The Ark Approach Read online

  “I’ll get right to the point. There’s been an incident on the Temple Mount. A couple hours ago there was some kind of underground collapse and the Al Aqsa Mosque sustained serious damage. Evidently a number of people were killed. Immediately following that news, all hell broke loose. There are heavily armed militants attempting to seize the city and at the same time, Hezbollah rocket attacks commenced on Tel Aviv. In Iran the Ayatollah has called for the annihilation of Israel. Troops are massing on our borders.”

  Jake was stunned by the news, but it was typical of the current state of affairs.

  “All that coming together in two hours’ time? How could it be spontaneous?”

  Ruben said, “It never is. They knew something would be happening tonight at the Temple Mount.”

  Colonel Siegfried gave a fatalistic nod.

  “The army has been called up. My unit was tasked with providing security for you and your men as you move the package. Where is it, Dr. Walker?”

  Jake shook his head.

  “We don’t have it.”

  “How’s that again?”

  “It’s not here.”

  “Well, where is it?”

  Ruben stepped up.

  “Colonel, I’m Agent Ruben di Nero, Special Security Services. We were unable to locate the item in question, Sir.”

  “You failed to complete your mission?”

  “No, Sir. We completed the mission. The artifact wasn’t where it was supposed to be. All we found was an empty tomb. I mean room. I expect it’s a tomb now, though.”

  Lorenzo snorted.

  The colonel shot him a quick scowl.

  “Agent di Nero, are you telling me you failed to find the object and you caused catastrophic damage to the Al Aqsa Mosque?”

  “No, Sir. We had nothing to do with any damage to the mosque. Once we determined the artifact could not be found, and hostile forces were converging on our location, we ex-filtrated. Shortly after that, there was some incident behind us that caused a cave in. We don’t know exactly what happened in there. We barely made it out alive.”

  “I can see that.”

  The colonel turned to Jake.

  “Is this man’s story correct, Dr. Walker?”

  “Yes it is. Like he said, we determined the artifact was not where it was supposed to be. There was nowhere else to look. Unknown hostiles were approaching, so we bugged out. We didn’t cause any damage to the mosque. Colonel Siegfried, it is imperative I speak to Professor Mordechai Horowitz immediately. Is there some way you can get in touch with him.”

  The colonel sighed.

  “No there isn’t. I’m sorry to inform you his airplane crashed in the Sinai. Everyone on board was killed. Initial reports indicate it was caused by some sort of explosive. Terrorism is suspected.”

  Jake closed his eyes and drew in a long slow breath.

  “Of course it is. Are you certain he was on that airplane?”

  “I’m afraid so. Is there someone else you’d like to speak to?”

  “No, Colonel Siegfried. I’m all out of words.”

  “Very well, my orders are to get you and the package to the airport. You don’t have the package, but my orders stand. Let’s move out.”

  ***

  Jake walked down the hall of the South African hospital with some concern for what the reunion with Adrienne might be like. How would she be changed? Her memory was damaged. Would she even recognize him?

  He paused outside the closed door of her room. He reminded himself that everything that happens is for the good of those who love God and are called to be His servants.

  The thought was in direct conflict with his raw emotions.

  How was getting killed a good thing for his friends Phillipe and Morty? How was an airplane full of people being blown out of the sky something that could work for good? Was traumatic brain injury going to be good for Adrienne? Would any of the recent events be good for anyone?

  He would just have to take it on faith.

  Jake knocked on the door.

  *******

  The End

  Books by Dan Arnold/Daniel Roland Banks

  THRILLERS

  Angels & Imperfections Special Agent The Ticking Clock

  WESTERNS

  NON FICTION

  Postscript

  The Ark Approach, is a work of fiction. Where the Ark of the Covenant is now has not been known to the world since it disappeared when Nebuchadnezzar II’s army sacked the city of Jerusalem and destroyed the 1st Temple in about 587 BC.

  It is one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in the history of the world.

  The original Temple complex sat on a raised square that only encompassed about seventeen acres. This raised square was formed by building high walls, and then filling in the interior to create a man-made plateau or mesa, level with the summit of Mount Moriah.

  The original Temple was quite small. It was styled after the tent (tabernacle) Moses and his followers used in the desert after their escape from Egypt.

  The dimensions of the Temple building were in cubits. A cubit is about 18 inches. It was sixty cubits in length, twenty cubits in width, and thirty cubits in height. So, only about ninety feet long, thirty feet wide and forty five feet high. That’s roughly a footprint of only 2,700 square feet.

  The basic design included three sections; the porch, the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies.

  The Ark of the Covenant was housed in the Holy of Holies.

  After the 2nd Temple was built, the Ark was still missing. In his time, King Herod more than doubled the size of the Temple Mount to about thirty seven acres and added on to the Temple building.

  Before the destruction of this Temple by the Romans in 70 A.D., the Holy of Holies had remained entirely empty for five hundred years. It was empty when Jesus was crucified. The Bible says that at the time of Jesus’ death, the curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple, and the world, was torn from the top down.

  The theories about the current location of the Ark are even more varied than they were described by Jake in Chapter 4.

  For example, in 1982, Rabbi Getz, the Chief Rabbi for the Temple Mount, claimed to have been within forty feet of the Ark, seeing it with his own eyes. He said it was directly under the Temple Mount beneath the location where the Holy of Holies was in the original Temple at the time of Solomon.

  In 1986, an explorer named Ron Wyatt claimed he found it directly under Golgotha. According to his story he got close enough to it to see the dried blood of Jesus which had flowed down the cross, seeped through a fissure in the earth, dripping onto the Mercy Seat on the day of the crucifixion.

  In both of these stories the men who claimed to have found the Ark said they left it where they found it. The idea is that the world is not yet ready for it to be placed into the 3rd Temple, as yet unbuilt.

  Today, the Dome of the Rock and its grounds occupies the space where the Temple once stood, and the entire Temple Mount is under the control of the Supreme Muslim Council.

  Where is the Ark of the Covenant and when will it reappear?

  As Jake said, “That’s the age old question, isn’t it?”

  A note from the author

  Thank you for reading The Ark Approach. I would love to hear from you. You can contact me at my website ~ www.danielbanks-books.com or follow me on facebook ~ https://www.facebook.com/DanieiRolandBanks.books or on Goodreads at: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10798086.Daniel_Roland_Banks

  I hope you had as much fun reading this book as I had writing it. If you liked it please tell a friend - or better yet, tell the world by writing a book review on the book’s page on Amazon, or on goodreads.com. Even a few short sentences are helpful. As an independently published author, I don’t have a marketing department behind me. I have you, the reader. So please spread the word.

  Writing a review is easy. Go to the book’s Amazon page and look for the “write a review” prompt. Then, just say what you liked about the book, th
e story line, the characters, or perhaps something you learned or thought about. You can look at the other reviews to get an idea of what to write.

  And, to make it a little more fun, if you write a review, e-mail me and I’ll send you an excerpt from one of my works in progress along with a little note from me, maybe even a free e-book.

  Thanks again.

  All the best,

  Dan

  About the Author

  I’ve led a colorful life, fueling my imagination for telling stories, fabrications, and fiction.

  I was born in Bakersfield, California and abandoned by my parents in Seattle, Washington. After living in the foster care system for some years I was eventually adopted. I’ve lived in Idaho, Washington, California, Virginia, and now make my home in Texas. My wife and I have four grown children of whom we are justifiably proud, not because we were such good parents but because God is good.

  I’ve written several westerns, thrillers, and an illustrated book on the training of horses, in addition to authoring and/or contributing to technical manuals and articles in various publications and periodicals.

  As a horse trainer and clinician (I trained performance horses for twenty five years), I had occasion to travel extensively and I’ve been blessed to work with a variety of horses and people in amazing circumstances and locations.

  I’ve herded cattle in Texas, chased kangaroos on horseback through the Australian Outback, guided pack-trips into the Sierras and the Colorado Rockies, conditioned and trained thoroughbred race horses, galloped a warmblood on the bank of a canal surveyed by George Washington, and spent uncounted, delightful hours breaking bread with unique characters in diverse parts of the world.

  At one (brief) point I was one of the 3% of fine visual artists who earned their entire income from sales of their art. I’m a painter, sculptor and writer.

  Under the name Daniel Roland Banks, I write contemporary thrillers. I’m a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Western Writers of America.

  My book ANGELS & IMPERFECTIONS was selected as finalist in the Christian Fiction category in the 2015 Reader’s Favorites Book Award contest.

  In 2013, after 40+ years of searching, I found and got reacquainted with my half-brother and a host of relatives from my mother’s side of the family.

  I can’t sing or dance, but I’d like to think I’m considered an engaging public speaker, an accomplished horseman and an excellent judge of single malt Scotch.