The Moses Legacy - Adam Palmer [112]
With a violent twisting motion, Goliath managed to wrench the gun free from Daniel’s grip; but when he swung it back, aimed at Daniel’s head and squeezed the trigger again, he was greeted by a soft click as the firing pin landed not on a live round but on the empty cartridge of the previous round.
Daniel and Gabrielle were not safe yet. Their deranged enemy could still pull the slider back manually with his right hand. But Goliath wasn’t thinking rationally and he assumed that the gun had jammed or malfunctioned in some way. Besides, he was ultimately reliant on superior strength and brute force to prevail. To this end, he dropped the gun and delivered a vicious punch to Daniel’s face, sending him reeling to the ground, landing next to Gabrielle.
However, before Daniel could think which way to roll or jump, Gabrielle had scooped up a large rock and smashed it into Goliath’s face. A cry of pain rang out from the big man’s throat as he reached out to grab Gabrielle’s wrist. But she pulled back as quickly as she had closed in, retaining possession of the rock. He lunged at her trying to grab the improvised weapon, but Daniel stuck his leg out tripping Goliath so that he landed on the rock floor of the cave with a terrific thud.
Without a trace of hesitation, Gabrielle rolled clear. Goliath, for his part, pushed himself up on to his hands and then stood up, turning around in the process.
For a second, Daniel and Goliath eyeballed each other and Daniel wondered if he was dead. Then Goliath smiled at him, turned abruptly and left the cave, still holding the linen shroud.
Daniel watched with puzzlement as the giant disappeared from view. Meanwhile, Gabrielle rolled back into a seated posture gasping for breath.
‘What the hell was that all about?’ she asked.
‘I don’t know. I thought he wanted the Book of the Wars of the Lord, not some stupid piece of cloth.’
He looked round at the supine form of the Bedul sheikh, but there was no trace of movement or even breathing.
‘We need to get out of here,’ said Gabrielle, helping Daniel to his feet.
‘What are you talking about? We need to report this.’
‘And we will, only not now.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘We don’t know how the authorities will react. Two people from Israel and a dead Bedouin sheikh. What do you think they’ll make of it?’
‘But we can’t just run – not again.’
‘We don’t have any choice. Look, at least let’s get out of here for now. That’ll give us time to think. We have to get back to the visitor centre anyway, and the only way back is on foot. It’s too late for him. Let’s get back there and then decide.’
Daniel nodded reluctantly. As they were about to leave the cave, he noticed that Gabrielle had gone over to where Sheikh Ibrahim had put the red clay tablets.
He saw immediately the writing on the first tablet. It was Proto-Sinaitic.
‘The Book of the Wars of the Lord,’ said Daniel.
Gabrielle nodded and carefully put them into Goliath’s carrier bag.
‘This is what we came for,’ she said.
‘I’m not sure if that’s the most important thing right now,’ said Daniel.
‘Why do you say that?’ asked Gabrielle.
‘That man killed your uncle and several other people and tried to kill us for something. If it wasn’t for those tablets or the Book of the Straight, then what on earth was it for?’
Chapter 90
‘What the hell do you think you were playing at?’
Dov Shamir had flown in from Herzliya by helicopter and asked Sarit to join him there so that he could talk with her in private. It wasn’t every day that someone was murdered in the National Library or that a helicopter landed in the grounds of the Hebrew University, so the whole scene had already attracted a certain amount of attention.
When he had first arrived in the lab, he had found Sarit looking remarkably calm considering what she had just been through. She had been about to throw her arms around him, but he gave her a look that warned her