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throughout the Old City. But until now, only a few remnants of the system had
ever been found. The rest was just speculation."
"What are you saying?" asked Erin. "That no one's ever been down here
before?"
"Not since the Romans sacked the city," said Natasha. "We've always assumed
these tunnels were here, but no one ever found the way in. Don't forget,
twenty centuries of construction, destruction, and more construction the
entire Old City of Jerusalem lies right above us."
Another buzz of excitement rippled through the trio, but they didn't have time
to waste. They'd have company again soon.
"
Jon, call Ken," said Erin. "We need backup fast."
"I tried," he said. "I can't get a signal."
"
Check again," Erin insisted. "We can't hold them by ourselves.
"
Bennett pulled the phone from his pocket and powered it up. Still no signal.
They had to split up, he decided. The best odds they had were by dividing
their forces, luring their enemies into the tunnels, and taking them out one
by one.
"Then we'd better hurry," Natasha urged.
They could already hear the men working their way down the shaft behind them.
Bennett took the lead. "Erin, you go left. Natasha, you go right. I'll take
the middle tunnel. Move fast. Stay in the shadows. Conserve ammo. And pray.
"
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66
TUESDAY, JANUARY 20 - 5:01 P.M. - THE JERUSALEM TUNNELS
Flashlight in hand, Natasha sprinted into her tunnel.
It was wider than the others, maybe four feet across. But there was no place
to hide.
The ground was solid limestone. If she'd had a week she couldn't have dug a
foxhole deep enough. Nor was there a single boulder or outcropping behind
which she could take cover. The only hope she had was to get low, stay low,
keep quiet, and hope to God no one found her.
She turned off her flashlight and lay down, straining to hear any sound, any
movement. She had never been in such utter darkness. It was unnerving. The
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limestone was cold to her legs and stomach. But it was dry. Somewhere,
somehow, this system had once been sealed off from all the other waterworks
running under it.
When? Why?
She clenched her fists and noticed how wet with perspiration her hands were.
They were trembling. She was scared almost as scared of being alone as she was
of dying.
With the death of her grandfather, Natasha was utterly alone in the world.
Except for her cousin, Miriam, whom she practically never saw, nearly everyone
she'd ever loved had died a brutal, senseless death. Were the Bennetts about
to suffer that very same fate?
She couldn't bear it. She had become close to them in the last few days. In
some ways she felt like she'd known them all her life.
They weren't just newlyweds. They were so obviously in love. They were soul
mates, as she'd once been with Binyamin.
And they had something else she envied. They really seemed to know God. Not
about
Him. They actually seemed to know
Him personally. Theirs weren't rote, liturgical prayers. They really seemed to
be talking to someone who was listening and answering.
How was that possible? She read the same Bible they did. But to her it was a
treasure map, guiding her to the secrets of an ancient world. To them it was a
letter from a God who loved them. And though Natasha dared not tell a soul,
she was jealous.
She'd always considered herself a tough, smart, independent woman, and in many
ways she'd become even more so since her husband's death. But the last few
months
indeed, the last few days had changed all that. She could feel the tectonic
plates of history shifting under her feet. She wasn't sure if she bought into
all of Uncle Eli's talk about the earth's "last days." But something strange
was happening. That much was
227
certain. And the death of her grandfather had rattled her, forcing all of her
fears and in-
securities to the surface.
She longed for Jon's and Erin's inexplicable sense of calm. It seemed to
steady them, even when all hell was breaking loose. She coveted the sense of
purpose and destiny that kept them moving forward when anyone else in their
right mind would have given up and turned back. They were risking their lives
every day, and for what? Even if they lived, what were they going to get out
of all this? It was clear they loved Israel, and Uncle Eli, and it was clear
they loved her. Humanly speaking it made no sense.
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