The Cup (20 page)

CHAPTER 48

In Raqqa, Abdul Haddad was thinking about Darraya and the hidden library. The irony did not escape him. He'd been looking far away for the cup used by the prophet Isa, when all along it had been close nearby.

In a normal world it would have been within easy driving distance. The world wasn't normal anymore and it wasn't going to be easy to get to it. Darraya was one of the places in Syria were ISIS was not in control. It was under siege by Assad's forces. Scum. Pigs. Words would never describe how much Haddad loathed the Shia.

He knew about the prophecy in the Book of Simon from his spy in Sweden. It fit with the signs of the coming of the Mahdi laid down in the Hadiths, teachings collected after the death of Mohammed. Haddad was certain he'd been chosen by Allah to help fulfill the prophecy. Why else had he found himself at the center of this search for the relic?

One man traveling alone had the best chance of getting through Assad's lines. Once through the ring of steel surrounding the city, he would need to be careful if he wanted to stay alive. Discovery meant torture and death. Allah would protect him, but he needed to prepare.

He would have to take on the appearance of the thing he hated most, a Shia apostate. Few in the caliphate knew as much about Shia ways as Haddad. Aside from his personal distaste, it wouldn't be difficult to pass as one of them. In the service of Allah, anything was permitted. He would be forgiven for his deception.

Haddad didn't know the exact location of the bombed out building where the secret library hid the cup. The library had been created by University students, as a way to continue their studies in the midst of the chaos. It wouldn't be hard to find out where the students gathered. One of them would tell him where the library was, whether he wanted to or not.

Most of Darraya had been destroyed and many of its inhabitants slaughtered by Assad. Those who were left were being bombed by the Russians and shelled by Assad’s troops. The city was on the old road to Damascus, famous as the place where the traitorous Jew Saul had received his conversion to Christianity. Haddad prayed the destruction of the city would be complete and all association with the Christian heresy wiped forever from the face of the earth.

But not before he found the cup of Isa.

Just as the Christians believed in the final judgment and an eternity in heaven or hell, Islam believed in the coming of the Mahdi and the
yawm al-qiyamah
, the Day of Retribution that would follow. On that day the faithful would ascend to paradise. All others would be cast into hell and suffer the torments of the flames for eternity.

The coming of the Mahdi was something Haddad wished for with all his heart, as all true followers of the Prophet did. He would find this cup the Christians wanted so badly. When Jaffari's bomb exploded in the great American city, the final war would begin and the rest of the prophecy would unfold.

The call to prayer echoed through the dusty streets of the city. Haddad spread his rug on the floor and began the ritual ablution.

CHAPTER 49

Adam left Nick in front of his building. Nick watched the limousine pull away and then went up to the loft to change. Selena had already gone to the hospital. He drove out to Virginia and Project headquarters. Now he sat at Harker's desk, staring at the blank monitor on the wall and a row of clocks above it.

He was alone in the building except for Burps. The huge, orange cat strolled over and rubbed against his leg, purring and shedding and drooling on his shoe. Burps was getting old. Nick reached down and scratched him behind one of his tattered ears.

"You're still a pretty kitty," he said. "Don't let anybody tell you different."

He got up and opened a can of cat food and set it down near the desk with a bowl of water. There was something comforting in the sounds as the cat ate. It was noisy, like everything else Burps did.

Nick had wanted a little time to think before the others got there. The unexpected encounter with a man he'd thought dead changed everything.

What was it Adam had said?
You're part of a war that's been going on for a long time
. He'd meant since Lucifer had been thrown out of heaven. The Templars were a religious order, and Adam was one of them. It made sense he would see it that way, but it wasn't the way Nick was used to looking at things.

He'd never been religious. How could anyone believe in God when they thought about the terrible things happening every day? Things like barrel bombs falling on children or fanatics justifying mass murder in God's name.

Nick had no problem believing in evil, but he didn't believe it needed a supernatural being like Satan to account for it. He thought it was hardwired into the human psyche. Fortunately for humanity, there was also something hardwired in for good. The problem was that it seemed there were more people at the moment who fell into the evil category than the good one.

He felt a headache begin. Thinking about the nature of good and evil was enough to give anyone a headache.

Harker's desk was his for the moment and there was plenty to do. First he had to talk with Hood. Then the team had to plan the mission into Syria. Hood could help there, but it was going to be harder without Stephanie backing them up.

He used Harker's secured desk phone and called Hood at Langley. Half an hour later, the headache was a lot worse. Hood had confirmed what Adam had said.

A nuclear bomb, coming soon to a city near you.

Without explaining the source of the information, Nick told Hood he had learned that the bomb was headed for America. He ducked Hood's questions and after they had arranged a meeting for later in the day he ended the call.

Nick got up and walked to the bathroom out in the hall. He found a bottle of aspirin in the medicine cabinet, scooped water from the tap into his hand and gulped down four of the pills. As he headed back to Elizabeth's office, Stephanie came in. She had her newborn wrapped up and cradled in her arms. Selena was right behind her.

"Steph. What are you doing here?"

"You need my help. Besides, I was bored in the hospital. There's no reason for me to be there. There's nothing wrong with me, Michael is healthy. The worst thing I can do for myself is do nothing."

"I tried to talk her out of it," Selena said.

"I won't pretend I'm not glad to see you," Nick said. "But are you sure you can handle this? Things are going to get intense around here over the next couple of weeks."

"Things are always intense around here. I can handle it, but I'll be taking a lot of breaks."

"Thanks, Steph," Nick said. "You just took a hell of a load off my mind."

"You're welcome. I'm going downstairs to fire everything up."

"I'm going to hold a briefing in an hour. There's something you can do for me before that. I need a current satellite photo of a suburb of Damascus called Darraya. Something detailed that shows the streets and the surrounding area. Can you find one for me?"

"It shouldn't be a problem. We have satellites and drones monitoring Syria. I'll get right on it."

She headed for the spiral staircase to the lower level.

"Where are Ronnie and Lamont?" Selena asked.

"They'll be here soon."

"Are you all right? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I have. Adam is back."

"What? But he was killed. Wasn't he?"

"He wasn't in the car. The driver was killed but Adam was somewhere else, talking to me on a link."

"What did he want?"

"He told me where the Grail is hidden. It's in Syria, in a suburb of Damascus."

Selena pursed her lips. "So that's why you want the satellite picture. How come he doesn't go get it? Why us?"

"I asked him that. He said he wasn't permitted to tell me why."

"I'm glad that's cleared up."

"He gave me a map."

Nick took the folded map from his pocket and opened it up. It showed the city of Damascus and the suburb of Darraya. The location of the hidden library was circled in red.

"Darraya is a rebel stronghold. It's surrounded by Assad's army and under siege, with daily shelling. People have created a secret library in the midst of all the destruction, under the ruins of a Syriac church. The Grail is in a crypt there. The monk in Turkey misled us. They handed off the Grail to the Hospitallers but it got handed back to them and moved to Damascus."

"Maybe he didn't know about it. Either that, or he sent us on a wild goose chase," Selena said.

"Yeah."

"It's a good thing we didn't end up going to Malta."

Nick looked at the map and thought about a city in ruins, under attack and surrounded by hostile forces. Once they got inside the city, everyone was an enemy.

"We might wish we were going to Malta. This one is going to be a bitch."

"How are we going to go in?"

"I want to wait until Ronnie and Lamont get here so we can talk it over. I haven't figured that out yet."

"Speak of the devil," Selena said, "here they are."

"Let's not," Nick said.

"Let's not what?"

"Speak of the devil."

Ronnie came into the room with Lamont close behind.

"Feels like we might get some snow later," Ronnie said.

"That's what I like about you," Lamont said. "Always the optimist."

"Let me get Steph up here," Nick said.

Ronnie looked surprised. "Steph? I thought she was in the hospital." 

"She showed up earlier."

Nick spoke into Harker's intercom. "Steph, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, Nick. I've got the photos you wanted. "

"Come on up and we'll start."

"On my way."

A few minutes later she took her place on the couch with her laptop. The baby was asleep. Nick gave silent thanks for small favors and laid it out for them. He told them about Adam's reappearance and that the Grail was in Syria. He told them what Adam had said about the prophecy. He left out the part about being in a war between good and evil. Then he told them ISIS had built a nuclear bomb.

"Adam told me when I was in the car. Hood confirmed it."

"Is he sure?" Ronnie asked. "ISIS has a nuke?"

"Yes. Hood has an informant somewhere in the organization. He said the analysts think they've found the lab where it was built, a couple of hours out of Raqqa. He was going to send us to look at it but things have changed. He's setting up a Delta mission to go in and check out the site."

"That's the worst news I've heard since 9/11," Ronnie said.

"They plan to set it off here, in the states. If they succeed, it will make 9/11 look like a preview to the main attraction.”

"They have to get it into the country first," Lamont said.

"You know they can do it," Ronnie said. "Our borders make Swiss cheese look like a brick wall."

"Langley's on it," Nick said. "It's not our job to deal with the bomb."

"Can't say I'm sorry about that," Lamont said.

"ISIS knows the Grail is in Syria. Our job is to retrieve it before they do."

"Do they know it's in Darraya?" Selena asked.

"Adam didn't say that, only that they knew it was in Syria. But it's safe to assume that if they figured out that much, Darraya can't be far behind."

Stephanie said, "I don't know if it's relevant, but I think I've identified the man who's been sending people after you, the one who's looking for the Grail."

She put a picture up on the monitor of an unsmiling man with grim eyes.

"Everything's relevant," Nick said. "Who is he?"

"His name is Abu Abdul Haddad. He's close to al-Baghdadi, one of the ranking members in ISIS leadership. He's in charge of foreign intelligence, surveillance, things like that."

"Our spymaster," Selena said.

"Yes. He thought his phone was secure but he was wrong."

"If ISIS finds out the Grail is in Darraya, he'll send someone after it," Selena said.

Nick drummed his fingers on Harker's desk.

Now I see why she does this all the time,
he thought.
.

"I'll tell Hood. If we can spot him, we can take him out. It might buy us some breathing room. Good work, Steph."

She smiled at him. "My pleasure."

Nick pulled out Adam's map.

"This shows where the Grail is supposed to be hidden."

"Let me have it," Steph said. "I can put it up on the monitor."

She came over to the desk and he handed it to her. There was a scanner on the corner of Harker's desk. Steph smoothed the map out on the desktop and placed it in the scanner. With a few keystrokes on her laptop, the map appeared on the wall monitor where everyone could look at it.

Stephanie entered a new command and a satellite photograph of Darraya appeared on the screen next to the map. She zoomed in on the area Adam had circled in red.

"Man, that place looks like pictures of Berlin in 1945," Lamont said.

Darraya had been a popular tourist spot known for its crafts and cafés, but it wasn't a place to visit anymore. The satellite photograph showed streets lined with the pockmarked shells of buildings and filled with piles of rubble. Everything had been bombed or hit by artillery shells and heavy weapons fire. It was hard to imagine that people still lived there.

"Zoom out a little," Nick said.

From a wider point of view they saw that the city was surrounded by hostile forces. Assad's troops were everywhere, supported by tanks and heavy artillery.

"More like Stalingrad than Berlin," Ronnie said. "You gotta hand it to the rebels. Those guys are tough bastards. Too bad they're not on our side."

"That's one of the problems," Nick said. "They're not."

He opened the drawer of the desk. Elizabeth kept a laser pointer in it. He found the pointer, clicked it on and pointed out the spot on the satellite photograph where the library was indicated on the map. It was almost in the center of the city.

"Hell of a place to go just to get a book," Lamont said.