by Ted Dekker
Solomon stood with his back to the crowd and caught the defense minister, Benjamin Yishai’s, glare. Your life is about to be turned on its head by your enemies, Benjamin Yishai. And I am not your enemy. Stop glaring like an idiot. Solomon nearly said it aloud.
“Thank you.” The prime minister dipped his head and turned from the podium. The crowd hesitated, then offered a smattering of applause.
“This better be good, David,” Ben Gurion snapped. “You either have the courage of a madman or the sense of a fool.”
“But it is good. And it’s terrible, depending on who you are.”
“I’m the prime minister. And so far it feels terrible.” He glanced at the others and walked past them, waving off another security man. His face was ashen. They walked towards a suite in the back. Ben Gurion’s chief of staff hurried to catch them.
“Sir? You can’t—”
“Not now, Moshen. Give me five minutes,” he snapped.
They entered an empty suite decked out Hyatt style with high-back chairs and burgundy drapes. Solomon shut the door and faced the prime minister.
Ben Gurion looked at him, unblinking. “What, Solomon? What precisely have you found?”
“The Ark.”
Their eyes locked for an inordinate time, while the words spun through Ben Gurion’s mind. “What do you mean . . . the Ark? You actually have the original Ark of the Covenant?”
“Yes. We actually have the original Ark of the Covenant.”
Ben Gurion turned to the table where he lifted a flask of amber-colored liqueur and poured a drink. “And how do you know this . . . that this is the Ark? You found something that looks like the Ark?”
“No, Simon. We have the Ark. And I know it’s the Ark because Zakkai is there and he told me himself that there isn’t the slightest doubt.”
“Where?”
“In northern Ethiopia—”
“I thought you said Egypt.”
“Yes. But it’s in northern Ethiopia, in the bowels of an ancient monastery. Exactly where we thought we would find it. Do you realize what this means?” He could not contain the grin that spread over his face.
Ben Gurion frowned and tossed back his drink. “Actually, I don’t know what it means. I do know that it’s hardly something to grin about.”
“We have the Ark, for God’s sake!”
“No, we have nothing but a report that the Ark’s been found. Meanwhile, Islam does indeed occupy the Temple Mount which is where the Ark would belong if it actually were to show up! It is a bad mixture.”
“Yes, Islam holds the Temple Mount. That’s the point, isn’t it? But we have another problem.”
“This whole thing has been a problem from the beginning. Dear God, if I had actually thought you might find the thing, I might have sent the army in to stop you!”
“Then you wouldn’t have been the only one.”
Ben Gurion twisted to face him. “What do you mean?”
“The Arabs. My people were followed. There’s a unit of Syrian Republican Guard around the monastery as we speak.”
“What!” Spittle flew with the word.
“Don’t worry, they have no idea we have the Ark.”
“Don’t worry? Why didn’t you tell me that the Syrians were involved?”
“They weren’t involved! The Palestinians were involved, and they managed to pull the Syrians in for support. At least that’s the best we can make of it. And as I said, they have no idea that we have the Ark.”
“So you’re telling me that a band of Jews have actually discovered the Ark of the Covenant in Ethiopia and are surrounded by Syrian commandos. And you have the audacity to suggest I not worry?”
“I can’t imagine a better situation! We have the Ark, for God’s sake!”
“So you’ve told me.” He took a breath. “So you have the Ark. What now?”
“We can’t let them have the Ark; that’s what now. Under no circumstances can we allow the Arabs—”
“I know we can’t let them have the Ark!” Ben Gurion turned back to the table, poured another drink, and stormed over to the window that overlooked the Old City to the south. “Dear God, I can’t believe I’m having this conversation.”
Solomon felt almost giddy. For nearly half a century he had dreamed of this day. The power was intoxicating. They could say what they wanted— they could wiggle and they could scream, but they could not deny the Ark. Its very existence trumped any possible political device.
“It’s in a monastery? We should drop a dozen thousand-pound bombs on that monastery,” the prime minister said. “You know that, don’t you, David?”
“So you’ve said. Or throw it into the sea. But you can’t blow up God and expect to survive.”
The prime minister turned from the window. “You’re absolutely sure about this?”
“Yes. I am. We have the Ark. And now we have no choice but to bring it to Jerusalem. For that we need your submarine.”
The prime minister shook his head in disbelief. “Now you’re the most powerful man in Israel; is that it?”
“Something like that. It would seem that I have God on my side now. You could be King Ahab and send out the ministers and we could have a showdown on Mount Carmel, but we both know who would win, don’t we?”
The prime minister just stared at him.
“Can I have one of the submarines?”
“You can’t just bring the Ark into Jerusalem and parade it down the street.”
“I didn’t have that in mind.”
“What did you have in mind?”
Solomon hesitated. “Call a meeting of the leaders and I will tell you all what I have in mind. In the meantime, for God’s sake, give me a submarine. We have three in the Red Sea, doing nothing. I need it off Massawa tomorrow. We don’t have time. My people must leave tonight if they hope to escape.”
“Can your people escape?”
“We don’t have a choice, do we?”
The prime minister leaned against the window sill and ran a hand through his short gray hair. The door suddenly opened and an aide stood in the opening. “Sir—”
“Out! Get out!” Ben Gurion boomed.
The aide beat a hasty retreat.
Ben Gurion took a deep breath and faced the window.
“I need to know, Simon,” Solomon said.
“I don’t like to be cornered.” He turned back. “Okay, you have your submarine. I’ll call Admiral Bird myself. This could lead to war; you do realize that?”
“It will only lead where God intends it to lead. We’ve been at war for two thousand years, if not with guns then with our souls. In 1948 we found a piece of real estate we could call home. Now we are about to find God again, and the cost is God’s to decide, not mine.”
“I will have to tell Goldstein and the others.”
Solomon didn’t respond.
“We will meet at my offices at nine in the morning,” Ben Gurion said.
“That will be fine.”
“You realize that once on the submarine, the Ark will be in my possession?”
“I’ll have to trust you with that, Simon. And you must know that my people have independent documentation that no one will be able to silence. If you destroy the Ark, the world will know.” It was the weakest link in Solomon’s plan, but he had his own contingencies in order.
Ben Gurion walked to the phone and dialed a number. He spoke quickly to the admiral and then hung up.
“He’s expecting a call from you.” The prime minister handed Solomon a slip of paper with a private phone number on it. “Work out the details with him.”
“Thank you, Simon.”
“Wait a few days before thanking me. You just make sure the wrong people don’t get their hands on . . . that thing. God help us all if the Arabs find out that we have it.”
“They won’t.”
Solomon left and hurried for his car. He pulled out a notebook, found a phone number, and quickly dialed it. A voice answered in Hebrew.
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“We have the submarine,” Solomon said.
The voice hesitated. “So, it’s happening.”
“Yes. We need your help, Admiral. One of the other admirals, Bird, is in charge. But the Ark must not be handed over to the government. Not yet. It has to stay in our hands.”
“Don’t worry, David. I don’t need persuading. We will have our Ark.
Dear God, I can’t believe this is actually happening.”
“Believe it, Moshen. It’s happening. Just make sure Admiral Bird doesn’t get in the way.”
“He won’t.”
33
Avraham watched Zakkai and two of the monks work around the Ark, like moles scurrying about a prize find. He had never actually believed they would find the Ark of the Covenant, but looking at its gold glimmering under the light from several torches, he was finally accepting the fact that they actually had it.
And that changed everything.
One of the trucks had made it out of the valley nearly an hour ago, although barely, judging by the fusillade of tracers that chased it over the hill. But with any luck it now waited at the leper colony as planned. The Arabs had blown the other one ten minutes later. He’d ordered his men to lay down heavy fire to persuade the enemy that the lone truck had escaped without more than a soldier or two. The plan seemed to have worked. They would not all fit in one truck, of course, but that suited Avraham just fine.
Zakkai had overseen the construction of the half-finished crate around the Ark, a process made slow by the hand tools available. To make matters worse, the wood wasn’t exactly what you’d call dimensional lumber. Everything had to be cut at least once. The challenge had been to package the Ark in such a way that it wouldn’t be recognized as the Ark. It wouldn’t do to haul a box labeled “Ark of the Covenant” through Ethiopia. Neither the Arabs nor the Ethiopians would take the evacuation of the holy relic lying down.
“How long, Professor?” Avraham asked.
Zakkai stood, panting. “A couple hours. At least. We can leave by midnight.”
“We don’t have until midnight.”
“I can only do what is possible. Maybe by eleven.” He bent back down and resumed hammering a nail.
Actually, the delay played to Avraham’s favor. He had the time to do what he needed to do. The soldiers had been placed strategically around the monastery, positioned at windows that overlooked all of the surrounding hills. The Arabs could sneak up close, but they couldn’t engage the entrances without presenting themselves to an open field of fire. The only real challenge would be explosives. The Arabs were undoubtedly planting remote detonation charges around the perimeter, but this, too, played to his favor.
Avraham glanced at his watch and climbed out of the hole. It was time to deal with Rebecca.
He found her in the sanctuary, with several of the priests and the woman, Leiah. Avraham took a deep breath and approached her.
“The Ark will be ready to move in two hours,” he said.
She turned to face him and he swallowed a wedge of revulsion. Her pretty face had become a symbol of all that he hated about the Israeli army, he thought. Everything so prim and proper and pretty. Everything always by the rules, while the enemy slowly nibbled at the borders. He had been disgraced by that army. The world thought Israel’s army was too aggressive—in reality it was too soft.
“We have to make a decision,” he said.
“What decision?” Rebecca asked.
Samuel walked in and she looked at him. “All quiet?”
“Sporadic gunfire, but no change,” Samuel returned.
She returned to Avraham. “What decision?”
“What do you suppose the Ethiopian government will do when they learn that a small band of Jews has just hauled off their precious Ark? They do have an air force, you know?”
“Yes, I do know. And I think we accepted the risk of being discovered by the Ethiopian authorities before we left Jerusalem. With any luck we’ll be out before they discover we were here.”
“With any luck? So you’ll put the fate of the Ark in the hands of luck?”
“We don’t have a choice.”
“Of course we have a choice.” He eyed the monks. “We can eliminate the information at its source. Anything less would be stupid. You’re not stupid, are you, Rebecca?”
She studied him carefully. “We’re here on a mission for God’s people. Killing innocents along the way doesn’t strike you as ironic?”
“They’re no more innocent than the innocents who died at Jericho. Perhaps less—after all, they do have knowledge that could keep the Ark from ever reaching Jerusalem.”
“Not if they don’t use that information.”
“So they’ve given you their word, have they? You plan on risking our country’s future on the word of a man you hauled out of the desert and his mother? I’m sorry, but it sounds stupid to me. Does it sound stupid to you, Samuel?”
The soldier didn’t answer.
“I don’t care how it sounds to you, Avraham; they will not be harmed,” Rebecca said.
Avraham walked up within arm’s reach of her and smiled deliberately. “You’ve given yourself to him, haven’t you? And now you’re willing to trade Israel for a few moments of pleasure with a man who’s your enemy. You’re playing the whore now?”
Her hand flashed out and struck his cheek hard. Crack! Biting pain shot down his neck.
“I won’t tolerate insubordination,” she said. Her voice held a tremor and he knew that he’d hit a nerve.
“So. You do have a soft spot for this Caleb? All the more reason to kill him. Don’t be a fool; we can’t let them live. Whatever you think of them, they’re Christians and they’re our enemies. They’ll call the authorities the minute we leave. We have no choice but to kill them.”
“A pig can justify lying in his slop too. It doesn’t mean we should all do it. I won’t stoop that low. And yes, they have given me their word. I trust them. The Ark will be safe until morning, and by then we will be past the border.”
Avraham sneered. No, you won’t, Rebecca. No, you won’t.
He’d done what he had set out to accomplish by approaching her. He clenched his teeth, gave Samuel a long stare, spun on his heel, and strode from the room.
“That’s impossible! Put my daughter on the phone immediately.”
“I told you, she refuses to talk to you,” Avraham said. He stood alone in the kitchen; it had taken him a full ten minutes to get David Ben Solomon on the line.
“Sir, you must realize that things aren’t what you might think down here. The monks are witches, and it seems that Caleb has bewitched Rebecca. There’s a state of confusion in the men, and I’m telling you that if we don’t do something, this whole situation could go very badly.”
“That’s absurd!” Solomon stormed. “What are you talking about? Zakkai said nothing about this when I spoke to him.”
“Zakkai? Zakkai’s only concern is finding and packaging the Ark. Mine is getting the Ark back to Jerusalem. Your daughter spent nearly a week in the desert, sir. Most of it alone with this man. Her judgment has been compromised.” He paused a beat. “I believe that they have plans to take the Ark themselves.”
“Based on what? This is nonsense, Avraham!” Solomon was livid.
“If she would agree to it, you could talk to her yourself. But she has changed. I don’t doubt that you would be able to hear it in her voice. Protecting this man, Caleb, who she’s been sleeping—”
“Enough! Be careful, you’re talking about my daughter!”
“Your daughter has given herself to this man,” Avraham stated emphatically. “You may not like to hear it, but we now have the future of Israel to consider. We must take the appropriate action.”
“What does Zakkai say of this?”
“I told you, Zakkai is in the cavern, boxing the Ark. He’s hardly spoken five words to Rebecca since her return. We don’t have all day. The Arabs are firing on us as we speak. I’ll be lucky to get t
he Ark out as it is. The last thing we need is a conflict of power over confused loyalties.”
“You’re suggesting that you take over the mission?”
“Of course I’m suggesting that I take over the mission! Your daughter isn’t thinking clearly. How else do you want me to put it?”
The line was silent except for Solomon’s breathing.
“Sir, I only want to get the Ark out safely. We can sort out the details later. I realize how this must sound, but—”
“You have no idea how this sounds!” Solomon’s voice trembled.
“And I’m sorry. But we’re sitting on top of a crisis now. I’m only suggesting that you turn the mission over to me until we’re out of Ethiopia. For the sake of Israel, David, I beg you.”
Solomon paused and Avraham knew he had him. “The Ark is safe now?”
“Yes. For now. But I’m worried about—”
“Okay, you’ve made your point. For God’s sake, get the Ark out of Ethiopia. But if I learn that you’ve touched one hair on my daughter’s head, I will personally show you the wrath of God.”
“Don’t be ridiculous! I’m speaking about protecting her and bringing her home, not hurting her! Please remember who you are speaking to, sir.”
“I do know who I am speaking to, and I also know that you have a heavy hand. Bring her home to me—and without a scratch, I’m warning you.”
Avraham ignored the rebuke. “What are the coordinates and radio codes for the submarine pickup?”
Solomon gave them to him.
“Good. Now I have to insist that you confirm my authority to Samuel. Your daughter is strong willed, at the least. We don’t have time for a power struggle—”
“Put him on.”
“Stand by.”
Avraham climbed quickly to the bell tower where he knew Samuel stood guard. He handed the phone to the soldier. “Solomon is giving me command of the mission. He wants to confirm it with you.”
Samuel flashed him a look of astonishment and took the phone. “Yes?” He listened, and Avraham kept his eye on the man.
