End of Days (Pike Logan #16)(122)
He knew Garrett wanted a fail-safe Wile E. Coyote explosion, but he had no way to do that. This would work. He’d checked the cell signal throughout his walk in the Old City. It was strong. It wasn’t Wile E. Coyote strong, but he’d be damned if he was going to blow himself up. When he called the phone, it would start the timer, and he intended to be off the compound when that happened.
He surreptitiously surveyed the room, saw nobody focused on him, and slid the bag over the edge of the prayer area, setting it underneath a nook. He pressed a button on the phone, then stood to go.
Jennifer walked to the two Israeli police officers who Aaron had identified and said, “Can you guys help me? There’s a guy following me and he’s starting to scare me.”
The two twenty-something cops took one look at her and stood up, saying, “Yes. Was he Palestinian?”
“He might have been. I honestly don’t know about that. I’m from the United States. But I know where he is. Can you do something about him? He keeps following me, and I’m scared.”
They nodded, and Jennifer felt guilty about how easy this was going to be. She smiled and said, “This is my one chance to see the promised land, and I get followed by a weirdo. I really appreciate it.”
One of them pulled out his baton and said, “Just show us where he is.”
She said, “Follow me, he went this way.”
She led them to the small tunnel that Aaron had identified, past trash bins and back doors to shops, both of them anxious to please her. She heard a shout behind her and turned, seeing one man on the ground, Aaron circling him in a rear-naked choke. The other man jumped back, holding his arms up, his baton out, yelling at her to stand back, thinking this was the bad man.
They didn’t realize she was also the bad man.
The police officer on his feet smashed his baton into Aaron’s shoulder, and she ran toward him as if she was escaping the tunnel. He turned and shouted, “Get back! Get back!”
She darted behind him as he raised the baton again. She grabbed his helmet and used it to lever him onto the ground, like she was twisting a steer by the horns. He forgot about Aaron and started to fight her. She torqued his head, using the chin strap of his helmet to cut off the blood flow to his brain, saying, “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”
His flailing grew feeble, and he passed out. She lowered him to the ground, feeling dirty. Aaron stood up from his own victim, saying, “Strip them of the riot gear. Put it on. We’re running out of time.”
Chapter 79
Racing back to Tel Aviv, I looked at Shoshana and said, “Are you okay?”
She grimaced, holding her hand against her shoulder, and said, “Yes, Nephilim. I’m good. I’m with family.”
I glanced at her to see if she was making a joke, and saw she was not. I smiled and said, “That’s why you’re the bridesmaid.”
She grinned at the accolade and said, “What now? They’re going to find his body soon, and then the police will start hunting us. I’m sure we’re on security cameras and they have our license plate.”
I said, “Can’t you get the Mossad to stifle that?”
“They’re not going to overtly shut down a murder investigation. They might help us once we’re in jail.”
I said, “I’m not going to jail.” I looked at my cell phone and saw I was out of coverage again. I said, “Get the Inmarsat and dial it for me.”
She picked it up, saying, “I don’t know the number you want.”
I said, “Hit redial.”
She did, then passed it to me. The phone signal went through its travel to the satellite, back to earth, then through the cell network in the United States. I heard the receptionist say, “Blaisdell Consulting. How can I help you?”
I said, “I need to speak to George Wolffe.”
She said, “I’m sorry, sir, but nobody by that name works here.”
I said, “Marge, it’s Pike Logan. Please don’t make me pull an alert again.”
And she completely broke her role, saying, “Pike, this is not kosher. Do what you’re supposed to do and quit calling an open line.”
I laughed and said, “Marge, if I could do that, I would. And I’m with kosher people. Please get him for me.”
Wolffe came on the line and said, “Pike, really, can you not get to a Wi-Fi node for the VPN?”
“Sorry, sir, but not right now. I’m headed back to Tel Aviv. Garrett is dead, but he’s still got a Turtle on the loose.”
He ignored my question, saying, “Garrett’s dead? You killed a U.S. citizen?”
“Yeah, I did, but only because he pulled out a knife and tried to kill Shoshana. I left the body in a tunnel. I’m about to have some Israeli police on my ass, and I need some backup from the National Command authority to complete this thing. Can you give me that?”
“Get on the Rock Star bird and get out of there. We can protect your team much easier from the United States.”
And that made me think about the team. I said, “What’s Knuckles’s status? Did you extract him?”
He said, “We did, but he’d actually found his own way out, which would have worked if he hadn’t decided to destroy the other UAVs. He had that Hezbollah smuggler with him and was going for the border, but before they left, they blew up the final UAVs with some charges, and that caused some Hezbollah men to investigate.”