The Lance

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Elizabeth, Stephanie and Selena returned to the Project building and cleaned out everything relating to Dysart and Nick's mission. They found the bug on Selena's car and moved it to another vehicle parked nearby, then both cars headed toward Virginia. In Harker's rear view mirror, the gray building housing the Project receded behind them.

Elizabeth kept checking the mirrors, looking for tails. Nothing stood out. That didn't mean there wasn't someone there. She knew how easy it was to switch cars behind you, follow from in front or from the air, change the look of surveillance in an eye blink, track from the sky, but her intuition was calm.

They turned onto the rural state highway that led toward the safe house. There was still no sign of a tail. Traffic was light. Elizabeth allowed herself a small measure of relaxation.

"Dysart might make a mistake," Stephanie said.

"This has to go way beyond Dysart." Elizabeth swerved to avoid a pothole in the road. "War between the Muslims and Israel could go nuclear. Who would want to see that happen?"

Stephanie mused out loud. "Qui Bene? Who benefits? Not Israel. Not the Muslims either."

"No one in the Middle East benefits, except the ones who don't want peace," Elizabeth said. "The Islamic fundamentalists would never destroy al-Aqsa. It can't be them."

"Profit? War is going to disrupt the financial markets. There could be big profit in that."

"That's an idea. We could look at the markets in the last six months and see if someone is about to get rich if a war starts up. We can ignore little trades, just look at the big ones. If we see a pattern, perhaps we can track it back to whoever it is that 'commands' Dysart."

"Yes. 'At your command'. Dysart doesn't strike me as the kind of man who'd take orders from just anyone."

"Israel could be destroyed, and half of the Middle East with it. That's bigger than money. The Iranians, perhaps? The Syrians? But they're Muslim, too. No way they'd blow up the Mosque."

They turned into the drive leading up to the house. A minute later they were inside the garage, the door closing behind them.

Safe.