The Nostradamus File

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

Nick took Lev Gefen to the part of the old Nike site that had been converted into a shooting range and armory. He opened a wide cabinet to reveal a full array of personal assault weapons. They all had one thing in common; deadly efficiency.

Lev looked at the racks of weapons. "Interesting," he said. He took an MP-5 from it's place, checked to see if it was loaded, held it to his shoulder. "I always liked these. We use the Tavor C21."

"That's a fine weapon in the field," Nick said. "We mostly use the MP-5s and the SIG-Sauer. We've switched over to .40 Smith and Wesson. Makes it easy to keep the ammo straight."

"A good round. That is what we use in our pistols. What you call a Baby Eagle."

"The Jericho 941."

Lev nodded.

"Pick a pistol. I take it you didn't bring yours."

"No. Ari told me you would take care of it."

Lev took a Sig-Sauer P229 from the rack. All the pistols were flat black. No stainless styling to catch a stray ray of light and give away a position. "This will do."

Nick nodded. "The 226 is a little more accurate, but these are easier to carry. Let's practice."

Nick ran man-sized silhouette targets out to the end of the shooting lanes. They loaded up, put on glasses and ear protection and began firing. After a half hour, they stopped.

"Nice shooting, Lev."

The Israeli's targets were consistent. Tight groups centered on the body. Occasional two shot groups to the head, for variety. Gefen could shoot. Nick hoped he didn't have to find out if the Israeli could do the same thing when the targets were shooting back.

There was a meeting with Harker and the rest of the team in half an hour. They began cleaning the guns.

"Your file says you're married."

"That's right. My wife's name is Rachel. We've got two children."

Lev ran a cleaning brush through the bore of his pistol. The distinctive smell of Hoppe's No. 9 filled the room. He set the pistol down and took out his wallet. He showed Nick pictures.

"This is Aaron. He's five. And this is Rebecca. She's seven."

The children were laughing, splashing each other in a backyard pool. "Rebecca thinks she's the boss, but Aaron always gets even. They're good kids. This is Rachel."

His wife was dark haired, with strong features and a wide smile.

"You're a lucky man, Lev." For just an instant, Nick wondered what it would be like to have children. Megan had wanted children. He thought of Megan and pushed the image away. Megan was gone, a long time ago. Now he was with Selena. She hadn't brought up the subject of children and neither had he. Sometimes it was best to let things be.

Gefen put the pictures away, picked up the gun and began running patches through the barrel. He kept changing them until they came out clean.

"How about you, Nick? You are with Selena, no?"

"You could say that." Nick looked at his watch. "Let's finish up. Time to get upstairs."

There was something in his voice. Lev decided not to pursue it.

Harker had satellite images up on the big screen when they entered her office. Ronnie and Selena and Stephanie were already there.

"Glad you could join us," Elizabeth said.

"Sorry." They sat down.

"This was taken yesterday," she said. "It's a deep infrared scan of Pembroke castle. You can see the difference between the castle walls and buildings and the underlying cavern. The structures on the surface are warmer, so they're very distinct. The darker space underneath on the river side is the cavern. Look at the end away from the river."

The shape of the cavern was a large, oblong egg under the castle grounds. There was a smaller shape on one side, with a thin line signaling a different heat gradient between it and the larger cavern. There was another vague heat differential within the smaller space.

"It's another cave," Nick said, "sealed off from the big one."

"It looks like there's something inside it," Ronnie said. "Those different gradients."

"The barrier isn't very thick. You should be able to break it down without too much trouble. Set it up, Nick," Harker said. "We have to know if the Ark is in that cave. Whatever you do, don't get caught. We don't need another international incident."

"How soon do you want us to go?"

Harker picked up her pen. "Yesterday would be good."