THE SINAI DESERT, JUNE 2000

Father Mike Kennedy, S.J., laughed as he remembered parts of his Marine Corps background. This place was as hot as a mother were all the words that formed in his mind, although the expression was incomplete by Marine standards. He had never used all the words, even as a 19-year-old sergeant, long ago in another equally hot but totally different part of the world. It wasn't shyness about colorful language, but Irish-American kids from the south side of Chicago just didn't use that expression. Now he worked hard to avoid any of the old vulgarities, but sometimes they sure fit the situation.

It has to be 110 degrees, he thought as his eyes scanned the tumbled horizon of low mountains and sandy, rock-strewn valleys called the Sinai wilderness. Unlike Vietnam, there were no rivers of sweat to burn your eyes and darken your clothes. Here the perspiration was gone, evaporated, as soon as it broke the skin.

All things considered, he loved it, especially the work. If Vietnam had been his hell on earth, this place was just a mild form of purgatory. It was a good analogy; one had killed his soul and almost his body; this place and the work were now part of his salvation.

In Vietnam Kennedy had been a long-range sniper in a program called "Phoenix." You had to learn to hate to do that job well, and Kennedy became one of the best. Too late he discovered that hate kills the soul.

The Jesuits gave him back that soul and he gave them his life. He worked hard at being a good priest, but secretly worried that he lacked real faith in the Almighty. Along his way he picked up a doctorate in Biblical Archeology. Now he was among the best in that field.

"Father Michael, please come out of the sun, you have no hat and your brain will soon cook." The speaker was another Jesuit priest, an Italian named Joseph Antonini, standing only ten feet from Kennedy in the shade provided by a large tent awning. The two men were as unlike as could be.

Joe Antonini was Venice-born, slight and bespectacled. He looked as if he had never participated in any physical activity in his entire life. A month ago he had temporarily given up his position as deputy director of the Vatican Library to participate in this expedition. Father Antonini's expertise was the field of ancient Middle Eastern languages, particularly Aramaic, Egyptian, and Hebrew.

"We need that brain, my brother," said a smiling Antonini as he handed Kennedy a wide brimmed straw plantation hat labeled MK. It was in the style favored by most members of the dig—lightweight, comfortable, and effective. "Get some water," the Italian pointed toward a large field container. "You will never see an Arab uncovered out in the sun; learn from them." Kennedy disliked most hats, except for baseball caps.

"Where is Father Jean?" asked Kennedy, "I need to ask him some questions about the area south of us."

Joe Antonini motioned to the main tent. "I think he is with the Rabbi. There is some confusion about the next part of the directions."

Kennedy laughed at the comment. "Joseph, my friend, you should be a diplomat. There has been confusion about directions since we started on this trek. If we find anything out here, it will be the will of God, not the words of Rabbi Baruk."

"Do you think this is all a waste of time and money, Michael?"

Kennedy had asked himself the same question many times in the last two weeks. "No, I don't think so. Logic is on our side. The copper scrolls appear to be genuine, thanks to your work in helping the Rabbi." He was referring to artifacts discovered three years earlier, not far from where the Dead Sea scrolls had been found in 1947, Most of the archeological "establishment" considered the latest finds to be fake. If Rabbi Baruk had not convinced me to get him into the archives to work with you on translation and verification of the scrolls, most Biblical scholars would still be laughing at his claims."

Rabbi Baruk was a big bear of a man with a powerful voice. His keen mind and excellent education made him arrogant. When he announced to the world that his great find was perhaps the most important in history, many well-respected people in the field fervently prayed that the Rabbi would fall on his face. But he was so well thought of in Rome, when he petitioned the Governor General of the Jesuit order for assistance it was quickly granted. Soon thereafter Rabbi Shamul Baruk became the first Orthodox Jewish scholar to have access to the archives of the Vatican Library. It took him and Antonini six months of cross-referencing and research to verify the authenticity of the scrolls.

Scrolls that Rabbi Baruk claimed were coded directions to find the golden ark of Solomon's temple: The Ark of the Covenant.

"These scrolls purport to be copies of an original work written in 583 BC by a well-known scribe named Baruch, the secretary of the prophet Jeremiah." Kennedy saw Antonini wince when he used the old fashioned BC instead of the now-accepted BCE—Before Christian Era.

"Remember, Michael," said Antonini, "The Israeli government is paying for half of this expedition."

"I know, I know! And the Vatican is picking the other half. I figure between us the old term is still as good as a Latin Mass." Both laughed at the inside joke.

"We know Jeremiah was a real person from Biblical and other history, namely Egyptian and Babylonian. There is strong but unproven evidence that he and Baruch found their way to what is now Ireland." The ancient legend appealed to his heritage. "The Book of Macabees has Jeremiah taking the Ark and other artifacts out of the temple and hiding them in a cave. There is disagreement about the wording in the reference; was it on Mt. Nebo, or could you see Mt. Nebo from the cave? Who knows, hell, the Protestant side of the Christian world believes the book of Macabees to be uninspired words, although the book was ok to be in the Bible until the Reformation. Go figure."

Kennedy stopped and took a long drink of water. Dehydration was the greatest danger in this heat.

"The last reference to the artifacts in the King James Bible is 2 Chronicles where Josiah talks about it, in 621 BCE." Kennedy accentuated the BCE and Antonini gave him thumbs up.

"The Babylonians arrived in 605 BCE and no less than Jeremiah got them to spare the city. Young Nebuchadnezzer had to hurry back to Babylon because his father died. Before he left his forces looted the temple. He returned in 597, because the King of Jerusalem kept throwing in with the Egyptians. This time they spared the city, but established a new king, looted the temple again, and carried off ten thousand of Jerusalem's finest into slavery. It would appear the remaining residents were slow learners because ten years later the Babylonians were back. This time they destroyed the city and the temple, and killed or enslaved everyone else. That was in 586 BCE.

"The Babylonians were butchers, but they kept good records. They recorded everything they took from the temple. We both know what wasn't in the records. Seventy five years later they let all the Jews go back to the Promised Land and gave back to them what had been taken from the temple.

"So, Father Antonini, that is why is why I believe our scrolls will give us directions to the hiding place of those sacred artifacts. If we can just solve the narrative expressions used by the scribe."

"Perhaps that is why they sent the three of us...