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SIXTY-SEVEN
SABRE HELD ON TO THE RISERS AND ENJOYED THE DRIFT toward the ground Thefor a slow descent Malone had told him about the canopies, far different from the ones he recalled from back when you fell like a stone and hoped you didn’t break a leg
He and Malone had followed Pam out of the transport, which had quickly disappeared into the eastern sky Whether they round safely was not the crew’s concern Their job was done
He stared down at the unsparing environment
A vast, flat plain of sand and stone stretched in all directions He’d heard Alfred Hermann speak of the southern Sinai Supposedly the holiest desert on the planet A harbinger of civilization The link between Africa and Asia But battle-scarred The ed territory in the world Syrians, Hittites, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Royptians, and the Israelis had all invaded He’d listened ion’s importance Noas about to experience it firsthand
He was round Pa in his ears-a stark contrast with the plane’s unabated noise He reine roar fading to a deep nothing Only the wind could disturb the tranquility, but none stirred today
A quarter ranite mounds, each with no character, just a heedless jus Was the Library of Alexandria out there? Certainly all signs pointed to that being the case
He continued to float doard
Near the base of one of the jagged mounds,He adjusted the steering lines, angling his trajectory closer to where Pam Malone was about to land A clear stretch of desert floor No boulders Good
He glanced up and saw Malone follow his lead
That one ht But at least he was arun froazines When he’d awoken in the church, after being knocked unconscious, his gun was still there Which he’d found curious
What had been the point of that attack?
Who cared?
At least he was ready
MALONE YANKED THE LINES AND DIRECTED HIS DESCENT THE jumpmaster at the air base in Lisbon had told hiht Slow, smooth ride They hadn’t been wild about Pa until it was too late-but since the coon, no one argued
"Damn you, Cotton," he heard Palanced below
She was five hundred feet fros buckle when you hit," he called out "You’re doing fine The chute will do the work"
"Screw you," she yelled back
"We used to do that Didn’t work out Get ready"
He watched as she hit and skidded into the earth, the chute collapsing behind her He saw McColluer sack, which unraveled before hi on his feet
Malone tightened his steering lines and slowed his descent to nearly a stall He released his rigger sack and felt his boots scrape the sand
He, too, finished standing up
Been awhile since he’d last julad to know that he could still do it He released his harness and wiggled free of the straps
McColluround He walked over, knoas co to her feet "You sorry son of a bitch You threw e for hi chute acting like an anchor, restricting her movements
He stayed just out of reach
"Are you out of your mind?" she yelled "You never said a frickin’ word about ju out of a plane"
"How did you think ere going to get here?" he cal?"
"This is Egyptian territory Bad enough we had to juht jue filled her blue eyes, an intensity he’d actually never seen before
"We had to get here so the Israelis didn’t know Landing would have been i that watch of yours, which leads nowhere"
"You’re a moron, Cotton An absolute frickin’ moron You threw me out of that plane"
"I did, didn’t I"
She started to fu to release her body fro to calm down?"
She continued to search for the release claet here," he said "That transport was perfect We just ju the way; nobody’s the wiser This is pretty barren territory, less than three people per square mile It’s doubtful ere seen Like I said before You alanted to knohat I did Okay Here it is"
"You should have left ood idea The Israelis ht consider you a loose end You’re better off disappearing with us"
"No You don’t trust me So I’m better off here where you can watch ht did occur to me, too"
She was silent for a ht, Cotton," she said in a surprisingly calm tone "You’ve et ?"
He stepped close and unsnapped the harness
She raised her arround Then she popped her right knee into his crotch
Electrifying pain soared through his spine and found his brain His legs treround
The breath left him
Been awhile since he’d been racked
He folded himself into the fetal position and waited for the ood for you, too," she said, walking away
SIXTY-EIGHT
VIENNA
9:28 AM
HERMANN ENTERED HIS LIBRARY AND SHUT THE DOOR HE hadn’t slept well, but there was little he could do until Thorvaldsen made a ht be gone, but Hermann still employed a cadre of uard, an Italian, had made it clear on more than one occasion that he’d like Sabre’s position Never had he seriously considered the request, but with the Talons of the Eagle away, he was in need of assistance, so he’d told theto try diplomacy first That alas preferable Perhaps he could reason with Thorvaldsen once the Dane saw that de to the world the Old Testament had been ed properly Many tihout history, chaos and confusion had been translated into profit Anything that jostled the Middle East affected oil prices Knowing that was coinable Order members stood to reap enormous profits
And their newfound ally in the White House would benefit, too
But to accomplish all this he needed Sabre
What was he doing in the Sinai?
And with Cotton Malone
Both seens Sabre’s plan had been to entice Malone to go after the Alexandria Link After that, success depended on Malone Either they would learn what they could and then eliminate Malone, or partner up and see where he led Apparently, Sabre had chosen the latter
For several years he’d thought about ould happen once he was gone, as he knew that Margarete would be the ruin of the family Even worse, she was oblivious to her incompetence He’d tried to teach her, but every effort failed Truth be known, he liked the fact that Thorvaldsen had taken her Maybe he could be rid of the problem? But he doubted it The Dane was not a murderer, no matter how much bravado he liked to portray
He’d actually come to like Sabre The man showed promise He listened well and acted swiftly, but never haphazardly He’d often thought Sabre ht make an excellent successor No more Hermanns were left And he must ensure that the fortune endured
But why had Sabre not checked in?
Was so?
He flushed his doubts away and concentrated on the iain later He’d tantalized the members yesterday with the plan Today he’d drive the point home
He stepped over to a folio built into the lower portion of a bookcase Inside, he kept the o The same scholar he’d retained to confirm Haddad’s theory about the Old Testas He’d been told how site after biblical site fit perfectly with the geography of Asir
But he’d wanted to see for hi scriptural landmarks to Hebrew place-naround, his expert had located biblical places such as Gilgal, Zidon, al-Lith, Dan, Hebron, Beersheba, and the City of David
He ree was already loaded on the co hall Theadmired
Even the question of Jerusales, Zechariah, and Nehemiah, had been solved A walled city would have had noin each direction So twenty-six was questionable frohout the Old Testaate" was shaar That word, like so e or ly, there were twenty-six identified openings through the mountain escarpment that separated the identified Jerusalem territory from Judah He recalled his own a’s Gate, Prison Gate, Fountain Gate, Valley Gate, and all the others so descriptively labeled in the Old Testah their proxih the Jordan escarp even remotely close existed in Palestine
The proof seemed incontrovertible
The events of the Old Testament had not occurred in Palestine Instead they’d all happened hundreds of ustine knew that, yet deliberately allowed the errors of the Septuagint not only to re the Old Testaes would seem an indisputable prophecy for the Gospels of their New Testament The Jeere not to enjoy a ion to thrive, the Christians needed a connection, too