The Omega scroll

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Qumran

N either David or Allegra could contain their excitement any longer and David eased the rock from the front of the cavity in the cave wall. Both of them gasped.

‘My God, David. It’s another urn.’

The rough clay pot had stood on the concealed shelf since the destruction of Nehemiah’s Temple. David carefully lifted the urn and gently placed it on the floor of the cave. Not quite 30 centimetres high, it had been sealed with the same bowl-like lid as the others that had been found over forty years before. David took his penknife and carefully sliced through the seal of soft black pitch. He reached into the jar and took out a roll of faded yellow linen that had started to disintegrate. Inside was a leather bundle.

‘Allegra! It’s another scroll.’

Allegra nodded, speechless. The earlier discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls had been hailed as the greatest archaeological discovery of the twentieth century. Allegra wondered whether this might be its equal in the twenty-first.

‘Someone’s gone to an awful lot of trouble to hide it,’ Allegra said, her heart rate slowing.

‘The problem is,’ David mused, ‘how do we get it out of here without someone seeing us.’

‘Interfering with the property of the State?’

‘I’m more concerned that we don’t start a stampede of Bedouins out here armed with pickaxes and mattocks. I’d rather keep it quiet until I’ve done the translation and we can see what’s in it.’

‘What if one of those Israeli patrols stops us on the way back. If they search the vehicle…’ Allegra said, thinking out loud.

‘We can’t leave it here!’ they said together.

‘Snap!’ David said with a grin. ‘I guess we’ll just have to risk it and hope that Captain Shagnasty and his boys out there aren’t in too much of a checking mood. In the meantime, we’d better try and make this cavity look as if it was part of the original find,’ he said, reaching for his brush.

They certainly would not have been done for speeding. David’s driving was uncharacteristically sedate as Allegra cradled the priceless cargo. Yusef Sartawi followed at a discreet distance, allowing a big truck to get between him and his surveillance targets. One thing was puzzling Yusef. When the pair had returned from the ruins, the Israeli had seemed extremely cautious in handling his satchel.

As David and Allegra passed the turnoff to Jericho an open-backed Israeli truck loomed from the opposite direction, two heavy machine guns trained on Onslow’s windscreen. Allegra held her breath. The truck cruised slowly towards them, the Israeli soldiers suspicious and alert, then just before the soldiers drew level they seemed to relax and the truck went past.

‘Israeli plates help,’ David said. ‘Not to mention my stunning artwork on the doors, although just because it says Hebrew University is no guarantee. These guys have learned to take absolutely nothing at face value.’

Six more Israeli trucks scrutinised their progress but surprisingly none of them stopped. Just the same, Allegra was very relieved when they reached the Mount Scopus campus and they got their priceless cargo safely into their office in the laboratory.

‘It’s in Aramaic,’ David said after they had carefully laid the scroll out on the desk. A look of confusion shadowed his face. ‘It looks like an inventory. Why would the Essenes go to such lengths to hide an inventory?’ His confusion was replaced with astonishment as the reason for the urn being hidden from the rest became apparent.

‘Allegra,’ he said, looking up from his magnifying glass. ‘This is not only the complete list of scrolls, this scroll contains the precise locations of all the caves in Qumran that the Essenes used to store their library.’

‘That explains why it was so well hidden,’ Allegra said. ‘If anyone found this it would automatically lead them to all the other documents.’

‘Exactly.’ David’s grasp of Aramaic was unequalled by anyone else in the field and he translated it as easily as he might have from Hebrew into English. He frowned as he read the titles and locations of the scrolls, and then he whistled softly. ‘The Omega Scroll! There are three copies listed here.’

‘Which makes it far more important than any of the others,’ Allegra said.

David rubbed his eyes. After two hours spent deciphering the inventory in the scroll his initial exhilaration was replaced by disappointment.

‘The three copies of the Omega Scroll are listed, but from what I know of Qumran and the caves, all of the caves on this list have been thoroughly explored already. How many were taken by the Bedouin and traded on the black market is anybody’s guess,’ David said. ‘This inventory just completes part of the puzzle. We’ve no idea where any of the copies of the Omega Scroll might be now, or even if they still exist,’ David said dejectedly.

‘But we do know they were written. Professor Rosselli knew and someone killed him before he got too close, and the Vatican has been pretty ferocious in keeping the scroll secret,’ Allegra said, thinking back to her conversations with Giovanni.

‘That protection might be as much to distance Christ from the Essenes as anything else,’ David said, still pessimistic. ‘It’s not widely known, but Christ’s use of the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount was not original. “Blessed are the meek” has an earlier form in an Essenes scroll, and “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven” came from the War Scroll found in Cave One. Christ’s Beatitudes of the Gospels were built on the Beatitudes found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Christ’s message in the Bible is not unique, and the Vatican will do anything to prevent that from coming to light.’

‘I agree with you,’ Allegra said, ‘and that is something carbon dating can resolve.’ She decided it was time to declare her hand. ‘The duplication of the Beatitudes would be enough to explain the Vatican’s extraordinary efforts to distance Christ from Qumran, but there is another reason. When I said to you earlier today that all would be revealed, it wasn’t me you thought you’d see.’

David grinned. ‘I thought my luck had changed there for a while.’ His face became serious as Allegra continued.

‘As damaging as Christ’s relationship with the Essenes and Mary Magdalene might be to the dogma, it is the Omega Scroll the Vatican fear the most. What I’m about to tell you will put someone’s life at risk, so it can’t go past us.’

David nodded.

‘You remember Giovanni Donelli?’

‘I met him at dinner at Patrick O’Hara’s. Is he still in the Vatican?’

‘He’s now the Patriarch of Venice. It’s his life that is at risk.’

David shook his head in disbelief when Allegra finished recounting Giovanni’s time with Pope John Paul I and his suspicions over Petroni.

‘They don’t muck around, those guys in scarlet. I won’t mention it, but when you’re ready you might think about bringing Yossi into the loop. He will give Giovanni every protection.’

Allegra nodded. ‘I’m sure he will and I’m sure he already knows that any challenge to the uniqueness of Christ or the dating of the scrolls in the Rockefeller will be denounced by Lonergan and the Vatican. The Omega Scroll is not a myth, and its existence will be met with a sustained fury and passed off as a total fraud. If we ever do find it, it might be better to have one of the Vatican’s own onside before any announcement.’

David laughed. ‘That’s a bit radical. Does such a creature exist? Apart from Patrick O’Hara?’

‘Patrick would do it, but they’d crucify him. He hasn’t got the academic cred, although he’d run rings around a lot of their Gregorian University types. But there is one who might.’

‘And where might they be hiding him? I presume it’s not a her!’

Allegra smiled. ‘No I think the old men in scarlet are threatened by women who go to university. Incongruously enough,’ she said, ‘it’s Giovanni who would do it.’

‘What makes you think the Patriarch of Venice would be part of any announcement, especially if his life’s at risk?’

‘It’s a long story but he’s a very wide thinker, and in a way it would give him some protection. If the Vatican wanted to get rid of him, they would have to think twice and not risk the heat of the inevitable inquiry uncovering the truth of the Omega Scroll,’ Allegra replied. ‘Giovanni has a towering intellect, although he hides it pretty well. Any more relaxed and he’d fall over.’

‘If you think he would do it, it’s worth a try because if we ever do find the Omega Scroll those bastards in the Vatican will pay whatever it costs to get hold of it before any theologian could comment on it, then it will just disappear into the depths of the Secret Archives,’ David said. ‘I guess we can hold off on announcing this inventory and that’ll keep Lonergan and the Vatican in their place, at least until we’re ready, although I’d love to know what’s in the Rockefeller’s vaults that made Lonergan so jumpy.’

‘I don’t think there is much hope of finding out,’ Allegra said.

‘I don’t know…’ David let his thoughts trail off, a conspiratorial look on his face. He carefully wrapped up the scroll and locked it in the office safe before they both headed off to David’s apartment for the dinner he had promised Allegra. Both were silent, acutely aware of the powerful consequences of their discovery.

David’s apartment was in Levi Eshkol Boulevard, not far from the Old City. It was on the top floor of an older stone building and had sweeping views across the lights of greater Jerusalem, out to the ramparts where King David had once governed.

‘I’m impressed, David. You’re quite the chef,’ Allegra exclaimed as David placed the dish on the table with a flourish.

‘Pesach cholent with stuffed eggplant.’

‘Pesach cholent?’

‘What I hope is very tender steak that has been slowly cooked with potatoes and eggs. Shalom,’ he said, raising his wine glass.

After dinner David and Allegra headed out onto the balcony with their coffee. The city was golden-hued and the inkiness of the night made the scene seem otherworldly. They leaned on the railing, relaxed and joking about getting on with their research and thinking of ways to infuriate Lonergan, making a deal that whoever got him to explode first had to buy the other dinner.

David bent low over Allegra’s hand making a show of sealing the deal with a theatrical kiss on her upturned palm. Allegra caressed his cheek and gently brought his face up to meet her gaze. David’s lips brushed hers and Allegra responded with an intake of breath. Her fear and apprehension of loving a man evaporated into the night air as David gently wrapped his arms around her body. She closed her eyes, capturing the moment. David’s lips pressed against hers and Allegra lost all sense of place. It was as though they belonged to each other and he knew how to make her head swim. His hands slid from her waist to her hips and he pressed her body against him. She began to kiss him back, urgently, passionately. David’s heart felt like it was beating in his throat, and he lost the power of speech. Keeping her close, David led Allegra back into the apartment towards the bedroom, the scent of her hair heightening his desire.

‘I haven’t done this for a very long time, David,’ Allegra whispered. Her body arched against his and they both melted into each other as they collapsed to the floor.

Allegra smiled as the message popped up on her computer screen. An email from Giovanni. Buongiorno Ho una sorpresa. I am coming to Jerusalem. I will be in Jerusalem for a few days next week. There is an interfaith dialogue conference where I will formally, if belatedly, hand over the reins to my successor and I’m to present a final paper on the Catholic Church’s response to Islam and Judaism. You will no doubt remember the Vatican politics. They’re still the same and the Veneto is a wonderful change. I had an email from my old friend Patrick O’Hara singing your praises – he says you’re doing brilliantly – nothing less than I expected. Dinner? Best wishes from your old friend, Giovanni.

After all this time they would finally catch up face to face. There had been plenty of emails but so often they had missed each other by a few weeks in different countries around the world. It was as if the universe had been keeping them apart. Allegra eagerly typed in her reply. Dinner would be wonderful. Would you like me to pick you up at the airport?

Giovanni’s reply came back immediately. Thanks but Patrick already has that in hand (no doubt in the other he will have a bottle of Irish whiskey). If you’re free on Wednesday night – I’ll let you choose the restaurant.

‘What are you up to?’ David asked as he came in. He bent down to kiss her shoulder.

‘Giovanni’s coming to Jerusalem,’ Allegra replied, turning her head towards him.

‘That’s great news. When does he arrive?’

‘Patrick’s picking him up from the airport next week and I’ve organised dinner for Wednesday night. Can you join us?’

‘Not for dinner. You two haven’t seen each other for years and you both need time to catch up, but I can drop you off in Onslow and I’ll join you for a drink. It will be good to see him again.’

‘I’m not sure he’ll be thrilled about a ride in Onslow but he’s Italian and I’ve always had a strong suspicion that’s where you learned to drive.’

Numero Venti was still only half full as Elie showed Giovanni and Allegra to their table by the window. A moment later a well-dressed Arab smiled politely to Elie and indicated he would like the table behind them.

‘David is a very charming man,’ Giovanni said, a touch of wistfulness in his voice.

‘And like you, he has many talents,’ Allegra said. ‘He hasn’t made up his mind but he told me the other night he is thinking of running for election in Yossi’s party.’

‘If he’s anything like Yossi he will be very successful,’ Giovanni said. ‘Yossi is probably one of the few politicians in Israel who can see that the present policy is never going to work.’

Allegra nodded. ‘Your friend Ahmed Sartawi has similar views and it seems that ordinary Palestinians are coming around to his way of thinking. Provided he can deliver a Palestinian State, he thinks the militant groups can be brought onside as well.’

‘In a way the death of Yasser Arafat was a circuit breaker,’ Giovanni observed. ‘Ordinary Palestinians are sick of the violence, as are the Israelis. Someone like Ahmed Sartawi would be a genuine hope for peace, as would Yossi.’ Giovanni thought back to the fishing trip. ‘I sent Ahmed my best wishes for the Palestinian elections and I’ve been praying for him.’

‘Will you see him while you’re here?’

‘I’d like to, but some of his more fanatical opponents might use it against him. Mar’Oth was an example of what can be done between Muslims and Christians but even there the change was gradual and people have to be given time to adjust. Are you sure David didn’t want to join us for dinner?’

‘Positive. He knows we needed some time alone to catch up.’ Allegra placed her hand on top of Giovanni’s. ‘I owe you an explanation, after all we’ve been through together. I feel that I’ve let you down as a friend.’

‘Well, you shouldn’t,’ Giovanni responded. ‘Especially after what happened.’

‘I hope you don’t feel guilty about that. It was a wonderful moment.’

‘I feel guilty that I wanted a lot more moments like that,’ Giovanni said with a lopsided grin. ‘I know you denied it, but I felt guilty when you left the Church so suddenly. Was that the reason?’

‘No, it wasn’t,’ Allegra said, the memory flooding back.

Giovanni’s smile disappeared as Allegra recounted the events of her dreadful night in Milano.

‘I’m so sorry,’ Giovanni said softly when Allegra had finished. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘I was in shock, Giovanni. I thought I’d let you down. It took a long while to put it all in perspective.’

‘Petroni must be punished for this. We’ve been hiding this sort of thing in the Church for far too long.’

‘I wish he could be, but it would be my word against the most powerful cardinal in the whole of the Catholic Church. The Vatican’s spin would be horrific.’

‘Yes, but more and more people are now coming out. Look at what has happened in Boston. The Church has been protecting paedophiles and other sexual deviants for years. Ultimately the rank of cardinal is not going to absolve anyone from responsibility. Would you be able to take the heat?’

‘If I thought we could bring him to justice, of course,’ Allegra answered defiantly.

‘Then we should give some thought to how that can be done. In the meantime, I may be able to get him on another front.’

It was the first time in all the years she had known him that Allegra had ever heard Giovanni plan to ‘get’ anyone.

‘Petroni and the Vatican Bank have been up to their old murky dealings,’ Giovanni said. ‘Do you remember I told you that just before he was murdered, Pope John Paul sacked his Cardinal Secretary of State?’

‘And was about to sack Petroni and investigate the Vatican Bank,’ Allegra said. ‘I remember it well.’

‘At the time, the Head of the Freemasons Propaganda Two was one Giorgio Felici, a Sicilian thug operating as a Milanese banker. He’s now the Head of P2’s successor, P3, but he’s also been expanding his banking business. We used to have a very profitable small bank in the Veneto, the Banco del Sacerdozio.’

‘The Priests’ Bank?’

‘It was set up after the Second World War by a group of wealthy Catholic Venetian bankers to provide low interest loans to struggling workers in the vineyards and it also provided loans for centres for the handicapped and destitute in the Veneto. Banco del Sacerdozio was one of the best run and most profitable banks in Italy and it was protected from takeover by the Vatican owning 51 per cent of the shares. Last month the shares were sold to Giorgio Felici and he has foreclosed on all the loans.’

Anger flashed in Giovanni’s eyes as he remembered the meeting he had attended the month before in a little vineyard, one of dozens nestling in the southern foothills of the craggy, snow-capped peaks of the Dolomites. A meeting that revealed the desperation and hopelessness that the locals were feeling, faced with the prospect that their livelihood and support of their families would be callously ripped away from them by a faceless conglomerate.

‘Had I known, I could have gone to the Pope and had the sale postponed,’ Giovanni said.

‘Can’t you still go to him now?’ Allegra asked.

Giovanni shook his head. ‘Several years ago Petroni was instrumental in Giorgio Felici being appointed as the Pope’s financial adviser so I need proof. I’ve started my own internal investigation and when I have enough evidence I will go to the Pope and insist on a full-scale investigation of the Vatican Bank.’

‘The Pope may resist that,’ Allegra observed. ‘Especially if he’s being advised by Felici.’

‘Felici has strong connections to the Mafia and the Church should sever any dealings with him,’ Giovanni said, a hint of steel in his voice. ‘In the past the Church has owned companies that have manufactured bombs, bullets and tanks, as well as contraceptives. The only criteria for owning shares has been profitability and I suspect we’re at it again. If the Pope will not do what is necessary to clean out this cesspool in his own backyard I will call for a public inquiry.’

For Giovanni it would be a last resort, but Allegra knew he wouldn’t hesitate.

‘The Lord sometimes moves in strange ways,’ Giovanni said grimly. ‘And who knows, if an inquiry were to result in Petroni being removed we might even be able to quietly prise the copy of the Omega Scroll out of its hiding place in the Secret Archives. After what he did to you he deserves to be imprisoned. Bastard.’

It was the first time Allegra had ever heard Giovanni swear. ‘Well, you wouldn’t want to know what I had to say to God,’ she said.

‘I think he’s heard it all before,’ Giovanni said, his smile recovering some of its warmth. ‘It cost you your faith?’

Allegra nodded. ‘Although just lately I can’t help but think there is something quite powerful around me. It’s just not Catholic.’

Giovanni smiled. ‘You haven’t lost your faith, it comes in many different forms.’

Allegra looked at Giovanni quizzically. ‘That’s a very strange thing for a cardinal to say,’ she said, smiling. Suddenly it was like old times at La Pizzeria Milano and they began to relax into each other’s company.

‘Not really. I’ve changed a lot since we were in Milano. My time here in Jerusalem and the Middle East gave me time to think and has taught me a lot. I met people like Ahmed who made me realise that they hold their faiths just as dearly as Catholics hold theirs. I think our doctrine of the Catholic faith being the “only true path” has done a lot of damage. By the time I left here I came to the conclusion that there is more than one path to the Omega and Eternity, and the Bible is but one of the guides.’

The Spirit smiled.

‘I did a lot of thinking too after Professor Rosselli was shot,’ Allegra said. ‘He was a great loss, not only to Ca’ Granda. What did you think of his theory on the origin of DNA?’

‘On the scientific evidence it’s more than possible, it’s probable, but like many of the world’s truly great thinkers, Crick and Rosselli were way ahead of their time. Most people get so caught up in their own problems that it is difficult for them to imagine other parts of our own planet, let alone that there might be higher civilisations somewhere in the billions of other galaxies.’

‘Capable of delivering one or more vehicles to other planets in the cosmos in the hope of starting life,’ Allegra responded. ‘I agree with you, when people are pushed out of their comfort zone they feel threatened and their immediate reaction is to denounce it all as nonsense.’ Allegra leaned forward and lowered her voice. ‘When you realised you could never prove that there was a copy of the Omega Scroll in the Vatican, you said to me “the truth will always out”. When Professor Rosselli was murdered, the pursuit of that truth became a quest for me, and now there has been a small frustrating step forward. I know you will keep this to yourself, but David and I have found another Dead Sea Scroll.’

Giovanni listened as Allegra quietly brought him up to date on their discovery.

‘That’s wonderful news,’ Giovanni whispered. ‘Even though it is an inventory, the confirmation that more than one copy of the Omega Scroll exists is a wonderful find within itself.’

‘The problem is, Giovanni, even if we do find another copy of the Omega Scroll, the Vatican will fight tooth and nail to get hold of it. And if they do, they’ll bury it. At the very least there will be a furious campaign to dump it as a fraud, and a lot of people will believe them.’

‘They will, so let me make you and David an offer. If you find it I will be more than happy to be with you at the announcement, wherever that might be, and I will personally ensure it gets an open debate in the Church. Later, when the Vatican least expects it, if the copy in the Secret Archives can be found, the Vatican will be forced to debate the truth.’

Allegra felt a little stunned. It was the very thing she and David had talked about and she had been wondering how she might raise such a delicate issue. Giovanni had come straight out with it. If anything, she had underestimated the intellect of this man, and just fleetingly, Allegra gave David cause to be jealous.

‘Won’t the Petronis of this world prevent you doing that?’ she asked.

‘Not if I just do it. It is time for the Church to allow intellectual freedom, otherwise the real message of Christ will be lost for ever.’

As Giovanni and Allegra left the restaurant and headed for the Old City and a nightcap at Patrick O’Hara’s, they were followed a little while later by the well-dressed Arab.

A short distance away Tom Schweiker was about to do a cross for the mid-afternoon bulletin in New York. The Vatican was showing no signs of giving ground on either the Dead Sea Scrolls’ dating or access to those who might be able to prove the truth.

‘Ten seconds, Geraldine… and live…’

‘And we’re joined now by Tom Schweiker in Jerusalem. Pressure seems to be mounting on allowing more light on the Dead Sea Scrolls, Tom.’

‘On two fronts, Geraldine. First, the dating of the scrolls and secondly, access. Earlier this week I put those questions to one of the internationally recognised academics in the field, Monsignor Derek Lonergan.’

For such a pompous blowhard, Derek Lonergan had seemed oddly reluctant to give an interview, but Tom had persisted, subtly appealing to Lonergan’s ego and suggesting that it would be a great loss if only one side of the story was heard. Lonergan’s ego was an easy target.

‘Monsignor Lonergan, for many years now you’ve been resolutely defending the Vatican’s dating of these scrolls as being two hundred years before the time of Christ, but the basis for that consensus is now coming into question. Do you still stand by those dates?’

‘Not a shadow of a doubt, my man. These scrolls are most certainly from the second century before Christ. Not a shadow of doubt at all.’

‘One of the planks that you have used for dating is based on the coins that were found in the area of Qumran?’

‘Certainly.’ Lonergan raised his chin and sniffed patronisingly at the camera as if it was a question to which any fool would know the answer. For an instant, the angle of the bright camera lights exposed the purple welt of a scar hidden under Lonergan’s unkempt beard.

‘Yet the first Director of L’Ecole Biblique claimed to have found a coin with the insignia of the tenth Roman Legion on it but when it was examined by impartial experts not only was it found to be not from the tenth or any other legion, but from Ashkelon dating at 72 AD?’

Derek Lonergan’s face started to match the colour of his scar. He was visibly furious at both the question and having to answer it.

‘That was an unfortunate oversight and obviously a coin that had been dropped in the ruins much later by a passer-by,’ he responded angrily.

‘Really? Nevertheless something the Director of L’Ecole Biblique took over five years to correct?’ Tom maintained a polite, calm, almost nonchalant approach which got the result he wanted. Lonergan was bordering on exploding.

‘One final question, Monsignor. Is it true that it has taken nearly six months to finalise the secondment of two scholars to the museum?’

‘The Israeli and Italian academics you refer to are being shown every courtesy,’ he replied, his obvious anger making his response even more unconvincing.

‘Monsignor Lonergan, thank you for joining us on International Correspondent.’

Tom unhooked his microphone and walked back to the car park of the Rockefeller. He wondered how much pressure it would take to make Lonergan crack and, in turn, force whoever was instructing him to relent on the issue of access to the scrolls. Tom was also troubled by the sense that he had met Lonergan before, a sense that was getting stronger from the moment he spotted the scar on Lonergan’s cheek. The journalist in him came to the fore and he was determined to find the missing pieces.