Nina looked more intently at Elliot Island. ‘I don’t think it will. Look, over by the Mission. It doesn’t seem to be pumping out any more gas, and the wind’s starting to push the cloud out to sea. Cross told me that whatever creates it gets burned up when it reacts with air; maybe it’s all been consumed.’
‘Along with everyone in the village,’ Eddie reminded her.
‘Oh God, yes . . .’ She nodded sadly. ‘I don’t think most of them were bad, just . . . just misguided. Cross found people who could be persuaded to follow his beliefs, used them to build his organisation, then left them to die once they’d served their purpose. Poor Miriam . . .’
Eddie was less sympathetic, but kept his opinions to himself. ‘Over there,’ he said instead, pointing. The Flirty Lady was visible in the distance, having moved well clear of the island. ‘That’s my mate’s ship. We can radio the mainland from it and tell ’em what’s happened. Hopefully we’ll be able to stop Cross and Dalton from taking off.’
‘Hopefully,’ said Nina, though with little confidence. The damaged propeller was slowing them; it would take a while to reach the ship. She looked back towards the Mission. The gas cloud was indeed dispersing in places, the church spire now visible through the yellow haze, but a good third of the island was covered. ‘Because they’ve got another angel. If they release it in a city . . .’
She didn’t need to say more. Eddie shared her grim look, then guided their vessel towards the yacht.
23
‘So they got away?’ Eddie barked at the speakerphone.
‘I am afraid so, yes,’ came the voice of Oswald Seretse. It was now dusk; Tom Harkaway had brought the Flirty Lady into the nearer port of Nelson’s Dockyard rather than returning to Jolly Harbour. He had alerted the authorities about the events on Elliot Island by radio after Eddie and Nina boarded, but by the time word reached the airport, a private jet had already taken off. ‘The aircraft filed a flight plan to Geneva, but it now seems unlikely it is actually going there.’
Eddie shook his head. ‘Black flights. Fucking CIA.’ He turned to Nina. ‘That must be how they got you out of the States without anyone asking questions. The CIA’s got a whole fleet of planes they use to whip people around the world, as passengers – or prisoners. Cross and Dalton must still have mates there.’
‘But we know where they’re going,’ she replied. ‘Israel. It’ll take them at least twelve hours to arrive, so that gives us plenty of time to alert the Israelis and get them to arrest them when they land.’
Even over the phone, Seretse was clearly uncomfortable. ‘There are two problems, Nina. The first is that we have no proof of Victor Dalton’s involvement other than your word. He was not seen by customs officials at Antigua airport, and there is so far no evidence to suggest that he was even on the island. Without such proof, making direct accusations against him would be . . . unwise. He may have been forced out of office, but he still has supporters.’
‘I didn’t imagine seeing him, Oswald,’ she snapped.
‘I am sure you did not. But the second is that when he was president, Dalton was a great supporter of the Israeli government; the US representative on the United Nations Security Council while he was in office had a one hundred per cent record of voting in favour of Israel or vetoing resolutions that were against its interests. If he really is going there, he will have many friends in high places.’
The couple had been brought by helicopter to Government House in St John’s; in the room with them were the island’s Governor General, and the Prime Minister, James Jefferson, the latter responding with a burst of indignation. ‘Whether President Dalton was here or not, the man who owned Elliot Island, this Ezekiel Cross, has committed an act of terrorism against my country!’ he snapped. ‘He released a chemical weapon! We don’t know how long it will be before the island is safe to visit, and even though the gas cloud has gone, the sea has been poisoned – we have already had reports of dead fish and birds.’ He glared at his companion. ‘You have to do something, Calvin. You’re the Queen’s representative here. Even if the British government is too afraid of the Americans to act, we must still issue a formal protest to the United States, and tell them to find this CIA plane!’
The Governor General, an elderly Antiguan named Sir Calvin Woodman, had the expression of someone who had expected a relaxing day in paradise only to find the beach littered with landmines. ‘We cannot do anything until we know exactly what has happened,’ he protested. ‘The Americans are sending experts to check the island.’
‘And when will they be here?’ Nina demanded.
Seretse gave her the answer. ‘Both USAMRICD and the CDC have been alerted about the release of a possible chemical agent. Specialists will be arriving overnight.’
‘Yeah, but they won’t be able to do anything until morning,’ said Eddie. ‘And the people who caused it’ll be halfway around the world!’
‘I have done all I can,’ Woodman offered feebly. ‘The experts are on their way, and we must wait to see what they find. As for this allegation about President Dalton, I find it extremely hard to believe.’ Ignoring Nina’s angry look, he went on: ‘We must wait for absolute proof of his involvement before demanding further action.’
‘So fuck-all’s going to get done, then,’ said Eddie. It was now the Governor General’s turn to look indignant.
There was a quiet rap on the door. An Antiguan woman entered at the Prime Minister’s response to announce that the chief of the country’s defence forces had arrived. ‘I’ll see him in my office,’ the politician told her. Woodman left with him.
‘Mr Chase?’ the woman added. ‘Professor Rothschild is here.’
Eddie nodded. ‘Show her in, thanks.’
Nina gave her husband an unhappy look. ‘Professor Rothschild?’
‘Yeah.’
‘As in Professor Maureen Rothschild?’
‘Uh-huh.’
‘The bane of my professional existence? The woman who spent years undermining my career? The miserable old bag I absolutely cannot stand?’
‘That’s the one. Unless there’s another Professor Maureen Rothschild who decided to drop in for no particular reason.’
‘God damn it, Eddie!’ cried Nina, jumping up – then whirling as the door opened again. ‘Maureen,’ she said, with a fixed, icy smile of greeting. ‘What an unexpected surprise.’
‘Surprises usually are, Nina,’ Rothschild replied as she entered.
‘Hey, Prof,’ said Eddie, standing. ‘No trouble getting here, then?’
‘Your friend Tom arranged a cab for me. I’m glad you made it back in one piece, Eddie.’
Nina eyed him. ‘You two are on first-name terms now, huh?’
‘He saved my life,’ Rothschild told her. ‘That is usually something of an ice-breaker. Although unlike you, I don’t intend to marry him.’
Eddie clapped a hand to his chest. ‘Ow! I’m heartbroken.’
‘We needed someone with extensive archaeological knowledge to find the angel statue in Berlin,’ Seretse said over the speakerphone. ‘Maureen kindly agreed to help us.’
Rothschild smiled. ‘In return for some IHA consultancy work.’
‘What?’ demanded Nina.
‘Now, love,’ Eddie said, putting his hands on her shoulders, ‘you remember that you don’t even work for the IHA any more, right?’
‘That’s not the . . . Oh, shut up.’ She huffed and pouted.
‘I did overhear what you said just before I arrived,’ revealed the elderly woman, to Nina’s slight mortification, ‘and while I would never be so rude as to voice my own feelings about you in public, I have to admit it’s not exactly a dream reunion. But I’m honestly relieved that you’re still here to be as charming as ever. And,’ she added, ‘I understand congratulations are in order. Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?’
‘Uh . . . no, no, not yet,’ Nina mumbled, caught off guard. Eddie gave her a curious look.
‘Well, I’m happy for you both.
But anyway, what happened to you?’
It took several minutes to describe everything that had transpired, and by the time Nina and Eddie finished, Rothschild’s face was pale. ‘My God,’ she said quietly. ‘Nearly a hundred people dead? That’s . . . that’s appalling.’
‘There’ll be a lot more joining them if these arseholes get what they’re after,’ Eddie reminded her.
‘Victor Dalton, though? I’ve met the man; I can’t believe he’s involved in this.’
‘He’ll do whatever it takes to get back into power,’ said Nina. ‘And I was dragged into this specifically because he wanted revenge on me and Eddie. He made it personal – and so did Cross when he threatened my baby.’
Seretse broke the uncomfortable silence. ‘Nina, you said Cross will be going to Israel to search for the angel near a sinkhole. Do you know exactly where?’
‘Somewhere in the southern desert,’ she replied. ‘The clues in Revelation point to the route of the Exodus.’
‘Which clues?’ asked Rothschild.
‘The ones relating to the Woman of the Apocalypse. The reference to “the moon under her feet” I think meant the Wilderness of Sin, because Sin was—’
‘A Semitic moon god, yes,’ Rothschild interrupted. She went to the door and called to the aide. ‘Excuse me? Do you have a bible?’
A copy was quickly procured. ‘Thank you,’ she said as the woman left. ‘Most Caribbean nations are extremely Christian, so I thought there would be one to hand. Now, let’s have a look at Revelation.’ She opened the book to its final section. ‘Chapter twelve, let’s see . . . “a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars upon her head”.’
Nina nodded. ‘The twelve stars are probably the wells of—’
‘The wells of Elim, yes. Nobody has identified the precise location yet, but the most likely possibilities are in the Sinai peninsula, which fits in perfectly with the following station of the Exodus on the coast of the Red Sea, most likely at the tip of the Gulf of Aqaba.’
‘And then,’ Nina pressed on, irritated, ‘they headed north towards the next station, Dophkah, which is—’
‘Timna, of course.’
‘Will you stop doing that?’
Rothschild looked down her nose at the younger woman. ‘I’m only trying to help, Nina. I thought my experience might be useful to you.’
‘She did work out that the statue was in that temple in Berlin,’ Eddie pointed out to his wife.
‘Anyone could have figured that out,’ she replied.
‘Cross didn’t.’
‘Anyone who isn’t an insane religious nut, then! But . . .’ her expression softened slightly as she looked back at Rothschild, ‘if you hadn’t done it, Cross would have gotten the third angel – and Eddie wouldn’t have found me. I’d be on my way to Israel at gunpoint by now. So . . . thank you, Maureen.’
Rothschild was surprised, but pleased. ‘Perhaps if your baby’s a girl, you might consider naming her after me?’
‘All right,’ said Eddie, seeing Nina’s eye twitch even at the humorous suggestion, ‘let’s get back to stopping this psycho, eh? The last angel’s somewhere in Israel – but where?’
‘There must be more of a clue to the location than simply being near a sinkhole,’ said Rothschild, checking the Bible passages again. ‘They’re not uncommon.’
‘I know,’ Nina said. ‘I’m sure there’s something more to the symbolism, but I don’t know what.’
The elderly woman tapped the page. ‘The whole section with the Woman of the Apocalypse is cloaked in symbolism. The moon under her feet, the twelve stars . . . so what about the sun? “Clothed with the sun” – what could that mean?’ She read on. ‘And then there’s verse fourteen: “The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness.”’
Nina remembered the verse. ‘Cross told me the repetition of the reference to a location is what made him think the woman is the key to finding the angel. It appears in verse six as well as fourteen.’
‘So the whole thing is a clue . . .’ Rothschild put down the book, she and Nina both staring intently at the text. ‘The wings of an eagle. That has to be relevant . . . the wings of a eagle.’
‘What about ’em?’ Eddie asked.
‘She’s given wings to reach the place prepared for her . . . Nina, which version of the Bible was he using?’
‘The King James,’ Nina told her.
‘This one’s the New International, so there are differences in the translation. If I remember, the King James says that she goes into “her place” rather than “the place prepared for her”.’
Eddie cocked his head. ‘Is there a difference?’
‘There’s a huge difference,’ Rothschild replied. ‘The location is hidden behind symbolism, remember. It’s the same place as in verse six, but this time it’s referred to specifically as her place, the woman’s place. But where is that?’
He smirked. ‘I’d say the kitchen, but I know Nina’d hit me.’
‘So hard you’d wish you felt as good as the last time you got shot,’ his wife confirmed. ‘But yes, that has to be symbolic. What would be a woman’s place that could also represent a physical location?’
The two women were briefly silent, deep in thought – then, to Eddie’s surprise, Nina’s cheeks flushed. ‘What’s up?’ he asked.
Her expression was one of distinct embarrassment. ‘Well, it could be something a woman has that, ah, a man doesn’t. A kind of, um, sacred passage.’ Her face became even rosier.
Rothschild arched her eyebrows. ‘Really, Nina, you’re such a prude. She means a vagina,’ she explained for Eddie and Seretse.
Eddie laughed. ‘Yeah, I know. But thanks for saying it out loud!’
‘Indeed,’ Seretse added.
‘Yes, okay, we’ve all had our little joke,’ Nina snapped, not amused. ‘But that could be what the symbolism represents. The angel is in a place prepared by God, somewhere holy, sacred, that’s reached through the so-called woman’s place. A passage leading to somewhere safe from where her child emerges, but also where the dragon is forced to wait outside.’
Rothschild read from the Bible. ‘“The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born.”’
‘Yeah. You can interpret the dragon however you like – Satan, the armies facing the Israelites, whoever – but for whatever reason, he can’t get into this place. Why not?’
‘The wings of an eagle,’ said Rothschild. ‘The wings are symbolic too. This passage or canyon, whatever it is; it might seem that it can only be reached by an eagle. It’s high up.’
‘Easy to defend,’ Eddie added. ‘If you’ve got an army after you – or a dragon – you want to be above them and make them come through somewhere narrow. If you’ve got a good defensive position, you can hold off a much bigger force for ages.’
‘If it’s high up,’ said Nina with sudden excitement, ‘then Cross’ll be looking in the wrong place!’
‘How so?’ Seretse asked.
‘Because he’s looking for sinkholes, based on the verse about the dragon releasing a river and the earth swallowing it. He thought – I thought – that meant the Place in the Wilderness must be in a river valley. But if Maureen’s right, it would be higher up. Possibly much higher, if you need wings to reach it.’
‘So how did the Israelites reach it?’ said Eddie.
‘It’s only symbolic. The Castle of the Eagles in your favourite movie isn’t literally full of eagles, is it?’ Ignoring his amusement at how the plot of Where Eagles Dare would change if that were the case, she addressed the phone. ‘Oswald, Eddie told me he came over here on a UN-chartered jet – can you get one to take us to southern Israel?’
What sounded suspiciously like a resigned sigh came over the speaker. ‘I thought you might ask. I had already arranged for it to be refuelled for you.’
‘Thank you, Oswald. And we’ll need access to the IHA’s databases en route – maps, terrain, all the archaeological and historical files we have.’
‘We?’ echoed Rothschild. ‘I thought you’d resigned from the IHA, Nina.’
‘I just keep getting dragged back there, don’t I?’
‘I shall arrange for whatever you need,’ said the United Nations official.
‘You might not be able to get everything we need,’ said Eddie. ‘But I’ve got a mate in Israel who can sort out the rest.’
‘If by “the rest” you mean weapons, I would rather not know,’ Seretse said with another sigh.
‘I appreciate it, Oswald,’ Nina told him. ‘I don’t know if we’ll be able to find the place, though. There’s still an awful lot of ground to cover.’
‘I might be able to narrow it down,’ said Rothschild, looking up from the Bible.
Nina went to her. ‘What have you found?’
‘The line describing the Woman of the Apocalypse as being “clothed by the sun”. I just had an idea about what that might mean.’
‘What is it?’ Eddie asked.
‘Dophkah – Timna, as it’s now known – has been a source of copper for millennia. In some places, the copper veins were so rich, they were even visible on the surface.’
‘Like the old silver mines we saw in Egypt on the way to the Pyramid of Osiris,’ Nina said to Eddie, remembering a similar find.
‘Accessibility is also an issue with mining, though,’ Rothschild went on. ‘There are places high up where the copper can be seen in the rock but it would be almost impossible to mine, so it’s still there. I’ve seen examples myself, and they’re quite spectacular in the right lighting. Such as at sunrise,’ she concluded, with meaning. ‘The copper seams reflect the dawn light, and the rock seems to glow like the sun itself.’
‘“Clothed with the sun”,’ Nina said quietly. ‘You think that could be what Revelation means?’
‘I personally wouldn’t want to commit an expedition merely on a possibility, but,’ she gave Nina a look of grudging admiration, ‘your career has been built on wild, crazy gambles, and I have to admit that it’s more than paid off for you.’