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modern roof. A dozen flat wooden benches were placed on each side of a mosaic tile walkway decorated with repeating rows of peacocks. Sunlight streamed through windows in the roof, making the stones glow with soft color. Broken columns lined the side of the aisle.
    "This is beautiful," Nick said.
    Selena was surprised. She hadn't expected him to say that.
    "Yes, it is."
    "There's something about the light on the stone that makes this place feel peaceful."
    She touched his arm. It was a good feeling, something they felt together. Nick smiled.
    At the far end was a simple altar made of stone. An ancient mosaic cross was set into the wall above it, a symmetrical design of interweaving loops. To the right of the altar was another area with a mosaic floor. A sign said it had been laid down in the 6th Century.
    The tile floor showed two men with animals on ropes. One man led an ostrich, the other a zebra and a spotted camel. Above the men was a shepherd under some trees, with a goat and sheep. At the top of the mosaic, another shepherd fought a lioness and a soldier hunted a lion.
    "That's some floor," Nick said.
    "Kneel at the feet of the shepherd," she said. She got down on her knees. Nick watched her. He looked at the floor.
    "There are five trees where you're kneeling."
    "You're right."
    "That could be the five signs Nostradamus meant."
    "Five trees? That doesn't tell us much."
    "Why would he make it easy? Maybe it's about something besides trees."
    She climbed to her feet. "We'd better see if anything else fits."
    They spent the next two hours exploring and found nothing that hinted at the Ark or five signs. Aside from the view, the chapel and the mosaics, there wasn't a lot to see. The man with the ball cap was nowhere in sight. Nick decided he was just being paranoid. It was an old habit.
    "Let's go back to the hotel," Selena said. "I need my laptop and an internet connection to research those trees. They must mean something."
    They got in their car and drove back down the mountain. The man in the yellow shirt and ball cap watched them go. Then he took out his phone and made a call.

CHAPTER ELEVEN
     
     
    Selena had been on her computer for almost an hour.
    "I know what the five trees s tand for but I'm not sure it helps much."
    Nick waited for her to explain.
    " It's a Gnostic symbol. There are several possible meanings. One is that they symbolize purification of the five senses, a metaphor for gaining union with God. Jesus is supposed to have said there are five trees in paradise and that whoever knows them will find eternal life. You come across it in the Gospel of Thomas and other Gnostic texts."
    "I don't remember a Gospel of Thomas."
    "It's one of several books that were kept out of the Bible."
    "Why didn't they keep it?"
    "It doesn't tell the same story as the others. The Gnostic texts were all considered heretical. They tell a different story. Gnostics believed in a direct knowledge of God. No intermediaries."
    "No priests?"
    "Right. If you're building a church where you want to be in charge, you can't have people deciding on their own what God wants. You need to make sure someone acts as the middle man."
    "So young and yet so cynical," Nick said.
    She shrugged. "I didn't come up with that idea. Anyway, that's what the trees symbolize."
    "That still doesn't tell us where to look."
    "What if we're on the wrong track about the trees?"
    "What do you mean?"
    "I've been thinking the clue was what the trees symbolized. That doesn't lead anywhere useful. Now I think Nostradamus meant something else. I still think the trees are the five signs in the quatrain."
    Nick got up and looked out the hotel window at Amman. "Okay." he said over his shoulder. "If it's not what the trees mean as a symbol, why write a quatrain about them?"
    "To draw attention to the shepherd?"
    "The shepherd is just a shepherd. You kneel there and see the trees. The trees are part of the mosaic. What else is there, if it's not the trees?"
    "The