Colonel Davari cursed and reached for the microphone headset’s transmit controls. ‘Watch what you’re doing, you imbecile! You almost hit Lourds. Do not kill him! We need him alive!’
The images on the computer monitors jerked and heaved now that the attackers were in motion. The wireless cameras attached to their headsets connected to a nearby van loaded with equipment that relayed the signal to the Ayatollah’s palace.
The man himself stood nearby, watching the scene much more calmly than Davari.
Putting the whole picture together in his head from the six camera views was difficult. Even though he’d planned the attack with the Hezbollah operatives he’d briefed on the task, the action was proving distracting. Attacking at the checkpoint was risky, but it was the only place Davari knew for certain they’d get a chance to take Lourds.
With the driver dead at the wheel, the taxi lurched forward and slammed into the car ahead of it. Only two vehicles were in front of the taxi. They were enough to hold up progress, but they allowed the taxi to get blocked in by other cars when they tried to scatter amid the gunfire.
‘I’ve got the van camera online, Supreme Leader,’ said one of the men at the computers in front of the Ayatollah. Davari looked up at the screen before him as it filled with images.
The van had a mounted camera that telescoped up from the top to give an overview of the attack site. It hadn’t been deployed until the attack and kidnap attempt had been initiated.
Almost immediately, the scene at the airport’s security checkpoint became much clearer. The Israeli security people responded to the attack, but it was too late to hope to control anything. Drivers behind the taxi steered wildly in an effort to get out of harm’s way and only ended up miring themselves in the resulting confusion. Vehicles slammed into each other, effectively choking off escape routes.
One of the Hezbollah attackers stopped and brought up a rocket launcher. No sooner did the long weapon rest on his shoulder than he fired. The warhead slammed into one of the outside cars broadside, flipping the vehicle into the air. It crashed down roof-first onto the car beside it with a spray of glass and shriek of overstressed metal. Flames roared from it, and the passengers scrambled out and away to escape the pyre.
By then the snipers were in place. Sharp cracks carried over the streaming audio. The synchronization between the audio and video wasn’t complete, and there was at least a two-second lag between them, giving the events a surreal feel that Davari found irritating. The uniformed security guards dropped and spun, helpless before the Hezbollah snipers.
Davari smiled in anticipation. Now that they were certain Lourds had the book, they could take him and force him to help find Mohammad’s Koran and the Scroll.
Nothing could prevent that.
As soon as he realized the driver had been shot, Lourds dove for Miriam. She was already in motion, though, opening her door and throwing herself outside.
At first he thought she was running for cover, and he was vaguely disappointed. He’d thought she was made of sterner stuff, or maybe he’d only wished she was because of the journey they were undertaking. She hadn’t flinched at all when he’d told her they were going to Iran.
Instead of running, though, she stayed low as one of the vehicles behind them suddenly exploded and flew into the air. Shrapnel slapped against the taxi like popcorn popping, and tongues of fire flashed across the back glass, coming in through the hole left by the rifle bullet for just a moment before dying.
Miriam opened the car door and yanked at the dead driver. Despite her desperate efforts, she couldn’t move the bulky corpse. She glanced back at Lourds. ‘Help me!’
Galvanized into action, Lourds got out of the taxi on his side, crept up to the passenger door, and threw it open. He hesitated for just a moment at all the blood, then put both hands on the dead man and shoved as Miriam pulled.
The driver toppled out of the car as at least one round shattered the passenger-door window and rained broken pieces down over Lourds’s back. Thomas stayed low across the front seats. Miriam put her hand in the middle of his face, mashing his sore nose hard and causing him to yelp in protest as she shoved him into the passenger seat.
Behind the wheel, she shoved the transmission into reverse and backed swiftly toward the burning car atop the other vehicle.
Lourds pointed. ‘The car.’
‘I see it.’ Miriam stomped on the brake, and rubber shrieked as the tires locked up on the pavement. The taxi’s rear butted up against the bottom car, and the burning wreckage above slowly started to topple — and was heading straight for their battered taxi.
‘The car!’
‘I see it!’ Miriam changed gears and pressed the accelerator to the floor. The taxi’s engine screamed like a tortured animal, but the tires caught and propelled them forward. ‘Hang on.’
Lourds braced himself with his hands and feet as Miriam crashed into the rear of the car ahead of them. Metal crumpled, and the front windshield shattered, spraying bloody glass fragments into his lap.
Miriam shoved the transmission into reverse and backed again at a sharper angle. Lourds reached for the open passenger door, intending to close it, but one of the security posts took it off in a wrenching rasp.
This time when the taxi backed up, it hit the burning car. Flames spread across the back of the vehicle and stayed with them as Miriam sped forward again.
38
‘Orchid, be advised that we have a team en route.’ Tense and frustrated, Sarah Shavit watched the wallscreen in the tactical room.
Miriam Abata was showing considerable resilience despite the odds against her and the element of surprise her enemies had wielded. She had seized control of the taxi and almost fought free. Unfortunately, it looked as though the burning vehicle had spread a pool of flaming liquid across the taxi’s rear.
‘Affirmative, Gardener.’ Miriam’s voice splintered as she responded. The noise of the gunfire and her unwillingness to reveal her true identity to Lourds made her hard to understand. She wore an earpiece that picked up vibrations along her jawbone and transmitted them.
Covering her mouthpiece, Sarah turned to the computer operator beside her. ‘Have you reached the airport’s security chief?’
‘Not yet, ma’am. I’m still trying.’
‘Let me know as soon as you do.’
‘Of course.’
No longer able simply to watch, Sarah paced back and forth in front of the wallscreen. The attackers moved efficiently, mowing through the airport’s security people, predators stalking game. They wore bulletproof armor and weren’t afraid to die for their cause, and that was a terrible combination for anyone to face.
The door opened and Isser Melman walked into the room, leaning heavily on his cane. ‘I hear we have a situation.’ His stony face revealed nothing of his thoughts. ‘What happened?’
‘Orchid and her package were attacked on-site.’ No names were used inside the tactical room.
‘Do we know if they’re targeting Orchid and her package?’