Carefully, Zane re-covered the stone with dirt and sand. Picking up leaves and other debris, he let them sprinkle through his fingers over the sand and dirt. Cautiously, he made his way out of the thick tangle with his empty water bottle and returned to his wheelbarrow. What should he do about what he had found? Should he go to Efran or Rachael? Should he sneak back tonight and explore it himself? With questions going through his mind like fire, he returned to the pile and loaded the wheelbarrow. The rest of the afternoon, he scarcely noticed the passing of time. By the end of the day, he had decided he would wait until everyone had turned in for the night, then sneak over to Rachael’s tent to see if she wanted to go with him to investigate what he had found.
The hours after sundown passed agonizingly slowly. Finally, at ten p.m., everyone had been in their tents for a couple of hours and the lights had long ago been put out. Not a sound came from the tents. With carefully placed steps, Zane stealthily made his way to Rachael’s tent. Thankfully it was still at the edge of camp where it had been since spring. Zane remembered where her bed had been placed from the few times he had been inside her tent, and he approached her tent from that direction. “Rachael?” he whispered.
Receiving no response, he whispered a bit more loudly, “Rachael, it’s Zane. I’ve found something.”
A sleepy voice replied quietly from the tent, “Zane? What are you doing here at this hour?”
“That’s what I am trying to tell you,” Zane said in an excited whisper. He edged a little closer to the tent fabric and raised his voice to a low tone. “This afternoon, I literally stumbled on to something, and I’m going to check it out. Do you want to come with me?”
Now a whispered voice, fully awake, replied, “Give me a minute.”
“Bring your camera with you.”
After two minutes, Rachael appeared at her tent door. Without a sound, they both walked back the way Zane had come. Zane headed back up to his tent to get his gear and the crowbars he had stashed that afternoon.
“What is this all about, Zane?” Rachael asked, slightly aggravated but curious.
Zane briefly explained. “I’m not sure if it is anything, so I thought I would check it out first. If it turns out to be something, we can notify Efran.” He turned on a small flashlight to provide enough light to see the frown on Rachael’s face.
“You know this could get us in trouble, Zane. We’re supposed to notify the dig director immediately upon discovery of any artifacts.”
“That’s just it—we haven’t found any artifacts yet. For all I know, this may just be my overactive imagination. If you tell me not to go check this out, I will abide by your wishes.”
Rachael looked at Zane as if what he said was ridiculous. “Do you think I would be able to go to sleep tonight without knowing if you’d really found something or not?”
Zane smiled with boyish enthusiasm. “That’s what I hoped you’d say.”
Picking up his tools and climbing backpack, Zane led the way up the trail to the dense growth of bushes and trees. Approaching from the back, he and Rachael entered the tangle and knelt where Zane’s water had spilled earlier that day. He pointed to the sand and dirt. “The square rock is under there. I think it would be best if we put our back to the trail to shield our light. If you hold the flashlight, I’ll see what I can do with the stone.”
Zane quickly uncovered the stone again. This time, he expanded the area six inches past the edges. When he had removed all of the loose dirt and sand, he took a crowbar, placed the point along one edge which was wider than the others, and pried upwards. The stone moved slightly.
As Rachael watched, he put down the crowbar and removed his Leatherman pocket tool from his backpack. Folding open the flat file, he set it to one side and took up the crowbar again. Placing the point into the widest crack, he again pried up. This time the stone moved a quarter-inch. Rachael carefully slid the Leatherman tool into the crack at a point where it was snug before Zane could reach for it. He looked over in surprise. “You read my mind.”
Her own excitement showing, she replied, “Come on, get back to work.”
Zane removed the crowbar, and the stone held its position because of the file Rachael had inserted. This time Zane was able to get a little more purchase on the stone, and prying down, he moved it another half-inch. Rachael, ready with the file, slid it further into the crack. Now Zane was able to fully insert his crowbar.
“When I lift it this time, place the other crowbar under the stone.”
When Zane pried up once more, Rachael removed the file from the crack and grabbed the crowbar, inserting it completely and prying upwards. With a grating sound, the edge of the stone lifted completely free of its surroundings.
They could now see the edge of the stone. It was about three inches thick.
Zane placed his hands under the stone, and with feet spread, lifted the edge until the stone stood on end. With care, he laid it over and let go.
“There’s a deep hole here, Zane,” Rachael whispered, excited. “I can’t see the bottom.”
Zane reached into his backpack and pulled out a stronger flashlight. Pointing it into the hole, he turned it on. Twenty-five feet down, the beam showed the floor of a cave. There did not appear to be any means of climbing down.
“What do you want to do?” he asked in a serious whisper.
“What do you mean, what do I want to do? Let’s go find out what’s down there!”
He grinned. “I was hoping you would say that.”
Once more reaching into his pack, Zane removed his climbing rope. Taking one end, he carefully snaked it around the trunk of one the larger olive trees about ten feet away. He pulled on the rope until both ends were the same length. Zane then took both strands of the rope and tied a figure eight so it would not slip if only one side was pulled on inadvertently. After tying the knot, he threw both ends down into the hole and heard them hit the ground.
“You want to draw straws to see who goes first?”
Rachael desperately wanted to volunteer, but since Zane had found the cave, she said, “You found it . . . you should go first.”
“When I reach the bottom, pull up one of the ropes and tie my pack to it. Then lower it to me.” Zane grabbed both ropes, and hand over hand, let himself down into the dark mouth of the opening. When he reached the bottom, Rachael pulled one end of the rope back up and followed his instructions. Before Zane had untied the pack, Rachael was on her way down. When she reached the bottom, Zane handed her the larger flashlight, and they turned around to shine their lights into the darkness. The tunnel stretched away into inky blackness at a slight decline. It appeared to head in the same general direction as the trail.
In whispered awe, Rachael said, “Well, what are we waiting for?”
As they walked down the dark tunnel, their lights played off the rough rock walls. The tunnel appeared to be partly man-made and partly natural. At some point in the past, someone—or many someones—had straightened and enlarged a natural passage. In some places the walls of the tunnel brushed both their shoulders. In others, it widened into open, cave-like rooms.
After they had gone about three hundred feet down the tunnel, it opened into a large natural room. Shining their lights around, they saw where the tunnel continued down at a similar decline as the trail above.
“Continue on down the tunnel or check out this room first?” Zane asked.
“Let’s check out the room. If it looks like there are too many openings or we might get lost, we can return to the main tunnel and keep going from there.”
“Sounds like a plan to me.”
Turning to their left, they followed the edge of the open room around to another smaller opening. This one ended about thirty feet further back, so they entered to see what they might find. As they approached the end of the tunnel, they almost missed the opening in the floor. Just as Rachael was about to step off into the darkness beneath, Zane grabbed her arm in a grip of iron and pulled her back.
&nbs
p; Shakily, Rachael said, “That was close. Wasn’t watching the floor. I was just focused on the end of my light. You’ve got to quit rescuing me like that.”
“I’ll stop rescuing you when you stop trying to kill yourself,” Zane replied.
Kneeling down, they both shined their lights into the dark hole. Thirty feet below, their lights reflected off water. Looking closer, they could see the hole had been enlarged and rounded by the hands of men. It looked to be roughly six feet around and irregular. The walls were rough, without any obvious cracks.
“Looks like this was used as a well at some point,” Rachael said.
Getting back to their feet, they explored the rest of the small room with the beams of their flashlights. Zane noted several large cracks in the walls. Carefully they made their way back to the main room and headed further down the tunnel.
“I know it’s hard to tell distances and angles underground, but it appears to me that this tunnel is heading back down the hill in the direction of our camp,” Zane stated.
“That’s what I’ve been thinking too,” Rachael replied. “The opening we found was obviously not often used, if ever. Had it been intended for regular use, there likely would have been stairs cut into the tunnel wall for access. It looks more like an escape route than an entrance.”
“Which means,“ Zane continued, “wherever we are heading is likely to be the point of entry.”
Continuing on, they moved further into the darkness as their feeble light was swallowed by the blackness. After walking another six or seven hundred feet, they saw the tunnel widen again up ahead. Their attention was drawn to the wall of the tunnel. Rachael gasped. Into the walls of the cave had been carved two long shelves about sixteen inches deep and ten feet long. On the top shelf sat all manner of clay vessels with lids. On the second shelf were an assortment of clay tablets, and on one end of the shelf, several small bowls. Looking closer, they saw all manner of coins in the bowls. Most appeared to be well-worn bronze or silver. There also appeared to be several gold coins.
Zane shined the light at Rachael. She was mute with incredulity. “Zane,” she barely whispered, “this is unbelievable.”
There were tears in her eyes. “Look at the all the tablets—some of them are written in Hebrew. Others appear to be in Persian.”
Carefully lifting the lids off one of the clay pots, they saw it contained a dried leather pouch covering what was obviously a scroll of some kind. “Scrolls!” Rachael exclaimed. “Oh, what an amazing find! Do you know what this could mean for the history of Israel?” Carefully, she lifted another lid and found another scroll.
As she made her way down the top shelf, Zane shined his light against the opposite wall. “Incredible!” he muttered. Rachael was so absorbed she did not hear his exclamation. Zane turned back around and took her by the arm. Engrossed, she resisted.
“Rachael, look,” Zane said in awed tones. “Rachael . . . look.” Taking her arm, he gently turned her around until both their lights shined on the opposite wall.
Rachael gasped again. Carved into the wall were three columns of beautiful Hebrew text, above which were written four Hebrew words. Involuntarily Rachael read the four words at the top out loud. “Yagid, echad, habhab, ahabah.”
Zane repeated them after her in English, translating them in his mind. “Tell or inform . . . One . . . offering or gift . . . love or loved. Tell one offering loved. What do you think it means, Rachael?”
“It doesn’t make any sense to me,” she replied. Reading further, she started on the first of three columns of single Hebrew words. Zane, following along, recognized the words and translated them to English in his mind: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Phares, Esrom, Aram, Aminadab, Naasson, Salmon, Boaz, Obed, Jesse, David.
Rachael, goose bumps rising on her skin, skipped to the final name in the third column, hoping to find the name she expected. “Yeshua—Joshua,” she whispered in English. Tears in her eyes, she said, “Zane, this is the list from the first chapter of the book of Matthew. This is the list of Yeshua’s generations.”
Speechless, Zane reached out and touched the name carved into the stone wall. Finally finding his voice, he said in a hushed tone, “This is one of the greatest archeological discoveries of our lifetime, Rachael.”
With his words, they were both brought back to reality. He cleared his throat. “We need to get Efran and William. This site needs to be secured. The last thing we need is treasure hunters in here. If you feel comfortable staying here by yourself, I’ll go get them.”
Rachael looked up, almost overwhelmed. “I’ll stay here. I don’t want to leave. This is the most exciting night of my life.”
Zane set down his pack and removed two new batteries from a side pocket. “Here, put these in your pocket. If your light goes out before I’m back, you’ll have fresh batteries close at hand.” Taking two more for his own light, he started to turn.
Rachael grabbed him by the hand. Pulling him close, she looked into his eyes and said, “Thank you for sharing this with me, Zane.” With tears welling in her eyes, she continued, “You don’t know how much finding this means to me.”
Without a word, Zane headed back up the dark tunnel.
Walking as fast as he could, it took him several minutes to reach the end of the tunnel. Looking up, he saw faint moonlight shining on the edge of the square opening. He grabbed the rope and pulled himself up hand over hand until he reached the edge. First with one hand, then the other, he let go of the rope and grabbed hold of the edge to pull himself up and out.
Just as he was raising himself out of the last few inches, a dark form materialized from the shadows. Two large feet stepped to the edge of the hole and stood on his hands, crushing them against the stone edge. A blinding light snapped on and shined in his face, and a familiar voice said, “Well, well, what have we got here? Looks like I’ve caught treasure hunters in the act of stealing national artifacts.”
Laughing, the voice turned the light away from Zane’s face and pointed it upward, revealing his own. Zane recognized the face of Efran, with an evil grin on his lips. In one hand he was holding a flashlight, and the other held the steel crowbar Zane and Rachael had left up on top.
“Mr. Harrison, I wanted to thank you for finding me the artifacts. It looks like I will become quite famous for my discovery. I also wanted you to see the person who is going to kill you. Oh, and don’t worry about your dear Miss Neumann . . . I will see to it that she suffers greatly before she joins you and your Christian god.”
Efran swung the crowbar with brutal ferocity. Zane, sensing the coming blow, tried to move his head to one side. The heavy steel bar came down like a sword. Zane felt nothing, only saw a brilliant explosion of white light.
Chapter 64
A sudden move of Zane’s head, just as the blow was descending, saved his life. As Efran swung, the momentum of the glancing blow caused him to shift his weight off the balls of his feet, thus releasing Zane’s hands. The unconscious body of Zane Harrison fell the twenty-five feet to the floor of the tunnel, along with the crowbar which had slipped out of Efran’s grasp. Efran shone the light down into the hole and saw the beginnings of a crimson pool spilling out from under Zane’s head. Watching for a minute in morbid fascination, he made sure the body did not move.
“One down and one to go,” he muttered. “Rachael Neumann, I will be back shortly to deal with you.” Pulling the rope out of the opening, Efran slid the rock back over the hole and sealed Zane and Rachael in their cold, dark tomb.
Looking at his watch, Efran saw it was 11:36 p.m. If he left right now, he could make it to his apartment in Tel Aviv by 1:00. If he rushed the process, he might be able to send a message to his contact by 2:45 a.m. and be back here at the dig by 4:15. Sunrise was at about 6 a.m., and that would leave him just enough time to deal with Rachael and return to his tent before the other members of his team awoke.
Efran ran to the parking lot. He started his car and headed for Tel Aviv as fast as he thought he c
ould go without being stopped for speeding.
As he drove to Tel Aviv, he formalized a plan in his head. For this to work, he had to be back to deal with Rachael before the rest of the team woke up in the morning. He needed them to see him leave his tent. After tomorrow, all the staff would be gone. Efran would have the dig to himself, and he could dispose of the bodies and move the artifacts. He would sell the most valuable and leave the rest so that he could take credit for their discovery. No, that wouldn’t work . . . he would have to leave the artifacts in the cave until the search for Zane and Rachael was over. If he dumped the bodies where they could be readily discovered, the search would be over quickly and he could move the artifacts. Yes, that would work better.
Opening his cell phone, he pushed a familiar number. “Kameel, I need your immediate assistance in a matter involving some merchandise. Yes, a substantial amount. Yes, your cut will be the standard twenty percent. And Kameel, there is an unsavory matter of dealing with persons who know too much . . . so make sure you come prepared. This is one of the biggest finds in many years. Meet me at Kfar Nahum Junction at four a.m. Don’t be late. We must take care of the dirty business before sunrise.”
Efran didn’t wait for an answer. Kameel was the best in the business. He was ruthless but also discreet. He would be there with several of his men and do what was necessary. Efran stepped on the gas, his heart racing. This was almost too good to be true. He would be rid of Rachael Neumann’s ever watchful eyes; then he would be free to sell the valuable artifacts and take credit for their discovery.
* * *
Rachael watched as Zane disappeared into the dark tunnel. As soon as he was out of sight, she decided she should keep busy. She removed her camera from its pouch and began to systematically take pictures of the artifacts. Rachael started with the inscription on the granite wall, taking pictures from several angles. Then she moved on to the artifacts on the opposite wall. After taking several pictures from as far back as she could, she took multiple closeups of each artifact individually. As she worked her way through, she was amazed at the number and diversity of records. Not since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls had there been a find of this importance.
The 13th Enumeration Page 29
