The Nostradamus File

CHAPTER NINETEEN

"No IDs on the two in the park," Harker said. "The car is a rental. The license and credit card they used are fakes. Good fakes, I might add. I wish you hadn't killed them."

"We didn't have a choice."

"I had to call in some serious pressure to get you out of there. I'm not sure it's over yet. Everyone is nervous about guns going off in public places. The spin is that those two were terrorists and you were Federal Agents. Some people think you're heroes. Some people want to make an example of you."

"Are we subject to political correctness now? Those two called the play."

"I know. I'll take care of it. The real question is who were they and why did they go after you."

"They picked us up on the Beltway," Nick said. "They had to know we were coming from here."

"So much for our new anonymity. I guess it was just wishful thinking." She picked up her Mont Blanc. "The quality of the fake IDs indicates pros. We're running the prints to see if anything turns up."

"It has to be about the Ark," Selena said. "The same people who sent gunmen after us in Jordan."

"Someone who has a lot of resources," Nick said. "Serious connections and serious money. You don't just hire a truck or two full of guys with automatic weapons by walking into the local rent-a-terrorist agency. Like you said, pros."

"I don't understand why they keep trying to kill you. Wouldn't it make more sense to grab you, find out what you know?" Harker turned her pen around in her fingers.

"Maybe they already know what we know. Or they know where the Ark is and don't want us to find it."

"Are you any closer to pinpointing a location?"

"Only by elimination. No matter what we decide, we'll still be guessing. We'd get better odds in Vegas."

"Give it your best shot, Nick. We can't let it drop. Things have gone too far."