The Atlantis revelation

50

With a full-blown national emergency under way, Commander Sam Deker of the Israeli Shin Bet had no trouble assembling the elite five-member counter-terrorism unit known as the Yamam. They were beneath the temple in under six minutes.

They gathered inside the top-secret Map Room, itself a national secret. The chamber looked like a flight briefing room, with theater-style seating for six in front of computer consoles and a nine-by-twenty-four-foot curved screen with 160-degree views. Each officer carried the standard M4 assault rifle with a Glock 21.45 sidearm.

"We all follow the plan used in the Taibe raid a few years ago," Deker told them. "We're to capture or kill an armed group hidden in the tunnels below us and secure a device that may be nuclear in nature before it goes off. I cannot overemphasize how grave this threat is to the Temple Mount and the very existence of Israel."

High-definition three-dimensional images of the tunnel system filled the screen. In addition to live security feeds, the computer models used military flight-simulator technology to enable virtual remote viewing around the tunnels. Gellar in particular preferred a remote hookup. Being Orthodox, he refused to walk the holy limestone tunnels himself, leaving it to impure types like Deker.

"Four security zones make up the Temple Mount in descending order: this Map Room, Solomon's Hall, the King's Chamber, and the four River Gates region. We pair in three teams of two. Team One stations itself here. Team Two stations itself in the King's Chamber and monitors access to the River Gates. Team Three patrols the tunnels. Shoot to kill anybody who is not in this room. Should you exit the tunnels alive, you will not speak of this again."

The faces he saw understood him perfectly. Yamam forces specialized in both hostage-rescue operations and offensive takeover raids against targets in civilian areas such as the Temple Mount. Most of their activities were classified, and their success was credited to other units. Most important to Deker, they answered to the civilian Israeli police forces rather than the military, although most came exclusively from Israeli special forces units.

"Let's go," Deker said.

As the unit prepared to disperse, the officer who had been paired with Deker called him over to his console. "There's something you should see, sir," he said.

Apparently, the officer had been curious enough to research the construction of the Map Room and had called up the names of the A-list experts who had consulted on the project with the Israel Antiquities Authority and the UCLA Urban Simulation Team in the United States.

The top archaeologist on the list was Conrad Yeats.

"Looks like Yeats kept or cut a tunnel or two for himself," Deker said, red-faced. "If it's not on the map, it's not on the camera. We're going to have to move out with the others."

"There's more, sir," the officer said. "The shaft plugs to secure the tunnels were manufactured by an Israeli company based at the Tefen Industrial Park. It's a subsidiary of Midas Minerals amp; Mining."

Deker frowned. "The Midas conglomerate?"

"Yes, sir. And it appears that General Gellar has an interest in the Tefen subsidiary. What does it mean?"

Deker heard a thud and turned to see two Yamam on the floor and the rest gasping for breath. He smelled almonds in the air and realized it was cyanide gas. The door to the chamber was closing from the top down, and Deker knew that anybody trapped inside would die.

"Gellar has betrayed us!" Deker shouted, and made a flying leap for it.