The Solomon Scroll

CHAPTER 10

Diego Ramirez was lying down reading a magazine. Nick came to his open door.

"You like Chinese, Diego?"

"I don't know any Chinese."

"I meant food, not people. Come on, Sergeant, we're all going out to eat and you're invited."

"I never turn down food," Diego said. "What's the occasion?"

"Stephanie is engaged. This is a kind of late celebration. There's a great Chinese restaurant in Alexandria we like to go to once in a while. You'll get to meet her fiancée, Lucas Munroe. He's CIA."

"CIA?"

Nick heard unspoken judgment in Diego's voice.

"He's good people. Five minutes," Nick said. He turned and went back upstairs.

Ramirez shook his head. CIA. It figures.

Ronnie was waiting for them outside with his black Hummer.

"The women went ahead in Harker's car," Ronnie said. "Hop in."

Diego climbed in back. "Nice wheels."

Ronnie pulled away. "I've modified it some," he said. "It's not exactly stock anymore. Armor and more horsepower. See that lid on the floor in back of you?"

Ramirez turned and looked. "Yeah?"

A numbered keypad was set into the lid.

"Punch in 1-7-7-6. Lift up that handle and take a look."

Ramirez leaned over the seat, entered the code and lifted the lid. Four MP-5s, a dozen loaded magazines, flash bangs and a Remington 870 12 gauge lay inside the compartment.

"Holy shit," he said. "You've got a whole arsenal in here."

"I like to be prepared."

"What, you were in the Boy Scouts?"

"I figured you ought to know about it. It's come in handy before."

Ramirez let the lid down and turned back to face the front.

"This is Virginia. You need that stuff here?"

"Purely defensive," Ronnie said.

Nick laughed. "In case you haven't figured it out yet, Diego, the bad guys don't like us much. They don't care if we're in Virginia."

Nobody had anything to say the rest of the way into town. Ronnie parked half a block from the restaurant.

The Happy Family restaurant was set back from the street at the end of a short sidewalk flanked by two dragons cast in bronze. The three men walked toward an elaborate pagoda-style entrance painted green and red. Odors of Chinese cooking filled the evening air.

"Smells good," Nick said.

Across the street, a dog began yelping in pain. They looked over. A large man was beating a beagle with a stick. The dog cowered against the pavement and began howling.

"Hey!" Ramirez shouted. "Cut that shit out."

The man turned and looked at him.

"Mind your own business," he said. He raised the stick and hit the dog again.

Ramirez ran across the street and grabbed the man's arm before he could bring the stick down another time. He twisted the arm and sent the stick flying. The dog whimpered and shivered on the sidewalk.

"Want to try picking on someone who can hit back?" Diego said.

The man smelled of beer and cigarettes. He was a large man. Diego looked small beside him.

"You just made a big mistake, buddy."

The dog beater launched a roundhouse right with a ham-sized fist. Diego blocked it with ease and snapped a quick, hard right into the man's face with the flattened palm of his hand. He felt the nose break. Blood poured out. The man howled in pain and grabbed Diego in a bear hug. Ramirez leaned back and head butted him, hard.

They could hear the impact across the street.

Nick winced. "Oooh."

"That had to hurt," Ronnie said. "Our boy has a temper."

The dog beater went to his knees, holding his hands to his face. Farther down the sidewalk, an elderly couple stopped and stared at the scene.

"Game over," Nick said.

Diego reached down and fished out the man's wallet. He looked at the driver's license. Then he tossed the wallet on the ground.

"Now I know who you are and where you live," he said. "I'm going to check up on you. I'm going to watch and see how your dog is doing. If you touch him again, I'm going to give you a beating that will make today look like an invitation to the junior prom. Comprende, pendejo? Understand?"

"Yes, yes. Don't hit me again."

The dog looked up at Diego. His tail thumped twice against the sidewalk.

"Good boy. It's okay, he won't do that again. Will you, asshole?"

"No."

"Then we're done."

He walked back across the street to where the others waited.

"Asshole," he muttered under his breath.

"We better go inside," Ronnie said.

"I hate people who abuse animals. I see it, I have to do something about it. It's been that way ever since I was a kid. Got me in trouble sometimes."

"How's your head?" Nick asked.

"Better than his. I got a head like a rock."

Stephanie, Selena and Elizabeth were seated at a large round table set apart from the others in the restaurant. Lucas Munroe sat next to Stephanie.

"Lucas, this is Diego Ramirez. He might take Lamont's spot on the team."

The two men shook hands. Nick, Diego and Ronnie sat down.

"Congratulations on your promotion, Lucas," Elizabeth said.

"Thank you."

"Way to go," Nick said. "You deserve it."

"Diego, you've got blood on your shirt," Selena said.

"It's nothing. It's not mine."

"What happened, Nick?" Elizabeth asked. "We heard a dog howling."

"Sergeant Ramirez had to give a little lesson in animal ethics to a man who thought his dog needed beating."

"Oh, one of them," Stephanie said. "Some people should never be allowed to have an animal."

"I think he learned his lesson," Ronnie said.

A waiter took their orders.

"The drunken chicken is good here," Lucas said.

"I always wondered why they call it that," Selena said. "I get this picture in my mind of a bunch of chickens staggering around the barnyard."

"Probably had more to do with the cook who invented it," Nick said.

There was a brief pause.

"I hear you're looking into what happened in France," Lucas said.

Elizabeth looked at Stephanie.

"It wasn't me," she said. "Lucas brought it up. I didn't tell him anything."

"We have some interest, yes," Elizabeth said.

"So do we." He looked at Diego. "I assume he's fully vetted?"

Elizabeth nodded. "You can speak freely."

Lucas picked up a set of chopsticks in a paper wrapper, took them out and broke them apart. He set them down again on the table.

"That scroll could cause a lot of grief."

"Have you read it?" Selena asked.

Lucas nodded. "I read a translation. We think the professor who brought it to Grenoble was murdered because of it. The bomb in his train compartment was Semtex, more than was needed to kill him. Someone wanted to wipe out any evidence that might lead back to them."

"Who put it there?" Nick asked.

"That's the question. We traced the chemical signature. The Semtex came from an arms shipment stolen in Serbia right after the Bosnian war. Some of the weapons turned up in Africa not too long ago."

"Any idea who was behind the theft?" Elizabeth asked.

"We're not sure," Lucas said. "We think it was a Lebanese arms dealer named Yusuf Abidi."

"That doesn't mean he's the one who planted the bomb," Elizabeth said.

"No, it doesn't. We traced the weapons in Africa back to him. It's likely that at some point the Semtex was in his possession. If it wasn't him, he might know who it was."

"Where does this guy hang out?" Ronnie asked.

"Beirut."

"Are you going after him?" Selena asked.

Lucas smiled. "No, you are. Hey, here comes the food."

Conversation was minimal while they dug into the steaming platters.

After they'd eaten, the waiter cleared away the debris. He left a check and a plate of fortune cookies.

"Cool," Diego said. "Fortune cookies."

They all took one. Diego cracked his open and pulled out the piece of paper inside.

"Beware the Ides of March," he said. "That's original."

"Good thing your name isn't Caesar," Lamont said.

Selena read hers to them. "A handsome man is in your future."

"Hey," Nick said.

"Don't blame me. Can I help it if fate has something in store?"

"What's yours, Nick?" Elizabeth asked.

"You'll soon discover the truth about the one you love." He looked at Selena. "Is there something you want to tell me? About a handsome man, maybe?"

Ronnie opened his. "Mine says I will live long. That's good to know."

"These cookies suck," Diego said.

"What did you expect, the wisdom of the ages?"

"Well, yeah. You know, Confucius and all that."

Selena looked at Lucas. "It sounds like our future is already planned out. What did you mean about us going after him?"

"Langley is like a Libyan freighter these days. There are too many leaks. I talked it over with Hood. We thought your group would be able to keep things quiet. If word got out that the CIA was looking into that train wreck the media would be on it like white on rice."

"What have you got on this Lebanese arms dealer?" Nick asked.

"He's tight with Hezbollah and they provide protection for him. They're one of his best customers. He's careful to keep them happy."

"I thought Hezbollah had been brought under control by the Lebanese, except on the border with Israel," Selena said.

Lucas laughed. "Sure they have."

"What did you have in mind?" Elizabeth said.

She sounded annoyed. Acting in place of Langley wasn't part of her job description. Lucas picked up on it.

"Look, we're not asking you to do more than find out what you can from Abidi. Hood has already talked with the president."

"Why do you need us?"

"There's been too much negative publicity about Langley in the last few years. We're everybody's favorite villain as far as the press is concerned. We have a leak and until I find out who's talking to them I want to keep a low profile."

Elizabeth understood about keeping a low profile. There were powerful people with their own agendas who didn't understand what was required to keep the country safe. They wanted all the comforts security brought without any of the responsibility for the uncomfortable decisions that made security possible. Accountability was one thing. Politically correct witch hunts were another. Sometimes the two became confused.

"You should have discussed this with me before going to the president."

"I'm sorry," Lucas said. "You're right. It won't happen again."

"Tell Director Hood I'm going to be speaking with him," Elizabeth said.

I'd like to hear that conversation, Nick thought.

"Then you're on board?"

"I work for the president. If this is what he wants, of course I am."

Stephanie gave Lucas an accusing glance. "You set this up."

"I figured you needed something to do."

"I have plenty to do."

"You want to tell them?"

"Tell us what?" Elizabeth said.

Selena saw Lucas take her hand. He had a foolish smile on his face.

Stephanie looked radiant. "We're going to have a baby."

Elizabeth's response took a second or two. "Steph, that's wonderful."

Nick said, "Congratulations, Lucas."

"When are you due, Steph?" Selena said.

"A little over five months from now."

"Is it a boy or a girl?"

"We don't know yet."

Elizabeth looked at her deputy. The pregnancy would complicate things. She'd come to rely on Steph's ability to coax information from the computers and the surveillance satellites that circled the globe. Stephanie managed the complicated communications network that kept Elizabeth in touch with the team in the field. Without her, even for a short time, everything would become more complicated. The baby would change everything.

I wonder how long she'll keep working? I'd better start thinking about finding someone to back her up, Elizabeth thought.

Later Nick and Selena drove back to the city.

Selena said, "Steph looks wonderful, don't you think?"

"Mm," Nick said.

"And Lucas. That hard, tough man, all warm and cuddly."

"Cuddly is not a word I would use to describe Lucas."

"You know what I mean."

"It's going to make things difficult," Nick said.

"Why do you say that? People have babies all the time."

"Most people aren't computer geniuses who happen to be an indispensable part of an intelligence unit."

Selena's voice took on a hint of coolness. "I'm sure she'll work right up until the time she gives birth. It shouldn't make any difference at all."

"What about after? What about when she has to take care of a baby? What if the baby gets sick? All of that is going to affect how she's able to work and the quality of what she does."

"Why do men always assume that having a baby is going to make the woman into some kind of an idiot? Someone who can't work up to her ability?"

"I didn't say that."

"That's what you meant."

"That's not what I meant."

"I don't think we should talk about this anymore," Selena said. She turned away and looked out the window.

The rest of the ride to town was spent in silence.