Bursts of automatic rifle fire came from behind the two new vehicles. Nick watched Friedman jerk spasmodically as the bullets hit him, spinning him around, then dropping him to the hard desert floor.
Bullets ricocheted off the rock by Nick's head. Bits of stone stung his cheek. He scrambled on all fours back to the others and touched his cheek where a fragment of stone had cut him. His finger came away bloody.
The firing stopped.
"How many?" Ronnie asked.
"Not sure," Nick said. "Three or four. Plus Miriam."
"Miriam?" Selena said.
"She ducked before the others started firing. She knew they were there."
"What about Gideon?" Rivka asked.
"Dead. There's blood leaking out of his car."
She said something that sounded like someone coughing up a glob of spit.
"What?"
"Shit. I said shit."
"Man, I've got to learn to swear like that," Lamont said.
Another burst of fire sent chips of stone flying over their heads.
Nick reached around the rock he was using for cover and sent three rounds toward the cars.
"You can learn Hebrew another time," Nick said.
"I wish we had a couple of those Uzis," Rivka said.
"Yeah, me too." He looked at Selena.
"I know, I know, be careful," she said.
They began moving sideways through the rock strewn ground, toward the parked vehicles, crawling on all fours. The rocks bit through Nick's clothes. The ground was rugged, the boulders low, with gaps in between. They weren't going to get close to the cars without exposing themselves.
They were within twenty yards of the vehicles when they ran out of cover.
Nick crawled sideways to a large, flat boulder shaped like a table. From where he lay, he could see under the edge of the rock to where the cars were parked.
Ronnie crawled up next to him.
"I can see legs under the cars," Nick said. "At least three men. Plus Miriam's there somewhere."
"You think she's in on it, huh?"
"Has to be. If she wasn't, she'd be dead like Gideon or trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey."
"Too bad. I think Lamont had his eye on her."
"He always did have lousy taste in women," Nick said.
"I'm thinking about those cans of gas on the side of Gideon's Jeep," Ronnie said.
"What about them?"
"We could put a few rounds in them, set them off."
"That stuff only works in the movies."
Ronnie reached into his pocket and took out a magazine with green-tipped rounds in it and showed it to Nick.
"Not with these babies. It's a little something I made up back in Virginia."
He took the magazine in his pistol out, put it in his pocket, and loaded the other.
Nick said, "You made up incendiaries for your Sig?"
Ronnie racked the slide and chambered a round. "Yup. A trick I learned from Gunny Stevens, way back when."
"Stevens? I knew a Gunny Stevens in Iraq. Short guy? Built like a fireplug?"
"That's him," Ronnie said. "Last I heard, he'd retired and was living in Tennessee."
"He's got to be about a hundred years old," Nick said. "We get out of this, we ought to go see him and say hello."
"I was thinking we lay down covering fire, I put a few rounds into that gas can. When it blows, we charge them."
Lamont crawled over to them.
"What are you guys talking about?"
"Ronnie's got an idea."
Lamont listened and nodded. "Sounds like a plan."
"Lamont, go back and tell Rivka and Selena what we're thinking. When you hear me start shooting, open up on those cars."
"Give me five minutes." He crawled away.
Nick and Ronnie crouched behind the boulder. Five minutes passed.
"Ready, amigo?"
"I kind of liked Gideon," Ronnie said. "Yeah, I'm ready."
Nick began firing, trying to send bullets under the cars, hoping to hit someone in a leg. Behind him, the others opened up. Bullets struck the cars, shattering windows and punching holes in the sheet-metal.
Ronnie fired four quick shots at the gas cans mounted on the side of the Israeli Jeep. The two cans exploded in a brilliant flash of crimson and orange. The main gas tank went a second later. The Israeli Jeep blew apart in a violent explosion of metal and flame. A black cloud of smoke ballooned into the air from the shattered vehicle.
Nick was up and running toward the cars, firing as he went. The slide on his pistol locked open. He dropped the empty magazine and slammed in a fresh one on the run, racking the slide and firing again. From somewhere he heard himself yelling at the top of his lungs as he charged the cars. Bullets kicked up sand around his feet. He was vaguely aware of the others firing behind him.
Then he was at the first of the cars. He ran around the back of the car and saw a man rolling about on the ground, moaning and clutching his leg. A second man crouched beside the engine compartment. He turned as Nick shot him.
Nick dove to the ground as bullets shattered the windshield next to him. Two more men were firing from behind the second vehicle, parked ahead. One went down as someone's bullets found him. Nick shot the other. The wounded man on the ground lifted his gun. Nick killed him.
The shooting stopped. The only sound was the crackle of flames from the burning Jeep.
Nick stood and holstered his pistol. His hand began shaking.
CHAPTER 21
Rivka called Ari Herzog and told him what had happened. An hour later, two UH 60 Blackhawk helicopters landed nearby. Herzog got out of the first one and walked over to the group. He looked at the smoldering wreckage, the bullet scarred vehicles, the bodies on the ground, and shook his head. Gideon's charred remains were visible in the front seat of the burned out vehicle.
"Trouble always seems to follow you, Nick."
"Friedman's assistant wasn't what she appeared to be," Nick said.
He pointed at Miriam's body. She was sprawled on the ground, one leg crumpled under her, a neat hole in the middle of her forehead. A machine pistol had slipped from her fingers. The ground underneath her head was soaked with blood.
"Whoever she was, she was working with the assholes that tried to ambush us. She must have been feeding them information all along."
"I wonder why they decided to attack you now?"
Nick shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe they figured they didn't need us anymore. Chances are they know as much as we do about the scroll."
"What have you discovered so far?"
"We found the next marker. We think it means we should go to Ein Gedi."
Herzog looked at the Israeli vehicles. One had been destroyed. The other two were pocked with stray bullet holes in the metalwork. One of them had a shattered windshield. The paint on both was scarred from the heat of the flames. Two of the tires were flat. The cars that had brought the attackers were riddled with holes. Most of the windows were gone. Fluids were leaking onto the ground under them.
"I think you need some new cars," Herzog said. "We don't want you frightening the tourists at Ein Gedi."
"How are we going to get there?"
"We'll give you a ride," Herzog said. "We have a safe house there, quiet, away from the crowds. We don't use it much, but it happens to have a heliport. I'll arrange it. You can stay there and new vehicles will be provided."
"Thanks, Ari. "
"This is becoming a controversial operation," Herzog said. "Let's hope you turn something up soon. My superiors are becoming restless. They don't like alarming the tourists with things like this."
He swept his arm around in a gesture that included the bodies and the wrecked vehicles.
"We've had to block the road in here until we get this mess cleaned up. I've already talked to the Ministry of Tourism. They are unhappy. Please, Nick, no more shooting if you can help it."