“And once Daniels is no longer president?” Cassiopeia asked.
“Should be forgotten by then. If not, Israel will do what it’s done for centuries. Fight like hell. We’ve managed and we’ll continue.”
And Stephanie believed that. But there was one other point. “The vice president. What about him?”
“From all we know, only Green, the VP, and Alfred Hermann understood exactly what was going to happen. When Green heard the conversation Larry recorded with the VP’s chief of staff, he panicked and asked the Saudis to take Daley out. In typical fashion, they never mentioned that to us or we would have stopped them. But you can’t trust an Arab.” Dixon paused. “You two showing up, meeting with Larry, panicked Green, and he convinced the Saudis to move on you, too. After Daniels stopped the attack, killing all the hired help, and now with Green gone, it’s all over for the Saudis.”
Stephanie pointed to Green. “What about this?”
“We have people waiting to take this piece of crap back to his house, where his body will be found later today. Larry’s death will not be attributed to any terrorist attack, as Green had planned.”
“That could prove tough. The car did explode.”
“The case will simply go down as unsolved. But it will have undertones, ones Daniels can exploit, like what these idiots had planned. I think Larry might actually like that one. He can still be of help, even from the grave.”
“You haven’t explained,” Cassiopeia said, “how this can be contained with the VP still around?”
Dixon shrugged. “That’s Daniels’s problem.” Then the Israeli found her cell phone, hit a button, and said, “Mr. President, Green’s dead, just as you wanted.”
EIGHTY-FIVE
SINAI PENINSULA
SABRE FIRED AT MALONE’S LEGS FORTY FEET AWAY. NONE OF the tables accommodated chairs, so his line of sight was clear. He wanted to cut the legs out from beneath his adversary, making the final kill easy.
He sent three bullets Malone’s way.
But the legs were gone.
Damn.
He rolled out from beneath the table to the next one, inched up to the top edge to find Malone, and saw nothing.
Then he knew.
MALONE HAD REALIZED THAT MCCOLLUM INTENDED TO shoot his legs and had leaped onto the nearest table an instant before three shots popped through the hall. Paperweights of golden quartz clattered to the floor. McCollum would almost instantly deduce what Malone had done, so he decided to turn the advantage his way.
He waited an instant, then rolled off and saw McCollum crouched behind one of the tables. He aimed and ticked off two shots, but McCollum shifted his position and used one of the thick pedestals for protection.
This shooting gallery was too open.
He darted behind a row of shelves that stood to his left.
“Not bad, Malone,” his adversary said from across the room.
“I try.”
“You’re not getting out of here.”
“We’ll see.”
“I’ve killed men better than you.”
He wondered if the talk was bravado or mind games.
Neither impressed him.
HADDAD LED PAM MALONE THROUGH THE LIBRARY, HEADING in the opposite direction from where Sabre and Malone had gone. They’d already heard shots. He needed to hurry. They entered the fifth hall, aptly named the Room of Life, symbolized by a mosaic cross with its upper vertical replaced by an egg-shaped oval.
He swept through and found the Room of Eternity, stopping at the exit doorway. Voices came down the corridor past the ninety-degree turn. Apparently the showdown was occurring in the Reading Room. Lots of tables, fewer shelves, more open space. Sabre’s walk through earlier had been for reconnaissance, and his opponent had noticed all the right things. He’d once done the same when fighting Jews. Always know your battlefield.
He knew this one intimately.
Five years ago he’d secretly completed the hero’s quest, just before he’d called Cotton Malone for help. When he’d first arrived, gained access to the library, and learned that all he suspected about the Bible was true, he’d been overwhelmed. But when the Guardians asked for his help, he’d been thrilled. Many Guardians had been recruited from invitees, and all of the Guardians there then believed he should be their Librarian. They’d explained about the threats closing in and he’d agreed to solve their problem. But in the end he’d needed help, too. Which was why Malone had been involved.
Patience and knowledge had served him well.
He only hoped he hadn’t miscalculated.
He stood still at the doorway leading from the Room of Eternity, Pam Malone behind him.
“Wait here,” he whispered.
He eased forward through the corridor, turned its corner, and stole a peek into the Reading Room. He saw movement left and right. One man behind the shelves, the other using the tables for cover.
He crept back to Pam Malone and handed her his gun.
“I have to go in there,” he said in a soft voice.
“And you’re not coming back out.”
He shook his head. “This is the end.”
“You promised Cotton a long talk.”
“I lied.” He paused. “And you knew it.”
“It’s the lawyer in me.”
“No, it’s the human being in you. We all do things we regret. I’ve done my share. But at least, at the end of my life I was able to keep this library alive.” He saw something in her eyes. “You know what I mean, don’t you?”
She nodded.
“Then you know what you have to do.”
He saw her confusion and patted her shoulder. “You’ll know, when the moment arrives.” He pointed at the gun. “Have you ever fired one before?”
She quickly shook her head no.
“Just point and pull the trigger. It kicks, so hold it steady.”
She said nothing, but he was satisfied that she understood.
“Have a prosperous life. Tell Cotton he always had my respect.”
And he turned and walked toward the Reading Room.
“WE CAN SIT HERE ALL DAY,” MALONE CALLED OUT.
“You’re in way over your head,” McCollum said. “A bit out of practice, aren’t you?”
“I can kick your ass.”
McCollum chuckled. “Tell you what I’m going to do. Think I’ll double back and kill that ex-wife of yours. I would have killed your boy, too, if you hadn’t taken out those idiots I hired. And by the way, did you think that was your doing? I set up that whole thing and you followed like a hound dog after the fox. Plan B was to kill the boy. Either way, I’d have found George Haddad.”
He knew what McCollum was doing. Trying to work him up. Piss him off. Get him to react. But he wondered about something. “You ever find Haddad?”
“Nope. You were there when the Israelis killed him. I heard the whole thing.”
Heard it? McCollum had no idea about the Librarian. So he asked, “Where’d you get that quest?”
“I gave it to him.”
The new voice was George Haddad’s.
Malone saw the Palestinian standing in the far doorway.
“Mr. Sabre, I manipulated you in the same way you did Cotton. I left the audiotape and the information on my computer for you to find, including the quest, which I created. I assure you, the journey I completed to originally find this place was much more difficult.”
“You’re full of crap,” McCollum said.
“It had to be a challenge. Too easy and you might have thought it a trap. Too hard and you would have never made it. But you were anxious. I even left you a flash drive beside my computer, and you thought nothing of it. More of the bait for this trap.”
Malone noticed that, from where Haddad stood, a clear line of sight existed to McCollum’s position. But both of Haddad’s hands were empty. Something that had surely been noticed.
“George, what are you doing?” he called out.
“Finishing what I started.”
Haddad stepped toward McCollum.
“Trust what you know, Cotton. She won’t let you down.”
And his friend kept walking.