69

'We've been looking in the wrong place,' Baverstock announced excitedly as he pulled open the door of his hotel room to let Hoxton inside. 'What happened to you?' he asked, when he saw Dexter standing in the corridor, his shirt red with blood.

'He had a nosebleed,' Hoxton said dismissively. 'Are you saying that the scroll's not under the Temple Mount?'

'Yes. It suddenly dawned on me exactly where the "place of the end of days" had to be, and it's not anywhere near Jerusalem.'

Hoxton sat down. 'So where is it?'

'Har Megiddo, or Armageddon. It's the place mentioned in the Book of Revelation as being where the final battle will be fought, the ultimate fight between good and evil, which will mark the end of the world as we know it.'

'Don't get messianic with me, Baverstock. Just tell me where the hell it is.'

'Here.' Baverstock unfolded a detailed map of Israel and jabbed a stubby finger at a spot just to the south-east of Haifa. 'That's where the Sicarii hid the Silver Scroll, I'm sure of it.'

'You were also pretty sure they'd hidden it in Hezekiah's Tunnel,' Hoxton observed. 'So how certain are you this time?'

'Ninety per cent,' Baverstock said, 'because of the reference to the cistern or well. I should have realized earlier. Jerusalem and the area around the city is full of water storage facilities. I thought the Sicarii had picked Hezekiah's Tunnel because it was the principal fresh water supply for the city, but when I looked at the inscription again I realized I was wrong. Hezekiah's Tunnel isn't really a cistern at all – it's an aqueduct that leads into the city from the Gihon Spring. A cistern is a water storage facility, often underground. If the Sicarii had hidden the relic there, I'd have expected them to use a different expression.'

'And is there a cistern at this Megiddo place?'

Baverstock nodded. 'Actually, it's another spring, but the important thing is the description of Har Megiddo itself. I'm quite sure that's what the author of the scroll was talking about.'

Hoxton turned to Dexter. 'Go and get yourself cleaned up,' he said. 'I don't want you dripping blood all over the car seats. And be quick about it. Then we'll get the hell out of here.' He looked back at Baverstock. 'Bronson and Lewis gave us the slip today, but I'd lay money they've already worked out that the Silver Scroll's hidden somewhere at Har Megiddo. We need to get up there as soon as we can.'

* * *

Bronson and Angela's route had taken them north-west out of Jerusalem, skirting the West Bank and Tel Aviv, through Tiqwa and Ra'annana before joining the coast road at Netanya. The road paralleled the Mediterranean coast, along the edge of the Plain of Sharon, all the way up to Haifa.

But before driving on to Megiddo, there were a few things Bronson wanted to buy, so he turned the Renault west, towards the centre of Haifa itself.

'Shopping time?' Angela asked.

'Exactly. I don't think I'll bother buying flippers because I doubt if I'll be swimming very far, but I'll certainly need a face-mask, and probably a rope.'

Twenty minutes later they walked back to the car, Bronson carrying a small plastic bag and an empty rucksack, which he shoved into the boot. Then they headed south-east out of Haifa towards Afula. The route they'd followed wasn't the most direct track to Har Megiddo, but it had saved them having to climb up and over the Mount Carmel ridge, which separated the two areas of level ground that dominated the area – the plains of Sharon and Esdraelon – so it had been a much easier, and probably faster, drive.

'It's only mid afternoon,' Bronson said. 'Why don't we go straight there and at least check it out? If you're right and what we're looking for is in an underground tunnel, it won't matter whether we go there in daylight or at night.'

'That's true,' Angela agreed, 'but we'll have to be careful up on Har Megiddo at night, waving torches around.

Any lights up there after closing time will attract attention.'

'What do you mean – "closing time"?' Bronson asked.

'Well, the site is a major tourist attraction, you know. At this time of year it closes at five. And we'll have to pay to get inside.'