Arklight Camp
Outskirts of Tehran
June 16, 2:03 a.m.
Lilith reached her hand up and touched her forehead as if she could feel the negligible heat of the red dot. When she lowered her hand she even looked at her fingers as if there should be blood there. She nodded slowly, more to herself than to me. Then she raised her eyes to me and I suddenly felt the full impact of her stare.
“If you must shoot,” she said, “then take your shot. You’ll live long enough to see me fall, but not a second longer.”
I had to admire her guts. I know from recent personal experience that it’s not easy to play it cool with a laser sight on you. She was doing a better job of it than I did yesterday.
“Lilith,” growled the woman who had fronted me, “I’ll cover you and-”
Another red light appeared out of the shadows and glowed on the center of her chest. Then another and another, touching the women on either side of Lilith. And a last one, floating right between Violin’s breasts.
“Let’s be clear about this,” I said calmly. “I give the word, you die. You make a move, you die. You fuck with me one second longer, you die. Screw with me, Lilith, and my team will pile up the bodies of these women and then I will ask you again. Is that clear enough or do I have to shoot your daughter to make my point?”
“You wouldn’t do that,” said Lilith, and Violin’s eyes pleaded silently for me to agree.
Then a voice from the shadows said, “Yes, he would.”
Ghost gave a single sharp bark of surprise and everyone turned to see a tall, blocky figure walk slowly out of the darkness. I don’t know why I was surprised. Not after the day I had. Not considering who this was-but I was still slack-jawed.
In my earbud I heard Top say, “I swear I didn’t see him, Cap’n. Came out of nowhere.”
Yeah, I thought, he tends to do that. Spooky bastard.
Mr. Church wore a summer-weight white suit and dark tie. He carried no visible weapon and his eyes were hidden behind the lenses of his tinted glasses. He walked past me without a comment and stood in front of Lilith, but I noted that he chose an angle that did not block John Smith’s line of sight.
I heard a ripple of murmured voices around me; most of them said the name, “St. Germaine.”
Lilith got slowly to her feet and stood face to face with Church.
“You came,” she said.
He smiled at her, and it may have been the only genuine and unguarded smile I have ever seen from him.
And then Mr. Church pulled Lilith to him and they embraced.
Let me tell you something, this wasn’t the kind of hug the president gives a foreign dignitary, or the kind two football players share after a winning touchdown. No sir. This had familiarity in it that went all the way to the chromosomes, and there was serious heat there. I cut a look at Violin, who had one eyebrow arched as far as it would go. When she saw me looking she gave a tiny shake of her head.
In my earbud I heard Bunny say, “Wow.”
Church released Lilith and stood back from her, and they both turned to face me.
“Please tell your team to stand down, Captain,” said Church. “Bring then in.”
The laser lights vanished at once. I tapped my earbud. “Hold your positions.”
If Church was surprised or annoyed by that, he didn’t show it.
“How did you know where we were?” I asked. “I only gave Aunt Sallie the coordinates of our warehouse.”
“I was invited,” said Church, nodding toward Lilith.
“Okay,” I said, “I am now completely and thoroughly confused. Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on?”
“You aren’t the only one who doesn’t know exactly what’s going on,” said Church. “We know some things and Lilith and her people know some things. We have to hope that if we all put our puzzle pieces on the table it will add up to one clear picture.”
“Thanks for giving me a heads up, Church,” I complained. He ignored me.
Church looked at his watch. “What’s the status of your team?”
“At the risk of sounding like a male stereotype,” I said, “Echo Team is cocked, locked, and ready to rock.”
“Good. I have transport on the way. We roll in one hour. And, yes, Captain, that means all teams are on active standby. On the president’s order we will hit all five of the sites in one coordinated strike.”
“What about the other two devices?”
Church paused and I could feel the eyes of everyone in the place burning into us. “We don’t know where they are. We’re going to have to run the play with what we have. If we’re very lucky we may secure one or more of the people involved in this and see if we can encourage them to unburden their souls.” It was said offhand, but the intent beneath the words was lethal.
“God help anyone who gets in our way, then,” I said.
Church gave me a bleak stare. “I believe they will discover that God has abandoned them.”
He turned toward Lilith.
“Now,” he said.