Solomon's Gold

CHAPTER 15

Tel Ba'er Sheba was a large hill located a few miles away from the Arab town of Tel-es-Saba. The biblical city covered about fifty acres and dated back to the rule of King David. Centuries of sand had buried it, but now it was reemerging. Excavations had revealed an extensive network of streets and buildings, laid out in a grid. The town had once been fortified by a high wall, parts of which still stood. The lower part of the wall was composed of large rocks, the upper section of sand colored bricks.

Abraham's well was right outside the city gate.

They parked nearby and walked to the well. It was surrounded by large stones laid in a circular pattern. Two wooden posts held up a shed roof of sticks that provided minimal shade. A few tourists stood nearby, talking.

Nick peered over the edge of the stones encircling the well. "How deep is it?"

"About two hundred feet," Rivka said.

"Must've been fun digging this baby," Lamont said.

"How do they know this one is Abraham's?" Selena asked. "There are lots of wells here and in Beersheba."

"It's in the right place," Rivka said.

She pointed at the remains of a tamarisk tree about twenty feet away. The tree was in poor shape. It was still alive, but most of what had once been a thick, branched trunk had been removed. It looked as though it had been there a long time.

"You see that tree? According to Genesis, Abraham planted that by his well. It's as good a reason as any to say this is the well that he dug."

"We have to start somewhere," Nick said. "Let's assume we're in the right place. The first marker is somewhere nearby."

"The scroll said to look where the water gathers," Friedman said. "Do you think it means inside the well?"

Miriam had been quiet since her question about terrorists. Now she said, "If it is, how are we going to find it? I don't think anyone is going to let us climb down in there."

"I wouldn't put something down inside the well," Selena said. "If I were leaving a clue, I'd put it where it could be seen by someone who knew to look for it."

"That makes sense," Ronnie said.

"There's a large cistern here," Rivka said. "Perhaps that's what was meant. A place where the water gathers."

"That has to be it," Nick said. "Where is it?"

"I can show you," Rivka said. "There's a stairway leading down to it. Part of it is closed off."

She turned to Gideon. "Gideon, you stay here with the vehicles and the weapons. I don't want to leave them unguarded."

"No problem. I've been here before. It's not like I'm missing anything."

Rivka led them to a booth near the cistern. They paid a fee and were issued hardhats, required for everyone who wanted to explore the ancient waterworks. Then they approached the steps. The stairway down to the cistern was steep and uneven. A wooden railing had been installed along the outside of the stairs. The steps and walls were made of fitted stone.

They descended with care, keeping a hand on the railing. Selena felt her calves straining as they went down and felt thankful she was still in shape. She wondered if they were going to have to climb back up, or if there was another way out.

At the bottom of the steps, a tunnel led into the cistern itself. They ducked under the low entrance and came out inside a cavernous space carved from solid bedrock. Strategically placed lights illuminated the cistern.

"This is something," Ronnie said. "A lot of work went into this."

"I wonder how much water this thing held?" Nick said.

"A lot," Lamont said.

Friedman examined the walls of the cistern, looking for anything that might constitute the clue they were looking for.

"I don't see anything," he said. "If there was something here, it's been covered over. The plaster that's left on the walls has been repaired."

"It would've been too easy to find it right off," Nick said. "Besides, we might not be in the right place."

"Where else would it be?"

"How does the water feed into this?"

"There's an aqueduct. It channels rainwater in."

"Let's go look at that," Nick said.

"The exit is over there," Selena said. "I'm glad we don't have to climb up those steps."

They mounted a series of low, wooden platforms that led to a door set in the side of the rock. They opened the door and emerged into the sunlight. Nick squinted in the sudden glare and put on his sunglasses.

Rivka led them to where an aqueduct had once funneled winter rains into the cistern. The opening was blocked with a heavy iron grill. The ground was covered with loose rock and rubble. It sloped down sharply to the opening.

"I'm going down there," Nick said.

"Watch your step," Ronnie said.

"Yeah."

Nick half walked, half slid, down to the grill blocking the way in. Large rocks encircled the opening. He took out a pocket flashlight and shone it through the grill. The light reflected off rough walls that tunneled down into the cistern. The lower part of the walls were worn smooth from the passage of water over the centuries, but the upper section was much as it had been when it was first dug, three thousand years before.

"I see something carved high up on the rock," Nick called. "It looks like an eye."

"An eye? Describe it," Friedman said.

"Like I said, it looks like an eye. An eye shape with a dot in the middle."

"That could be ancient Hebrew."

"The letter ghah," Selena said.

"Exactly," Friedman said.

"What does it mean?" Ronnie asked.

"If it's the letter ghah, it means to watch or to know."

"Figures," Lamont said. "It's an eye."

"Can you see anything else, Nick?" Friedman said.

"Nope." He moved his light around. "That's all there is."

He put the light away and scrambled back up on all fours. He stood and dusted off his pants.

"It was carved in the rock, up high, above the waterline."

"It doesn't help us much," Friedman said.

"I'm not so sure about that," Selena said. "It's from the right timeframe. The scroll was written in ancient Hebrew, so it's consistent with that."

"So how does it help?"

"If this is the first marker, it could be telling us to watch for something."

"Yeah, but what?" Nick asked.

"The second marker? I guess we'll have to follow the rest of the instructions to find out," Selena said.

Back at the vehicles, Nick pointed at a dirt streaked motorcycle parked near the well.

"I haven't seen one of those in years," he said. "It's an old English bike. A Triumph."

"I didn't know you liked old motorcycles," Selena said.

Nick laughed. "There's a lot you don't know. I had a bike when I was at school, before I got into the Marines. That one was a Norton. It was faster than hell, bigger than this one."

As they drove away, the man who had been following them took out his cell phone.