Again she went to work on the computer as Bennett and Erin waited impatiently.
“That’s strange,” she said after a moment.
“What’s that?”
“The passage from Deuteronomy… it’s not complete.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean it begins in chapter 11, verse 26, and runs through the first phrase of verse 30. But in between, it’s missing several key words and phrases.”
Again Natasha bolted out of the room.
“Where are you going?” Bennett shouted after her.
“Hold on! I’ll be right back,” Natasha yelled back.
A minute later, she was back with Miriam’s personal laptop. She set the two computers side by side. On one, she pulled up a portion of the scroll text.
On the other computer, she pulled up Deuteronomy 11:29–30.
Natasha pointed to the English text on the first screen, and then to her notes on the second. “See where the scroll’s author writes ‘you are to proclaim’—then there’s an extra space—‘the blessings, and’—then there’s another extra space—‘the curses’—then another extra space — then the phrase ‘as you know.’”
The Bennetts nodded.
“Now look at the actual biblical text,” said Natasha. “The full sentence should read, ‘You are to proclaim on Mount Gerizim the blessings, and on Mount Ebal the curses.’ But in the scroll version, the words ‘on Mount Gerizim’ and ‘on Mount Ebal’ are missing from the text.”
“That is odd,” said Bennett, studying the passage more closely.
Then Erin said, “Wait a minute. Gerizim and Ebal—those are mentioned in the Copper Scroll.”
“They are?” asked Bennett, surprised but pleased that Erin was thinking clearly enough to recall such an obscure detail.
Natasha nodded and looked impressed. “Somebody was doing her homework. You studied the translation my grandfather gave you and Jon back at the Jordan Archaeological Museum in Amman, didn’t you?”
Erin nodded.
“Gerizim and Ebal are two mountains north of Jerusalem and due west of where we just discovered the Key Scroll,” Natasha said. “Line 61 of the Copper Scroll refers directly to Mount Gerizim.”
She pulled up a digital image of the Copper Scroll on one laptop screen and the English translation of line 61 on the other. Bennett read it aloud.
“You’re sure it’s talking about the same mountain?” he asked.
“The spelling is different,” Natasha noted. “But yes, that’s it.”
“So could those be the mountains where the treasure is buried?” he pressed.
They all looked at each other with anticipation. They were on to something.
“They could be,” said Natasha. “After all, if what we’ve got really is the Key Scroll, then whoever wrote it came up with a pretty ingenious code for keeping the treasures secret.”
Bennett wasn’t sure he followed. “Meaning?”
“Meaning it would take someone who has a tremendous knowledge and understanding of the Holy Scriptures to break this code,” Natasha explained. “They would have to be able to find this scroll. Then they’d have to be able to read it, which means they would have to be able to read Hebrew, and not many Romans could. Then they’d have to know that the words in the scroll were actually Scripture. And even if they did realize that the text was Scripture, they would still have to figure out that each paragraph was a different portion of Scripture and that certain phrases of those Scriptures were missing. Then they’d have to know where each portion of Scripture was found so they could accurately identify the missing phrases. And, of course, they’d have to do it all without the aid of computers.”
She was right, Bennett realized, and his anticipation began to grow.
53
SATURDAY, JANUARY 17–10:20 a.m. — THE ROAD TO BOSTON
“Code in.”
“Sigma delta niner, alpha five sigma.”
“Stand by for authentification… . Okay, go ahead. You are connected.”
“Viggo, we have a problem,” said Indira Rajiv as she headed toward Boston.
“No, we don’t,” said Mariano. “We’ve got them.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Rajiv.
“The Bennetts and the Barak girl — I’m telling you we found them.”
“Where?”
“They’re holed up in a house in Tiberias,” said Mariano. “We picked up their trail as they were coming out of the tunnel in the Golan Heights. My team and I followed them here. We’ve got them under surveillance. I just got off the phone with Farouk and Al-Hassani. They want me to camp out here until the Bennetts make their next move.”
Golan. So her hunch had been correct. “Did they find the Key Scroll?” she asked.
“They did,” Mariano confirmed. “They’re decoding it now. We’ve got laser microphones trained on the windows. We’re listening to everything they’re saying.”
“Have they figured out where the treasures are yet?” asked Rajiv. “Or the Ark?”
“No, not yet, but they seem to be getting close,” he assured her. “By the way, thanks for the tip. I still can’t believe they actually asked you about Donovan and Harkin. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.”
“I know,” said Rajiv. “Once I got the e-mail, I knew they were headed to the Golan. I didn’t know exactly where, of course, but I guess you guys took care of that.”
“When do you think they’ll contact you?” Mariano asked. “They may need your help again.”
“That may be a problem,” said Rajiv.
“Why?”
“I’m on the run.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“They’re on to me,” Rajiv explained. “The president found out yesterday morning that I’m one of only seven people within our government who knew about Doron’s Temple project. He doesn’t know it’s me. None of them do. But it was only a matter of time.”
“How much time?”
“If I’d stayed, I’d have been in jail by nightfall.”
“Where are you now?”
“Trying to get out of the country.”
“Can you make it?”
“I think so,” she said. “I’ve got a decent head start. I left a message for my boss that I wasn’t feeling well and was going to a doctor’s appointment at noon. I said I’d be in sometime in the afternoon.”
“But it’s Saturday,” said Mariano.
“They don’t care,” said Rajiv. “It’s the CIA.”
“What about your husband?”