Solomon's Gold

CHAPTER 27

The chain link fence surrounding the safe house at Ein Gedi was a patterned shadow in the moonless night. The four men Rashidi had picked for the assault lay on the hard desert floor, outside the compound where Nick and the others slept. They had balaclavas pulled over their faces. Dark clothes made them almost invisible. Each carried an Iranian copy of the Chinese Norinco CQ carbine. It was an efficient assault weapon, firing the standard 5.56 mm NATO cartridge.

Vahid Ghorbani scanned the compound with night vision binoculars. The temperature had dropped into the low forties, typical for the Judean desert at this time of year. Vahid had anticipated the chill, but even so he shivered.

Vahid was in charge of the team. His second in command was named Mahmoud.

"What do you see?" Mahmoud said.

"Nothing. It's as quiet as Behest-e Zahra over there."

Behest-e Zahra was the main cemetery in Tehran.

"No guard? No one patrolling?"

"They feel safe," Vahid said. "Nothing ever happens here."

"After tonight, they may not feel the same way."

"God willing."

Vahid signaled with his hand. The four men raised up and ran to the fence.

"Reza, the cutters. Kazem, you go through first."

The man Vahid had addressed as Reza pulled out a set of heavy wire cutters and began working on the fence. He soon had an opening large enough to go through. Seconds later, all four men were inside the compound and running across the lawn toward the house.

A light on the back of the house illuminated the patio where Selena and Rivka had been talking earlier in the day. A surveillance camera mounted on the eve of the house rotated slowly in a half circle. Vahid waited outside the light until the camera was pointing away. He ran forward until he was directly under it, took out a can of spray paint, and covered the lens. A sliding glass door leading onto the patio was closed. The room inside was dark. Kazem stepped up to the door and gently tried it. The door slid open.

Vahid shook his head. Idiots. The assassins entered the house.

In another room of the house, Alitza sat listening to music on her headphones. On a bench in front of her, monitors displayed images from security cameras covering the grounds outside the house. Her eyes were closed. She tapped her foot to the rhythm of old-time American rock 'n roll. Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis — she never got tired of listening to the classic sounds of the fifties and sixties.

The track came to an end. She opened her eyes and looked at the monitors. Nothing showed on the screen covering the back of the house.

Damn camera. On the blink again.

She looked more closely at the black image on the screen. Something wasn't right. It didn't look quite the same as when the system went off-line. A tiny bit of light showed in one corner of the monitor.

"Shit!"

Alitza punched the alarm button. A loud klaxon horn began blaring. It sounded as though someone had driven a fire engine into the living room. Alitza came out of her chair, drawing her pistol in the same motion. Kazem came through the door and shot her. The bullets slammed into her and threw her back into the chair. Her pistol fell to the floor.

When the alarm went off, Nick was sound asleep. He came up off the bed in an instant, adrenaline pumping through his veins. Behind the raucous sound of the klaxon, he heard a three round burst from an automatic rifle. He grabbed his pistol from the nightstand.

Selena was up, reaching for her pistol. They stood naked on opposite sides of the bed.

"Watch the window," Nick said. "Stay to the side"

Selena ran to the window and pressed herself against the wall. She took a quick glance outside.

"Clear," she said.

Nick opened the door and looked into the hall.

"We can't stay here," he said.

On the other side of the house, Ronnie and Lamont were up and armed. Ronnie looked out the door of their room and was greeted by a burst of gunfire. The rounds passed by and shattered a vase filled with flowers sitting on a small table at the end of the hall.

Ronnie ducked back, stuck his hand out the door, and fired blindly in the direction of the shooter.

"How many?" Lamont asked.

"Don't know. Has to be more than one."

"Think we can make it to the living room? "

"I'll cover," Ronnie said. He glanced around the doorframe and saw someone dressed in black. He let off three rounds and was rewarded by a scream.

Lamont went through the door, Ronnie close behind. They moved at a near run toward the living room, guns held in both hands in front of them. They reached the intersection of the hall and the room. The man Ronnie had shot lay crumpled on the floor. His rifle lay nearby.

Lamont looked around the corner. A hail of bullets zipped by his head, like a hot wind. The glass doors facing the patio shattered.

"You cover me and I'll go for that rifle," Ronnie said.

Lamont knelt, reached around the corner and began shooting at another figure dressed in black. The man ducked back. Ronnie grabbed the rifle and retreated to the safety of the hall.

Rivka had been dreaming when the alarm shattered her sleep. She rolled out of bed, wearing a short nightgown. She grabbed her pistol and opened the door. The hall outside her room was empty, but she heard firing coming from the other side of the sprawling house. She moved on bare feet to the end of the hall and looked out. Across the way, a man dressed in black was firing down the hallway where Nick and Selena's room was located.

A red dot from the laser sight on her pistol danced on the man's back. She fired two rounds. He staggered and turned, firing his rifle. The burst caught her in the chest and slammed her against the wall. She heard Nick shout as she collapsed onto the floor.

"NO!"

Nick ran toward the man who had shot Rivka, firing until his pistol locked open. The shooter went down. Selena was right behind him.

Vahid saw a man coming out of a room and cut him down. He ran past the body and saw Kazem fall as Nick shot him. He saw Nick's pistol lock open.

Fucking American.

He raised his rifle. Selena stepped naked from the hall and shot him four times. Vahid stumbled forward and fell onto the carpet.

Reza saw Vahid fall and ran into the room, firing and screaming as Nick and Selena dove behind a large couch. The rounds shredded the upholstery, sending bits of foam and cloth into the air. Nick lay on top of Selena, shielding her body as the bullets passed over him.

Ronnie raised the rifle he'd recovered and opened up. He held the trigger down. The bullets spun Reza in a circling dance that ended when he fell. He stopped moving.

The smell of burnt powder and blood drifted through the air. The klaxon horn was still blaring. For a moment nobody moved. Then Ronnie called out.

"Nick, you all right?"

"Yeah. We clear?"

"Don't know, but it feels like it."

"I don't hear anybody," Lamont said.

"Rivka," Nick said.

He rose and walked over to where she lay. She was still breathing. Blood bubbled from her chest.

"Bashert," she said. She reached up and grasped Nick's arm.

"Nick," she said.

"Hang on, Rivka."

"Nick…"

"I'm here. Hang on."

She coughed. Blood dribbled from her mouth, then her grip loosened. Her arm fell away.

"Rivka…"

Her eyes were open, staring at whatever eyes stared at when life had fled. Her chest was covered with blood. Her nightgown was hiked up around her waist. Gently, Nick pulled it down to cover her. Then he closed her eyes.

"Aw, shit," he said.

"Somebody turn off that damn horn," Selena said.

Lamont said, "I'll do it."

He moved away to the other end of the house. A minute later the klaxon stopped. Lamont came back into the room.

"Alitza is dead," he said. "She was in the security room."

"What about the other guy, Falk?" Nick said.

"I'll check the house," Ronnie said. When he reappeared he said, "Falk is dead too."

Lamont looked at Nick and Selena, standing near Rivka's body.

"Maybe you two ought to get something on."

"What a mess," Nick said.