The Lance

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Elizabeth and Stephanie looked at an exchange of encrypted emails between Dysart and an unidentified person earlier that day.

"What's Parsifal? What does it have to do with Antarctica?" Stephanie asked.

"I've got no idea, Steph. Must be a code name."

"That's interesting," Elizabeth said. "Who commands Dysart?"

"Valkyrie," Stephanie said. "Parsifal. These guys are into Wagner, or some kind of operatic fantasy."

"I don't think it's a fantasy. It looks like Dysart's part of one op and running another."

The exchange terminated there.

"Transition? Transition to what? Director, I don't like this."

Elizabeth shook in a brief, involuntary movement that traveled from her head and shoulders to her feet. Her intuition had woken up.

"I think it's an assassination attempt. We have to find out who was on the other end of that email. It looks like there was a meeting last night. If it was a conference call we might be able to back trace."

"There's always a way," Stephanie said. "If it was a call and I can isolate it, we can find out who else was on the line. Do you think we're the 'minor problems' Dysart is talking about?"

Elizabeth was tight lipped. "Maybe."

Nick had called again, to tell her she was now under Rice's direct orders. So far there hadn't been any orders to follow. This was something outside of her experience. She'd have to let things play out while she pursued the slippery threads of conspiracy and hope they led somewhere.

"Time for Rice's speech," Stephanie said.

Elizabeth was tired. The seven and a half hour time difference from Jerusalem made for early viewing and it was after two in the morning. The team sat in front of the television and waited for Rice to begin. Ronnie and Selena had caught a couple of hours sleep, but Elizabeth and Stephanie hadn't been that lucky.

The camera panned across the Temple Mount, then switched to shots of the angry mobs below and the troops and police holding them at bay. It moved back to the stage and podium. President Rice was visible behind his shield of bodyguards, getting ready to speak.

"There's Nick!" Selena pointed at a tense figure in sunglasses and a gray suit standing in front of the stage, almost in front of the podium. The stage came up shoulder high behind him. The al-Aqsa Mosque loomed in the background of the shot, behind and to the right of the stage.

Ronnie said, "Son of a gun looks ready for trouble and he's tugging on his ear. I've seen that look before. He thinks things are about to go south."

"I hope you're wrong about that." Elizabeth pulled at her skirt. "I'm beginning to wonder if Rice knew what he was doing when he set this up."

"Sometimes things look different when it gets real. Anyway, it's set to go. Rice is ready to start."

Rice stepped up and the cameras zeroed in. He placed his hands on the sides of the podium. Behind him, the Prime Minister of Israel, the Secretary of State and the National Security Advisor sat stage center, bordered by their security guards.

Rice began with thanks to the Israeli Government and the Muslim Authority for the honor of speaking from a place sacred to three of the world's great religions. He spoke of the history and the conflict that had always surrounded the Mount and the city of Jerusalem.

A few minutes into the speech Selena said, "What's Nick doing?"

On screen, Nick took his phone from his pocket and placed it against his ear. His body tensed. He stepped over to a tall agent standing a few feet away and said something to him.

Later, when people went over the many tapes of the explosion, no one could quite agree on the exact sequence of events. It depended on the viewer's perspective and religion. But all agreed that things began when the man in the gray suit answered his cell phone in front of an estimated two hundred and fifty million viewers watching around the globe.