The Moses Legacy Read online

  Adam Palmer

  The Moses Legacy

  For my cousin Avi, fellow writer and most generous

  source of encouragement, and to Ira who first put me

  on to this theme by introducing me to Freud’s

  theory on Moses and Akhenaten.

  But mostly for my father.

  Contents

  Foreword

  Prologue

  ‘Joshua, my time is coming and the mantle of leadership…

  Chapter 1

  Khamsin – the hot slow dry wind that blows in…

  Chapter 2

  ‘I got the message at two in the morning,’ said…

  Chapter 3

  ‘It’s a pity you didn’t find the rest,’ said Akil…

  Chapter 4

  ‘This is the bread of affliction that our ancestors ate…

  Chapter 5

  ‘How many years has it been?’ asked Harrison Carmichael as…

  Chapter 6

  Akil Mansoor had been true to his word about providing…

  Chapter 7

  Joel awoke in the men’s communal tent, sweating heavily. He…

  Chapter 8

  ‘It’s definitely Proto-Sinaitic,’ said Daniel, struggling to contain his excitement.

  Chapter 9

  ‘First of all, I have some good news. Carmichael is…

  Chapter 10

  ‘We’re here,’ said Mansoor.

  Chapter 11

  ‘Look, could you at least give me my phone back…

  Chapter 12

  ‘This is where we keep all the artefacts that aren’t…

  Chapter 13

  ‘They’re anti-Semitic, anti-American, anti-British and anti-Western. They’d like to wipe…

  Chapter 14

  ‘You’ve got to be kidding!’

  Chapter 15

  Goliath was lying on the bed in his hotel room,…

  Chapter 16

  ‘So you admit that you were at the house that…

  Chapter 17

  ‘He was a friend of Lord Byron, you know,’ said…

  Chapter 18

  Goliath hardly noticed the streets of Cairo sweep by as…

  Chapter 19

  ‘Well, I’m pleased to tell you, Professor Klein, that you…

  Chapter 20

  Sarit arrived in Cairo from Cyprus, entering the country using…

  Chapter 21

  ‘I still don’t like it,’ said Daniel, feeling self-conscious as…

  Chapter 22

  The curator was sweating, but it wasn’t just from the…

  Chapter 23

  ‘It couldn’t have come from the Aswan High Dam excavations,’…

  Chapter 24

  ‘What could it possibly be?’ asked the consultant.

  Chapter 25

  ‘“I will sing to Jehovah for he has…” and then…

  Chapter 26

  Once again, Goliath was afflicted by a feeling of failure.

  Chapter 27

  ‘This is the famous Mernepteh stele,’ said Mansoor. ‘Made of…

  Chapter 28

  Sarit was back in her hotel room in Cairo, waiting…

  Chapter 29

  Daniel was hit by an unexpected blast of heat as…

  Chapter 30

  Goliath was looking at the entrance to the tomb that…

  Chapter 31

  ‘The theory that Yuya was Joseph of the Old Testament…

  Chapter 32

  The office was busy when a six-page fax arrived at…

  Chapter 33

  ‘It’s known to the locals as the Valley of the…

  Chapter 34

  Goliath had decided not to take the taxi across the…

  Chapter 35

  Gabrielle had been the first one to hear something going…

  Chapter 36

  Sarit had watched Daniel and the others drive across to…

  Chapter 37

  ‘His neck’s been broken,’ said Mansoor. The sorrow in his…

  Chapter 38

  Driving at night along the Nile Valley was a dangerous…

  Chapter 39

  Ignoring the blood and struggling desperately not to let the…

  Chapter 40

  Sarit’s training had involved the advanced driving course, including night…

  Chapter 41

  ‘My name is Daniel Klein!’ Daniel shouted. ‘I’m a British…

  Chapter 42

  The bitch! thought Goliath. The fucking evil bitch!

  Chapter 43

  ‘It’s just a flesh wound,’ said Gabrielle with a smile,…

  Chapter 44

  Sarit arrived in Cairo sometime after four in the morning.

  Chapter 45

  Daniel had let Gabrielle do the talking. After a sleepless…

  Chapter 46

  ‘Can you hear me?’

  Chapter 47

  On the felucca, the rest of the day drifted by…

  Chapter 48

  ‘These are very serious charges, Miss Stewart,’ the police captain…

  Chapter 49

  Breakfast on board Walid’s boat was shakshouka – fried eggs…

  Chapter 50

  ‘We thought we should warn you. If she was trying…

  Chapter 51

  ‘I’m telling you – we didn’t have anything to do…

  Chapter 52

  Sarit was in the Wekalat Al-Balah Bazaar, wearing a jilbab…

  Chapter 53

  Six days after they had set out, Daniel and Gabrielle…

  Chapter 54

  He came through for me, Goliath was thinking as he…

  Chapter 55

  ‘We can’t go by bus,’ Gabrielle was saying. ‘They’ll catch…

  Chapter 56

  ‘Passport, please,’ said the Egyptian soldier.

  Chapter 57

  Mid-April was towards the end of the tourist season, at…

  Chapter 58

  ‘I didn’t actually lose it,’ Sarit was explaining. ‘I just…

  Chapter 59

  Daniel had initially assumed that Walid was a local Luxor…

  Chapter 60

  Sarit had been sitting in the waiting area on the…

  Chapter 61

  ‘Are you awake?’ asked Gabrielle.

  Chapter 62

  ‘I’m telling you she’s dangerous.’

  Chapter 63

  It had taken three days on camels instead of the…

  Chapter 64

  Goliath was beginning to regret leaving the hospital. The burns…

  Chapter 65

  A trail of bullets from the Israeli patrol boat raked…

  Chapter 66

  It took Goliath somewhat longer to get to the Sphinx…

  Chapter 67

  Captain Ben-Dor had told them very little. Little as in…

  Chapter 68

  Na’if was struggling frantically for breath. He felt the bandaged…

  Chapter 69

  Daniel wondered if he should ask for a lawyer, but…

  Chapter 70

  Back in his cheap hotel room, Goliath was thinking.

  Chapter 71

  ‘So what did he tell you?’ Daniel asked Gabrielle.

  Chapter 72

  ‘So we still haven’t got a fix on Goliath,’ said…

  Chapter 73

  Participating in the open-air Samaritan Passover celebrations on Mount Gerizim…

  Chapter 74

  ‘So you’re a veteran?’ Goliath said to the brash fifty-something…

  Chapter 75

  ‘I, Joshua, son of Noon, of the tribe of Neferayim,…

  Chapter 76

  ‘I’m looking for some fr
iends of mine,’ said Goliath, holding…

  Chapter 77

  Daniel looked up from the papyrus at Gabrielle, expectantly. ‘It…

  Chapter 78

  ‘Why did we let them get hold of the manuscript?’…

  Chapter 79

  ‘Shall I wait for them?’ Daniel asked Gabrielle when she…

  Chapter 80

  ‘You have to send me in there,’ Sarit told Dovi.

  Chapter 81

  ‘Look, I know this is painful,’ said Daniel. ‘If you…

  Chapter 82

  ‘Which bus do I need for the Hebrew University?’ Goliath…

  Chapter 83

  ‘Maybe we should wait until they come back,’ said Daniel.

  Chapter 84

  Sarit never had been one for following orders. Besides, Dov…

  Chapter 85

  ‘I assume you know who I am?’ Goliath said.

  Chapter 86

  There was an eerie silence in the Conservation Department when…

  Chapter 87

  ‘Do not give him any sign that you are under…

  Chapter 88

  ‘I’m telling you – I didn’t do it!’ Sarit explained…

  Chapter 89

  ‘There’s something I don’t understand,’ said Goliath as they clambered…

  Chapter 90

  ‘What the hell do you think you were playing at?’

  Chapter 91

  ‘We shouldn’t be doing this,’ said Daniel, still in a…

  Chapter 92

  ‘Excuse me, I know this is going to sound awfully…

  Chapter 93

  Daniel had recovered his composure and was reading out loud.

  Chapter 94

  Finding the Snake Monument and the path leading to it…

  Chapter 95

  ‘Now then,’ said Professor Fikri, ‘what is this fascinating academic…

  Chapter 96

  Goliath had taken the bus from Petra back to Amman,…

  Chapter 97

  ‘The spores must have got reactivated at Petra and become…

  Chapter 98

  There was a look of solemnity on the faces of…

  Chapter 99

  ‘What do you mean “an emergency”? Daniel asked, although he…

  Chapter 100

  Recognizing the encroaching danger in the professor’s approach, Audrey stood…

  Chapter 101

  ‘So what is this organization that hates Israel and the…

  Chapter 102

  ‘It says that the crossing is open till eight!’ Goliath…

  Chapter 103

  ‘How far are we?’ asked Daniel.

  Chapter 104

  Goliath had made it into Israel and the Sea of…

  Chapter 105

  While Daniel and Gabrielle remained in the car, Sarit had…

  Chapter 106

  Goliath pulled up and got out of the car. He…

  Epilogue

  A couple of weeks later, on the morning of 19…

  About the Author

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  Foreword

  Extensive research went into this book, during the course of which I made some amazing discoveries. The historical references herein are a mixture of known facts, conjecture by Egyptologists and my own fertile imagination. For those who are interested in separating the fact from the fiction, there is a wealth of material on Egyptology and Jewish history available from booksellers and in libraries (if our esteemed politicians can be persuaded to keep them open). I sincerely hope this book piques your interest in the subject.

  Prologue

  ‘Joshua, my time is coming and the mantle of leadership will pass to you.’

  The white-haired man was lying down in the cave on a bed of hay, looking at the one whom he had chosen as his successor. The younger man, a dark-haired forty-year-old, had torn his robes in mourning, while the older man yet lived. There were tears of grief in his eyes.

  ‘I will not leave your side, my teacher.’

  Joshua had long known that this day would come, that one day the man who had led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt would be taken to God’s bosom and that he, the loyal disciple, would take over the mantle of leadership from the man to whom he owed so much. Yet he still felt ill-prepared for the duties that would fall upon him. It wasn’t just the fact that this once vibrant man was now reduced to the frail figure before him. It was also the terrifying sight of the red lesions on his mentor’s flesh that looked like fiery snakes.

  ‘I am not long for this earth, Joshua. When I die, you must bury me here and leave this place forever.’

  From the valley below the sound of the murmuring of the people, as they awaited news of their leader, billowed up to the cave on the desert wind.

  ‘But why must we leave?’ asked Joshua. ‘Why can we not stay here and make peace with the Snake God?’

  ‘Because the Snake God is false!’ The old man’s voice resonated once again with the strength of his youth. The harsh tone instilled his disciple with fear and joy in equal measure. Despite his age and the ravages of disease, his vitality had not yet deserted him. ‘That is why Jehovah has punished us. It was for our appeasement of the Snake God that we were chastised with disease. Jehovah commanded us to have no other gods before him and yet we built that…’ he waved his arm towards the cave entrance, ‘…that monstrous idol to the Snake God.’

  ‘Then I shall tear down the monument and show the Snake God that we are loyal only to Jehovah,’ the younger man replied earnestly.

  ‘That is not enough. This place is cursed. You must lead the people across the river into the Promised Land, the land flowing with milk and honey. Jehovah your God will go with you.’

  ‘But we are weak. We cannot fight the Canaanites. They are giants and we were like grasshoppers in their eyes.’

  A blazing fire lit up the old man’s eyes. ‘Enough! Do you really believe those foolish rantings? Did not Caleb tell us that Jehovah will give us strength to conquer them?’

  ‘But they are more numerous than we.’

  The old man’s voice mellowed again, as if he had spent himself with his wrath and had no more fight left in him. ‘Then live in the hills not in the valleys, and leave them alone until you are ready. Bide your time, Joshua, just as I bided my time.’

  Joshua nodded. But the teacher was not finished. Through his frailty, the old man raised his head and shoulders to speak one more time. Joshua leaned forward to place his ear next to the mouth of Moses.

  ‘Be strong and courageous. Because you will lead the people into the land which Jehovah promised their fathers… and you will make it their legacy.’

  Chapter 1

  Khamsin – the hot slow dry wind that blows in from the west.

  Derived from the Arabic word for ‘fifty’ because according to Arab tradition, it is supposed to blow for fifty days during the course of the year.

  The lean nineteen-year-old from West London was sweltering, unaccustomed to these desert conditions. At least the heat was dry, he thought; that made it just about bearable. All he had to do was remember to drink plenty of water. Having holidayed once in Sharm el-Sheikh, he was grateful that it wasn’t humid here like it was on the coast. But even so, it was weather for relaxing by a hotel swimming pool, not for working on an archaeological dig.

  Now, in the heat of a morning in late March, over a dozen fit young students worked in their designated areas under the watchful eyes of Egyptian soldiers. Dressed in t-shirts and Bermuda shorts (referred to locally as ‘Islamic shorts’ because of their relative modesty), these enthusiastic volunteers came from all over the world: Egypt, Europe, South America, even Australia and New Zealand. Each volunteer was assigned an area of one metre square, marked out on a grid with flags stating their co-ordinates.

  It was painstaking work. Armed with a metal trowel, plastic scoop and small-headed brush for cleaning larger finds, the
youth dug out to a depth of six inches below the previous level, put the contents into his bucket and took it over to the two volunteers who operated the sieve screens. The pair were known as JJ because of their initials: Joel and Jane. Though similar in age – he at the end of his teens, she barely out of hers – they were an unlikely team: the wiry, ginger-haired nerd and the bottle blonde with a cheerleader body. But they had been thrown together by chance and now the two of them were inextricably linked by this coincidence of nomenclature.

  Joel had been assigned to this relatively simple job because of his lack of experience, but it was a role that carried its fair share of responsibility. And as the volunteer from London turned up at his shoulder with a bucketful of sand and pebbles, Joel sighed – he wasn’t expecting anything to break the monotony of the day.

  From a corner of the dig site, the work was being overseen by a blonde woman with a commanding presence and an almost Nordic appearance. She preferred to watch from a distance, because whenever she wandered around the site, people stopped their work to look at her, especially the men.

  It was an understandable reaction – she was not a woman whom it was easy to ignore. Her back was both broad and straight, and her well-toned thighs and arms subtly muscular. But her torso was by no means devoid of body fat. In a woman of average height, this combination of muscle and fat would have made her look rather squat, but at five foot eleven she towered over most other women and was perfectly proportioned, especially in the eyes of men.

  She was Gabrielle Gusack, a young Viennese archaeologist, and she was looking at the work with a mixture of exhaustion and pride. It had taken a lot of determination and a healthy dose of diplomacy to get this dig approved. The site was in a restricted military area at the foot of Mount Hashem el-Tarif, closely guarded by the Egyptian army due to its proximity to the Israeli border, and for this reason had never been subjected to proper archaeological excavation, despite hints and signs that it might be of historical significance.

  After some delicate lobbying, the authorities gave the dig an official green light, albeit with some stringent security conditions attached; no mobile phones or cameras were to be brought to the site and only an official cameraman working for the Supreme Council of Antiquities would be allowed to take pictures. Thus the Egyptian authorities could control the flow of information that came out of the dig.

  It was the SCA and its head, Akil Mansoor, that had proved to be the lynchpin of this whole project. Mansoor was not only an enthusiastic supporter of the project, but also Gabrielle’s mentor – she had done her PhD under him at the University of Cairo, and their friendship had proved enduring, if somewhat volatile at times. He was also a friend of her uncle, the much respected British biblical historian, Harrison Carmichael. Perhaps most important of all, he was the Vice Minister of Culture.