Ashes of the Red Heifer (3 page)

David moved gracefully through the clutter. His jaw clenched and anger glittered in his eyes. “No one is taking responsibility for the bombing.”

“Did you find out what Avrel was doing here?” she asked.

Hassan looked at the ground. “They said he came to urge us to go to the shelter.”

His words struck like a kick to her stomach. It was her fault. If she’d gone to the shelter when the siren sounded Avrel would be alive.

David broke the silence, his voice harsh. “According to the experts, the bombers probably intended to do more damage, but the TNT was packed too loosely. It was a homemade bomb, and not a good one. It’s got to be Muslim extremists.”

Hassan sucked in a breath and stepped back.

Annie put her hand up. “Hold on. We don’t know who did it. With negotiations going so well, maybe someone wanted to derail the peace process. It might be Jews trying to blame the Arabs.”

David raised his eyebrows. “Are you saying you think Jews bombed their own kibbutz?”

“It’s been known to happen,” Hassan mumbled.

Annie shook her head. “I’m saying strange things happen for strange reasons here.”

A high-pitched officious voice stopped the conversation. “Hello, there.”

Annie turned to see Dr. Alanberg, the administrator of the kibbutz and government liaison, daintily step toward them. If Annie were asked to draw a picture of a bureaucrat, that person would look like Dr. Alanberg. When he stood, she could see the top of his yarmulke. His potbelly hung over his belt. White whiskers covered his chin, and white, wiry hair peeked out from his yarmulke.

Annie had never seen him smile, in fact, hardly ever saw him without a scowl. He had an American, eastern seaboard accent, but Annie didn’t know where he called home. She suspected he was raised by old widowed aunts in a decaying mansion where they embroidered in dark rooms and counted every penny of a dwindling inheritance.

Annie forced a smile. His pompous self-righteousness irritated her. Best to keep her mouth shut and let David handle this. It wouldn’t be good if she lost her temper.
        Alanberg studied the devastation and shook his head. “A tragedy. This should never have happened. Praise be to God it was only one bomb. It could have been worse.”

Worse? Avrel was dead, Sophie a widow. The BA 23 cure would be pushed back.

Hassan nodded and stared at the ground. David’s mouth flattened in an angry line, but he didn’t speak.

Great. They were going to clam up and leave it to her. She took a breath. “Before the bomb hit we delivered a live calf. This could mean we’ve found the cure for BA 23. We need to bring in a few uninfected cows and try again.”

Hassan stared at her, his eyes wide and disbelieving. David folded his arms across his chest and frowned.

Alanberg held up his hand and cleared his throat. “I’m afraid that won’t be possible—”

No. She wouldn’t let him say it. She talked faster, saying things he should already know. “We’ve got to eradicate BA 23. They found infection in that herd in Lebanon a couple of weeks ago. Maybe they stopped the spread by killing all the animals, but maybe not. Our best hope to corral BA 23 is to let me finish my research. If this crosses borders and gets into some third world country where people practically live with their cows, there’s no telling how many people will die.”

Alanberg stepped back, looking as though he’d been sprayed by a rabid skunk. “I appreciate your passion, Dr. Grant, but one of our people has been killed. We don’t know who did it or why. Until we have answers, we are canceling the project and evacuating the kibbutz.”

She closed the space between them, leaning forward. “Because of a bomb? Everyone knows Jews don’t cave to terrorism. Look, I’ve identified the LPS epitomes. No one else has been able to do that. Don’t shut us down.”

David touched her arm, trying to calm her. “Annie, be reasonable. This bomb is serious.”

He didn’t have to tell her how serious it was, the memory of Sophie’s wails proved that. “Stuff like this happens in Israel and I thought you make it a point not to let it stop you. Don’t let Avrel’s death mean nothing.”

Alanberg took an indignant breath and pulled back his soft shoulders. “I don’t have to justify this to you.”

Annie lunged for Hassan.

Startled, he backed away.

Annie reached for his pocket protector, and grabbed a pen. She shoved it toward Alanberg. “Write a requisition for me to the Ag Ministry. Post date it. Let me get a half dozen cows and I’ll find another kibbutz. I need those cattle, Dr. Alanberg.”

He looked at her as he might a mutant cell under the microscope, but said nothing.

“Please.”

Hassan spoke quietly. “They won’t let you bring cows into the country now. It’s too risky.”

Alanberg dusted his hands together. “The project is terminated.”

Annie threw her pen past Alanberg’s head. “How many more are going to die if we don’t find the cure?”

Alanberg gave her an icy stare. His voice sounded terse. “Buses will arrive to take you to Jerusalem in two hours. Please be ready to board at that time.”

THREE

       Annie watched Alanberg mince his way out of the wreckage and stifled her inclination to chase after and throttle him. There simply wasn’t time.

David and Hassan stood silently, as if waiting to see if they should escape while they had the chance.

Inside Annie, the molten anger that boiled at Alanberg’s rejection solidified to cold steel. He might have told her she was finished but so had her father, and several people since. Annie hadn’t accepted it then, and she didn’t accept it now. The answers to BA 23 were contained in Esther’s blood and the tissue of her calf and Annie needed samples.

Time was running out; she felt it in every beat of her heart. Annie had figured out the right formula for the cure. She was certain no one else was even close. She couldn’t quit now.

In his fluttering lab coat, Hassan fretted next to Annie. “We should go pack our things, don’t you think?”

She turned to the decimated lab. Two hours wasn’t enough time. “Hassan, if I can get that equipment to function how long will blood analysis take with your new program?”

Hassan stopped in front of her, purpose taking away his nervous energy. “Depends on what you want to know.”

“I want to know if vaccinating Esther raised the interferon levels in the calf and if the serum antibodies in the calf are elevated. If the brucellosis strain infected the calf, what tissues did it damage?”

David let out a burst of air. “What are you talking about? The project is scrapped. All that’s left is to pack up and head to Jerusalem.”

Annie jumped on David. “Why aren’t you fighting Alanberg to let us stay? It’s your company project on the line here.”

David took a deep breath. “Don’t you think I want PharmCo to win the race to find the cure? But I’m much more interested in keeping PharmCo’s employees alive.”

Arguing would only waste precious time. “We’ve got two hours until that bus leaves. If I get the tissue and blood samples we’ll run them through Hassan’s new program later. We can recreate the vaccine in another lab.”

Hassan gave a stutter step and fidgeted. “But we’ve got to get our stuff packed.”

David looked irritated. “Come on, Annie. It’s time to quit.”

Quit? Not likely. Her father had taught her better than that. Annie made her way to the wreckage that was the lab, hoping to find a syringe and other instruments she’d need to collect samples. “Go on, Hassan. David, pack your stuff then get mine.”

Hassan hesitated only a second then bounded for the door.

David’s expression reminded her of the way her father looked when he discovered ’coons in the grain bin. “Maybe Hassan is used to taking your orders, but I’m not—especially when I don’t see the point of all this.”

Annie spoke over her shoulder. “Bags are in the closet. Dump everything in and I’ll sort it out later.”

He balked like a stubborn colt. “I’m not packing for you.”

She had to get him off the defensive if she wanted him to help. “We’re so close. Thanks to Hassan’s computer programs. He’s brilliant. Thanks for letting me bring him in on this.”

David’s mouth twitched with humor. “Letting you? As if you gave me a choice. All I did was put him on PharmCo’s payroll and get him a ticket to Israel.”

She smiled. “Yeah, but it wasn’t easy getting a Muslim onto a kibbutz.”

He gave her a conceding grin. “No, it wasn’t easy.”

She shrugged. “It was the bargain of your life. Nobody works harder.”

“Except you.”

She shot him a quick look to gauge his opinion of her work ethic. He didn’t seem irritated by her focus and what some would call obsessive drive. She hadn’t dated much but it seemed a relationship would no more get started and the pressure would be on for her to spend less time working. But David shared her devotion to the project and the closer they came to finding the cure, the closer she felt to him. What would it be like, she wondered not for the first time, to feel his arms around her?

Now he stood in front of her, arms folded in stubbornness.

She was drawn back to the devastated barn and the draining hourglass. “Please, David.”

He locked eyes with her, the blue of his deepening like a night sky. Finally, he gave her that half smile. “You’re possessed.”

She let out a breath. “You’ve no idea.”

* * * *

The afternoon sun blazed through the fallen barn roof.

Annie glanced up from where she knelt beside the dead calf. Deadlines pulsed in each heartbeat. What would she need to finish the research? Did she draw enough blood? She’d had to scrounge up a rope and tie Esther to what was left of a fence rail. Esther hadn’t been happy about it but Annie had her blood samples. She had half dozen vials of the calf’s blood and several tissue samples but she hated leaving without more tissue in case she needed to do another analysis. She inserted a sterile syringe and drew more blood.

Someone came into the barn and she refused to look up.

David’s voice cut through the wreckage. He and Hassan made their way to Annie. “The buses are here. It’s time to go.”

He might as well shove her face under a cold lake. “Can’t you talk Alanberg into letting us stay?”

David shook his head. “Annie, it’s not safe.”

“There’s always conflict in Israel,” she said.

Hassan moved from one foot to another. “Some times it’s worse than others. Right now, it’s pretty bad.”

David reached down and covered her hands with his own. He gently moved her hand over to the dark blue cooler she’d already prepared and settled the vial of blood into the padding. He pulled her to her feet. “There’s been talk of compromise and every time the leaders get close, violence escalates.”

Annie reached for an empty vial.

David’s voice was firm. “Now. Annie, we have to go.”

“Something doesn’t track here,” she said. “Israelis don’t fold up because of an attack. Why would the leaders of this kibbutz capitulate so completely?”

Hassan shrugged his shoulders and helped Annie to her feet.

“Whatever Alanberg’s reasons, we aren’t going to change his mind,” David said.

Why did the anger and hatred of this so-called Holy Land have to stand in her way? She stepped back from David, trying to kneel down again. “Just another sample.”

Hassan closed the cooler. “It’s time to go.”

Alanberg’s high-pitched whine sent irritation buzzing in Annie’s brain. “The buses are waiting. You must leave now.”

She spun around and glared at him.

He ignored her and addressed David. “The Silim is claiming responsibility for the bombing.”

Hassan drew in a sharp breath. He turned pale.

Alanberg waved his arms in a hurry-up gesture. “Don’t delay. We are ready.” He scurried off.

“Who is the Silim?” Annie asked.

David waited and when Hassan didn’t answer he said, “An Islamic terrorist group. It’s been linked to suicide bombings in Jerusalem.”

Hassan stopped his fluttering and his voice was lower and slower than normal. “They aren’t terrorists. The Silim has never intentionally killed anyone. The very name, Silim, says peace. I don’t believe the Silim is behind this filth.”

Hassan spread his legs and pulled back his shoulders, facing David as if in challenge.

Annie quietly knelt by the calf and sliced a tiny section of liver. Let them have their pissing match; it gave her more time with the calf.

“The government wouldn’t release a claim if they didn’t feel it was founded. I think we have no choice but to believe the Silim is behind this,” David said in his reasonable voice.

Hassan shook his head, his curls bobbing. “The Silim’s mission is to protect the Dome of the Rock. This kibbutz is too far away from Jerusalem for the Silim to be here.”

“I haven’t seen a lot of proof that Islamic extremists care where they hit,” David said.

Annie tried not to hear. She hated these stand offs between the Jewish David and the Muslim Hassan. Most of the time they respected a cease fire of religious diatribe. But sometimes the tension surfaced. If they kept at it, though, it might give her time to gather more tissue samples.

Annie picked up the scalpel. “Why do the Muslims need to defend the Dome of the Rock?”

Hassan broke his stare with David and addressed Annie. “Because Jews don’t acknowledge Islam’s claim.”

“It is Judiasm’s holiest site and doesn’t belong to Islam,” David said.

“Allah, bless his holiness, has seen fit to give it to us and Muslims are duty bound to protect it with our lives. To die defending the Dome of the Rock is one of the greatest honors in all Islam.”

“Allah didn’t give it to you,” David said. “Moshe Dyan handed it over. That’s something some Jews will never forgive.”

“Say what you will, it is ours.”

David nodded. “For now. But the Temple Mount will return to the Jews someday.”

Annie only half listened. “What does the Temple Mount have to do with the Dome of the Rock?”

David’s eyes narrowed. “The Muslim’s built the Dome on the Temple Mount, trying to cover up evidence of previous Temples.”