'Take us there.'
The cabbie cranked his engine and pulled onto Ha-Universita. I saw a phalanx of police cars parked in a lot to our left. 'What's that place?'
'National Police Headquarters. I hope you don't want to go there.'
'The Strudel. Make it fast. I have important busi¬ness.'
'Yes, sir. Ten minutes, tops.'
WHITE SANDS
A uniformed soldier drove Ravi Nara to the airstrip. The limitless desert night had once made Ravi uncomfortable, but tonight it comforted him. As the Jeep approached the runway, a Learjet taxied around the hangar and parked beside Godin's Gulfstream 5. The Lear was black and had no markings. When its door opened, John Skow bent and stepped through it.
'I've been trying to reach you!' the NSA man called. 'Is something wrong with your phone?'
Ravi looked at his military escort again, but the sol¬dier seemed oblivious to the conversation. 'I'm on my way to Jerusalem.'
Skow gripped Ravi's arm and walked him ten paces away from the soldier. 'What the hell are you talking about?'
'Peter's sending me to Jerusalem.'
'He's still alive?'
'Yes.'
Panic and anger distorted Skow's features. 'Did you even try?'
'Yes, goddamn it!'
'Why is Peter sending you to Jerusalem?'
'To make sure Tennant dies.'
Skow tilted back his head like a man looking to the heavens for assistance. 'Forget that. You're not going anywhere. Tennant escaped from Hadassah Hospital.'
'But… they said he was in alpha coma.'
'He must have come out of it. Rachel Weiss sure didn't carry him out of there.'
Ravi couldn't believe it. 'Maybe somebody else did.'
'My God,' breathed Skow. 'The Israelis. They'd kill to get their hands on Trinity technology.'
Ravi wasn't thinking about Trinity. 'Do you know where Geli Bauer is, John?'
Skow looked curiously at him. 'Of course. Walter Reed Hospital.'
Ravi shook his head, a sinking feeling in his stomach. 'I thought you were better than this.'
'What are you talking about?'
'Geli is here, guarding Peter.'
Skow blanched.
'Why didn't you know that?'
'That bitch has been taking my calls all day on her cell, telling me how great the doctors are at Walter Reed.'
'You told me she was on board with us.'
'She said she was. I'm going to have to call her father.'
Ravi's military driver marched over to them. 'Dr. Nara? It's time to board the plane.'
Skow addressed the soldier in a commanding voice. 'Corporal, I'm taking Dr. Nara back to see Mr. Godin. The situation in Israel has changed.'
Ravi had no intention of staying in New Mexico. 'I'm going to Jerusalem, John. Tennant and Weiss could turn up at any time. Peter wants it to look like he's doing everything in his power to save Tennant, and I think he's right.'
'I know you'd like to go to Jerusalem,' Skow said, holding Ravi's arm tight. 'But the fact is, you're needed here.'
'Peter's got a new doctor.'
'But he needs you.'
Ravi looked at his escort. 'I'm ready to get on the plane.'
The soldier stepped forward, but an authoritative glare from Skow stopped him. 'Corporal, I'm here on direct orders from the president. Your commanding offi¬cer, General Bauer, is fully conversant with my mission. I need two minutes with this man. Then we're going to see Mr. Godin. Step back, please. Give me twenty meters.'
The corporal obeyed.
Ravi tried to pull away, but Skow's hand held him like a claw. 'You gave me up, didn't you? You little bas¬tard.'
'I didn't tell them anything! But that won't help you. They know too much. I'd be dead now if Peter hadn't got into medical trouble.'
Skow looked around the runway as though he expected soldiers to descend on him at any moment. 'Listen to me, Ravi. Running to Jerusalem won't save you. The president is buying our version of the story, but if Godin is around to tell his side, we're dead. So-you still have a job to do.'
Ravi felt nauseating fear in his belly. 'You're crazy! They'll never let me close to him now. And if I stay here, Geli will kill me.'
Skow shook him like a child. 'Calm down, for God's sake! You can hide in my quarters until I straighten things out.'
'Straighten things out? With Godin?'
Skow smiled. 'You've forgotten that my specialty is information warfare.'
He led Ravi to the Jeep and signaled for the corporal to get behind the wheel.
'But they already suspect you,' Ravi said. 'What will you tell them?'
Skow's smile took on a reptilian quality. 'I'm an old hand at survival, Ravi. Even Geli could take lessons from me.'
CHAPTER 35
JERUSALEM
The Strudel Internet Bar was closed. I could see a bearded man inside, cleaning the bar. I knocked on the glass, then waved and pointed at the door handle. The man shook his head.
'You have the money belts?' I asked Rachel.
'Yes.'
'Give me a hundred-dollar bill.'
I pressed the bill up against the door. It took the man inside a minute to notice it, and when he did, he only waved me away again. When we refused to leave, he walked to the door and looked closer at the bill. Then he yelled in English for us not to go anywhere, disappeared into an office, and came back with a set of keys.
'I need a computer,' I said, when the door opened.
'Come in, no problem. High-speed Internet.'
Rachel paid the cabbie, then joined me inside.
The Strudel was dark and smelled tike bars around the world, but it did have a computer. I sat at the bar and began searching the Internet for the e-mail addresses of the top universities and computer facilities in the United States and Europe. Cal Tech, the Artificial Intelligence Lab at MIT, CERN in Switzerland, the Max Planck Institute in Stuttgart, the Chaim Weizmann Institute in Israel, the Earth Simulator computer team in Japan, several others.
'What are you doing?' Rachel asked, climbing onto the stool beside me.
'Going public.'
