“Call me Amber.” A smile parted her lips.
David rolled his eyes. “Yes. This isn’t how I do business.”
“Isn’t it?” Trent raised a hand to his chin. “Then perhaps you better leave.”
“No, Trent.” Ben-Judah looked stunned. “We need him. He’s the only one who can do what needs to be done.”
“I doubt that,” Nuri said.
Chambers stood. “Before you go, Dr. Chambers, you need to hear a few more things. I can have on this team only the best in their field and those I can trust. Most of all, you have to be able to trust me, or at very least, trust Dr. Ben-Judah.”
Ben-Judah’s face had gone white. “Please, David, sit.”
The look in Ben-Judah’s eyes forced Chambers back to his seat. He folded his hands on the table and determined to sit in silence until the ordeal was over.
Trent pushed back from the table and stood. “I am not ignorant of the interpersonal dynamics of this group. If this were any other field investigation, then Professor Ben-Judah and I would have chosen differently. But the magnitude of what we are about to do requires sacrifices on everyone’s part.”
“With all due respect, Mr. Trent,” Chambers said, “what sacrifice are you making?”
Trent answered with a look that Chambers was certain could ignite wood across the room. “How about $200 million to start? How about my reputation? There’s even a good chance I could lose my life. I don’t travel with security because I’m lonely.”
“Your life?” Chambers was disappointed that he hadn’t hidden his sarcasm better.
“That’s right, Dr. Chambers, and let everyone in this room understand this one thing: what you do may put you in danger.” He stepped back to the chair at the head of the table but didn’t sit. He placed both hands on the back of the chair and squeezed in a way that made Chambers glad the chair couldn’t feel pain.
No one spoke, but the body language conveyed how ill at ease the group had become.
Finally, Nuri spoke. “Anything done in this land is dangerous. Archaeology is no different. I think you’ll find that we don’t intimidate that easily.”
Chambers waited for the inevitable dig from his longtime adversary, but it never came. Was he being discreet? polite? Or had the man found one quality in Chambers’s life to admire?
Trent straightened and held up several fingers. “Three things before we take the next step. One, I have to know that you will do your jobs to the best of your ability. Two, you must be able to trust me and Professor Ben-Judah fully, completely, and without question. I can assure you that you will be doing nothing untoward or illegal. You have my word on that. Three, you must be able to do your work without knowing all the details of the goal.”
“Seriously?” The last comment seemed to catch Amber off guard. “Forgive me, but how can we promise our best work without knowing everything up-front?”
“Security,” Chambers said. “He’s playing spy. Need-to-know compartmentalization and all of that.”
“Believe me,” Trent said, “this has nothing to do with trust. If I did not trust you, you would not be in this room. Still, Dr. Chambers is right. For now, you just need to know that you are about to change the world. Forever.”
He nodded to Ben-Judah, who picked up the handset of a phone at his end of the table. “We’re ready.”
A moment later, a young man with an uncut beard entered the room carrying a stack of what first appeared to be black leather folders. The man set the stack next to the professor, then opened the top folder and looked at a sticky note attached to the inside. That’s when Chambers realized he was looking, not at a stack of notebooks, but at thin tablet computers. A few moments later, each person in the room had one of the touchscreen computers. Chambers pulled back the protective cover and saw a blank screen. Tempted as he was, he resisted the urge to press the power button at the top.
The bearded student left without a word.
Trent remained at his position behind the high-back chair as if it were a lectern. Once the door closed and the latch clicked, Trent spoke. “These are the latest in slate computers from one of my companies. They won’t be released to the public for another year or so. The screen is touch sensitive. I’ve had my engineers and programmers make a few adjustments. They will work on the local cell system, but all e-mail, voice mail, anything for that matter, that is sent over open systems is encrypted. Each of your computers can decrypt the messages once you enter your password.”
“What’s the password?” Amber didn’t look up from the thin device.
Trent shook his head. “You will set that the first time you turn the device on. First, power up the device.”
Chambers and the others did. He was surprised how quickly it came to life. It was the closest to “instant on” he had seen in a computer. A small window appeared and a digital keyboard below it.
“Enter these numbers and letters,” Trent said. “Seven, seven, one, one, zero, eight, J, E, L.”
“Should the numbers mean anything to us?” Nuri asked.
“No,” Trent said. “They were generated randomly by a computer. You don’t need to memorize them since you’ll be putting in your own, unique password. Make it something easy for you to remember but something no one would guess.”
Chambers thought for a moment, then smiled. He entered the ISBN number of his first book. As instructed by the computer prompt, he entered it again. The computer came to life showing several small panes on the screen. He didn’t have time to explore. Trent demanded their attention again.
“Each computer has information specific to your roles. I think you’ll be surprised at what you find. As we progress, I will send more information your way.” He stepped around the chair and sat. “Here is what you are to do next. First, review the material on your tablets. Remember, every bit of it is for your eyes only. We will meet again, and I would like to hear from our three archaeologists about the best way to proceed.” He turned to Hiram. “Your device will give you some of the basics necessary to provide security.”
“Understood.”
Trent straightened and took a deep breath. “I am not a man given to exaggeration, so when I say we are about to undertake an adventure that will never be forgotten by the world, I mean it.”
EIGHT
The thoughts in David Chambers’s mind spun like debris in a tornado, scraping, gouging, smashing other thoughts to tiny pieces. His heart followed suit. He felt like a boulder rolling, bouncing down a long, steep hillside, moved by immutable laws of physics. He had no right to be angry, but he was; he had no reason to feel betrayed, but he did. He chose to remain behind longer than the others; not out of courtesy, but to avoid contact with Amber and Nuri. At the moment, he didn’t trust his emotions. The prospects of a new dig would in the past have made him almost as giddy as a schoolgirl asked to the prom. In such predig meetings, he would normally be the one to ask the most questions, the one to plumb the depths of details. He wasn’t that man today.
Ben-Judah and Trent were the first to leave, disappearing into some corner of the Institute, leaving the others to vacate the conference room. Seconds passed like epochs. Once he was certain that he had placed the reins on his emotions, Chambers picked up his tablet PC and exited the empty room.
Before the door behind him could close, he saw the one thing he didn’t want to see: Amber standing at the end of the hall, leaning against a wall, her gaze directed at the floor. Alerted by the sound of the conference-room door closing, Amber looked up, gazed at Chambers for a moment, then looked away. Chambers’s first impulse was to duck back into the room, like a child hiding from a bully. Pride prevented the maneuver. He started down the hall, doing his best to avoid eye contact with the onetime love of his life. Keep your mouth shut, Chambers. Just walk on by. Nothing more needs to be said.
Five steps later: “Where’s your new boyfriend?”
Amber pressed her lips together as if trying to hold back a more pointed first response. “He�
��s in the little archaeologist’s room.”
“The what … Oh. He’s in the head.” A pause. “I figured you’d be gone by now.”
Her chuckle held no humor. “I thought you drifted off toward the end there. Hiram Landau said we’d be riding to the hotel together. Something about security. I was just about to go get you. I thought maybe you got lost trying to find the door.”
“Cute. Still have the acid tongue, I see.”
“Me? You’re the one that came in with guns blazing.”
“Yeah? Well, I have a right. Seeing you hanging on Nuri’s arm and gazing at him like a high school freshman was more than irritating.”
“I took his arm because he offered it—something you never did. The high school freshman crack is just plain stupid and mean. Besides, it’s none of your business what I do with my life.”
The truth stung, but Chambers didn’t let it linger. “What do you see in a guy like Nuri? There are things about him you don’t know.” He thought of how Nuri flirted with the female pilot.
“I’m not going to stand here and listen to any more of this.” She raised her tablet to her chest as if shielding her heart, turned on a heel, and marched from the hall into the lobby, taking long, purposeful strides to the entrance doors.
“Amber. Wait.” Remorse percolated from the less callous part of his soul. He followed her, matching step for step, not wanting to draw the attention of students and faculty milling in the lobby. By the time Chambers had closed the distance between them to lay a hand on her shoulder, they were outside, standing on the stone plaza. She stopped at his touch, then stared at his hand as if it were leprous. “Okay, listen, I admit I’m a little off my emotional game, but you don’t need to walk away. We are going to be working together after all.”
“Had I known that, I might have refused Ben-Judah’s offer.” She shook off his hand.
Chambers smiled. “Not even you could do that. I’ll admit that you’re strong-willed and determined, but no one who knows Ben-Judah can turn him down. I know. I tried, yet here I am.”
She turned her back on him and looked at the access road and nearby parking lot. He followed her gaze. Cars glistened in the afternoon sun.
“What has happened to you, David? I can’t determine if the David I knew was a carefully orchestrated act and I’m seeing the real David now, or if you’ve changed.”
“We are what life makes us.”
She spun and faced him. Her face had grown a shade redder. “The David I knew would never have said that. He would have said, ‘Life is what we make it.’ You have changed even more since I last saw you, and you were horrible then.”
“I was never horrible with you, Amber. I was honest. Do you know what honesty is? I don’t think you do. You insist on living in your imaginary world of faith.”
“You were a person of faith—once. Now you’re a … a … I don’t know what you are.”
“I am a man who is honest with himself. I’m done pretending. I’m finished walking on eggshells to keep sensitive people like you from getting their little feelings hurt.”
“Honest?” She pointed a finger at him. “Honest with yourself. Is that what you said? That’s a lie.”
Chamber saw several passersby staring at them. “Let’s not fight, Amber. We used to be a couple. We used to have something. Once we spent time planning our wedding.”
“That’s before you lost your mind.”
“I didn’t lose my mind; I lost my faith.”
“It’s the same thing.”
Chambers laughed. “Then why are you hanging out with Nuri? Last I looked, he was the antithesis of faith. He’s not even a good Jew. You don’t get to sleep with him and then play the faith card with me—”
The slap jarred him enough that he had to take a step to the side to keep from falling. He raised a hand to his stinging, hot cheek. Amber moved close. “I didn’t sleep with you, and I haven’t slept with Nuri—not that it’s any business of yours.”
Chambers reached into his bag of insults but found it empty.
“Did I miss something?”
Nuri’s voice bored into Chambers’s brain. He lowered his hand and clinched his fists. A large, strong hand landed on his shoulder. Chambers knocked it away as he turned, ready to unleash his adrenaline-laced anger on whoever invaded his private space, and found himself staring into the cold, unblinking eyes of Hiram Landau.
“You may want to reconsider your next action, Dr. Chambers.” Landau’s voice was soft, steady, and as cold as a glacier.
Chambers waited for Nuri to make a wisecrack, but a glance told him that the annoying archaeologist was just as intimidated. Slowly, Chambers’s fists loosened.
Landau remained quiet to allow the heat of the moment to dissipate. “I have an SUV waiting for us.” He narrowed his eyes. “Perhaps you’d like to ride in the front seat while I drive, Dr. Chambers.”
It wasn’t a suggestion.
Nuri took Amber by the hand and started for the parking lot. The sight of it infuriated Chambers. He started forward, but Landau clamped a viselike grip on his elbow. “A moment of your time, Dr. Chambers.”
“I thought you were eager to get going.”
Landau sighed. “I want to make sure you’re clear on my role in this operation.”
“I’m clear. Your job is to keep us safe.”
“My job is to keep the dig safe. Please don’t make me defend it against you.”
“Are you threatening me?” Chambers struggled to appear unconcerned.
“I’ve never made a threat in my life.” Landau slipped his arm over Chambers’s shoulders and started toward the parking lot. “I have, however, implied a few.” He squeezed Chambers’s shoulder enough to cause mild pain. “I’m very good at what I do, but I have two shortcomings: one, I’m impatient; two, I have no sense of humor.”
“This is one of those veiled threats, isn’t it?”
Landau shrugged. “Come along, Dr. Chambers. You’ll feel better after a hot meal and a little rest. International flights can wear on a man.”
Chambers thought it wise to cooperate.
John Trent stood just outside the lobby doors. Abram Ben-Judah stood next to him. “Is this going to be a problem, Professor?”
“David is a good man, with a good heart.”
“I know his work very well, but I don’t know him. Can he be trusted to do the job?”
Ben-Judah, nodded. “Once the work begins, you will see a focused man. I would not have recommended him if I had doubts.”
“With all due respect, my friend, just seeing what we’ve seen, I have doubts.”
Ben-Judah faced him. “No one knows the ancient tunnel systems like David; no one pursues the truth like him. He’s our best choice. I have faith in him.”
“I hope you’re right, Professor.”
The old man smiled. “He will be no problem.”
“See to it, Professor—or I will.”
“So what’s your story, Mr. Landau? Or should I be calling you by some military rank?”
Amber’s voice wafted forward from the backseat of the black GMC Yukon Denali. Chambers sat in the front passenger seat, eyes forward, mouth turned down.
“No rank, ma’am. Just call me Landau. What do you want to know?”
“If I’m being nosy, just let me know, but you don’t sound like you grew up around here. Is that a New York accent I hear?”
Chambers caught Landau glancing at him, perhaps waiting for a reaction to the “nosy” comment. Chambers started to say something just to prove that Landau hadn’t intimidated him but couldn’t find the courage.
“No ma’am, I’m from Jersey. Trenton to be exact.”
“You’re a long way from home,” Nuri said.
“No sir. I am home. I was born in the States and lived there until I was nearly thirty. Went to college there and served in the military.”
“What branch?” Amber said. She sounded cheerful. Chambers was still angry about the confrontation. �
�Or am I allowed to ask?”
“Marines, ma’am. Served a good number of years before moving here.”
“And why move here?”
Chambers stared at the other cars on the road. He had been able to identify at least three vehicles as part of the security escort, although none bore any markings.
“Two things. My parents moved here after my father retired from medicine. He was a surgeon. I first came to Israel as part of a joint military-training detachment and fell in love with the place. My father was a frequent contributor to several Israeli causes, so he had made some friends. When he grew ill, I moved to Israel. He pulled a few strings, and soon I was working for the ISA. That was seven years ago.”
“And your father?” Amber asked softly.
“He died a year after I arrived. Mom passed soon after that. By that time, Israel had become my home.”
“I’m sorry about your parents.”
“Life happens, Dr. Rodgers. So does death.”
Chambers, against his will, thought of his mother. He could see her in her bed, dying inch by inch, while his father remained removed and in a distant land—this land.
He should have been there. He should have been there.
NINE
The upscale King Solomon hotel was the newest large hotel in Jerusalem and catered to wealthy tourists. When Chambers had last been in the city, the structure was still in the planning stage. He had heard rumors about the future hotel’s opulence. The rumors were true. The building was beautiful inside and out. Like many hotels in the city and surrounding areas, this one was built according to plans by architects and interior designers who tried to reflect the ancient city’s past without losing sight of the twenty-first century.
The interior floors and walls were made of cultured stone. Chambers had seen enough of the real thing to know the difference between real limestone, granite, and marble and “stone” manufactured in some factory. Still, light browns gave the lobby a warm and welcome feeling. Decorative lights shone up towering Romanesque columns with ornate capitals. Colorful drapes embroidered with gold pomegranates made Chambers think of biblical descriptions of the temple’s interior.
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