She touched my arm and said, “One drink. I’ll drive home.”
I shook my head and said, “Okay, okay. Let’s get this over with.”
Shoshana said, “That’s how you feel? This is something to get over with?”
“No. I mean whatever it is you’re about to tell me.”
She gave me her weird glow, her face splitting into a smile that looked like a wolf, full of teeth without any joy. She said, “You are like me. You can see into someone’s heart.”
I rolled my eyes, opened the door, and said, “Okay, Carrie, let’s go.”
She scowled at that, exiting on the far side. Carrie was the callsign Knuckles had given her on an operation, because she really did act a lot like the Stephen King character. Aaron exited on my side and said, “Careful. She doesn’t like being toyed with.”
I closed the door, watched Jennifer and Shoshana walk out to the street, and said, “I thought she liked that callsign?”
“She does, when you use it for real. Not as a joke.”
We followed behind the women and I said, “So what’s this about?”
“Upstairs. Let’s get to the room.”
I shook my head, now knowing my radar was right. We went into the small alcove for the boutique hotel, up the elevator, and down the hall to their room. We stopped outside the door and I said, “Are you shitting me? You have the same room the Russians were in? Was that on purpose?”
Shoshana smiled and said, “Complete coincidence, but I thought it appropriate.”
She unlocked the door, turned on the lights, then the television, raising the sound. The last thing she did was unplug the Alexa on the desk, grinning at me as she did so.
We’d hacked that very Alexa to determine our kill box for the Russians.
Aaron opened the minibar and said, “Rum and Coke, right?”
I said, “Let’s forget the drinks and get to the point here.”
Jennifer heard my tone and said, “Pike, what’s that mean?”
I turned to Shoshana and said, “You want to tell her?”
Aaron opened his suitcase and pulled out a piece of paper, placing it in front of me. I read:
You attack us with impunity in Syria and Iraq from the air, like cowards. And now we attack you man to man. Our reach is long, and our patience is infinite. This man is not the first to die, and it will not be the last, Little Satan. Tell the Great Satan they are next.
I passed it to Jennifer and said, “No idea what that is. Did you think I did? I can’t help with that.”
Shoshana said, “No. We already know what it is. It was on the body of Gideon Cohen, but the police have kept it quiet.”
Gideon Cohen? Why do I know that name? And it clicked. He was the guy who had bailed Jennifer and me out of an Israeli jail after we’d stopped a terrorist attack. And was also . . .
Like fog dissipating under the sun, it became clear. Gideon Cohen was the only person on earth who had believed in Shoshana. The one man who’d ignored her past and put her on Aaron’s team. And Aaron had nurtured her back to the world of the living, until she’d become a ferocious force of nature.
I said, “He’s dead?”
Shoshana’s eyes flashed. “Yes. He’s dead, and this letter on his body proves it wasn’t an accident.”
I shook my head, saying, “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Accident?”
Aaron gave me the background on the killing, then said, “There will be more. We want to stop it.”
At a loss, I said, “Okay . . . I’m not sure why I’m here. You want me to leverage Taskforce assets to do some digging?”
Shoshana said, “No. I want you to help us. I want you to come with me to solve this problem. Before they kill again.”
I looked at Jennifer, then said, “I’m getting married in a week. Are you serious? I have no idea about any of this. Use some Mossad assets.”
Shoshana scoffed and said, “They won’t help. They think they’ve been penetrated—and they probably have been. They gave this to us because if we fail they can burn us at the stake, but I will not fail.”
She got into my face and I saw the full fury of her pain. “I will find who killed Gideon, but this fight is more than that. It’s biblical. The man who did it wants a prophecy. I can feel it.”
I looked at her like she was crazy, which, of course, she was, and said, “What the hell are you talking about?”
Aaron glanced at Shoshana and she backed off, taking a seat. He spoke, breaking the tension. “Pike, we were given this mission, and the note is clear, Americans are going to be killed as well. What we don’t know is why, or who’s doing the killing. We would like your help.”
I stood up, doing a circle, then walking to the window. I said, “What the hell do you want from me? How can I help? You’ve got the whole Mossad to help. What can I do?”
I turned back around and said, “I’m getting married in a week.”
I saw Shoshana holding Jennifer’s hand. The two connecting yet again. Jennifer hadn’t said a word, but apparently, she was all in.
I said, “Are you serious? You’re good with this?”
Jennifer said, “It’s more than the death. It’s like Kurt Hale all over again. She came when we called. We should do the same. He was her Kurt Hale.”
“Jennifer, we’re basically shut down because of the damn pandemic. We can’t fly anywhere because we’re Americans. Shit, you guys have had the best vaccine rollout on earth. You can go anywhere. We’re still catching up.”
Aaron said, “But you’ve had the vaccine. Both doses.”
Which was true, although I had no idea how he knew it. As Taskforce members, we were at the front of the line, which is sort of shitty, given that teachers and grocery clerks should have gotten it before us, but it was true.
I said, “Yeah, we have, but we still can’t fly. America is still the COVID center of the universe. Nobody will let us into the country without official government diplomatic business, or some other official thing. Since we’re the Taskforce, everything we do is precisely not to show a government footprint. Grolier Recovery Services cannot travel.”
Shoshana went to her suitcase and said, “You are right. Israel has done a good job with the vaccine. And because of it, we’re allowed to fly anywhere.”
She rummaged around for a moment, then pulled out a package. She opened it and laid it in front of me.
Passports. From Israel.
She said, “I need help here, and when I was given the mission, I didn’t hesitate on who I wanted. I want you, Nephilim. And your team.”
I ignored her use of my given name and opened one, seeing my face. I was astounded at the level of work that had already been done. And was also a little flattered. “You’re going to have me help you as an Israeli citizen?”
She said, “Yes, if that will get you in. If you will commit.”
I smiled and said, “Who else? Did Jennifer get one?”
“Of course she did. Along with Knuckles and Brett.”
Knuckles I understood, but Brett was a little strange. I said, “How did you get a passport for a black man? There aren’t any black men in Israel. At least not citizens.”