by K. T. Tomb
The detailed maps offered topographical information that helped them to distinguish certain geological features that might indicate the existence of a cave or fissure that might have been used to hide the Ark and have it sealed off. Anything suspicious was examined with greater care by bringing the team together and analyzing what they had found in more detail.
Not surprisingly, Peter and Phoe had drawn Sergei as their armed escort. Though she had to endure his creepy stare, she continued to play upon his weakness, hoping that it would eventually provide her with an opportunity. Her suggestive movements and invitations were unmistakable, but so subtle that no one except Sergei himself could possibly pick up on them. In essence, she intended to drive him mad with lust. By his reactions, she could tell that it was working.
The sun, heat and constant interrogations by the Iranians made the days drag on and Phoe’s hope of finding the Ark and setting her own people free was beginning to take its toll on her. Though they were much better taken care of than they had been before, the fact that Charlotte, Eric, Jeremy and Jonathan were cooped up and kept under constant guard, as well as being listened to and recorded, was no way to live.
Phoe, Peter and Kadan would drag themselves in every evening, shower, eat and collapse in their beds. Before the sun was up the next morning, they were eating breakfast and preparing for another day.
“What if we’re wrong?” Phoe finally asked Peter in a moment of extreme doubt. “What if the whole damned premise is wrong and we’re doing all of this shit for nothing? It’s like you said, it could be anywhere in the hundreds of square miles of mountains and valleys around here. If I just had more evidence.”
“We do have some decent evidence. Kadan’s theory really isn’t all that bad.” Peter was trying to remain optimistic, though even he had his doubts.
“If the Ark still has its power, but what if that’s no longer true? Where would you be able to hide a two-and-one-half cubit by one-and-one-half cubit, by one-and-one-half cubit in these valleys? Any damned place you wanted to.”
“That’s just the heat and exhaustion getting to you, Phoe. Before we started searching, even you believed that we were on the right track. Don’t lose hope now.”
“Who the hell are you to tell me not to lose hope?” she snapped. She didn’t really want to fight, but she was so tired and frustrated that she would have taken on a mountain lion inside of a VW. She saw Peter begin to bristle and an idea came to her suddenly. “If you’re so fucking smart, how did you get us into this mess?”
“What?” Peter snapped. “What the hell are you talking about? How am I to blame for this mess?”
“You’re the dumb ass that got yourself and the rest of the team kidnapped. If it hadn’t been for that, I wouldn’t have had to make this stupid deal.” Out of her peripheral vision, she could see the beaming smile of Sergei. He was delighted to see them fighting. She hated to attack Peter the way she did, but if he knew what she was up to, he might not put a realistic touch on it.
“Oh. I see, and you’re so fucking smart that you avoided being captured yourself. Brilliant, Phoe, fucking brilliant! You must be having heatstroke because your brain isn’t working for shit!”
“Says the almighty Mr. Intelligent himself. You know, most of your intelligence is a fraud. You’ve learned how to put the right words together to sound like you know what you’re talking about, but you really have no fucking clue.”
“You know what? Screw you! You want to find the Ark, you find it by yourself. Oh, that’s right. You can’t do it without me, can you?”
He’d delivered the line she was hoping he’d go for. “Actually, I can,” she said moving up to Sergei’s side and locking her arm around his. “I have to be accompanied by a man, but it doesn’t have to be you. Why don’t you just go work with Kadan?”
“That actually sounds like a pretty good idea.” Without another word, he stormed off toward Kadan’s quadrant, leaving her alone with Sergei. Had she not truly pissed him off, he wouldn’t have ever gone for the idea of her being left alone with a stranger. Phoe hoped that once he calmed down a minute he’d realize what he’d done and come back.
“So, you’ve finally come to your senses, then,” Sergei gloated as she walked with her arm locked in his.
“I’ve had my senses the whole time, I just had to figure out a way to get you alone.” Her eyes were scanning the brush and shrubs around them. “Now if we can just find a cave or something,” she purred.
“What exactly did you have in mind?” he beamed.
“Exactly what you’ve been wanting all along.” It turned her stomach to flirt with him suggestively. The idea of his hands on her repulsed her, but she needed an opportunity to escape long enough to get a call or a message to Simon. She only needed to blurt out one word, his mother’s maiden name, in order for him to know that it was really her.
“Well, with that as motivation, perhaps I’ll wake up my own eyes and help you search.”
“Mmmm… two are better than one.”
She couldn’t have planned it any better, though indications on the quadrant map that she held in her hands had suggested that the cave existed and was one of the factors for making her take the risk to fight with Peter. She saw it well before Sergei, but kept it to herself.
“There is a cave right there,” he pointed out, proud of himself and eager for what was coming his way.
“Let’s hurry before the Iranian catches up and Peter decides to come back.” She tugged on his hand and started in a trot toward the cave. If she could incapacitate him long enough for her to get the break she needed, things just might be salvageable for her and her team.
She led him into the cave and turned on her flashlight. As she flashed it around on the walls of the cave and led him in deeper, she spotted a single, ancient symbol. She’d come back and examine it when she wasn’t working on her plan to get rid of Sergei.
“This should be about far enough,” he said, pulling back on her hand and drawing her into him. When she was against his chest, he let his hands run over the firm curvature of her behind. “I’ve been waiting for this since I saw you in Santa Fe.”
“Oh really?” she cooed. “I’ve been waiting for this!” As she spoke, she drove her knee up into his groin, then turned on the heel of her other foot, spun around and drove an elbow into his temple as he reached for his groin. As he started down, a solid roundhouse kick snapped his head around, the heel of her foot colliding with his jaw. Sergei crumpled to the floor of the cave.
Using the flashlight, she located his gun and tucked it into the waistband of her jeans, then used his belt to fasten his hands snugly behind his back.
“Fucking pervert,” she muttered and then stepped back toward where she found the symbol on the wall. It had been very faint and it took her a bit of time to locate it, but once she did, she knew exactly what it was. The four-pointed star had a circle in the center and four pairs of wavy lines extending from the center circle outward between the star points. The entire configuration was enclosed in another circle. It was the star/sun symbol of Shamash, an ancient Mesopotamian god in the pantheon. Its existence in the cave left no question in Phoe’s mind that she was in the right place.
She had no sooner found the symbol and examined it before she heard Peter’s footsteps and soft voice. “Phoe, are you in here?”
“Yes.”
“I thought I saw a flashlight,” he replied.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m better than okay.”
“What? Why?”
Phoe grinned. “I found the cave.”
“What ca—”
“Check this out.” She shined the light on the wall.
“The star/sun of Shamash,” he whispered, moving closer for a better look. “Nice job with the fight.”
“Glad you picked up on that,” she said. “I was feeling sort of bad about some of the things I said.”
“You got pretty harsh, but it was effective. Get you a Golden Globe
. Where is he, by the way?”
“Tied up back in the cave.”
They started back through the cave to where Sergei lay on the floor with his hands tied.
“You’ll never get away with this and Nicholai will kill all of you for double-crossing him,” Sergei gasped.
“Let me see your scarf,” Peter said.
Phoe removed the scarf that she wore under her hat and handed it to him.
Peter reached down and wadded it into Sergei’s mouth. “I was getting tired of listening to him.” He stood. “Shall we?”
Peter led the way down the tunnel until they came to a pile of rocks that gave every appearance of being a cave in. Peter shined the light on the ceiling above the pile. “It didn’t come from there. Somebody piled these rocks here.”
“Well, then?”
“You do realize that these rocks have probably been like this for nearly 2,500 years, right?”
“Just help me move them.” Phoe had already started tossing rocks aside. After several minutes of moving rocks, she stopped to take a breath. “Did you actually make it over to Kadan?”
“I did.”
“And?”
“I told him that you had a plan and to be ready to move the first opportunity that he got.”
“How did you know it wasn’t a real fight?”
“I saw the devil dancing in your eyes when you glanced over at Sergei.”
“Very observant.”
“I got the distinct feeling that he’d already figured it out and was already using the distraction as a cover for something else.”
“Hmmm. Maybe he has a plan.”
“Could be.”
They spent several more minutes moving rocks. It seemed like they hadn’t even made a dent in the pile, though there were two growing piles on either side. “Dancing devil?” she asked as she stood once more to take a breather.
“Yep. I’ve known you a long time, Phoe. It’s pretty hard to get anything past me.”
“Is that a challenge?” Her eyes flashed.
“Oh, hell no.” Peter knew better than to offer any form of a challenge to Phoe.
Chapter Sixteen
But God struck down some of the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy of them to death because they looked into the ark of the LORD. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the LORD had dealt them. And the people of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who can stand in the presence of the LORD, this holy God? To whom will the ark go up from here?”
—1 Samuel 6:19-20
With the pile of rocks finally giving way in front of them and the two piles on either side taking up most of the remaining space, they began to pull crumbling pieces of what appeared to be Persian wool, woven into what must have been rugs. Phoe felt a chill go up her spine. What if she reached in and accidentally touched the Ark?
“We better slow down a bit,” she said.
“I was just thinking the same thing,” Peter replied.
“Well, well, what do we have here?” It was Nicholai’s voice. She and Peter hadn’t heard it due to the noise they were making while moving the rocks. “Hoping to have the Ark to yourselves, no doubt?”
They turned and saw not only Nicholai, but several of his men and a few of the Iranians flanking him and brandishing weapons.
“I’ll take that,” Sergei said, stepping forward, snatching the pistol out of her waistband and then striking her with a backhand that knocked her to the floor of the cave.
“You son of a bitch,” Peter said, stepping forward.
“Do it,” Sergei taunted, leveling the gun at Peter’s chest.
“Miss Phoenix,” Nicholai began again. “After all of this time that we were taking care of you and your friends, I really thought that you’d treat me better than this.”
“So sue me,” she snapped.
“Even though you’ve treated me so badly, I’m going to keep my end of the bargain. As soon as we have solid proof that the Ark is authentic, your brother and your friends will be free to go.”
“Yeah? What about me?”
“Well, I was hoping that we’d be able to make another arrangement, perhaps several of them. I could make it well worth your while.”
“I already told you, I’m…”
“Yes, I know, you’re not for sale. We’ll see soon enough.” He turned toward the men on either side of him. “Go on then, get the thing uncovered; let’s see what we’ve got.”
In a few minutes, Nicholai’s men had the rocks cleared away and were peeling away several layers of tattered and decayed rugs. As they pulled the last shreds away, the unmistakable sight of the two cherubim spreading their wings toward each other to form the mercy seat were revealed.
“The Ark of the Covenant,” Nicholai breathed. “Okay… let’s get it out of there, covered up and transported back to the warehouse. Unless, of course, Miss Phoenix, you’d like to take a look inside.”
“No thank you,” she replied. “But you need to let my friends go. I kept my end of the deal.”
“Yes, you did and your friends will be set free, in due time. Once I am assured that this is an authentic version of the Ark, instead of a replica like the one in Aksum. That could be taken care of more quickly if you’d take a look inside.”
“You said nothing of authentication,” she replied. “The deal was to find the Ark for you. I’ve done that.”
“So, you don’t want to look inside then?”
Phoe considered it for a moment. She was curious to look inside and she wanted her friends set free, but if something happened to her, to Peter and to Kadan who they had just brought into the cave at gunpoint, the others might never be set free. “No thank you.”
“In many ways, Miss Phoenix, you’ve already authenticated it for me. Do you really believe that an ancient gold chest still carries the power of God inside of it? God doesn’t exist. All of this was merely a fable made up by the Hebrews. There is no god and there are no gods. Throughout history, men have made up deities to give themselves something to believe in, something to explain the inexplicable.”
“Then why do you want the Ark?” Peter asked. “If it’s just a box layered in gold, what good is it to you?”
“Because others believe it is valuable. Okay, enough of the chit-chat. Tie these three up, put them with the others and get this thing transported.” He turned back to Phoe while she was being tied. “It’s a pity to see this happening to you; I hoped that we could make a very profitable arrangement. No matter, I have other resources.”
“What about our deal?” Phoe spat.
“Well, the six million was for the ransom of your friends, but I’m going to need another four million for you.”
“Fine. Let them go and one of them can go get the four million.”
“No. I prefer to have it all in one lump sum. Unless, of course, you want to work on installments.”
Phoe knew exactly what that meant. “Go to hell!” she replied.
“Suit yourself. Okay. Let’s get a move on.”
Peter, Kadan and Phoe were escorted out of the cave and into the bright sunlight. Hoods were placed over their heads and they were placed in the back of a truck for transport, but would be unable to retrace or have any sort of way of knowing where they were being taken.
“I’m sorry that I got you guys into this,” Phoe muttered from behind the hood to the others.
“I’m equally sorry, Phoe,” Peter replied. “I should have had better security for us after you made your call. I overlooked it and allowed us to become a bargaining chip.”
“I don’t think it would have made a difference. I think Nicholai is highly connected. Somehow more so than Simon Kessler, though I would have thought that to be impossible.”
“More powerful than you think,” Kadan piped in.
“What do you mean?” Phoe asked.
“Once I finally got a glimpse of him, I did some of my IT magic and came up with a name to match the face. Semion Usmanov, one of the most powerful and wealt
hiest men in the world. It’s sort of ironic actually.”
“What’s ironic?” Peter asked.
“Semion is the Russian equivalent of Simon.”
Trust Kadan to come up with something as trivial as that when their lives were in danger. It wasn’t necessarily that he was irreverent; he just had the kind of mind that was constantly making connections and drawing conclusions. It was an awesome attribute to have in your IT guy, because it made him a virtual walking databank. He was like a wind-up toy: turn the key, set him down and watch him go.
“God, Kadan, does anything get under your skin?”
“Plenty of things, actually, but at the moment, I’m not overly concerned.”
The light went on inside Phoe’s head. “What do you have up your sleeve?”
“I’d rather not say. Some people have big ears.”
“I told you not to comment about my ears,” Peter chuckled, covering with a joke.
There was no more conversation on the topic. There was no point in tipping off Nicholai or Semion’s team to what was coming their way. Phoe knew that, however he did it, Kadan had somehow gotten a message or left a clue for someone who would get them some help. Even with someone watching over his shoulder, Kadan’s intelligence had outwitted their captors.
Chapter Seventeen
They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it. David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the LORD, with castanets, harps, lyres, timbrels, sistrums and cymbals.
When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. The LORD’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God.
—2 Samuel 6: 1-7
Though Sergei was a part of a historic occasion, not to mention a very intriguing one, it was difficult for him to keep his thoughts focused on what was unfolding in front of him. The Ark of the Covenant had been set on a table and flanked by golden lamp stands, just as had been described in the Hebrew texts. An archeologist who was well acquainted with Ark lore was brought in to do the task that Thalia Phoenix had been meant to perform.
