ASSYRIAN GOLD

“You surprise me, Mr. Church,” said the man, revealing a growing impatience. “All I want to do is to accommodate you…sell you the things you’ve come so far to acquire.”

“Perhaps so,” I replied, “but it occurs to me you’ve not yet even introduced yourself. I’m sure you have a perfectly good reason for that, but I’m afraid you’ll need to supply the code word…that at least will assure me you’re serious.”

“Code word? I don’t know of any code word. You think this is a joke?” he said, angrily, gesturing for his two companions to approach. “I’m done being polite,” he added as he reached inside his suit jacket.

“Don’t even try it!” I said, pointing my Beretta at him.

By this time, his two companions were rushing forward, guns in hand. There was no time for Ariella to issue a warning; they were already halfway across the street. Ariella shot both of them in the legs from her position at the rear of the vehicle. They crumpled to the ground, dropping their weapons.

“Now remove your gun…gently,” I instructed the man in the suit, “and place it on the hood.”

“What is this?” he protested as he complied with my command, “You some kind of…”

But just then, a large European limo pulled into the street, hesitated for a moment then accelerated forward.

“Tell your friends to back off!” I said, coming around to the front of the vehicle where I could monitor the three men while giving myself some cover. Ariella, meanwhile, ran around to the front passenger door, opened it and retrieved her Tavor-2 from its Chamois bag. She quickly racked in a 30-round clip and secured the suppressor, then took up a position at the right rear corner of the SUV where she had a protected firing position directed at the limo.

The limo had halted its forward progress in response to a hand signal from the leader.

“Okay,” I said, stepping out into the street, my gun pointed at him. “I want you to get up and drag your two companions into a blocking position across the road…do it!”

He reluctantly did as I instructed. While he dragged the first guy into position despite the man’s groaning and loss of blood, I quickly swept up the two weapons that were on the street, and the leader’s gun that rested on the SUV’s hood.

Despite the gun play, there had been very little noise owing to Ariella’s suppressor, but still a furtive crowd of people from the neighborhood had begun to make their presence known, half hidden behind doors and windows to avoid being accidental targets if the shooting were to resume.

As the leader was repositioning the second wounded man my sat phone generated an audible signal. I listened for a moment then shut it off. “We’re good to go,” I shouted to Ariella.

“Take the wheel!” she shouted, “I’ll cover you until we’re ready to roll.”

I climbed into SUV, started it up and put it in gear. Ariella raced for the open door on the passenger side and jumped in. I gunned the engine and sped down the street.