The Legacy of Solomon Read online

He was woken by the shrill ringing of his mobile, as he fumbled for it he glanced at his watch, it just after three in the afternoon, he had been asleep for more than two hours.

  ‘Hello, Pat! Are you all right?’

  ‘Yes, Angela? Sorry I must have dozed off.’

  ‘It’s all right for some!’

  ‘You get my mail?’

  ‘Yes that’s what I called about. Look Pat, Jason Hertzfeld is here with me. Are you free to come over to the office?’

  ‘Right now?’

  ‘Yes, Jason’s got tight schedule, he’s leaving for Tel-Aviv tomorrow morning.’

  ‘Okay, I’ll be there in an hour,’ he said hanging up.

  Hertzfeld was one of the senior partners at Bernstein Press, O’Connelly’s New York publisher.

  As soon as he arrived at Angela’s office he was shown into the meeting room and a few moments later she arrived with Hertzfeld.

  ‘How are you Pat, nice to see you again.’

  They shook hands and Angela invited him to sit down.

  ‘Pat, we’ve read the outline and Jason likes it,’ she said turning towards Hertzfeld and smiling.

  ‘That’s right Pat, it has all the makings of a good story.’

  O’Connelly could not help beaming with pleasure.

  ‘The international situation over the last few years has changed, and novels have changed with it, Cold War epics into terrorist and religious thrillers, you know the clash of civilisations.’

  ‘Sure, times have changed since Bush the father went into Iraq.’

  ‘Dan Brown is the hottest thing in the market today and has set the trend for this kind of novel.’

  ‘We’re in the twenty first century even Jean le Carre has had to find something different, you know ‘The Constant Gardener’.

  ‘Since 911 terror is big business in books and films. People need things that fit in with what the media feeds them, bombs in the subway, bombs in tourist resorts, Egypt, Bali, Kenya.’

  ‘And some kind of convincing ideological-philosophical motivation.’

  ‘Islam, religion, Israel, Al Qaeda!’

  ‘I see, so that’s where the Temple comes in.’

  ‘You’ve got it! The Temple is in the middle of Jerusalem, that’s at the very heart of the three great monotheist religions, and Israel is at the heart of the Middle East conflict,’ Hertzfeld said triumphantly, pleased that O’Connelly followed his reasoning.

  Angela gave O’Connelly one of the smiles she usually reserved for her money winners, a smile he hadn't seen for some time.

  ‘You may or may not know it, but we do some of our printing in Israel, near Tel-Aviv, I get over there quite a bit, so I’m fairly familiar with the situation there. Getting to the point Pat, I like the outline and we're ready to invest in your book, Angela will work out the conditions.’

  ‘That's good news Jason, thank you…’ he said hesitatingly looking at Angela who read his mind.

  ‘We’ve agreed to make an advance of fifty thousand Euros… and fifty more on the receipt of outline and first chapters,’ she said smiling.

  O’Connelly grinned, he couldn’t hide his pleasure, it was confirmation they still believed in him, in spite of the relatively lack lustre performance of his last book.

  ‘Oh Pat, just one point, have you anything special on for the next few days?’ said Hertzfeld in a tone that was more a demand than a question, bringing O’Connelly back to the fact that publishing was a business.

  He raised his eyebrows questioningly.

  ‘Can you join me in Tel-Aviv?’

  ‘Tel-Aviv?’

  ‘Sure Tel-Aviv, it would be nice if you could meet some of my friends like the Kleins.’

  ‘The Kleins?’

  ‘Yes, three brothers, some of Israel’s most outstanding scientists in the field of archaeology.’

  ‘When?’

  ‘Say the day after tomorrow, we can look over the Old City together, Angela will look after the expenses.’

  ‘Why not,’ he replied with forced enthusiasm, there was no way he could have refused, ‘it will help me with the research work,’ he paused an instant, ‘Just one thing, is it a problem if my assistant joins us, Laura de la Salle?’

  ‘I don't see why not.’

  ‘Excellent.’

  ‘Pat, Angela, I’m sorry, but I must leave you both now, I'll be at the Sheraton in Tel-Aviv, Angela let me know Pat's schedule, his flight.’ Then turning to O’Connelly he added with a business like smile, “I’ll have you picked up at Ben Gurion.’

  11

  Tel-Aviv