heavily on the table and gazed at Ben with penetrating eyes. ‘This is a very ugly situation. For all of us,’ he added meaningfully. Then his eyes darted across and the steady gaze landed on Alex. ‘Agent Fiorante, you realise you’re in a lot of trouble here. Before we get started, have you anything to say?’
Ben could feel the tension in her, like a crackle of electricity next to him. She clearly knew what he’d already guessed, that on the other side of the mirrored window there were people watching and listening, filming and transcribing every word that was being said in the room.
‘Nothing that isn’t already in the statement I made on the way here,’ she said coolly.
‘Let’s run through it again, for the record,’ Murdoch said.
Callaghan smiled coldly.
Alex spoke carefully, measuring every word. ‘I was part of Jones’s team, under the impression that we were taking part in authorised operations. However, during that time I witnessed a number of incidents that I found highly suspect, to say the least. I can testify that Jones personally executed the two Georgia police officers as well as Dr Greenberg at the facility near Chinook, Montana. It all happened right in front of me. I will further testify that Jones and his associates were using the Montana facility to imprison, and, if we hadn’t intervened, to torture and murder Zoe Bradbury.’
‘And you didn’t think to report any of this to your superiors at the time,’ Callaghan cut in from across the table, staring aggressively at her.
‘Sir, Agent Jones was my immediate superior. And I was concerned for my safety. That said, I regret my actions.’
Murdoch’s face was impassive. He nodded gravely. ‘This is an issue we can address later on.’ He turned to Ben. ‘Let’s talk about you. I’ve seen your military record. We know exactly who you are. So there’s no point whatsoever in pretence.’
Ben returned his steady gaze. ‘I had no intention of concealing anything from you.’
‘You were hired by Miss Bradbury’s family to locate her.’
Ben shook his head. ‘I was helping a friend. I had no professional involvement.’
‘Whatever you say. But the body count is beginning to look like one of your old military operations. First Greece. Then Georgia. Then Montana. Our investigation team is still pulling dead men out of the Mountain View Hotel. All either active or former government agents. The farm where we found you resembles a war zone. From what I can see, Major Hope, you leave a trail of devastation and mayhem in your wake everywhere you go.’
‘Only when people stand in the way,’ Ben said. ‘And you can call me Mr Hope.’
‘Right. I see you’re retired.’
‘I’m a theology student.’
Murdoch’s lips curled into the faintest of smiles. ‘So would you mind telling me what exactly has been going on with this Bradbury kidnapping?’
‘It was never really about Zoe Bradbury,’ Ben said. ‘She’s only an incidental part of it. It’s about something bigger. Much bigger.’
‘Like what?’
‘Like war,’ Ben said. ‘The war to end all wars.’
‘This is making no sense to me,’ Murdoch rumbled. ‘Let’s take it from the top. You’re claiming that Special Agent Jones was part of some kind of ghost organisation, working from within the Agency.’
‘Right under your noses. He and his associates have been making use of your resources for their own aims.’
‘Which are?’
‘It took me a while to work it out,’ Ben said. ‘But like I told you, I study the Bible. It’s all in there. It’s been there for thousands of years, written into prophetic scripture.’
Callaghan shook his head in confusion.
‘The Book of Revelation,’ Ben said.
‘Give us a break,’ Callaghan sneered. ‘The Omen. Number of the Beast.’
‘Can’t you shut this cretin up?’ Ben asked Murdoch.
‘Shut up, Callaghan,’ Murdoch said, keeping his eyes on Ben. ‘Mr Hope, I would like you to explain this to me clearly.’
‘The organisation is a militant evangelical Christian cell. Their goal is a terrorist strike in Jerusalem.’
Callaghan burst out laughing. Murdoch glanced at him, his serious expression holding.
‘If you don’t believe me,’ Ben said, ‘maybe you’ll believe one of your own people. You took my phone away from me at the farm. Let me have it back.’
‘Who do you want to call?’ Callaghan chuckled. ‘Your lawyer? Or your priest?’
‘Give him the phone,’ Murdoch said.
Callaghan made an exaggerated gesture of surrender, reached down into his case and brought out a clear plastic bag. He tipped the phone out of it. Ben picked it up, turned it on and scrolled through the menu. Then he placed the phone on the table with the screen facing the two men, and played back the video recording of Jones for them.
The man sat framed on the tiny screen. He talked. They watched and listened. Callaghan loosened his tie and shifted in his seat. Murdoch’s sombre expression drew darker. The playback ended with Jones disappearing out of the frame, and the sound of the wooden stake punching through his body as he fell to his death. Ben reached across and turned it off.
‘You realise this confession was obtained illegally,’ Murdoch warned. ‘It doesn’t constitute evidence.’
‘Nothing very legal about any of it,’ Ben said. ‘I administered the truth serum that Special Agent Jones was going to give to Zoe Bradbury. They didn’t exactly have a doctor’s prescription.’
Murdoch glared heavily at him. ‘Keep talking.’
Ben filled in what he knew. He started at the beginning and worked his way through to the end, leaving nothing out. By the end of it, he knew he had Murdoch’s attention. Deep furrows had appeared on the man’s brow.
But Callaghan was staring sceptically. ‘This Slater, the guy you claim Jones was taking orders from. Shame he never mentioned that name during his statement.’
‘It’s true,’ Alex cut in, glancing nervously at Ben.
‘Did you personally meet this man?’ Callaghan asked her harshly.
She paused a beat, then shook her head. ‘No, sir, not as such.’
Callaghan smiled and pointed at Ben. ‘So we only have his word for it.’
‘You got a first name for him?’ Murdoch said.
‘I never got around to asking,’ Ben replied. ‘We weren’t really on first-name terms.’
‘So basically you have no idea who he is,’ Callaghan said.
‘I could describe him,’ Ben said. ‘He’s about my age, North American Caucasian, red hair, slight build, about five-eight, professional, moneyed, expensive watch.’
‘Not exactly hard data,’ Callaghan spat.
‘But still, I’d like to know more about him,’ Murdoch cut in. ‘If this guy exists, he’s on our database.’ He laid his hands flat on the table, lips puckering in concentration. ‘Let’s leave that aside. I just don’t get what you’re telling me here. Why does a Christian group want to start a war?’
‘Let me make it simple,’ Ben said. ‘Someone is staging a deliberate attempt to force biblical prophecy to come true. Perhaps because they truly believe it’s going to happen. Maybe they’re tired of waiting for God to make the first move. Or maybe it’s a trick, to make it look as if it’s about to come true, in order to dupe millions of believers into thinking the End Times are about to start. Either way, I believe the motive is largely political.’
‘Involving whom?’ Murdoch asked calmly. ‘And at what level?’
‘I don’t know. But it’s at a high level. Whoever this is, they have a lot to gain by steering the world towards war and generating mass panic, or mass euphoria, among a core of more than fifty million American voters.’
‘This is totally absurd,’ Callaghan said. ‘Crazy. Purely speculative.’
Murdoch ignored him, watching Ben with a look that said he was taking this very seriously now. ‘How do you get to this conclusion?’
‘Think of Jerusalem from a strategic point of view,’ Ben said. ‘You’ve got the holiest sites of Judaism and Islam side by side in the same city. A place of anger and frustration. A religious powder-keg, just waiting for a spark to set it off. And it’s Ground Zero for the End Time movement. Fifty million pairs of eyes glued to it, interpreting every
