she would catch the hint.
“Not if you have a helicopter.” Nava smiled. “I’ll have Gabriella fire up the chopper while I go find Alon. You and John grab the food and wine and jump onboard.”
“Who’s Gabriella?”
“My new copilot. You should see the looks on the other soldier’s faces when we land and they realize two girls are providing their air cover.”
After obtaining a basket full of fruit, cheese, and wine from the mobile kitchen, the group of happy campers climbed onboard the helicopter and lifted off across the desert toward the oasis. Alon had initially balked at the idea of leaving the camp in the wake of a security breech, but one look from Nava alerted him to the fact that this outing with her had a higher priority.
John decided against taking the backpack containing the ancient brick and asked Leo to keep an eye on it until he returned. Sitting by the open door of the Blackhawk next to Ariella, he looked down and watched the desert rush by below. “How do you know about this place, Ariella?”
“I did some research for a college project there one summer. We were looking for a species of fish that lives in the spring. They live only in this one spot on earth and are highly endangered. That’s why we try to keep the location a secret from everyone except the Bedouins who’ve used the oasis for hundreds of years. Its thirty degrees cooler next to the waterfall, and I always wanted to go back there with someone special to share it with.” Ariella stared into John’s eyes when she said this, giving him a clue to her hidden meaning.
Soon, the helicopter was circling low over a lush green dot in the middle of the stark landscape. They landed at the edge of the oasis and trekked under the palm trees to a large pool of crystal-clear water. A tall rock formation towered above, where a pristine spring at the summit created a waterfall that fell twenty feet into the turquoise pool beside them. Without hesitation, the group stripped off their shoes and ran for the water, diving fully clothed into the cool depths.
Rising to the surface and floating on their backs, they frolicked in the water while the tension of the day slowly faded away. John backstroked toward Ariella, squirting a mouth-full of water up into the air before turning over to face her. “I’ve been wondering, Ariella, how did you become so interested in history?”
“I used to go with my father on all his archaeological digs around the world. I grew up digging down into exotic ancient cities and discovering beautiful objects of art that had been hidden for thousands of years. I never thought of doing anything else with my life after that. How did you end up becoming a priest?”
“I’m only a candidate for the priesthood. I haven’t taken any vows yet. I’m still not sure if that’s what God’s calling me to do or if He has something else in mind for me. I truly believe God leads us to where we need to go if we listen. Sometimes, I think about having a wife and children someday.”
Ariella studied his face before diving down to the bottom of the pool and surfacing next to him.
“Maybe someday you will.” She grinned through the water streaming down her face. “What was your major?” Ariella winced. “I can’t believe I just asked you that.”
John laughed and pushed the wet hair out of his eyes. “History and anthropology.”
“Really? Most guys I know hate history. Once they find out my passion is all about the past, they lose interest and want to talk about other things. But you… you’re different. You love history, you love animals, and you love God.” Ariella became serious. She gazed into his eyes and grabbed him around the neck, bringing his face against hers and kissing him slowly. She trembled at his touch while he took her in his arms. They kissed again. She had never trembled at anyone’s touch before. They paused with their noses touching, staring into each other’s eyes before she smiled and pulled away. She continued to watch his reaction before plunging her head underwater and swimming back down to the bottom of the pool.
John was in a state of shock as he treaded water, but he knew at that moment that things had changed. Here in the middle of the Negev Desert, halfway around the world from where he was born, John had just made a life-changing connection. He knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that he had found the one girl he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Life really was strange and wonderful.
Ariella returned to the surface and took him by the hand. Together, they swam to the bottom of the pool, where she showed him the small fish that lived under the waterfall. They popped up under the pounding water from above and swam to the bank at the edge of the pool before climbing out and lying on the warm sand while the sun dried their bodies. They lay there, drinking wine and eating fruit and cheese, talking together as though time would run out before they had the chance to say everything they wanted to say.
Alon and Nava had quietly slipped away from the others for some time alone. They had climbed to a shallow pool on top of the falls and were sipping wine in the cool water while peering down on the others below. Nava’s name meant beautiful in Hebrew, and Alon was having a hard time keeping his eyes off of her.
Since the Israeli military required its pilots to maintain a high level of physical fitness, Gabriella had decided to swim laps by herself in an effort to stay in shape and avoid looking at the love-struck couples around her. Her boyfriend was a fighter pilot stationed in Tel Aviv, and she felt a twinge of jealousy that he wasn’t with her now in this beautiful spot. She spotted Nava above the waterfall with a glass of wine in her hand and made a mental note.
John pulled a bottle of wine from the basket. “Would you like a glass, Gabriella?”
“Only if you want two impaired pilots flying you back to base.” She cast a glance up at Nava laughing loudly and playing in the water with Alon.
“Good call,” John said. “Have you two seen much action fighting the terrorists lately?”
Gabriella shook the water from her short blonde hair and fixed him with cool blue eyes. “We’re always on alert here in Israel. Sometimes we have to take out their leaders when we get intelligence that they’re traveling somewhere down a road in a car. They never see us. The first hint they have that we are in the area is when the car they’re riding in blows up after we’ve fired a missile at it from several miles away. I think we’re a pretty good deterrent to the ones who want to live to see their grandchildren.”
“What scares you the most about fighting the radicals?”
“It’s usually no contest in a firefight, at least, not with us anyway. But you can’t defend against a brainwashed nut job strapping on explosives and walking into a restaurant or mall. With better intel and advanced technology, we’re getting more adept at picking those people out. What really scares me is the possibility of one of those morons getting their hands on a nuclear bomb. I only hope they realize that, if they ever attack us with a nuke, we’ll turn their country of origin into a sheet of melted glass.”
“The problem today is trying to figure out who the bad guys are,” Ariella said, wringing the water from her hair. “We have the usual suspects all around us, but they don’t always represent a country in the traditional sense. The days of huge enemy armies marching across our borders are over. I’m afraid that one day a small group in a cave somewhere will get their hands on a bomb and we’ll have no one to retaliate against, giving them free reign to do it again.”
“Ariella’s probably right,” Gabriella said. “Attacking their country of origin could be counterproductive, especially if you’re dealing with someone like Bin Ladin who even hates his own country. I think the real problem is the hatred and evil that exists in the world today, and it would take an act of God to change that.”
Gabriella looked down at her watch and sighed as she noticed the time. “I guess we need to think about heading back to camp.'
Amid the groans and child-like pleas for “just a few more minutes,” the group slowly made their way back to the aircraft. The magical time spent at the oasis had ended, and soon, they were flying back to their hot, dusty camp in the middle of the Negev Desert. The break had allowed Alon and Nava to reconnect and pushed Ariella and John into the realization that they were now more than just friends.
The sun was setting as the chopper set down outside the camp perimeter. Lev cast a slightly disapproving glance at the group as they emerged in their damp clothes, but nothing was ever mentioned about the outing. He was glad to see that his daughter had finally found someone she was interested in. It was time for her to begin to find her own way in the world and not feel obligated to watch after him all the time. He turned back toward the camp and uttered a silent prayer for the safety of everyone who had willingly come to this place in the desert to unearth a mysterious object in God’s name.
The night was much like the night before, except that the young people had built a tall bonfire and were singing and dancing out in the cool dry air of the desert. Two more generators and extra floodlights had arrived, and the new crew members would be working throughout the night at the excavation site. Alon was going from person
