Page 126 of End of Days

“He’s there now?”

“Yes.”

“Pike, we’re still at least ten minutes out. If he’s doing something soon, we can’t stop him.”

“He can’t do anything right now. I’ve got the Zello chat logs. Apparently, the place is blanketed with Israeli security and they’ve closed the gates to the mosque compound. He’s not in yet.”

“We’re seeing that here on the road as well. Police are everywhere. Why? What’s going on?”

“I have no idea, but you need to get inside and find that guy before he’s allowed to enter.”

“What do you want us to do?”

“Take him off the board. I don’t care how you do it, but don’t let him enter the compound.”

She looked at Aaron and said, “Can’t Israel do this? If he’s a known threat?”

“Fine by me, like I said, I don’t care how you do it, but they’re not going to find him by his name. From the chat logs in Garrett’s Zello app, he’s operating as a Palestinian. He’s not going to surface at any entry point as a Knights of Malta guy.”

She thought through the ramifications, then said, “Which means he can get in through any gate to the Temple Mount. Muslims can go through them all. We can only enter through one, the Moors Gate. How am I going to find him?”

“I’m sending the grid to his last known location. If he moves, I’ll let you know. I have Garrett’s phone, and it’s tracking him like Apple’s Find My Friends. The phones are tied together. When he moves, I see it. Right now, he’s in the Muslim quarter outside of the Temple Mount, next to the Tribes Gate.”

She said, “Send me the grid location, and send his passport information from immigration. I need a face.”

Pike said, “Coming your way. Look, I’m at the Lebanese border, and Shoshana’s been wounded. We’re leaving here, and when we do, I’m going to lose cell coverage. Get inside the Old City and get it done.”

Shocked, she said, “Wait, what? Shoshana’s wounded?”

She saw Aaron’s head snap to her at her words. Pike said, “She’sokay. Tell Aaron she’s okay. She just needs some stitches. She’ll be fine.”

“What happened?”

“Garrett tried to fight, and she eliminated him.”

“Pike... we were supposed to bring him back to Lia. Have him stand trial in Rome. You told me you wouldn’t let her do this. You promised you’d not let that happen. It’s going to hurt her. It’s going to bleed in her soul.”

She heard nothing for a moment, then, “She didn’t kill him out of vengeance. She wanted to, but she stopped when I asked. I killed him.”

“You?”

Pike said, “It was pure, Jennifer, I promise. He stabbed her, trying to murder her after we’d told him to surrender. Shoshana wanted to kill him before, but she didn’t. If she had, she wouldn’t have a stab wound right now. When he attacked her, I got him off her and onto me. And yes, I had Shoshana kill him, but it was my call. She was just the tool. Now get your ass to the Temple Mount. Pictures and grids are on the way.”

He hung up before she could say anything else.

Aaron said, “What was that about Shoshana?”

“Garrett stabbed her, but it’s a clean wound. She’s going to be fine. Pike is with her now.”

He nodded, saying, “And Garrett?”

“He’s dead.”

She saw the smile trickle out and said, “Pike says he fought back. Shoshana didn’t execute him.”

Aaron turned to her and said, “I don’t care how he died, as long as he’s dead.”

And Jennifer realized he was just like Shoshana. A man who tookthe biblical saying “an eye for an eye” to heart. She felt a chill, glad she wasn’t on the bad side of either one of them.

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