The Cup (17 page)

CHAPTER 40

They'd been driving for several hours. Nick had been waiting to see flashing lights in his mirrors. They'd passed a large town called Viransehir. Now they were back in open country, all fields and orchards.

"I'm sorry about Mercurio," Selena said. "He was a good man. There aren't many of those left these days. At least we don't meet many of them."

"The people we tend to meet are anything but good," Nick said.

"How did those assholes find us?" Lamont asked.

Nick swerved to avoid a pothole.

"Good question. Someone in ISIS is good at what he's doing. A better question might be why do they keep showing up?"

"That's easy," Selena said. "They think we'll lead them to the Grail."

Ronnie sat next to Lamont in the back, behind Nick. "How did they get on to Mercurio in the first place?"

Selena turned in her seat to look at him. "Probably their contact in the Swedish police. I wonder if they caught him yet?"

She turned back and looked out at the flat, Anatolian plain passing by.

"What are we going to do next, Nick?"

"It depends on Harker. She'll probably send us to Malta."

"There's no proof it went to Malta."

"No, but there's a pattern here."

"What pattern?" Ronnie asked.

"Each time the Grail is about to fall into the wrong hands, it's moved somewhere else. Theodosius gave it to Anastasius as he was dying. Anastasius gave it to the monk at Mor Gabriel, so he must've been worried about its safety. Then it was handed over to the Hospitallers when the monastery was going to be overrun by the Mongols. The Hospitallers took it to Rhodes. Then Sulemein shows up with an overwhelming force."

"It's like trouble follows it," Lamont said.

"Right. If I were protecting the cup and I saw Sulemein coming, you can bet your ass I'd find a safer place for it. It makes sense it would be sent on to Malta. The Knights held out there, so they wouldn't need to move it again. If it's anywhere, it's likely to be hidden somewhere on the island. Malta is our best bet."

"What if we don't find anything there?"

"Then we're done."

They came around a sweeping curve. Straight ahead police blocked the road with two cars nose to nose across the highway, leaving only a narrow space between.

A policeman stepped out from the cars and held up his hand. He was armed with a pistol in a holster. Two more cops waited beside him with M-14s held at port arms. They looked unfriendly. Two others were stationed behind the cars, taking aim at the Toyota with their rifles.

Ronnie said. "We try to run that, we're toast."

"Get your diplomatic passports out," Nick said. "We'll try to bluff our way through."

He turned to Selena. "You do the talking."

He slowed the Toyota and stopped.

The cop with the pistol kept his hand on the butt of his gun and approached the car.

"What's the trouble, Officer?" Selena asked in Turkish.

"Passports," the cop said. He had a sergeant's stripes on his sleeve. He held out his hand.

"He wants to see our passports," Selena said.

"Give them to him."

They handed their passports to Selena. She gave them to the cop. The Turk looked at the passports.

"Get out," he said in English.

Selena switched to English. "We're on a special fact-finding mission for our government. You can see we have diplomatic immunity. "

The cop stepped back from the car and took out his pistol.

"Get out. Now."

"Do as he says," Nick said.

They got out of the car.

"Raise your hands."

As they put up their hands, the other cops closed in.

"We have immunity," Nick said. "This is harassment. You're making a mistake."

One of the policeman with an M-14 had come up beside the sergeant.

"Shut up," the cop said.

He swung his rifle, aiming the butt at Nick's head. Nick grabbed the rifle as it came around, pulled it from the man's hands and kicked his leg out from under him. As the cop fell, Nick leveled the rifle at the sergeant.

Safeties clicked off. Everyone stopped moving. Nick heard the sound of a helicopter approaching.

I hope that's ours.

"Listen up, Sergeant. You tell your men to fire and you'll be dead before the words are out of your mouth. You hear that helicopter? It's coming for us and there are Marines on board or I miss my guess. Even if you take us down, you won't live to talk about it. Put your pistol on the ground. Tell your men to lower their guns."

"You are murderers," the cop said. He was red in the face.

"ISIS are the murderers. Tell your men to put down their guns."

The helicopter came into sight, a Sikorsky Blackhawk painted in desert camouflage.

The Turkish policeman's eyes darted toward the helicopter and back towards the rifle pointed at him. Nick hoped the man wouldn't do anything stupid.

"Silahlarinizi indirin,"
the sergeant said in a loud voice. He bent and put his pistol on the ground. His men lowered their rifles and laid them down.

"What did he say?" Nick asked Selena. He kept his rifle leveled at the sergeant.

"He told them to put down their weapons."

The sound of the rotors grew loud as the Blackhawk settled on the road nearby. The wind from the blades whipped dust and bits of debris into the air. The compartment door slid open and a half dozen Marines in battle dress poured out, weapons at the ready. They deployed and aimed their rifles at the cops.

A tall, young Marine with lieutenant's insignia sewn on his collar walked over to Nick and saluted. His name tag read Williams.

"Major Carter?"

It was strange to hear the familiar title again.

"In person. Lieutenant, I'm glad to see you."

"Any trouble here, sir?"

He eyed the Turkish police.

"Not anymore." Nick set the rifle he'd taken from the cop down on the ground. "Let's go."

The Turkish police sergeant looked as though he was about to have a stroke. Nick and the others ducked under the whirling blades of the chopper and climbed aboard. The Marines followed, keeping the Turks covered. Williams was the last to board. They lifted away as he pulled the compartment door shut.

Below, Nick saw the Turkish sergeant shaking his fist at them.

CHAPTER 41

Swearing was
Haram,
forbidden.

Haddad took out his rage by throwing his cell phone against the wall. Nawabi, dead, along with three good fighters, and they were no closer to finding the relic of Isa. His trusted lieutenant was now in paradise, but Haddad would have preferred to see him alive and working for the victory of the caliphate.

All because of the accursed Americans. Surely Allah was testing him. Recovering the cup would bring in thousands of recruits and cause great distress among the infidels. It would show everyone that Allah was preparing the world for the coming of the Mahdi. It would strengthen the believers and reveal those whose faith was weak.

He would not give up. But what would the Americans do now? Had they learned anything at the monastery? Were they still looking for the cup? All he knew was that they had gone back to Incirlik. They'd been seen there, getting out of a helicopter. If they continued their search they would have to leave the base. Haddad had informants at Incirlik. Someone would discover where the Americans had gone.

One of Haddad's guards knocked on the open door of his temporary office, a room on the ground floor of a house in a crowded residential area of Raqqa. Haddad never stayed in one place for long. Hiding in the midst of women and children helped keep him alive. The Americans were uncomfortable about bombing civilians. It was one of their weaknesses. He had given up wearing the traditional robe he preferred for the garb of an average fighter to help confuse the American satellites. One fighter wasn't worth a strike.

"The bomb maker is here," the guard said.

"Which one? We have many."

"The one they call The Scorpion."

Jaffari. Is it time?
Haddad thought.

"Send him in."

Rashid Jaffari placed his hand over his heart and greeted Haddad.

"Salaam Aleikum."

"As Aleikum Salaam.
Welcome, brother."

"We can talk?"

"Yes. This room is protected."

"The bomb is ready."

Haddad's face broke into a huge smile. He clapped his hands together in excitement.

"This is wonderful news, my friend. I knew you could do it."

"When do I leave?"

"Once I am sure our arrangements in Turkey are secure. Prepare two vehicles and load the bomb into one of them. The other will serve as backup."

"I am ready whenever you say."

Haddad opened a drawer in his desk. He took out a map of Turkey and Syria and spread it out on the desktop. Jaffari came around the desk to look at it.

"You will cross the border here, at Ayn al Arab." Haddad tapped the map with his finger. "The crossing has been arranged. Travel at night to avoid the aircraft and drones patrolling the area. You will have the right papers and permissions when you are in Turkey. You have drivers who can speak Turkish?"

"I have the perfect men," Jaffari said. "They are brothers, from Istanbul."

"Good. After you cross the border, it is a straightforward drive to the Gulf of Iskenderun. Turn south until you come to a village called Iznik." He tapped the map again. "A fishing boat will be there to take you to a ship waiting offshore. Once on board, it will take about two weeks to reach America."

"What is the name of the ship?"

"She is under Greek registry. Her name is the
Athena
."

Haddad wrote the name on a piece of paper and offered it. Jafarri waved it away.

"I'll remember. What if we are stopped and searched before we reach our destination?"

Haddad put the paper in his pocket. "Be ready to detonate the bomb but, God willing, you will reach your target without trouble."

Haddad paused.

"Rashid, my brother. You know what this mission means. You will not return. Your name will be remembered forever."

Jaffari placed his hand over his heart and bowed.

"
Insh’allah
. I am only His instrument."

"If you are discovered once you arrive in America, detonate the bomb. It doesn't really matter where you are."

"What will happen, after?"

"The Americans will discover intelligence implicating the Shia apostates in Tehran. They will  blame the Iranians and retaliate. War will begin. The Day of Retribution will be brought closer."

Jaffari smiled.

CHAPTER 42

Elizabeth was on the satellite link to Nick at Incirlik. She'd put the call on speaker. Stephanie sat nearby, listening. Nick briefed them on what had happened at the roadblock and what they'd learned at the monastery.

"There's already been a protest from the Turkish government," Elizabeth said. "President Rice is not happy."

"He'd be a lot less happy if those cops had opened fire," Nick said. "It's a good thing that Turkish sergeant had more brains than balls."

"You have a gift for words, Nick."

"Selena thinks ISIS is hoping we'll lead them to the Grail. I think she's right. They're following us, that's why they keep showing up. Someone smart is directing them. If we could figure out who that was and take him out, it would make things a lot simpler."

"There aren't many in ISIS with the authority to send these men after you. But pinning down who it is and where he is might be difficult."

"We recovered a phone at the monastery. Maybe there's something on it that will help."

"Give me a minute," Steph said. She entered commands on her keyboard. "Go ahead. I'm ready for transfer."

"Stand by."

They waited for Nick to connect the phone to his unit.

"Transferring now."

The contents of Nawabi's phone scrolled onto the wall monitor.

"Got it," Stephanie said.

"See anything offhand?"

"There are three calls to the same number, no text messages. I have to run it through the computers. I'll let you know if I find something."

"Good enough. Maybe we'll get lucky and can drop a missile on the son of a bitch."

"One can always hope," Steph said.

"Are you sending us to Malta, Director?" Nick asked.

"Not yet. There's not much point without knowing where to start. Stephanie is searching records from around the time of the siege of Malta."

"When was that?"

"1565 CE," Steph said. "The battle was the turning point in the struggle between the Christians and the Muslims for control of the Mediterranean. I've started looking but don't expect too much."

"You think it's a dead end?"

"It could be. To make it more complicated, the Knights didn't go to Malta right after they left Rhodes. There's a period of about eight years before they got there."

"Where were they in between?"

"They wandered around Europe. France and Italy, mostly. The Pope gave the Hospitallers holdings he'd seized from the Knights Templar."

"Great," Nick said. "Then the Grail could be anywhere in Europe. It might never have gone to Malta at all. The only thing we know for sure is that the Hospitallers had it on Rhodes before Sulemein defeated them."

"We can assume it's not on Rhodes anymore," Elizabeth said. "The Knights wouldn't have taken a chance on it being captured."

"Maybe it's time to call off the search," Nick said.

"Not yet. Let's see what Stephanie comes up with. In the meantime, stay on the base. I don't want to give the Turks any excuse for arresting you. They can't bother you there."

"Copy that."

"That's all for now, Nick."

Elizabeth ended the call.

Stephanie said, "He has a point, Elizabeth. About finding out which of those ISIS thugs is looking for the Grail."

"While you're looking for some indication of where the Knights might have taken the Grail, I'll look at current leadership of the caliphate. There are only a few key players at the top. We've managed to eliminate some of them but they're like cockroaches. You kill one and another takes its place."

"Do you think we'll ever be able to defeat them?"

"We can defeat the organization. I don't think we can defeat the ideology, at least in our lifetime."

"That sounds hopeless, Elizabeth."

"I don't mean it that way. But it's going to be a long time before the fanatics fade back into the woodwork. Until moderate Muslims take back their religion, we're at war."

"That's not a popular view."

"Realism never is," Elizabeth said.

"Most people don’t like realism, not when it comes to something they can’t control. They want to believe everything is okay."

"That’s the heart of the problem," Elizabeth said. "Everything isn't okay."