“I have to say I never expected that old lady to get one over on us like that.”
“Not on us, General,” the prime minister said as he looked up. He wasn’t smiling this time. “But the Mossad. Your Mossad. The agency I placed into your most capable hands just for situations such as this. We were handed this shit plate bequeathed to us generation after generation and it has fallen on us to keep the lid on this thing.” He tossed the pen he had been using onto the blotter of his desk. “How were they able to infiltrate the Mossad, Addie?”
“It’s not like we were well briefed on this mess from the previous administration. We didn’t know how brilliant that old witch truly was.”
“Well, I guess you were well schooled this afternoon weren’t you, General?”
“How she penetrated our screens and heritage checks is beyond me.”
“This Major Mica Sorotzkin, do you think she’s in on the selling of the people’s heritage?”
“All we know is we started making the push on the Vatican archives because we had artifacts turning up that could not have come from anyplace else on earth other than where we know they are. It just so happens that Major Sorotzkin was the best expert we had on the ancient artifacts we knew existed at that time. It was just a stroke of luck that she came across the American agent and what he discovered, and that truly was just a coincidence.”
“So, we may have been undone by a coincidence? If the press gets ahold of this and the religious right finally discovers where the temple is located we may have to go the extreme route. Agreed?”
“I have been begging for that since I learned of this Project Ramesses. If this is exposed we won’t have peace in this country for a thousand years. It’s now a matter of national security. Let’s put this mess to bed for all time. The protected lands are no more. Someone is selling off artifacts that probably financed this conglomeration being built beneath the lands in question. I say we send in the Sayeret immediately and without a moment’s hesitation and bring the temple down into the earth.”
The prime minister slowly pushed back his large chair and then turned and faced the dead fireplace. He took a deep breath and placed his hands into his pants pockets.
“That wouldn’t look too good on the evening news for our people to learn that we have invaded a sovereign nation because their government is selling off its own protected lands. No, General Shamni, let’s see if we can find out if that old Gypsy is playing cards we didn’t know were in the deck in the first place. If they have decided to sell off the treasure to finally get their just rewards, then we act. In the meantime we need to know what’s happening and I fear that this Colonel Ben-Nevin of yours has really put a crimp in things.” The prime minister turned and looked at the general. “If he finds out what land this Major Sorotzkin is really from the whole thing will be exposed. He’s a rogue and he needs to be attended to. That man and the maniacs he works for in the Knesset will bring this nation down faster than any Palestinian insurgence. Am I clear on that, General?”
“Yes, sir, I believe if we wait he will come to us. In the meantime I have a plane to catch. We need to find out firsthand who’s in charge in those mountains and if they have decided to get rich.”
“I will order the Sayeret into the country. They will be at your disposal if needed.”
“Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister.”
“Old friend?”
“Sir?”
“Have you ever thought about us? I mean you and I being responsible for destroying everything that is dear to our people? To destroy the greatest objects in the Hebrew world has to be the gravest of sins.”
The general felt for his friend and answered the only way an old soldier could.
“If it means saving thousands of lives from a fundamentalist push from our own people, I say bring the entire Carpathian mountain range down around their ears. I love my people and my country and will not see the progress we’ve made these past few years undone by ancient history that will never have a bearing on our position in the world.”
“Then see to it, old friend. Find out if the old Gypsy has turned on the people. If she has, destroy everything.” The prime minister held his gaze on the general. “Everything, General, and if resistance is met from the Jeddah—”
“Don’t say it, Moshe, don’t ever say it aloud. I know what I will have to do.”
EVENT GROUP COMPLEX, NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, NEVADA
The vault was silent as all eyes were still intently looking at the woman Jack claimed would have to be well over eighty since it was obviously the same woman Alice had met in 1946 in Hong Kong.
“If that’s the same woman, I’m firing my Avon representative,” Alice said as she slowly took a seat and Sarah placed a hand on hers and smiled.
“Well, the problem as I see it, Colonel, is that you can’t prove it and the president will say this is too flimsy,” Niles said as he looked at the dejected form of Alice in her chair. “So, that’s where you come in, Pete. I want you and Charlie to do some work and I need it done now.” Niles looked Alice’s way once more. “We need it done now,” he corrected himself and he saw that his words helped as Alice slowly nodded her head.
Both Ellenshaw and Golding looked up with renewed enthusiasm. It seemed they may not be in the basement of that doghouse they now found themselves in.
“I need every single scrap of information you can dig up on that entire region. Myths, legends, fact, rumor. I want to know about the people of the Patinas Pass. Charlie, you take the zoology aspect of the research. I want to know if there is any way this animal could exist and why in the hell it is so equipped through evolutionary means to be the way it is. If this beast evolved like that I want the reasons why. Pete, the land, the history, who owns it.”
Both men nodded as they took their notes. Niles looked down at Collins and they had a moment between them that said enough was enough. Niles wanted to help but he needed their help in order for him to meet them halfway.
“Colonel, get a team together and get me everything you can on why the damn Mossad is so interested in the activities of our agent, and why in the hell they would attempt to kill him over that information. Is it the animals, the region, is it anything that Alice has connected to. I also want this Lieutenant Colonel Ben-Nevin tracked down and handed off to the FBI and Interpol. We don’t need this traitorous bastard anywhere near where we may have to go.”
Everyone in the vault took a sigh of relief when they heard the words “we may have to go.”
“Okay, Mrs. Hamilton, you have your wish. This is your call and for right now we are a go.”
“That means you’re declaring—” Alice started as she stood from her chair while looking up at the director.
“An Event—you have met the minimum criteria in my opinion and I will get the president to see it our way. It shouldn’t be too hard when I inform him about the Israeli government’s interest in Romania and what lives there.”
“Okay, we move as soon as Charlie and Pete come up with the information we need. Now get to it. Virginia, Colonel Collins, and Alice, please meet me in my office—we have been handed something that may be a connection here.”
* * *
Jack, Virginia Pollock, and Alice Hamilton were sitting in three chairs facing the director. Niles looked at each in turn and shook his head.
“I was just handed this report five minutes before the colonel called me to the vault level.” Niles handed the paper to Jack from across his desk. “This may be one of the reasons everyone is so concerned about Mossad agents and their defectors and moles.”
“What is it?” Jack asked as he handed the picture to Alice, whose eyes took in the object in the photograph.
“This is Midianite pottery,” Alice said, “and not just shards, but the whole vessel. Never has a complete relic been found intact.”
“What is a Midianite?” Virginia asked.
“Alice?” Niles asked, wanting her to quickly explain why this was so significant.
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Alice smiled at the color photo of the pottery and its straight laced striped design. “Biblical scholars believe Midian was located on the Arabian Peninsula, or possibly modern-day Sudan. Midian was where Moses spent the forty years in voluntary exile after murdering the Egyptian. He married the daughter of a local tribal elder. Then he supposedly returned to Egypt and you know the rest of the story.”
“And this is significant because?” Virginia asked, her scientific mind never relaxing when there were questions to be answered.
“Because of these,” Niles said as he slid photos of more pottery and small golden objects of Egyptian design. Golden scarabs, small idols of gods, and even several Bronze Age weapons glimmered under a photographer’s light.
“Where did all of these come from?” Alice asked. “There have never been items like this unearthed and in such pristine condition. These have to be copies.”
“They were sold at auction five years ago. There are many more items that were contracted for the bidding process through a company called Perry Deiterman and Associates Limited, out of Cologne, Germany. Thus far close to two hundred pounds of gold and artifacts like these have been selling quite nicely to the seamier side of Eastern Europe. These six items alone brought in close to $78 million.”
The office went silent.
“That is why I accepted Jack’s offer to join you in the vault. The border patrol in the Czech Republic recovered these from a Russian national. They even found a bill of sale when they found these items hidden in the trunk of a car. The rather seedy character was questioned and it was discovered that he was the highest bidder on a prayer tablet, one that was carbon-dated to 1557 BCE. Ladies and gentleman, nothing this fragile has ever been recovered intact. We have nothing remotely like it in our vaults. The only reason Europa filed the report with me is because Alice had placed her keyword search into the system twenty years ago. And now we have this stuff turning up in the oddest places.” Niles waved his hand over the photographs. “Did someone suddenly decide to sell off their world’s foremost collection of Egyptian artifacts? Or are we looking at items that have long been lost to the world and are just now miraculously showing up to the highest bidder?”
“I see your point,” Virginia said.
Niles shook his head. “Not yet you don’t. Look at this one.” Niles handed Virginia a larger photograph. It was a complete robe and the design integrated into the weave was the exact match for the weave and design of the swatches Alice had uncovered in the Carpathians.
“Looks like an oversized foul weather poncho,” Jack said as he looked at the photo.
“Carbon-dated to 1521 give or take ten years and authenticated by the University of Cairo. It went at auction for $125 million. This, ladies and gentlemen, is something the entire world would never have recognized—the design is from that Lost Tribe of Israel everyone around here is so hot on—this is a Jeddah tribal robe.”
“Possibly—the design is off somewhat,” Alice said as she raised the photo and looked at it more closely. “What is that smaller design inside the red-dyed stripe?” she asked.
Niles smiled and then handed Alice a magnifying glass. He could have used Europa for the demonstration but Niles still liked the old-fashioned hands-on approach, especially when it came to Alice Hamilton.
As everyone watched they saw Alice freeze and then look off into the corner of Niles’s office. The photo slipped from her hand. Jack picked it up and then pried the magnifying glass out of Alice’s tight grip. He raised the glass and looked closely at the picture but could see nothing. Then his trained eye saw what was indeed shocking to Alice. Embedded in the stripe was a weave that looked as if it didn’t belong. It looked like a dog’s head.
“The Egyptian god Anubis?” Jack asked while lowering his glass and handing it to Virginia.
“No, that is not Anubis,” Alice said, looking at Compton, who still stood behind his desk. “Another coincidence, Niles? The Jeddah, a tribe no one in history outside of the ancient Hebrews knew about? Now the robe coupled with the animal head weaved into the design of a robe? That is a wolf, Jack—one of my wolves. This is far more significant than just an artifact from one of the Lost Tribes; this is something that could alter the history of not only the Exodus, but of the entire world.”
Niles sat hard into his chair. He looked at Alice and then at Jack.
“As a close advisor to the president I am allowed access to the National Security Council and the minutes of their meetings with the president. I found this by accident. It seems we have had a small movement of troops from the Middle East heading north. Specialized commandos you may know something about, Colonel. It seems Tel Aviv is a little concerned about something in the region and the NSA picked up an alert and movement order. Recognize that unit, Jack?” Niles asked.
“The Sayeret,” Collins said and took a deep breath. “If these fellas are on the move somewhere, whoever is at that somewhere is in for a world of hurt. These men are killers. That’s what they do.”
“Can you explain, Jack?” Alice asked.
“No. Our intelligence on the Sayeret is highly classified. They are the Israeli army’s best, I mean the very best of their crop of young men. They go, do, and kill whoever is placed in front of them. If they’re moving there’s a reason for it.”
“Well, the president has been brought up to speed on Alice’s hunch. That coupled with our trouble in Rome involving the Mossad, and now with this movement of a unit that never moves unless the enemies of Israel need some ass kicking in a covert manner, and now we have word from our State Department in a memo that was read by practically no one that the Egyptian minister of antiquities and their Foreign Office have filed a complaint against Romania for the theft of Egyptian artifacts. The sale of these artifacts was traced to a broker who was listed somewhere in the fine print of the sales contract, a Russian national who just happens to be opening one of the most luxurious hotel-casinos in Eastern Europe. Worth in the neighborhood of two and half billion dollars, it is a surprising amount from a man the former KGB said never amounted to much in the world of Russian organized crime.”
“That alone should—”
Niles held up his hand to stay Alice’s complaint.
“To make a long story short, the president has given me the leeway needed to start operations. The Event has already been declared—target is the southern Carpathians—the area known as the Patinas Pass.”
Alice lowered her head and then suddenly looked up at Niles.
“Yes, Alice, you’re in the lead. It’s your last Event, so make it count or the senator will never let you live it down when he sees you again. And you know he’s watching.”
Everyone looked at the spot in the office Niles was looking at. It was the new oil painting of former director Garrison Lee scowling at them from the gilded frame that sat next to Abraham Lincoln’s picture.
They all stood to start the massive process of moving Department 5656 into Event mode, which would bring every departmental element inside the complex under the desert into the initial phases of getting a plan together. All personnel were now on full alert for a possible history-altering change in the human timeline—exactly what Department 5656 was created for—recognizing that change in history and sorting it out.
Alice lagged behind with Niles as she looked upon the portrait she absolutely hated. Not because of the scowl that everyone agreed was Garrison Lee in a nutshell, but because she knew Lee hated anything having to do with memorializing him or his life’s work at the Group.
“I believe this is yours.” Niles held the thick file Alice had worked on for almost half a century.
“Thank you, Niles.” She placed a hand on Compton’s chest and patted it twice as she headed for the double doors.
Compton placed his hands in his pockets and walked over to the large oil painting. He looked at his old friend and mentor and shook his head.
“The times they are-a-changin’, my old friend.”
PART TW
O
REBIRTH
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.
—Rudyard Kipling
6
SOUTHEAST ROMANIA, DACIAN HOT SPRINGS QUADRANGLE
The two richly appointed cable cars were running normally up and down the massive eight-cable system. There had not been one flaw in the computer programming that ran the operation. With the cars operational and the final preparations for the extensive private weekend nearing completion, Janos Vajic was starting to get that horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach as they neared the beginning of what could possibly be the end of his dream.
Janos watched as several workers arriving from the castle exited the cable car. The men seemed to be in a far better mood since the actions of the night before in the mountains high above the castle. As Janos turned away he saw Gina step onto the cable car platform high above the atrium. She held out a flimsy sheet of paper.
“This was just faxed over from Bucharest.”
Vajic took the paper and scanned it very quickly.
“What in the hell is Zallas trying to do to us? He has every known black marketer, gangster, and white-collar criminal in the world on this list. If the press were to sneak in here during the weekend we would never open, and I don’t care if Zallas has the interior minister in his pocket or not. They will shut us down through international pressure alone!” He crumpled up the guest list and threw it over the edge of the cable car platform where it landed in a geranium bush.
“I figure all we can do is keep the security as tight as—”
“We will not be handling the security. The resort security staff is to step aside.”
“What? This is a casino, Janos; we have to have armed security at all—”
“Zallas is handling the security for this weekend. His own people will be here and he says it’s double our normal staff. He said the press will not get to within a hundred miles of Edge of the World.”
Janos could see his general manager deflate. He put an arm around her.
Carpathian: An Event Group Thriller (Event Group Thrillers) Page 19