A few moments later, Selena came around the boulder, looking down and adjusting her belt. She barely had time to sense something wrong before Jabari hit her in the side of the head with the butt of his AK. She crumpled to the ground.

  "Pick her up."

  Two of his men picked up her limp body.

  "Now we go back to camp," Jabari said.

  When they were a little distance away from the tomb, Jabari signaled a halt. Selena was still unconscious. The blow had opened up a deep gash in her scalp. Blood ran down over her face.

  "Tie her feet and her hands," he said. "Gag her."

  "You hit her too hard," one of the men said. "I have seen this before. Sometimes they puke when they're hit like that. If we gag her, she could choke to death. Then she will tell us nothing."

  Jabari considered. "You're right, Ahmed. We won't gag her. But if she wakes and starts yelling, I'll hit her again."

  They set off for the terrorist encampment. Selena was still unconscious several hours later when they reached the camp. Jabari directed his men to carry their catch to Masuda's tent. Word had gone ahead. By the time they reached the tent, Masuda was waiting for them.

  The man who encouraged his followers to think of him as the savior of Islam was built like a bull, stocky, muscled, squat. His eyes were black and unreadable. They were set too close together, giving his face an odd, pinched look. He wore a black turban and loose, black clothes. His beard reached halfway down his chest, thick and black, untrimmed. He radiated intense energy, easily felt by those who came into his presence. Masuda inspired fanatical loyalty, reinforced by terrible punishment for those who betrayed him. Now he looked at the unconscious figure of Selena lying in the dust at his feet, where Jabari had told his men to drop her.

  "What is this?" Masuda said.

  Jabari explained what he had seen, the opening in the mountain and the woman coming out of it.

  "There must be others," Jabari said. "She was armed."

  He held up Selena's MP7.

  "I thought it best to bring her here. We can question her. Then you can decide what to do next."

  Selena groaned. The side of her face was covered with dried blood.

  "She's waking up, Teacher. What do you want me to do?"

  "Take her to the doctor. Get her cleaned up. Make sure she doesn't die. Then bring her back to me."

  "Yes, Teacher."

  Jabari shouted commands. His men picked Selena up and carried her toward the tent where the camp doctor had set up his crude dispensary. As they neared the tent, Selena turned her head to the side and vomited. The man carrying her by the feet cursed and almost dropped her.

  The first man laughed.

  "What's the matter, Ahmed? Did you get your feet wet?"

  "If the Teacher gives her to us, I will make sure she pays."

  They reached the tent. The doctor came out and looked at her. He pulled back her eyelids, one by one. The pupils were different sizes.

  "Did she vomit?"

  "Yes, doctor."

  "She has a concussion. Bring her inside. Put her on the cot."

  "She's dangerous, Doctor," Ahmed said. "She was well armed."

  "Do as I say. Are you afraid of a woman?"

  Grumbling, they took Selena into the tent.

  33

  Nick paced back and forth in front of the golden coffin.

  "Selena's been gone too long," he said. "I'm going to check on her."

  "We're done here, right?" Ronnie said. "We got what we came for."

  "Right. Lamont, you still have some C4?"

  "Yep."

  "We get outside, blow the entrance. Ronnie, take the point."

  They left the lamp burning. Nick was last out. He turned for one final look. The eyes of Anubis bored into his, glittering in the flame.

  After the darkness of the tomb, the light of the sun was blinding. Nick put on his sunglasses.

  "Selena? Where are you?"

  He called again. There was no reply. Ronnie bent down on one knee and studied the ground, then pointed at tracks in the sand.

  "Nick, someone's been here. Not us."

  "You're sure?"

  "Yep. Three, no, four men."

  "Shit."

  They clicked off the safeties on their weapons.

  Ronnie got up and followed the tracks. Nick and Lamont went with him. Ronnie gestured at the ground.

  "See these? These are Selena's. She went behind that boulder. Then she came back. The tracks get confused, here. Hers are mixed up with the others. There's blood on the ground."

  "Shit," Nick said again. "Where is she?"

  "Her tracks end here," Ronnie said. "She must've been hurt. They carried her away." He looked up and gestured. "That way."

  "Can you follow the tracks?"

  "Yes. But if they get into the rocks, it could get tricky."

  "We'll go after her."

  "What about the tomb?" Lamont said. "You want to seal it up?"

  "Later. We have to find Selena."

  "We have comms yet?"

  "Let's find out."

  Nick activated the encrypted link.

  "Base, this is Bravo One. Do you read? Over."

  Elizabeth's voice came back, crackling with static.

  "Bravo One, this is base. Nick, what's happening?"

  "We found the tomb. It's intact, no one has been in it since it was sealed. There's enough gold in there to take care of the national debt. But we have a problem. Someone grabbed Selena. We're going after her."

  "Someone took Selena?"

  "Affirmative. Director, do you have visual?"

  "Yes. We have visual for the next several hours. The comm link should be permanent. I'm looking at you now."

  "I'm going to ask Ronnie to point in the direction where they took Selena. Tell me when you see it."

  Ronnie lifted up his arm and pointed in the direction where the tracks led off into the mountains.

  "I see it," Elizabeth said.

  "Scan in that direction and tell me what you see."

  "Wait one."

  A moment later, Elizabeth was back on the line.

  "The way Ronnie pointed leads toward a deep Wadi that runs for several miles between two mountains. It leads right to the camp of Allah's Justice."

  "That figures. Those bastards have Selena."

  "What are you going to do?"

  "What do you think I'm going to do? We're going after her. Can you get a Reaper or Predator into the area?"

  "I don't know. If we attack that camp it will create an international incident."

  "I don't give a damn if it does," Nick said. "I'm going to get Selena out of there. If they come after us, there are too many. I need backup."

  "I'll see what I can do," Elizabeth said.

  "Make it happen, Director. Out."

  Nick cut the connection. They set off, Ronnie in the lead, following the faint signs in the sand.

  34

  Selena felt something wet on her face. She opened her eyes. Her head hurt, a fierce, pounding pain that started on the side of her skull and radiated down her jaw.

  "What.."

  "Don't try to move."

  A man was wiping her face with a wet cloth.

  Arabic. He's speaking Arabic.

  She turned her head toward the voice. Pain shot through her.

  "Don't move. Don't worry, I'm a doctor. Do you understand?"

  "Nam."

  "Good, you speak Arabic. This will help."

  She tried to focus on the man's face. Everything was doubled, blurred.

  "Where am I?" she asked.

  "You are in the camp of Masuda Bahar."

  She thought for a moment. Thinking was hard. Then it clicked.

  Allah's Justice. Shit.

  The doctor dipped the cloth in a bowl of water and wrung it out. Water dripped red from his fingers.

  "You have a wound on your scalp. It bled a lot, but is not serious. You also have a concussion. That will take time to heal."

  "Why are you helping me?"

  "You must be clean when you are taken to the Mahdi."

  Oh, oh. Play dumb.

  "The...Mahdi?"

  "He is the chosen one. He will question you. Be humble. Perhaps he will be gracious and spare your life."

  A man pushed into the tent. Selena could smell his unwashed stink, an acrid, stale odor of sweat and dirt and testosterone.

  "Is she ready?" he said.

  "Not yet, Jabari. Soon. Was it you that hit her?"

  "What if it was?"

  "She has a bad concussion. It will be difficult to question her."

  Jabari laughed. "I doubt that, Doctor. I will come back in fifteen minutes. Make sure she is ready."

  The doctor waited until Jabari was gone.

  "I don't know why you are here or who you are, but you must not anger the Mahdi if you wish to live. You understand?"

  "Yes. Why are you telling me this?"

  "I serve by tending to the soldiers of Allah. I don't have to like the methods they use to gain information. When you are asked something, tell the truth. He will know if you lie. If you lie, you will be tortured. You may resist, but in the end you will tell him everything he wants to know. Believe me when I say this."

  Selena looked at him. Adrenaline fear rippled through her, shocking her mind awake. Her heart began pounding.

  "I believe you," she said.

  35

  The wadi was deep and narrow, more like a ravine than a typical wadi. Rugged walls of reddish rock rose on either side, leaving a narrow passage between. Nothing grew here. It was barren and hot, a landscape from hell. The sun glinted in sharp splinters from the unforgiving rock. The temperature was somewhere well north of a hundred degrees. It wasn't long before their shirts were soaked through with sweat. Ronnie led the way.

  They followed the twisting wadi toward the terrorist camp. Sometimes the tracks faded out on a rocky stretch, then picked up again farther on, but it wasn't hard to follow them. There was only one way to go.

  Nick was silent, his face grim, thinking about Selena and what the terrorists might do to her.

  They had started sometime in the afternoon and had been following the wadi for hours. The temperature was dropping and the light beginning to fade when Ronnie stopped. He held up his hand and pointed at his nose, sniffed, gestured. Nick caught a whiff of smoke and the smell of something cooking. A fire, somewhere ahead. They were getting close.

  The wadi floor began to climb, curving left and out of sight around an outcrop of rock. Ronnie moved to the outcrop and got down on the ground. He took a quick glance around, then wriggled back and stood.

  "One X-ray," he said, his voice a whisper. "About a hundred feet up the trail. Has an AK. The trail climbs to a ridge. The camp is probably on the other side."

  "Okay," Nick said. "Let's back off a bit."

  They retreated back down the wadi. When he thought they were far enough away, Nick called Harker.

  "Can you see us, Director?"

  "Yes. The wadi ends about a quarter of a mile from you. There's a sentry there."

  "I know. What's past him?"

  "The camp. It sits below the ridge where he's standing, in a bowl between the mountains."

  "How many hostiles?"

  "Hard to tell, Nick. There are several tents, some large. I can see forty or fifty men moving around, but there may be more. There are several fires. Looks like it's dinner time."

  "Doesn't care much if anyone knows where he is, does he?"

  "Like I told you, he's protected."

  "Did you get me a Reaper?"

  "Hanging out at 35,000 feet as we speak."

  "Outstanding."

  "What's your plan?"

  "Wait for dark. Go get Selena. Once we have her, call in the Reaper and take these guys out."

  "I won't release that weapon unless I have to," Elizabeth said. "I'm out on a limb, here. So is Clarence. It will create an international shit storm if we kill Masuda. Try and get away without it."

  Fat chance.

  "And if we can't?"

  "Then I'll order a strike."

  "That's what I needed to hear."

  "Only as a last resort, Nick."

  "Copy that."

  "Be careful. Stay alive."

  "Always. Out."

  "Well, Kemo Sabe?" Ronnie said.

  "There's a Reaper up above. Harker says last resort only."

  "Works for me," Lamont said. "Has it occurred to you that we're down here on the ground with the bad guys? Those Hellfire missiles are a bitch."

  "What's the plan?" Ronnie asked.

  "It will be dark soon. As soon as it's full dark, we take out that sentry. Then we eyeball the camp and find Selena."

  Ronnie pulled a power bar out of his shirt pocket.

  "You ever not hungry?" Lamont asked.

  "Man's gotta eat. Never know when you might get another chance."

  36

  An hour and a half later the sun was gone. The temperature was dropping fast. Out here where there were no towns or cities, the sky was velvet black and alight with stars. Looking up at the sky, Nick thought about the image of Nut in the tomb, her black figure covered with stars.

  Silent, they moved back up the wadi toward the sentry. The guard was a dark shape against the glow cast from the fires on the other side of the ridge. He was sitting on a rock, looking out over the camp.

  Ronnie slipped up behind him, clamped a hand over his mouth, and drove his knife deep into the man's back. He struggled and died. Ronnie lowered the body to the ground. They looked down at the camp of Masuda Bahar. A low murmur of sound came from groups of men sitting cross legged around the fires.

  "Lot of tents," Lamont said. "She could be anywhere."

  "See that big one at the edge of the camp, set apart from the others? That's probably Masuda's," Nick said. "My guess is she'll be there. Masuda will want to know what she's doing here and who she's with."

  "She's not going to tell him anything," Ronnie said.

  "That's what I'm afraid of. This guy has a reputation for cruelty."

  "Then we'd better get down there," Lamont said.

  "Our best shot is to get into that tent. If she's there, fine. If she's not, we'll make Masuda tell us where she is. They're not going to shoot us if we have their precious Mahdi."

  "You want to take him hostage?" Ronnie said.

  "If we have to. Whatever it takes to get out with Selena."

  Ronnie pointed. "Everyone is busy sitting around the fires eating and bullshitting. We could work around the edge of the camp and get to that big rock there. From there it's not far to the tent we want."

  "Kind of exposed once we head in," Lamont said.

  "Not much we can do about it," Nick said. "We'll stick to the shadows. We run into someone, don't use the guns or the whole camp will be on us."

  They made their way down toward the encampment. The light from the fires didn't reach past the tents. It was easy enough to get close. Approaching Masuda's tent was going to be the hard part.

  This wasn't the first time they'd been in a situation where they couldn't talk. Long ago, they'd developed hand signals and gestures to communicate with each other. Now Nick signaled.

  They moved in single file into the camp until they reached the rock Ronnie had picked out. Then two men came around the side of a tent. They stopped in surprise. One man opened his mouth to shout but Nick was on him, driving his knife up under the ribs and into the man's heart. He grunted and went to the ground. The second terrorist's cry of warning turned into a wet gurgle as Ronnie slashed his throat.

  They reached the back of Masuda's tent and heard people talking. Ronnie made a quiet cut in the canvas and peered inside.

  37

  Selena had been lying down in a half doze in the doctor's tent, her mind drifting in and out. She had a terrible headache and her vision was still double. Jabari hadn't come back in fifteen minutes. It was full dark by the time he returned. He had another man with him.

  "He wants her now," he said to the doctor. "You. Get up."

  "She has a bad concussion," the doctor said. "She'll be confused."

  "So much the worse for her."

  He came over to Selena.

  "Get up."

  He grabbed her roughly by the arm, pulling her to her feet. The second man gripped her other arm. She was dizzy, her legs weak. She felt as though she had no strength, unable to call on her skills to break free.

  She stumbled along between them as they pulled her across the camp to a large tent. Two guards stood outside, cradling AKs. The flaps to the tent were open. They pushed her inside, then forced her sprawling onto a rug in front of Masuda Bahar.

  Three other men were in the tent, sitting on carpets. Masuda sat above them, on a dais covered with rugs. Selena started to stand. Jabari pushed her back down onto her knees and hands. She looked up at the man who believed he would lead a worldwide jihad against the infidels.

  The adrenaline rush had cleared the cotton from her thinking, but her vision was still blurred. Perhaps it was the concussion, but she could see a dark aura of pulsing red energy around Masuda. She felt herself recoil. There was a sense of malevolence about him that went beyond his black robes and cruel face. His eyes were strange, as if something hidden was looking out behind them.

  Selena's pack and MP7 were on the dais next to him. Her thinking was finally clear. They'd done a poor job searching her. A slim, lethal blade was strapped to the inside of her thigh. If she could get it out in time...

  "Who are you?" Masuda said.

  Selena looked at him.

  Don't let him know you speak Arabic.

  "I don't understand," she said in English.

  Masuda gestured impatiently at one of the men sitting in the tent.

  "Ahmed. Translate."

  Ahmed got up and came over to stand next to Selena.

  "He asks who are you?" He said.

  "I'm a...geologist," Selena said.

  "A geologist? What were you doing where we found you?"

  "I was looking for rare earth elements," she said.

  "Well?" Masuda said.