” said Noosh. “Our plan has been completely successful.”
The Karik surveyed the battle scene through the night-vision goggles.
“The Sicarii are all dead, and the friends of Dr. Lejeune have met the same fate on the cable cars,” said Noosh. “The field of battle is ours.”
A few of the nearest fighting men had begun to assemble around their leader. Most were still out in the rocks finishing the Sicarii. The smell of gun smoke and death permeated the air.
“Men!” cried the Karik. “There is no time to lose. We must push aside our fatigue and move forward to Herod’s palace to find the thing we have fought for. The jars, the jars. They are there. We must have them. I must have them.”
CHAPTER 99
“Oh my God, J.E., how can it be?” pressed Cloe. “What? How? Where have you come from?”
“Mom, we are here now. Everything will be all right,” said J.E., grabbing his mother and lifting her up in a fierce hug.
The monsignor ran up and joined the reunion. “Thank God, Cloe, you are all right,” he said. “Where is Miguel?”
“I don’t know,” she responded. “He may be dead. The Karik’s men ambushed the Sicarii on the east side where the Snake Path comes up. Just before the attack began, someone knocked me out. Michael had been with me, but when I awoke, he was gone. I’m afraid he may have been killed.”
Cloe looked around at the group and then continued. “Time is of the essence here. I do want to hear everything about how you got here. But we can talk later, and there are some things you should know now about the Karik and the strength of his force.” She filled them in on the number of the Karik’s troops and his weaponry.
All the men had queued up to hear the odds they were facing. Their faces now turned to J.E. Cloe knew the way of fighting men. Highly trained in their skills, they were confident as long as leadership was present. Many a battle had been lost by brave men who were routed because of the failure of their leaders. Similarly, bold leadership had won conflicts against overwhelming odds.
The Last Sicarius Page 27