‘Somewhere in the southern desert,’ she replied. ‘The clues in Revelation point to the route of the Exodus.’
‘Which clues?’ asked Rothschild.
‘The ones relating to the Woman of the Apocalypse. The reference to “the moon under her feet” I think meant the Wilderness of Sin, because Sin was—’
‘A Semitic moon god, yes,’ Rothschild interrupted. She went to the door and called to the aide. ‘Excuse me? Do you have a bible?’
A copy was quickly procured. ‘Thank you,’ she said as the woman left. ‘Most Caribbean nations are extremely Christian, so I thought there would be one to hand. Now, let’s have a look at Revelation.’ She opened the book to its final section. ‘Chapter twelve, let’s see… “a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars upon her head”.’
Nina nodded. ‘The twelve stars are probably the wells of—’
‘The wells of Elim, yes. Nobody has identified the precise location yet, but the most likely possibilities are in the Sinai peninsula, which fits in perfectly with the following station of the Exodus on the coast of the Red Sea, most likely at the tip of the Gulf of Aqaba.’
‘And then,’ Nina pressed on, irritated, ‘they headed north towards the next station, Dophkah, which is—’
‘Timna, of course.’
‘Will you stop doing that?’
Rothschild looked down her nose at the younger woman. ‘I’m only trying to help, Nina. I thought my experience might be useful to you.’
‘She did work out that the statue was in that temple in Berlin,’ Eddie pointed out to his wife.
‘Anyone could have figured that out,’ she replied.
‘Cross didn’t.’
‘Anyone who isn’t an insane religious nut, then! But…’ her expression softened slightly as she looked back at Rothschild, ‘if you hadn’t done it, Cross would have gotten the third angel — and Eddie wouldn’t have found me. I’d be on my way to Israel at gunpoint by now. So… thank you, Maureen.’
Rothschild was surprised, but pleased. ‘Perhaps if your baby’s a girl, you might consider naming her after me?’
‘All right,’ said Eddie, seeing Nina’s eye twitch even at the humorous suggestion, ‘let’s get back to stopping this psycho, eh? The last angel’s somewhere in Israel — but where?’
‘There must be more of a clue to the location than simply being near a sinkhole,’ said Rothschild, checking the Bible passages again. ‘They’re not uncommon.’
‘I know,’ Nina said. ‘I’m sure there’s something more to the symbolism, but I don’t know what.’
The elderly woman tapped the page. ‘The whole section with the Woman of the Apocalypse is cloaked in symbolism. The moon under her feet, the twelve stars… so what about the sun? “Clothed with the sun” — what could that mean?’ She read on. ‘And then there’s verse fourteen: “The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness.”’
Nina remembered the verse. ‘Cross told me the repetition of the reference to a location is what made him think the woman is the key to finding the angel. It appears in verse six as well as fourteen.’
‘So the whole thing is a clue…’ Rothschild put down the book, she and Nina both staring intently at the text. ‘The wings of an eagle. That has to be relevant… the wings of a eagle.’
‘What about ’em?’ Eddie asked.
‘She’s given wings to reach the place prepared for her… Nina, which version of the Bible was he using?’
‘The King James,’ Nina told her.
‘This one’s the New International, so there are differences in the translation. If I remember, the King James says that she goes into “her place” rather than “the place prepared for her”.’
Eddie cocked his head. ‘Is there a difference?’
‘There’s a huge difference,’ Rothschild replied. ‘The location is hidden behind symbolism, remember. It’s the same place as in verse six, but this time it’s referred to specifically as her place, the woman’s place. But where is that?’
He smirked. ‘I’d say the kitchen, but I know Nina’d hit me.’
‘So hard you’d wish you felt as good as the last time you got shot,’ his wife confirmed. ‘But yes, that has to be symbolic. What would be a woman’s place that could also represent a physical location?’
The two women were briefly silent, deep in thought — then, to Eddie’s surprise, Nina’s cheeks flushed. ‘What’s up?’ he asked.
Her expression was one of distinct embarrassment. ‘Well, it could be something a woman has that, ah, a man doesn’t. A kind of, um, sacred passage.’ Her face became even rosier.
Rothschild arched her eyebrows. ‘Really, Nina, you’re such a prude. She means a vagina,’ she explained for Eddie and Seretse.
Eddie laughed. ‘Yeah, I know. But thanks for saying it out loud!’
‘Indeed,’ Seretse added.
‘Yes, okay, we’ve all had our little joke,’ Nina snapped, not amused. ‘But that could be what the symbolism represents. The angel is in a place prepared by God, somewhere holy, sacred, that’s reached through the so-called woman’s place. A passage leading to somewhere safe from where her child emerges, but also where the dragon is forced to wait outside.’
Rothschild read from the Bible. ‘“The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born.”’
‘Yeah. You can interpret the dragon however you like — Satan, the armies facing the Israelites, whoever — but for whatever reason, he can’t get into this place. Why not?’
‘The wings of an eagle,’ said Rothschild. ‘The wings are symbolic too. This passage or canyon, whatever it is; it might seem that it can only be reached by an eagle. It’s high up.’
‘Easy to defend,’ Eddie added. ‘If you’ve got an army after you — or a dragon — you want to be above them and make them come through somewhere narrow. If you’ve got a good defensive position, you can hold off a much bigger force for ages.’
‘If it’s high up,’ said Nina with sudden excitement, ‘then Cross’ll be looking in the wrong place!’
‘How so?’ Seretse asked.
‘Because he’s looking for sinkholes, based on the verse about the dragon releasing a river and the earth swallowing it. He thought — I thought — that meant the Place in the Wilderness must be in a river valley. But if Maureen’s right, it would be higher up. Possibly much higher, if you need wings to reach it.’
‘So how did the Israelites reach it?’ said Eddie.
‘It’s only symbolic. The Castle of the Eagles in your favourite movie isn’t literally full of eagles, is it?’ Ignoring his amusement at how the plot of Where Eagles Dare would change if that were the case, she addressed the phone. ‘Oswald, Eddie told me he came over here on a UN-chartered jet — can you get one to take us to southern Israel?’
What sounded suspiciously like a resigned sigh came over the speaker. ‘I thought you might ask. I had already arranged for it to be refuelled for you.’
‘Thank you, Oswald. And we’ll need access to the IHA’s databases en route — maps, terrain, all the archaeological and historical files we have.’
‘We?’ echoed Rothschild. ‘I thought you’d resigned from the IHA, Nina.’
‘I just keep getting dragged back there, don’t I?’
‘I shall arrange for whatever you need,’ said the United Nations official.
‘You might not be able to get everything we need,’ said Eddie. ‘But I’ve got a mate in Israel who can sort out the rest.’