that the time for the new age to dawn was rapidly approaching. With the exception of some minor currency and tax violations, the Bureau lacked evidence that the group had committed any actual crimes. Then one of the members had made plane reservations to Israel using an assumed name. The man was Benjamin Thatch.
The CIA and the Office of Special Demands had been brought in to help only a week before. In Ferguson’s opinion, it was one of the only things the Bureau had done right. They didn’t know who Thatch was meeting or exactly where he was going; they didn’t even know that much about him, except that he was an accountant.
As the agent in charge of the First Team, Ferguson had high standards. Officially known as the Joint Services Special Demands Project Office, the First Team was a CIA-Special Forces unit that could call on a wide range of resources, including a combined Ranger/Special Forces task group that had its own specially modified MC–I30s. The Team had been created to address unconventional threats in an unconventional way, without interference from the bureaucracy of either the intelligence or military establishments. The arrangement made Ferguson and the men and women who worked with him essentially free agents, and Ferg was a free agent par excellence.
The Mossad had been called in on the Seven Angels project not only because they had a handle on all the radicals in the region but also because it was nearly impossible to run an operation in the Middle East without their knowledge and at least tacit approval. As usual, Ferguson found the Mossad operatives assigned to assist incredibly efficient and utterly dedicated. They were also, he knew, potentially ruthless and ultimately loyal to Israel,
“Coming out,” said Rankin.
Ferg pulled a pair of sunglasses out of his pocket.
“What was he doing?” asked Stein.
“Don’t know. Didn’t talk to anyone that I saw.”
Ferguson bent down, pretending to admire the display in the store he’d stopped in front of. He watched Thatch’s reflection as he passed, counted to three, then started to follow.
“Where we heading?” Ferguson asked Stein.
“Not a clue,” said the Israeli. His accent had a decidedly Brooklyn flavor to it, a legacy of several years as a case officer in New York City. “You’re moving parallel to the Old City, which would be his most likely destination if he were a tourist.”
“Maybe he’s lost,” said Ferg. “It’s his first time overseas, let alone here. I was just about born here, and I’m confused.”
Ferguson slowed his pace to let Thatch get farther ahead as he crossed the street. He followed at about ten yards as the subject continued to the next intersection and then turned right. A block later, the distance had widened to fifteen yards. Ferguson decided to close it up as Thatch turned right down a side street; he trotted forward, then stopped abruptly at the intersection, momentarily unsure where Thatch was. Cursing silently he started to trot again, then stopped as Thatch appeared in the crowd a few paces ahead. Ferguson followed as the traffic cleared. Thatch waited a moment at the curb for the traffic and crossed, all alone on the block. Ferguson crossed behind him.
A short, frumpy-looking woman wearing a raincoat turned the corner and walked in Thatch’s direction.
Someone at the other end of the block shouted. As Ferguson turned to see why, the woman exploded.
2
Ferguson woke up in the ambulance, the siren piercing the sides of his skull.
“I’m OK,” he groaned, trying to get up. The attendants had belted him in, and he didn’t get very far.
“Just take it easy,” said Stein.
Ferguson didn’t recognize the voice at first. He tried again to get up. “There some sort of force field holding me down or what?”
“You’re strapped in,” said Stein.
“Don’t want me leaving without paying the bill, huh?”
Stein leaned over Ferguson. “You’re going to be all right. You have a concussion and some cuts.”
“Yeah, and my leg’s missing right?”
“Your sense of humor’s intact.”
“Already on the road to recovery.” Ferguson worked his arms out from under the restraints and undid the belt.
“You think you should do that?” asked Stein as he sat up.
“Probably not.” His head pounded like a jackhammer. “Where’s Thatch?”
“Gone,” said Stein.
“Convenient.”
Stein didn’t say anything.
“Who was the woman?” Ferguson asked.
“We’re working on it. She tried to get on a bus at the corner around the block, but someone saw that she had a raincoat and the sun was out.”
So probably, thought Ferguson through the pounding, it was just incredibly bad luck for Thatch. And for them. Maybe the FBI wasn’t incompetent; maybe the case was just cursed.
Ferguson brought his legs down to the floor. “All right, let’s go.”
“Where?”
“Check out his hotel room.”
“I’ll call your people. You’re going to the hospital.”
Rankin watched from the end of the block as the Israelis continued to work. Barely an hour had passed since the suicide bomber had blown herself up, and already the cleanup had begun. A truck with two large panes of glass pulled up nearby; after a brief conversation with the driver, the police waved it through the barricade. The area would soon be reopened to traffic, and within a few hours it would be difficult to tell that anything had happened here. This was all part of the Israeli coping mechanism: you dealt with the horror brusquely and moved on quickly.
Besides Thatch and herself, the woman had killed two elderly men walking behind her. About a dozen people had been injured, including Ferguson. As the police continued to interview potential eyewitnesses, Rankin took another walk around the block, trying to decide whether someone could have been acting with the suicide bomber as a lookout. The answer was yes, but even Rankin thought it was unlikely that Thatch had been assassinated in some sort of elaborate plot.
Manson, the FBI agent who’d been in the control van, walked up to Rankin when he returned. He was the ranking FBI agent on the detail to Jerusalem, though the surveillance operation was under Ferguson’s direct command. “What do you think?” asked Manson.
Rankin shrugged. “You tell me.”
“Crappy luck.”
“Yeah.”
“Ferguson called from the hospital. He wants us to check out the hotel room. Our forensics people are on the way.”
“Yeah. OK, let’s do it,” said Rankin. “I’ll call Guns.”
Guns was Marine Gunnery Sergeant Jack “Guns” Young, another First Team member, who had been tasked to stay at Thatch’s hotel and see if anyone went into his room.
“You want to stop at the hospital, check on Ferguson?” asked Manson.
“Why?”
Surprised by the sharp, almost bitter tone of Rankin’s answer, Manson said nothing.
Rankin’s sat phone rang as they drove over. He took it out of his pocket and slowly swung up the antenna. “Rankin.”
“What’s going on?” asked Jack Corrigan. Corrigan worked back in the States, supporting the First Team from
