by Summer Lee
Salinger chuckled. “That does seem like a dilemma, my young friend. All I can hope is that whatever you experience with me, that you will use your wits to determine what you can and cannot repeat. I know that may sound a bit convoluted, but it’s all I have to offer you right now. I can’t even be sure that you will get safe transportation back home.”
Sam listened and nodded. “Uh-huh.”
“I need to know if you are interested.”
“I am interested,” said Sam, “although my asthma might be a problem.”
“How is it controlled?”
“I use a metered-dose inhaler. It is the most common treatment,” said Sam. “If I go on a trip, I should get a longer term medication for the inhaler.”
“Will you be all right with that?”
“I think so.”
“I want you only to agree if you feel it deeply. You will have to stay on top of the asthma, just like I have to stay on top of my heart disease. Your desire to go has to be beyond the shadow of a doubt in your heart.”
Sam had to think quickly. “I understand.”
“There will probably be no contact with your loved ones while you’re out of the country with me. There are no phones, no cell towers. It’s very remote.”
“I need to think it over.” Sam was stunned. He also knew that his decision would be required in less than two days. He sighed. There are too many factors in this decision, he thought.
“I can see the inner turmoil that you are experiencing. I apologize for putting you on the spot like this. If you decide against this venture, I would ask that you tell no one that I even offered it to you. However, I will also ask that you do not keep me waiting too long for a response. Despite the fact that I actually need an answer before two days’ time, I ask that you make this momentous decision as soon as humanly possible. I do thank you, dear boy, for listening to my request, either way. I will always value you as the one student who could quite possibly take my place. Someday.”
“I am so honored.” His mind raced, thinking that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And potentially risky as well.
Sam saw that his elderly friend was examining his face for the smallest clue that he was on board. His head lowered as he stood up.
***
DR. SALINGER walked into the kitchen and put the glass in the sink. Sam did not follow or speak. The doctor’s thoughts turned elsewhere. His brain was now consumed with making a list of possible alternate candidates for such a journey.
For several moments, while forgetting Sam was in the living room, Salinger mentally went over every professor at the school, remembering their favorite pupils. As he recalled, no student stood out. The only one he could consider was Sam Godfrey, a devout Christian and a grad student working on his master’s in biblical history at Zion School of Biblical Studies. He had followed Dr. Salinger’s career ever since they had met in Dallas, Texas, in his youth. He had impressed Salinger, as he often spoke of someday making his own contributions to Bible history.
Although the thought that Sam might not be accompanying him on the trip saddened him, he knew he had to respect Sam’s decision, no matter what it was. In Salinger’s heyday, every time he had asked for something, he had gotten get it with no questions asked.
Archaeologists nowadays had hi-tech equipment and research grants coming from every direction. There was just no competing against that with an encyclopedia’s worth of knowledge. Having several old friends who would be willing to get back into the game for one last adventure had once provided suitable companionship. That was, until everyone Salinger had ever worked with that was willing to partner up with him, had died.
Alistair Hamilton had been the last friend from the old days who was an expert in the Mesopotamian era and had helped out Salinger many times. Sometimes, he had assisted by simply being another able body on digs or to be there with another pack horse to carry artifacts.
Salinger had been at Hamilton’s hospital bed right before he died. He remembered the last thing that Hamilton said to him. He had tears in his eyes as he had weakly gripped Salinger’s hand. Salinger now heard those words in his brain, just like it was yesterday. “Albert, my dear friend. I go to join my wife, Susan. I have enjoyed our work together and will take those memories with me. I do have one regret. I only wish that I could go out doing what I loved so much. Susan told me many times before she died that she pictured me being on a dig when I joined her. I told her I would do everything in my power to make that happen. It’s too late for me, Albert. It’s not too late for you. You’re the last of us. You have to promise me that when it is your time, you will die as you have lived. Die as I could not, during a dig. Please.”
Salinger respectfully bowed his head every time he remembered Hamilton’s last words. “One way or another, old friend. One way or another.”
Standing in the middle of the kitchen, Salinger felt determined. He would go to Israel, no matter what. Salinger made his way back into the living room.
Sam was standing at the door, ready to leave. Salinger gave him a weak smile, but he saw that Sam had a sparkle in his eye as he spoke.
“Dr. Salinger,” said Sam. “Give me until noon tomorrow to get everything together and get some extra inhalers. I will come with you.”
“Glad to hear that.”
“I may never have an opportunity like this again. I will not going to go to my deathbed regretting it.”
Salinger smiled as a tear rolled down his cheek. “Neither will I, Sam. Neither will I.”
Sam opened the door to leave Dr. Salinger’s house.
Standing in the doorway was the mystery woman who had invaded every aspect of Sam’s consciousness as of late. He saw that she was taller than him, but that didn’t matter. She was quite attractive in her black blouse and tan pants with a gold belt. She was covered by a tan trench coat. Her accessories were dangling earrings, high-heeled black boots and black Isotoner gloves. Her coal-black hair lay over her shoulders, with long bangs hanging down over one eye to her chin. She emanated an overwhelming confidence. She smelled fantastic, like White Diamonds perfume. Her expression was calm and her dark eyes were emotionless.
“Staying or leaving?” she quipped.
Sam snapped himself out of his standing coma. “Uh…yeah. I…uh…am leaving.”
She raised one eyebrow at him as if to tell him to back up his words with action. “You may come in, my dear,” said the doctor to the lady. As she entered, Sam expected her to bump into him, but she didn’t. It was as if she walked right through him. He turned to give her another look. She was already standing by Dr. Salinger’s chair.
“Uh, bye.”
That is odd, Sam thought, shutting the door behind him. Life did not seem very real right now as he walked down the sidewalk toward his boardinghouse room. He would ask the landlady to watch his pet bird while he was gone.
The mystery woman was certainly puzzling. He could have sworn that he had bumped into her on the way out of the professor’s house. Sam believed she was blocking the door, but he didn’t feel any physical contact as he left. Was she real? Sam rushed down the street and turned into his own place.
His hand trembled as he put the key into the door.
Chapter the Sixth
ACHAVA spoke in a soft voice. “You understand the boundaries that I have set, do you not, Dr. Salinger?”
“I do,” said the professor. “I won’t be a problem. After all, you invited me.”
“Just dotting all my i’s and crossing all my t’s.”
“There should be no formalities between us. After all, we are to be traveling companions.”
“I take no liberties in areas that are outside of my expertise, Dr. Salinger. I appreciate the careful phrasing of your words. Thank you.” She walked over and locked the front door. “Must not take any chances.”
Slowly, moving her eyes from side to side, she scanned the entire living room. She walked around the room, looking behind the chairs and the couch.
“Don’t question what I do,” she snapped.
“All right, I will not question your strange actions. I don’t need to know exactly what our mission is, because I don’t want to put you in an unsafe predicament.”
“You already know enough about what we’re looking for. I told you before…no games. If you try to find out, I will tell you nothing.”
“You know, Achava, you are very articulate. Even though you try so hard to hide the accent of your heritage, it is obvious to me.”
She felt impatient. “I am not here to discuss ethnicity, Doctor. But I am here to tell you that the phone lines are no longer safe. I ask that you do not attempt to call me anymore on the phone. In fact, forget that number that I gave you. From now on, I will talk to you face to face. You need to go to Grand Forks International Airport to purchase airline tickets for you and, I suppose, for that boy who just left. Your destination will be Tel Aviv. Make the reservations for the time that I said your 48-hour deadline would expire. The price for two tickets will be over seven thousand dollars.”
“Oh.” He had the money, but it was a lot.
“If you want to back out, now would be the time.”
He made a face. “No. I’m coming. We are coming.”
She sensed a hesitation, but she knew that no price would be too large a sum to fulfill what he believed to be his final destiny. “You will land at the Ben Gurion airport. If I do not see you sooner, that’s where I will meet you. If you are not at the baggage claim when I get there, I will move on without you.”
“Yes, yes, I understand.”
She walked right up to him and looked deeply into his eyes. “This is not a game. If you are not there, your financial investment will be all for nothing.”
“Young lady.” His jaw tightened. “I am tired of hearing how helpless you think I am. First, I got that attitude from my peers, and now from you. I’m sick of it.”
“It was necessary.”
“Why?”
“It is because you are a legend!”
“I’ll have you know that you have repeated yourself to the point where I am sick of it! I am no child, young woman! You will repeat your orders to me no more! I get the fact that if I lag behind, then poor me! I don’t get to continue on the journey! It will be my responsibility to keep up with you. When I meet my final destiny, know this, it will be on my terms!”
Achava smiled. “That was a mouthful.”
As her eyes softened, she took off the glove from her right hand and extended her hand out to him. “Friends?”
He looked more confused than ever as he reluctantly reached out to shake hers. “You have a remarkably firm handshake, Achava.”
“You remembered my name.”
“Of course I did. It will be a pleasure getting acquainted with you.”
She would not mention the Staff of Moses, not just yet.
“I’ll tell you this much,” she said. “I am a direct descendant of Achsah in the Book of Joshua in the Bible. This is important for my mission.”
“Your mission, whatever it is, has become my mission.”
“If you survive this trek,” she said, “I am sure you will gain the information you desire to finish writing the archaeology book of your life.”
She turned around and walked out the front door. She knew she had left him with many unanswered questions. Walking down the sidewalk, she thought about her family heritage. There was an unsolved mystery in connection with the burial of her ancestor, Achsah. She now knew that Achsah had been buried in Mt. Nebo. That was why she had come for Dr. Salinger. He was an expert on carbon-dating bones.
Looking over her shoulder, she searched the shadows for the Canaanite. As far as she could tell, she was not being followed. It should be safe to return to the hotel. Climbing the steps, she opened the door.
Someone grabbed the door and held it open for her. All she saw was his hand, but it was a big hand. Bigger than any hand she had ever seen.
She bolted and ran to the desk clerk. “I need to change my room. I’m being followed.”
Getting a new key, she went to the ladies’ room of the hotel instead of to her room. Using her coat as a blanket, she slept fitfully on the couch in the ladies’ lounge until morning.
Finally, it was time to go to the airport.
Chapter the Seventh
DR. SALINGER made himself comfortable in his coach seat on the airline.
He had read about Achsah, but knew very little about her. He opened his laptop and put the name in his internet search. His eyes widened in disbelief as he saw that Achsah, the only daughter of Caleb, was a true blood distinguished Israelite with a mystery. Her position in her family came with the covenant that Abraham himself had with God. She was called a princess.
In addition, Moses had willed her a special item.
Maybe the Bible would tell him what it was. He opened his Bible to Judges 1:12-15 and silently read, “Caleb said, ‘He that smites Kirjath-sepher, and takes it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife. And Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife. And it came to pass, when she came to him, that she persuaded him to ask of her father a field. Going to Caleb, she dismounted off her donkey, and Caleb asked her, ‘What wilt thou?’ And she said unto him, ‘Give me a blessing: for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water.’ And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the nether springs.”
A bold woman, he thought. He saw nothing about a gift from Moses. Her mystery had to be connected with her inheritance.
Salinger smiled to himself when he thought about how much money he had saved. He paid just over five thousand for both seats. Achava told him it would be at least two thousand more. The savings would come in handy later.
Sam had just boarded. He walked down the aisle, put his carryon bag in the overhead compartment and proceeded to sit down.
“This is one big vehicle,” he said. The plane was almost the size of an airbus. It had three rows of seats. Close to each wing were rows with three seats next to each other. The middle row of seats had three seats together as well. Checking his ticket, the professor sat in the middle of the three by a window.
“You’re right about that,” said Salinger.
Sam asked, “Do you mind if I take the window seat, Professor?”
“Not at all, Sam.” He pushed his seat back as far as it would go to make sure that his legs weren’t in the way as Sam passed in front of him to get the window with the view.
“Eighteen hours to Tel Aviv!” said Sam enthusiastically. “I guess there will be a movie, right?”
“I would assume so. There’s a pamphlet somewhere here with the schedule of events. I do wish to apologize for getting us coach seating, but the price was perfect.”
“No problem! I’m just glad to be coming with you.”
Salinger looked around his seat for the pamphlet, but could not find one. Someone sat down in the aisle seat and disrupted his search. Sam was already looking out the window, so it did not matter.
He looked over to see Achava was the one sitting across the aisle. He blinked in disbelief. As he opened his mouth to speak, she put her index finger to her lips to hush him.
Looking quite attractive, she was dressed in a red turtleneck sweater and blue jeans. She wore a short black leather jacket on as well. After smiling at Salinger, she got up, as if to stretch, and looked around the plane, studying each passenger carefully. Salinger watched her.
When she settled down in her seat, Salinger said, “I…I had no idea that you would be accompanying us. I didn’t see you at the airport.”
“I had things to do.”
Sam turned toward Salinger and shrugged his shoulders. When he looked at Achava, he smiled warmly. Salinger saw that Sam was hiding his excitement over traveling with the beautiful girl. He chuckled.
Two flight attendants
came out and presented their safety procedures. Achava was still looking over every passenger as her eyes moved from seat to seat. Salinger tried to see what she was looking for, but couldn’t. “Is everything all right? You seem preoccupied with our fellow passengers.”
Speaking without moving her lips, she spoke firmly, “Don’t ask any more questions.” Looking straight ahead with a serious expression, she added, “You and your companion must prepare yourself for any eventuality.”
“Like what?”
“Think of where we are and then the one thing that you would not ever want to have to deal with.”
She continued to look around as Salinger thought of an answer to her riddle. It then hit him and he gasped. She was talking about a terrorist attack.
Sam looked at him with concern. “Are you okay, Professor? Do I need to get the flight attendant?”
“No, no. I’m fine.”
“Professor? Did you bring your medicine?”
“Yes.” He patted a small bottle in his shirt pocket. “Sam, I did mention that this could be a dangerous trip, did I not?”
“Dangerous? Not this soon. If there was any danger, I figured it would be when we get to Israel.”
“That is true as well.”
“What’s going on? Are we in danger now?”
Achava glared at Sam to silence him. Salinger reassured him at the same time. “Stay calm, Sam. I was only saying…”
Achava interrupted him. “No, Sam, you shouldn’t be calm. Ever since you first agreed to come with us, your life has been in danger. Expect to do things that you would never do in any other circumstance. Look inside your soul. Expect to let out the survivor in you or be consumed by our journey.”
Sam’s eyes widened as he looked at her and then at Salinger. “Wha…what’s going to happen if I’m ‘consumed’ by the journey?”
Achava was blunt. “You’ll die.”
She turned to the passing flight attendant. “I’ll take a V-8.” She then immediately turned to Salinger. “Shame on you for lying to Sam.”
