The Shadow of Death (Psalm 23 Mysteries Book 9) (21 page)

Martin would think so. He had never wanted to lie to Cindy in the first place.

“I will kill you,” Cindy hissed.

“Actually not as easy to do as you’d think,” Martin said. “If you’d like to try, though, I’d be happy to lend you my gun.”

“Not helping,” Jeremiah said, glaring at Martin.

The other man shrugged.

“What is going on?” Solomon asked, just as bewildered as Cindy.

“We had to flush out the traitor in your organization, the man who wanted Jeremiah dead from the start,” Martin said. “So, we arranged a little dog and pony show for him.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Cindy demanded.

“I wanted to,” Martin said quickly.

It was true. He had been planning on having Cindy in the loop from the start. He had reluctantly gone along with Jeremiah’s plan. Jeremiah had told him that he didn’t think Cindy could act the part well enough of the grieving wife if she knew the truth. Martin had seen through his lie and guessed the truth, though. Jeremiah had never planned to tell Cindy that he was alive.

He had made the decision to step out of her life in a way that would never leave her waiting or wondering but that would also spare them both the pain of the realization that she couldn’t live with who he was and what he had done. It
had seemed the right move, the smart one, for all involved. He hadn’t planned for them to uncover the mole so quickly.

Martin should have put Cindy on a plane before they left the airport, but he hadn’t. He’d have words with him later about that. Now Jeremiah’s plan was ruined. He couldn’t help but feel somewhere deep down that G-d had had a hand in that for some reason. Maybe Jeremiah was supposed to suffer rejection by Cindy for some reason.

Martin eased his head out around the hedge. “They’re coming. We can’t run forever.”

“We can’t be sure of picking them all off either,” Solomon said.

Jeremiah nodded. “We split up. We meet up again in 12 hours at the Temple Mount. That should give both of you enough time to contact the people you trust.”

“Let’s just pray that nothing happens in those next 12 hours,” Martin said.

“We won’t live long enough to know one way or another unless we get out of here now,” Solomon hissed.

“Time to go to ground. Gentlemen, see you in 12 hours,” Martin said.

He burst out from behind the hedges and Jeremiah heard shouts as at least a few of their pursuers took off after him.

“Get ready to run,” Jeremiah told Cindy.

“I don’t know how much farther I can go,” she said.

“I’ll try to draw off those I can,” Solomon said, nodding to Jeremiah.

The man leaped up and dashed in the opposite direction as Martin. Jeremiah could hear him drawing more searchers off.

“Stay low and with me,” he said. He got into a crouch and starting moving deeper into the park, using bushes for cover. Cindy wasn’t going to make it if things came down to a foot race so they had to be smarter instead of faster.

When he could hear her gasping for air he stopped behind a large fountain. She collapsed on the ground next to him. She was dressed as he’d last seen her, wearing someone else’s clothes and her black scarf around her head. Jeremiah pulled off the blood-stained shirt with the bullet holes and the one beneath that. He used the undershirt to soak up some water from the fountain and quickly rub the makeup off his face.

“I thought you were dead,” Cindy wheezed.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” he said. “We needed everyone to believe.”

“Haven’t I done a good job acting this entire trip?”

“You have, and I’m sorry, but I worried that this would be too much and that the least little slip and you would be killed before I could help you.”

It was a lie, but she didn’t need to know that.

As soon as he got the makeup off, he looked around and spotted a gardener doing some work. The man was wearing his undershirt, sweating under the hot sun, while a plain looking white shirt rested on a bench a few yards away from him.

“Stay here, I will be right back,” Jeremiah said.

It was a simple thing to grab the shirt. He did so and then made it back to Cindy. She was still looking haggard. She couldn’t run much farther, but they had to go as far as they could as quickly as they could.

It was Friday and soon the sun would be setting.

He made a decision. One that cost him dearly. “Let’s go,” he said, reaching down for her hand.

Moments later they exited the park at a run. Jeremiah couldn’t see anyone chasing them, but he couldn’t stop until he knew they would not be found.

Cindy was still reeling from the revelation that Jeremiah was alive. She felt like she’d been put through an emotional wringer with so many wildly varying emotions slamming into her within seconds of each other.

Jeremiah was alive, but people were still trying to kill them.

Jeremiah had lied to her, but he was here with her.

“Where are we going?” Cindy gasped.

“Somewhere that I know you’ll be safe,” Jeremiah said. “But we will have to hurry.”

They kept running, twisting through streets and alleys until Cindy thought she was going to collapse. At last they stopped in front of a house. Jeremiah turned to Cindy. “Whatever you do, do not answer any questions about who you are, where you’re from, your last name, your profession, anything. Do you promise me that no matter what you will keep these things hidden for my sake?”

“Yes,” she said, struggling to catch her breath.

“For what I’m about to do, I am sorry. For all of us.”

As she pondered his words he turned and knocked on the door.

A few moments later it opened. A man stood there, a frown on his face. After a moment his eyes widened in surprise. He took a step backward, not as though he were
inviting them in but as if he had seen a ghost and was moving away from the specter.

Jeremiah stepped into the house, pulling Cindy with him. The man closed the door and continued to stare at him.

Jeremiah’s voice was tense as he said “Shalom, brother.”

18

Cindy blinked and stared from one man to the other. They had the same chin, similar noses and cheekbones. The entire time they’d been over here he hadn’t said one thing about his family. Yet here they were, standing in his brother’s house.

“Shalom, Malachi,” his brother whispered at last.

They just stood there, facing each other, for what seemed an eternity. Cindy wanted desperately to say something just to break the silence, but knew that she could not.

“Isaac, who is it?” a woman asked, appearing from out of a room in the back. She walked forward, got a good look at Jeremiah and let out a scream before collapsing onto the floor.

Jeremiah’s hand tightened around hers, nearly crushing it. She squeezed to let him know that she was there for him, although he was so keyed up she wasn’t sure he noticed the movement.

Other people quickly appeared, drawn by the sound of the scream. They were all speaking in a rush and Cindy couldn’t understand them. Suddenly she felt Jeremiah jerk hard as if he had been electrocuted.

All sound stopped for a moment when Jeremiah turned and faced the new arrivals. On the floor the woman who had passed out groaned and started to sit up. Suddenly there was more agitated talking, shouts. The small crowd surged forward and an older woman laid hold of Jeremiah with tears in her eyes. She kissed his cheeks and then pulled him toward the back of the house.

Jeremiah kept his hand clamped around Cindy’s and she got pulled forward along with him. Her head was spinning. These people must all be his relatives. The older woman was probably his mother. She didn’t know how long it had been since any of them had seen him, but they acted as though they’d seen a ghost. She could relate.

They made it to the dining room where it was clear that they had been getting ready to eat dinner. Another chair was brought from somewhere and Jeremiah was pushed down into it. She stood next to him, still clutching his hand, not sure what she should do.

Suddenly all eyes turned on her with a mixture of curiosity and hostility and she took a deep breath. Clearly they were going to want to know who she was.

The hubbub gradually quieted as an older man began to speak. “Son, we had thought you were dead.”

“It was safer for you to believe that, Father,” Jeremiah said.

“How could you do that to Mother, to us?” the woman who had fainted demanded.

“Because it was necessary in order to do what I needed to do.”

“He’s talking in riddles,” his mother said.

Another older man spoke up. “I told you who he worked for. You know why he had to leave. The question is, why is he back?”

“And who is she?” Isaac asked, indicating Cindy.

“We are here seeking shelter for a brief time in the home of my brother. I am sorry to have disturbed the whole
family,” Jeremiah said. He glanced at Cindy and he had a pained look in his eyes. Clearly this whole ordeal was costing him dearly. “This, this is my wife.”

Cindy felt her heart stutter. Introducing her as such to spies and strangers was one thing, but he was lying to his parents and siblings about their relationship. He squeezed her hand even tighter.

“You married one of
them
?” the screaming woman asked in the ensuing silence.

“No, Ruth, I did not marry a Muslim.” He took a deep breath. “I married a Christian.”

More stunned silence greeted his proclamation. “Everyone, this is Cindy.” He gave her a pained little smile. “It’s okay to remove the scarf now.”

Cindy reached up with her free hand and unwound the scarf from her head, shaking her hair slightly after it was free. She still wasn’t used to how short it was. “Hello,” she said.

“What about your children?” his mother asked.

Cindy took a deep breath. She knew that Judaism was traditionally passed through the mother’s side.

“Our children, if G-d grants us any, will be raised by the most righteous woman I have ever known,” Jeremiah said in a voice that was so intense it even took her aback.

The older man who was not his father came around the table. “I am Malachi’s uncle, Jacob,” he said to Cindy. “And I accept you as
mishpacha, family. Shalom, Cindy.” He reached out and embraced her then kissed each of her cheeks.

“Shalom, Uncle Jacob,” Cindy said, trying not to stutter when she said ‘uncle’.

He turned and headed for a seat at the table. “Shabbat is nearly upon us. Unless anyone else has something to say to Malachi’s bride now I suggest we prepare,” he said, sitting down.

Someone brought another chair and soon Cindy was seated next to Jeremiah. No one else had offered her a welcome, but at least they weren’t asking her questions she wasn’t allowed to answer.

Another younger woman who Cindy believed might be Isaac’s wife lit the candles that were on the table. She waved her hands over them and then put her hands over her eyes while she recited something in Hebrew.

When she had finished she uncovered her eyes and looked at the candles for a moment.

“She is welcoming in and blessing the Shabbat,” Jeremiah said quietly.

Ruth overheard, turned and glared at Cindy. “She doesn’t even know how to keep the Shabbat?” she asked.

“Ruth, now is not the time,” Jacob said gently.

Cindy desperately wanted to ask questions about the Sabbath and understand the meaning of everything, but she kept silent so as not to cause Jeremiah any more grief than he was already getting.

A couple of minutes passed while more food was piled on the table. The last thing placed down was a double loaf of bread that was then covered with a cloth. Finally a silver goblet was handed to Uncle Jacob who bowed his head over it and started to speak in Hebrew.

Very softly Jeremiah began translating for her benefit.

“And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day. The heavens and the
earth were finished, the whole host of them. And on the seventh day God completed his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it he had rested from all his work that God had created to do. Blessed are you, Lord, our God, Sovereign of the Universe, Who creates the fruit of the vine.”

“Amen,” everyone said.

“Blessed are You, Lord, our God, King of the Universe, Who sanctifies us with His commandments, and has been pleased with us, You have lovingly and willingly given us Your holy Shabbat as an inheritance, in memory of creation because it is the first day of our holy assemblies, in memory of the exodus from Egypt because You have chosen us and made us holy from all peoples, and have willingly and lovingly given us Your holy Shabbat for an inheritance.