‘I found the other two angels, didn’t I?’
‘Cross found ’em,’ he reminded her. ‘He did all the groundwork, anyway. But that doesn’t mean he got the last one right too.’
‘We can’t take that chance. Not after seeing what that gas does to people.’
They descended the steps, harsh sunlight striking them. ‘Ay up,’ said Eddie on seeing the tall, lean young man waiting for them. ‘Hope Mossad sent you to take care of us and not take care of us, if you know what I mean.’
Jared Zane gave the Englishman a mocking smile. ‘If I was going to kill you, you wouldn’t even have known I was here.’ He was an agent of the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, who had worked with Eddie and Nina to hunt down a group of escaped Nazi war criminals — the last survivor of whom had sought revenge on the couple only a month earlier.
‘Ah, but you might be saying that to lull us into a false sense of security!’
‘Oh, shut up, alter kocker.’ The Yiddish insult roughly translated as old fart.
‘Cheeky little bastard.’ Both men grinned.
‘Ah, boys,’ said Nina with an exaggerated sigh. ‘Have you finished shaking your peacock feathers at each other?’
Jared smiled. ‘Hi, Nina. Good to see you again.’
‘You too! And thank you.’
It was more heartfelt than simply meeting them at the airport warranted. Jared regarded her curiously. ‘What for?’
‘For saving my life — again. If you hadn’t warned Eddie that one of the Nazis from Argentina had survived and was out for revenge…’
He dipped his head modestly. ‘You and Eddie saved my life, so it was the least I could do.’ He glanced down at her baby bump. ‘I’d heard you were pregnant. Congratulations!’
‘Don’t remember telling you,’ said Eddie.
‘I’m from the Mossad. We know everything.’ Another grin, then he became more businesslike. ‘Although in this case, we don’t know everything — or at least, I don’t. It seems I don’t have a high enough security clearance. After you phoned,’ he said to Eddie, ‘I tried to find out if this Ezekiel Cross and ex-President Dalton were coming to Israel. It wasn’t long before I was called into my superior’s office and told to stop asking questions.’
‘So someone’s covering it up?’ Nina asked.
The young man nodded. ‘It must be somebody high up. Whether in the Mossad, or the government, I don’t know. Dalton was very popular here in Israel.’
‘Surprised Mossad let you help us,’ said Eddie.
A small grimace. ‘Actually, I’m not technically on duty right now. My superior let me take a leave of absence on short notice — very short notice — so I could show some visiting friends around the country.’
‘Very generous of him,’ Nina remarked knowingly.
‘Even bosses get called into their boss’s office sometimes. And they don’t like it either.’
Eddie smiled. ‘Good to know spooks have office politics too.’
‘It’s not all hanging from cliffs and car chases. Anyway, I’ve got a jeep waiting, and all the gear you’ll need. Including something for you, Eddie. I know you need to compensate for your inadequacies with big guns, so I brought you a fifty-calibre Desert Eagle.’
Eddie pulled a sarcastic face. ‘So what did you bring for yourself, a bazooka?’
Jared laughed. ‘Don’t worry about the customs check; I’ve dealt with it,’ he said as the attendant brought out the couple’s luggage. ‘Nina, let me take that.’ He picked up Nina’s travel bag.
‘You can take mine an’ all if you want,’ Eddie suggested.
‘Carry it yourself,’ Jared replied cheekily. ‘You’re an old man, but not that old.’
‘Fucking kids!’ Eddie mock-grumbled, picking up his bag. He and Nina followed the curly-haired Israeli to the terminal.
‘So,’ said Jared, ‘since you didn’t want to tell me the details over the phone, what’s this all about?’
Twenty minutes later, Nina and Eddie finally finished their explanation. ‘Okay,’ Jared said unhappily as he drove a Land Rover Discovery north into the Israeli desert, ‘what is it with you two? Everyone else’s archaeology involves carefully digging junk out of the dirt, but with you it’s always maniacs trying to destroy the world!’
‘You think I want that?’ Nina hooted. ‘I’d love nothing more than to spend three months excavating a site with only a trowel and a sieve.’
‘Me, not so much,’ said Eddie from the seat behind her. ‘I’ll be on the beach with the kid while you’re doing that.’
‘No you won’t, you’ll both be with me. And enjoying it.’
‘You need to do more research on what kids actually like.’
‘I liked it when I was a kid!’ she protested.
‘Yeah, but you’re weird.’
Nina glared over her shoulder at him. ‘You’re lucky I needed the space up front, or you would so be slapped right now.’
Jared smiled. ‘Okay, so: crazy ex-CIA guy with chemical weapons, here in my country to look for more. How do we make sure he doesn’t get them?’
Nina took out a map of southern Israel. ‘I found four places where the last angel might be. If Cross is still working from the theory that it’s near a sinkhole in a river valley, then he shouldn’t go near them.’
Jared glanced at the map. ‘If he’s searching in this area, he’ll never be far away. Israel is only about twenty kilometres east to west at the Timna Valley, and it gets narrower the farther south you go.’ He gestured to the right. ‘The border with Jordan is only a kilometre away.’
‘He’ll still have almost a hundred square miles to cover,’ Nina insisted. ‘And he’ll be looking at the valleys when he should be searching the highlands. We can beat him.’
‘Assuming your theory is right.’
Her face became rueful. ‘If it’s not, then a lot of people could die. So I have to hope that it is.’
They drove on. The highway stretched north through a sandy plain, small settlements and sparse patches of irrigated farmland soon surrendering to the desolation of the desert. Barren mountains rose on the horizon to each side. Eventually they neared a turn-off, a side road heading west towards a small village. ‘Okay, that’s… Be’er Ora,’ said Nina, struggling with the pronunciation. ‘We go past it and head up into the mountains. The first site is about three miles, five kilometres, from here.’
Jared made the turn. ‘How accessible is it?’
‘We should be able to see it from the ground. We may need to climb to check it, though. You brought climbing gear, didn’t you?’
‘Everything you need.’ The Israeli indicated the equipment in the 4x4’s cargo bed. ‘You shouldn’t climb when you’re pregnant, though.’
‘I shouldn’t be kidnapped or chased or jump over cliffs in speedboats when I’m pregnant either,’ she snapped.
‘But it could be—’
Eddie leaned forward and put a hand on Jared’s shoulder. ‘When you hear that tone of voice, trust me, mate, that’s when you shut up.’ He added in a stage whisper: ‘Then you do what you were going to do anyway without telling her — Ow!’
Nina swatted the side of his head. ‘Warned you.’ He withdrew, amused.
Jared drew in a breath. ‘My mother keeps pushing for me to get married. I think I might wait a while longer…’
The Discovery headed through the little village, the road rising into the parched peaks beyond. Asphalt quickly gave way to a stony track. Jared switched the 4x4’s terrain mode to maintain grip. ‘This could be rough,’ he said. ‘How far do we follow the road?’