The Moses Legacy

Chapter 62

‘I’m telling you she’s dangerous.’

The professor had asked to meet Senator Morris in private. The senator had been unsure why but had agreed to fit this meeting into his busy schedule.

‘Why? She’s always supported us in the past.’

‘Never without voicing dissent.’

‘She’s cautious; that’s just her nature. But she’s always supported us. She just tempers her loyalty with caution – that’s what women do.’

‘There are too many things going wrong for Goliath. First at the hospital when he didn’t get the clothing sample from that boy, and then he botched the attempt to get the clothes from Klein and Gusack and they even got out alive.’

‘What are you saying? That she’s making things go wrong from thousands of miles away?’

‘I think she may have told someone.’

‘That’s ridiculous,’ said the senator. ‘The boy from the dig died of the plague and Goliath drew attention to himself at the hospital by talking to a nurse. He might not have got the clothes anyway. They probably had them incinerated as a precaution.’

‘And what about the gasoline bomb attack on Goliath in the jeep?’

‘Could it be the work of Islamic terrorists?’

‘I thought you said the embassy told you that a Western woman had been arrested for the attack?’

‘That’s right, an Irish woman. And I’ve since been told that she escaped.’

‘Well, that doesn’t sound much like an Islamic terrorist to me.’

‘The IRA worked with the Libyans. Maybe they’re doing the same for the Muslim Brotherhood – possibly in return for being allowed to train in the al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan.’

‘I thought the IRA had given up on terrorism.’

‘There’s always fringe movements and breakaway factions.’

‘Why would they hire a woman from a fringe faction of the IRA to do their dirty work? Instead of using a local who knows the terrain?’

‘Perhaps because she’d be less likely to arouse suspicion.’

‘But why would they target a foreigner driving peacefully on the road at night?’

‘To harm the tourist industry?’ the senator suggested. ‘To damage the regime perhaps?’

‘If they wanted to damage the tourist trade they’d do something more spectacular than attack one man in a car. They’d plant a bomb at a hotel or something.’

The senator realized that the professor’s rationale made sense. It was suspicious that a young Irish woman had attacked Goliath with a Molotov cocktail on the road in the Nile Valley. But he was a long way from drawing any firm conclusions about the loyalties of Audrey Milne.

‘You may have a point. Look, I’ll keep her out of the loop for the time being and we’ll see how this plays out. Just don’t say anything to her to give her the slightest impression that she’s under suspicion.’

The professor nodded. The senator was about to say more when his cell phone rang.

‘Hallo.’

‘Senator Morris.’

‘Yes?’

‘It’s John Pryor here from the embassy in Cairo. Listen, I don’t know any easy way to break this to you but I’m afraid I have some bad news about your daughter-’

‘No!’ screamed the senator, before the ambassador could even finish the sentence.

He flung the cell phone across the room and sank to his knees, sobbing into his open hands with grief.