The parade of vehicles motored steadily along the paved roadway, everyone mindful of the fact that they would probably not see a gas station in the near future. Extra fuel was pulled behind one of the trucks in a large tank, while another pulled a tank full of water.
In the Land Rover, the abandoned dog now sat happily between John and Ariella in air-conditioned comfort, munching away on some roast beef John had confiscated from the mobile kitchen.
The small convoy traveled south for another fifty miles before it rolled to a stop along the side of the highway. Looking out through the windows of their vehicles, the occupants scanned the vast emptiness of the Negev Desert that stretched as far as the eye could see.
Magnificent desolation. Leo had heard astronaut Buzz Aldrin use the same words to describe the moon when he stepped out onto its surface for the first time.
The Negev Desert was one of the most isolated and desolate places on earth. Ringed with gray mountains in the distance, they could see nothing green. Except for a few hardy species of insects and snakes, the only signs of life in this arid sea of rock and sand were the Bedouin tribes who still passed through the area, clinging to their traditional nomadic ways.
Two thousand years ago, the Nabataeans controlled the ancient spice and incense route here where the caravans crossed from India and Southern Arabia to the Mediterranean. Scattered ruins of their culture could still be found among the shifting sands. The area had changed little since that time, and for the most part, the Negev remained wild and free from modern civilization.
The motorized caravan lurched forward once more before turning off the paved highway and heading deeper into the desert where there were no roads. They traveled another two hours at an agonizingly slow pace, skirting sheer cliffs that dropped into deep, shadowed canyons before the convoy drove up onto a flat crater-filled plateau. Alon glanced at his GPS and brought the Land Rover to a stop.
“I guess this is it,” Ariella announced from the backseat.
Leo looked out across the forbidding landscape and watched the shimmering waves of heat rising in the distance. “I sure hope so. I don’t think my backside could take much more bumping along over these rocks and holes.”
The other vehicles pulled to a stop around them, a modern-day version of a wagon train in the desert. They dismounted their trucks and stood under the sun, gazing at the strange beauty of the immense wilderness before them.
The desert here was surrounded by cone-like mountains and vertical cliffs ringing their position. Nearby, the plateau ended at the edge of a precipice that dropped several hundred feet into a canyon below. There were stories of people becoming disoriented by the optical illusions created by the canyons running through the flat plateaus and driving right off a cliff before they realized it was there. This was definitely not a place to be exploring after dark.
The color of the loose sand was golden, with red and white patches of soil pushing through in places. The air was still, and the absence of sound was slightly unnerving to those accustomed to lives around people and the attendant noise of TVs, music, and traffic. It seemed peaceful, yet for some reason, the place gave the new arrivals a vague feeling of apprehension. The atmosphere especially affected Father Leo. He looked at the angle of the sun and asked the others to immediately begin setting up camp in a race against the approaching darkness.
The small band of men and women began working together in the laborious task of unloading the trucks, pitching tents, and organizing supplies, while the cooks cranked up the mobile kitchen and were slicing and dicing their way to dinner. In the dusty orange haze of the desert sunset, the camp was just beginning to take shape when they all heard the sound.
A rhythmic thump, thump, thump could be heard in the distance. The noise grew louder, then fainter as it crisscrossed the floor of the canyon below. Everyone in camp stopped what they were doing and listened. Whatever it was, it was getting closer to their campsite.
The sun had just dipped below the horizon, allowing the group to see rapid bright-red flashes of light shooting up into the sky from the edge of the desert where the plateau met the rim of the canyon. With everyone’s attention riveted on the lights, a dark fast-moving shape materialized from the rim and flew up and over the camp, followed by another. Blowing sand swirled over the vehicles and tents, entering the nostrils and mouths of the startled and confused group as they shielded their eyes.
Slowly, they began to grasp their situation. Two large Blackhawk helicopters were circling their campsite and preparing to land, their flashing red strobe lights reflecting against the vehicles and desert floor around them.
The group instinctively turned their backs to the landing aircraft, pulling their shirts up over their faces in an effort to keep from breathing in the swirling sand. The helicopters began touching down next to the camp and quickly shut down their engines, one after another, until the whine of the turbines and the chop of the rotor blades came to a halt.
Leo and the others brushed away the fine grit that covered their clothing and filled their hair as the helicopters’ doors began to slide open, revealing familiar faces peering out from inside.
Ariella was the first to spot Lev. “Father! What are you doing here? How did you…?”
“I’m sorry, little one. We tried to reach you on your cell phones and radios, but nothing seems to work right out here. Our signals were probably blocked by the canyon walls. But the radios seem to be working fine now. Moshe finally convinced one of his high-ranking cabinet friends to authorize the use of these helicopters. We didn’t plan on having them so soon.”
Everyone was overjoyed at the arrival of Lev and the other staff members from the villa, including a dusty but grinning Leo. “I didn’t think we’d see you for another few days.”
Lev winked before reaching into the helicopter and pulling out a case of wine. “Tonight, my friend, we eat, drink, and dance. Tomorrow, we work.”
John looked confused. “Did Lev just say we were going to dance?”
Ariella threw her head back in laughter. “It’s an Israeli thing.”