Ashes of the Red Heifer

by Shannon Baker

  Machinegun fire from the door of the lab stopped any rebellion Annie contemplated. She followed David back to the end of the cave, barely three feet from the front of the headgate. All she saw was a wall of stone and dirt. She wanted to run, leave the closed walls of the lab and take her chances outside. Inside, they’d be gunned down like prisoners in front of a firing squad.

  David set the calf down and frantically ran his hand over the rock. He glanced over his shoulder and turned back to the wall.

  Another burst of gunfire ended with someone screaming.

  David’s searching fingers found what they sought and he worked his hand through loose dirt. He threw his weight against the wall and it slid inward. He pushed it far enough that he could slip through. “Hurry!”

  Annie bent over and put her arms under the calf. She lifted and scooted at the same time and slipped past David into darkness.

  David shoved at the door. As it shut, she heard rapid gunfire crash around the lab.

  Behind the door Annie, the calf, and David huddled in darkness. The space barely had room for the three of them.

  Beyond the door they heard more gunfire, then yelling in Arabic, then nothing.

  David’s rapid breathing filled the air. “We have to get out of here,” he whispered.

  Annie was all for that, but she didn’t want to leave with David. He had killed Moshe and she’d be next. Annie bent down and ran her hands over the calf. It seemed to be handling the situation well.

  Sounds of rustling led her to suspect David pulled the gun from his waistband. He grunted with strain and she heard the door slide in. A shaft of weak light shone in from the lab. The Silim had shot out all but one of the bulbs.

  David wagged his gun at her and whispered. “Come on.”

  She hesitated and he grabbed her arm, jerking her in front of him. She slowly made her way into the lab.

  Gunfire still erupted and men shouted to one another.

  David carefully pulled the door shut, smoothing the dirt over the crack so unless someone knew it was there, it would be hard to detect. His face shone with sweat and his eyes flitted over the lab. He nodded his head toward the door. “Let’s go.”

  They crept across the lab. Annie turned her head so she wouldn’t have to see the guard’s blank stare or the puddle of blood that spread beneath him.

  At the door David put his hand on her shoulder to stop her. They peeked from the doorway. Flashes of light showed the fighting continued by the tents. Three bodies lay outside the lab but Annie couldn’t tell if they were guards she’d seen around camp or from the Silim. The Land Rover stood where it had stopped to let the Corporation rabbis out, several yards from the lab door, facing the camp.

  “Perfect,” David said.

  Annie’s mind spun. Should she try to make a run for it? David would probably gun her down. If she died, who would rescue the boys? She had to stick with David, it wasn’t a good chance but it was the only one she had.

  David put his mouth next to her ear. “We’ll make a break for the Land Rover. You drive. Head down the valley and I’ll tell you where to go.” He cocked his gun next to her ear.

  A chill snaked from her neck down her back.

  He softly kissed her ear. “I will use this if I have to.”

  Annie nodded and licked her lips. She took a deep breath and streaked out of the lab at top speed, the ground disappearing under her boots. She and David hit the Land Rover at the same time, wrenching open their doors and jumping inside.

  Before she had time to think, she turned the key, started the engine and looked out the windshield. At the sound of the motor one man crouched behind a tent spun toward them. Automatically, he raised his gun and fired at the Land Rover.

  The back passenger window burst in a shower of glass, a few shards sprinkling the front seat. Annie clenched her eyes shut and screamed in panic.

  David yelled at her. “Go, go, go!”

  She opened her eyes, rammed the Land Rover into gear and floored the gas. She jerked the wheel to the left, trying for a U-turn to get them out of the compound.

  A man ran toward them, his gun raised. David pulled his gun up and fired, the sound deafening in the vehicle. The man flew backward, his gun falling uselessly to the dirt.

  Annie spun around, her wheels seeking something solid to grab. The back end of the Land Rover slid and she finally gained forward movement. She gunned the motor and stared into the darkness, picking up speed. From the corner of her eye she saw something or someone in front of them.

  David’s arm came up again and he fired. The man twisted and screamed. He floundered.

  Annie couldn’t slow down and screamed again when the Land Rover connected with a sickening thud and the man careened into the night.

  In seconds they were free from the camp.

  Annie didn’t slow down until David’s calm voice directed her to turn and follow another trail.

  * * * *

  Annie had been driving on the paved highway for about an hour, her mind as stiff and unyielding as her white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel. A road sign announced Jerusalem was ten kilometers away.

  She fought to keep the image of Moshe’s death from her head. “Where are we going?”

  He held the gun in his right hand, finger ready to press the trigger. “God spoke clearly tonight. He’s saying the Messiah is ready. We have work to do.”

  “What work?”

  David’s face split into a grin. “The time of the Third Temple is at hand.”

  She shook her head. “No it’s not.”

  David glanced out the window; he seemed pleased with the night. “We already have the cornerstone. It’s in hiding for the time being. We have the vessels, the garments, everything we need. All the dark doubts are over; the Temple will be built soon. Praise God. All we need to do is eliminate the Muslim’s evil shrine.”

  Her stomach rolled with dread. “The Dome of the Rock.”

  He nodded in satisfaction. “That’s our mission. You and me. This is what God means for us to do. Sacrifice ourselves for this great cause.”

  The night kept getting better and better. “Do you have any idea what will happen if you destroy the Dome? Think about this, David. There are over a billion Muslims in the world and barely more Jews in the whole world than would crowd my father’s ranch. If you do this, it’s possible the Jews could be exterminated. Is that what you want to be known for?”

  David shook his head, his eyes glistening with his vision of the future. “I trust in God. My job is to prepare the way. While I waited for you to find the cure I was busy finishing my plan.”

  The lights of Jerusalem filled the windshield in front of her. Desperation clawed at her brain. “You’ll never be able to destroy the Dome. Fanatics have tried to destroy it before. What makes you think you can?”

  He grinned at her. “Tunnels. The tunnels underneath the Temple Mount. They’re part of the ancient city. You see, even then, God was planning for this time. They’re covered up and only partially excavated. But I’ve found a way to use them. There’s a house in the Jewish section of the Old City. Like a lot of people who live in Jerusalem, the owners have been doing their own archeological dig within its walls. Only in this house, the digging has gone deeper. Inch by inch, foot by foot, until the house is connected to the tunnels. And the tunnels wind their way to a spot directly underneath the Dome. God has provided us the means and he asks us to be bold enough to claim his power.”

  She frowned at him. “How can you profess faith in God? This plan of yours is the worst kind of evil. Death in God’s name.”

  David’s enthusiasm transformed in an instant into flashing anger. “Shut up! You don’t know what you’re talking about. God has ordained that I bring him the Red Heifer and lay the cornerstone of his Temple. I’ll be at the right hand of the Messiah. My name will be whispered along with Moses.”

  Annie had seen twisted thinking in action. But the look in David’s eyes terrified her.

 
For an hour they rode in silence. They drove the Land Rover to the Jaffa Gate and parked in a lot. David held up the gun. “Let’s go.”

  Annie slid from the Land Rover, shoving the keys between the seats. They turned right and walked around David’s Citadel and wound down stairs to a large parking lot, mostly empty at this late hour. The night closed around them, the cool air chilling Annie. The uneven cobblestones felt rough beneath her soles. A left took them through the upscale shops and cafes, closed now. The next turn brought Annie face to face with a carved stone lion above a doorway.

  She stopped, startled to see such a ferocious beast. It looked ready to tear her to pieces. David nudged her sharply with the gun and she continued down the narrow passage.

  They didn’t speak. Their footsteps sounded dull on the empty street. He directed her around so many turns, through narrow alleys and across nondescript streets that Annie quickly lost her way.

  He led her to a house that looked like scores of others. Made of stone blocks that probably dated to Christ’s time, they created a wall running continuously to the end of the street. The arched door, made of wood that appeared as ancient as stone, was crossed with bands of iron and had several Hebrew letters positioned on it.

  David pulled keys from his pocket. Before he put them in the door, he knocked softly. “It’s Eli.”

  He unlocked the door and ushered Annie inside. He snapped on a light, not needing caution since there were no windows to reveal their presence.

  The room resembled a cave. Old tile flooring and a few dilapidated pieces of furniture were piled in one corner. The walls still had paint and wallpaper, but the floor had been removed. The place looked like a construction site, with tools, shovels, rags, and debris scattered everywhere. Piles of dirt rose near several holes in the floor, a shovel stuck in the top of the largest one.

  Two men sat up from flimsy cots shoved against a wall. They immediately jumped up and before Annie got a good look at them, had guns pointing at her.

  David waved them down. “It’s okay.”

  The taller of the two men was near her father’s age. His wiry form was covered in dirt streaked khakis and a torn cotton shirt. The younger man had fierce dark eyes. He looked as though he enjoyed a few too many latkes. He wore faded jeans and a baggy T-shirt.

  David addressed the taller man. “Get the word out. The Red Heifer is born and we are moving ahead as planned.”

  The tall man’s eyes grew wide. He mumbled a prayer. David slapped his arm. “Go.” David turned toward the younger man. “Slomo, I need you to go with me.”

  Slomo looked as though David issued him a death warrant. His face paled. David put a hand on Slomo’s shoulder. “I’ll give you time to leave before we light the fuse.”

  This couldn’t be happening. David planned on blowing up the Dome. He had tried to murder Moshe, would probably kill her, and thousands of innocent people before the night was over. She struggled against panic.

  Slomo still looked scared. “What about her?”

  “Don’t worry about her. She’s coming with us.”

  Slomo’s thick eyebrows drew together and his mouth clamped shut. He didn’t look happy with the news, but he wasn’t going to argue.

  David handed his keys to Slomo. “Go to the new house. I left a box of supplies there. Bring it to me. Hurry.”

  When Slomo left, David said, “Can you feel God at work here?”

  She stared at him, trying to figure out a plan. “Why didn’t you kill me, too?”

  David looked surprised. “Because you’re going to see miracles that will turn your heart. And we’re going to be together. God promised me.”

  Well, that answer was simple enough: his brain had come untethered, and she was going to die.

  David meant to destroy the Dome. Chaos would follow. People killing each other in a religious frenzy the modern world had never witnessed. All her life she’d heard stories of Armageddon and the Apocalypse. She’d thought they had as much chance of being real as an ancient apple containing the knowledge of good and evil. Yet David had the will and the means to start that sort of end-game with a single fiery explosion.

  The war wouldn’t be fought between angels and demons, as her father thought, but between Muslims and Jews and Christians. No one would win.

  She had to stop him. “What good can come of you blowing up the Dome?”

  He motioned her toward the back of the house. “I’m doing God’s will. Clearing the way for the Messiah.”

  Did the Israeli police know of this place? If Hassan had reached them and they discovered the firestorm at the camp, they might put it all together. They might be on their way right now. If she could stall David, it could buy them time. She shuffled her feet. “But the Messiah won’t show until the Red Heifer is three years old, right?”

  David shrugged. “There’s always been controversy about whether the Messiah will build the Temple or whether it should be built before he comes. I took the side of the Messiah arriving first and reinstating the Temple. Obviously, I was wrong. God has taken the matter into his hands by sending the Silim to camp to alert me to the danger. Isn’t it marvelous how God uses people?”

  She backed up a couple steps toward the door. “What I think is marvelous is how your brain can attach divine meaning to everything.”

  David shoved her through an arched doorway into another room identical to the first with the holes and piles of dirt, except it was smaller. “God wants action, commitment and obedience.”

  Annie searched the room for a way to escape or some weapon. “Action doesn’t mean igniting Armageddon. I may not be tight with God but I know that much.”

  “We can’t know God’s plan. We act as he tells us, trusting he knows best.”

  She had to break through his religious trance. “David, stop Eli from this insanity. Come back to me. I love you.”

  He studied her. “How do you know about Eli?”

  She might get through to him. “I love you, David. Eli is someone I would hate.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “I am Eli. I’ve always been Eli.”

  She shook her head. “No. Before the Red Heifer you were David. My David.”

  A flicker of understanding sparked his eyes. He smiled at her. “If God had willed it, we would have been happy together.”

  She nodded, tears threatening. “Forget about the Red Heifer.”

  His voice sounded choked, barely above a whisper. “It would be so much easier if I hadn’t fallen in love with you.”

  Either he was still lying and manipulating, or his heart was really breaking. “Was loving me part of the game?”

  He took a step toward her. “It wasn’t a game. If I could have anything in the world I want, I’d take you away and we’d live together where no one could find us. But I can’t.”

  “Yeah, The Corporation wouldn’t be too happy.”

  “It’s not The Corporation. It’s God. I’d defy any man for you. But I can’t turn from God. He’s laid this chore on me. The Messiah is counting upon me. God asked and I must say yes.”

  “Yes to what? If God wants the Third Temple, he’ll find a way. Use your head, David. As flattering as it is to think God chose you as he chose Moses, it isn’t the case.”

  He froze then slowly raised his eyes to hers. “You’ll never know how much I love you. From the moment I saw you—the fearless way you attack life, the tenderness you try so hard to hide—my heart belonged to you. But my soul belongs to God. Maybe you’re the temptation, the only thing that could make me give up my vision and turn my back on God’s work.”

  Heartbreak, what an appropriate word.

  His smile was wistful. “Ever since I recognized the job God set aside for me, I was amazed at how easily it all seemed to fall together. The Israeli government endorsed PharmCo and The Corporation was successful in placing people where we needed them, even within the state police. But deep inside, I knew that God would require a personal sacrifice as a sign of faith and obedience. I know n
ow that sacrifice is our love.”

  She wanted to surgically remove the religious cancer that ate up the man she had wanted to love. “What incredible presumption to think you know the mind of God and can work behind the scenes to force him to cough up the Messiah.”

  A light gleamed in his eye. “I suppose people thought Moses was arrogant to say he’d spoken with God. And I’m sure they all thought Noah was delusional. I can’t make you understand, all I can do is ask you to trust me. Through me and you, Israel will once again be the home of God.”

  Every preacher sounded the same, flipping through phrases that sounded as if they’d been pulled from a Common Book of Evangelizing. David’s words weren’t new. But the fire in his eyes had an unhealthy glow. “I’d love to tell you I have faith in your vision but I think you’re nuts. Maybe Moses and Noah were, too. You might call it God, I think it’s probably schizophrenia.”

  Anger flashed in his eyes. “No more talking. Let’s go.” He took her arm and roughly pulled her to one of the gaping holes in the floor. “Go.”

  Annie looked into the blackness below. She had to think. She could charge David, but he’d shoot. She thought about Hassan, body ripped apart by bullets and Moshe’s life-blood soaking into the sand. She was the only one who would save the boys.

  She could descend into the darkness and try to reason with David, get him to give up the idea of blowing up the Dome and buy herself and the world a little time. It held as much possibility of success as charging him and taking his gun.

  She took a step backward. “I can’t go down there. It’s too dark to see.”

  He looked annoyed. He scanned the room until he found a flashlight sitting on a tall dirt pile. With his gun still pointed in her direction, he took a few sideways steps, his head swinging to look at her and at the flashlight. He grabbed it and hurried to Annie, shining it down the hole. “Here. Now, go.”

  She spotted an aluminum ladder, its top about three feet from the brim. She looked up at David. “If I go down in that hole, you’ll never let me come out again, will you?”

  David tilted his head and looked at her as if he didn’t understand. “We’ll be together, Annie. Whatever happens, we’ll always be together. “