Aaron said, “And?”

“Translation coming in now.”

We watched the screen, and what came out caused my blood to run cold.

Quote: I’m coming. Calm down. The Internet is shit in this place.

Quote: Get the camera. Hold her still.

End Quote.

*   *   *

Shoshana heard the man called Anzor coming back through the toilet and knew her time was close. He said, “Internet doesn’t work any better in there than it did in here. I’m amazed you actually got the video to load in the first place.”

Omar said, “Get her on top of the plastic. Pick up the whole chair. There will be a lot of blood.”

Anzor said, “Omar, think about this. You want to kill her, fine, but doing it here, in a hotel room I’ve rented, is too much.”

Omar looked at him, the death he represented flooding into the room, a power that had grown in the time the men had known him in Georgia. Anzor held up his hands and said, “Hey, Omar, I’m not fighting. I’m just talking sense.”

Omar said, “Surely you didn’t give them your real name?”

“No, of course not, but at least use the bathtub.”

“No. I want the propaganda. Go get the vehicle ready. Pull it on the other side of Toptani.”

Levan said, “We didn’t sign up for some crazy Islamic killing.”

“You signed up to help me, and that’s what you’re doing. You complete this, you take me to the airport, and you disappear, end of mission.”

The three looked at one another, and Anzor slowly nodded, saying, “Okay, but this is it. Our debt will be paid in full. No more help.”

Omar showed his teeth and said, “Of course. After this, all you need to do is take me to the airport. Nothing more.”

Anzor left the room.

Shoshana watched Omar pick up the bread knife and walk toward her. He said, “Levan, hold the camera. I want them to feel the pain of her death.”

Levan said, “Fuck you. Do it yourself.”

Omar snarled, “It’s no different from the punishment you’ve dealt out. Only you do it to prostitutes for not fucking enough people.”

Levan remained defiant, and Omar slipped his hand into his coat pocket. “You’re either with me or against me.” He paused, going from one man to the other, then said, “And I’ll kill everyone against me.”

Davit glanced at Levan and said, “Hang on. I’ll do it.”

He picked up the camera, and Shoshana thrashed, the thought of being slaughtered on tape more than she could bear. She felt Omar’s hands on her head, holding her tight. She stopped struggling.

He said, “Any last words for the camera? I’d prefer it if you denounced Israel, but I’m fairly sure that won’t happen.”

She looked into his eyes, and without even meaning to, she read him, her talent touching the depths of the abyss. She felt a blackness unlike any she’d experienced before, drenched in the blood of innocents.

She felt the pain of others long gone, saw the slaughter he’d caused, and recognized the truth, as she had in the past. She raised her head, looking him in the eye. She said, “You believe you’re powerful, but only because you kill the helpless. You are nothing.”

Bemused, Omar said, “And how would you know what I am?”

“You are no different from every terrorist that takes the lives of innocents. No different from the men I’ve tracked. You murder, then begin to believe you’re better than the ones who are dead. You project yourself as a killer of men, living within the superiority of someone with absolute power. You think that gives you strength. That you’re invulnerable. And your tribe reinforces the myth, kissing your ass and bowing to your control. But you make a mistake.”

“What is that, Jew girl?”

“You aren’t superior, no matter how many you kill. You are human. You live and breathe. You have blood that pumps through your veins. In God’s eyes, you are no more powerful than the man you put under the knife. And someday, it will be you.”

He scoffed. “That power is enough today.”

She didn’t say anything. He stared at her, and she saw a shadow of doubt flick across his face. A brief moment, but there nonetheless. More to himself than to her, he said, “I’m strong enough to kill you, am I not?”

She drilled into him with her eyes. “No. You’re not. I have something you do not possess. I have salvation.”

He took the words in, then raised the knife.

He said, “Only Allah has salvation. And He doesn’t offer it to offal like you. But I can give you what you want, if you feel so strongly about it.”

She closed her eyes and dropped her chin into her chest, wanting to make him battle for her soul. She thought about Aaron, and begged for the strength he possessed. She remembered her grandfather, fighting to save the athletes in Munich so long ago. She desperately wanted to focus on what was pure. What was right about her chosen path.

All she felt was fear.

Eyes closed, Aaron came to the fore again, and she was crushed at the pain he would feel upon seeing her death. He would need something to help. Something to show he’d done the right thing in bringing her here. She took a breath and decided to die looking the devil in the eye.

When she did, he was above her, holding the knife. He showed no animosity. Almost detached from what he was doing, he said, “You and I are not that different, but it will not save you. We both have a destiny. Mine is to secure the caliphate of Islam. Yours is to die.”

He brought the blade down slowly. Almost reverently. She closed her eyes again, waiting on the bite. There was a gunshot in the hallway, then a slamming noise outside of the adjacent room. Omar jerked his head up, shouting at Levan to find out the cause, but she knew what it was.

Like looking into a soul, she knew.

69

The last chat still glowing on the screen, I said, “Everyone kitted up? Ready?” A group of nods. “We go right now, as briefed. Knuckles, where’s the interior stairwell?”

He said, “Follow me,” and slipped out the door. We reached it and spent a brief few seconds in the landing getting sorted for assault. We jogged up the stairs in stack order, Aaron leading the way, followed by Brett with the battering ram, then Knuckles. The second team was Retro, me, then Jennifer as tail-gunner. Aaron paused in the alcove on the second floor and peeked out. He nodded, looking at me. I pointed, and we entered the hallway at a jog.

The two rooms were the last ones on the left side, the outside stairwell just beyond the first door, an alcove on the right with a picture window showing starlight and the vague glow of a vapor lamp. Aaron had just passed my target room when the exterior stairwell door opened, a man appearing. A man I recognized.

Computer chat guy.

He took one look at the group, weapons bristling and radiating menace, and snapped back into the stairwell.

Aaron got off two rounds, the bullets hammering into the door as it slammed shut. I said, “Execute, execute, now, now, now.”

I slid out of the way, giving Retro access to our door, and a weapon appeared at the stairwell. An MP-5, held only in a fist, the body behind cover, and it began firing on automatic.

Retro slammed the sledge, bullets ripping through the hallway, the first team firing from the prone, jammed on top of one another in the narrow space, all trying to dig their way through the carpet. The door exploded open and I entered on the run, rifle barrel high and finger on the trigger. I swept, seeing a man with a pistol coming out of the bathroom. I split him open with a double tap while still racing in, clearing the breach for the others.

I heard someone shout, then my earpiece came alive. “Retro’s hit, Retro’s hit.”

I said, “Abandon second breach. Abandon second breach.” I reached the door of the bathroom and held up, waiting on another assaulter. I felt a squeeze and didn’t even look to see who it was, kicking in the door. We advanced to the far side and rounds split the air, puncturing the connecting bathroom door with both of us falling into the bathtub to get out of the fire. As soon as it raked past, I bounced up, moving forward to the breach. I kicked the door open, seeing Shoshana being dragged by the hair into the hallway, making her captor fight for every inch.