“Then tell me what’s in that bottle.”

“I’ll let you see it.” He turned on the machine and adjusted the focus. “The difficulty was fine-tuning so that I could see both outside and inside the pouch with the flick of the button.”

A grayish haze appeared on the wall.

He sharpened and zoomed in, and the haze began to take a defined shape. A crumpled cloth container at the bottom of the bottle.

The pouch?

“There’s a document of some sort on the other side of the pouch.” Tischler revolved the picture and focused on what appeared to be a piece of rolled leather. “As you can see, it was apparently crammed carelessly into the bottle. It wasn’t even rolled properly, the writing is on the outside instead of protected on the inside of the scroll.”

Jane could see that, but the leather was cracked, the writing was smeared and almost indistinguishable. She couldn’t make out anything. Not that I would have been able to decipher it anyway, she thought ruefully. “It’s ancient Aramaic?”

“Yes, the temple priests were practically the only ones who used Hebrew, but they often were forced to use Aramaic when dealing with commoners like the potter, who couldn’t read Hebrew.” He made another adjustment. “It’s damaged, but the protection of the bottle itself and being buried in the clay kept it in better shape than I would have thought. But it would take months to be able to decipher the entire document.”

Her gaze flew to his face. “You’d be able to do it?”

“With time and care and the right technology. Yes, I could do it.” He looked at her. “But you’re not interested in a complete translation, are you? That’s not what you want.”

“And what do you think I want, Professor?”

He zeroed the camera in on a wrinkled upper corner of the document. “I think this is why you brought me here.”

She looked at him in bewilderment. “If this is supposed to be some great dramatic revelation, it’s not working. I can’t read the damn thing.”

He zeroed in a little more toward the edge of the folded scroll and hit the laser. “This word is a name.” He paused. “Judas.”

She inhaled sharply. “Yes.”

“Of course, it could be another Judas. It’s not as if there weren’t other men named Judas during that time period.” He pointed the laser again. “But we can see two other Aramaic equilvalent letters before it reaches the fold. “I and S.”

Judas Iscariot.

“Interesting, isn’t it?” Tischler asked sarcastically. “You can see how it caught my attention.”

“And made you angry.”

He shrugged. “I always seem to be angry these days. Angry and sad.” He added, “If you’ll give me a minute, I’ll increase the depth of field so that you can look in the pouch.”

“You’ve already seen what’s inside?” Jock asked.

He nodded as he pressed the button to show them the interior of the pouch. “Coins.”

Jane stared at the coins. They were discolored, oxidized, with just a hint of the original silver, none of them impressive. No one would guess that there was anything unusual or valuable about them.

“Are they Shekels of Tyre?”

“Oh, yes.”

“How can you tell?” Jock asked.

“They’re very identifiable,” Jane said. “One side has a laureate head of a man with a lion skin around his neck. The reverse side has an eagle with a palm-frond background.” She glanced at Tischler. “But they’re so discolored, I’m asking the same question. How can you tell?”

“It’s not as bad as it could have been. The brass stopper and being buried kept it almost airtight.” Tischler pointed his laser light at the coins. “First we select, magnify, then we zero in.” The image gradually grew larger and larger until it filled the wall. It was dark but distinguishable. “The noble laureate head of Melquart.”

Jane inhaled sharply.

He switched to another coin. “This one is turned on its side in the bottle.”

The eagle.

“The palm is partially blackened on it, but there’s a plus. See the two symbols to the left of the eagle? That indicates the year 130 in the Phoenician calendar, the Era of Tyre. That’s four or five A.D., squarely in the right time period.” He ran the laser over the stack of coins. “As you can see, they’re jumbled up, some on their sides. It took me a while to count them. But evidently Matthew was wrong. There were only twenty-eight shekels of silver.”

“He wasn’t wrong. The potter, Ezra, gave two to his slave, Dominic, after he freed him.”

Tischler’s brows rose. “You wouldn’t care to tell me how you know that?”

“Not now. But I will,” Jane said. “If you’ll do one more thing for me.”

“What is that?”

“Is it possible for you take photos of both the document and the coins?”

He nodded. “Of course, it’s possible. I brought the equipment to do it. I fully intended to make records.” He paused, “Whether or not you or the CIA liked it.”

“I do like it. Take all the photos you like for your own files,” Jane said. “I want photos of the coins, and I need shots as clear as you can make it of that text.”

“Very well.” He hesitated, then said belligerently, “It won’t only be for my own files. I’m going to go to the prime minister and report to him.”

“We can’t let you do that,” Jock said.

“You can’t stop me.”

“Oh, but I can,” Jock said softly.

“But he won’t,” Jane said hurriedly. “All we want is your promise to wait until after the first of April. After that, we don’t care who you talk to about the Judas bottle.”

He didn’t answer.

Lord, he was stubborn, she thought. Give him something else. “And I swear that I’ll come back and tell you what this is all about when I can do it safely for everyone concerned. If I can, I’ll even let you publish your findings.”

Tischler frowned, then finally said, “You’re only asking me to wait one day. I suppose it wouldn’t be irresponsible to wait.”

“No, not at all. When can I have the photos? And could you put them on my phone camera?”

He nodded. “I believe I could. Leave your phone and give me forty-five minutes.”

She put her phone down on the bedside table and turned toward the door. “Thank you, Professor Tischler.”

He didn’t answer, his gaze narrowed on the screen.

“Do you think he’ll keep his word?” Jock asked as he closed the door behind them.

“I don’t know. I hope he will. If he doesn’t, we’ll cope with the fallout later. I won’t have him hurt or even intimidated. There have been too many innocent people who have suffered because of those coins.”

Jock nodded. “I’m not arguing. It’s your call.”

And the decisions were becoming more and more terrifying. “Do you know, I don’t believe I actually thought the coins would be in that bottle. I followed the directions. I dug in that damn clay. And yet part of my mind wouldn’t accept that…” She shook her head. “I’m still not accepting that we found Hadar’s bottle. It seems impossible.”

“There are many stories in the Bible that seem impossible. The Bible is founded on wonder and miracles. Actually, everything in Hadar’s Tablet is fairly believable. Ugly, but that adds to the veracity. And, after all this trouble we’ve gone through, you’d better accept it.”

“I’m working on it.” She grimaced. “But the important thing is to make Roland accept it.”