"I didn't have to dig all that deep to play injured."
They both watched the new volcanoes sputter and spew. They were throwing up more ash than lava now. The sky becoming a dark-gray smudge. The sun barely peeked out from the horizon, flaring its last rays. If these explosions were anything like the Icelandic Eyjafjoll eruption, they wouldn't be seeing the sun for a few days, if not weeks. More than likely, air travel all over Europe and the Middle East would grind to a halt. Perhaps as far as Western Asia and Northern Africa.
Even if command wanted to send them support, they were shit out of luck now.
As the sun set on the glowing volcanoes, Rebecca looked toward the east. "Do you think Vanderwalt would really hurt her?"
Frowning, Brandt sighed. "A few hours ago, I would have said no way, no how. Of course, at that point, I thought Talli was a sniper too."
Rebecca lightly punched his leg. "No, you didn't."
He couldn't help but smile. "I guess that one didn't come as a complete shocker."
She snuggled up against him as they finished their most unusual pilgrimage.
"Where are they going?" Emily asked, pointing to the map of Israel. The last-known trajectory of Vanderwalt's plane showed them heading northeast of Jerusalem.
No matter how long Bunny stared at the screen, it made no sense. Unless, of course, they were shooting for Syria. Which made even less sense.
Jerusalem, now Jerusalem had made sense. Where else do you go if you've got the next Messiah? The city was rich in religious history. That is what made it such a political hot potato. The Jews, Christians, and Muslims all claimed the ancient city for their own.
In addition, the area under the Temple Mount had never been excavated due to political tension between the three religious groups. Who knew what was under there? So Vanderwalt should be heading to Jerusalem. He could visit the site of Christ's crucifixion. He could visit the Wailing Wall. He could visit half a dozen historic sites, yet he had flown past them all.
Why?
Unfortunately, she was the one tasked with the question. Bunny laid aside the "shoulds" and "wouldn't it make more senses." She went back to her roots. Ancient civilization for a thousand.
Jerusalem had been the capital of Israel for millennia.
Wait.
It wasn't the first capital.
"Bring up an ancient map," Bunny asked Stark. The tech complied, even though he looked confused. "Now overlay the flight path."
"I'm not sure what-"
"Do it."
There it was-Shiloh. Israel's first capital. Now it was just a small village out in the middle of nowhere.
"That's it," Bunny stated. "That is where they are headed."
"Why?" Prenner asked.
"I don't know why," Bunny admitted. "I just know that Shiloh is the only place they could be going."
"Damn, she's right," Stark added. "Vanderwalt is making their descent."
Bunny looked to Prenner. "So how about we figure out how to tell Rebecca and the others before they get all the way to Jerusalem?"
They all looked to the sat phone that perched on the desk. Bunny snatched it up and dialed, but got the same response she'd gotten all evening. Nothing.
Stark's mother sighed. "Think outside the box, son. Think big. Think wide."
The tech smiled and gave his mother a high five. "You know it."
"Going to share?" Prenner asked.
"Nope."
Yet again, Lopez hit a pothole in the road a tad too fast and nearly popped Rebecca and Brandt out of the back of the truck. Seriously, this truck ride was more traumatic than the last few rides, and that included volcanic eruptions, a sideways bump of the airport wall, and a crash landing into the Congo. Her kidneys were never going to forgive her.
They were passing through the town of Ramia, heading due east for Jerusalem. Less than an hour out, Rebecca tried to rest but couldn't. Too much was at stake. And Jerusalem was a large city. She could only assume Vanderwalt would head for the old city, but she couldn't take any chances. She had to turn the history of the biblical city over and over again.
Finally, Lopez slowed as they reached the heart of Ramia. For so late in the evening, there were a lot of people out. Mainly gawking at the sky and the fiery display off in the Mediterranean. Stores were still open, accommodating the crowd, she supposed.
She had gone back to her contemplations when Davidson banged the side of his fist against the truck's back window. He was saying something, gesticulating to the people on the sidewalk, but Rebecca had no idea what he meant.
"They are all checking their phones," Brandt said next to her.
He was right. Every single person was looking to his or her cell phone. But why?
Then they passed an electronics store. Each and every television, computer screen, and tablet flashed one word. "Shiloh."
Shiloh?
Lopez picked up speed as they headed out of the town center. He was about to get onto the 1-Freeway headed east to Jerusalem. Rebecca pounded on the window.
"No! Go north!" she shouted. "Take the Six-Interchange."
Apparently, they were having as much trouble hearing her as she had hearing them.
Brandt rose up, leaned through the driver's side window into the cab of the truck, and pulled the wheel to the left.
Well, that did the trick, as they cut across two lanes of traffic and hit the on-ramp at an angle.
Lopez corrected their skid and off to Shiloh they were.
The shark thrashed away from the plane as Frellan's diver sent an electric shock through its snout. Bull sharks were determined, but not that determined. The diver waved the survivors away from the side emergency door, then used a handheld hydraulic expander to pop open the hatch.
Taking a deep breath from the waning oxygen mask, Frellan pushed off the seat and was helped out by the diver. As sharks circled, swishing their strong tails in frustration, his small group made their way to the surface.
Breaking water, Frellan could not help but gasp. The world was redone. Molten lava shown brightly in the night as four new volcanoes rose proudly from the sea. The sky was completely obscured by the ashen clouds roiling overhead.
Hooked up to a harness, Frellan and the others were brought aboard a marine helicopter, which was having a bit of trouble staying in the air as winds ripped across the open sea. Once aboard, he reached out a hand to Monnie.
"Ye of little faith."
She did not retort. She simply bowed her head as she made her way to her seat.
Benedicto, though, clapped Frellan on the shoulder. "It does all seem a bit Biblical, does it not?" When Frellan didn't answer, the priest chuckled. "Quite the time to be a religious zealot!"
Frellan did not grace the man with a response. He only looked across to Mikhal. They seemed to have reached an understanding on the plane. With a single flicker of his eyes, Frellan marked the priest for death.
Once the girl was found, Frellan would be rid of them all.
"Got 'em!" Stark cried out, bringing into focus a satellite image of the truck. He then brought up another five shots of Brandt's team heading north.
"Where did you get those?" Emily asked.
"Um? In this part of the world? We've got enough satellites tasked to the region to have a sat-link smorgasbord."
To prove his point, Stark brought up another half dozen images of Brandt and the others take the turn away from Jerusalem to Shiloh. So Stark taking over the airwaves had worked.
"So what is Vanderwalt's end game?" Prenner asked.
"No idea," Stark said. "But they landed in a small regional airport just ten miles outside of Shiloh."
"Again," Emily stated, "why Shiloh?"
Bunny had been sorting through that as well. "Well, Shiloh was the first capital of ancient Israel."
"I thought Jerusalem was?" Prenner asked.
She shook her head. "Nope, it was Shiloh for three hundred years before King Solomon built the First Temple in Jerusalem."
"Even so, I don't get it," Emily stated. "Why take Vakasa to the old capital? Why not Jerusalem? There is just so much more history there."
As Bunny geared up, Stark flipped through several stills of Vanderwalt. The group got into several cars and headed out. "You want history? Did you know that there were over one hundred and forty-seven legends about King Solomon?"
Clearly, this group did not.
"Lost 'em," Stark said, working the multiple satellite feeds.
While he tried to pick up Vanderwalt again, Bunny continued. "I think the single most incredible thing about King Solomon is in how high a regard we hold him," Bunny hurried on. "Sure, he seemed wise-the whole 'cut the baby in half' thing and he built the temple-but he had over seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, and let's face it, some of the exploits are pretty weird."
"Bunny," Emily said, unconsciously touching the cross around her neck. Amazing how open-minded people could be until you brought your point too close to home.
"Besides being able to fly and control demons," Bunny explained, "the part that affects us is the fact that, later in life, he seemed to have a crisis of faith. He began building temples for his many, many, many wives. Foreign gods. Pagan gods."
"Got them!" Stark announced bringing up a live feed of Vanderwalt's groups pulling up to the one and only site of interest of the present-day Shiloh.
"Should we try to contact Brandt?" Stark asked. Alarms blared as red lights flashed again. Firewall number nine had just gone down. "Mom?"
The woman furiously typed. "This isn't a hacker. This is a team of hackers. We've got a full-on daisy-chained siege going on."
Bunny wasn't quite sure what that meant, only that it was bad. Super bad. She patted Stark on the back. "Don't worry about Rebecca. She'll figure out where she needs to go. Help shore up our last firewall."
Bunny glanced up to the screen showing Brandt and the others entering Shiloh. They'd made great time-Lopez was driving, after all. But Vanderwalt had over an hour lead time.
Could they catch up to Vakasa in time?
Brandt helped lift Rebecca from the back of the truck and to the ground outside of what looked like a tabernacle, a Jewish holy place once used to worship in the open desert. Only, it wasn't created as a tent, but fashioned out of wood. While it seemed to be a fairly accurate replica of the biblical Tabernacle of Moses, it didn't exactly look like the site to unveil a messiah.
"You sure about this?" Brandt asked.
"You're the one that didn't want to hear about my reasoning," Rebecca chided.
Okay, at the time, getting bounced around in the back of truck, all he wanted to do was meditate on materializing a thick steak and a cold beer. And not Bud Light, either. No, he wanted a dark lager. A beer you had to chew. He wanted to imagine their life after this mess. When the only thing they had to worry about was who was going to take out the garbage and how he was going to keep his sisters from giving Vakasa a makeover.
Now, though? His eyes flickered over to the other cars parked in the dirt lot next to the synagogue. Vanderwalt certainly seemed to think this was the right spot as well. For what, Brandt had no idea. He gave the nod for the men to do a sweep around the building. It seemed dark and deserted, but they knew better.
What the hell was Vanderwalt up to? He doubted, even with Rebecca's extensive knowledge, that she would know. Otherwise, she would have volunteered that information. Normally, he would have let the situation play itself out. Only, there was nothing normal about this situation. And there was a little girl who thought he was Thor. He couldn't disappoint her.
As the men assembled in front of the Tabernacle, Brandt realized they didn't have time for show-and-tell. They were going in blind, then.
"Boss?" Davidson asked, the question clear. There was no cover. None. The synagogue was perched on a hillside. It was the highest point for miles. And given this was eastern Israel, there were no trees. Not even a tall shrub.
And they were a man down. Granted, it was Talli, but still a man down.
"We all go in," Brandt decided.
Lopez pocketed the truck keys and raised his rifle.
Brandt gave the nod.
Time to find a little girl and kick Vanderwalt's pasty-white ass.
Rebecca fell into line with the men. At the head was Levont. The men's flashlights crisscrossed the synagogue. While it looked like a tabernacle from the outside, the inside was just a small house of worship not unlike any other synagogue. The pews, the alcoves, the bema where the Torah was read during ceremonies.
Then the ark, which held the sacred scrolls.
The synagogue was one large open room. With no one in it.
It took the men a few more seconds to clear the space, but empty it was.