High Alert

CHAPTER 5

A cold wind coming off the Potomac clawed against the windows of Nick and Selena's loft, trying to penetrate the warmth within. Nick stirred a pot of pasta bubbling on the stove. Selena worked on building a salad on the island counter in the center of the kitchen. Most Wednesdays, if they were home, Nick would cook spaghetti. It had become a ritual, something consistent and normal, an anchor in the abnormal world they lived and worked in.

"Almost done," Nick said. His ears were still ringing from the explosion that afternoon.

"I'll open a bottle of wine."

Selena put the salad on the kitchen table. It was already set for two. She went over to the wine rack and selected a Spanish Rioja to go with the meal. Nick took the pot off the stove, drained the water from the spaghetti and placed it in a bowl. He took it over to the table and sat down.

Selena opened the bottle and poured the wine. She held up her glass.

"A Spanish toast," she said. "Health, money and love."

"And time to enjoy them," Nick finished. They clinked glasses.

A shadow passed across Selena's face and was quickly gone.

"What's the matter?" Nick asked.

"Nothing."

"Nothing? You had this odd look on your face."

"I just had this thought out of nowhere, about time running out."

"That's kind of depressing. What brought that on?"

"I suppose what happened today at the White House. The Chinese ambassador thought he had plenty of time, then he didn't. It seems something happens every day and we end up right in the middle of it. One day time is going to run out for us, too."

"Maybe you ought to finish that wine and pour yourself another glass."

"I'm serious, Nick."

"I know you are. But nobody gets out of here alive."

"That's all you can say? Nobody gets out of here alive?"

"At least while we're here we can try to do something to keep the bad guys at bay."

"That's the problem. We keep them at bay, but they come back again. Whoever killed the ambassador has an agenda. You can bet that whatever it is, it isn't good for us or anyone else."

"It could just be some fanatic making a statement. The Jihadis do it all the time."

"I don't think so," Selena said. "If it's a statement, how come no one's claimed responsibility? There's been plenty of time for a video or a Facebook post or something to show up."

"Okay, but what good does it do? What point does it make?"

"Maybe none. Maybe a lot. Li and Rice were going to discuss the North Koreans with Zhang. Now that discussion is off. The Chinese are upset and wondering what happened. It makes things that much more difficult between us and them."

"You think someone's trying to create tension between Beijing and Washington by killing their ambassador? That's pretty far out, Selena. There's no reason Beijing would think we did it."

"No reason we know of."

"Anyway, Li's murder doesn't concern us. That's FBI territory."

"Unless Rice decides to involve us. Then all bets are off."

Selena drained her glass and poured another. She topped off Nick's at the same time.

"Speaking of North Korea, why do something as stupid as sinking one of our subs? It's asking for trouble."

"Yun is crazy, you know that."

"That's the problem, isn't it?" She said. "Crazy people like him with nuclear weapons. He's gearing up to invade the South and he must know we won't let him get away with it. California had nukes."

"Little ones," Nick said. "Tactical."

She snorted. "As if that makes a difference. Look what happened in Latvia when a little one went off. It almost started World War III, and there are plenty of big ones to back the little ones up. What would've happened in India if we hadn't stopped that madman who wanted to wipe out Pakistan? That's what I mean about us always getting involved."

She downed the glass and poured another.

"Thirsty?" Nick said.

"I'll drink the whole damn bottle if I want."

"Hey, I'm on your side, remember?"

Selena looked down at her plate. "Sorry. It's just that I see us getting caught up in this and I'm not looking forward to it."

"If we do get involved we'll probably be right here at home, looking for the traitor who gave the Koreans the plans for that drone."

"Maybe," Selena said. "There's something else."

"Does it have anything to do with that letter you got today?"

"You don't miss much, do you?"

"Hey, I'm a trained investigator. Also I could see it was from a museum."

"I was going to tell you about it. It was from the curator of the Jewish Museum in New York, Alan Friedman. I met him at a conference on biblical languages several years ago."

"Let me guess," Nick said. "He wants you to come to New York and look at something."

"That's right. It's a scroll, around three thousand years old, written in some sort of variant of Hebrew and Aramaic. It's got him stumped and Friedman thinks I might be the person to translate it. It's important and I want to do it."

"Another scroll? The last one you got involved with almost got us killed. What's so important about it?"

"Friedman thinks it's an account about the death of King David."

"Don't they already know about his death? It's in the Bible, isn't it?"

"In a general sense, yes. But not the specifics of what he said beyond telling Solomon to follow the ways of Yahweh. Friedman thinks the scroll may even be a last will and testament."

"You've made up your mind to go, haven't you?"

"It's part of what I was saying earlier. I feel time is running out to do the things I want to do. I'm tired of the Project, Nick. This isn't fun anymore. I don't want to end up like the Chinese ambassador because I'm in the wrong place at the wrong time. I want to go back to doing what I love, working with languages that no one has been able to understand."

"You're saying you want to quit?"

Selena took a deep breath. "Yes."

"Damn it, Selena, you can't just quit."

"Yes I can. You knew this would come one day," she said.

"Look," Nick said. "You don't have to quit in order to go look at the scroll. We're not in the middle of a mission. You could go to New York, study it, spend a week and come back when you're done."

"It could take more than a week."

"Can't Friedman send you photographs to look at? Something to give you a head start? You could study those and then if you still feel you have to go, you'll know what you're getting into."

"I suppose so," Selena said. "But it's not the same as having the document right there in front of you. There's something about that I can't quite describe. It helps me get to a solution."

Nick poured the last of the wine into his glass.

"If you leave the team right now, it will create problems for me. I understand you want to quit. I can't make you stay, but you owe it to the team to give me time to find someone to take your place."

Selena could hear the annoyance in his voice. "I wasn't planning on leaving before you find someone. I've been thinking about it a lot. Besides, it's possible President-elect Corrigan will disband the Project. It may not even be an issue."

"Any chance you'll change your mind?"

"I wouldn't count on it."