Solomon's Gold

CHAPTER 21

Rivka called Ari Herzog and told him what had happened. An hour later, two UH 60 Blackhawk helicopters landed nearby. Herzog got out of the first one and walked over to the group. He looked at the smoldering wreckage, the bullet scarred vehicles, the bodies on the ground, and shook his head. Gideon's charred remains were visible in the front seat of the burned out vehicle.

"Trouble always seems to follow you, Nick."

"Friedman's assistant wasn't what she appeared to be," Nick said.

He pointed at Miriam's body. She was sprawled on the ground, one leg crumpled under her, a neat hole in the middle of her forehead. A machine pistol had slipped from her fingers. The ground underneath her head was soaked with blood.

"Whoever she was, she was working with the assholes that tried to ambush us. She must have been feeding them information all along."

"I wonder why they decided to attack you now?"

Nick shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe they figured they didn't need us anymore. Chances are they know as much as we do about the scroll."

"What have you discovered so far?"

"We found the next marker. We think it means we should go to Ein Gedi."

Herzog looked at the Israeli vehicles. One had been destroyed. The other two were pocked with stray bullet holes in the metalwork. One of them had a shattered windshield. The paint on both was scarred from the heat of the flames. Two of the tires were flat. The cars that had brought the attackers were riddled with holes. Most of the windows were gone. Fluids were leaking onto the ground under them.

"I think you need some new cars," Herzog said. "We don't want you frightening the tourists at Ein Gedi."

"How are we going to get there?"

"We'll give you a ride," Herzog said. "We have a safe house there, quiet, away from the crowds. We don't use it much, but it happens to have a heliport. I'll arrange it. You can stay there and new vehicles will be provided."

"Thanks, Ari. "

"This is becoming a controversial operation," Herzog said. "Let's hope you turn something up soon. My superiors are becoming restless. They don't like alarming the tourists with things like this."

He swept his arm around in a gesture that included the bodies and the wrecked vehicles.

"We've had to block the road in here until we get this mess cleaned up. I've already talked to the Ministry of Tourism. They are unhappy. Please, Nick, no more shooting if you can help it."

"I'll do my best," Nick said. "I need to call Harker and tell her what's happened."

"We'll leave when you're ready," Herzog said.

Nick punched in the code for Elizabeth and waited for the satellite link to pick up.

"About time, Nick. I can see your location on my monitor. What's happening?"

"We ran into trouble. Somebody tried to take us out. Friedman is dead and so is one of the Israeli agents. Friedman's assistant was in on it. She's dead too."

"Who came after you?"

"We don't know yet. Ari Herzog is here with a couple of choppers. He'll get his forensics team on the bodies. Maybe he'll turn something up."

"The Israelis are not going to be happy about this," Harker said. "What's the status of your search?"

"We found the second marker. We're going to Ein Gedi as soon as I finish talking with you. It's a tourist spot on the Dead Sea. Herzog says they have a safe house there. We'll use that as a base while we follow up. We're looking for a cave."

"I'd better inform President Corrigan," Harker said. "The Israelis are sure to have something to say to him."

"Look at it this way, Director. He might as well get used to it."

"I imagine he'd rather not get used to it, considering that it's only his first week in office."

"Friedman's assistant had us all fooled. We should take a close look at her. She might have made a mistake that will lead us to whoever came after us."

"I'll get Homeland Security on it," Harker said.

"If you do that, word's going to get out about this little expedition. Can we keep it in-house?"

"You have a point, Nick. I could send Steph. I'll think about it."

Herzog was standing by one of the choppers. He waved at Nick and then pointed at his watch.

"Director, I have to go. I'll keep you posted."

"Do that," Harker said. "Don't create any more problems."

Nick started to protest that he hadn't created the problems, but Harker was gone.