The Solomon Scroll (26 page)

Al-Bayati's eyes widened. "A guess."

"No."

"Tell your man to stop moving or the child dies."

"Ronnie, stop," Nick said.

Ronnie froze.

Badr smiled through his rotten teeth. His eyes were all pupil, black in the firelight.

He's stoned too,
Nick thought.

"They'll never come unless you use the right words," Selena said.

"Then you will help me call them," Al-Bayati said. "If they appear, the child will live. If you fail, she dies. As will you and your friends."

He's lying,
she thought.

"Give me your oath as the high priest of Moloch that you will keep your word."

"I swear," Al-Bayati said. "And you must swear to obey me. Do as I say or I give the girl to the god."

"I swear it."

"Selena..."

"Nick, I want to see the jinn. I'll never have another chance."

"Are you nuts?" Lamont said.

"Woman, come here. Badr, watch them."

Badr went to a carved wooden cabinet set to the side of the statue. He took out a Skorpion machine pistol and pointed it at them. Selena began walking toward the idol.

Nick didn't believe for a second that she wanted to see the jinn. What mattered was that Al-Bayati in his drugged state believed it. There would only be one chance to save the child. His ear began to itch with a fierce burning sensation.

"Where are the writings?" Selena asked.

"In a drawer on the top of the cabinet. Be careful, woman. Moloch's hands are slippery."

"If you drop her I won't help you call the jinn."

Al-Bayati watched as she opened the drawer and took out a piece of yellowed vellum covered with writing in black ink. It was in a language she had never seen. She glanced over at Nick and saw him catch the look. It was now or never.

"Begin," Al-Bayati commanded.

Selena held the parchment up as if to start reading. With a sudden motion she threw it into the fire. The vellum burst into a flare of bright yellow flame. Before Al-Bayati could react she knocked the girl out of his hands and body slammed him into the brazier. He went down on the floor as the brazier toppled over, showering him with red hot coals. He screamed as they struck his face. His robe caught fire.

Nick, Ronnie and Lamont opened fire at Badr. A dozen rounds staggered him. He crumpled to the floor.

Al-Bayati writhed on the floor, screaming, his robe burning. He struggled to his feet, enveloped in flame. He stumbled into the golden idol and fell to the floor. The screams were horrible.

Nick shot him. The screaming stopped. The room filled with the stench of burning flesh as the robe smoldered.

"I guess that's what you call poetic justice," Lamont said.

Ronnie went over to the body and took a bandanna from his pocket. He pulled Solomon's ring off Al-Bayati's dead finger, wiped it clean and wrapped the cloth around it.

"Here." He gave it to Nick.

Selena knelt by the girl and picked her up. She stirred, unconscious.

"She's drugged and took a hit from the floor when I knocked her out of his hands. I think she's all right."

"We'll take her with us," Nick said.

"Could you really understand what Al-Bayati was saying?" Ronnie asked Selena. "When he was chanting?"

"Not a word. I haven't a clue."

The wood floor began to burn where the coals had fallen on it. Nick tried the comm link. "There's no signal down here. Come on."

They went back upstairs. Nick tried again.

"Nick. What's happening?" Elizabeth's voice was tense.

"We're inside Bayati's villa. We have the ring and Bayati's dead. Where's our ride?"

"Offshore, waiting for your signal."

"Send him in."

Selena went to the door and listened.

"Nick. I hear people shouting."

"Director, we may have a problem outside. How soon will that chopper be here?"

"I just signaled, they're on the way. Five minutes, no more."

"Tell him to land in the courtyard in front of the villa. Tell him he might take hostile fire."

"Copy that."

"Tell him we'll give him covering fire if he needs it."

"Nick, those are civilians out there."

"I don't think so," Nick said. "This is Hezbollah territory and nobody gives a damn about what happens to Al-Bayati except them. Anyone out there is hostile."

"Be sure about that before you start shooting."

"Out," Nick said. He broke the connection.

"She has a point," Selena said.

"They don't shoot at us, we won't shoot at them. Whatever we do, they'll lie about it."

He took the bar from the front door. They could hear the shouts getting louder.

"It sounds like they're on the other side of the gate," Ronnie said.

He cracked open the door and looked through the opening. A burst of automatic fire sent splinters from the frame. Ronnie shut the door.

"Not civilians."

"I figured that out," Nick said. "That makes things easier. You know how to run that Quad .50?"

"Nope."

"I do," Lamont said. "We still had a few on riverboats in the Seals."

"I'm thinking that when our ride arrives we use it to discourage the crowd until we can get out of here."

"There are supposed to be two loaders and a gunner on that unit," Lamont said. "Each of those magazines holds two hundred rounds. They disappear pretty quick once the shooting starts. We don't even know if it's loaded."

"It's a chance we have to take. I don't think Al-Bayati would have it there just for show."

"I hope they kept the batteries charged."

"You won't be on it long. One burst from that and we won't have to worry about that crowd. We just need enough time to let the chopper pick us up."

"Better let him know what we're doing. I don't want someone in that bird to think I'm one of the bad guys."

Nick called Harker.

"ETA in three minutes, Nick."

"Director, we're going to have to shoot our way out of here." He looked at the ceiling. "I hear the bird coming," Nick said. "We're going to be busy for the next few minutes."

"I'm switching you over to the helicopter now. Your call sign is Delta One."

"Copy that."

A new voice came on line.

"Delta One, this is Blazer. Looks like you have a problem."

"Blazer, Delta One. You see that Quad .50 in the courtyard?"

"Copy that. I have it locked in."

"Negative, Blazer. Do not take it out. Do not take it out. We need it to disperse the hostiles."

"Copy," the pilot said. "Ready when you are, One."

"We're coming out the front door now. There are four of us and a child."

"Copy that."

"Lamont, we'll lay down fire while you get to the gun. It's only about twenty feet. Clear that gate."

"I'm a little slow," Lamont said. "Y'all have to run interference for me."

Nick patted his MP5. "That's what we've got these for. We'll go in front of you and keep them busy. Once we get to the half track it will give us cover. Selena, you take the girl."

He stood by the entrance. "Ready? Let's do it."

Nick pulled open the door. Someone started shooting at the front of the house, the bullets making small craters in the whitewashed stucco wall of the villa. They ran toward the half track, firing toward the gate. Lamont clambered up onto the seat of the Quad .50, settling in behind an armored shield that protected the lower part of his body. Two more flat plates added protection to each side of the sight. If someone put a round between them he was a dead man. Jacketed bullets rang off the steel armor like hard rain. Lamont flipped the red guard over the activating switch and whispered a quick prayer for charged batteries.

The Quad .50 had been designed as a mobile antiaircraft gun in World War II. No longer useful against modern jet aircraft, it had been reborn as an antipersonnel weapon in the European and Pacific theaters. In Vietnam the guns had been mounted on patrol boats moving up and down the Mekong.

The weapon was mounted on a swivel base, controlled by two handles in front of the gunner. Pushing forward on both brought the four barrels down and pulling back took them up. Pushing the left handle forward rotated the gun clockwise. Pushing on the right handle turned it to the left. Lamont pushed forward, swiveled left and brought the guns to bear on the gate.

He fired. The air filled with smoke and a cloud of empty cases flying into the air.

The noise of four .50 caliber Browning machine guns firing at once was beyond deafening. The heavy bullets shattered against the metal grill work, knocking off pieces of iron and shredding the Hezbollah soldiers on the other side. It tore them apart, filling the air with blood and pieces of flesh. The weapon had earned the nickname of the "meat chopper" in World War II. Lamont watched what the gun did to the people beyond the gate and understood why.

The ammunition drums emptied and the gun stopped. Hundreds of empty shells littered the stones. The air stank of cordite. A haze of smoke hung over the courtyard.

The others were already climbing on board the helicopter. Nick and Ronnie grabbed Lamont's arms and pulled him into the bay as the pilot lifted away. He looked down at the destruction he had caused and the shattered bodies lying in the street on the other side of the gate. His coffee colored skin was pale.

"That's one bad ass weapon," he said. "I never want to use one again."

The helicopter banked out over the blue Mediterranean and headed for safety.

Behind them, flames broke through the roof of Al-Bayati's villa.

CHAPTER 54

Diego's file was on Elizabeth's desk. She looked at her team, sitting across from her desk. They seemed subdued, Lamont in particular.

Stephanie was almost ready to come in. Joe Eggleston had gone back to Langley.

Elizabeth picked up Solomon's ring and studied it.

"He really thought this could call beings from another dimension?"

Selena nodded. "He was insane. I don't think he cared much about the things from the Temple. Just the ring."

Lamont rubbed his leg. "You wouldn't have believed it, Director. That statute was the creepiest thing I've seen outside of a horror movie. He was going to burn that little girl alive."

"I'm not sorry I missed it. The important thing is that you stopped him."

"He'd probably been doing it for years," Nick said, "sacrificing children to that thing."

"He won't be doing it anymore," Elizabeth said. "This is one we can chalk up in the plus column."

"What are you going to do with the ring?" Selena asked.

"Give it back. Rice has decided to send the ring to Tel Aviv. Everything else in that cave is being claimed by both Ethiopia and the Israelis. It will take years to straighten it out."

"Those things should go back to Jerusalem," Selena said.

"I agree with you," Elizabeth said, "but this involves religion and politics, not to mention gold. That makes it complicated."

"What else is new?" Lamont said.

"There's going to be fallout from what happened in Beirut," Elizabeth said. "Hezbollah's creatures in the Lebanese government are claiming the people you killed outside that gate were peaceful civilians. They want whoever was responsible tried for war crimes."

"Figures," Nick said. "They're good at accusing everybody else of the things they do."

"They don't know who it was," Elizabeth said. "The helicopter was unmarked. They assume it was us or the Israelis. It's not going to go anywhere, especially when the story gets out about what Al-Bayati was doing in there."

"The story will get out?"

"You can be sure of it."

"Director, I've been thinking," Lamont said. "Retirement isn't what it's cracked up to be. Besides, there's too many damn bugs down there in Florida. I'd  like to get my old job back, if I could."

"What about your leg?"

"It held up pretty good this time around. Better than I thought it would, and it's getting stronger. I don't think it's going to be a problem."

Elizabeth looked at Nick.

"He's pretty beat up and he's getting old," Nick said. "I guess we could use him."

"I wouldn't talk about old if I were you," Lamont said.

Elizabeth smiled. "Welcome back."

Selena changed the subject. "How's Stephanie doing?"

"I talked to her this morning. It's going to take time to get over losing the baby. She wants to work as soon as she feels physically okay. She's tough and she knows she can have another child when she's ready. She'll be all right."

"This has been a rough one," Nick said. "Stephanie. Then Diego. He just got here and then he was gone. There was nothing we could do."

Elizabeth opened a drawer in her desk and took out a bottle of cognac and some shot glasses. They watched while she filled the glasses. They all took one, even Ronnie. She filled one more glass and set it down on Diego's file.

"There is one thing we can do, for him and all the others who have given their lives because of duty. We can honor their memory." She raised her glass. "Nick?"

They lifted their glasses.

"To Diego," Nick said. "A good man."

Epilogue

The weather was warm for October, one of those gorgeous days when summer made a brief reappearance before the approach of another brutal East Coast winter.

Nick and Selena came out of the chapel to a shower of rice from their friends. They stopped for the photographer to take shots as they left the church. Ronnie, Lamont, Lucas, Stephanie and Elizabeth came after them, followed by Clarence Hood with his security detail. The president had been unable to attend. He'd sent his regrets and a gift and wished them well.

"You're beautiful in that dress," Nick said.

Selena kissed him. "You look pretty good yourself. A tuxedo suits you. You know, it's the first time I've seen you dressed up like that."

"I haven't worn a tux since my high school prom."

Elizabeth came over to them. "The limo is waiting. Security is getting nervous standing out here like this."

Nick looked around. "Just for once I'd like to think I could have a normal day like everybody else. Especially this day."