Chapter 14
Two hours after they had climbed into their sleeping bags, Eti and Janet crawled out of their tents, and equipped with turned off flashlights, set out to investigate Palu by night. Initially, with a bright moon, it was easy. They had reasoned that there were four places needing to be checked, but knew that would not be completely possible. Spot number one was near the road they would travel if they were leaving to return to Keban. Correspondingly, number 2 was near the road they would take if they intended to carry on through Palu. Number 3 was somewhere in Palu itself, and number 4 was an elevated spot that would give general cover of Palu. The moon helped to prevent them falling into the deep ditches on the sides of the roads, as they checked the immediate area of their campsite. While they found no sign of the van, during the time it took, clouds covered the moon. There was no sign of life on the streets, and no lights. Dogs barked distantly. Janet and Eti decided to give the whole thing a miss as walking the streets with flashlights would draw adverse attention.
The next morning they loaded up the Nissan and headed back to Keban. On the way, they stopped at an internet café in Elazig to upload their chosen pictures. They also emailed their support base back in New Zealand with a photograph of the person who appeared to be following them, with the request to 'show it around' to see if anybody recognised him. In a text message they asked KK to see if he could check whom the vehicle belonged to via the registration number visible in the photographs.
At about midday they arrived back at Keban and went to Ali's address. They had not sighted the mystery van or person since leaving Palu. At Ali's, an agitated Ali met them. Once he had calmed down, he explained that a group of fellow Muslims had come to him and told him he was to have nothing to do with Janet and Eti as they were infidels and his association would jeopardise his and his family's position with the Synagogue. He made it clear he wanted nothing more to do with them and they had to leave immediately. He stood watching as they packed and loaded their possessions into the vehicle. The little Nissan Micro was somewhat small so they went back to the rental agency and negotiated a swap of the Micro for a Nissan Pathfinder and paid the extra associated with the transaction.
On a whim, Janet gave one of her photos to Eti and suggested he ask the rental agent if he knew the person. He did. It turned out that the van was one of his, and a Peter Howard Marshall using an EU passport numbered 664976341 issued in the United Kingdom had hired it for a month. Eti gave the man a bit more money. They then emailed KK to make some more enquiries about Marshall.
Once they cleared the rental agency, they drove to a spot above the Keban dam. From where they parked, it was again obvious just how big it was. Until recently, it had been the biggest dam in Turkey Eti told Janet. The lake formed by the dam was even larger.
"You realise it could take years to do this job don't you?" pointed out Eti.
"It is rather formidable," agreed Janet. "However, once we have set our boundaries we'll be right."
They took out the maps they had purchased while at Elazig and those given them by the rental agency. As it turned out, the information obtained from Google Earth was still the best.
"Look," said Eti pointing at a map. "Where the Marat and Karasu and their tributaries start in the vicinity of Erzurum and Erzincan, with a bit of imagination you can see that between them the headwaters of the Euphrates and Tigris cover the North, West and South forming a triangle. Erzurum and Erzincan form the base at the North. The West is covered by both the Euphrates and the Tigris down to Cizre and the East is covered by any number of tributaries and further over to the East you have the Karkheh River which some suggest is the current name for the Gihon river."
"And we have to check them all out," said Janet.
"I don't think so," Eti demurred. "We have to take into account this whole region. It is pretty wild. Major fault lines exist here and it is volcanic. Since Eden, there has been a worldwide flood, many major earthquakes and goodness knows what else. I think it is more than possible that we are 'barking up the wrong tree', to use an old expression. However, I would suggest that there are two possibilities; that the Elazig area could be Eden and the other, and this goes back to something you have mentioned and is a little out of left field, Lake Van or its area could be Eden."
Janet picked up the map, opened the door and laid the map on the car bonnet while she looked at it. Eti watched with a bemused expression on his face. Janet then rolled the map up and walked about talking to herself. Again, she laid out the map on the bonnet, moved her fingers over it, rolled it up and sat back in the vehicle.
"Let's put Lake Van to one side," said Janet. "This is a very rough and mountainous area. The whole country is. I am not a geologist or anything remotely like one, but even I know that water, under normal circumstances, cannot flow up hill. The Elazig area, and in particular the Euphrates, has water running into it. That is, downhill. The Bible says that a river, that is one river, ran out of Eden to water the garden, and then separated into four heading East, West, North and South. I am right aren't I?"
Eti nodded and smiled.
"So," continued Janet. "For Elazig to be Eden there would have to be four rivers flowing from it and one flowing into it. Where are they? To me it looks like a better case would be four rivers flowing into Elazig and one flowing out. I can't see where you are coming from on Elazig being Eden."
"I am coming from a long way back. I am so far back that the earth, planet earth, was still forming. Consider us as being at day three of creation. God commanded the water below the sky to come together in one place so that the land could appear. Once done, he named the land earth and the water that had come together, sea. To me that means the land was one solid piece. It was not in separate places."
"So you are saying the Evolutionists are right and that from one piece of land it all turned pear shaped and split apart to form the current continents."
"Yes I am," agreed Eti.
"But I thought we didn't agree with, or like, evolutionists."
"Not at all. A majority of what the evolutionists produce, and believe, is reasonable. Their big problem is time. Many of their results could produce similar outcomes to ours if they could only remove their blinkered 'everything must have taken billions of years' point of view.
"However, getting back to where we were. We have to realise that things now are not what they were. Perhaps sometime I'll be able to give you a full rundown, but in the meantime we sort of have to run with what we have got. People more clever than I, have done the computer modeling and decided that this is where Eden possibly was."
"Computer modeling presumably done by evolutionists," interrupted Janet.
"Please Janet, give it away."
"But we are meant to be proving Palmer wrong and instead you are agreeing with him," protested Janet.
"Only to a point," said Eti. "Everyone and everything has good and bad points. Based upon the Bible, Noah's experiences, local history and many other things, this area is, I believe, the most correct assumption of where Eden was. I find Elazig interesting because we have the source of two major rivers here. Admittedly, it would be nice to have another couple, but beggars can't be choosers. Also there really needs to be one input which then divides, but again you've got to work with what you've got. It could well be that one of the sources of the Euphrates came from Eden, and then after earthquakes etc it became divided and separated into the Karasu and Marat etc. From Elazig, it could be that the Euphrates River from there on was one of the four rivers. So, two is not as good as four are, but they are better than none. One of the rivers running down to the Black Sea or across to the Caspian Sea could have originated from Elazig as well. It would only take one earthquake to change things. Remember that Eden, and the garden, existed prior to man's expulsion from it, and prior to Noah's flood, which could have destroyed a lot of evidence and the geographical features that existed prior to it.
"Next, we are completely in the dark as regards the size of Eden and the
garden. We know that Adam and Eve were bigger, stronger and taller than we are. Remember that everything was perfect at that time. Lions and lambs lay down together and one presumes man was a vegetarian at that stage. After all, sin had not entered the world. As there were no cars, we must presume they traveled on foot. How many miles a day could they cover? Another unknown. They probably returned to the same place each evening because God walked with them then. If Elazig was the area, then I reckon we could assume a one hundred mile radius should cover it as far as a search area is concerned. However, there are many assumptions in what I've said.
"My best suggestion is that we check the shores of Lake Hazar, do the area above Batman, and around Mus as those areas could be construed as headwaters, and perhaps the four rivers flowed out from there. Finally I think around the Tercan area should be done.
"So, yes we've a huge area. On top of that, as I said, we should do Lake Van, but we will leave that for now. Sound okay?"
"Oh Eti, we've committed ourselves and our supporters to something huge haven't we?"
"Huge for us," agreed Eti. "But nothing for God."
"I pray so," said Janet. "So I take it you have a plan for us?"
"Nothing detailed, but as I said, we need to do the shores of Lake Hazar. It's not far from here, thirty to fifty miles, so it sounds like a place to start. Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?"
"Oh very 1970's Eti, but I doubt we could ever be called the A Team. So, Lake Hazar it is. What do we know about it?"
"Well it is the headwaters of the Tigris River. That is what makes it so exciting for me. Well, of course the whole place does, but here we have the Euphrates and close by the start of the Tigris, the two mighty rivers that cradled civilization."
Eti turned to open the door of the Pathfinder when his eye caught some movement. Another vehicle was driving up to the area. It was a van. As Eti watched, he reached out to Janet and touched her arm. She turned to see what he wanted. Following his gaze, she also watched the van. It stopped not far from them; about 100 yards. It was the van that featured in their photographs of the Palu trip. Getting out of it was the man of the photographs.
"Stay here," commanded Eti as he strode towards it.
Ignoring his command, Janet followed. As they reached the van, the man turned towards them.
"Ah," he exclaimed with an English accent. "Mr. Solomon and Miss Winters, what a pleasure."
Eti walked close to the man, invading his space, and making eye-to-eye contact at a distance of twelve inches.
"What's your game Marshall?" Eti asked.
Marshall attempted to move away from Eti Solomon but for every step he took backwards, Eti took one forward. Those steps eventually found Marshall with his back to the van and unable to move further.
"I don't know what you are talking about," gasped Marshall.
Janet grabbed Eti by the arm and pulled him back. Eti allowed it.
"I take it you are Peter Marshall?" asked Janet.
The man nodded but did not take his eyes off Eti.
Janet continued, "Why have you been following us Mr. Marshall?"
Before Marshall could respond, Eti pushed closer to him.
"Tell him to leave me alone," demanded Marshall in a voice that made it a plea. "I mean you no harm. I'll explain everything."
Janet again pulled Eti away. Marshall made to shift, but a twitch from Eti and a shake of Janet's head changed his mind.
"Explain," ordered Janet.
"I know what you are doing," said Marshall.
"Whippy-do," jeered Eti. "You and everybody else in the world that reads the news or has visited our website."
"No, no, no not that," said Marshall shaking his head. "The bet. The wager thing."
"What?" asked Eti.
"No, not you," explained Marshall. He looked at Janet. "The thing between you and Joe."
"Joe Palmer?" asked Eti and Janet together.
"What do you know about Joe Palmer?" asked Janet.
"We did an advanced teaching course together at one stage," explained Marshall. "Look, can we please sit down and discuss this. I think we have got off on the wrong foot, don't you?"
"We haven't," growled Eti.
"Okay, okay," said Marshall holding up his hands. "I've played the whole thing wrong." He wiped perspiration from his brow and made to move away from the van. When Eti made no threatening move, Marshall seemed to regain some confidence. He led them over to a cement block and sat down. Eti and Janet remained standing. Marshall stood up.
"Look," said Marshall. "I was talking to Joe on the telephone and when he heard I intended to take a bit of a holiday in this area, he asked me to keep an eye on you."
"You mean spy on us?" exclaimed Janet.
"No, not at all, well, not really," corrected Marshall. "You see, it appears as though he is a bit worried that you might be on to something and Joe doesn't take defeat lightly. You would know that Janet, working with him."
"Miss Winter will do fine," said Janet.
"Of course, of course," agreed Marshall.
"How did you know where to find us?" asked Eti. "Turkey is a big place."
"From your website and blogs," said Marshall.
"Okay," agreed Janet. "Fine. I'll accept that, to a degree, for the moment, but what else is there that you are not telling us?"
"Nothing, that's it," said Marshall as his eyes flickered between Janet and Eti.
"Peter, Peter, Peter," admonished Eti as he reached out and squeezed Marshall's shoulder. "Surely you and the truth are not such strangers. Come on now, how about the full story and then we'll sort the whole thing out. Don't be afraid. Pretend you are among friends." Eti smiled.
To Marshall it appeared as a snarl.
"I'm sorry," he gasped. "I am not very good at this type of thing." Having started, Marshall seemed unable to stop. "It's true what I said about Joe. I do know him and we do keep in touch. He did ask me to check on you while I am here but I was to do it secretly. I am no good at that type of thing. I tried, but following people is not as easy as it is in books or at the movies."
"Get back to it," prodded Eti.
"It turns out there is a group of scientists that are afraid you might turn up something on this quest of yours; something that might jeopardise scientific belief in evolution. Personally my specialty is languages, and I like the Bible language, the way it rhymes and its rhythm is poetry."
Eti squeezed Marshall's shoulder again. Marshall winced.
"Alright," he said. "No need to be a bully. Your website and all the bits and pieces have worried them so much that they are actively working to ensure you are both discredited and that anything you do find can be adequately explained away, or if that is not possible, be destroyed."
"You've got to be joking," said Eti in disbelief.
"No," countered Marshall, "I'm not joking. Okay, I may not be very good at my bit in this thing, but believe you me there are bigger fish than me involved. You lot need to be careful."
"Who were you to let know if you discovered anything?" asked Janet.
"I was to tell Joe, but if he wasn't available I have a list of others to try."
"Do you know if there is any one other than yourself actually in Turkey?" asked Janet.
"Look, I am very sorry," reiterated Marshall. "I don't know. Joe will be furious that I've told you all this. Please, can I go now? I need, no, want, to put all this behind me."
"Of course you can go," smiled Janet. "You are not some prisoner, or anything actually. Thank you for what you have told us. I will not mention you to Joe when I next see him."
With that, Marshall ran. In a cloud of dust, and with much revving of an engine, Marshall's rental van left the dam site. Janet and Eti remained standing looking at each other.
"Do you believe all that?" asked Janet.
Eti nodded slowly. "I think so. He was too frightened to tell mincey pies."
"Mincey pies?"
"Rhyming slang; lies, mincey pies."<
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"Oh, very Cockney."
Eti nodded. "It puts a whole different complexion on things though doesn't it?" he said. "Scared and frightened people can become angry and dangerous very quickly. I think our task has become a lot more difficult. For our own safety and peace of mind, we are going to have to change the way we do things. That is if we decide to continue in the face of this threat."
This time it was Janet's turn to pause. "I do want to carry on," she said. "It is just so sad to think that some people, intelligent people, are prepared to go so far to protect their point of view."
"They are driven by the ruler of this world unfortunately," replied Eti. "My ruler outranks theirs so we will be okay."
"I wish I had your faith," said Janet.
"You'll get there," promised Eti. "Now, getting back to Eden. First, let's do Lake Hazar. We'll do the shoreline and some of the tributaries. It will get us into the swing of things and we may be able to work out what the opposition is up to. Prior to that though, we will post the information, without naming names, that Marshall gave us. That will act as a bit of a safeguard and perhaps cause them to pause for a rethink before doing anything else. Maybe we can get someone back home to make some discreet enquiries about your friend Joe Palmer."
Janet and Eti drove back to the rental agency and reached an agreement whereby they could leave the Nissan and their equipment not needed for the Lake Hazar trip. They packed a tent, and everything they expected to need for their trip, into two backpacks. They updated their blog and website at an internet café and emailed New Zealand about Palmer. By the time they had finished it was mid afternoon.