The Moses Legacy

Chapter 103

‘How far are we?’ asked Daniel.

‘We’re nearly there. When we get to the crossing, let me do the talking.’

‘Is there likely to be a problem?’ asked Daniel.

‘Strictly speaking we’re too late. But leave it to me.’

Daniel noticed that Gabrielle had been strangely silent for most of the journey. It was as if Sarit’s very presence bothered her. And because they were in Sarit’s car, it meant that Sarit was in control.

‘There’s something I don’t understand,’ said Daniel. ‘You said that they knew about the spores from Harrison Carmichael’s translation of the Book of the Straight.’

‘Yes.’

‘Well, I could understand if you said, The Book of the Wars of the Lord. I found some references to it there. But we’ve just translated the Book of the Straight and it didn’t have anything about that. It didn’t even mention the plagues at all. It described a power struggle in Egypt covering the period of Joseph and his son, when the Israelites were first enslaved.’

‘Look, I’m not an expert in biblical history or anything like that,’ said Sarit. ‘I can only tell you what I know from my briefing. Carmichael obtained a parchment copy, translated it after many years of effort and it was sent for peer review. The professor delayed publication and passed on the information to the rest of his cell and they’ve been sitting on it because they didn’t know where to look for traces of the spores.’

‘What do you mean sitting on it?’

‘Well, the manuscript described how the plague swept through the Israelites, prompting their decision to abandon the place where they were staying and cross into the land of Canaan. But it didn’t say where exactly they’d been staying on the other side of the Jordan River, so the New Covenant didn’t know where to look and couldn’t make much use of the information. But once that dig started in Sinai, they saw a possibility. They figured that the Israelites must have been carrying the spores on their clothes even before the outbreak, because of the sixth plague that affected the Egyptians.’

‘And that’s why the volunteers and the curator got ill,’ said Daniel.

‘Exactly,’ Sarit replied. ‘They were monitoring the dig and they got all excited when the stones were found. That implied that it was a site where the Israelites had been. Then when the kid Joel got ill, that confirmed it. From then on, they’ve been trying to get a sample of the spores and we’ve been trying to stop them. When he locked you in the cave, it wasn’t you he was after, it was your spare clothes in your bags. You were merely expendable.’

Daniel was looking at Gabrielle inquisitively.

‘Gaby?’

‘ What? ’

Daniel couldn’t tell if the tone was aggressive or defensive – maybe the former to cover the latter. But he noticed a single tear on one of her cheeks.

‘You kept feeding me clues.’

‘What?’ Gabrielle replied.

‘When we were trying to identify the papyrus from the museum in Cairo, you suggested that if it wasn’t the Aswan High Dam then it might be another public works project. That’s what pointed me in the direction of the Suez Canal.’

‘But it was you who suggested Aswan in the first place and you who came up with the idea that it was the Song of the Sea.’

‘But whenever I faltered, it was always you guiding back to the right path. Before I translated The Book of the Straight, there was a brief moment when you handled the clay jar container and I remember it very briefly disappeared from view.’

He had been hoping – praying – that he was wrong. But the fleeting look of fear on Gabrielle’s face was enough to tell him that he was right.

‘What are you saying, Daniel?’

‘I used to be an amateur magician when I was younger, and you also had an interest in the subject for a while.’

‘So what are you suggesting? That I magically changed the content of the papyrus?’

‘No, Gabrielle. I’m suggesting that you substituted it for a forgery.’

‘That’s ridiculous! Oh, Danny, you can’t possibly believe that!’

Her tone had changed. She didn’t sound like a confident woman any more. That gushing, eager ‘Oh, Danny’ was the way she used to talk as an overenthusiastic teenager.

‘Can’t I? It wouldn’t have been so difficult for someone skilled in sleight of hand to make that substitution.’

‘No, but first they’d’ve needed something to substitute. In order to slip in a forgery, there first has to be a forgery to substitute.’

‘After I deciphered the script, after we came to Israel, we had enough time for you to create a forgery.’

‘On an ancient papyrus?’

‘I’ve heard of cases where they found unused or blank ancient papyri in Egypt. With your knowledge and prestige it wouldn’t have been hard for you to get hold of one. In fact, that would have given you even longer to work on the forgery.’

‘You’re forgetting, Daniel, that we jumped off the boat and arrived on that Israeli gunboat wearing nothing but swimsuits. That means I’d’ve had to get the ancient papyrus here in Israel. And as far as I know, you don’t have ancient papyri in Israel. Parchment, yes. Papyrus, no.’

Daniel thought about this for quite some time. Then he remembered. ‘The snorkel! I wondered why you needed it. And then when we jumped into the water, you had it but didn’t use it. You’re a competitive swimmer and if anything I would have needed it. I reckon it has a one-way valve and a stopper. You must have rolled up the papyrus and put it in there.’

Gabrielle smiled. ‘You’re very clever, Daniel. You’ve got it all figured out.’

‘Look, I don’t care about your seedy little academic secrets,’ said Sarit. ‘What you professors get up to in your ivory towers is the least of my concerns. But that’s the border crossing ahead and I need to stay focused, so I’d be grateful if you two would cool it.’