“Christina Alvarez?” Sam suggested. He and Robert had recently discussed the innovative dive site protection system that Christina had developed while excavating the American Civil War wrecks, then perfected during work on nautical archaeological sites in the Caribbean.
Robert stood before him, rubbing his forehead, which was bronzed from weeks in the mild winter sun. “If she’ll agree to it. That lady’s got her fingers on more projects of economic importance than anyone else I know.”
“It’s that treasure hunter husband she hooked up with.”
“I need to find myself a treasure hunter wife,” Robert said, grinning down at his frayed, sun-bleached shorts.
“That you do,” Sam said with a laugh. Then he grew more serious. “I think we can get her to come see this. If I know Christina, just the chance to check out a ship like this will bring her, at least on a consultant basis.”
“Very good,” Robert said, stroking his gray beard. “Give her a call right away. We haven’t a day to lose.”
JERUSALEM, LATE JANUARY
Alexana Roarke walked up the wide, grand stairs and handed her briefcase to the Waksf guard. No matter how often she went through the procedure of passing the guards at the gate of the Temple Mount—referred to by Muslims as the Haram el Sharif—she was irritated by the amount of time they took. The guard smiled in recognition and quickly searched the case, waving off his companion who moved to body-search her.
“Yes. She is too pretty to be carrying a bomb,” the second guard said in Arabic, misunderstanding the first guard’s wave. He smiled at Alexana in appreciation.
Her smile in return was perfunctory at best. Yes, she hated this process more each time she endured it. Weaselly guards who think they wield so much power …
“But sometimes they send their prettiest to do the dirty work,” the second guard muttered as he scrutinized her, continuing his monologue as though he thought someone was listening. Warming to the power of his position, he pushed onward. “As I look at her more closely, I think she is not so pretty. Just blond. You always like the blondes.”
“Be quiet, fool.” The first guard switched to English. “This is Dr. Alexana Roarke. She has been summoned to meet with Abdallah al Azeh.”
His cohort’s eyebrows lifted in surprise.
She nodded at the first guard as he gave her permission to pass, then turned to the second. “I will be sure to inform Abdallah al Azeh that you do not like blondes,” she said in perfect Arabic. She did not stay to watch his response.
Moving quickly, with purpose, she passed the El Aksa Mosque and the ornate, golden Dome of the Rock without looking twice; she had no time for sightseeing. Besides, the dramatic structures of Jerusalem had been part of her life for as long as she could remember.
A group of tourists passed her, straining to hear their guide who led them from one location to another. She felt sorry for the people who buzzed through Jerusalem this way, passing in a mad frenzy from one holy site to another. How could one truly come to experience this wonderful, crazy, complicated city in one week? The Temple Mount, or the Haram, had been breathtaking to her the first thirty times she saw it after grad school. Covering an area equivalent to five football fields in size, the monstrous structure could be explored for weeks on end.
But that was her archaeological head speaking. Still, there was so much to this place, the city Jesus had lived in and loved, the city she lived in and loved. Alexana drew in a deep breath of air, fresh from a light rain. It smelled like clean stones to her. She approached the offices on the northeastern corner of the Haram where al Azeh conducted business.
She racked her brain as she had done since yesterday for the reason Abdallah al Azeh—head of the Waksf and Islamic Affairs—had summoned her to meet with him, then shrugged her questions away, drew a breath, and knocked on the official’s door.
A male guard opened it and nodded her forward.
Alexana stopped in shock at the inner office door. Standing to her left and right were two Mossad agents, easily identified by their trademark secret service aviator glasses. Sitting across the desk from Abdallah al Azeh was Abba Eban, head of the Israeli Antiquities Authority.
Eban was seldom seen in or around the Haram. Convinced that the Jews only wanted to destroy the Haram to rebuild their biblical temple, many Muslims would consider Eban’s presence an act of treason by al Azeh. The mystery deepens, she thought.
“Come in, come in,” Abdallah said, motioning to a plush, green chair beside Abba Eban. Both men politely stood. Abdallah watched Alexana sit and inquisitively study them.
“You wonder why we both wish to meet with you.”
A tiny smile edged her lips upward. “To say the least.”
“Alexana,” Abba Eban said, smiling broadly. “Under the new peace accord, Abdallah has paved the way for an unprecedented dig.” He paused dramatically, letting the information sink in. “We are to have unlimited access to Solomon’s Stables.”
Alexana drew in her breath sharply, struggling to maintain her composure. Not only was she sitting before the leaders of two longstanding enemy factions, men who heretofore would have been loath to be so near one another, but they both wanted to excavate. And the excavation was no ordinary dig. It was under the Temple Mount, the Haram, fiercely protected by Muslims for decades.
“Due to your longstanding reputation, the work done by you and your family in the region, and your ability to remain neutral between Palestinian and Jew alike,” Abdallah said, “we have chosen you to be dig supervisor.”
One body … One community … One shared search for a lasting love
THE FULL CIRCLE SERIES
by Lisa Tawn Bergren
Available now at your local bookstore!
REFUGE (Book 1) • When Rachel Johanssen dared Beth Morgan to answer a personal ad in The Rancher’s Journal, she never thought her citified friend would become a rancher’s wife. Now Rachel, too, is falling in love with the glorious Elk Horn Valley—and with Dirk Tanner, a rugged Montana rancher who makes it his home. Rachel’s young friend Jake Rierdon has taken a shine to ranch life as well—and to beautiful young Emily Walker. But shadows from the present and past threaten to destroy both couples’ chances for a future.
TORCHLIGHT (Book 2) • After inheriting her family’s lighthouse and mansion on the coast of Maine, heiress Julia Rierdon—sister of Jake Rierdon (Refuge)—sets out to restore the estate with the help of a mysterious stranger. Motorcycle-riding Trevor Kenbridge is gorgeous, infuriating … and just the man she needs to help her renovate the home. He may also be the right man to claim her heart.
PATHWAYS (Book 3) • Doctor Bryn Bailey—cousin to Trevor Kenbridge (Torchlight)—has come to Alaska to tend those who cannot reach healthcare through the traditional routes and, with the aid of bush pilot Eli Pierce, begins to take trips into remote areas accessible only by plane. Then one evening during a freak storm their small plane goes down in the wilderness, putting Bryn on a desperate search for pathways back to civilization, to God … and to love.
TREASURE (Book 4) • Ever since she roomed with Bryn Bailey (Pathways) at Harvard, nautical archaeologist Dr. Christina Alvarez has been obsessed with finding her ancestor’s sunken treasure ship. Only one man—Caribbean treasure hunter Mitch Crawford—can help her, and he refuses to do so. But Christina’s fight to win Mitch over may lead them both to a treasure more valuable than either of them ever dreamed.
CHOSEN (Book 5) • As supervisor of the Solomon’s Stables dig in Jerusalem, archaeologist Alexana Roarke—grad-school friend of Christina Alvarez (Treasure)—knows she is in significant danger. Yet she will let nothing impede her excavation, not even the concern of handsome, world-renowned news correspondent Ridge McIntyre. Her stubbornness, however, could cost Alexana her life—and a future with the man she loves.
FIRESTORM (Book 6) • As a forest firefighting crew boss, Montanan Reyne Oldre—friend to Rachel Tanner and Beth Morgan (Refuge)—once led a team of courageous firefighters in
to a blaze that ended in tragedy. Now that the flames of love have begun to flicker between her and smokejumper Logan McCabe, Reyne must face the fears from her past and battle the raging firestorm that burns in her soul.
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