Arabian Collusion Read online

  “Those look like fresh dirt piles next to that building; let’s go have a look,” Sara said to Saed as she placed her pack back onto her shoulders. As the two walked down the hill and got closer to the building, they could see that it was a mausoleum with a small graveyard attached.

  “Gravediggers,” said Saed.

  “Yes, I can see.”

  Sara athletically vaulted over the stone wall into the small cemetery. Saed took the long way around through the gate. The headstones were arrayed in lines; some were broken, many were very old, dating back to the fifth century, while others had dates on them that were much more recent. She walked over to the fresh earth and found two gravestones that were knocked over and partially covered with dirt. The writing on the stones was faded, but she could recognize enough to tell the language was Ottoman Turkish. Looking down into the nearest dug- up grave, she found bones and a clay pot. Curious about the pot, she decided to have a closer look. She was dropping her backpack to prepare for the climb down into the grave when she heard a call on the radio attached to her belt.

  “Sara, are you there?” She heard Wolfgang’s German-accented voice. She picked up the radio and pressed the transmit button on the side.

  “This is Sara.”

  “I need you to come to the northern basilica; we’ve found something interesting and we need your help.”

  “I’ve found two graves that have been dug up in the cemetery,” replied Sara.

  “This is more important; please come immediately,” Wolfgang stated.

  Saed was just arriving at the gravesite as Sara was returning her backpack to her shoulders.

  “We have to meet Doctor Boettinger in the north basilica.”

  Saed grimaced as he turned around and started to lumber back up the hill. Once at the top, Sara waited for her security man to catch up. She and Saed entered the basilica together where it intersected with the nave. They noticed a gathering at the far end of the basilica and went to it. Wolfgang met her, while Felix and Ole both remained huddled around a hole in the wall.

  “What’s going on?” asked Sara.

  “Ole has made a most interesting discovery. Inside that niche there once was a series of statues depicting the ascension. The thieves used a crowbar and pried them from the niche interior. What’s so interesting is that in doing so, they exposed a storage space behind the niche.”

  “What’s inside?”

  “Black lacquer boxes covered in writing. Very intricate gold calligraphy. We haven’t opened them yet; we could use your Arabic skill.”

  Sara stood next to Wolfgang and watched Ole and Felix extract the boxes from within the hidden space. They handled the boxes gently, lined them up, and photographed them. Sara approached the first box on the end and studied it. The box was a perfect cube, two feet in every direction. The lacquer coating had a few cracks but otherwise showed little damage. Sara studied the writing.

  “I thought my Arabic was passable, but I couldn’t figure it out,” Felix said as he walked up beside Sara and studied the box.

  “It’s Aramaic, East Syriac,” Sara replied.

  “That explains a few things. What does it say?”

  “It says, “The Holy Quran.”

  “The Holy Quran?”

  “Yes, as in ‘The’ and not ‘A’ Holy Koran.”

  “Why would it be written in Aramaic?” asked Wolfgang, who was standing behind Sara and Felix.

  “The language around Mecca at the time of Mohammed was Aramaic, and the first Quran was almost certainly written in the East Syrian dialect,” answered Sara.

  “This could be a significant find,” said Wolfgang.

  “Do you think we should open it and find out?” asked Felix, as he placed a second box down next to the first.

  “We don’t have the tools to open this box without damaging it. We should take it back with us and study it properly,” Wolfgang said.

  “What about this second box? What does it say it contains?” asked Felix.

  Sara moved over to the second box and studied it for a full five minutes.

  “This box contains ‘The Stone’,” answered Sara.

  “Are you sure that’s what it says?” asked Ole.

  “Yes, I’m sure, although I have no idea what it means,” replied Sara.

  “This is intriguing. These boxes may contain important artifacts that have been hidden away for centuries. We’ll take them back where they can be studied and safeguarded. Ole and Felix, please have them loaded into the vehicles. We head back immediately,” said Wolfgang.

  “Don’t you think we should open them and confirm they are what you think they are before we abandon the task we came here to perform?” asked Ole.

  Wolfgang paused for a minute. “Only if you think you can open them without causing damage,” he said.

  Adolpho had arrived moments earlier and listened to the conversation between Ole and Wolfgang. He removed a leather pouch containing a small set of archaeology tools from his jacket and approached the first box. Sara watched as he surveyed the box with one tool that looked like a pick and another that was a small mirror that resembled a dental tool.

  “The box can’t be opened without breaking the seal,” Adolpho said.

  “Break it,” replied Felix.

  “Yes, break it,” said Ole.

  “It’s up to you,” Adolpho said to Wolfgang.

  “Go ahead. We would only do the same back at our camp.”

  Adolpho took a thin razor knife from his pouch and inserted it into the seam at the top of the box. He slid the blade through the wax-like substance sealing the box.

  “What is that?” Felix asked.

  “Bitumen, I think. It’s been used as a seal since Roman times,” said Adolpho

  Adolpho ran the X-ACTO razor blade all the way around the lid of the box. He then signaled Sara to help him.

  The two slowly lifted the top off the box. When the top separated from the rest of the box they heard the noise of a vacuum seal being broken.

  “What’s inside?” asked Ole, who was crowded out from view by the others.

  Adolpho gently removed an object wrapped in black cloth from inside. He placed it on the box top in front of Sara. He began to unwrap the object. “It’s a book, leather bound, probably deerskin or some such animal,” he said.

  “What does it say on the cover?” asked Ole.

  “Same as on the box, ‘The Holy Quran,’” Sara said.

  “Could this be one of the originals made by Zayd ibn Thabit?” asked Felix.

  “We would need to carbon date it to be sure. If it is, then it’s thirteen hundred years old. We should put it back, regardless of who wrote it; it’s very old, and the pages are too fragile to touch,” said Adolpho.

  “Whatever happened to the five original copies of the Koran made by Zayd ibn Thabit which were commissioned by the Caliph?” asked Adolpho.

  “Five copies of the one true original were sent to the Muslim regions at the time; the location of three are known, and this may be one of the missing copies,” answered Sara.

  “Let’s check the next box,” Ole said.

  Adolpho repeated the procedure. The group was expecting to find a stone under the cloth. Only this time, when the fabric was removed from around the object, what they found underneath was another box, this one the size of a toaster. Sara watched Adolpho strain and then signal for Felix to help him remove the surprisingly heavy box.

  Adolpho once again went through the process of opening the box. Sara watched as he unwrapped the cloth from around a black, tablet-shaped stone

  “What is it?” asked Ole.

  “I have no idea, it’s just a square, tablet-shaped stone,” answered Adolpho.

  “The Quran could be a significant historical find. Let’s load up and get these archaeological finds to safety as soon as possible. Cataloguing the damage to the Cathedral is going to have to wait,” said Wolfgang.

  Chapter 3

  Road to Homs

  It w
as late afternoon by the time the trucks were loaded up and the convoy set off on the return trip to the Shirin compound on the outskirts of Homs. Sara was in the third SUV following behind Wolfgang, who was in the second vehicle. Ole was leading the convoy and Adolpho was trailing.

  “Why are we stopping?” asked Sara

  “Roadblock,” replied Saed, as he removed a pistol from the storage console behind the gear shift.

  “Are we in trouble?” asked Sara.

  “The control of this road shifts all the time; it depends on whose roadblock it is,” said Saed.

  Up ahead, Sara could see two men pointing rifles at Ole’s vehicle, while talking to Ole and his driver. The two men speaking to Ole had heavy beards and wore mismatched military vests and uniforms. Sara watched as the doors to the SUV were opened and Ole and his driver, whose name she did not know, got out. The two men signaled with their weapons for the personnel from the other vehicles to get out and come forward to the first vehicle in the convoy. Sara watched Saed open the car door and tuck his pistol under his shirt in his back waistband as he exited the truck.

  When Sara and Saed approached the two soldiers, they were directed to stand with Ole, Wolfgang and the other two members of their team. They were close enough to the soldiers to hear them talk among themselves. The shorter one, who appeared to be the leader, was telling the tall one that, once they had everyone assembled, he would inspect the vehicles. The subordinate would guard the personnel.

  The tall soldier kept his weapon oriented at the larger group, while the leader kept his weapon aimed at Adolpho and his driver who were still approaching. When Adolpho joined the group, the leader turned his attention to the first SUV and, for the moment, the soldier took his eyes off the group and watched the leader and not his charges.

  The sound of a pistol discharging so close to her ear was a deafening surprise. It happened so fast, she didn’t have time to react. Sara watched the soldier who was only five feet from her, the one who was supposed to be covering her group, drop like a sack of bricks after a bullet exploded the left side of his skull. Stunned, Sara turned her attention to the leader, who was opening the SUV door when the shot was fired. Before he could get both hands onto his weapon and raise it, five more pistol shots rang out in rapid secession. Sara watched the man fall dead to the ground.

  “We need to get out of here, fast!” Saed shouted, with the smoking pistol in his right hand. Although she had trouble understanding the words because of the temporary ringing in her ears, the body language was obvious. All of the others began to run to their vehicles and she joined them.

  Driving past the roadblock, Sara stared at the two bodies on the road as Saed swerved around them to keep up with the other vehicles in the convoy.

  “Will you pass me a bottle of water?” asked Saed.

  Sara’s hands were shaking so badly that she had trouble opening the bottle for Saed. She finally handed the bottle to Saed and it disappeared in his big paw. She looked up at the big man and he looked as passive and docile as ever.

  “Who were those men?” asked Sara.

  “Al Nusra,” replied Saed.

  “What did they want with us?”

  “Nothing directed at us— they were just collecting tolls, stopping vehicles, and collecting as much money as they can get. If they’d found the relics, they would’ve confiscated them. They also would’ve confiscated the trucks and taken us captive. I had no choice,” Saed said.

  Sara nodded.

  “I just want to get back in one piece. Nothing was mentioned about gunfights when I signed up for this at the University.”

  Sara found herself focusing on Saed and his neatly trimmed beard and bald head the remainder of the trip back to the compound. He was as relaxed as she was tense. She could feel a familiar soreness in her jaw from a childhood habit of grinding her teeth when under stress.

  The sun was setting when they passed through the guarded compound gate of the Shirin Headquarters. Sara silently said a prayer as the vehicle came to a halt.

  The compound consisted of two villas in the outskirts of the Baba Amir neighborhood of Homs. The city was a major battlefield during the rebellion and had been secured by Assad’s forces for more than two years, which was enough time to restore electricity and water to much of the area. Most of the buildings in the city had been reduced to rubble. Two years after the hostilities had ceased, the city was still mostly deserted, which allowed Shirin International to take its pick of properties offered by the Syrian Government. The villas were comfortably furnished.

  Sara emerged from a hot shower, quickly dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and headed to the communal dining room with a voracious appetite. She grabbed a plate and headed through the buffet, which was stacked with Lebanese cold and hot mezza dishes. She joined Ole and Wolfgang at a table with her plate piled high with chicken kebabs, manakeesh (Lebanese pizza), falafel, tabbouleh salad, kofta meatballs, and baklava.

  Ole did a double take when Sara dropped the heavy plate on the table.

  “Did you forget you only weigh 50 kilos?” Ole asked.

  “I can’t remember when I’ve ever been this hungry or when food has ever tasted so good,” Sara replied with a kebab in her hand.

  “I think there was a point today when we all felt we had enjoyed our last meal,” said Wolfgang. Nobody responded to that.

  “Where’s Adolpho?” asked Sara.

  “He’s in the lab with the artifacts,” said Wolfgang.

  “What’s he up to?” said Sara.

  “He brought a quadrupole mass spectrometer with him. He borrowed it from the University of Rome. He’s conducting C-14 measurements,” Wolfgang said.

  “How long before we’ll know how old the Quran is?” asked Sara.

  “It will take two days according to Adolpho. His portable system is a huge improvement over the six weeks I’m used to with the ancient equipment at my University,” Wolfgang replied.

  “It’s a very interesting find. Sara, since you’re the only one with the language skills, you should check to see how the text deviates from the Uthmanic Codex. That should tell us a lot,” Ole said.

  “Like the Sanaa Quran, if there are any differences then we’ll know it pre-dates the final approved version crafted by Zayd ibn Thabit at around 650 AD,” Sara replied.

  “Wouldn’t it be marvelous if we discovered one of the early versions of the Quran?” Wolfgang asked.

  “The Muslims believe there was only ever one version of the Holy Quran. Mohammed received the first revelation from the angel Gabriel in 610 AD. After each revelation, Mohammed would recite the message verbatim to his companions who would write it down, as Mohammed was illiterate. Because the Quran was revealed in disjointed verses and chapters, a point came when it needed to be gathered into a coherent whole text. There are disagreements among both Muslim and non-Muslim scholars as to when the Quran was compiled. Some believe Mohammad compiled it before he died, while others believe it was collected by either Ali ibn Abu Talib or Abu Bakr. Who knows, maybe the text we found today will help us understand this mystery?” Sara said.

  Chapter 4

  Homs Syria

  Sara woke to the sound of gunfire. She was frozen in her bed, lying on her back in the dark, unable to decide what to do, too frightened to move. The door to her room flew open and she saw the silhouette of a man. It was a big man with a bald head.

  “Come with me, we need to get out of here!” she heard from the familiar voice of Saed.

  “I need my clothes.” Sara was wearing only panties and a t-shirt.

  “No time for that, come on!” Saed pulled at her arm. Sara managed to snag a pair of blue jeans and running shoes from the top of the bureau by the doorway as Saed pulled her into the hallway. Gunfire reverberated downstairs and from one of the bedrooms on the second floor. Saed led Sara down the hallway toward the back staircase when a man exited one of the bedrooms with a rifle. Saed shot the man before he could raise his rifle. Saed and Sara stepped ov
er the man and ran toward the end of the hallway to the staircase.

  They stopped, midway down the stairs, to listen, before trying to reach the door at the base of the stairs. Sara used the time to slip her jeans on and to step into her running shoes. They walked down the rest of the way and entered the kitchen. Two bodies were on the floor. Sara hesitated when she recognized them, and then followed Saed out the back door into the darkness of the courtyard. Without warning, Saed fired three shots with his pistol and she heard a weapon fire from inside the villa. She raced after Saed out into the courtyard that separated the two villas and around to the back of the Villa they had just left. When they reached the outer wall of the villa complex, Saed picked Sara up by the waist and lifted her over. Sara felt herself slide over the top of the stone boundary and managed to hang onto the edge before slowly dropping to the other side. Saed followed seconds later.

  Out in the street, they ran toward a neighboring villa. The wall of the villa had been destroyed and most of the villa was bombed out. Saed led Sara through a hole in the wall into a dark empty building. The room was illuminated by the moon because most of the roof was missing. They found a staircase and walked down the stairs. Sara put her hand on Saed’s shoulder and he guided her down into a basement. They reached the bottom and Saed led Sara to the edge of the room and the two sat down on the dirty tile floor.

  Sounds of the massacre could still be heard coming from their villa. The spaces between the cracks of gunfire grew longer, and the ferocity of the violence had slowed. Minutes went by, and for longer and longer periods the only sound Sara could hear was her own breathing. She was too terrified to talk. Saed was quiet; he held the pistol in his hand and his attention was focused on the staircase they had used to get down into the basement. It was too dark to see the stairs, although they were only ten feet away.