Brian Sadler Archaeology 01 - The Bethlehem Scroll

by Bill Thompson

  “We must walk from here.” He pointed to a narrow path that wound downhill in front of them. They had to be careful not to lose their footing – it was a rough trail. At last Onias stopped. He pointed to a clump of shrubs clinging to the side of the hill. Benjamin saw nothing until Onias moved the scrubby plants aside, revealing the entrance to a cave.

  “Ever since my father knew that the Messiah was coming, he kept this special place prepared for the document that would reveal it to the world. He passed the responsibility of putting your scroll into this cave to me. And now, Benjamin, it is time to place the jar.”

  The boy crawled into the tight space. He felt cramped – he couldn’t stand. At the back of the room was a small entrance into an anteroom of the cave. He crawled through and saw an indentation in the back wall. There were two stones lying on the floor of the cave in the sand. He carefully placed the jar in the area at the rear of the second room. His small hands trembled as he sat it on the ledge. He noticed that the two stones perfectly covered the hiding place. Obviously, long ago, someone truly had prepared the cave for this very day.

  His task complete, Benjamin backed out of the cave. Emerging from the coolness back into the harsh sunlight, Onias said, “Let us pray.”

  They held hands, praying that God would bless the depositing of this jar, and thanking God for the baby He had sent.

  “May this scroll remain safe until it is time…time for the world to see it,” the Essene prayed.

  Then they returned to Qumran.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Dallas

  The next few days moved slowly for Brian Sadler. Although he had to wait until Monday afternoon for the investment committee’s decision on Bijan’s proposed public offering, he wasted no time working on the details of his personal investment in the gallery. He prepared a memorandum outlining his proposed deal with Darius Nazir – 40% of Bijan Rarities Limited for $1.5 million and a guarantee that $4 million would be raised in a public offering no later than 90 days from the date of signing. He called Nicole and left a message asking her to call.

  It was nearly six when his cell phone rang and he saw Carter and Wells’ name on the display.

  “Nicole,” he answered.

  “Mr. Sadler, it’s Ryan Coleman. Miss Farber apologizes that she can’t return your call today and asked that you email whatever you need and she’ll respond when she can.”

  Brian asked if she was in the office.

  Ryan hesitated a moment, then said, “Do you need her email address or do you have it?”

  Obviously she wasn’t speaking to him.

  He emailed the memorandum and asked if she would prepare a Letter of Intent to send to Nazir. Given her specialty in criminal law he wasn’t sure if she would handle something like this. He figured at the least she would shuffle the project off to someone else in the firm. Having not received a bill for more money, he figured he had funds left from his initial payment and decided it was worth a try.

  On Friday Nicole called him at work. “Glad to see you’re planning a move to make an honest living,” she quipped.

  “How are you?”

  “Not bad, but busy. Let’s talk about your deal. I’ve put together your Letter of Intent and I’ll email it in a few minutes. Your proposal sounds exciting. Is WT&C going to do an offering for Bijan?”

  He told her about his discussion with Robert Overton and that he was waiting for an answer.

  “Want to meet for a drink tonight after work?”

  “I’m working late tonight.” Fueling his hopes slightly, she said, “But I would like to see you again sometime. Bye.” And she hung up.

  Chapter Eighteen

  On Monday Brian had trouble concentrating as he waited to hear from the investment committee. He wasn’t worried – he knew from experience that the Bijan deal had merit. It was something another firm would take even if WT&C didn’t. But he had a nagging fear that his involvement with the FBI might come back to haunt him, even though he had done nothing to hurt WT&C.

  At four pm his phone rang. Robert Overton told him that the committee had approved his deal and work would begin the next day on preparing for a public offering. Overton congratulated Brian and again thanked him for a good run at the firm.

  On the way home he called Darius and told him the letter of intent would be emailed shortly. WT&C would prepare agreements to represent the company as its investment banker in the upcoming public offering. Even with these assurances, nothing was set in stone. All investment banks had out-clauses that would allow them to exit a deal at any time, for any reason, or for no reason whatsoever. However when this stage was reached, a deal was all but done, save a major catastrophe like a market crash.

  Darius was thrilled. He told Brian the background check had come back clean and everything was ready to proceed from his side. He reiterated how much he looked forward to working with Brian and promised to read the letter of intent, sign and return it immediately.

  “So when will you join the gallery?”

  “I should stay here for at least a few weeks. I can keep things moving better if I’m still at WT&C than if I’m an outsider.”

  They set a timetable to have a contract in place for Brian’s $1.5 million investment by the end of the week and to have his funds wired to Bijan in 30 days or less.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Brian wasn’t concerned that the Bijan public offering might not happen, except for one thing that was out of everyone’s control. If the stock market took a major tumble between now and offering day, WT&C could pull the plug on the offering. And they would. It happened regularly in the investment-banking world. If investors were in panic mode those who had agreed to buy Bijan stock could back out and the firm would be left having to spend millions of its own money to pay Bijan the offering proceeds. There was nothing anyone could do about that possibility, so Brian, the optimist, refused to consider it as a possibility.

  It turned out the market, fueled by continuing success in the oil and energy sectors, steadily rose over the weeks before Bijan’s offering date, which had tentatively been set by the firm for mid-May. Meanwhile, their contract finished and signed, Brian prepared to buy his shares of Bijan.

  He converted almost all his investments into cash, used a line of credit he had established at Chase to finish things up and wired $1.5 million to Bijan Rarities’ bank account in New York. They spoke daily – Nazir was working feverishly to finish the auction of the sarcophagus, set for next weekend. He was leaving for Egypt in a few days and asked Brian to join him there. It was tough for Brian to turn down that offer but he knew his time was better spent keeping the deal on track. Every day at the office meant dozens of new questions to answer, drafts of documents to read and forward on to Darius, and handling a million small things that were part of the process.

  “Come to New York, then,” Darius offered. “As an owner of Bijan, and its new acquisitions man, you should be here to represent the gallery.”

  “Acquisitions man?” Brian was surprised.

  Darius explained that he had given much thought to the roles each of them should play and if Brian were agreeable, Darius wanted to slow down his constant travel schedule and spend more time in the gallery. Darius would run the store and oversee all auctions while Brian handled the financial side, traveled the globe chasing leads and brought home the antiquities which would fuel sales at Bijan.

  Brian thought it sounded great and promised to come to New York for the simulcast of the Discovery Channel broadcast a week from Friday. The auction was set for one pm New York time, which was nine in the evening in the Valley of the Kings.

  Chapter Twenty

  Brian was in touch daily with Sam Lowe, the New York attorney representing the gallery on its offering. They had finalized the offering document and sent it to the Dallas lawyers hired by WT&C. Everything was moving along. The firm was negotiating with Brian at this point over stock options, rights buy Bijan stock at a fixed price for a period of time. If the
stock went up during that period, WT&C would make a bunch of extra money. Usually deals that could be tough to sell commanded a lot of options. Those were an incentive for the investment bank and a way to potentially make money even if things didn’t go exactly as planned.

  Brian argued with his colleagues at WT&C who were putting together the finishing touches.

  “Bijan’s a jewel, a company any broker would be proud to take public. It’s one deal that doesn’t need options tied to it.”

  WT&C resisted. Time was on their side, because Brian wanted the offering finished and done with sooner rather than later, so he could get on with the new aspects of his life. He negotiated less options for the brokerage firm, cleared it with Darius and the deal moved ahead.

  -----

  “I’ll join you for a drink at seven. Meet me at Steel.”

  Steel was one of Dallas’ newest establishments and Brian was glad Nicole had agreed to join him. He had called her to advise that the letter of intent and contract she had prepared were now signed and finished.

  His real motive had been to have dinner with her but she declined, saying she had trial the next morning and wanted to be ready. But at least she had agreed to drinks.

  The men in the bar noticed Nicole as she walked in. She was dressed in a red suit. With her blond hair she was impossible to miss. He stood as she approached the bar. She took his hand and squeezed it.

  “Hi, Brian Sadler, who is not a criminal.”

  “Get over that!”

  An hour later they had caught up. Brian knew from news reports that Nicole was defending the Chief Operating Officer of a pharmaceutical company in Fort Worth. He was the subject of an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, who claimed her client had masterminded a plot to hide poor earnings. There was basis to their claim.

  They talked about how, like in Brian’s situation, Nicole’s defense was that her client wasn’t part of the problem. In this case, he had instead tried to formulate a solution. Finally she stopped – she’d said as much as she could without violating attorney-client privilege. They ordered another drink and talked about Brian’s work.

  “I got the invitation to Bijan’s simulcast of the auction. Thanks for inviting me.” Brian had put her name on the list after Darius asked him to submit names of people he wanted to invite. Hers was his only one.

  Brian told her about his visit to the gallery and his excitement over the business and its prospects.

  “It sounds like love at first sight,” Nicole commented.

  He looked into her eyes and responded, “Love at first sight. That pretty well sums it up.” There was a long pause as neither of them looked away.

  “Ahem,” Brian cleared his throat. “Well, I am now the acquisitions officer and minority shareholder of Bijan and WT&C is going to bring the company to the public market in a couple of months.” He asked if she had heard much about the auction of the sarcophagus of Inkharaton.

  She’d learned about it from the memorandum Brian had sent her to create his letter of intent. She recently saw advertisements in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, and commented that the sale seemed to have generated a lot of interest in ancient things and Egypt in particular.

  He mentioned the Discovery Channel broadcast and said he would be in New York for the simulcast.

  “Why don’t you come up?”

  “My goodness, sir,” she deadpanned in a Scarlett O’Hara voice, “I feel I hardly know you!”

  He smiled. “Really. I’m serious. That invitation is your pass to an incredible event. The guest list is strictly limited and there are people who would pay a lot of money for that pass. Selfishly, I’d love to have you come see the gallery.”

  “There was a time in our professional relationship when I’d have bet money we could really click together personally, so I need to tell you something. What you did that morning in your deposition was a slap in the face to me. I was blindsided. I was your counsel and I looked like a fool. I’ve tried to let it go but what it said to me was, ‘Brian Sadler’s not at all what you think he is. There’s a side to him that may show itself at any time and you have no idea what it’ll do to you.’ I’m a careful girl with my feelings. And I’m going to be really careful this time.”

  He tried to apologize. “My entire decision on this was because of Carl’s murder. I knew you wouldn’t walk in that room and represent me if you knew what I was going to do but I still needed your help.”

  “Really?” she responded sarcastically. “Which parts of ‘I don’t recall’ did you need help with?”

  “You’ve got to understand that I did what I thought I had to do to survive. I had no intention of pissing you off or causing you grief. It was a matter of living to fight another day. And apparently it worked.”

  She conceded he was right, but he should consider himself forever on the FBI’s radar screen. “One step in the wrong direction and they’ll be all over you. Don’t ever forget it. The Feds have long memories, and you’re indelibly etched in their bureaucratic minds.”

  She told him she had to go.

  “Please consider coming to New York.”

  “I don’t know where this is all going. I don’t know if there’ll be anything between you and me. I do know there’s a lot of work to do before I’ll feel I know you well enough to spend much time with you.” She stood, leaned over and kissed his cheek, turned and said, “But that doesn’t mean I don’t think you’re a sexy guy.”

  She walked out of the bar.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Brian talked to Darius four or five times a day as the week of the auction arrived. He made reservations for an arrival on Thursday around noon. Darius would already be in Egypt handling final preparations for the sale the next night.

  “Collette will handle everything you need. She’s extremely bright and very capable. I know you’re new to all this but with her help you’ll be fine.”

  Brian could hardly contain his excitement as he walked off the plane at LaGuardia Airport. This was truly the beginning of a new life – a chapter closing and a new one opening in the book that was Brian Sadler. As he walked to the baggage claim area, he saw a man holding a sign that said “Sadler.” He stopped, confused.

  “I’m Brian Sadler.”

  Darius had sent a car and driver to pick him up.

  “I took Mr. Nazir to Kennedy Airport earlier this week for his trip to Cairo,” the driver told Brian as they stood in the baggage claim area. “He told me you’re his new partner. I’m Dov and I’m pleased to be assisting you.”

  This is truly a new chapter in my life. A driver picking up Brian Sadler, the new partner in Bijan Rarities.

  The driver dropped him at the Inter-Continental where he checked in and dropped off his luggage. He walked over to Fifth Avenue. It was a gorgeous spring day – the time of year when one day might be cold and dreary, and the next sunny and warm. This was one of the latter and Brian found himself gazing upward at the skyscrapers like a tourist as he walked along 48th Street.

  Arriving at the gallery he saw a large sign in the window announcing Discovery Channel’s broadcast tomorrow afternoon. There were over twenty people in the showroom, looking not only at the sarcophagus but also at the other items on display. Collette waved when she saw him, broke away from a customer and approached.

  “Just in time! Things have been crazy all week. Mr. Nazir prepared these for you.” She handed Brian a series of printed sheets. At the top of each was a picture of one of the antiquities on display in the showroom. Below it was a lengthy description and at the bottom a set of numbers and a price.

  Collette explained, “Those numbers shown above the price give you our cost code.” She showed him quickly how to interpret it.

  “Although I’m sure the rules don’t apply to you, Jason and I aren’t allowed to sell anything for less than fifty percent markup over cost. We get a 10% bonus if we sell anything at 90% or more of its retail price.”

  Brian than
ked Collette, waved to Jason across the room, and went to Darius’ office. In the middle of his desk was a brown envelope with Brian’s name on it. Inside was a note from Darius telling Brian to make himself at home, use the office as his and get ready for an interesting auction. The packet contained detailed information about the auction, including a timetable of events listed in Egyptian and New York time. There was also a corporate credit card with his name on it. A sticky note asked Brian to take one of the gallery’s invited guests to dinner after the simulcast, if he could arrange it.

  The phone on the desk buzzed quietly and Collette said, “Mr. Nazir is on line six for you. Just press the blinking light.”

  Darius welcomed Brian to New York. He expressed his appreciation and assured him that he’d do fine, even though he was receiving a trial by fire, since the auction was his first official duty as a shareholder in the gallery.

  “As I told you earlier, bidders had to be pre-qualified. There are only six; they’re listed on a sheet in the packet I left for you. Have you seen it?”

  Brian pulled it out. Darius said that two of the bidders, whose names were highlighted in yellow, would be at the New York gallery. The others would be in Egypt with him.

  Brian looked at the names. One was a representative of the National Museum of Canada; the other represented Marilyn Lukonen, a New Yorker who was one of the wealthiest people in America. Lukonen had founded the wildly successful magazine “In Touch,” and now hosted her own television show. Products bearing the “Marilyn” logo were in upscale boutiques across North America.

  Darius said Lukonen was a collector of Egyptian art and had expressed interest in the sarcophagus after Bijan was approved to sell it.

  “She’s a really reasonable person, not one of these who wants to accumulate everything just because she’s wealthy. Her stated goal is to provide this piece for the world to see, in its original tomb, for generations to come.”