“No bells,” Gaige laughed.
“What?”
“The expression ring bells. It’s not one I hear often. I understand the concept in the context that you said it. However, what does it mean? Where does it come from?”
Chad grinned back. “I don’t know. Hadn’t thought about it.”
Archer looked closer at the numbers on the bottom of the stone. “The numbers are separated by a small symbol. Very small. Looks like a plus sign. It separates the numbers into two groups of three. Should I add these numbers? I need a magnifying glass.”
Instinctively he reached for pockets in a field jacket that he didn’t have on. So did Gaige.
They shared another laugh, realizing that they usually wore shirts and pants with multiple pockets when they worked an excavation. Pockets that held brushes, tools, and always a magnifying glass.
Gaige laid the stone down. “This must fit into some place on this wall. He looked at the wall map again. “No reference here.”
The two men searched the wall, looking at where stones once were.
“Here we go,” Gaige announced. “This looks like it. I’ll measure. Yes. Ten centimeters high, thirty wide.”
“Behind and behind,” Chad muttered.
“What?” asked Gaige.
“Do you have a flashlight? I’d like to see how deep the hole is and if anything is in it.”
“Right, a torch. Be right back.”
While Gaige went in search of a flashlight, Chad looked closer at the markings on the stone. If indeed the etchings made on the top and the back were numbers, they appeared to have been made at the same time and with the same tool used for the etching of the man and three suns on the front. The Arabic numbers on the bottom of the stone looked like a different tooling was used, a harder iron tool, even maybe a forged iron. Very sharp edges. Again, a magnifying glass would help. Chad tried to remember when Arabic numbers spread to other parts of the world. His memory of that was sketchy. He knew it was an evolution and involved the introduction of a zero. He was rather sure it was well into the Common Era, something like 800 or 900 CE.
“Here we are then, right,” Gaige said returning with a flashlight.
They took turns peering into the void that the stone once occupied. Chad looked past the emptiness. He tried to see if there was any sign of another stone or etchings at the back of the hole. Behind and Behind. Gaige measured it. “About sixty centimeters deep. So, double the length of our stone.”
Big enough for another stone, Chad thought. The ‘location stone’ clue that he was after. Not big enough for the tablets themselves. So far the story on the scrolls may be accurate. Who removed the missing location stone and when? Were the numbers on the bottom of the man and three suns a clue to that? It had to be.
He looked at the three pages in his notebook, the top, the back, and the bottom of the stone. What did they mean?
Chapter 46
Archer joined Gaige at his home for dinner. He met Gaige’s wife, two children, and the family cat. The entire time he was antsy wanting to look into the numbers from the stone.
Finally, several hours later in his hotel room, he stared at the numbers. Using the Internet as a refresher, the Egyptian symbols on the top of the stone translated to: 31,45,50,4,6,17. The numbers on the back were: 18,6,12,125,9,17.
In addition, there were the up arrows, the right arrows and left arrows. Was the locator stone moved to somewhere else in the King David Palace? Did the numbers refer to steps? Feet? Maybe groups of three? Yards, feet, inches? What dimensions were used in 600 BCE? Something like the width of a hand?
He glanced at the clock. He had forty minutes until his second meeting with the rabbi.
It became clear to Chad that he needed to speak directly to Elsha the radiocarbon dating technician. Now, even more than before.
His cell phone rang.
“Hello,” he answered.
“It’s Mac.”
“Detective Jimmy MacDonald. How are you?”
“I heard you are in Europe,” Mac said.
“Wow. You might grow up to be a detective someday.”
“Yuk, yuk. When are you returning? Where are you exactly?”
Chad thought about keeping it secret, but Mac could track his movements if necessary. It would be better to be open.
“I’m in Israel. Doing some book research. I’ll probably leave Tuesday, not sure yet of my next stop. Right now I’m booked on a return flight to Boston. I leave here about noon. Something breaking on your case?”
“Kind of a break. Your schedule is perfect, but instead of coming back home, how about going to London? Interpol has been looking at a car theft operation across several countries. England, France, and Italy. There may be a connection to Biskell. There is a rumor of a big move of autos next week from London. Oddly, Biskell is In London now. We’re going to meet with Scotland Yard on Tuesday afternoon. Can you make it?”
Chad knew Doc’s next move was to London. He didn’t know why and he didn’t know if he would be done with Israel by then. There were the numbers to figure out. Mount Carmel to look into. “I can try, Mac. Just one thing. It’s really time consuming and difficult to get into and through Ben Gurion airport with advance planning. It will be very hard if I make this change at the last minute. I need some help.”
“You got it,” Mac said. “Hang on. I’ve a hot line to Interpol.”
A few moments later, Mac was back on the phone. “Archer, you still there?”
“Yes.”
“Adrien?”
“I’m here, James.”
“Great. Chad, we have from France, agent Adrien Teller, Interpol. And, Adrien, only my mother still calls me James. Please. Mac or Jimmy.”
“Okay, Mac. Dr. Archer, Mac told me of the travel changes that you need. Make the reservation and call me with the information. I’ll have our local agent meet you at the airport drop off at Ben Gurion. He will work it out ahead of time and stay with you through security. How does that sound?”
Chad made up his mind. Next stop London. Maybe he could get to York to see Sandy. “That will be great.”
They exchanged contact information and everyone said they were looking forward to the collaboration.
Chad put down his cell, just in time to pick up the ringing burner phone from the rabbi.
Chapter 47
Archer followed the phone instructions from the rabbi for the second time in two days. The last directive was to enter the Wohl museum. Chad assumed the rabbi determined that no one followed him.
Chad looked forward to the museum as well as the meeting. There was a visitor center and gift shop. Beyond that were six houses on a hillside looking toward the Temple Mount. They dated to the time of the second temple. The homes, actually the basement of the homes, were found during a rebuild of the Jewish quarter after the six-day war. Built on terraces on the hill, they were originally inhabited by priests or wealthy citizens.
The museum is also called the Herodian Quarter. The period assigned to Herod and the Temple was from the last years of the BCE period into the first century CE, the time of Herod and after his death. Also, the time of Jesus.
A security guard approached Chad. He suggested that Chad start at the top of the hill. The guard also said that, though the museum would close soon, Chad should take his time. Chad got the message. Wait at the top of the hill.
Five minutes before closing, an announcement was made through loudspeakers. Five minutes after closing the rabbi strolled up the steps to the top.
The rabbi shook Chad’s hand warmly holding it in both of his.
“Dr. Archer. It’s good to see you again. How are you enjoying Jerusalem?”
“Very much, thank you.”
“What did you do today?”
“Visited archeological sites like this. There are so many.”
“There are indeed. We are rich in history. It is said amongst developers that only half of any restorations or new housing will ever be completed. Th
e other half is sure to reveal some antiquities that will halt construction.”
“I can see that. Thousands of years of history.”
“Almost six thousand years. It is one of the oldest cities in the world. It has been destroyed twice and had been the center of battle forever. I read once there have been twenty-three sieges and fifty-two attacks. Forty-four times it was captured and recaptured. The ground must be full of evidence of so many peoples and cultures.”
“Fascinating. It must generate much in the way of antiquities. Your business, correct?” Chad thought he would get right to his questions.
“Dr. Archer, you are mistaken in my priorities. My business is the spiritual welfare of my temple. My hobby is antique dealing.”
“But, you’re not an official dealer?”
“Almost every Israeli is an antique dealer at some level.”
“Rabbi, I think your dealership is a bit more active than the average Israeli. If you work with people such as Haskin, then I would say antiquities are more than just a hobby.”
“I’ll concede to your point.”
“Tell me about Haskin and antiquities.”
The rabbi considered his options. On one hand Haskin was an important client. A rich client. One the rabbi would not want to lose. On the other hand Dr. Archer may be a future source of supply or know those that may be a source. Would Archer tell Haskin that the rabbi shared information? He doubted that. Archer was brought in after the first archeologist died. This new archeologist seemed to have many doubts and questions. He was skeptical. He was thorough. He was not yet convinced of the authenticity of the scrolls. If there was one thing the rabbi could not risk was that Dr. Archer would leave in doubt. That would certainly be communicated back to Haskin and that revenue source would dry up quickly. The rabbi had no reason to doubt the authenticity. He knew Elsha Lipman well. He was a good man. A family man. An honest man. A qualified man. A respected man in his field. A thorough man. If he said the scrolls were authentic, then they were. He made his decision.
“My work with antiquities had generally been to link sources with distributors, who in turn had their own clientele or contacts. When I say distributors, I should call them what they are, smugglers. Or, at least, having close ties to smugglers.”
Chad appreciated the honesty. “Thank you for sharing. How then did you connect direct to Haskin?”
“There was an urn or vase or two whose provenance was in question, Haskin wanted direct contact. My distributor let him know of me. In turn, after learning who he was, I let him know the source. He appreciated that. The source though wanted no direct contact. Haskin liked me and we became business associates.”
“Makes sense. It seems like a jump from a few urns and vases as you say to this level – the Ark of the Covenant,” Chad prompted.
“Not so much of a leap. A year ago he bought something special. Pieces of the original tablets.”
“Really? I am surprised. I’d think a find like that would be well known.”
“It’s a little ambiguous. I could not vouch for the validity,” the rabbi explained.
“Tell me about it.”
“You may know, or may not, that the location of Mount Sinai is not known. It can be one of many on the way from Egypt to Israel. Most likely it is in Egypt. The exact route of the Exodus is not known. It could be along a direct route or it could have been less direct, either to avoid pursuit or to provide for the thousands of people.”
Chad interrupted. “Archeologists have given up on finding or proving that the Exodus really happened as described in the bible. It says there were six hundred thousand people plus livestock and non-Jews.”
“It certainly has been challenged, but it’s central to the Jewish faith. Yahweh rescued us. We owe ourselves to Him. We belong to Him through the Mosaic covenant. It is true that the Torah, the Old Testament books, which contain the written account of the Exodus, were written well after the event. Those books set forth many of the rituals and rules of our religion. It was necessary in order to meet the needs of the times in which they were written. All religions followed that process in their evolution. They all were written decades later or even centuries after an event. They were then written for a contemporary audience.”
“Sorry that I interrupted. You were going to tell me about the original commandments.”
“Yes. Well, we don’t know where Mount Sinai is. We cannot prove, as you said, if it existed as described with the earth quaking, burning bushes, and super storms. The story goes that Moses spent forty days and nights in the cloud on Mount Sinai. When he came down the mountain, the people had given up on Yahweh and were paying homage to a Golden Calf. He destroyed the original tablets by throwing them on the ground. Therefore, he had to return to the mountain a second time.”
“That is the story I heard,” Chad said.
“Again, it may have been true that he went to the mountain twice, but the reason why may have been made up by those that wrote the accounts. There is some evidence that in those times in the Middle East the practice was to create an agreement, or an oath to a king on a small tablet first. Then the second step of the negotiation is to transfer that to larger tablets. Similar to today’s practice of a letter of intent followed by a contract. Nonetheless, the original story, whether myth or reality, still exists.”
“Are you about to tell me someone found the original tablets?” Chad asked.
“Pieces of it. There have been claims and cons through the centuries about the original tablets. One statement in the Torah says the original and second tablets were both put into the Ark. Two years ago I heard rumors of a find. I have contacts and sources in Egypt as well as other countries. It took a year of samples and pictures through distributors to find buyers. I was not the only one trying to broker these. As you can imagine there were many doubts. How can you prove it? Interesting, the stone fragments were blue sapphire. There is a reference in one of the books to sapir. It is interpreted as sapphire but could be something else. Sapphire wasn’t readily available in the region. On the other hand Talmudic Midrashic sources describe the final tablets as clear, flexible, and transparent.”
“That does not even sound like stone.”
“No it doesn’t. I tell you all of this to explain why there was not much excitement about the supposed find. But, to my surprise one day, a Mr. Boyer showed up and explained Mr. Haskin’s interest based on pictures that he had seen. Mr. Boyer explained that Haskin had bought things that came through me before and all were authentic and valuable. Believe me then, I went to great lengths to distance myself from any connection to authenticity of this find. Mr. Haskin wanted to see a sample. I made arrangements to obtain one and meet with Mr. Haskin in Tel Aviv. The sample was ordinary stone. Not flexible or clear. It had a blue tint. Haskin was excited by what he saw. That was strange to me.”
“Why?” Chad asked.
“None of the pieces were bigger than six or eight centimeters, three inches, I think. So you would not expect much in the writing. If it was a forgery, it would be easy to script a few letters or words. Since there is no official tablet to compare it to, it would be easy to do. What I saw was not letters. It was vertical lines interspersed with small dots. I took it to be a numbering system. The piece we had contained two rows of these numbers. They could have been the beginning of commandment number six or seven, something like that. Haskin liked it. He paid the asking price of twenty thousand dollars. It was ridiculous. He asked to see pictures of other pieces. Those were sold to him, just the pictures, for five thousand dollars. He wanted no more pieces.”
“Why not?”
“I can only think he realized it was not authentic. Perhaps he had found some method for determining their age. Or maybe the method of the etching was too modern.”
“I see. And this was two years ago?”
“Yes. Does that mean something to you?”
“No. It just establishes an interest that was heightened a year ago when you told him of the
scrolls.”
“You are correct. If I had not known of his interest, I would not have reached out to him. I think it would have been dangerous to try to deal that secret information on the open market.”
“I understand. I need to meet with Elsha. Tomorrow. Noon. Have him pick a restaurant near work. We’ll have lunch.”
The rabbi showed his surprise that Chad knew the technician’s name. “I cannot do it.”
The rabbi knew he’d lose his go between fees. More importantly, Elsha was more paranoid than he was. He would never agree to that. Haskin must have discovered the name of the technician and told Archer. On the other hand, it would not do to refuse. They could contact Elsha without his help.
Chad gave the rabbi a cover for the meeting. “Elsha can say that I am an archeologist who would like to discuss radiocarbon dating and other methods.”
The rabbi sighed. “I don’t like it. He won’t like it. However, because I am paid to help, I will call him.”
The rabbi walked off a distance and called the technician. Chad watched one side of an animated conversation. He didn’t know what was said in Hebrew but he recognized the tones of pleading, anger, and empathy.
“He said no,” the rabbi said returning to Chad.
Chad knew already what he would do. Nevertheless, he went through the motions of disappointment, anger, and finally acceptance.
“Rabbi, you still will not share your name?” Chad asked.
“Safer that I do not. No offense, Dr. Archer.”
“None taken. I appreciate your help and will let Mr. Haskin know.”
“Do you know what you will do next? Have you solved the clue?”
“I know what I will do,” Chad said, certain of his next steps but not about to share. “I will look for a man and his three sons. I will visit the Temple Mount and see what I can see of the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque.” He didn’t say that he would also talk with the technician.
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