Ashes of the Red Heifer

by Shannon Baker

  How could she have believed his lies of love? She’d been so blind. And now it was her responsibility to stop him. She had one stupid trick left but it might work.

  Suddenly, she jerked her head up and raised her eyebrows in surprise as if she saw someone behind David. She couldn’t believe it when he fell for the elementary school ploy and glanced behind him.

  She didn’t wait. Annie leapt forward, focused on the gun. She hadn’t closed half the distance between them when David spun around. He dropped the flashlight.

  By the time he brought up the gun, Annie had her hand on it. Her fingers closed on the cold steel of the barrel but lost contact when he jerked the gun up. She tried to get it and crashed into him. With his free hand, he shoved her.

  Annie saw nothing but the gun. He held it high, as if teasing a child, only this was no game. Annie reached up and grabbed hold of his wrist.

  Together, they brought the gun down, their hands forming a giant fist on the handle. She grabbed it with her other hand and they struggled. David was stronger but not by much. In a quick movement, he worked the gun until it faced into Annie’s belly. Both her hands tried to shove it to the right so if he succeeded in pulling the trigger, the bullet would lodge harmlessly in a wall. They had a standoff. He couldn’t pull the trigger, she couldn’t shove the barrel away.

  In final desperation, Annie raised her knee and rammed it in his crotch, expecting him to at least flinch. But she didn’t make contact; instead, David swiveled out of the way, throwing her off balance. He put his leg between hers and pulled her off her feet. With a painful thud, Annie landed on her tail-bone in the dirt. The barrel of the gun lay cold against her temple.

  David panted. “Deceiver. Like Eve in the Garden.”

  “No. I don’t want you to kill yourself. I love you, David.” Even to her, the words sounded hollow and forced.

  He shook his head and rammed the barrel against her temple. “Then why did you attack me? You would kill me if you had the chance.”

  There, he was wrong. She wouldn’t kill him. Hassan and Moshe were dead. Killing David wouldn’t bring them back. “I only wanted to get the gun because I’m afraid. You can understand that, can’t you?”

  He waved the gun at her and shook his head. “You lie.”

  David kept the gun leveled at her but glanced around the cluttered room. He stepped to a pile of debris in a corner and picked up a utility knife and dropped it in his pocket. He watched her carefully as he bent over and selected a roll of duct tape and slipped it on his wrist. “Get in the hole. Now.”

  THIRTY

  After descending the ladder for twenty feet, she landed on a ledge and from there she and David scrambled toward the middle of the earth. They walked through a crude sand tunnel similar to a human-sized gopher run. It emptied out to a narrow, chilly crevice hewn in rock.

  Slomo caught up to them carrying a plastic milk crate. David handed him the flashlight. He gave Annie the plastic crate. Slomo took the lead, Annie next, and David brought up the rear with his gun pointed at Annie’s back. She stumbled in the darkness, eyes trained on the shaft of light ahead.

  She remembered a trip she’d taken to the Grand Canyon, how she’d walked back in history with each foot she’d descended. That’s how she felt now. By the time their burrow leveled out, she figured she had gone back to Christ’s time, the era of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.

  Slomo’s flashlight cast the only ray of light. She didn’t know where they were going but David poked her in the back with the gun so she kept moving. After several twists and turns they entered a tunnel that had been constructed of five-foot stone blocks. She estimated they’d been walking for fifteen or twenty minutes through this stone passage. It was as wide as her arm span and close to ten feet high. Her boots crunched on loose gravel. The damp air raised goose flesh on her bare arms and the smell of moist dirt sank deep into her nostrils.

  Here and there other passages connected with theirs and Slomo led them through a few turns. She didn’t think she could find her way out…if she ever got the chance to try.

  She had no weapons, no means of escape. She was helpless to stop the destruction and death. The cold steel of the gun barrel against her back underlined her despair. Her only hope was to draw him out of himself. “I had no idea there was this network of tunnels under here. Who built them?”

  He paused as if considering whether to answer. “The main passage we just entered was built as an aqueduct to deliver water to the altar to clean after sacrifices. It’s actually quite well known by Muslims and Jews alike.”

  Good. He sounded sane, almost like a tour guide imparting information. “What about the other tunnels, like the one we were in at first and the others I see taking off from here?”

  He didn’t hesitate. “Our Jewish fathers were wise beyond their age. They listened to the Lord when he spoke and they laid out these tunnels so they’d be here two thousand years later, when the Messiah was ready to come. We’ve been secretly excavating them for decades. We’ve found Temple vessels and antiquities to help us return to Temple worship. The Ark of the Covenant is hidden somewhere in one of these tunnels. We haven’t found it yet, but God’ll lead us to it at the right time.”

  He handed her a kernel of hope. “If the Ark is down here someplace, you can’t blow up the Dome. You might destroy it.”

  “God will protect it.”

  Overcoming sickening fear, she stopped walking and ignored the jab of the gun in her kidneys. She turned, letting the barrel rest below the box she held, nestled in her belly. “You’ll end up killing more people than Hitler did. Maybe not in the explosion, but afterward, when the one billion Muslims of the world rise up and wipe the Jews off the face of the earth.”

  Slomo came up behind her. He obviously took his orders from David, because he didn’t make any move to interfere. David took the gun from her stomach and held it to her temple. With deliberate enunciation he said, “Shut up.” He cocked the trigger.

  Her muscles went weak. She trembled and sweat trickled from her armpits.

  He lowered the gun and whispered. “I don’t want to shoot you.”

  Annie stood motionless. For a full minute nothing moved, no sound disturbed them.

  From far away, Annie detected the sound of voices. She froze, straining every muscle to hear it again. There. It sounded from above them. She looked up.

  Slomo flicked the flashlight off. David slammed into her, knocking her over. The box flew from her arms and crashed to the floor. Her head cracked on the rough stone floor with an explosion of light behind her eyes. David lay on top of her and held his sweaty palm over her mouth, stinging her cracked lips.

  Arabic voices again, closer this time. They sounded urgent.

  Slomo’s heavy breathing punctured the darkness. The smell of sweat soured the air.

  She could barely breathe, sucking air through the sweaty saltiness of David’s hand. Her head throbbed and she felt flattened by David’s weight. She needed to cry out.

  David put his lips to her ear. “We’re directly under the Temple Mount. Perhaps the Silim found out about our plan. By the time they figure out where to look, it will be too late.”

  Annie fought to open her mouth. She had to warn them.

  As though reading her thoughts, David pressed his hand on her mouth harder and ground her head into the stone. They stayed like that for several minutes, until there was no sound above them.

  David shifted his weight. He mumbled something in Hebrew.

  Slomo rustled in the darkness and the flashlight clicked on. He stood slowly, his eyes wide, his lips wet. He spoke timidly to David and nodded at Annie.

  David scowled at him and spat back. Then to Annie, he said, “Slomo thinks you are a hindrance to our plans. He doesn’t understand the way it is between us. To keep him happy, we’ll make a minor concession.”

  David sat atop her, pinning her hands painfully under his knees. He pulled the knife from his pocket and held it above Annie’s s
tomach. She tried to wriggle free, not sure what he had in mind. If he’d wanted to kill her, he’d have shot her much earlier. But maybe the concession to Slomo meant pain and blood.

  He brought the knife down and pressed until the tip sliced through her T-shirt and she felt the ice on her belly. Then instead of plunging it into her, he brought it toward him and ripped her shirt. Another swipe gave him a remnant he wadded up and shoved into her mouth.

  She gagged and tried to spit it out.

  He pulled the duct tape from his wrist and measured off a strip, ripping it from the roll. He slapped it across her mouth. “This will keep you quiet.”

  He stood up and pulled her with him. He took her hands and pulled them behind her back, winding them securely with the duct tape. He motioned with his gun to continue walking. “We’re almost there.”

  Slomo fumbled the box to rest under one arm as he held the flashlight in the other and started down the tunnel again. The passage ended in a large cylindrical room, filled with water. A narrow ledge circled above the water line. It appeared to be a cistern, probably from ancient times.

  Where the passage ended and immediately in front of the cistern, four fifty-five gallon steel barrels were grouped together. To the side of them, sat stacks of twenty-pound sacks. They looked like the bags of feed Annie handled almost daily, but Annie guessed they were full of something besides grain.

  On the other side of the tunnel, across from the barrels, a low wood table stood with a small clay oil lamp sitting on it. The lamp burned with a flickering flame. A white length of woven material bunched on the edge of the altar. The blue stripes toward the bottom and the fringe on the end identified it as a prayer shawl.

  David saw her looking at the lamp. “It’s the ner tamid, eternal flame. This is a holy place, Annie. It is where God has commanded that we bring about the salvation of the world.”

  Her eyes shifted back to the barrels. She wanted to plead with him but the wad in her mouth stopped her.

  David watched her. “You figure it out yet?”

  She knew what it was and her blood thundered in her ears.

  Slomo walked to the barrels and set the box down. David backed her to the wall next to the barrels and pushed her to sit. He took the flashlight from Slomo. One hand pointed the flashlight at the barrels, the other kept the gun at Annie.

  He gave Slomo directions in Hebrew and turned to Annie. “Each barrel has some diesel fuel. You know what’s in the bags, don’t you? Fertilizer.”

  She searched wildly for any means to stop him. She could try to knock him into the cistern, but by the time she struggled to her feet with her hands taped behind her, he’d pull the gun.

  Annie tried to swallow past the wad of T-shirt, but it felt as though the walls of her throat stuck together.

  David watched as Slomo pried the lid off the barrels. He opened fertilizer sacks and emptied them into each barrel, then replaced the lids. When he finished, David handed him the flashlight and gun. Slomo backed up, his eyes darting from David to Annie. His mouth turned down as he sucked in heavy breaths.

  David went to the plastic crate and pulled out a coil that looked like rope. “I’ve got a twenty-five foot roll of safety fuse here. That will give us about ten minutes before the blast.”

  He pulled out a small metal tube a quarter inch in diameter and two inches long. Even in the murky light, David’s eyes shone with a scary intensity. He held up the tube for Annie to see. She’d used explosives to clear ditches on the ranch and recognized the blasting cap.

  Gradually, Slomo became more involved in David’s progress and less interested in Annie. He watched David closely.

  Annie worked her wrists, using every ounce of strength she could send down her arms. But the tape didn’t give. It was impossible to break.

  David set the blasting cap in the middle of the barrels and let out the fuse. “I was sure you’d see how God is directing the whole world toward the Third Temple. I had faith you’d be ready to convert and we’d live happily ever after.” He let the fuse out on the ground, walked to Slomo and took back the gun.

  Slomo fidgeted. He licked his lips.

  Taking Slomo’s hand in his, David shook it then embraced him with one arm. “Shalom. May the Lord of our father’s watch over you and your family.”

  Slomo swallowed. He hugged David again. “Shalom.”

  David stood back and waved. Slomo pointed the flashlight away and raced down the passage.

  The ner tamid gave off a dim glow in the tunnel.

  David came back to Annie and picked up the duct tape and slipped the gun into his waistband at the small of his back. Despite her kicking and struggling, he managed to wind tape around her ankles. He smiled while he worked, grunting with the effort, but acting as casual as if he tied her ice skates. “We’ll stay here close. That way we’ll die immediately, with no pain.”

  No pain! Ten minutes to watch the fuse burn and know the world was getting ready for a holy melt-down. Ten minutes to regret and suffer everything she’d failed to do that led them here. Ten minutes of eternity to wait for total destruction.

  David finished with her ankles and leaned over to kiss her forehead. “Like the ner tamid, our love is eternal.”

  He hurried down the tunnel to the end of the fuse and lit a match with a flash. It took several seconds until the fuse sizzled. He stood and turned to Annie. “You’ll excuse me, love, while I pray. Like your Jesus in the Garden, I have accounts to discuss with God. And like the disciples, you will wait for me, but no sleeping.”

  He picked up the prayer shawl and draped it over his head and shoulders, letting the fringe dangle at his fingertips. He started his prayers in a soft singing and bowed back and forth.

  Annie didn’t have time to feel sorry for herself. She leaned back against the stone and sawed her wrists on a rock jutting from the wall. The duct tape heated with friction. The skin on her wrists didn’t last long and soon blood dripped into her palms. But the damned tape held.

  The fuse sizzled, traveling closer to the barrels.

  She kept rubbing against the stone and watching the fuse. It burned several feet before she felt the slightest give in the tape at her wrists. With another burst of furious sawing Annie’s wrists broke free. Picking at an end of the tape at her ankles, she worked frantically to escape. She finally peeled an end loose and pulled.

  At the zipping sound David lifted his head and turned around. His eyes widened and he reached for his gun. “Annie, what are you doing?”

  She sprang toward him, sending them crashing to the hard stone floor. She fought for the gun in his hand, clawing his wrists, his face, fighting in a frenzy. David shoved her chin and snapped her head back. Before she could lunge for him again, he scrambled to his feet, the gun aimed at her.

  David stepped back from her. “Don’t fight me. God is directing this now.”

  Annie pushed herself to sit. She yanked at the tape on her cheek and spit out the soggy rag. “God doesn’t want you to kill innocent people.”

  He shook his head sadly. “There are no innocents. Those that believe will be in God’s care. Those that are against us deserve to die.”

  Annie put her hands on the altar and pushed herself up. The oil lamp skittered. David stepped forward. “Don’t touch the altar!” He bent over to steady the lamp.

  Annie flung herself on him. She clawed for the gun. He spun and threw her off. She fell back on the altar, upsetting the table.

  “No!” David screamed and dove for the lamp.

  The wick had fallen from the lamp, but still burned, casting an eerie glow.

  Annie struggled to her knees and flung herself at David again. She had to get his gun.

  He put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her backward. She fell to the stone floor, hitting her head. Light exploded behind her eyes and she fought to stay conscious.

  The fuse continued to burn toward the barrels, it’s fizzling like a vicious snake. David shoved the gun in his belt and set the table
upright and placed the lamp on it. “You tried to put out the eternal flame. But God has protected it.” He began to chant, lovingly wiping the oil spilled on the table with the prayer shawl still hanging from his shoulders.

  The fuse was only a few feet away from the barrels. Annie pushed herself to her feet.

  He spun at the sound and pulled the gun from his belt.

  The fuse climbed to the barrels. She had no time. She reached for the fuse, grabbing it in one hand, the blasting cap in another.

  David started to point the gun at her. “No!”

  With all her strength, she heaved the fuse and blasting cap toward David. The explosion boxed her ears and she fell against the stone wall. Pain rang through her head. She scrambled to sit.

  The blasting cap had exploded in David’s face. He lay still on the ground.

  “David!” She ran to him.

  A mass of tissue and blood covered his neck and chest. He had no face, just a bloody wreck. It splattered the prayer shawl still around his head. The shawl, soaked in the lamp oil, began to burn. She didn’t know if he was alive or dead.

  Annie reached for the shawl to stifle the flame. David’s fingers caught her hands in a death grip. His lips moved but it took a moment for a hoarse croaking to escape from his throat. “I can’t see! Annie, help me. Take me to the barrels.”

  He still wanted to explode the bomb! Annie tried to pull free but his strength seemed inhuman. “Let me go!”

  The shawl burned brighter, licking his shirt and flickering across his hideous wounds. David pulled on Annie, using her resistance to get to his knees. His voice rose in agony. “Hurry Annie. Help me. We must do God’s work.”

  The flames bit Annie’s arms. The heat seared her face and she smelled David’s burning skin. She fought and screamed.

  David shrieked, his voice cracking in the back of his throat and fading to a moan. “Don’t let me fail you, Lord.”

  The fire gained momentum on his body. It had consumed his clothes and sought more fuel.