The Solomon Scroll

CHAPTER 3

"Here he comes," Ronnie said.

Ronnie, Selena and Nick stood outside Project headquarters waiting for their new recruit. A shiny red Dodge Challenger R/T came toward them down the drive. Dust rose behind it.

"Moving right along. You can tell something about people from the kind of car they drive," Nick said.

"What does his car tell you?" Selena asked.

"He thinks he's a hotshot. That car has almost 500 horses."

"My old Mercedes had more than that," Selena said, "before the Chinese trashed it. Does that make me a hotshot?"

"No, just hot."

Selena punched him in the arm.

"Smartass."

"Hey, that was a compliment."

The car parked facing the house. The man who got out was about the same height as Ronnie, with the kind of wide shoulders and muscled arms that showed he spent a lot of time working out. He had black hair cropped short to his skull. A few acne scars marked his face. His ears were small and close to his head. His nose looked like it might have been broken sometime in the past. Ramirez wore aviator style sunglasses that concealed his eyes.

His walk was confident as he came toward them but Nick could see wariness in the way that he moved. It was a familiar look in Special Forces. Ramirez wasn't going to give anything away.

"Diego Ramirez," he said. "Am I in the right place? I expected something a little more impressive, like CIA or something."

He held out his hand. Nick took it. Ramirez exerted a little too much pressure.

Let the games begin, Nick thought.

"Nick Carter. You're in the right place, Sergeant. What you see isn't necessarily what you get. This is Ronnie Peete and Selena Connor."

"Where's the rest of your team?"

"You're looking at it."

Ramirez started to say something, thought better of it.

"You look familiar. Aren't you the guy that was in Jerusalem with the president a few years back?"

"That's me. Let's go inside."

The events in Jerusalem had brought Nick his fifteen minutes of fame. Saving the president's ass on world TV would do that for you, but he could have done without it.

Elizabeth was waiting for them with Stephanie Willits. Steph was Elizabeth's deputy, in charge of keeping the big Crays on the lower level happy. She had broken into the Pentagon servers at the ripe age of eighteen. When the FBI showed up at the door of her parents' suburban home she'd chosen to work for NSA rather than go to prison. Elizabeth had lured her away a few years later.

Steph was in her late twenties. A casual glance saw an average looking woman with a pleasant face. A more careful look told a deeper story. Her brown eyes were alive and vibrant, her hair a lustrous dark brown color that reached to her shoulders. She wore large gold earrings. A half dozen gold bracelets circled her left wrist. Stephanie wasn't slim but she wasn't a large woman either. Today she wore a loosely belted blue dress that fell easily to her knees.

Nick liked Stephanie. They all did. Lately she'd seemed happier than usual. She was engaged to Lucas Monroe, a rising star at Langley. Nick had a high regard for Lucas, something he reserved for few people.

"Sergeant Ramirez, welcome to the Project," Elizabeth said. "I'm Director Harker. You've met Nick, Ronnie and Selena. This is my deputy, Stephanie Willits."

"Hello sergeant," Steph said.

"Ma'am."

"Take a seat." Elizabeth gestured at the couch and chairs in front of her desk. Ramirez sat down.

Elizabeth looked at her new potential team member. Ramirez was sitting uncomfortably on one end of the couch, his back straight.

"You can relax, sergeant. I'm not going to bite."

"No, ma'am."

His shoulders loosened, just a little.

"Don't call me ma'am, Sergeant. I'm not a schoolteacher. Call me Director." She paused. "I understand that you did not want this assignment. Is that correct?"

"With all due respect, Director, no I didn't. I'm not a spook."

"We're not spooks, as you put it," Harker said. "I prefer to think of us as problem solvers. Our unit serves at the pleasure of the president. We can do things that others can't. Tell me, why did you volunteer for the Rangers?"

Nick watched Ramirez. Harker's question caught him by surprise but his answer was immediate.

"Because it's a damn good outfit, the best."

"That's the only reason?"

"It was the main reason. I wanted to serve my country."

"You have combat experience," Elizabeth said. "What we do isn't like what you're used to but there are times when that experience is going to come in handy. If you make the team, you'll find that out."

"If?" Ramirez said.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did you think your assignment here was permanent? That's only if you get through our evaluation. You're on temporary duty until further notice. Stephanie will get you set up in quarters downstairs so you don't have to leave the area. She'll take retinal scans and prints and enter you into the security system. Nick is team leader and your commander in the field. He's in charge of your training."

Nick said, "After you get settled in, we'll begin with a full workout this afternoon. Tomorrow we'll see how you do in hand-to-hand combat. Selena will be in charge of that."

Ramirez looked at Selena. She gave him a sweet expression.

"Are you serious? That's not exactly fair. I was battalion champion in hand-to-hand."

"Then maybe you can show me some moves," Selena said.

"Sure. I'll go easy on you."

Ronnie looked down at his feet and tried not to laugh.