by K. T. Tomb
“Do we hit the Edelweiss?” Peter asked.
“They are long gone from the Edelweiss, Peter. It was just a transfer point. I don’t doubt that they knew that we would figure out a way to track them and timed everything with satellite shifts. We’re working against someone who knows what he’s doing.”
“What do we do next?”
“We keep digging. We keep doing what we’re doing,” Simon advised. “Whoever it is will slip up. Something will break.”
“I just hope we’re not too late,” Peter mumbled.
“Thalia will figure something out, Peter. She’s very astute. We just have to be listening and watching for the right moment.”
“There haven’t been any ransom calls on your end?”
“No.”
“So, what are they doing with her?”
“My guess is that someone is hoping to draw information out of her. She is knowledgeable of a great many secrets. They no doubt saw an opportunity to use Casey as a means of getting her to talk as well.”
“Even after we figure out who it is,” Peter complained, “we still won’t know where they have taken her.”
“Hold fast, Peter,” Simon encouraged. “As I said, we’ll keep our eyes and ears open for a break. It’s bound to come.”
Peter’s call waiting began buzzing in his ear. “I’ve got another call coming in.”
“Take it,” Simon said. “I’ll talk to you later.”
Peter switched over to the other call without checking the caller ID.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were in Israel?” the voice of Elias said when the call connected.
“I’m not in Israel.” It took Peter a few seconds before he recognized whose voice it was. “Elias?”
“Well, at least you haven’t forgotten my name,” Elias laughed. “What do you mean you’re not in Israel? One of my guys just told me that he saw Thalia this afternoon.”
“He what?” Peter’s heart began to race. Had they gotten that break that Simon had just mentioned? “Is he sure that it was Thalia?”
“He said that he didn’t recognize her at first. I think he’s only seen her once, briefly, maybe twice, but when he described her to me, it sure sounded like her. I figured you guys were with her.”
Peter wanted to ask questions about who she was with and what she was doing, but then he had the sudden realization that he might put her and or Casey in danger. He did, however, need a little more information. If he could find out what Elias was doing, then that might give him a clue as to what Thalia was doing there. “What are you doing in Israel?”
“I’m heading up the archeological team that is working on a dig that some school kid found in the Judean Hills. I figured that was the reason that Thalia popped in… funny, she didn’t come to me personally, though.”
“You know Phoe,” Peter said. “She gets in a rush sometimes and forgets about the formalities. She doesn’t typically make her own requests anyway.”
“That’s true. I released the texts that she looked at to a pretty high-level government official. After my guy told me it was Thalia, I assumed that it was Simon who had pulled the strings. That was earlier this afternoon. I just heard about it. I was planning on looking you guys up, but I guess you’ve already moved on to somewhere else, huh?”
She was looking at some text and somebody with clout had made the request to let her examine it. If it was Simon, then he was playing some really cruel game with them. It wouldn’t be Simon, so it had to be someone else; someone with plenty of panache to have pulled the stunt that he had.
“Uh, yeah,” Peter replied. He wasn’t sure how much he should tell Elias. A part of him wanted to put it all out in the open, but he didn’t know what sort of a trap they might be walking into. He certainly didn’t want to cause Elias to stumble into one. “You know how Phoe is: always moving.”
“I’m kind of bummed that you guys didn’t at least say hi.”
“It was actually a quick trip for Phoe; just in and out, you know?”
“And she didn’t bring her best translator along?”
Elias kept pressing, but he also needed to try to gather as much information as he could as to why Phoe was in Israel. “Yeah, well, her Hebrew has gotten pretty good.” He hoped that the text was in Hebrew. It was a good guess, but it certainly could be a blunder too. “And it was mostly just something quick that she wanted to get some background on.”
“Yeah, it was something from the first century. Evidently, she got what she wanted pretty quickly, because it wasn’t out for very long.”
Peter recapped in his mind. Phoe was in Israel near a dig site in the Judean Hills. She had looked at a first century Hebrew text that had been excavated. Simon’s theory about someone using her to find something had been correct. He needed to get back to Simon and get his guys to work on anything that might lead them toward what Phoe was up to; being forced to do.
“Hey, I’m sorry to cut you off,” he lied. “But I’ve got another call coming in. Might be Phoe, she was supposed to call me when she left there and I hadn’t heard from her yet.”
“Okay, well, look me up when you’re in the neighborhood.”
“Gotcha,” he said, pressing the button to disconnect the call. He turned toward the rest of the team who had overheard his conversation and were staring at him, waiting for him to fill them in. “We know where Phoe is or, at least, was.”
“Give me something,” Kadan said.
“Digs in the Judean Hills. Elias Ben Goshin is heading at least one of the teams. Anything else related to first century Hebrew texts and what they might be related to.”
Both Jeremy and Kadan started tapping their keyboards.
“What do we do?” Charlotte asked. She and Eric were ready to get in on the action. Up to that point, the computer geeks had been doing most of the heavy lifting.
“Sit tight,” he said. “I need to call Simon and let him know what’s going on.”
Simon answered the call quickly. “What do you have for me?”
“She’s in Israel.”
“Okay, I’ll call for the jet. Fill me in on what you know.”
Peter turned toward Charlotte and Eric before he started to tell Simon what he’d just learned. “Start packing.”
Chapter Fourteen
The text of Lenthius had been helpful and Greta’s notes had been thorough. She sat with the three of them in their hotel suite as they video-conferenced with Stefan back at the research lab.
“That’s another piece of evidence to fill in the puzzle,” Stefan said. “If we combine what Lenthius told Nicodemus to do and assume that Nicodemus had both the means and the skills to carry out what he had been told, then I think it is safe to assume that the shroud is well preserved.”
“It also fits in with our timeline and keeps us in pretty close proximity to a central location,” Greta added. “We have three points of a triangle with Jerusalem, Ramallah and Shoresh.”
“That may or may not be significant, but we’ll run with it. What do we know about Nicodemus?” Phoe asked. In spite of the fact that she was being held captive and Casey was depending on her to get him home safe and alive, she had gotten caught up in the mystery that was in front of her. “I mean, in bold detail. We need to know where he ate, where he slept, where he spent his weekends, where his mistress lived, cousins, aunts, uncles; basically anything and everything we can dig up about him.”
She wished that she had Kadan and Jeremy to find what she needed. The moment she thought about her team, Phoe’s mind returned to the circumstances surrounding her. She needed a way to stay in Israel and a way to be circulating amongst the archeological community. The archeological world was a small one and she was one of the major players in it; someone would see and recognize her. It was possible that Elias’ assistant had figured out who she was, but even if he did and word got back to Simon, there was no way that they would track her down once they took her back to the research lab on that island.
; “Stefan, you said that Charinus text was found in Ramallah?”
“Yes, it’s about 14 km north of Jerusalem,” he said. “The dig site was back to the south and west of the actual city in the Judean Hills.”
Phoe turned toward Engel and smiled, hoping that she would hit that soft spot that would help her get what she wanted. “What would it take to get me onto the dig site where Charinus’ text was found?”
“Miss Phoenix.” Engel had a painful expression on his face. “Mr. Kraus is already risking a lot by having you here now. Someone might see you, might have already seen you. And you have to think about Casey. If anything happens…”
“I just want to see the artifacts that were found along with the text, the terrain and the overall feel of the site, so that I can get all of this into better perspective,” she said, interrupting him before he could finish what he was about to say. She broadened her smile further. “It will be extremely helpful.”
Engel sighed heavily.
There was no doubt in Phoe’s mind that her “bodyguard” was going to take a lot of heat just for making the request, but she hoped that because Engel had a thing for her, that he would argue her side of it. After all, he got to be in much closer proximity to her when they were out of the lab than when they were in it. She hoped that one fact alone would be sufficient motivation.
“I’ll take your request into consideration,” he answered without emotion.
Because Heinrich and Greta were focused on their computers and Engel was standing behind her and she was turned away from the camera that connected the video conference, nobody saw the wink and her mouth the words, “We’ll talk later.”
It had been a bold move that was either going to get her shut down completely or, as she hoped, help her to get what she wanted. She didn’t know how far Engel would expect her to go or even how far she would go if he decided to call her bluff. She might have just done the stupidest thing she’d ever done in her life.
To his credit, Engel did not react to her advance. However, several minutes later, as she and the others continued their discussion, she noted that Engel had left the room and was, she hoped, engaged in that uncomfortable phone call. When he returned to the room and took up his position behind her and slightly to her right, he said nothing and Phoe was certain that she had been wrong about what he’d been doing when he left the room. She would have to come up with another way to delay going back to the research lab.
“There is a lot of controversy surrounding who Nicodemus of John’s Gospel really was,” Stefan pointed out. “If you go with the Nicodemus referred to in the writings of Josephus, then he would have been in his 90s when he met with Jesus. If we go with the Babylonian Talmud, then he was alive in 60 AD and engaged in the Jewish War that ended with the destruction of the temple.”
“So what are you saying?” Phoe asked. “We don’t even know who Nicodemus was?”
“Essentially, yes. We don’t know who he was.”
The statement was somewhat confusing, but Phoe pushed ahead. “If we don’t know Nicodemus’ identity, then we are back to square one. What do we know about him?”
“He was a member of the Sanhedrin,” Greta responded.
“He is the author of the Gospel of Nicodemus and he was venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church,” Heinrich added.
“Both Charinus and Lenthius referred to him in their texts as well,” Stefan replied.
“Yet, there is speculation as to his historical existence. We have to have something else to tie this down. We have to have likely places where he could have hidden—or simply kept—the shroud. For all we know, a mysterious case has been passed down from generation to generation and is sitting on someone’s bookshelf in upstate New York, Warsaw, or even Kyrgyzstan for that matter. Does he have another name? If he was of a prominent family, where did they have property? We have to know who this guy is.”
She considered the opportunity that she had just opened up for keeping them in Israel. “Connect him to a family here, either from the past or who is here now. We could be sitting right on top of the shroud right now and not even know it. If it exists, then somebody has been keeping it very quiet. For all we know, the same person who produced the Shroud of Turin has knowledge of the real shroud and simply manufactured the Shroud of Turin as an extremely successful diversion.”
“I’ll take the identity of Nicodemus,” Heinrich volunteered.
“I’ll work on possible connections to current families,” Greta jumped in.
“I will work backward from the appearance of the Shroud of Turin and see if we can make a connection to the diversion that you’re suggesting.” Stefan signed off from the video conference and left them alone in the living room of the suite.
Phoe turned toward Engel. “If we get a lead, we are really going to need to be here to check into it.”
“It has already been arranged,” he replied in a low tone.
“You are the best, Engel,” she grinned.
A corner of his mouth turned upward in spite of the fact that he was trying to appear vigilant. What really gave him away was a twinkle that lingered in his eyes for a moment as she smiled at him. At that moment, Phoe was sure that she had read him right. She decided to make full use of her new advantage over him.
“It’s getting kind of stuffy in here. Can we go for a walk or at least go out on the balcony? I promise to be discreet.”
Chapter Fifteen
It became a struggle for Engel to keep all trace of the feelings that were stirring inside of him on account of the presence and very close proximity to Thalia Phoenix. Where it had been difficult to hide those feelings while on the island and around the research facility, it had become close to impossible in Israel. Being where she might slip away within the blink of an eye and cause a very serious problem for Mr. Kraus—or a fatal one for himself when Kraus found that he’d let her disappear—he had stayed within arm’s reach of her at all times.
The difficult and impossible became unbearable when they stepped out onto the balcony of the hotel suite alone. Though it had always been present, the scent of her, the smell of her hair and of the expensive Italian perfume that she wore became overpowering as soon as they were alone. He felt a tingle run through his entire body as he felt her brush up next to him and then look up at him.
“Thank you for making that call. I imagine, under the circumstances, Kraus wasn’t very eager to agree to let us stay.”
“It’s only for another day,” he replied in a husky voice. For the first time in his adult life, speaking had become extremely difficult. He forced the discomfort away from himself, just like he’d learned to do with so many other challenges.
“If those guys are any good, we’ll have whatever we need by morning and you won’t need me any longer.”
“You think so?”
“That shroud is very close. I know I sound like I don’t believe that it is, at least when I talk to the others, but, just between you and me, I think we’re right on track.”
“So, why not let the others know that?” he asked. He really didn’t care how she answered; he just wanted to keep her talking so that he could listen to her voice and so that they could be alone together a little while longer.
“You know how it works,” Thalia responded. “People only perform at their highest potential when they think that they aren’t measuring up. You have to drive people to get the most out of them. There is no way for anyone to do their very best if you don’t keep raising the bar, right?”
Engel was surprised at how closely her viewpoint resembled his own. In fact, it wasn’t a long stretch to arrive at what Kraus himself believed from what Thalia had just presented. He hadn’t gotten to where he was because he had been satisfied with mediocrity, he had gotten there because he had pushed himself and challenged himself to become stronger, to think more clearly, react more quickly and to maintain control over himself at all times. Though Thalia was making that last one difficult, he had remained strong and
hadn’t fallen prey to his base emotions.
“You’re right,” he replied after a few moments. “You must have had a similar drive to mine in order to become the best in your field as well.”
“You could say that,” she answered. “My team usually complains that I drive them too hard as well. Casey probably thinks that I’m an old witch.”
“All young people think that all old people drive them too hard. I thought the same when Kraus took me in.”
“You were young when he hired you?” she asked.
“Actually, he is a cousin of my mother. He took me in when my parents were killed in an accident.”
“I’m so sorry.”
There was a long silence and Engel was wishing that he hadn’t brought that up. It felt good to talk to someone about his life. He wasn’t sure how to start the conversation up again. He loved to hear her voice and he was beginning to feel a deeper stirring than just his original attraction. You better be careful, Engel. It will make it harder to do your job if you get involved.
“How old were you?” Thalia asked. “When Kraus took you in.”
“I was 12,” he replied.
“What a horrible time. I mean, there is no good time, but at that age…” Thalia let the sentence die out.
“Kraus has been good to me,” he said. “He has driven me harder than I wanted to be driven at times, but it has made me stronger and better too.” In spite of the warning that he had given himself earlier, he opened himself up. He wasn’t sure why he did it, it just felt right. He talked about where he had lived before, what his parents were like and all of the changes that he had to go through when he went to live with Kraus. Where he had found it nearly impossible to speak to her earlier, he suddenly found that he simply couldn’t stop, like a dam had burst and all of it came spilling out of his mouth.
During the entire time that he was speaking, he noticed that she had remained quiet. When he had finished and still heard nothing from her, he asked if she was okay.