Nablus
Y usef Sartawi struggled against the suffocating force of someone holding him down. He tried to get free and called out twice before he woke up, soaked in sweat. Tears fell again as he relived the massacre of his family.
Yusef looked at his watch. Four. He woke at this time most mornings, and knowing that he would not get back to sleep he made some coffee and once again pondered the capitulation of his brother to the infidels. September 11 had shown what Islam was capable of, Allah be praised. Now the prospect of a peace deal with the Israelis tormented his soul, but the peace deal was not the only thing that was bothering him. He had to meet with Giorgio Felici and he was not looking forward to it. Felici, Yusef knew, would not have taken too kindly to the botched grab on the scroll or the survival of the scientist, but the plan for the journalist was in place and they would try for the scientist again. Yusef had suggested they meet in a park where it would be hard for anyone to eavesdrop, and a meeting under the shadow of the Knesset held a nice irony. ‘My clients in Rome are very unhappy about the loss of the Omega Scroll,’ Felici said darkly. Now that he had the scroll, Giorgio Felici had no intention of handing over any of the Vatican’s money.
Yusef’s lean, tanned face and dark eyes remained inscrutable.
‘And they are even more unhappy that you have so far been unable to dispose of the Italian scientist.’
‘This target is not easy to hit. She is part of the Prime Minister’s circle now, although our girl got very close and the scientist will not be so lucky next time.’
‘And you have the journalist under surveillance?’
‘His SIM card is now inside an identical phone that’s packed with explosives. If it becomes necessary, the journalist can be eliminated easily.’
Giorgio Felici sniffed derisively. ‘The contract on the Omega Scroll will not be paid out until you deliver, but there is a way for you to redeem yourself and an opportunity for you to secure even more funding for your cause.’
Yusef listened while Felici gave him the details of the new contract on the Italian cardinal. ‘But there is a condition,’ Felici warned. ‘It must be carried out as part of an attack on the peace ceremony and the Israeli Prime Minister.’
Yusef did not respond immediately. Unbeknown to Giorgio Felici, Yusef had already given the assassination of Prime Minister Yossi Kaufmann a great deal of thought, including the possibility of destroying the peace ceremony, and he already had the beginnings of a plan. Up until now he had lacked the critical resources to ensure its success.
‘Such a contract would be extremely difficult and very expensive,’ Yusef said, knowing better than to ask why the infidels would want one of their clerics assassinated. ‘Security will be very tight. The area around the Damascus Gate will be locked down tighter than Ben Gurion Airport. With the right explosive I might get a suicide bomber in past the cordon but I doubt a suicide bomber would get close enough to the main party before being brought down. Just killing a few Israeli soldiers would be a failure.’
‘A light aircraft?’ Felici asked.
Yusef shook his head. ‘I have considered that. We have a pilot who is more than willing to avenge the death of his wife but I am keeping him for another day. The Damascus Gate target is too well guarded for that. Our aircraft could only take off from either Lebanon or Jordan. There is an air exclusion zone around Jerusalem and as soon as our man deviated from his approved flight plan the Israeli’s F-16s would shoot him out of the sky.’ Yusef almost spat out the words, then he paused, a thoughtful look on his face. Now that his brother had joined the infidels, if the opportunity presented itself, Yusef had decided to kill him. This plan might achieve that as well, but Yusef knew he would have to be in close, which meant that he might be killed too. He also knew that his plan would only work if he could get the right explosive, an explosive that was very hard to source. Now, Allah be praised, perhaps there was a possibility and Yusef would earn his place in heaven.
‘This can still be done,’ Yusef said finally, ‘but it will be a very high-risk operation. There will need to be substantial compensation.’
‘Of course,’ Giorgio responded. ‘What did you have in mind?’
‘I will need at least six kilograms of Semtex.’
‘Does it have to be Semtex?’
Yusef nodded. ‘It’s the only explosive that I would have any hope of getting in, and even then my plan will require some subterfuge,’ he said, without elaborating. ‘Semtex is extremely stable and it is hard to set off accidentally. It can be moulded into virtually any shape you want, which in this case will be critical. Most importantly, it is odourless so sniffer dogs can’t detect it.’
‘Can it be detected at all?’ Giorgio asked, impressed by his Palestinian contact’s professionalism but already thinking ahead to the problems of getting explosives into Israel.
‘Yes, if you bathe it in neutrons. The equipment for that is very expensive and unless the Israelis have some intelligence it is unlikely to be present, even for the peace ceremony.’
‘How tightly are your plans held?’
‘This particular plan is held strictly on a need-to-know basis. You have a rough outline because without you I can’t get the Semtex,’ Yusef responded coldly.
Giorgio Felici had only known the Palestinian through coded messages, but he felt a growing respect for the man.
‘Anything else?’ he asked.
‘Twenty million dollars. Over and above expenses and payable in advance,’ Yusef answered.
‘That is a very large amount, my friend.’
‘It’s in keeping with a very large risk,’ Yusef replied, his face expressionless. ‘Hamas is no different from any other organisation. If we are to continue to fight, we need funds.’
‘The Italian scientist is likely to be at the peace ceremony?’ Felici asked, returning to the original target.
‘In the front row,’ Yusef replied. ‘It is possible that we may catch her in the net as well,’ he added, reading Giorgio’s mind.
Before Giorgio Felici left for Rome he left a coded message for Cardinal Petroni. The Semtex would need to be provided through one of the Vatican’s companies that manufactured explosives and delivered in the black bag.
Jerusalem
‘A big concession,’ David said as he waved to the well-wishers in the hospital foyer and escorted Allegra to the waiting government car. ‘I’ve given Onslow the day off.’
‘You said that almost wistfully,’ Allegra chided him.
‘Well, half a day. We’ll pick him up at my place.’
‘Our place!’ Allegra whispered, elbowing him in the ribs.
‘How do you feel? Fully recovered, I’d say,’ David said, massaging his midriff.
‘Raring to go. The laboratory after lunch?’
‘Well, sort of,’ he replied with his trademark grin.
After lunch they drove towards the Old City heading for Bishop O’Hara’s.
‘Where are we going?’ Allegra asked, when she realised they weren’t heading for Mount Scopus.
‘All will be revealed,’ David said with a strange look on his face.
They were met at the door by the irrepressible Sister Katherine.
‘David! Allegra! Come in, come in. I’m so glad you’re all right, Allegra.’ The words tumbled over one another as she led them up the stairs.
‘Allegra!’ Patrick greeted Allegra with outstretched arms. ‘We’ve all been worrying sick. Sister Katherine and I were coming to the hospital today but they said you were fine. It does my eyes good to see you on your feet.’
‘I was very lucky, Patrick, thank you. Not my turn to go, I guess,’ she added with a smile. ‘Although I’m a little puzzled as to why we’re here when there’s so much work to do.’ Allegra looked quizzically at David.
‘May I, Patrick?’
‘To be sure, David. It’s been as safe as houses here.’
David walked over to the large painting on the wall and lifted it gently onto the floor, revealing an ancient wall safe. He dialled the combination and took out two large envelopes that Allegra recognised instantly.
‘Only two?’ she asked, a look of concern on her face.
‘The Gospel of Thomas and the Omega Scroll.’
‘I don’t understand. What happened to the Isaiah Scroll?’
‘The morning of the bombing I got a call from Yossi. One of his contacts in Mossad let him know that it was possible the scrolls were under surveillance at the laboratory so I enlisted Patrick’s help and brought him into the loop.’
‘Giovanni and I talked about the Omega Scroll often, Allegra,’ said Patrick, ‘and he told me about what happened to John Paul I. The fragments were never going to be safe at the university, there are just too many people who have access to the laboratories.’
‘The shifty-eyed lab assistant?’ Allegra asked, turning to David.
David nodded. ‘Found dead in a garage in Tel-Aviv, interestingly enough, along with a CIA agent. A Mossad car was shadowing them both but was hit by a truck when it ran a red light. Whoever has the envelope with the Isaiah Scroll in it thinks they have the Omega.’
‘So there is more than one group after this,’ Allegra observed.
‘Yes, and while any one of them thought we had it, they would be watching us like a hawk. I marked an envelope with the omega symbol but I had to have something to put in it, something that would fool them as long as possible, so I sacrificed the copy of Isaiah. We had hoped that Mossad would retrieve it, but… well, no security service is perfect, I guess,’ he said, a note of disappointment in his voice, ‘but at least the original Isaiah is still in the Shrine of the Book.’
Allegra smiled. ‘Quite the conspirators, you two,’ she said. ‘This is probably the last place anyone would think of looking.’
‘In a previous life I was one of Nebachadnezzar’s spies,’ Patrick said with a chuckle. ‘I’d love to stay but I’ve got an appointment across the road,’ he said, inclining his head towards the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. ‘Although I’m looking forward to finding out what’s in the Omega Scroll.’
‘That’s going to take a while, Patrick,’ David said. ‘Thanks for making your lounge room available.’
‘It’s interesting that more than one group is after this,’ Allegra said after Patrick had left. ‘Although I’ve got a fair idea who one of the groups is.’
David nodded. ‘Petroni and his boys. They may still be watching us, so we’ll dummy up some stuff so that it looks as if you’re still working on fragments in the lab, although if they think we’ve no longer got the Omega, the heat will be off for a while.’
‘How long will it take to put the Omega fragments together?’
‘Hard to say, but now that the scrolls have been separated, our task will be a lot easier. Yossi tells me they’re planning the peace ceremony for two months’ time, which is still well before Lonergan gets back, so hopefully we’ll be close by then.’
‘Should we get the other fragments back to the vault?’
‘Plenty of time. I’d rather wait until we can replace the three pieces of the Omega Scroll that were taped to the lid of the box and do it in one hit. I have a friend who restores old books and parchments. One of his skills is copying documents and making them look old. In this case very old.’
‘You have some interesting friends,’ Allegra said, rolling her eyes.