The Boudicca Parchments

Chapter 15

Haredi Jews did not ordinarily watch television. Indeed by and large they didn’t even own television sets. But Baruch Tikva was not one to be straight-jacketed by tradition. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing in Halacha — Jewish law — that prohibited ownership of television sets as such. The reason that ultra-orthodox Jews avoided owning and watching them was because of the content. They might see something that would corrupt them or tempt them with lewd thoughts — such as an excessive displays of female flesh. The same was true of the internet.

But Baruch Tikva knew that they lived in the modern world and that the internet was a powerful device for outreach. Whilst Shomrei Ha’ir did not believe in proselytizing among the Gentiles, they did believe in forming political alliances with anti-Zionist groups and conducting anti-Israel propaganda whenever they could.

So Baruch Tikva had a Samsung Galaxy with internet connectivity to enable him to stay in touch with the outside world, to find out what was going on and to communicate with useful allies abroad. He also used it to watch Sky News and keep abreast of current affairs as they affected the cause that he believed in.

And it was while he was watching Sky news, that he saw the report about the man who had been arrested in England connection with the fire at the house in Ashwell. Baruch Tikva’s father had told him very little about what was going on and the name Sam Morgan was not mentioned in the report. But two names were mentioned. One was Martin Costa and the other was Daniel Klein. The reason he recognized these names was two-fold. Firstly, Klein had been in the news last year as a result of his adventures in Egypt and Jordan that had nearly led to a diplomatic incident. Klein had even been hailed as the “saviour of Israel” after it was revealed that he had helped prevent the release in Israel of some deadly virus, the details of which had never been fully explained.

But that of course was Zionist Israel, not the true Israel. That was the treacherous Israel that had betrayed the teachings of the Rabbis.

There was however another reason that the name stuck in Baruch Tikva’s mind. That reason was because his father had told him that Sam Morgan was supposed to kill Daniel Klein. And when Baruch pressed his father on the subject, his father had confirmed that it was the same Daniel Klein as the one who had been in the news.

But watching the news now he was seeing a very interesting report about British police arresting a man over a fire at a house or barn in an English village. According to the report, a man called Martin Costa had been killed in the fire and the man whom the police were questioning was Daniel Klein — the same Daniel Klein who had been in the news last year over the Egyptian affair.

But that made no sense!

Sam Morgan was supposed to kill Daniel Klein and Sam Morgan was now in Israel, having just brought something to Baruch Tikva’s father. Did that mean that Sam Morgan had left England without killing Daniel Klein? And if so then how would be able to do so now? If Klein was in police custody, then how would it be possible for Morgan to kill him?

And why had Klein been arrested? Who was this Martin Costa that he was supposed to have killed? Baruch Tikva vaguely remembering the name Martin Costa also cropping up in conversation with his father.

But what was going on?

Baruch wasn’t sure, but he knew one thing: he had to tell his father.