The Moses Legacy

Chapter 54

He came through for me, Goliath was thinking as he wandered aimlessly after leaving the hospital. Once again, he came through.

Goliath couldn’t imagine what strings Senator Morris had pulled to get the police off his back, but whatever it was he had done it. He had known for some time that the senator chaired several powerful committees and that this gave him an enormous amount of influence on Capitol Hill. Some of these committees dealt with foreign affairs so that no doubt gave him a certain amount of clout with foreign governments.

But it was still an awesome feeling, knowing that he had a man with so much power behind him, giving him both guidance and support. It was like having one’s own pit bull. Except that this was a pit bull of international proportions.

Yet the intense pleasure of this feeling was dampened by the sobering thought that once again he had failed. Time after time on this sacred mission, he had tried to serve his mentor, and each time he seemed to be failing ever more spectacularly. It was as if God was punishing him for some unspecified sin, instead of rewarding him for his loyalty and devotion. He knew that good works did not in themselves make him one of God’s Elect. That was in the gift of God alone.

But God chose his elect by looking into their hearts and choosing them for their sincerity. If God was now spurning his efforts, did that mean that he was not sincere? Did it mean that his motives were tainted by impurity? He had killed the wicked – and those who stood in the way of God’s work. That was surely no sin, and even if he had faltered, he had never once thought of personal gain.

And yet now, once again, he had failed. Mansoor and the others were not dead. Daniel Klein and Gabrielle Gusack were not only alive but free and on the run. Their whereabouts were unknown not only to him, but also to the police.

And who was that woman on the road who had thrown the petrol bomb into the jeep? Was she trying to kill him? Or had she thought that he was Daniel or the Egyptian? Was she trying to kill them too?

A thousand questions and no answers. Still he had failed. He hadn’t even managed to get a sample of their clothing and that had been his main task. Killing them had been secondary. He didn’t even know why Morris wanted him to get the clothing. All he knew was that it was God’s will. And although they had left their travel bags in the jeep, the jeep had gone up in flames, taking their belongings with it, including the clothes that he had intended to take in accordance with Senator Morris’s instructions.

But how could he do it now that Daniel and the others had escaped? Did Senator Morris still want him to? Or had the plan been overtaken by events?

He had just purchased a smartphone with Internet capability, like Daniel’s, and thought about contacting the senator to ask him. But that might not be wise. The fact that the senator had intervened on his behalf did not mean that he had done so openly. He might have pulled strings behind the scenes or called in favours from others. The senator had once told him not to mention his name. That probably meant that he operated through third parties and did not like to expose his involvement directly. If Goliath now blew the cover of his patron and mentor might that not be yet another failure? Another breach of his duty? Another mistake?

No, he had to assume that Arthur Morris still wanted him to do what he had told him to do before. And that meant he had to find Daniel Klein and Gabrielle Gusack. As to the other woman – the one who had tried to kill him – he would deal with her later. They had told him her name when they came to warn him that she had escaped: Siobhan Stewart. So at least he had something to work with when the time came. For now, he had to concentrate on finding Klein and Gusack. But how?

He remembered the tracer program that he had planted in Daniel Klein’s phone. Was it still working? Easy enough to find out.

He switched on his newly-purchased smartphone and logged on to the search site with his UserID and password. It gave the ‘last known location’ of Daniel’s phone as the Nile Valley, near Luxor. That made perfect sense. If Daniel was trying to avoid being found by the Egyptian authorities, then he would keep his cell phone switched off. Everyone knew that people can be traced by their cell phones. When a man knows that he is wanted by the police then that is the time to switch off his phone or even get rid of it. As long as Daniel didn’t know he was being tracked, it was not a problem; but now that he was on the run from the Egyptian police, Daniel was presumably taking elementary precautions. And those precautions would also stop Goliath from doing a live trace.

But then Goliath had another idea. A man on the run wouldn’t want to be completely cut off. Of course, he might buy a new cell phone, as Goliath had. But maybe – just maybe – Daniel was switching on his phone temporarily in order to retrieve his messages? That in itself might facilitate tracking by way of giving updated last known locations.

That also afforded another opportunity. It meant that Daniel Klein could be reached. And maybe there was a way of getting through to him. What if that fear could be turned to Goliath’s advantage? What if he could prey upon that fear to lure Daniel into a trap?

He knew now what he had to do.

He called Daniel using his new smartphone and heard a standard message for voicemail. He deduced from this that Daniel was one of those people who was too lazy to create a personalized message: the proverbial absent-minded professor.

‘Hallo, Professor Klein… this is Mr Carter, the man you met on the aeroplane, the rather talkative man as you probably remember me. I’ve just seen a report about you on television, effectively accusing you of all manner of crimes and misdemeanours; and I have to say, having met you, that it sounds like a load of baloney! I’m sure this is all a misunderstanding and I’d like to help you. I am, as you know, a man who is not without means, and I would like to put those means at your disposal. If you could contact me as soon as possible, I can go about arranging lawyers for you both locally and in Britain. My number is…’

When he rang off, he was confident that he had baited the trap. How could a desperate man without a friend in the world, not respond to an offer to help like that one?