Hadassah Covenant, The Read Online Free PDF Page B

Baghdad’s largest greenbelt.
    There, barely twenty yards out of the cloverleaf that marked the park’s entrance, he saw what he needed. He swerved over and brought the truck to a screeching halt. In a second the door slammed and locked, and he was out, crossing the grass with long strides and holding the phone back up to his ear. He looked around him, saw no one paying any attention, and took a deep breath.
    Finally, a place he knew to be safe from electronic eavesdropping—from either side.
    He dialed and spoke one word into the phone, low but strong.
    For a minute, Osborn’s eyes danced along with the cadence of thebeeps and whistles rushing past his ear. Then he began to speak in a breathless rant.
    “No, Father—I’m in Baghdad. Everything’s fine. Except—and this is why I’m calling you—I’ve found something big. No, not even that. It’s bigger, it’s the motherlode, a two in one. Both of the pieces we’ve been searching for, praying for, in a single haul.”
    He waited while a deep, ponderous voice spoke quickly through the earpiece.
    “Yes. You guessed it. I think it’s authentic. It’ll take the lab in Jerusalem to confirm it for certain, and maybe a comparison. All I had was a quick pass with my makeshift infrared.”
    He paused and turned around to make sure he was still far from the nearest park stroller.
    “That’s right. Hadassah, and the Exilarch bloodline, together. Our guesses could be validated. The Exilarch did start long before Alexander the Great.” He laughed, then sobered quickly. “I told you it was the motherlode. I’m nearly one hundred percent sure. But I’ll have to go to her, to validate them. The time has come. And then you’ll be able to go public, except . . . well, you’ve already gone public. But wait. There’s also a bad side to this. Some very bad news, I’m afraid.”

Chapter Five
    The Wall Street Journal Europe , Monday, June 30, 2003, p. A1
    For 1,500 years, from the era of Alexander the Great to the late 13th century, a high Mesopotamian priest in Babylon ruled as the supreme leader of Eastern Jewry. Known as the Exilarch, he settled all disputes brought before him by Jews living as far away as India and Spain. The Exilarch’s authority ended only when Mongol hordes sacked Babylon, for centuries the city with the world’s largest Jewish community .
    —“E XILE S EEKS R EPARATIONS FOR J EWS F ROM I RAQ IN F IRST S TAGE OF P LAN ”
    ----
    C OALITION H EADQUARTERS, THE G REEN Z ONE , B AGHDAD—THE FOLLOWING MORNING
    W ith a loud slap , the leather-bound sheath of ancient documents struck the briefing room table and slid sideways. The short, thickly muscled United States Army officer who had slammed it down stood, exhaled loudly, and glared around at the four men sitting before him in the canvas-filtered light of the divisional briefing room.
    It was a careless way to treat objects this sensitive, but Colonel John McIntosh also knew that he didn’t care. Tiptoeing around ancient artifacts was just the kind of time-wasting frivolity he hated most about his job. Precisely the sort of politically correct goose chase that resulted in soldiers getting killed for no useful purpose. Such as the case at hand—classic example of bureaucrats messing with the mission profile and getting good men zipped into body bags.
    For his opening salvo, the colonel fixed a disdainful scowl at thebearded Brit, Osborn, the personification of all this nonsense.
    “So—you really think this is what those men fought and died for? Took out a chopper and a dozen men?” “I do, sir.”
    Good . Ari “Osborn” was relieved he had been able to deliver the response flat and unmoved.
    “Must have been real antique lovers.” The colonel rolled his eyes at the others, military men all, and elicited a few cheap, sympathetic chuckles.
    “Sir,” Osborn continued, the first lilt of a defensive pitch unavoidably stealing into his voice, “the documents were likely stolen from the