‘Keep going.’
‘If I do, the security people will shoot us.’
‘Why?’
‘They’ll think we’re carrying explosives. Get out of the car.’ Miriam opened her door and got out. A hail of bullets took out the front-passenger-side tire, and the taxi settled heavily on the ground, like an old dog lying down. She reached back into the vehicle, captured Lourds’s arm, and yanked. ‘Get out of the car now!’
Temporarily overpowered, Lourds flailed, then slid across the bloody seat on top of Miriam, pinning her to the ground under him.
‘Sorry.’
Before Miriam could reply, the professor pushed up off of her, got to his feet but remained hunkered down, and opened the rear passenger door. Bullets sprayed the flaming rear of the taxi. Instead of going away, the flames had spread, taking hold of the vehicle. As Lourds reached into the backseat, the fire spread to the rear tire, burning through the wall to let the air out, and the vehicle sagged again.
Miriam got to her feet. ‘What are you doing?’
Lourds pulled back from the taxi. He slung his backpack over one shoulder, held the thick book, their passports, and his journal in one hand, and clapped his hat on his head with the other.
Miriam silently cursed. In her efforts to save them, she’d forgotten about the book. But Lourds hadn’t. She reached out and took his hand, yanking him into motion as they ran away from the burning car. More bullets smacked into the taxi as they ran, and a moment later either the fire got to the gas tank or the bullets did.
The taxi exploded and leaped into the air, then came crashing straight back down. The concussive wave knocked Miriam and Lourds flat on the pavement.
Briefly stunned, Miriam gathered her whirling senses and struggled to get to her feet. Before she could stand, someone planted a hand in the middle of her back and shoved her back down again. She rolled over and the sun shone into her eyes, turning the men standing over her into painful silhouettes. Behind them, black smoke coiled up from the burning taxi and other vehicles, staining the blue sky.
She moved her head slightly and brought the man into view. She recognized the airport security uniform at once and felt relieved.
Beside her, Lourds sighed. ‘Thank God that’s over.’
39
Lourds sat in the quiet gloom of the first-class cabin and blinked blearily. He hadn’t known he’d gone to sleep. The first thing he did was to make certain Lev’s book was still in his backpack at his feet. It was. Then he noticed that someone had covered him with a blanket.
At his side, Miriam Abata kept sleeping. She had turned sideways facing him, one arm tucked up uncomfortably under her chin like a child. He didn’t know how she could sleep like that. If he had, he’d have awoken stiff and hurting.
Glancing around, he found a bottle of water in the armrest, uncapped it, and took a sip. Then he leaned down, took the book from his backpack, took out his journal, and settled back to work. He felt eyes on him. When he looked back at Miriam, she had her eyes open.
‘Sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you.’
‘It’s okay. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.’ She sat up and rubbed her eyes. ‘Guess I’m not a very good lookout.’
‘On the contrary, I think you did an exemplary job yesterday. But I’m beginning to think we should have restructured our trip to Tehran. Neither one of us is going to be much use for this morning’s meeting.’
‘Speak for yourself.’
Lourds smiled at her. ‘Actually, I’m not sure if we should stick to our schedule at all.’
Miriam suddenly looked more alert. ‘Why?’
‘I’ve been thinking about the attack at the airport.’
‘What about it?’
‘I don’t think that was a typical terrorist attack.’
‘Is there such a thing as a typical terrorist attack?’
Lourds shook his head and grinned wryly. ‘Of course not. But I’m thinking maybe the attack was aimed at us.’
‘Believe it or not, Professor, not everything is about you.’
‘I know. But I saw the media footage of the attack while we were in Istanbul. It’s already on YouTube. From what I saw, those men were coming straight for us.’
‘We were the only ones there in a taxi. Perhaps that marked us as a target of opportunity. Outsiders. Tourists. Killing Americans always makes a big international news splash. That’s what terrorists want.’
Lourds couldn’t argue that point. The media was already erupting with news of the attack. It was currently in the top ten on Twitter. ‘I’d think someone in a limousine would have made a better target.’
‘People in limousines tend to have more defensible vehicles and security guards.’
‘True.’ Lourds scratched his goatee. ‘We were fortunate the Israeli army was arriving. Otherwise, there would have been no help at all.’
‘Then we should count our blessings.’ Miriam’s gaze dropped to the book in his lap. ‘How are you coming on with the translation?’
Lourds shrugged and opened his journal. ‘If you just read the text, you don’t see anything eventful.’ He cleared his voice and started to read. “The prophet of God said: ‘While I was sleeping within the wall of the Ka’ba, Gabriel came to see me and kicked me with his foot, so I sat up, but not seeing anything, I lay again on my bed. He kicked me then once more, and I sat up and did not see a thing, so I lay back on my bed. He then kicked me a third time, and I sat up, whereupon he pulled me by the arm, and I rose, and went to the door of the temple. There was standing a white beast, between a mule and an ass in size, with two wings on its thighs, digging its hind legs in and placing its forelegs as far as it can see. Gabriel carried me on the beast, and we went together at the same speed.’ So the Prophet of God journeyed, and with him also Gabriel, until they reached the temple in Jerusalem. He found there Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, among other prophets, and he led them in prayers. Then he was given two vessels, one filled with wine and the other with milk, so the prophet of God took the vessel with milk and drank it, leaving the vessel of wine. Seeing that, Gabriel said to him: ‘You were guided to the true religion [Islam] and so was your nation, for wine is forbidden unto you.” This is all pretty much relayed in any version of the Koran you’d care to peruse.’
‘You have a wonderful reading voice.’
Startled, Lourds looked at the young woman. ‘Thank you.’
‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to distract you.’ Miriam looked embarrassed. ‘But we already knew the surface reading wasn’t extremely helpful.’
‘I know. It’s just frustrating because I know the answers Lev was looking for are somewhere in these pages. I just can’t seem to find them.’
‘Yet. Remember, Professor Strauss also believed Professor Namati has a cipher key that will unlock this book.’
‘Perhaps.’
‘You said the man who wrote this book was Yazid Ibn Salam.’
‘Right.’
‘All I can remember about him was that he had something to do with the Dome of the Rock.’
Lourds smiled. ‘Dear girl, not just something to do with that building. He was involved in the engineering of the Dome of the Rock, and he certainly cocontrolled the purse strings with Rajah ibn Haywah.’
‘What do we know about Salam?’
‘Not much. He’s almost a shadowy figure in history.’
‘Sounds suspicious already.’
‘Yes.’ Lourds chuckled. ‘What historians are fairly sure of is that Salam was born into a local Jerusalem family. Haywah was deeply enmeshed with the political doings in Palestine.’