"Go after it," Diego said.
Selena nodded. "Right. We should be patient. Put a satellite or a drone on him. Wait for him to make his move. If I were him, I'd make it soon. Once he's out of his compound we can get him."
"He might just send a team," Elizabeth said.
"I don't think so. He wants to find that tomb. I don't think his ego would let somebody else do it for him. If that gold is there, it's too much of a temptation. Al-Bayati doesn't strike me as the trusting type. He isn't going to let someone else do it for him."
"If he leaves the villa he'll be traveling in an armored vehicle with an escort," Nick said. "It's how I'd do it if I were him. Same problem as the villa. It needs more than we've got to take him down."
"It needs more than we've got if we go after him in Lebanon," Selena said. "Not in the Habala Valley. Not unless he's got a military escort."
"Al-Bayati's dealings with Tehran have made him unpopular with the Saudis," Elizabeth said. "He's not going to be welcome. He'll make it as low-profile as he can."
"He's got millions. Money buys a lot of low-profile," Nick said. "It can get him in and out of the country without much of a problem."
"So we wait?" Selena asked.
"Until we have a clean shot at him," Elizabeth said. "Meanwhile I want you to go find that tomb. I asked Joe to try and locate those three pillars mentioned in the scroll. Joe?"
"These are satellite shots of the only possibility," Eggleston said.
The pictures on the monitor showed a long valley in an area of low mountains, bounded on both sides by hills and cliffs. Eggleston zoomed in on a hilltop where three columns of stone were visible. One of them was needle shaped, the other two flat on top.
"This is the Habala Valley in southern Saudi Arabia. Those three columns are a well-known landmark in the area."
"Looks deserted," Diego said.
"It is. The nearest town is some distance away. Nobody lives out that way. It's pretty desolate, almost a desert. It's the only thing in Saudi Arabia that fits with the description Director Harker gave me."
"I knew this was coming," Nick said. "It's hot as hell in that part of Saudi Arabia this time of year."
"Then I guess you'd better take a lot of sun block," Elizabeth said. "Put together the mission."
"Getting in could be a problem."
"I'll talk to the president, he'll give us what we need."
"You want us to try and recover anything if it's there?"
"Pictures would be enough. If there's a small object you can take with you, fine, physical proof is always good."
"How soon do you want us to leave?"
"As soon as you can study the surveillance shots and get your gear together. I'll talk to the president. This won't be the first time we've inserted a team into the kingdom. I can get you there. Once you're in country you're on your own until extraction."
"Some things never change," Ronnie said.
"That's all," Elizabeth said.
Eggleston waited until the others had gone.
"Director, have you got a couple minutes to bring me up to speed on what's happening here? It would help if I knew more about the situation."
"Sorry, Joe, there hasn't been time to fill you in. You're right, of course."
Elizabeth spent the next ten minutes telling Eggleston what had happened. About the scrolls, Al-Bayati, the nightclub in Lebanon, the attack on the cars that had injured Lucas and put Stephanie in a hospital. The reason she was sending the team to Saudi Arabia.
"That's quite a story," Joe said.
"I'm afraid it's only the beginning. We have to make sure Al-Bayati doesn't loot that tomb, assuming it exists. We won't know if it does unless we check the location given on the scroll for ourselves. If Nick finds the tomb things will get complicated fast. Any relics from the Jewish Temple have to go back to Israel. The same for the body of Solomon if it's there."
"Aren't the Arabs going to have something to say about all this?"
"They'll have plenty to say if they find out about it. So far it doesn't look as if they have. We'll get in and out before they know we're there. If we can verify that the tomb exists, I'll hand the whole thing over to the president and let him worry about it."
"Is this what you do all the time?"
"Pretty much." She paused. "On a high risk mission like this I rely on real-time communication with the team. It's what gives a small unit like us the edge. What I see on the satellites can make the difference between success and failure. It can make the difference between living and dying for them. It's going to be your job to keep that online and functioning as it should. If you're not up to it, I want you to tell me now."
"I can handle it, Director."
Elizabeth looked at him and hoped that he could.
"Very well."
She reached into her desk and took out a sheet of paper.
"I'm told you have an eidetic memory. Is that true?"
"Yes. I never forget anything. Sometimes I wish I could."
She handed him the paper. "This is a list of current access codes for our military and communications satellites. Memorize it now and give it back to me."
She waited while Eggleston scanned the paper. His lips moved silently as he read.
"All right." He handed it back to her.
"What's the code combination on line four?"
Eggleston read it back to her.
"Good. I just wanted to make sure. Set up full surveillance on Al-Bayati's villa in Lebanon. Keep a visual on it 24/7. If you want to use a military unit, tell me and I'll get it authorized. I want to know if Al-Bayati goes anywhere. It shouldn't be hard to spot him. Pull up his files and familiarize yourself with what he looks like."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Director."
"Yes, Director."
"After you cover Al-Bayati program surveillance over the target area in Saudi Arabia. Any other questions?"
"No."
"Once the team is in Saudi Arabia they're at high risk. Nobody's playing games here. If this goes wrong they could all be killed. Don't let me down."
"Don't worry, Director. I can do this."
"Good. Go set up the surveillance."
Eggleston went down to the computer room thinking about what Harker had told him. He was beginning to understand why they all carried weapons.
CHAPTER 30
Major Dov Yosef brushed a speck of dirt from his uniform and cursed the faulty air-conditioning that had turned his office into a sauna. He contemplated a plaque on the wall with the motto and winged sword of the Israeli Duvdevan.
כִּי בְתַחְבֻּלוֹת, תַּעֲשֶׂה-לְּךָ מִלְחָמָה
"For by wise counsel thou shalt make war."
The quotation was from Proverbs. Once it had been the official motto of The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations, better known as Mossad. That had been changed to a different proverb reflecting the idea that many counselors were needed. Dov thought it suited the officious bureaucracy of Mossad perfectly. He was of the opinion that the fewer counselors the better, particularly when it was time to mount a mission. As often as not Dov's orders came from Mossad's headquarters in Tel Aviv. Sometimes too many cooks had been stirring the operational soup.
Duvdevan wasn't the official designation of Dov's unit. The word meant cherry, a nickname that reflected the unit's unique position within the Israeli Defense Force. The cherry was the fruit at the top of the tree, just as the Duvdevan was at the top of its particular tree, the most elite of a very tough army's special forces.