Davidson jumped down from the ark and made his way to the door. Sure enough, two SUVs snaked their way up the road to the hilltop.
"Blow it?" Levont suggested, indicating to the ark.
"No," Davidson stated. He turned to Lopez. "I've got an idea, but it is a little risky."
Lopez cocked his head. "You had me at idea, but now that I know it's risky?"
Davidson could only hope all of Lopez's enthusiasm was justified.
Brandt tried to extract Vakasa from his embrace, but she wouldn't let her clutch hold of his neck go until he gave her raspberries against her neck. She giggled so loudly that the laughter echoed off the walls.
"The ark," Vanderwalt said, pointing to the door.
Finally, Vakasa let Brandt lower her to the ground. "And if I get her to open it? What do we get in exchange?"
Vanderwalt grimaced. Not a good look on him. The affable boy-man worked a lot better. "First, you aren't Davidson, so don't try and charm me. Secondly, I've got your woman and the kid." The ground shook, hard. Golden dust rained down upon them. "Thirdly, I think the world might be coming to an end, so how about you just open the bloody door?"
The last part was more of a maniacal shout.
Brandt glanced to Rebecca. Vanderwalt might be losing it, especially keeping Talli back for close protection-had the Brit not read any of Brandt's after-action reports?-but he wasn't all that far off from the world ending part.
He gave the nod to Rebecca. His fiancee kneeled next to the girl.
"Vakasa, do you know how to get into the Holy of Holies?"
The girl reached out and touched the thick carpet that hung behind her. The central image was that of a huge lotus blossom.
Vakasa went to open her mouth, but a loud boom filled the chamber. Followed shortly thereafter by gunfire. Someone had breached the temple. Vanderwalt snatched Vakasa away from Rebecca.
"Tell your men to stand down!"
Before Brandt could answer, one of the British soldiers hauled ass out of the vestibule. "He can't! It's the Disciples." The guy fired back into the antechamber. "And they are seriously packing."
Brandt turned to Vanderwalt, his hand out. "Give me a weapon."
The MI-5's eyes flickered to Brandt, then Talli.
"Phhh, I say give him a gun." Well, at least he could count on Talli for something.
Vanderwalt lowered his weapon and turned the grip to Brandt. "We are not done."
Hell no. But right now, they needed to survive the next few minutes. Checking the chamber, he urged Rebecca and Vakasa behind the nearest column. Setting his sights on the arch that led to the vestibule, Brandt had only one question.
Where the fuck were his men?
Sitting tight was tough, Davidson thought. Especially when you could hear gunfire and corresponding screams. He could only pray they weren't Brandt or Rebecca's. But they had to stay hidden until it was clear.
Which hopefully would come soon, as the three of them were crammed down within a space under the floorboards. This was Israel, after all. This region had been occupied or exchanged hands a dozen times over. They knew the use of a good hiding place. Unfortunately, this one clearly was meant for small children, not three grown men.
"Get down here!" a shout seeped in through the boards overhead.
It was what they had been waiting for. Davidson had gambled that the Disciples would find the damaged ark and decide to just blast their way through the wall. Which they did, promptly heading down the same shaft as Brandt and Rebecca. They had left two guards up top, which made attacking from the rear a little complicated.
Levont lifted the board with the tip of his rifle. "There they go."
Cautiously, in case the Disciples had left any traps, the three of them made it across the room. And there they caught their first break. The Disciples had secured ropes to the ark that led down the shaft. They could make a controlled descent.
Levont went to go down first, but Davidson stopped him.
"I have another idea."
The point man nodded. "Risky, I hope."
Oh yeah.
Rebecca tucked down, trying to keep the girl shielded, but Vakasa squirmed against the protection. Bursting from Rebecca's grip, Vakasa ran the short distance across the temple and, on all fours, climbed up the steps to the veil.
"Vakasa!" Brandt shouted, but the little girl paid no heed. Instead, she ducked under the tapestry and disappeared behind the thick material. Brandt tried to lash out to catch Rebecca too, but she bolted.
His curses filled the air as Rebecca ran. He probably would have been right behind her if gunfire hadn't split the air between them. As Brandt returned fire, Rebecca scrambled up the steps and dove under the tapestry.
The woven material cut down the sound of rattling gunfire to the point it seemed not any louder than a pachinko machine. Vakasa pressed her palm against the gilded door. Which was oddly Jewish. Not that the door to the Holy of Holies shouldn't be Jewish, it was just, in this place, with its foreign gods, the strict Hebrew seemed, well, odd.
"How do we open it?" Rebecca asked.
Vakasa answered by picking up Rebecca's hand and placing it against the cool gold. The ground beneath them quaked, giving a sharp jerk, then settling down again.
"Say the words," Vakasa said in plain English.
"Which words?"
Then the earth shook and didn't stop.
So much for a controlled descent, Davidson thought as he braced his legs against the side of the tunnel. He waited, taking deep breaths, preparing to be discovered. Luckily, the swaying of his rope must have been chalked up to the earthquakes, or they hadn't even noticed, given the all the trembling.
Heading down the rope facefirst, Davidson let up a little on the rope and slid down enough to get an angle on the rock chamber. Sure enough, the Disciples had left two men to guard the entrance. And their backs were turned to Davidson.
Even so, taking them both out before either could fire?
He would only get one chance.
Gripping the rifle to his shoulder, Davidson set his sight on the first man. He swiveled without firing to aim at the second. He imagined the pop of the gun. He imagined the kick of the recoil. He imagined the other man turning to the sight of his fallen comrade.
Taking a deep breath, Davidson was ready.
He saved the easier shot for the second shot and prepped for the farther man. He tugged the rope once. Once the shots were off, the other men would repel down. First, he had to get the shots off.
His fingers ached. He promised them a nice hot paraffin wax bath when all this was over. Exhaling, he bottomed out his diaphragm and took the first shot. He didn't have time to see if he had hit him square. By the time he got his rifle around, the other man had turned his upper body, making the second shot almost easier.
Letting go of the rope, Davidson slid down the rest of the tunnel, landing palms first. He launched up, pushing to his feet. He got his rifle up just as two guards came to investigate.
There was nothing tight or sophisticated about this shooting. Davidson just needed a spray of bullets to force the men back. Lopez hit the ground next to him, firing as he came out of the hole. Levont was only a step behind. They broke formation and headed to the cover of the wall as the guards shot into their little chamber.
"Perfect," Lopez congratulated Davidson. "Now what?"
That was a very good question.
Finally, Brandt thought. His men must have joined the party, since the Disciples' force was now split. The forward half were still firing toward Brandt and Vanderwalt's men. However, the back guards were now occupied with their rear.
What do you do when you are grossly outmanned? Force them to fight on two fronts. Hitler hadn't understood that, and look how World War II had gone for him. The Disciples might have invested as much time studying their military history as they did their religious history.
Using the brief respite, Brandt glanced over his shoulder. The tapestry didn't move. The only bright spot was no blood running out from under the veil, so there was that. He didn't like being out of the line of sight, though. He didn't like it at all.
Testing the waters, he flashed his sleeve out from behind the column. A bullet hole ripped through it. Okay, so the Disciples weren't that distracted.
Brandt could not believe he was saying this. "Talli, cover me."
"Oh, no," Vanderwalt said from the other side of the column. "Cover us."
"Then exactly who is going to cover me?" Talli asked.
At least the fake sniper was an equal opportunity coward.
Great. Brandt was stuck with Vanderwalt, who had minimal field experience, and the ex-sniper, whom he had absolutely no faith in.
"Fine," Brandt said, firing in the direction of the Disciples.
Rebecca had better come up with something quickly, as the enemy had regrouped, firing with gusto.
Vakasa sat next to Rebecca, beaming that smile of hers. Clearly, the girl expected the "words" to come tumbling out of Rebecca's mouth at any moment. Sure, lots of words had come out of her mouth.
She'd tried the Shemoneh Esreh, the standing prayer, the first prayer listed in the Siddur. She'd tried it in Hebrew, Yiddish, Ancient Greek, and English, to no avail. Then she tried Psalm 146 and even Exodus, but the door didn't budge. Hell, she'd even recited the Christian Lord's Prayer, with equal luck.
The floor nearly dancing didn't help her concentration any.
Vakasa cocked her head and spoke. At first, Rebecca didn't understand even what language she was using. Then it hit her. Coptic. Rebecca translated quickly. "What shall I give you?"
Rebecca's eyes narrowed. Was the girl quoting I Kings 3:5? The question that God asked Solomon?
Vakasa took Rebecca's hand and put it to the door as the tapestry ripped from the ceiling. The sound of gunfire came in a rush as Rebecca spoke the words.
"Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil."
A rumbling, deep beneath their feet, shook the marble underfoot. The shock wave came up and through the floor, cracking the great gilded door down the exact middle. Parting the opening, sending out a great sigh as if woken from a long sleep.
Suddenly, the gunfire waned.
Rebecca knew that was never a good sign. Not when it was the enemy who had stopped shooting. From down the long temple, she watched a grenade fly through the air.
"Brandt! In here!"
CHAPTER 28.
Solomon's Temple, Shiloh, Israel 10:32 p.m. (IST, Israeli Standard Time) Rebecca did not need to tell him twice. Not with two-no, make that five-grenades heading their way. Brandt turned on his heel, firing behind him, making for the door. The grenades bounced on the floor, skipping happily toward the altar.
Brandt heard footsteps behind him as he leapt up the stairs. Someone knocked him to the side, sprinting through the open doors in front of him. Vanderwalt. Son of a bitch. But the Brit was only a few steps ahead of him. Brandt made it through the door into another gilded room. He didn't have time to assess it much more than that as he turned to close the damned doors.
Talli raced toward him, with the grenades dancing behind him. "I tried the best I could!" he yelled as he streaked toward Brandt.
Despite the plea Brandt kept right on closing those doors. Only at the last second did he slow enough to let Talli slip through.
"Get the bar!" Brandt shouted as he pushed the two sides of the door closed. Together, Talli and Rebecca shoved the bracing bar down. The damned thing had barely sealed the doors when explosion after explosion rocked the Holy of Holies.
Brandt grabbed his girls and got them into the corner to ride out the worst of it.
Finally, the booms died and the world stopped shaking. Thank God for thick stone walls. The ancients really knew how to build them.
"Bloody hell," Vanderwalt cursed behind them. Brandt turned to get a look at the Holy of Holies. To be honest, beyond the gilded walls and jewel-encrusted etchings, it wasn't much to look at. There were two smaller doors on the other side of the room "Where is the ark?" The MI-5 agent asked.
Rebecca helped Vakasa get up. "Most likely? Ethiopia."
"Then what are we doing here?" Vanderwalt demanded.
Brandt sighed. "Welcome to my world."
The Brit didn't seem to appreciate the joke, however, as he raised his gun. Brandt did him one better. He raised two. One pointed at Vanderwalt, the other at Talli.
"Yes, Walt, I know you could kill Rebecca or Vakasa before I could kill the both of you. However, let's face it, neither of you have the stomach for playing chicken."