The Nostradamus File

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Ari Herzog's office was on the top floor of Shin Bet HQ in New Jerusalem. His rank rated a large room and a window looking out to the Old City and the Temple Mount, a sight he never grew tired of seeing. Ari was finishing up a report on an operation that had stopped four Hezbollah suicide bombers from carrying out an attack on the Mount. In some nations a success like that would have earned the man in charge a medal. In Israel, it was part of a normal day's work. Medals weren't important to Ari. The security of Israel was. He was good at it. That was reward enough.

His phone rang, the private number few had.

"Ari, it's Nick."

I wondered how long it would take. "Nick, how are you?"

"I've been better."

"I heard about what happened in Jordan. I was sorry to hear about your man. Will he recover?"

"He's doing okay. It'll be a while before he's back in action." There was a pause. "You know why I'm calling," he said. It wasn't a question.

Ari sighed. "You are on a secure line?"

"Yes."

"You are calling about the Ark?"

"Damn it. Ari, why didn't you tell us Americans were involved?"

"I wasn't sure."

"So it wasn't because of Weisner?"

"You've been busy, Nick." No point in denying it. "Yes, it was partly about Weisner. Also, as I said, I wasn't sure."

"We're supposed to be allies. You want Harker to keep you up to speed on the Ark, what we find, but you're not willing to tell me who might be behind it on our end? Come on, Ari, that's not going to fly."

"Your country and mine don't always agree. You know I will put mine first. As you must do with yours. I had specific orders regarding Weisner from the Prime Minister. I couldn't tell you. Now I can."

"So tell me."

"If Weisner is discredited, his party will lose the majority of their seats in the Knesset. It will fragment. That is a desirable outcome, from the PM's point of view. We need proof of Weisner's corruption, his collusion with your American banker. Then we will reveal it to the public. It would swing the election."

"This is all about politics?"

"Not entirely, Nick. The Ark is more important. I was confident you would discover the American connection, sooner or later. It seemed like a better way. Would you have believed me if I had told you I suspected one of the most important men in America was trying to kill you? That he didn't want you to succeed?"

"Probably not. But we would have followed up on it. You didn't trust us to keep the part about Weisner to ourselves."

"I apologize, for what it's worth."

There was a brief pause. "All right. Accepted. We'll move on."

"What have you discovered about the Ark?"

"We still don't know where it is. There's a Templar connection. It could even be part of a bigger hoard, if it exists."

"The Templar treasure?"

"Yes."

"You realize what it would mean to find that?" Ari said.

"Aside from the fact that I wouldn't get to keep it? Yeah, I understand. It'll kick up a shit storm. Especially if the Ark is part of it."

"That may be the understatement of the year," Ari said.

After a few more minutes of conversation, Nick signed off. Ari sat for a few moments, thinking about the Ark. Thinking about the Americans. Then he paged Lev.