The Guardian (36 page)

They walked a few blocks to an old building. Benjamin took

out a ring of keys and unlocked the door. They followed him inside and down a set of stairs. They were in some kind of basement. It was dark, so Benjamin took out a small penlight to illuminate their way.

At the other end of the basement stood a stack of boxes. He set the small light down and moved them aside to reveal another locked gate. Again he pulled out his ring of keys and went to work. The gate swung open with a creaking sound, letting them know that it had not been opened for quite some time.

“Glad to see you made it,” Benjamin said in a hushed tone. “I can honestly say I didn’t recognize you. You both look splendid.”

“Ditto,” said Anna. “Sorry we were late. The hair took a little longer than I thought.”

“No matter,” Benjamin said. “You’re both here, and to the best of my knowledge, no one followed you.”

“That’s another reason we were late,” Jason added. “We tried to be extra careful and not be seen.”

“Good job, lad.”

Benjamin smiled and gave him a pat on the shoulder. He reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a shiny pistol. He handed it to Jason. “Here, take this. I hope and pray you don’t have to use it. But if you get in a tight spot, it might save your life.” He pulled out another smaller pistol, safely strapped into a holster, and handed it to Anna. “This is an ankle holster. You just strap it on like—”

Anna took the gun. “Thanks. It’s just like mine.” She pulled up her robe and strapped the holster to her leg.

Benjamin let out a long sigh. He nodded. “Anna, just so you know, I loved your grandfather. He was like a brother to me. We had a good relationship. I never asked him exactly what he was working on. And I won’t ask you either. But I will say that I know, whatever it is you’re doing, is the work of the Lord. And for that, may He bless your efforts immensely.” Jason and Anna both thanked him.

“Now,” Benjamin continued, “this gate leads to a tunnel. It runs parallel to the wall. About 150 feet that way”—he pointed—”you will find another gate. It’s called ‘Warren’s Gate.’ It is sealed off. It lies directly beneath what we believe was the Holy of Holies.” He handed them a small package. “This is a small amount of C-4 explosive. It is shape charged. Place it over the four corners of the sealed door. Take the small metal rods and place them inside the clay like this.” He used his finger to simulate a rod and poked it into his hand. “Once you’ve placed it, come back here and use the detonator to blow it. It will make some noise, yes, but at this hour, no one should be down here. It will go unnoticed.”

Anna and Jason stood there, mouths gaping in disbelief.

“You mean you want me to blow up the tunnel?” Anna said.

“Not the tunnel, dear, the gate. And don’t worry. I promise you, it will go unnoticed.”

“And how is that?” Jason asked, still not believing what this crazy old man was suggesting.

“Because I am going to cause a distraction at the exact moment that you push that button,” Benjamin said with a sorrowful expression.

“Benjamin, what are you going to do?” Anna asked hesitantly.

“It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you get inside and find what it is you’re looking for. Then get out. As quickly as you can. Once the ruckus settles down outside, security will be diverted back to the mosque. They will immediately think they are under attack by the Jewish nation. You will have ten, maybe fifteen minutes after that. Here.” He handed them a stopwatch. “I have synchronized this with my own. At exactly a quarter till—to the second—I will set off my diversion. You must, and I stress
must
, push that button at exactly the same time. Do you understand me?”

“I’ll do it,” Jason said. “I won’t be late.”

Benjamin chuckled. “Don’t be early either.”

“I won’t.”

“Is ten minutes going to be enough time?” Anna asked worriedly.

“It’s all you’ll have, dear,” Benjamin said. “I can tell you this. I have colleagues that have been in there. Don’t ask me how or why. I don’t know. But I have spoken with them, and they tell me that it is a small place. A room about the size of a normal bedroom. There’s not a lot of area to search.”

Anna stretched up on her toes and gave Benjamin a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you,” she said, “for everything.”

Benjamin blushed a little and said, “Don’t thank me, dear. I’m only doing what God would have me do.”

Jason and Anna turned to enter the tunnel.

“Wait! I almost forgot!” Benjamin had a horror-stricken look. “Good grief! What was I thinking?”

“What? What is it?” Anna and Jason asked together.

“Here, take these.”

He pulled a ziplock bag from his pocket. Inside were two canisters about the size of a hairspray bottle and glow sticks. Each canister had a mouthpiece attached to it.

“These are air tanks. You stick them in your mouth and turn the knob, here at the top, like this.” He turned one of them on quickly and then shut it off again.

Anna and Jason stared blankly at him.

Benjamin continued. “I nearly forgot to tell you. The northern end of the wall contains a channel that fed water into the Temple Mount. It was believed to have been stopped when Herod did his ‘remodel.’ This, however, is not the case. I have also learned that

directly behind the Holy of Holies there is a cavelike tunnel that leads down into an underground stream. I won’t lie to you. As far as anyone knows, it is completely underground. There is no open air above it for the entire length of the Western Gate. But it does finally end. It eventually dumps you out in the Stroutioun Pool at the northern exit, where you will find yourselves on the Via Dolorosa. It will be dark, and you will be swimming downstream. The current will be moving fast. These canisters have enough air in them to last you an hour each. That’s it. After that you’d better hope you can hold your breath.”

“Why on earth would we have to swim?” Jason asked dumbfounded.

“Because when they realize the gate’s been blown down here—and they will eventually realize it—there will be at least fifty guards down here waiting for whoever it was to come back. Meanwhile, there probably will be more than fifty working their way down from the top of the mosque, trying to flush you out. You have no choice. It’s the only way you can escape with your life.”

“I was on the swim team in school,” Anna said nonchalantly. “I can do it.”

“Good, good. Glad to hear it!” Jason said. “‘Cause I was worried you might be claustrophobic!” He threw his hands up in the air. “Are you kidding me? We’re supposed to swim in the dark into some pool to get out of there?”

“Precisely,” Benjamin said.

Anna smiled and put her arm around Jason. “You told me you asked God for something big. Well, I’d say this is it. Remember those drawings my grandfather had with the tunnels and the stream that led to a pool? This answers that question.”

He took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah, I’d say so. Okay, let’s do it.”

Benjamin took both of their hands and asked if he could pray for them. They both agreed and bowed their heads.

As soon as the prayer was said, Benjamin left and Anna and Jason headed down the tunnel, all keeping a close eye on their stopwatches.

They had twelve minutes.

T
heir disguises were good. Jonathan had to give them that. They looked exactly like two young Muslim men. He’d almost missed them, actually. It was the girl who gave them away.

Jonathan had been around plenty of Muslims in his life. He’d interacted with them on several occasions. Even had sat at the same table and shared a meal or two with several of them. And in all his experiences with them, he never saw one walking that gracefully in his life. All the Muslim men he’d ever seen walked with a purpose, a strong cadence to their steps. And that was the tell.

This young, short Muslim he was watching just kind of sauntered down the street. Like a lady. Not to mention the fact that “his” backside was swaying back and forth. That was not a man’s walk. And it definitely wasn’t a Muslim man’s walk.

He watched from the vehicle as the girl and her boyfriend, or whatever he was, followed another strangely dressed individual. This one was dressed as a rabbi, in full regalia, carrying a large duffel bag.

He had a bead on all four of the security team. They were spread out in two-hundred-yard perimeters. He had watched them move when Anna and her friend left the hotel. They were good. Not obvious, but not hard to find if you knew what you were looking for. Maybe they weren’t as good as he’d thought. Boy, wouldn’t that be nice. Regardless, he wasn’t taking any chances. He waited until Anna and her friends moved from the wall and went into an abandoned building. It was time to take out the security.

He left Waukeem stationed at the building and told him to let him know if anything happened. He was fairly sure nothing would. Whatever they were doing inside that building, they were probably going to be in there for a while. If everything went smoothly, he would take out the security and then go in after them.

He checked out his ammo and his “toys” and patted Waukeem on the shoulder.

“I’ll be back in less than ten minutes,” he said. “If they move, give me two clicks on the radio.

“Will do, mon,” Waukeem said with a nod. “Happy hunting.”

Jonathan smiled and crept away as quiet as a church mouse.

Jerusalem, outside the Wailing Wall

Benjamin made his way back up through the building and out the back door. He was sure they hadn’t been followed in. He wanted to make sure he wasn’t seen coming out. This back alley exit emptied directly behind a dumpster. Unless you knew the building, you wouldn’t even know about it.

He checked his watch. He had seven minutes. More than enough time. He just needed to get into place. The trigger needed to be within a hundred meters in order to transmit.

He had called in some big favors for this one. For thirty years he’d served his country flawlessly. He had the ear of the prime minister, as well as numerous other powerful people throughout the state of Israel. And it was many of them who had set up this covert operation. Of course, he’d not been fully honest with them. As far as they knew, he was orchestrating one of the most brilliant “snatch-and-grabs” in the Mossad’s history. As far as any of his contacts knew, he was working with a black-ops CIA team to take into possession a ruthless terrorist responsible for the deaths of over a thousand Israelis. What the powers-that-be didn’t know is that the infamous terrorist Shaliek Arsowie Mohamed had been in custody for six days now. And it hadn’t been as hard as anyone thought it would be. The Muslim killer had a weakness for American women. Funny, Benjamin thought. If Shaliek had been successful in his grandiose schemes, every American woman would be dead.

What Benjamin looked at now was no terrorist. It was, in fact, a row of six cars parked one in front of the other along the side of a street, rigged with explosives, and set to go off at the push of a button. A button that Benjamin held loosely in his left hand. The cars were all lined up against the curb along Bab Alsilsileh Street. He checked his watch. Three minutes. He crouched behind another car a safe distance away from the line of rigged cars. He bowed his head and said a little prayer for Anna and Jason. If everything went right, very little damage would occur. The charges were shape charges developed by the US Navy. The best in the world. Unless someone was standing within ten meters of the cars, the only thing that person would feel would be immense heat and the concussion of the explosion. It may knock them down, but that was it. No death and dismemberment.

One thing would happen though, he was sure. An explosion

this close to the wall, and at this hour of night, would definitely be seen as an attack on the mosque. Tonight was a special night for the Muslims in Jerusalem. The Imam had called a special prayer session in honor of the Hamas leader’s birthday. The mosque would be full for the next three hours. The moment the explosion was heard, there would be chaos. Every Muslim inside that mosque would come running out, probably armed and taking aim at the first threat they saw. It would hopefully, buy Anna and Jason the time they needed to get inside. And hopefully, more importantly, mask the sound of the explosion Anna and Jason were about to set off themselves.

His watch began to beep short bursts of tone. Twenty seconds. Fifteen. Ten. He raised the cap over the button. Five. He shielded his eyes and crouched down as low as he could get. Three. He placed his thumb over the button. One.

Jerusalem, the Wailing Wall

Patrice sat on the bench two hundred yards away from her nearest team member. Standard procedure. She could hear the static over her earpiece from her radio. There were some clouds out tonight, and it was affecting the reception of the satellite radios. She had been trying to convince Christopher for six months now to go back to the normal radios. They didn’t have the same range that the satellite radios had, but at least they didn’t glitch and cut out anytime a big cloud passed over. Christopher, being a huge proponent of technology, wanted to give them more of a chance.

The radios weren’t the only thing bothering her tonight. Call it women’s intuition or whatever you want, but something didn’t feel right. Something bad was about to happen. And most of

the time that feeling paid off.

Breaking protocol, she stood from the bench and decided to walk around a bit. Check out the area. She still had her radio on. What could it hurt? She would still be within her area of watch.

Nothing was happening at her end of the street. Anna, Jason, and the old man had gone completely to the other end of the neighborhood and into an abandoned building. So she decided to head that way. She knew that Christopher would probably grump at her, but oh well. She had that
feeling
. And this was the only thing that would make her feel halfway better.

She hadn’t gone far when she heard a bizarre sound shoot through her earpiece. She stopped dead in her tracks. What was that? It wasn’t normal, that she was sure of.