Mary Turner had a hard day reviewing the small pieces of pottery discovered that day. The dig season is almost over. Just a few more days and she would be able to go home. She was tired and was looking forward to resting and writing her summary of their work this season. The dig was on the route of the Incense Trail. They believe the spot they are working on was a supply depot of sorts for the Bedouins that were transporting the goods to Europe. This was nearly two thousand years ago. The Bedouins walked the sands of these deserts for thousands of years. The Edomites ruled this area until they were conquered. The Nabateans ruled the trade routes from around 300 B.C.E. from their fortress at Petra. They ruled the area until the Romans forced them to enter the Roman Empire in the first century.
The Bedouin tribes believe they are direct descendants of Abraham. Their names are very long. It consists of their first name, their father's name, their grandfather's name, the small tribe unit they belong to, and the overall large tribe. They say they can trace each large tribe to Abraham. Maybe, maybe not. But they are fierce, proud people. Even as modern civilizations pushed them with new borders and new laws, they continued to wander these deserts.
The men who worked on Mary's dig were from one of those tribes. The chieftain who oversaw these men was Gilab Mohammed Abu-Rabia. He had other names, but that is all he told Mary. He spoke English and kept his men working throughout the entire dig.
When sitting around the campfires at night, Gilab would tell fantastic stories about his ancestors. Mary assumed most were not true, much like the Jews of old. But that didn't make them any less interesting. She imaged she was sitting with the Jews as they wandered after leaving Egypt, listening to the stories of the elders. She liked these hardworking men.
The other three archeologists she was working with were not novices. They had been at more digs than her. The Englishman was named Reginal Montgomery. He was a forty something balding man with a quick, but English sense of humor. She thought of him as off just a little. He thought a little too much of the English people and their history, but otherwise he was a decent man.
The Egyptian man who worked with them came from the Egyptian Council of the Antiquities. He was on loan from Egypt. His name was Khufu Al-Fattah. He always joked about his mother studying the old Pharoahs. She named him Khufu as one from the gods. The last name meant "servant of the victory." He always said he was sent from the gods to bring victory. He defined victory as many things, but Mary liked him. For having the name of a Pharoah he was a gentle, quiet man.
The man from the West Bank was named Daanii Khalil. He had been sent to Oxford to study archeology. He hopes to trace the history of the people of Palestine. He was slightly younger than Mary. He was the energetic one of the group. He would work longer and harder to prove himself. Mary liked him, and sort of felt sorry for him. He always had a sense of inferiority. She guessed it was because of the difficulties his people have had with the Jews for his entire lifetime.
Those were the men she worked with. Gilab had brought a couple of women with him to do the cooking and cleaning. Mary also wondered if he had brought women with him to give Mary a more secure environment. He never said a word, but one of the women did speak English. They talked a couple of times. The women in the clans usually don't talk to strangers. Mary wondered if Gilab had told her to befriend Mary. Whatever the reason, Mary was grateful for someone to talk to sometimes.
They were scheduled to leave for Egypt in two days. She talked to the company sponsoring their dig that day telling them they were leaving for Eilad, Isreal in two days. They told Mary they would have people there to meet them and help them get to Egypt.
Mary had barely gotten to sleep when the Bedouin woman slipped into her tent. "Mary, you must get up and get dressed at once. We must leave now."
Mary shook her head to hear what the Bedouin woman had said. "In the middle of the night? Now?"
The woman was gathering some of Mary's clothes and putting them in a small knapsack. "Now, now!! We must go now."
Mary jumped up, got started to get dressed, but the woman stopped her. "Put these clothes on, not yours. You must hide."
That did it. Mary knew they were in trouble, and she hurriedly put the Bedouin clothes on. She grabbed some undergarments while the woman was putting some of her personal items in her small bag. Mary helped her with what she thought she would have to have, and they were out into the night within five minutes. She saw the others were in the same boat. They were also dressed as nomads. Gilab came to them and spoke to them. "We must leave. Hezbollah is coming. You will have to learn to ride these camels, even if you have not done so before. We must get away from here now."
The Bedouin men helped them onto the camels as they were kneeling in front of them, waiting. Mary managed to climb onto the camel and held on for dear life as the camel stood up. She nearly fell off, but fear kept her tightly clinging to the saddle. Within ten minutes of being awakened, Mary and the entire troupe were walking into the desert night. They were led by Gilab. The workers were stationed beside the four foreigners to ensure they did not fall off.
For the first hour, all Mary did was try not to fall off. After an hour, when nothing bad had happened, she began to relax. It was then she began thinking about their situation. They were running from terrorists, into the desert with a bunch of nomads. As far as she knew, these men didn't have guns. She figured that if they ran into the terrorists, the four of them would be turned over to them as prisoners.
As they walked into the calm of the night, she began to settle down. The stars were bright, and there was no sound around them except the camel's hoof beats in the hard sand. As the sun began to rise in the east, she could tell there was nothing within miles of them. She didn't know how long they would make them walk, but she was sorer than she had ever been before. As the day cleared up from the morning haze, she saw a ridge of short hills or mountains standing before them. Gilab stopped the caravan and had a couple of men go forward to scout. After ten minutes, they returned, and the caravan moved forward again. They stopped by the side of the largest mountain. It provided security and shade from the east. The men began making camp and the women began a fire to make the morning meal. Gilab took the four over by the shade of the mountain to talk.
"I am terribly sorry for this. Our people warned us last night that Hezbollah wanted prisoners to bargain with Isreal. They were attacking any prominent foreigners they could find. I believe we only escaped them by a couple of hours. We are going to try and find your safe passage to one of your embassies. It will take a while, and you will need to stay hidden with us until we know it is safe to return you. Unfortunately for us, if we are caught with you, we will all be killed. I must ask each of you to do whatever I tell you to do without question. Do you understand?" The four nodded quickly. "The next few weeks are going to be difficult, but I promise, I will find a way to get you home."
As everyone sat down to eat, Gilab quietly walked up the mountain. Mary had no idea what he was doing, but she had other things to worry about. She had not brought her satellite phone in the rush to get away. Now she couldn't let the university know she was alive. Gilab returned as they were finishing their meal. When they were finished, he called some of his men and the four to sit with him.
"I know they will come today to check on us. They know by now that we left last night. They will assume you went with us when they didn't find you at the camp. They should be here today. I must find a place to hide you that they will not notice. Please follow me."
Gilab led his men and the four up the side of the mountain. When they arrived at the summit, he continued down the far side. In the shadow of the mountain, he stopped at a small swale in the sand. There were a few sage brushes along the mountainside. He pointed to the sand in front of the bushes. He told his men to dig a small ditch in the sand large enough to hold the four. "This is my plan. They will search everywhere. The caves are no good. They would find you there instantly. They will look everywhere. We must make this swale innocent enough that they will only look down on it from the summit. IF they see nothing suspicious, they will move on. Once my men have dug a trench just deep enough for you to lay down in, they will cover you with sand." He handed them reeds. "These are from the Red Sea. You can breathe through them. You will lay down either facing up or down, your choice. Your reed must only break the surface under the bushes. The sand must NOT move while you are hiding. It will be hot, and there will be the possibility of insects. If you move, we will all die. Understand?"
