by Alex Lukeman
Ari watched the door close behind them.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
The team studied a live satellite shot from high above Israel. Harker focused on the border with Jordan and Syria, then shifted to the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Everywhere, troops were mobilizing.
"Lerner is going to re-occupy the West Bank," Elizabeth said. "He's staging troops on the border with Lebanon and getting ready to go after Hezbollah."
"Tehran isn't going to let this happen without doing something," Nick said.
"The last time Israel went into Lebanon after Hezbollah it ended in a draw. This time, there's a heavier concentration of troops and logistics. Lerner means to smash them, once and for all."
"It will never work," Selena said. "Even if he succeeds, the militants will just regroup. In another year or two it will be the same old story."
"Maybe not," Elizabeth said. "This time it could go nuclear."
"What do you mean?" Nick said. "Israel doesn't need to use nukes. They didn't last time."
"It's Iran I'm worried about." She told them what Rice had said.
"This is confirmed?" Nick asked.
"Yes. Confirmation came in last night. A 600 Kiloton warhead salvaged from a Russian SS-13 Savage ICBM. It could be modified to fit one of Iran's conventional missiles. They have several that could reach Israel."
"When did they get it?"
"Three weeks ago."
"That could give them enough time to make the modifications."
"Yes. But we don't know the condition of the warhead. It's old. It could be corroded, unstable. They'd have to disassemble and reinstall it. It's not that easy."
"That is really bad news," Ronnie said.
"We can't do anything about it," Harker said, "except what we've been doing. Selena, what have you found out about that sword?"
"It's an officer's sword. Both the Royalists and the Parliamentarians carried swords during the English Civil War, but I think this one belonged to a Royalist. It's a rapier with silver fittings. That's typical."
"Wait a second," Ronnie said. "Who are the Parliamentarians?"
No reason he'd know, she thought. "The war was between the Protestant Parliamentarians, under Oliver Cromwell, and the Catholic Royalists. The two sides are called the Cavaliers and the Roundheads."
"The Royalists backed the King?" Ronnie said.
"Right. They're the Cavaliers. There was a Royalist revolt at Pembroke Castle, with troops changing sides. Cromwell laid siege to Pembroke in 1648. That's probably when the man with the sword was killed. It has to be when the Ark was removed from the hiding place we found."
"So you think that Cromwell's men found the Ark," Nick said, "because the skeleton we found belongs to a Royalist."
"I think he was killed defending it."
"Then what happened to the Ark?"
"Oliver Cromwell was very serious about his religion, a Puritan. He wouldn't have wanted people worshipping it or making a big fuss over it."
"He could have destroyed it," Elizabeth said.
"I don't think he'd do that," Selena said. "But he could have hidden it."
"Where?"
"Well, that's the question."
"What happened after the siege of Pembroke?" Nick asked.
"Cromwell became Lord Protector of England in 1649. He had the King beheaded. Cromwell died in 1658. His son Richard took over, but he lasted less than a year. Richard went into exile and the monarchy was restored. Eventually he came back to England. He died in Hertfordshire, while staying on a friend's estate."
Harker had begun tapping her pen. "The history is interesting, but I don't see how it helps us."
"We only have assumptions," Selena said. "Guesses. My guess is that the Ark was found by Oliver Cromwell at Pembroke Castle and hidden by him. When the time came, Crowell knew he was dying. I think he would have passed the secret on to his son."
"If he did, the son would have kept a close eye on it," Nick said.
"And hidden it in turn," Ronnie said.
"Where?"
"I need to do some research," Selena said. "If Richard Cromwell hid the ark, there could be some reference in his papers that only makes sense with that idea in mind."
Nick saw the expression on her face. There's something about research that really turns her on, he thought.
"How do you plan to get the papers?"
"I can see some of them online, but I'll need to go to England."
"Take Nick and Ronnie with you," Harker said.
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
Richard Cromwell had spent his last days on an estate 50 miles northeast of London, near Cambridge University. Most of his letters and papers were in the Cambridgeshire Archives. If there was anything in Cromwell's correspondence that could shed light on the location of the Ark, it would be somewhere in those archives.
They checked into a hotel near the University early in the afternoon of a perfect English summer day, the kind of day that had inspired Shakespeare to compare. From there they went to the County Council record office, where Cromwell's papers were stored. The office was in Shire Hall, a massive building of stone that was a shrine to bureaucracy.
Selena had already examined the Cromwell letters that could be seen online and discovered nothing. Some of the fragile documents were available only for serious research and only by permission. Selena's academic credentials smoothed the way to the restricted section.
"This is going to take a while," she said. "You and Ronnie don't need to be here."
"We passed a pub down the road. Ronnie and I will go there. Call when you want us to come pick you up."
Three hours later she found what she was looking for. She called Nick and went outside to wait for him.
When they pulled up outside Shire Hall, they appeared unusually happy.
"We found a good pub," Nick said. "Had shepherd's pie for lunch. Good beer, too."
"Better let me drive," she said.
As they drove away from the Council offices, a dark blue Volvo started up in the parking lot and pulled out after them.
"They're headed back into town," the driver said into his radio link.
"Keep your distance. They're probably going back to their hotel."
"What's our next move?"
"We watch and wait. If they turned anything up, they'll go after it. It's getting late. Probably nothing's going to happen until tomorrow. Make sure you've got somebody on them all the time."
"Roger that," the man said.
"Don't screw up."
"Roger," the man said again.
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
Selena's room had a balcony and a view of Cambridge University's King's College. The chapel bell tower dominated the skyline. Nick and Ronnie sat on a couch in front of a low, glass-topped coffee table. Selena took a chair by the desk.
"Richard Cromwell was forced out of power in 1659," she said. "He went into exile in France in 1660. I found a letter he wrote from France to his daughter, Elizabeth. I think he had the Ark and hid it before he left and she was in on it. In the letter he begins with the usual Puritan thinking, telling her to be mindful of her place before God. Then he talks about his illness and having blood let. Doctors back then would bleed you for just about anything."
"Did it do any good?"
"Not enough. There are some who think his doctors killed him." She paused. "Cromwell was a Puritan. To understand the letter, you have to understand how the Puritans thought about things."
"Tall black hats," Ronnie said. "Blunderbusses. Thanksgiving."
Selena ignored him. "In Puritan society women and men were considered equal in a spiritual sense, but subservient to men in every other way, except with things that concerned the home and raising children. In the home, the women made the decisions."
"Took a while to change that, didn't it?" Ronnie said.
"Who said it's changed? Anyway, Richard appears to have had a great love for his daughter. He treated her in a way somewhat different than you might expect, more as a
n equal. She was devoted to him as well. In the letter he refers to the English Restoration of 1660. That was when the Anglican Church was restored to it's former position as the official Church of England."
"You should have been a history professor," Nick said.
"Sorry. The point is that when the Restoration took place, many of the churches that had been Presbyterian or Calvinist under Oliver Cromwell went back to being Anglican. I think Richard hid the Ark in a Presbyterian church when he was forced out of power. That church later became Anglican."
"Do you know which one it is?"
"My best guess is St. John's, near the town of Chesthunt. It's not far from London."
"Why there?"
"Chesthunt is where Richard Cromwell died. He had a wealthy friend there, a merchant named Thomas Pengally. Cromwell stayed on his estate before and after he came back from France. It makes sense that if he had the Ark he'd keep it nearby. The letter refers to 'That whiche is fairre to be tresr'd, nor cast before swine'. He cautions his daughter to remain silent about it before men and speak of it only to God. I think he means the Ark. In the next sentence he describes the pleasing simplicity of the altar at St. John's. It's an odd thing to put in where he did."
"That which is fair?" Nick said. "He could have been referring to his daughter."
"I don't think so. I think he could have hidden the Ark in that altar."
"Slim."
"It's all we've got and it's not that far away."
She waited.
"Like you say, it's all we've got. We'll go down there tonight and find out."
"I'll see what I can find out about the church online," Selena said.
In the hotel room directly below, a man put down a set of headphones. He turned to another figure standing nearby.
"Got it," the man with the headphones said.
Nigel McKenzie nodded. "Get the men ready."
CHAPTER SIXTY
Elizabeth was at her desk, reviewing the latest intelligence reports from the Middle East. Burps pawed at her leg.
"I can't tell you what I'm doing. You're not cleared for it. No, I don't have any food for you," Elizabeth said. "Go see Stephanie. Better yet, go outside."
She got up and opened the door to the garden. "Shoo." She pointed.
Burps looked at her. "Mrrow," he said. He looked offended and stalked into the garden. Elizabeth shut the door.
You were talking to a cat, she thought, telling him he wasn't cleared. This job is getting to you.
Stephanie came into the room.
"Iran just told Israel not to go into Lebanon," Elizabeth said. "They're ramping up the rhetoric."
"That's predictable."
"Yes. And Lerner is turning into a real hard liner. No more Mister Nice Guy. He really wants to stay on as Prime Minister."
"What did he do now?"
"He warned Tehran that they've reached the limit of Israeli patience. Any overt moves on the part of the Iranians to aid Hezbollah will be considered an act of war."
Stephanie considered that. "What's Rice doing?"
"Pressuring the Iraqi government to deny permission for Iranian over flights. Tehran is beginning to supply Hezbollah from the air."
"Good luck with that," Stephanie said. "That so-called government in Baghdad is another disaster waiting to happen."
"Why Stephanie," Harker said. "How can you be so critical of one of our few democratic friends in the area?"
"With them for friends, we don't need any more enemies."
"Since Iranian flights have already started, I have to agree with you."
"What's Lerner doing about Hezbollah?"
"Getting ready to unleash the IDF on them. Russia and China have called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. The song and dance is starting."
"You're just full of good news today, Elizabeth."
"Actually there is some good news. Selena thinks she's located the Ark. Or at least a possibility of where it might be."
"Which is?"
"In England, in a church. They're going after it tonight."
"I'll believe it when I see it," Stephanie said.
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
St. John's was the kind of picturesque English church that found its way onto postcards. It was set in the countryside about a mile from the nearest village. Ronnie parked away from the building, by a graveyard filled with old, tilted monuments and markers. A bright moon cast shadows from the ancient stones.
The church was large, the stone walls gray and solid in the moonlight. The main part of the church was a long rectangle with a peaked roof. A tall, square bell tower rose at the end. An arched vestibule jutted out halfway down the side, flanked by pairs of narrow stone windows with diamond panes. A row of similar windows marched the length of the church along the roof.
The rectory was a separate building set off to the side. A path led to it from the church. The windows of the rectory were dark, the door shut tight against the night.
A pair of arched wooden doors led into the vestibule. The lock looked old, the kind of lock that opened with a heavy iron key. The doors were reinforced with iron straps and black iron hinges. Iron rings were mounted on each door. Ronnie grasped one and gently pulled. The door moved.
"It's not locked," he said.
Nick's ear was itching. "Something doesn't feel right."
"Nobody knows we're here," Selena said. Her voice was quiet. Her heart was pounding. She took a deep breath, another.
"Yeah. Lock and load," Nick said.
The guns came out. Nick nodded and Ronnie pulled the door open.
The vestibule was twelve feet deep and twice again as wide. A closed oak door led from the vestibule to the church. Nick eased it open and signaled the others to wait. He stepped into the church.
The interior was dim, quiet, lit by moonlight coming through the windows and a pair of fat candles burning on two high brass candleholders at the front. The roof was braced with a tented cross work of thick wooden rafters and beams, all of it supported by massive round columns of stone. From where he stood, the front of the church and the altar was to his left. A tall wooden pulpit reached by a narrow, spiral stair rose on the right of the altar, where the sermon would be read over the heads of the congregation. Behind it was the empty choir.
Marble plaques with the names of men fallen on one of England's many battlefields lined the walls. Rows of plain wooden pews took up both sides of a central aisle. A cross was set on the wall behind the altar.
There was something wrong. It took Nick a moment to realize that the altar was askew. It should have been placed at the end of the nave in the center, parallel to the congregation. But it was crooked, as if it had been moved. It was a solid rectangle of dark wood. There should have been things on it, a cross, candles, but it was bare. A white cloth lay crumpled on the floor beside it.
Nick's ear began to burn. There was a muffled cough from somewhere inside the church.
"Hit the deck!" he yelled.
Nick dove for the floor. Gunfire erupted from behind the altar and the pulpit. The rounds blew sharp splinters out of the door behind him. Automatic weapons opened up from the other end of the building, shattering the pews in front of him. Nick wriggled backward into the vestibule. Shots came from outside the church, thudding into the heavy wooden doors and ricocheting from the stone.
They were pinned down.
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
Elizabeth and Stephanie watched a live satellite feed of the war taking shape in the Middle East. The Israeli Defense Force was poised at the border with Lebanon, set for a full blown assault. Naval units were positioned to bombard Sidon on the coast. Troop movements could be seen clearly on the satellite feed. Hezbollah was moving rocket batteries into position. Elizabeth knew they had Iranian missiles hidden somewhere in the hills.
On the West Bank, Israeli troops were already pouring through the checkpoints and pushing hard for the camps. The Arab world was in an uproar. The UN Security Council wa
s in emergency session. There were mass demonstrations in Iran, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt.
"I think Lerner will go all the way to Beirut," Elizabeth said. "He'll secure the south below Sidon first. That will eliminate the rocket bases. Then he'll try to force a settlement that drives Hezbollah out of the country. On the West Bank, he's going for the '67 cease fire line."
"The border with Jordan. What's Syria doing?"
"Making a lot of noise, mostly. They're still enmeshed in their civil war. There isn't much they can do."
She picked up her pen, set it down. "Rice has put the subs on DEFCON2 and held everyone else for the moment at DEFCON3. He doesn't want to send the wrong signals, but he's worried. Russia and China have raised their alert levels as well. If someone makes a mistake it could go out of control fast."
"What about that Iranian nuke?"
"That's the wild card. We don't know where it is, or what they're planning. We don't have a lot of assets in Iran. They've gotten first-class at counter-intelligence and they don't like spies."
The cat was outside, pawing at the garden door.
"Burps wants in," Stephanie said.
"Leave him out there. He's an outdoor cat, Nick said."
"Speaking of Nick, have you heard from them yet?"
"No. I don't expect to until after they've checked out that church. It should be anytime, now."
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
Selena fired at movement in the churchyard and heard a cry. "Three out here," she yelled. She saw a man run toward a large mausoleum. She fired again, two rounds. The dark shape fell to the ground. "Make it two."
Nick crawled over to her. Ronnie was shooting into the interior of the church. The shots echoed in the stone space. Bullets fired from the graveyard ricocheted around the stone vestibule and sent fragments flying through the air. The shooters couldn't get a clear shot, but they were doing a good job of keeping everyone occupied.
