The Moses Legacy - Adam Palmer [50]
He didn’t know how long it would take them to die, and therein lay the problem. Had they told anyone where they were going? Even if they hadn’t said exactly, would their approximate location be enough to find them?
There was still, however, one factor that might give away their location: the jeep. It was big enough to be picked up by a satellite or an aeroplane. But then again, he realized, that wasn’t really a problem after all. In fact, it would also provide an easy way of getting a sample of their clothes.
Quick as a flash, he got into the jeep and drove back along the spur road to the main valley.
Chapter 35
Gabrielle had been the first one to hear something going on above them. In fact, she was the only one to realize the significance of it. The others had heard the door slamming, but assumed it was the wind. Her initial inquiry in English had received no response, prompting Mansoor to switch to Arabic.
‘Nasir! aYn a’aNt!’ shouted Mansoor.
Gabrielle and Daniel both understood. ‘Nasir, where are you?’
It was not a case of shouting from fear or anger, he had raised his voice simply because he wanted to be heard. But the silence that followed was frightening.
‘Nasir?… Hl Huneka… Nasir?’
‘MYhdth,’ Gabrielle shouted in her own flawless Arabic. ‘MYhdth.’ She was asking what was happening.
Daniel was wondering that too. He hadn’t yet reached the panic stage, but he was concerned.
What was happening? Why had they heard the door slam? He could understand an old man like the guardian suffering a stroke or a heart attack. But that wouldn’t explain the slamming of the door.
‘I think he locked us in,’ Daniel proffered.
Mansoor looked at Daniel contemptuously. ‘Why would he want to do that?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Daniel, embarrassed at the absurdity of his own suggestion, yet seeing no other answer. ‘Islamic fundamentalism, maybe. Anti-Westernism.’
‘He’s a Bedouin,’ Mansoor snapped tersely, as if this alone were sufficient explanation. And with that, Mansoor raced out of the chamber up the first staircase, with the others in hot pursuit.
As he followed, Daniel thought about Mansoor’s words. Contrary to popular Western prejudices, Arabs in general were the least likely amongst Muslims to be radicalized. The Bedouin especially tended to be pro-Western and particularly pro-British.
The Bedouin had a strict code of honour and one could get on the wrong side of them if one failed to appreciate this. But neither Daniel nor Gabrielle had done anything to offend Nasir. Indeed, one of the traditions of the Arab code of honour – especially strong amongst the Bedouin – is Dakheel, the protection of the stranger who is within one’s tent – even at the risk of one’s own life.
And tent did not literally mean a tent only, but the area of one’s home turf. To a family patriarch, this could be his house and those of his extended family. To a local sheikh or village mukhtar, it could mean his village or neighbourhood. In the case of Nasir, it would surely mean the tomb of which he was the appointed guardian. But as Daniel contemplated this, his thoughts were interrupted.
‘Oh my God!’ screamed Gabrielle as she reached the entrance corridor.
Mansoor was leaning over the dead figure of the guardian of the tomb.
Chapter 36
Sarit had watched Daniel and the others drive across to the western valley, and she had watched Goliath follow them on foot. She waited for Goliath to disappear into the distance and then set off after him.
The killing of Goliath had now been sanctioned by the Israeli Prime Minister and it was up to Sarit to decide how to do it. Normally a kidon assassin would work in a team of at least four, but it had taken them time to catch up with Goliath and time was of the essence now that they knew his intentions.
Sarit’s original plan had been to run him down on the way there and kill him. But she realized that someone in the main valley might see. Even if she didn’t get caught on the spot, she knew her rented car could be identified and traced back to her. So she