Page 14 of Sands of Sirocco
Noah followed Jack closely.They traveled through the labyrinth of a bazaar, avoiding the places troops typically gathered at night.The souk’s stalls were closed for the night, but mice and lizards crept from their resting places, scurrying past them.Within a few hours, the call of the muezzin would float through the narrow passages, and the scents of cooking and spices would fill the air.Church bells would peal, the city come to life.The sun would transform the buildings into serene hues of sand and peach with a sacredness clinging to it all.
When he and Jack had come here long ago, the city had fascinated them.At sunset, the walls that surrounded the Old City gleamed like burnished gold.For as long as Jerusalem had existed, there had been walls around it in some form.The Ottomans had built the walls that surrounded it now, both to restore the glory of the old walls and for protection.
Now, they presented an obstacle.
To exit the Old City, they’d need to go through a gate.Scaling the walls without being seen was impossible.Most were nearly forty feet high on the exterior.And exiting through a gate meant presenting forged paperwork to Turkish guards.
Jack’s motorcar waited for them outside the Lion’s Gate, in the Kidron Valley between the Old City wall and the Mount of Olives.Getting to the car was vital—they could get away further and faster with it than they’d do on foot.
Noah had never felt more exposed in his life.
Though Jack had said nothing, he must feel the pressure too, given the weapons he’d brought.Were they headed straight into the enemy’s waiting arms?
Jack ducked suddenly, then crouched by a low wall.Noah came up beside him.“What is it?”
“Four Turkish soldiers.On patrol.”Jack’s dark eyes peered out from the slit in the burqa.
They started in the other direction, but the scent of cigarette smoke and several soldiers laughing around the corner stopped them.Sidling up to a wall, they slipped onto the ground, as footsteps came closer.
Noah slid the bags behind them, then kicked his legs out in front of him.Crumpling his body, he kept a firm grip on his gun, pretending to sleep as Jack assumed a beggar’s pose, palms up, hands in front of his face.
The Turkish soldiers came closer.Peering through his eyelashes, Noah watched their booted feet as they strolled past Noah and Jack.
Then one of them stopped.Poking Noah with the barrel of his gun, the soldier mumbled to the men with him.Noah’s finger tightened on the trigger of his gun and he slowed his breath, feeling his heart rate dropping as he forced a state of calm.Another soldier chuckled, then placed a cigarette in Jack’s outstretched hands.They continued forward.
When the soldier’s footsteps had faded, Jack sat up.He pocketed the cigarette.“We may need to consider the possibility that leaving the bags behind might get us through easier.”
Noah gripped the strap of his bag.Going without weapons would make it easier to move and to flee and arouse less suspicion.But that left them what?Noah had seven rounds in his gun.Jack might have a few rounds in his.“Where should we leave the bags?”
Jack glanced over his shoulder.“It’s too late to go back now.So it looks like right here’s as good a place as any.”They were near a church.Wrought-iron gates pierced the walls.Jack slung his bag from his shoulder, then dropped it on the other side of the gate as quietly as he could.Noah did the same, and they started forward once more, in the opposite direction from the soldiers on patrol.
A cat sprang from where it hid as they passed, startling them both.It yowled, baring its teeth, then ran off, its feet so light that it didn’t make a sound.Jack swore.“Damn cat almost made me shit my pants.”
“They always seem to know just when to jump from a shadow.”Noah loosened his jaw.He’d been clenching it as they walked, and now it ached.The wig Jack had loaned him suffocated—and stank, too.A bead of sweat rolled down his temple, and he wiped it away.
They went down another alleyway, drawing closer to the Temple Mount and theQubbat al-Sakhrah.The gold dome of the famed mosque gleamed in the faint moonlight.Only a short walk remained between them and theVia Dolorosa, the famous path representing the steps of Christ to Calvary.It would lead them to the Lion’s Gate, which might be the hardest part of their trip.
As they passed another alley, Noah heard the soft clicking mechanism of a gun being cocked.Noah reached for his gun.
Stephen stepped forward from the shadows, pointing a gun at him.“What a surprise.Even with that ridiculous wig, I knew you in an instant.”His gaze flickered toward Jack.“And who might that hideous creature beside you be?Take the face covering off.Now.”
Jack lowered it, then winked at Stephen with a slight pucker of his lips.“And here I thought you wanted to pay me for a good time.”
Stephen scowled.“I might have known.Wherever Noah Benson is, his clown follows closely.”He sniffed and stepped menacingly toward Noah.“You know, I could shoot you now.I’ve certainly dreamed of the possibility.”
“Then why don’t you?”Noah glowered at him.How many times had he had the same thought?What he would do to Stephen if he ever got his hands on him.How he’d make him suffer for what he’d put Ginger through.No quick and painless death.
It stood to reason that Stephen felt the same way.He wouldn’t shoot Noah now if he could help it.Stephen was a schemer.He’d want to be much more creative in punishing Noah.Stephen gave an exaggerated sigh.“As it so happens, we’re able to help one another.You’d like to leave the Old City—through the Lion’s Gate, I presume?Someone or something waits near the Mount of Olives.You’re a creature of habit, Benson.”
Habits had served him well enough before.He just hadn’t planned for someone who knew his habits, like Stephen, to be the one hunting for him.
Help one another?Stephen seemed to have something up his sleeve, and an uneasy feeling crept into Noah’s already-taut shoulders.
“There’s no way you’ll make it out of here without my help.Not after Abdullah alerted the Turks to a British spy in Jerusalem.And two spies?Imagine the reward I might earn for myself.”Stephen sniffed.“But that’s not what I want.I want to get out of this stinking city.To surrender.Therefore, I’m going to help you leave.And you’re going to help me get back into Cairo so I can turn myself over to the authorities there.”
He had to be lying.
Noah and Jack exchanged glances.“You want to leave this stinking city to go to another stinking city?”Jack asked.
