The Solomon Scroll

CHAPTER 36

Al-Bayati woke when a jagged chunk of rock ripped through the top of his tent and slammed into the ground next to him. The sound of an explosion echoed from the cliffs bordering the valley. An ominous, rumbling sound urged him out of the tent. He pulled back the flap and scrambled out as an avalanche of stone rolled over the campsite. A huge boulder bounced past inches away and crushed the tent he'd just left. The air was thick with dust and screams.

The sounds of falling stone died away. Someone moaned in pain. One of his men called out to Allah, his voice strange and wet. The cry ended abruptly in a strangled cough. An automatic rifle began firing into the camp. A second joined it, then a third.

An engine started up. One of the Land Rovers careened through the destroyed campsite and pulled to a hard stop beside him. Rhoades was behind the wheel.

"Get in."

Al-Bayati scrambled in as bullets struck the car. Rhoades jammed down on the accelerator. Ahead lay what was left of the second mechanical, crushed by the rockslide. Rhoades slid around it, straightened out and headed down the valley. More rounds smashed through the rear window. Then they were out of range.

Al-Bayati looked behind him through the opening left by the shattered glass. There were only two columns standing on the hill. The third was gone.

"What happened? Who attacked us?"

"I don't know who," Rhoades said. "They blew up one of the columns and it came down on the camp."

"But why?" As soon as he said it, Al-Bayati knew the answer. "The tomb. They must have found the tomb. Or at least something like it, the place described in the scroll."

Rhoades dodged a boulder in the middle of the dry riverbed. "Makes sense."

"Get us back to the plane. I can't do anything from here."

"What are you going to do?"

"Find out who they are and what they found. If they'd found Solomon's treasure inside that column they wouldn't have destroyed it. They would have to get the gold out of there and there hasn't been enough time for that."

"Then what was there? Why blow it up?"

"To hide something. They didn't want anyone else to know what was in it. It must've been something they couldn't move."

"Then the treasure is still out there somewhere," Rhoades said.

"That's right. That means we keep looking for it."

"There aren't any more scrolls to tell us where to look."

"No. Whatever was in that column was important enough that they had to destroy it so no one else could know what it was. It could be something about the true location. We'll find out who was there. Then we'll make them tell us."

Al-Bayati's face was ugly with anger. Rhoades had seen that look before.

I wouldn't want to be one of them when he finds them, he thought.