It took two days before the Levites of Kirjath Jearim arrived to transport the Ark. The process was quite involved as the men put cloths on their hands to pick up the lid of the Ark and put it into place. They were quite careful to not look inside the Ark during the process. They next covered the entire Ark with a scarlet cloth and then put it onto a cart drawn by oxen .
The Ark and the golden tumors and golden rats were taken to the house of Abinadab, who lived high in the mountains. It was there that his son Eleazar was consecrated to keep the Ark of the Lord .
One week had passed since the Ark of the Covenant had left Ashdod. All of the people had been healed from the plague. Their pain was gone and they had returned to their normal activities. Everyone except the priests of Dagon .
Kadmiel had gathered the priests together .
"Dagon has fallen to the earth twice. The second time his head and hands were knocked off. That is a terrible sign of doom. We will close and seal the doors of the temple. Our worship will be transferred to the underground building not far from the temple."
One of the priests asked, "What about the two items taken from the Ark? What will become of them?"
"We will carry them to the new place of worship. I think they may have great magical powers and could prove useful in the future."
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FIFTY-SEVEN
LEVI TOOK his automatic out of his holster and carefully moved toward the opening. Both he and Murphy held their breath for a minute. They couldn't hear anything. All they could see was a flickering light dancing with shadows on the floor.
Levi cautiously entered the room, followed by Murphy. The structure they entered had a high ceiling of about twenty feet. It seemed much larger than the room surrounded by lions' heads. Along two sides and one end there were three rows of marble benches. They formed a horseshoe that focused toward the front of the room, where there was a large marble altar.
On two of the walls there were torches hung in rings protruding above the marble benches. They cast weird shadows. As Murphy and
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Levi shined their flashlights around the room, they could see four bodies on the floor. One was in front of the altar, two were close to the center of the room, and one was lying near what looked like a passageway that led out of the room. All of them were dressed in gray robes and lying in pools of blood.
Levi went to the two men in the center of the room and felt for a pulse. Their bodies were warm but they were both dead of gunshot wounds. Murphy checked out the man by the passageway and the man in front of the altar. They were also dead.
Murphy shined his light on the robe of the man by the altar. It had a patch sewn onto the front just above the heart. On the patch there was a symbol of a half-man, half-fish.
"These men must have been priests or worshipers. They all have the symbol of Dagon sewn on their robes," said Murphy. "There must be another entrance to this room. Whoever killed them is not far ahead of us."
Levi searched the bodies for identification while Murphy walked to the altar to examine it. There was nothing on top. As he shined his light and looked more closely, he could see that the top of the altar was covered lightly with dust except for two areas in the center. The impression left was a round circle about six inches in diameter. The other impression was a straight line about six feet long and an inch and a half wide.
Murphy was both excited and exasperated. They seemed to have discovered the location of the rod and the jar, but too late. Whoever killed the men took the items from the altar.
Levi turned to Murphy.
"None of these men have any identification. Did you find anything?"
"Yes. Two items were on the altar. Unless I miss my guess, Methuselah was correct. The round impression in the dust was probably the Golden Jar that held the manna. The long straight line was most likely Aaron's Rod. These men must have been protectors of the
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two articles. I'm not sure how they got them but that's certainly why they were killed."
"There's nothing we can do for them, Michael. Let's go after whoever killed them."
"'Whoever'! You know as well as I do that it's got to be Talon. We're not far behind him. I wonder how he found out about the Golden Jar and Aaron's Rod?"
They stepped over the body of the man by the passageway and entered the dark corridor. They hadn't gone very far when they discovered two more bodies dressed in gray robes. As they shined their lights on them, they found that one of the men was still alive ... but only barely.
Murphy leaned over the man. "Do you speak English? Do you understand me?"
The man only groaned.
"Do you know who did this to you?"
The man tried to speak but was unable to. Blood trickled from his lips and covered his chest.
His lungs must be filling , Murphy thought.
The man moved his arm and began to write in the dust with his finger. He barely finished two letters when his fingers stopped moving and he breathed his last. His brown eyes stared lifelessly at Murphy. Murphy shook his head gravely. It was never pleasant to see anyone die. He reached down and closed the man's eyelids.
He then shined his light on the two letters. They spelled T U .
I wonder what that means? It doesn't spell Talon.
Levi bent down and began to search the dead man. He found a wallet and examined the man's identification.
"His name is Karim Nandar. Nothing else here but a little money and a couple of pictures."
Murphy looked at the pictures. One was a group of seven men.
"Look, Levi! The man in the center with the dark mustache is Talon." He scrutinized the other faces. "The others are the dead men
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we just found. Either Talon is getting sloppy or he's in a hurry. It's not like him to leave evidence like this around. You can see in the picture that they're standing at the back end of a car and you can make out the license plate. Do you think you can get a trace on it?"
"Of course."
Levi took out a pen and a piece of paper.
"What are the numbers?"
"M72F355."
"Michael, we need to get outside where I can make a phone call. If this is Talon's work, we need to move fast before he has a chance to get away."
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FIFTY-EIGHT
GIDEON LOCKED the doors of both cars and left them at the site of the two rock walls. He thought it might be best to walk the quarter of a mile to the olive orchard where he saw the seven workers get out of their cars and disappear into the trees.
As he approached the three parked cars, he became a little apprehensive. Something wasn't right. He couldn't see anyone in the orchard nor could he hear any sounds.
Strange. Where did they go?
He looked into the windows of the cars and did not see anything unusual other than the fact that the cars were immaculate.
He moved into the orchard and looked around. All he could see were rows of olive trees and a large formation of rocks. He was about
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to return to the cars when he thought he heard a sound. He paused and listened. It seemed to be coming from the rocky area.
He unhooked the strap on his shoulder holster and crept toward the rocks. As he approached, a stick suddenly poked its way out from between three of the large rocks in the pile, followed by a man with a mustache. In his left hand, he held a gunnysack with something inside. His right hand was bandaged and held on to a walking stick.
The man with the sack turned and looked into Gideon's eyes. Gideon had his hand on his gun. He could tell that the man was surprised to see him standing there. He noticed the man glance at Gideon's hand on the gun. His look of surprise changed to a smile.
"Hello, there," said the man. "How are you today?"
Gideon was still uncertain about the other man. "What are you doing in the rocks? And where are the other men?"
The man with the walking stick and gunnysack smiled again.
"W
e're exploring. We found an entrance into a chamber in the ground. It must have been hidden in the rocks for many years. The other men are inside. Come and see what we found."
Cautiously Gideon climbed onto the rocky area and over the three large rocks. In the center he could see that a stone had been removed, revealing a three-foot by three-foot hole in the ground. It looked like there was some kind of stairway that disappeared into the earth.
"Let me show you what we found inside," said the friendly man with the mustache.
He carefully set the gunnysack down and exposed a beautiful golden jar.
The sun reflected off it and made Gideon squint his eyes.
"Is that real gold?" asked Gideon as he knelt down to examine it.
"It sure is."
The next thing Gideon felt was a sharp pain on the back of his head. The blow from the six-foot walking stick sent him forward, knocking over the jar and smashing his forehead into a rock.
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Although he was dazed and in pain, he instinctively reached for his gun. As he did, he felt an excruciating pain in his right hand as the man with the mustache swung the walking stick a second time, breaking three of his fingers.
Gideon knew he was in deep trouble. He tried to roll out of the way of the third blow but he wasn't fast enough. The stick came down, breaking his left collarbone. He let out a yell of pain. Then a strange thing happened. The man with the stick backed away and calmly rewrapped the Golden Jar. This allowed Gideon time to struggle to his feet. He was wincing in pain from all of his wounds.
The man put down the gunnysack and approached. He looked at Gideon and smiled again.
"This unfortunately has not been a good day for you. However, it has been a wonderful day for me."
With those words, he then drove the end of the walking stick into Gideon's throat, crushing his larynx. Gideon collapsed to the rocks, gasping for breath.
Murphy and Levi continued to follow the passageway, not knowing where it would lead. They began moving uphill at about a 30-degree grade. As they rounded a curve in the passageway they saw light up ahead. Soon they came to the base of a three-foot-wide stairway with about fifteen steps that led to the surface.
"Be careful, Levi. No telling what we will encounter up there."
They turned off their flashlights and climbed the stairs. Levi had his gun drawn and ready.
The bright light of the sun made them both squint as they came out of a hole in the middle of three large boulders.
Levi slowly looked over the large rocks.
"Oy gevalt!"
"What?"
"It's Gideon!"
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They both scrambled to Gideon's side, looking for signs of life. Tears welled up in Levi's eyes as he looked at the beaten and lifeless body. He could tell that Gideon must have endured tremendous pain before he died. Levi suddenly realized that he would have to tell Gideon's wife and two children that he would not be coming home.
Levi swore loudly. "I'm going to kill that man!" he growled.
Murphy placed a comforting hand on Levi's back. They both ran the quarter of a mile back to their car.
"He's got a head start on us," said Murphy.
"I'll call in about Gideon and also try to get some information about the license number of the car in the picture. Michael, you drive. We will go back to Ashdod and then to Tel Aviv. My guess is that he will try to get out of the country as fast as he can."
Levi's phone began ringing about fifteen miles south of Tel Aviv. He talked for about five minutes.
"Our intelligence agency says the car was a rental. It was checked out at the Tel Aviv airport and was returned about twenty minutes ago. Step on the gas, Michael. He's probably still there. When we arrive, I'll have some copies made of the picture with the seven men. We'll have the airport police help us to try and find out which airline he may be flying out on."
"This time Talon is the one being pursued. I hope he experiences the same fear the fox feels when the dogs are on his tail. I would love to make him suffer in pain the way he makes others suffer. He's long overdue."
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FIFTY-NINE
THE HEAD OF AIRPORT SECURITY, Ezra Talmi, was standing on the sidewalk outside the passenger loading area when Levi and Murphy drove up. He had six large Israeli airport policemen with him. They were all heavily armed.
He shook hands with Levi and they spoke in Hebrew for a moment. Levi then introduced Talmi to Murphy.
"It's nice to meet you, Dr. Murphy. I wish it were under better circumstances. Please leave the keys in the car. We will have someone from the rental agency come and pick it up. Grab your luggage and come inside. Levi, I understand that you have a picture. We'll get copies made and distribute them to all of the security personnel."
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Murphy appreciated his straightforward, businesslike manner. It was good to see someone who clearly had leadership skills and understood the importance of timing. It wasn't long before the pictures were passed out to all the security checkpoints. All security personnel were put on a modified alert.
Talmi spoke to Levi and Murphy.
"We have a lounge you may sit in while our people go through the airport. They are very thorough."
"We appreciate everything you're doing, Mr. Talmi," Murphy responded. "But if you don't mind, I would like to walk around and do a little looking myself."
"As you wish. Just be careful. I don't think the person you are looking for will be armed. We have sniffer dogs moving through the terminal and our security checkpoints are very sensitive to anything that might be a weapon. If you do spot him, just contact any of our security personnel and they will respond instantly. Levi and I have a few items to discuss. By the way, let me give you a security pass. It will allow you to move about with a little more freedom."
"Thank you. I'll check in with you every twenty minutes."
Murphy began to wander through the crowds. The airport was packed with travelers. That made things a bit tougher. He meandered into the restrooms, looked into all of the restaurants, and walked through the shops. It was like looking for a human needle in a haystack of thousands of faces.
You're supposed to arrive at the airport at least two hours before international flights. He had about an hour head start on us. He's got to be here somewhere. Where would he be flying to?
Talon was also on the alert. He knew that Israel had very tight security All bags would be hand-checked at some point. That's why he dropped the Golden Jar and Aaron's Rod off at a safe house that the
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Seven owned. The person who managed the house would ship the items by special private jet to a location in Istanbul. They would arrive a day after he did.
As a precaution he used his platinum travel card and went into the executive lounge. He slipped into one of the shower stalls and quickly colored his hair and eyebrows. He also shaved off his mustache. He then pulled out his Swiss passport that had a picture of a clean-faced blond traveler named Emile Cornelle. He looked at himself in the mirror. The loss of the mustache and the switch to blond eyebrows and blond hair made a dramatic change in his appearance. He also changed into a blue pin-striped suit and took off the bandage on his right hand.
The skin on the tip of his stub of a damaged finger was bright red. He knew that he had a slight infection. He took out a skin-colored bandage and wrapped his finger. It was almost unnoticeable at first glance. The finger was still sore and he was still angry with Wallach for smashing it with a baseball bat. It was comforting to know that the brat had gotten what he had coming to him.
He then sat down and began to read through an Israeli newspaper. He would remain in the executive lounge until just before the flight. He was almost home free.
He was turning a page of the newspaper when he spotted Murphy at the welcome counter talking to the woman in charge. Talon could see him pointing to some card that he was wearing around his neck. The woman nodded and Murphy entered the lounge and started looking arou
nd.
He's better than I thought .
Talon lifted the paper a little to help cover the lower portion of his face. He pretended to read although his eyes never left Murphy. As Murphy drew closer he lifted the paper.
Murphy saw the man in the blue pin-striped suit but didn't pay any attention to him. He had never seen Talon in a suit before and he knew Talon had dark hair and a dark mustache.
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Talon watched as Murphy made his way through the lounge. He disappeared into the restroom area and emerged a few moments later. He thanked the woman at the welcome counter and then left.
When Murphy rejoined Levi and Talmi they had nothing to report. Neither did he.
"What if he put on a disguise?" suggested Talmi.
"It's a possibility," said Levi. "But he wouldn't have a great deal of time to put on makeup and a false beard or anything too elaborate."
"What if he just cut off his mustache or made minor changes?" Talmi suggested.
"That would make more sense," responded Murphy.
"Let me have our artist draw in several different disguises. It may help us to find him."
An hour later Talmi presented a number of different drawings.
"What do you think?"
Murphy looked at all the pictures. One of them had a picture drawn in with blond hair and a blond mustache. Something about that picture caught his attention. He studied it for a moment and then placed his finger over the mustache.
"Wait a minute! I may have seen someone that looks like him in one of the executive lounges."
"Which one?" asked Talmi.
"The one on the second floor. I believe it was British Airways."
They all jumped up and ran up the stairs to the second floor, followed by four armed security guards. The woman at the welcome counter was surprised when everyone burst into the lounge and began searching. There were only seven people in the lounge. Three women, one child, and three overweight businessmen.