him to his knees, as he fumbled to train his gun. Dirk quickly reversed his swing, leveling a second blow to the other side of the man’s head, which knocked him down and out.
“Everybody here all right?” Dirk asked, catching his breath as the salt water dripped off his body.
Sophie jumped up and grabbed his arm, relieved at his presence.
“We’re okay, but there’s another gunman who just walked down the beach.”
“I know. I set off the water jet to lure him away.”
As he spoke, they could hear the distant generator sputter to a halt, the cascading waterfall dying with it.
“He’ll be coming right back,” she said in a low tone.
Dirk quickly surveyed the small group of captives. Sam sat with a dazed look in his eye, leaning against the bloodied agent Raban. Dr. Haasis was lying down with his leg wrapped in a shirt bandage, looking as if he was in a state of shock. The remaining students — three women and two men — sat looking at him with hopeless anxiety. Dirk could plainly see that the collected group would be unable to make a speedy escape. He gazed at the sleeping gunman, then turned to Sophie.
“Help me get his jacket off.”
Dirk lifted the man’s torso off the ground while Sophie stripped off his loose black jacket. Holding him under the arms, Dirk dragged the man around to the back side of the captives.
“Bury his legs in the sand, then sit in front of his upper body,” he told the two male students. They quickly shoved sand over his feet and legs, then tried to conceal the rest of his body by sitting cross-legged in front of it.
Dirk yanked off the gunman’s scarf and wrapped it around his head, then slipped into the black jacket. He ran back around to the front of the group and picked up the assault rifle.
“He’s coming,” someone whispered in a frightened voice.
“Sit back down,” Dirk said to Sophie as he checked the weapon. It was a mass-produced AK-74, likely smuggled into the country through Egypt. Dirk was vaguely familiar with the gun, having fired a similar version at a shooting range one time. He felt along the left side of the receiver to ensure that the fire selector switch was on automatic, then pulled back on the charging lever. He quickly raised the weapon and faced the group as if standing guard.
Mahmoud appeared along the beach and trudged up to the captives with an annoyed scowl.
“Someone made a water fountain with a generator,” he muttered. “Shot fifty feet into the sky.”
Dirk kept his back toward the man, waiting for him to step closer. When he felt him draw near, he slowly wheeled around, casually leveling the AK-74 at Mahmoud’s chest.
“You take good care of the girl while I was gone?” the Arab asked. Then he froze.
It dawned on him that his silent partner had suddenly grown taller, was sporting a wet pair of short pants, and gazed bitterly at him through a pair of green eyes. Then there was the Kalashnikov rifle pointed in his direction.
“Drop your weapon,” Dirk ordered.
Sophie repeated the command in Arabic, but it was unnecessary. Mahmoud knew exactly what Dirk meant. The Arab looked at Sophie and the students, then back to Dirk. Amateurs, he thought. His partner, Saheem, might have been duped, but he wouldn’t be.
“Yes, yes,” he said with a nod, extending his weapon toward the ground. But with a sudden move, he dropped to one knee and pulled the rifle stock to his shoulder while taking aim at Dirk.
The AK-74 in Dirk’s hands barked first. Four slugs tore into Mahmoud’s chest, throwing him backward, before he had a chance to squeeze the trigger. A heaving gasp dribbled from his lips, but his dying words were drowned by a frightened scream from one of the students. Sophie jumped to her feet and stepped close to Dirk.
“He was a filthy pig,” she said, eyeing the dead man.
Dirk took a deep breath to calm his pounding pulse, then walked over to Mahmoud and picked up his rifle. Up the hill, the horn on the utility truck suddenly blared, echoing down to the beach.
“A probable call to arms,” Dirk said. “We need to get everyone away from here and out of sight.”
He walked over to the group and called to one of the students, a wiry man with long legs.
“Thomas, we need you to go get us some help. There’s a housing development less than a mile up the beach. Find a phone, and see if you can get some police here pronto. Just be sure to tell them what they’ll be up against.”
The young man stood up and looked hesitantly at his friends, then turned and took off down the beach at a sprint. Dirk quickly scanned the area around them, then stood before the remaining group.
“We need to move before they come looking for their friends. Let’s see if we can get around the back side of the amphitheater, for starters,” he said.
“This one is stirring,” replied one of the students, motioning toward the prone figure of Saheem.
“Leave him be,” Dirk replied. He stepped over to Sophie and handed her one of the assault rifles. “Did you serve in the Israel Defense Forces?” he asked.
“Yes, I did my two years,” she said. Israel’s mandatory military conscription also applied to women. She took the gun without hesitation.
“Can you cover our retreat?” he asked.
“I can try.”
Dirk leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Stay close to us.”
He walked over and helped Dr. Haasis to his feet. The professor’s eyes were dull and his skin pale from the shock of his wound. With help from the other male student, Dirk hauled him across the sand. With the others in tow, he led them over the amphitheater’s stage and toward the far edge of the tiered seats. Sophie followed the group a few paces behind, peering through the darkness for any approaching figures.
Gasping for breath, Dirk muscled the deadweight of Haasis to the rear of the towering structure. Nearby was a storage shed that had been constructed to house concert equipment and was positioned against the side of the theater. Dirk dragged Haasis behind the shed and gently laid him on the ground. The other students and the wounded agents fell in alongside the professor as Sophie brought up the rear.
“We’ll hold up here and wait for the police to arrive,” Dirk said, finding the corner a manageable defensive position.
“Dirk, I see lights coming down the trail,” Sophie reported quietly.
They peered around the side of the shed toward a pair of faint lights that bobbed down the hill. The beams slowly made their way along the beach, accompanied by an occasional shout of a name. One of the beams sprayed upon Saheem, who had managed to stand up but was staggering about in a daze. The dead body of Mahmoud was soon discovered, amplifying a frenzied murmur of voices. One of the lights turned and fanned across the interior of the amphitheater. Dirk wrapped an arm around Sophie and jerked her back from the edge.
“Sorry,” he whispered, relaxing his grip only slightly. “They have night vision goggles.”
Sophie slipped an arm around Dirk’s torso and squeezed back. They clung to each other for a minute before Dirk attempted another peek. To his relief, both light beams were proceeding down the beach and could soon be seen bounding up the hill. A few minutes later, the faint rumble of the utility truck was heard making its way out of the park.
A wail of sirens and flashing lights arrived at the park just ten minutes later. Dirk and Sophie hiked up to the camp as a patrol of armed police with high-beamed flashlights and barking German shepherds burst down the trail. They led the police to the amphitheater, where Haasis and the injured agents were quickly evacuated by ambulance. Dirk noted with curiosity that the body of Mahmoud had disappeared, dragged up the hill by his comrades and carted off with the stolen artifacts.
After extensive questioning by the police, Dirk took a look inside the artifact tent. As he expected, all of the scroll boxes had been removed. What he didn’t expect to find were the storehouse artifacts, which were still scattered about the tables in varying states of analysis and conservation. He exited the tent to find Sophie approaching from the parking lot. Under the overhead lights, he could see her eyes were red, and she appeared to be trembling. Dirk stepped over and grabbed her hand.
“They just took Arie away,” she said, referring to agent Holder. “Shot dead over some stupid artifacts.”
“They were as apt at stealing as they were at killing. They heisted only the scrolls, didn’t even bother with the other artifacts,” he replied, nodding toward the tent.
