The Jerusalem Creed: A Sean Wyatt Thriller by Ernest Dempsey Page B

Tommy agreed. “Not the nicest tomb we’ve been in.”
    Karem was close behind the two Americans with his own flashlight. “Many of the priestly tombs were humble like this one. It was a precedent set early on in Jewish history that carried on until the temple fell for the last time.”
    The bright LED beams danced around the walls as the men proceeded deeper into the hillside tomb.
    The cramped tunnel came to an end and opened up into a much larger chamber, though still not as vast as they would have anticipated for someone held in such high esteem by the Jewish nation. The room was circular, around fifteen feet in diameter. A stone coffin sat on the floor in the center of the room, coming up to around knee high on the Americans. A skeleton stared up at the wall from within the sarcophagus’s confines, dressed in faded and tattered rags that once must have been priestly raiment.
    Sean and Tommy shined their beams into the stone box, staring at the remains of the long-dead priest of Judah.
    “So this is Tovar,” Sean said, examining the bones from a few feet away.
    “He’s remarkably preserved,” Karem said, pointing out the small amount of tissue still attached to the skull. “Nehem was greatly impressed by that. The stone tablet that he found on the chest of the body is gone. If we cannot find it at his quarters, then we must assume it was taken as well.”
    That would have been the same conclusion Tommy and Sean would come to as well.
    Tommy wandered over to the end of the chamber closest to the head. He examined the walls and noted the symbol that was carved into the stone, two interlocking triangles that many people called the Davidic Star. He pointed his light to the wall on the right and noticed another symbol. This one, however, was not Jewish. It was something he’d seen before but didn’t immediately realize from where.
    “A symbol from early Buddhism,” Sean said, answering his friend’s unasked question.
    “Yes,” he said, embarrassed. “That’s what I was trying to come up with. But why is it here?”
    “There is one more,” Karem interjected. He flashed his light past Sean’s shoulders and onto the wall behind him. “A symbol from the Zoroastrian religion, the sign of Ahura Mazda.”
    Sean turned around and looked at the circular light on the emblem. Karem was correct. It was a symbol he’d seen before in Babylonian culture, mostly in temples and other religious settings.
    He frowned as Tommy circled around the coffin and examined the carving. “It makes no sense,” he said, definitively. “Why would there be symbols of other religions in the tomb of a Jewish high priest?”
    Karem shrugged. “Perhaps he was a particularly tolerant priest.”
    Sean shook his head. “Maybe, but my gut is telling me it has more to do with that tablet. Did Nehem say anything about those symbols in the email — or to you in person, Karem?”
    Both Tommy and their Israeli guide shook their heads. “Nope,” Tommy answered.
    “I wonder why that is.” Sean took a step closer to the etched stone. “A Jewish priest who was buried, surrounded by a symbol from his own religion, an old one, and one that must have just been taking root.”
    Tommy agreed. “Yeah, Buddhism was in its infancy at that point. The first of their temples dates back to around the seventh century, perhaps a little earlier.”
    Sean looked around the room, still confused about the carvings. “Is there anything else in here, or is this it?”
    Karem shrugged. “If there was anything, Nehem would have taken it. And if he did not, the men who kidnapped him could have. This area was not very secure while he was working here. Since his disappearance, security measures have been increased. Too late, I’m afraid.” The last line carried the weight of regret.
    Tommy kneeled down and examined the inner walls of the sarcophagus. Inch by inch, his light ran along the stone until he had nearly scoured the entire object. He was about to give