Read Online Tartarus: Kingdom Wars II by Jack Cavanaugh - Free Book Online Page A

to the window, Sue Ling seemed to be enjoying the view. I was lucky in that I had two views. The one out the window and the one seated next to me.
    I don’t know how Sue Ling did it, but she looked as fresh as she did when we boarded the plane in San Diego. And while she’d maintained a business demeanor throughout the flight, there is an intimacy to travel that made the long trip enjoyable. At least for me.
    We talked. Of course we talked. I learned that she has seen every Alfred Hitchcock movie ever made, that she loves anything made with pasta and has been known to eat cold spaghetti for breakfast, and that she has a rabid fascination with roller coasters that I don’t understand: the wilder, the better. I also learned that she is a dissertation away from earning her Ph.D., and that she’s put off writing it for over a year. I didn’t have to ask why. All of her time is spent with the professor.
    As a researcher I’ve developed subtle interview skills that are designed to draw people out when they’re reluctant to talk. I’ve made it my practice not to use these skills in casual conversation with the opposite sex. The way I see it, if a woman is hesitant to talk about something, that’s her right. Call me old-fashioned, but I’d rather she reveal her heart to me in her own time and in her own way.
    I broke my own rule with Sue Ling. I probed. I’m not proud of myself, but I had to know where I stood with her. I didn’t want to make a fool of myself.
    After a few questions she opened up. I think she wanted to. She’s quick. I think she saw where I was headed and did us both a favor by dousing any romantic thoughts I might be kindling.
    I learned that Sue Ling considers herself to be the professor’s wife, if not legally and physically, at least emotionally. For better or worse, until death do them part. She told me that two years ago she invited him to propose to her. He declined.
    It wasn’t for lack of affection, nor did his disability figure into the decision. He told her he couldn’t marry again for fear that what happened to his wife and daughters would happen again. He couldn’t take the chance that rebel angels would hurt or kill her to get to him.
    Sue loved him even more for turning her down and pledged herself to him for as long as they both shall live. When she told me of her pledge, she insisted a physical relationship and children didn’t matter to her. But there was sadness in her eyes when she said it.
    Our seats dropped from beneath us as we descended. The Israeli countryside was a blur. Ben Gurion airport lay directly ahead. There we would meet our contact, a twenty-two-year-old archeology student named Choni Serrafe. He would be our guide and drive us the remaining fifty kilometers to the Crowne Plaza Hotel.
    “Looks like we’re in for a storm.” I pointed out the window.
    An impressive thunderhead was building over the eastern mountains, similar to the way it does in east San Diego county as the cool ocean air collides with hot desert winds.
    We landed without incident and began the tediously slow march through customs and security. It seemed like half the world was trying to get into Israel, which wasn’t surprising considering all the attention the Alexandrian manuscripts were getting in the press. Naturally you’d expect biblical scholars from all over the world wanting to get into the country to see for themselves. It was the hordes of doomsayers and end-of-the-world fanatics standing in line that I found annoying.
    I blamed the media. From the start they had been trumpeting every imaginable rumor that had to do with the third scroll, the crazier the better. One of the most repeated rumors was that the third manuscript had revealed the location of Jesus’ tomb, where researchers had unearthed a complete skeleton. Variations of the story ran rampant.
    One held that, by order of the president of the United States, secret military operatives had raided the site and massacred the