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He said, “Fuck you.”

Shoshana glared up at me and said, “Let me kill him. Please.”

I squatted down, getting right in his face and saying, “Iwilllet her do that if you don’t answer.”

He said, “God has a plan for me, just as he did for Abraham. And God will protect me.”

He slid his free hand into his front pocket, pulled out a folding blade, flicked it open, and stabbed behind him, hitting Shoshana in the shoulder, causing her to release her hold. She screamed, and I leapt forward, trapping his hand with the blade still in her. The force of my move caused her to scream again. I dropped the phone, needing both hands, but I was more than willing to fight in the dark. I didn’t need to see to destroy him. As this asshole was about to find out.

I jerked his arm backward, pulling out the blade. I rotated against the joint in a tight, violent circle and heard it snap, eliciting a guttural shout. The knife bounced somewhere in the darkness and I rolled backward, bringing him with me, him on top and me on my back. I wrapped my legs around his waist, cinched my arms around his neck, then pulled his face into mine. I couldn’t see it in the darkness, but I could smell the sweat of his fear.

I hissed, “I would have let you live if you hadn’t tried to kill her. Reap what you sow, asshole.”

Huffing above me, trying to get out of my guard mount, I ignored his thrashing, keeping him in place. Calmly I said, “Shoshana, do you hear my voice?”

In the darkness I heard, “Yes.”

“Can you still fight?”

“Yes.”

“Come to the sound of my voice. His neck is right there.”

And I heard Garrett scream, the noise abruptly cut off by the sound of something breaking, as if Shoshana had cracked a stick in two. His body collapsed on top of me and I pushed it off, rolling over and finding my phone, the flashlight still on and shining in the darkness.

I sat Shoshana down and said, “Let me take a look.”

She did so, saying, “I thought we weren’t going to kill him until we had answers.”

I put the light on her wound, saying, “That was before he tried to murder a member of my family.”

She whipped her head to me and saw I was serious. She smiled and said, “I always knew you were sweet on me.”

I chuckled and said, “Hold still.”

The wound was a puncture, and it was deep, but it was all muscle and tendons. Nothing vital had been pierced. I ripped the shirt on Garrett’s body, making some bandages. I patched her up as best I could, saying, “You’ll need some stitches, but you’ll be okay.”

She said, “What about the mission?”

I turned my phone to the body, aiming the light. I dug around his pockets and found a cell phone. I opened the Zello app the same way I’d done from the phone we’d found in Bahrain, and saw a history of voice chats, all talking about the Temple Mount. I pulled up the geolocation function for the person on that chat, and saw it was inside the Old City.

I shook my head. She said, “What?”

“I’ll never question your visions again. That fucker is in Jerusalem, just outside the Al Aqsa compound.”

Chapter 77

Racing down Highway 1, Aaron behind the wheel, Jennifer saw the interchange approach for the turn south to Jerusalem, along with a healthy blanket of police vehicles on the side of the road, like they were waiting on something.

She said, “A lot more police on the road today. What’s going on? Any idea?”

Aaron said, “Nope, but it’s not good. The only time they do this is because of an indistinct threat. If it was something they’ve penetrated, the focus would be on that specific location.”

He took the interchange to Highway 60, the road leading straight into Jerusalem, and she heard her Taskforce phone ring.

She answered it, Aaron glancing her way. She said, “Stand by,” and initiated an encryption feature on the cell phone. She returned, saying, “I’m secure, do you have me?”

She heard Pike say, “I’ve got you, I’ve got you, listen, the final Turtle is outside the Temple Mount. We have no idea what he’s planning, but it’s not going to be good.”