December 9th, 2004
Mina woke up shivering. In a daze, she looked around and thought she saw metal walls. ‘Where the hell am I?’ She tried sitting up, but she was zipped up in a sleeping bag, and covered with a pile of duvets. Her head felt like it had been pumped up with pressurised air, but it was nothing compared to the pain she felt on the left side of her face and at the base of her skull. Her whole body ached. In the dim light she could make out the figure of Jack looking at her.
‘Hi Mina.’
‘Jack? Where am I?’
‘You’re safe. Take these, and drink some water.’ She took the proffered tablets and swallowed them as told, then finished the whole glass in a bid to cool her aching throat.
‘You’re in the back of my van. Stay still. You almost died of hypothermia.’ He stroked her face and smiled at her.
‘I’m in your van? In Mosul?’ She felt nauseous, and tired beyond belief.
‘No. We’re in Tel Aviv. Sleep Mina. I’ll watch over you.’
She dropped back onto the floor of the van and fell into a deep sleep. Jack watched her and thought about the past few hours. He’d been waiting in the water for two hours by the tender while Mina was on the yacht. Powerless to prevent it, he had watched her being beaten up by Natasha and bided his time. When they put her in a sack, he knew the time to act had come. He hooked his belt to the tender and was towed along until Oberon’s men stopped, far away from the yacht. He swiftly detached himself as soon as they had slung Mina into the sea and turned the boat around to return to the yacht. He plunged after her. The water was icy cold but he was wearing a full scuba diving outfit he had rented that afternoon. He had a powerful torch but could hardly see a few feet ahead. A seasoned diver, he knew that if he did not find her in the next few moments, it would be too late. Suddenly he could make out the shape of the sack, dropping fast into the murky abyss. He reached out but missed it. He plunged further down, thrusting himself down as hard as he could, and caught it by the cord. He pulled out his knife from his ankle sheath and cut through the length of the sack, yanking Mina out and bringing her back to the surface in a few kicks. Placing his mask over her face, Jack made her breathe his oxygen, and tried to resuscitate her, but despite coughing up some water, she was still unconscious. He knew he would have to swim very quickly to the harbour, before hypothermia set in, which worried him more than anything else. He was furious for not anticipating Wheatley’s sadistic streak and how far he was prepared to go. Jack would make him pay for every bruise on her beautiful face.
‘Morning Mina,’ said Jack, offering her a warm drink, as she sat up sluggishly.
She looked at him with blank eyes, then, remembering fragments, her hands started twitching, she felt a long shiver shooting through her spine, and suddenly burst into an uncontrollable flood of tears. Jack held her in his arms. She cried for a long time while he slowly explained what had happened and how he had saved her.
She finally took a sip of coffee from the Styrofoam cup, grimacing from the pain in her jaw, and looked up at him.
‘Thank you Jack. Thanks for everything… but what were you doing there? What are you doing here?’
Jack looked down, feeling uncomfortable. ‘I’ve been following you since you left Iraq.’
‘Why?’
‘Well, I was worried about you, and obviously with a good reason. That bastard Wheatley had you thrown into the open sea, tied up in a sack. Had I not been there, we wouldn’t be talking right now.’
‘Don’t think I’m being ungrateful here, but I can’t possibly,’ she swallowed hard, and tears sprung to her eyes again, ‘…I can’t possibly explain how much I need you to be honest with me right now.’
‘What do you mean Mina?’
‘I mean, who follows someone to a different country because they’re worried for them? Don’t lie to me. I’ve been beaten up and almost murdered by people I trusted, and Liat… they murdered her.’ Mina was racked by sobs.
‘Mina, listen to me! Your friend Liat is in a sorry state, but she’s not dead. I took her to a hospital and she’s recovering. They told me she’ll be OK in a few weeks.’
A wave of relief washed over Mina.
‘She’s alive?’ she stuttered, ‘Oh thank you Jack, thank you. I have to see her, I need to explain.’
‘No, Mina. I convinced her not to talk about what happened, as it would be too dangerous to do so right now.’
They both remained silent for what seemed like an eternity. Mina stroked Jack’s hand, ‘I’m sorry I said the things I did in Mosul. I didn’t mean them.’
‘Yes you did. I’m sorry I lied to you.’
She looked at him inquisitively.
‘The reason I followed you was that I couldn’t make out if you were a player or a victim back in Iraq. As I said to you, those men in your flat were serious mercs.’
‘Mercs?’
‘Mercenaries… and there you were, half-Iraqi, half-American, beautiful, clever, apparently out of place in that university, involved with mercs and off to Israel.’
‘Beautiful?’ She arched an eyebrow. He smiled.
‘Well, very sexy too, but that wouldn’t be a prerequisite to be a spy.’
‘Why don’t you tell me everything, from the beginning.’
‘Alright, here goes. I knew from your last email…’
‘What? You went through my email?’
‘I’m sorry. I promise never to do it again.’
‘You promise?’ she asked him.
‘Yes. Can I continue? I thought you were a spy then.’
‘OK. Go on.’
‘So I followed you to Amman and then to Tel Aviv. I booked a room in the same hotel under an assumed name…I have a number of passports. Anyway, the information I had gathered on Oberon Wheatley warranted some serious concern. I needed to check the hotel and its immediate surroundings. One of my contacts told me that Wheatley’s private yacht was anchored in the harbour marina and that usually meant that he was aboard. I thought it was a strange coincidence that you should both be here at the same time. So when he suddenly showed up at your interview, I knew the whole thing was a trap.
‘How did you know he was there?’
‘I placed a bug in your handbag.’
‘Oh man, you’re in so much trouble. This story is getting worse by the minute.’
Jack pretended not to have heard her and continued talking, ‘the harbour was under surveillance, especially the area around Wheatley’s yacht. I would either have to make contact with you directly or find a way to approach the yacht without raising suspicion, which would be difficult. If the surviving attacker at your flat in Mosul worked for Oberon, he’d recognise me immediately. I can’t tell you how anxious I was waiting all night for your drunken return after you left to party with your friend. I was worried that your enemies had decided to act before the interview, so I was pretty relieved to see you stagger into your room at last. To tell you the truth, I did think to myself then, ‘here I am, in Israel, trying to protect a woman I hardly know from people I know even less about. I must be mad.’ Then again, I guess that’s part of the reason I joined the army, and never completely left it… to be in a position to protect and defend beautiful women in peril!’ Jack grinned.
‘How very gallant of you!’
‘Besides, I’ve been known in the past to thrive on danger. Anyway, after your interview, while you paced on the terrace without a care in the world, I was fuming back in my room. The listening device I’d placed in your handbag had picked up your entire conversation. You’d fallen into Wheatley’s lap. I knew you’d never leave his yacht alive; I was absolutely sure of it. The obvious thing to do was to meet you in your room and tell you it was a trap. But, as things stood between us, you’d almost certainly not believe me. I’d also have had to explain why I’d followed you and bugged your bag.’
‘Yup.’
‘It all came down to bad timing. Had I met you before the interview I might have been able to warn you, but it was too late. So I stuck to my original plan. I got some scuba gear, hid by the yacht and waited for them to… well you know the rest.’
‘Listen, I don’t know why Wheatley tried to kill you, but if you want my help, I need to know everything.’
‘I agree.’
Mina leaned on Jack’s shoulder and started telling him about the meaning and importance of the tablet and how Oberon was desperate to get his hands on it. She suddenly sat up in anguish, ‘I actually told him where the tablet is. I sent it by courier to a hotel in Safed. We need to get there now or all of it will have been for nothing.’
‘But we have an advantage.’ Jack answered, grinning.
‘What do you mean?’
‘He thinks you’re dead. You know, Mina, I feel I’m on a strange quest in foreign lands, just like the good book says.’
She looked at him, quizzically. ‘The good book?’
‘The Bible, silly! Solid Baptist upbringing. Difficult to shake off.’
She smiled at him. He seemed to think for a second and suddenly burst out laughing.
‘Are you alright Jack?’
‘Yeah. Yes. I was just thinking about Jonah. You know how he left Nineveh, went to Yafo, and ended up in the sea.’
‘Yes?’
‘Well, it just occurred to me that I’m your whale in the story.’
She saw herself leaving Mosul, travelling to Tel Aviv and being thrown off a boat into the sea. They both laughed hysterically.
‘OK. After I’ve returned the wet suit and diving gear, I think we should get going. I looked up the best way to get to Safed. It’s a two and a half hour journey by car. You’ll have all the time in the world to fill me in on background information. Also,’ he added, ‘I managed to salvage your suitcase from your hotel room. Get changed, and let’s go.’
As they were driving out of Tel Aviv, Mina checked herself in the mirror and was shocked at her appearance.
‘The bruising looks terrible!’
‘Don’t worry. The anti-inflammatory cream should reduce the swelling.’
She really hoped he was right: even speaking was painful. As she looked out at the landscape unfolding beyond the large windscreen, it occurred to her that she could just let the tablet quest go. She had survived her ordeal. She was alive against all odds. But no, she craved justice for what Oberon had done to her and Liat out of greed. For the first time in her life she longed to make someone else suffer.
‘Are you OK? You look like you’re about to murder someone.’
She did not reply, but Jack knew exactly what she was thinking.
‘We’re going due north into the mountains of Upper Galilee. Mina, I think it’s a good time to assess our situation,’ he said, changing lanes. ‘One, you found a mysterious stone tablet hidden within a clay casing. Two, what you translated didn’t make much sense to you. Three, as soon as the word got out about the little you did translate, Wheatley gets hold of you and Liat in order to steal the tablet.’
‘On the yacht, just before they knocked me out…’ Mina faltered, ‘Wheatley mentioned an ancient Chinese oracle bone that listed…’
‘Excuse me?’ said Jack, interrupting her, ‘what the hell is an oracle bone?’
‘I am not really sure. All I know is that the oracle bone script is the oldest form of Chinese writing. They were used to predict events in imperial China, that’s why they are called oracle bones’.
‘Right’, said Jack, ‘so what’s engraved on Wheatley’s doggy bone?’
‘According to Wheatley, it lists a stone tablet ‘from the land in the West between two mighty rivers’, and four clay copies which were sent to the four corners of the world. He said this tablet enabled their owner to make accurate predictions.’
‘Hmm I see. From what I gathered about Wheatley’s line of business, I assume it would have to do with weather forecasting.’
‘Yes, and I now wonder if it doesn’t specifically have to do with flood forecasting.’
‘Why?’
‘The tablet I found… it’s a version of Noah’s story.
Jack raised his eyebrows.
‘A good Bible student like you should remember the story of Noah.’ Mina continued, ironically.
‘Yes of course, something about a flood and a pretty big boat as I recall?’
‘Right. The world of men has become evil and God is displeased. He finds only one righteous man.’
‘Noah.’
‘Yes, and He entrusts him with the future of mankind, animals and plants. Noah builds an ark and the flood destroys everything. For many days and nights the waters do not recede. Eventually the rain stops and Noah sends out a dove to see if there is land in the vicinity. The bird returns with an olive branch in its beak, proving that the waters are receding, and the cargo on Noah’s ark is safe. God decides to make a covenant with Noah never to destroy humanity again, and produces a rainbow as a sign of it.’
‘Lovely story. I always did wonder where rainbows came from. Right. What about the Sumerian version?’
‘Well, there are many historical layers to the Sumerian version. It’s a little complicated. Some fragments of the flood narrative date back to the turn of the second millennium B.C.E. in Sumerian poems. Others are found in Atrahasis, an epic written in Akkadian dating back to 1750–1650 B.C.E. But, the most complete story is revealed in the eleventh tablet of the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Standard Akkadian version. And that one is the most recent one, dating back to 1300–1100 B.C.E.. It’s pretty much the same story as the biblical one with a few twists; some Gods are displeased with the continuous noise that humans make and decide to destroy humanity, but others are on the humans’ side and entrust Utnapishtim, their ‘Noah’, to build an ark, they get into the ark, he sends out the birds, yada yada yada.’
‘OK. What about the tablet?’
‘I’m impressed. Last time I spoke to you, you kept interrupting me.’
‘You’re obviously getting better at telling stories.’ He grinned broadly at her. ‘The weather is getting worse. Do you know that Safed sometimes gets snowed in? I read that on the Internet yesterday. That’s if I was looking at the right place; there is a ton of different ways of spelling Safed.’
‘It’s Tsfat in Hebrew but it’s confusing, as sometimes it is also spelled Sefad or Sfad. It’s a really important town. It has been a prestigious centre of learning for over four hundred years and it’s one of Israel’s four sacred cities, together with Jerusalem, Hebron, and Tiberias… Did you say snow?’
‘It is over 900 metres above sea level.’
‘I hope you found us some coats and gloves?’
‘Mina. I’m a soldier. Preparation, preparation, preparation. Of course I have. So, the tablet?’
‘Yes. It differs from the Standard twelve tablets in philological ways that I can’t explain entirely until I’ve seen it again, but I don’t think that matters so much. What I find most intriguing is how different it is from the eleventh… there are loads of weird calculations.’
‘Calculations?’
‘Well the Sumerians were very advanced in mathematics and….’
‘Really? I thought the Greeks invented all that stuff?’
‘You’re doing it again.’
‘What?’
‘Interrupting me.’
‘Sorry. Go on.’
‘The Greeks were thinkers. They theorised about everything. The Sumerians and Chaldeans were quite different, they were obsessed with astronomy and astrology, which involved advanced mathematics. What is weird is that both the Sumerian and Hebrew original flood narratives contain the measurements of the ark, but nothing more in terms of mathematics.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘God tells Noah or, in the Sumerian version, different Gods tell Utnapishtim how to build the ark, how long it should be, how wide and so on. But the tablet I found provides lots of other calculations and formulas, which are far beyond my reach.’
‘Maybe I can help on that. Engineering and math, that’s me.’
‘You mean you don’t just shoot people and save damsels in distress?’
‘Now you’re being silly.’
‘I know.’
Mina stopped talking for a little while. Jack observed her from the corner of his eye. She seemed to be pondering something.
‘What are you mulling over?’
‘There may be another group of people after the tablet.’
‘Why? Oberon’s not enough for you?’
‘When you followed me, were you wearing a disguise?’
‘No.’
‘There was another man following me at the airport in Mosul and in Amman. He looked Middle Eastern, wearing a dark suit and with a long beard, I’m sure it was the same man.’
‘I remember that man in Amman,’ said Jack all of a sudden.
‘You saw him?’
‘I saw you watching someone ‘ he said.
‘What if he is part of a Muslim sect trying to retrieve the tablet for their own purpose? Who else grows such beards?’
‘The Amish?’
She giggled. Jack had a wonderful way of taking the tension out of the worst situations with a joke.
‘And Noah is referred to over 40 times in the Qur’an; he is an important figure in Islam.’
‘So what? You sound like some people I know: they’re wearing headscarves, so they must be terrorists!’
‘OK. I’ll tell you another story. According to Muslim belief, the ark is supposed to have circumnavigated the Ka’ba in Mecca before the waters of the flood receded.’
‘You’re kidding right?’
‘No. And another tradition holds that Noah’s grave is in the mosque in Mecca. Maybe my research has attracted the attention of a Muslim group completely unrelated to Oberon Wheatley.’
‘Maybe. But even if you’re right, these guys haven’t made a move, so, let’s concentrate on what we know.’
‘Oberon obviously believes the tablet would be worth millions if he could use it to forecast events ahead of competitors.’
‘Using the calculations you spoke of?’
‘Maybe. The other really weird element is that the tablet relates the Jewish moralistic view that humanity turned evil and was in need of radical cleansing through annihilation.’
‘Yes, you have told me about that before, but what do you make of it?’’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Maybe it’s a rebus of some sort. You know, like a code?’ Jack said.
‘You sound just like my student Hassan right now.’
‘I’m really starting to warm up to that boy!
After a few miles he got off the road, stopped at a small petrol station, and parked near the restaurant area.
‘Let’s take a break. I can’t see anything ahead with this rain. The weather’s awful. I don’t know about you, but I need a coffee and something to eat.’
‘I do too, but don’t you think Oberon could get his hands on the tablet before us?’
‘No, not in this weather. Besides, he thinks you’re at the bottom of the sea. Remember?’
They ordered coffee and two goat’s cheese sandwiches and sat down.
‘I’m famished. I haven’t eaten since lunch yesterday.’
Mina froze, hit again by an onslaught of memories of the events that had lead her to be rescued by Jack from the depths of the sea.
‘Thank you for saving my life Jack… twice.’
‘Let’s not make too much of a habit of it. I value my own life too you know.’
‘Hmm. So, mystery man, tell me about you.’
‘What do you want to know?’
‘Are you really an engineer?’
‘Yup. The army realised early on I had a special aptitude for maths, so they enrolled me in their engineering and water management courses.’
‘How long were…Are you still in the army?’
‘I joined in my late teens, and sort of quit a few years ago.’
‘Sort of?’
‘Well, I quit officially but since then I’ve participated as an independent contractor for certain missions.’
‘Like a mercenary?’ She asked, taken aback.
‘If that’s how you want to see it, yes. But it isn’t really like that. It’s well paid and I can choose my missions and work with people who won’t screw them up.’
Jack seemed to hesitate but then added, ‘I’ve also worked for non-military agencies over the years for which I received special training, but that’s all I can say about them.’
Mina let the information sink in and then swiftly changed the subject.
‘So, why did you quit the army?’
‘For a number of reasons but mainly because the job felt repetitive. I’d go in with a team, do the job, and leave. I never exchanged a word with civilians on the ground. One day I woke up and just felt that people and missions had become figures and statistics.’
‘Were you only stationed in Iraq?’
‘God no. I’ve worked in many hot spots: Bosnia, Somalia, on the Thai-Burmese border, you name it. But I spent the last few years in and out of Iraq. I heard of the many water-related humanitarian projects, like the one at the village where you met me. I had engineering knowledge and the military training to pull it off. I saw an opportunity for change and I quit.’
‘I’m glad you made that choice. I may never have met you otherwise.’
‘It felt good, you know; I felt in touch with people again, not just fellow soldiers. Your arrival changed everything. I was suddenly catapulted back into special forces mode.’ He winked and added, ‘but it wasn’t all bad.’
After a silence, Jack said, ‘I hope when all this is over we can go for a stroll in the moonlit desert. I know a nice spot close to a village outside Mosul.’
‘I’d like that very much,’ Mina beamed.
It was time to get back to the van. They dressed up warmly with coats Jack had stacked up in the back, alongside sacks she did not dare ask about. ‘Probably more soldiering toys,’ she thought to herself.
‘Tell me more about the flood,’ Jack said when they were back on the road. ‘It’s obvious that it’s the root of all our problems right now. And what’s this Chinese oracle bone Wheatley spoke of? I’d love to see it for myself.’
‘The first thing you need to understand is that almost every ancient civilisation has its own flood myth.’
‘Don’t be so superior. Obviously there must be other flood myths around. Even today, there are floods all over the world, every day.’
‘I’m not being superior! God you’re touchy. There’s just so much to explain. I don’t know where to begin.’
‘OK. Just pretend I’m one of your pubescent students. I’m sure it will help to simplify all this.’
‘Now who’s being superior?’
‘Sorry,’ he said.
‘Alright. I’m not referring to floods in general. I’m talking about the flood, the original one. The flood story from the Bible that you know so well involving Noah and his ark is found in different variations all over the world: the Greeks, for example, have the myth of Deucalion and Pyrrha who survived the flood.’
‘Why would that Greek story be the flood?’
‘Funny you should ask that. Most Christian authors in Antiquity felt the same way, as if the flood was their very own and only made sense within their religious framework. St Jerome believed that the Greek flood was a local flood and not the primordial flood described in the Bible.’
‘I like that. You’re comparing me to a saint.’
‘Yeah, that’s wishful thinking. I’m pretty sure you’re no saint. I managed to do some reading on this subject last week, so let me tell you all about it while it is still fresh in my memory. No interruptions?’
Jack pretended to zip his mouth. She put on a serious air and explained, ‘There’s a Chinese Book called the Shujing, which was probably written around 700 B.C.E. It describes Emperor Da Yu controlling the flood waters that reached to the Heavens. Other parts of Asia have flood myths too. In Vietnam, the Sre people believe a horrific flood came from the sea and covered the earth, destroying everything. Of all humanity only a young man and his sister survived. They floated in a drum, and as the waters abated, they were left high and dry on the top of Mount Yang-La. In India, the flood story begins with terrible winds and rain which last a hundred years. Closer to home, the Native American Hopi explain that the swelling of the primordial river brought about the flood after everyone had become evil and gone mad during the ‘first world’: young men would make love to old women, old men with young girls, people killing each other, people becoming sick, etc. Then comes the flood. In South America, the Aztecs believed that humanity was devastated by a flood during the Fourth sun. All survivors were transformed into monkeys.’
‘Amazing. What about other continents? Africa, for example?’
‘In Africa, Bantus believe that a genie called Nzondo first provoked a terrible flood, at the origin of river Zair, and then disappeared. Should I go on Jack?’
‘OK. But if everyone has a primordial flood story, obviously some global physical disaster must have that triggered it? Was it a destructive comet?’
‘Maybe it is the mythical expression of the end of the Ice Age and the coming of global warming.’
‘I see what you mean… the amount of melted ice must have caused tremendous floods all over the planet.’
‘Who knows? The Sumerians, Hebrews and the Native Americans saw the flood as a punishment for human wickedness, but for others, it marks the unavoidable end of a Golden Age and the passage to darker times.’
‘Thank you Professor.’
‘You’re welcome, young man. What I don’t understand is what Oberon told me before he… he…’
It was no use, she burst into tears again. Jack stopped the car on the side road. He unbuckled his seat belt, turned towards her and stroked her hair as he spoke to her in a deep and soothing voice.
‘Hey. You’ll be alright. Just focus on one thing — you’re still alive. You beat him.’
He gave her a tissue to dab her lip, which had started bleeding again.
‘Mina, what were you saying before? What didn’t you understand?’
She breathed in deeply and said ‘Why a Chinese text would mention the existence of five tablets from Mesopotamia.’
He thought about it for a moment, ‘It beats me. We should ask a specialist when we are back to the US.’
As they drove higher in the foothills, Jack slowed down considerably, because the rain had transformed into sleet, and visibility was much worse than at the outset of their trip. Including their half-hour stop, they had already added an hour and a half to the route.
‘We should be getting quite close to Safed now,’ Jack said eventually. ‘I hope the sky will clear. I’ve visited the north a few years ago with a friend. I’m sure that from the top of this hill you can see the Golan Heights to the East and Mount Hermon to the North — you know people ski there, but it would probably be cheaper for Israelis to fly to Switzerland.’
‘I didn’t know about Mount Hermon. Around here, what you can see for sure is Mount Meron, the burial place of Shimon Bar Yochai, the author of the Zohar, the mystical book of the Jews.’
‘The what? I thought their sacred book was the Bible? The Torah?’
‘The Zohar is a mystical book and central to the study of Kabbalah. It is said that people who aren’t trained long enough in the study of the Torah and try to read and understand the Zohar, will lose their mind in the process. It’s a dangerous book.’
‘Come on, Mina. We’re grown ups. That’s a bedtime story.’
‘I’m not joking. This is what I’ve read. I don’t know much about Kabbalah but it seems that this saintly man, Bar Yochai, was fleeing the Romans in the 1st century C.E. He hid himself in a cave. He eventually emerged enlightened and wrote this magical book. Well, that’s the story anyway. Some scholars think Bar Yochai was a bit like Homer with the Iliad and the Odyssey; you know, a sort of mythical writer ascribed to a book that is actually multi-layered and written over a long period of time by many authors.’
‘I’m sorry, I’ve heard this magical stuff all over the planet; India, South America and even back home with the Mormons and their golden plates. I simply don’t buy it.’
‘Well, you’d better buy it fast because we’re almost in Safed, kingdom of Kabbalah. And it isn’t popstar Kabbalah either. It’s the real deal.’
After twenty more minutes of driving, they finally saw Safed’s hill. As they approached, they were gradually entranced by the calm atmosphere of this ‘magic’ mountain. How better to describe a place which rises almost 3,000 feet above sea level, surrounded by forests and the purest of air, so conducive to meditation and clear thinking? By this time, the entire city was covered in a white mantle of snow. Mina thought of the kabbalists’ belief that the Schechina or the Manifest Presence of God rested above the city. With so little water in the Promised Land, this vision of purity must have felt to some like a divine presence. After all, did not certain sages believe that the Messiah would appear first in Safed before travelling to Jerusalem?