King Solomon's Tomb

by Preston W Child

  He recognized Olivia, and his eyes turned hard and cold.

  He got off the stool he sat on and waved her over. "Follow me."

  Olivia followed the man—who turned out to be quite prominent than he looked—through a narrow way between the stalls. He stopped and opened a door, and they entered a walk-in freezer. Chunks of meat hung from hooks, mostly beef, and a few other varieties that Olivia did not know of. The steady hum of the coolants filled the place. Olivia rubbed the sides of her arms; it felt like touching some dry paper. Her nose filled up with the smell of salt and animal flesh.

  The man disappeared behind a stack of sacks filled with stuff. He came out seconds later with two travel bags.

  He dropped them on the floor and said, "That's yours."

  Olivia looked back the way they came and back at the hulking figure.

  "Are you kidding me? How am I supposed to carry this out of here?"

  The man shrugged.

  "Where's Paul Talbot?"

  "Paul, who?"

  "He asked me to come here. Paul Talbot. Are you saying you don't know who I'm talking about?"

  The man placed a finger on his puffy red lips. "Shush, no names. He said no names."

  Olivia sighed. Of course, she thought. No names. She was going to ask the man what he went by. She picked the bags up by the handles, but that was how far she got. She glared at the meat man.

  "Help me."

  He threw his hand in the air in a show of mock exasperation. He picked up the two bags and tramped down the cold room. Outside, he dropped the bags on the floor. He went back into the freezer and came back out with a sack of meat. He opened the bags, and Olivia caught a glimpse of the guns.

  A shiver racked her inside, and she felt a prickling on the skin of her hands.

  When the man had finished covering up the guns with bits of meat, he gestured at them.

  "You are ready."

  "No, I'm not," she gritted. "I couldn't carry them before, how am I supposed to carry them with all that meat in there?"

  People came and went by, buying, haggling, speaking languages Olivia often thought were the same but turned out to be different tongues. The man cast furtive eyes about. His face reddened, and his eyes flashed with fear.

  "What is wrong with you, lady!?" he hissed through clenched teeth. "I have done what I was told to do. You have to live. You can't do this in Jerusalem, but I do it, and now you want me to die for you. I can't die for you, lady. I can't!"

  Olivia suddenly felt tired.

  She dragged one of the bags back to the alley between the stalls. She threw some meat out and grabbed two Glocks. She has come to love Glocks. She put the two in her belt and covered them with her oversized denim shirt.

  "Take the rest back."

  The man's eyes popped out his face. His mouth fell open. "You are mad, lady. You are mad. Very mad now—"

  But Olivia was already halfway out of sight. She rushed out of the meat section and was walking fast. She stepped out of the market; she saw a man come out of from the cereal section and follow her.

  —

  Five men were coming after Olivia; two had come out of the cereal section of the market. The others were sitting in a sports car in the parking lot on the other side of the road.

  The three men in the car tried to cut her off by walking career and crossing the road a little way off. The two men behind started cocking their guns between their thighs.

  Olivia saw the three men crossing the road. Only the one who wore a flat cap glanced at her once. They walked about five feet apart. So, she wasn't sure if the men were together.

  Diggs's voice crackled in her ear, "Turn right."

  There were railings on the curb. The sidewalk rose uphill. About three meters away, there was an alley. The railings prevented the three men on the other side from getting to the sidewalk and blocking Olivia off. A police car rolled down the street, and the men fell back a little.

  When she got to the alley, Olivia branched off. She was fast. The men on the other side of the road rambled over the barriers on the sidewalk. They pelted after her.

  Five men were after her. The alley was narrow, but it ended after two houses and led into a broader street. Her shoes made hollow sounds as she trotted down the cobblestones.

  Suddenly, Reno and Andrew appeared from the corner of the last house.

  The men after Olivia slowed. They lowered their guns slowly.

  Then suddenly, one of them raised his gun again. Reno pulled Olivia out of the way, and Andrew shot that man. He flipped over and writhed. His friends gawked at him and backed out of the alley.

  Andrew grabbed Olivia's hand.

  "Come on, let's get out of here."

  —

  They came out into a fairly wide street, wider than most Olivia had seen. The houses were tightly packed, shaped like boxes with flat roofs and parapets. There were more people here, local shops selling leather, home appliances, and bicycles.

  Overall, the street looked more ancient and out of sync with the rest of the city.

  "What is this place?"

  "Bethlehem," said Andrew.

  "Oh, the same one in the Bible, huh?"

  "The very one. Christ lived here."

  Reno asked, "Who's Christ?"

  Olivia asked him if he knew Jesus. Reno said, of course. "He played football, right?"

  "Yeah. He did," answered Andrew.

  They stopped at the end of the street. They had gone far enough and out of their way. The monastery of the Lazarists was eastward to the left and a right angle to where they were standing.

  But behind, a blue Hyundai was rolling on them and gaining. There were people in it, and they had guns.

  "Hey!"

  Olivia turned around. There was a tight alley between the box houses. The meat seller from the Qattaneen market was standing there, beckoning at them. He had changed from his market clothes into a white kaftan. He wore a white cap that was tilted back on his head.

  "Come on, mad lady. Come on."

  They rushed after the man. He was surprisingly fast on his feet despite his size. The alley thinned as they neared the end, and Olivia was afraid the meat man might not fit. But he did by bending his body.

  They headed down another narrow street with a covering of tarp at the top. The blue car stopped at the head of the street at that moment.

  The assassins came running with rifles. Human traffic was lower here. There were no shops, just people loitering about. A man on a bicycle dragged a bleating goat behind him.

  Reno was lighter on his feet, and he seems to know where the man leading them was going. The meat man jumped through an open door; they followed. Reno wriggled past the meat seller in the narrow corridor lit by a flickering lamp.

  The corridor ended in a T ahead. Reno went right.

  "Hey, not that way!" the meat man called.

  But Andrew pushed the meat seller forward so that the large man almost fell over on his face. Just then, gunshots rang, and the wall above shattered in a lot of stones and dust. Olivia heard doors close, and bolts fall in.

  More shots left holes in the wall opposite. Olivia crowded after Andrew, who wheeled around, pushed Olivia out of the way, both hands extended with guns in them.

  On the other side, Reno was doing the same thing. The meat man pulled Olivia and covered her with his own body. The sound of police sirens hovered above that of the guns.

  In the corridor, things were happening fast.

  Five men against two men. The odds were significantly reduced when it became evident that these men were not professionals. They handled the small space of the hallway clumsily. Andrew gunned two down; he grabbed the other just as he was about to raise his gun. Distinct sound joints were dislodging.

  Reno kicked the gun out of one's hand and punched him in the neck.

  Two died, and the others groaned and thrashed about.

  Andrew and Reno quickly rushed Olivia out of there.

  —

  O
ut on the street, the meat seller first guided them through more narrow biblical streets, winding up and then sinking sickly again.

  The meat seller talked all the time. He recounted history, describing ancient figures who'd taken the same steps and placing their feet on the spot the same way they were doing.

  Wide-eyed, he looked at Andrew and Reno.

  "This woman is mad, I tell you. Mad, yes, but smart." He touched his temple with a pudgy hand. "Brilliant woman. He didn't carry the bag. They want her to carry the bag and call the police, so they will arrest her. That’s what they want—"

  Olivia grabbed his hand; they stopped walking. She faced him. "Who are you talking about?"

  The man looked at the faces, confused. He said, "The man who bought the guns from my dealer. You see, I was a resistant member of Pakistan. I was Hezbollah too. But that is a long time ago. I sell meat now—"

  Olivia tugged at his sleeve. "Who is this man?!"

  "He is the CIA, that is all I know."

  Olivia looked away. She brushed her hands through her hair. She packed around the narrow street; her shoes made clucking sounds.

  "Talbot. It's Talbot. He's screwing with us again."

  The meat man said, "Lady, no names, please. Names can get you killed in this business."

  The man touched her shoulder lightly. When Olivia looked at his eyes again, she saw kindness. His brown eyes were those of a man who's seen so much bloodshed, deaths, and felt too much anguish that when he saw it in the smallest amount, he knew to show empathy.

  "Come follow me. I kept your guns safe for you."

  They followed him.

  —

  He said his name was Sendush. No last names were needed; Olivia felt alright with that. The place he took them wasn't his house either, it was a place he hid things he didn't want unwanted eyes to see.

  "You, my friends, have the right eyes," he said.

  As they approached a two-story building with a flat roof, stacks of hay beside it, the smell of horse shit everywhere, the meat man's phone started ringing. He removed his phone and checked it.

  He frowned. "Who is this?" he murmured.

  Olivia and her two companions waited.

  Sendush put the phone to his small ear and listened. After a bit, he put it in his pocket. Olivia asked him who the caller was, and he said he had no idea.

  "But never mind. I get people calling me like that all the time."

  He rambled as they went up a wooden step. More shit, more nauseating smells. "Sometimes they want meat, sometimes they want women, and other times they want guns or information."

  He flicked on a switch on the wall. A lightbulb came on in the roof where there was a thicket of cobwebs. More webs hung low, covered in soot and dust. They were standing on a landing and looking at a wooden door. He opened it and went in. The room was bare except for a bed of reeds against the opposite wall. He went over to the bed, pulled up the thin mattress, and pulled out the two travel bags from the meat market. It was still loaded with weapons.

  He dropped them on the floor.

  He laughed.

  "Now, you have these strong men to carry them for you."

  Reno and Andrew each grabbed a bag. They started while Olivia lingered. She said, "Thank you, Sendush."

  "Anytime." He smiled.

  At the door, Olivia asked him, "Do you know Solomon's tomb?"

  The smile left his eyes. His mouth closed shut. Even in the low light of the room, and much of the smell inhibiting Olivia's senses, she could see the darkening of the man's features. The genial spirit fell and, in its place, suspicion and another thing. Olivia wasn't sure if it was malevolence or not. It quickly passed through, and the chirpiness returned.

  "I don't have information about that. I have been supplying only weapons now. Maybe you ask the CIA man for that. He will know. I know he will know. CIA knows matters about the church."

  "What church?"

  The malevolence again, it reared back the cheerful veneer, made him look ugly.

  "You have to go now. I have done enough for you, smart woman, yes."

  "Yes, you have. Indeed. And I thank you very much, Sendush. Can I call you again if I need anything? Information, women, things?"

  "No, I'm afraid not. This time it is a mistake we meet. We will not meet again."

  Olivia nodded and joined Andrew and Reno in the street.

  Andrew had made the call while Olivia was having her strange moment with Sendush. Lawrence Diggs drove into the street in a Ford truck. The back was covered with a tarp but empty.

  Diggs jumped out of the truck and pulled up the seats to reveal a secret compartment. He jammed the two bags in and dropped the seats.

  "Come, we gotta go."

  They entered the car, waved at the meat man. He folded his hands on his chest and smiled sweetly.

  Diggs said as they drove out of Bethlehem, "I got the number Rodriguez called before he died. It was a phone here in Jerusalem."

  "The hell…" Olivia exclaimed.

  "Yeah."

  Diggs made several turns to throw any tail off them before driving straight for the monastery.

  "I called the number, but the son of a bitch said nada."

  Olivia frowned. Something was about to connect, but the side mirror shattering on the driver's side made her scream.

  Someone had followed them after all, and it was a very dangerous tail. Diggs looked in the mirror and saw the car. It was the blue Hyundai. But the man behind the wheels was not a thug or Sicilian mob.

  "The Hacker…" Diggs hissed.

  Olivia's heart fell. She had seen what the man did to Andrew and Diggs the last time. She had never seen Lawrence Diggs so beaten before. And she hadn't expected they would meet the killer again so soon.

  "What are we gonna do!?" Olivia's voice trembled.

  Andrew said from behind, "We outrun him if we can—"

  More bullets scraped the top of the truck, the side mirror on Olivia's side, and her headrest.

  "And if we can't?!" she screamed.

  "We stand and fight!"

  "No, we won't!"

  Olivia was screaming. The Hacker was like an inexorable heavy hand; he was driving and shooting at the same time. Olivia was getting mad too that the narrow street got narrower, the road suddenly dipped or rose into the damn sky. She hated Jerusalem and its undulating terrain just then.

  Once again, the street wound into a sharp-end corner. For a few seconds, Olivia got a glimpse of the face of the Hacker.

  It was a face shaped like an irregular square. Olivia saw a square jaw, a cruel mouth that would have been sensuous if he hadn't been such a devil. She also saw fingers that looked too well-manicured to be pulling triggers. He saw her too. And he smiled.

  The moment passed as they negotiated the bend, and Diggs leaned on the gas, flooring it. Townspeople in white kaftans and women in burkas scrambled out of the road. Diggs ran the car into a cart; the horses raised their forelegs into the air and neighed.

  Reno and Andrew ducked as the rear windshield rained in a thousand tiny blocks of glass.

  Olivia heard the two men starting to load up their guns; she looked back and saw a mad grin on Reno's lips. She looked back and saw the Hacker retaking aim.

  "Incoming!" she screamed.

  There was a volley of shots that tore into the leather of the seats. Olivia hunkered down, her knees buried under the glove compartment. Diggs was bleeding from his ear. There was deep gash behind his ear, and blood was running down his neck.

  He looked back and yelled, "Somebody kill that motherfucker!"

  Diggs barely missed a truck carrying goats. It was in the middle of the road, broken down, it seemed. In a rush, and from afar, it had looked as though it was on the move.

  But the Hacker didn't entirely miss the truck. He rammed his car into half the rear shattering the rear light of the old truck, throwing goats the air, and the owner who had been working on one of the tires running and falling into a house by the road.
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  The Hyundai careened away and crashed into a storefront. Glass broke, people screamed and ran. The car was thrown off the ground on its front tires. It landed back on the ground in a loud bang.

  Diggs did something that left Olivia stunned.

  He stopped the car, looked at Andrew and growled, "What do you say we try again, finish this?"

  "With all pleasure."

  Both men checked out of the car before Olivia could think up a plea. But she stepped out of the car too, ran after Andrew, and grabbed his hand. "Don't do this, please."

  "We have to try," Andrew said without looking.

  "Get out of here, Olivia. Go wait in the car."

  Both men started shooting at the wrecked car. The windshields came down in a hail of bullets. The Hacker had gotten out, and he looked unscathed. He was returning the firepower with two guns. His shots were ending up in the walls around because he was crouching so far behind the car.

  Click, click—Diggs and Andrew were out. The shooting stopped. The Hacker was out of rounds as well.

  He rose from behind the ruin. He looked in his new suit like he'd been having dinner in an expensive restaurant.

  He flexed his hands, cracked his knuckles.

  "You ladies never fight fair, huh."

  Diggs breathed, "Dog-eat-dog world."

  "All is fair in war, so they say," Andrew added.

  The Hacker twisted his neck. He stretched his long legs and assumed a stance with his fists up.

  "I'm going to enjoy beating the shit out of you two again."

  "That's not how I recall the last match!" said Diggs, and he twisted in the air, feet first, but in such an intricate manner that the Hacker missed it.

  Diggs's shoes hit the Hacker's jaw twice before landing on his collarbone. It cracked, shifted. The Hacker spun in the air and fell in a cloud of dust. He lay prone on the floor.

  Andrew's heart was beating fast.

  The Hacker pulled himself up on his hands slowly and shook his head like a dog that was just awakened from a dream. He looked around; a medium-sized crowd had gathered to watch the spectacle. The Hacker shook himself and laughed. He adjusted his shoulder, and there was a crack. The joints had gone back to their positions. He wiped the blood from his nose.

  Then they started in again.

  —