“It’s usually no contest in a firefight, at least, not with us anyway. But you can’t defend against a brainwashed nut job strapping on explosives and walking into a restaurant or mall. With better intel and advanced technology, we’re getting more adept at picking those people out. What really scares me is the possibility of one of those morons getting their hands on a nuclear bomb. I only hope they realize that, if they ever attack us with a nuke, we’ll turn their country of origin into a sheet of melted glass.”
“The problem today is trying to figure out who the bad guys are,” Ariella said, wringing the water from her hair. “We have the usual suspects all around us, but they don’t always represent a country in the traditional sense. The days of huge enemy armies marching across our borders are over. I’m afraid that one day a small group in a cave somewhere will get their hands on a bomb and we’ll have no one to retaliate against, giving them free reign to do it again.”
“Ariella’s probably right,” Gabriella said. “Attacking their country of origin could be counterproductive, especially if you’re dealing with someone like Bin Ladin who even hates his own country. I think the real problem is the hatred and evil that exists in the world today, and it would take an act of God to change that.”
Gabriella looked down at her watch and sighed as she noticed the time. “I guess we need to think about heading back to camp."
Amid the groans and child-like pleas for “just a few more minutes,” the group slowly made their way back to the aircraft. The magical time spent at the oasis had ended, and soon, they were flying back to their hot, dusty camp in the middle of the Negev Desert. The break had allowed Alon and Nava to reconnect and pushed Ariella and John into the realization that they were now more than just friends.
The sun was setting as the chopper set down outside the camp perimeter. Lev cast a slightly disapproving glance at the group as they emerged in their damp clothes, but nothing was ever mentioned about the outing. He was glad to see that his daughter had finally found someone she was interested in. It was time for her to begin to find her own way in the world and not feel obligated to watch after him all the time. He turned back toward the camp and uttered a silent prayer for the safety of everyone who had willingly come to this place in the desert to unearth a mysterious object in God’s name.
The night was much like the night before, except that the young people had built a tall bonfire and were singing and dancing out in the cool dry air of the desert. Two more generators and extra floodlights had arrived, and the new crew members would be working throughout the night at the excavation site. Alon was going from person to person, checking IDs, running laser fingerprint scans, and reporting back to Moshe. He wasn’t going to be burned twice.
After dinner, Ariella took a brief nap and was up again at midnight. She drove alone in a jeep to the dig and found her father checking on the staff’s progress. Lev was standing next to Leo and Daniel at the edge of one of the trenches, looking at a diagram of the site, and work around the excavation was now at a fever pitch. The floodlights created an oasis of light in the middle of a sea of sand as the sound of the generators and the backhoe working nearby made it impossible to speak in a normal tone and the staff had to shout to be heard.
“Where’s John?”
Lev cupped a hand over one ear. “What?”
Ariella raised her voice a few degrees. “I said, where’s John?”
“Oh. He’s asleep back at the camp. We didn’t want to wake him. Some of us need to be fresh for the next shift.”
In the darkness of his tent, John awoke and fumbled for his shirt and pants. He stretched, laced up his boots, and grabbed his backpack. Standing outside, he paused to breathe in the cool desert air while gazing up into the black sky overhead. He marveled at the sheer numbers of brilliant stars above. The night seemed especially full of stars in this part of the world. He looked around the camp at the remaining embers from the bonfire and thought of coffee. The mess tent was dark, so he decided to head out on foot in the direction of the lights at the excavation site in the distance.
Walking out into the desert, John stumbled along in the darkness, mindful of the numerous holes and crevices he had seen during the day and wishing he had remembered to bring a flashlight. He was halfway to his destination when he first heard the sound. Was that an animal?
A low, guttural growl flashed from out of the darkness. Raised on a ranch, John knew the sound was not the usual snarl of any carnivore he had ever heard before. He quickened his pace. The growling seemed to follow him. It was almost directly behind him as he looked over his shoulder and began to run toward the floodlights. He could see nothing in the darkness around him as he ran as fast as he could over the uneven terrain, but the growling was louder and getting closer. He could almost feel the warm breath of exhalation on his neck as his boot caught on a rock and he stumbled forward.
He landed in a shallow rock-strewn hole and lay motionless in the sand as the snarling seemed to come from all directions. John lifted up to his knees and spun around in a circle in a frantic attempt to locate the predator. His heart was pounding, and his breathing was coming in short shallow gasps. Calm down!
He picked up a rock and clenched it in his hand. Peering in the direction of the lights in the distance, he realized no one knew he was out here in the dark all alone.
The snarling and growling grew even louder as he raised his head a few inches above the edge of the crevice. The distant lights of the camp were suddenly blotted out by something in the darkness. A shape. Something was definitely there.
He ducked back down into the shallow depression and lay on his back, staring at the stars. The brick in the backpack dug into his skin as he fought to control his fear. Any moment now, the thing out there would be on him. A bright light suddenly flashed in his face.
“What are you doing down there in that hole with that rock?” It was Alon, his flashlight shining in John’s face. “And where’s your security escort?”
“I didn’t know I needed one.”
“You do now. New rule. We had a security breech yesterday, and if you leave camp, you have to have an escort for your own safety.”
John stood up and brushed the sand from his shirt. “Did you hear an animal growling out here?”
“No. I still want to know what you were doing in that hole.”
“I tripped. How did you know I was out here?”
“The security post back in camp saw you leave and radioed me you were on your way to the excavation site.”
John was starting to wonder if he had imagined it all. “I’m sure I heard an animal growling.”
“I don’t know of any big animals out here in the desert. Nothing for them to eat. Come on. I’ll take you to the dig. We’ll have some coffee. Our guys brought some Starbucks. I love that stuff, especially the Italian roast.”
They were walking toward the lights when a geyser of dust shot up into the air from the center of the excavation. Alon and John could hear shouting and see people running toward the cloud of dust hanging over the site while their radios came to life with a constant stream of excited chatter. The lights of the camp behind them began coming on one by one, providing even more evidence that something big had happened. Alon and John began to run.
John was trying to keep up with the former Special Forces soldier who was shouting into his radio and rapidly leaving him behind. “What is it Alon? What’s happened?”
“The backhoe just disappeared into the ground. Come on. We need to hurry. Someone might be hurt.”
Arriving at the dig, they saw a large group of people standing back from a huge hole in the ground that had just opened up and completely swallowed the backhoe and its operator. The piercing lights of the backhoe could be seen shooting skyward, resembling searchlights at a grand opening, while the sound of the diesel motor could still be heard revving wildly below.