I said, “I need to speak to George Wolffe.”
She said, “I’m sorry, sir, but nobody by that name works here.”
I said, “Marge, it’s Pike Logan. Please don’t make me pull an alert again.”
And she completely broke her role, saying, “Pike, this is not kosher. Do what you’re supposed to do and quit calling an open line.”
I laughed and said, “Marge, if I could do that, I would. And I’m with kosher people. Please get him for me.”
Wolffe came on the line and said, “Pike, really, can you not get to a Wi-Fi node for the VPN?”
“Sorry, sir, but not right now. I’m headed back to Tel Aviv. Garrett is dead, but he’s still got a Turtle on the loose.”
He ignored my question, saying, “Garrett’s dead? You killed a U.S. citizen?”
“Yeah, I did, but only because he pulled out a knife and tried to kill Shoshana. I left the body in a tunnel. I’m about to have some Israeli police on my ass, and I need some backup from the National Command authority to complete this thing. Can you give me that?”
“Get on the Rock Star bird and get out of there. We can protect your team much easier from the United States.”
And that made me think about the team. I said, “What’s Knuckles’s status? Did you extract him?”
He said, “We did, but he’d actually found his own way out, which would have worked if he hadn’t decided to destroy the other UAVs. He had that Hezbollah smuggler with him and was going for the border, but before they left, they blew up the final UAVs with some charges, and that caused some Hezbollah men to investigate.”
“So he’s okay?”
“Yeah, he’s in Jordan after some high adventure. I’m trying to get him out right now, but we’re getting a thousand questions from SOCOM about who they are.”
I breathed a sigh of relief and said, “He’s with my old Special Mission Unit?”
“Yes.”
“They won’t poke much. They understand the value of keeping your mouth shut.”
Wolffe chuckled and said, “I know. Now you can get the rest of the team out of Israel and join him.”
“Sir, we’re headed to Tel Aviv right now, but that final Turtle is on the loose in Jerusalem. I have a location, and have Jennifer and Aaron on it, but there’s something going on there right now, with police all over the place. I need to know what’s happening.”
I heard him exhale, then, “We’re seeing the same thing here. Hamas is rumbling about causing another Intifada and Israel is reacting. Honestly, at first I thought it was because of your activities.”
“It’s not me. Not yet anyway.”
“Then it’s Hamas. They’re saying they’re going to cause an uprising in Jerusalem because of perceived injustices, but there’s no clear indication it’s even real. It could be just to spook everyone. Aren’t you with the Israelis? Can’t they answer that question?”
I said, “No. That’s why I’m calling you. Why would Hamas do this? I thought we had the back channel going?”
“We do, but Iran only has so much control. Hamas is Sunni. Iran is Shia. Iran paid for the weapons they use, but apparently that wasn’t enough for total fealty. Hamas sees an opening and wants to exploit it.”
“What opening?”
“Israel is saying they’re about to assume control of a block of East Jerusalem. Buildings occupied by Palestinians that were once owned by Jewish people.”
“Now? They’re going to do that now? Right in the middle of this shit?”
“Nobody but us knows what’s going on outside the ropes. The police are going to force them out, and Hamas is putting out messages saying if they do, it’ll be war.”
“What. The. Fuck. There is going to be a war because that Turtle is going to light the fuse. Tell Hannister to turn it off. Tell him to tell Israel to wait a week. Getting the Palestinians riled up right now is absolutely the wrong thing.”
“Pike, he can’t order Israel to do anything.”
“Well, you’d better get somebody’s ass on this, because there’s about to be a war that will wipe Israel off the map, and I don’t mean from some second-rate terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip. I mean from the entire Muslim world.”
“What’s going on?”
“The strike against the prime minister was the primary. We prevented that, but Garrett had a backup. He’s got that final Turtle doing something on the Temple Mount. I don’t know what it is, but it’s going to be the fuse for a catalyst. He infiltrated as a Palestinian. Garrett wanted the End of Days, and everyone’s playing right into his hands.”
I finally heard some urgency in Wolffe’s voice: “Okay, okay, I got it, but we don’t do diplomacy here. You know that. I’ll pass the message, but it’s not going to be fast.”
I said, “Did you just say we don’t do diplomacy? After you had me do that very thing, passing a message from the president of the United States to Iran?”
He said, “I know, I know, but it’s not like I’m the president’s national security advisor. I’ll do what I can, but in the meantime, can you interdict?”
“Do I have authority to interdict?”
He chuckled and said, “Have you ever cared about that in the past?”
I said, “I do now, because this thing has the potential to get messy, and I need to know you’ve got my back. I’ve got Jennifer and Aaron on it right now, but I can’t make any promises about how this will go. Shoshana is wounded, and we’re about an hour away from executing anything on our own.”
“Wounded? Is she okay?”
I looked at her, saying, “She’s a little dinged up, but she’ll be fine. Just a stitch or two.”
She nodded at me and I smiled, saying, “We’re still in the fight, but it’s coming to a close today. Right before he died, Garrett told me that he was a messenger from God, bringing about the End of Days. Whatever he’s planned, it’s in motion, and with the Hamas thing going on, it’s going to be exponentially worse.”
“Pike, I’m giving you the authority to execute. Stop the attack. I’m headed to the White House right now.”
“And you’ll have my team’s back if we get rolled up?”
“Yes, I promise. Get it done no matter what it takes.”
If I had any idea of the crazy antics Jennifer and Aaron were conducting, I’d have told him we’d entered into the “no matter what” territory already.
Chapter 80
Jennifer put on the policeman’s helmet and said, “None of this fits me. There’s no way they’ll let us pass.”
Dressed in his own riot gear, Aaron said, “Yes, they will. Plenty of females serve here, and sometimes they have to make do with the wrong-sized equipment.”
She turned to him, her helmet tilted to the side, saying, “This is like a bad Halloween costume.”
Aaron said, “It’s good enough to pass through the gate. Let’s go.”
She said, “I can’t speak Hebrew.”