Covenant

75

Byron Stone settled into the plush leather seat of the SUV and picked up the phone, dialing a number and listening as the line clattered with digital activity, the scramblers coding and decoding the signal before allowing the line to connect.

“General Aydan,” came the gruff voice on the line, sounding as though it were coming through a microphone rather than a mouthpiece.

“General, how are you?”

“I have been looking for you, Mr. Stone.” Byron felt a ripple of alarm twist his guts. “Where is your remaining Valkyrie UAV?”

“Airborne, somewhere over Jerusalem, I believe. We have identified a potential insurgent target in Wadi al-Joz that we think should be neutralized with a—”

“We’ve taken control of the Valkyrie,” the general interrupted sharply. “Where are you?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Stone muttered. “That UAV is private property and you have no right to—”

“Our men are on site in Wadi al-Joz and we have it on the authority of one Dr. Damon Sheviz that MACE is responsible for the security of illegal experiments there. Where are you, Mr. Stone?”

Byron Stone sat in dumbfounded silence for a long moment, staring wide-eyed at the city passing by outside.

“The man is insane,” he stammered. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“We have also found explosive devices like those described by Ethan Warner in the possession of your men,” the general muttered angrily down the line. A long pause followed. “Where are you, Mr. Stone?”

Byron Stone sat for a moment in catatonic silence and then promptly put the phone down. He leaned forward in his seat, tapping a button on a console beside him that activated the intercom with his driver.

“Get us to the airport at Tel Aviv immediately.”

What the hell’s happened?

One of the cell phones next to him rang loudly and he almost jumped out of his skin. He picked it up, half expecting to see the number of Israel’s Shin Bet or, worse, Mossad. Instead, Stone recognized the number as Malik’s and quickly answered.

“What the hell is going on?” he shouted down the line. “Is Rafael dead yet?”

There was a long silence, and in a moment of something that he might have considered precognition, a dread swelled in his belly.

“No, Mr. Stone, he is not yet dead.”

Ice water sluiced through Stone as he recognized Rafael’s voice.

“Where is Malik?” he asked, veiling his panic with feigned outrage.

“He is enjoying a ringside view of your downfall, one that is about to become much better.”

Stone turned cold as he realized the breadth of Rafael’s revenge, and through his fear probed a thin spark of fury.

“You’d better start running, Rafael. I’m going to make damned sure that my men and the IDF hunt you down. By the time they’re done with you there’ll be nothing left to—”

“I’m afraid that you have no time left for that.”

Stone was about to reply, but then heard the car phone ringing. He looked down at it in confusion. The screen wasn’t glowing, and the noise sounded somewhat muted as though it were coming from beneath the seat on which he sat.

Before he could even consider what was about to happen, Rafael’s voice spoke again.

“There were four missing IEDs taken by Ethan Warner from the encampment, Byron. I’ve returned them to you.”

“No!”

Stone lunged for his door handle as suddenly everything turned a bright and brilliant white before him and the universe ripped itself apart in his ears.

Rafael lowered a pair of cell phones from his ears as their signals were abruptly cut off by a sharp crackling noise. From somewhere outside in Jerusalem he heard a rolling boom that reverberated gently through nearby windows, rattling the shutters in their panes.

Casually, he turned to glance at the apartment door beside him. He gripped the roll of thread he held in his hand and yanked hard on it.

A shockingly loud report crashed out as a high-velocity round burst from the rifle within the apartment. Three more shots crackled on the hot morning air as Rafael yanked the cord, each seeming louder than the first and rolling in echoes across the ancient city.

Rafael snapped the thread off and sprinted down the stairwell, turning for the rear exit of the apartment block as distant shouts from apartments above pursued him. As he burst out into a narrow paved area and vaulted over a wall, he heard a whining sound drifting ghostlike through the hard blue sky above.