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Marcus shouted for Geoff to take cover, while he did the same.

The explosion was catastrophic, blowing a gaping, fiery hole in the fuselage of the plane no more than ten meters behind them. Through the flames and the smoke, Marcus could see the tarmac and part of the plane’s landing gear. Choking on fumes, Marcus called out to see if Geoff was okay. But the force of the concussion had completely deafened him. Not only could Marcus not hear if his colleague was responding, he could not even hear himself, only a high-pitched constant ringing.

Undeterred, Marcus knew he could not double back to check on Geoff with al-Masri still out there. He had to finish the job and had to do it quick. Advancing up the left aisle, Marcus wove his way around metal containers, wooden boxes, and shrink-wrapped pallets of all shapes and sizes. Not being able to hear was a problem. He was trying not to make any noise, determined not to give away his location, but he realized that al-Masri could be charging at him from behind and he would never know. Still, it was very likely, he realized, that the Egyptian could not hear him either.

As Marcus came around a corner, he spotted al-Masri just another five or six yards ahead. The man was crouching between two pallets and looking the other direction. As Marcus watched, al-Masri fired down the right aisle. Marcus hoped that was a good sign, that the man had seen a moving shadow. If so, it could only be Geoff, and that meant he was alive and still kicking.

The moment al-Masri stopped firing, Marcus shouted at the top of his lungs for him to put his weapon down and his hands up. For several seconds, the man did not move. Marcus again wondered if al-Masri could even hear him. He was about to shout his warning once more, but it was too late. The Egyptian did not set down his weapon. Instead, he jumped to his feet, pivoted hard, and brought his Kalashnikov around. But the man never got off another shot. Marcus put two bullets in his chest, and al-Masri collapsed to the floor.

Marcus watched him for a moment, looking for any sign, any twitch, any movement at all. Unconvinced that he was truly dead and not willing to take any chances, Marcus kept his weapon aimed at al-Masri’s head and slowly moved toward him. When he was just a yard away, Marcus fired three more bullets into the man. Now he was sure.

A moment later, not only Geoff but Callaghan and Tomer raced up behind him. Using his foot, Geoff rolled the body over. There was no doubt who it was. Nor, however, was there time to celebrate. Marcus still could not hear. Nor, apparently, could Geoff. But Marcus shouted for the other two to search the body for intelligence and then get it down to the Toyota as quickly as possible. When they nodded and got to work, Marcus motioned for Geoff to help him find the container.

But how? The fuselage, or what was left of it, was jam-packed with hundreds of small and midsize shipping and storage containers, most of which looked the same.

Tomer slapped Marcus on the back. Startled, Marcus turned around and found a ring of keys and a set of bloodstained shipping documents the Israeli had pulled off al-Masri. All four men scanned the manifest quickly, memorized the code numbers, and fanned out to find the right container. It was Callaghan who hit the jackpot. Marcus took the keys from Tomer and, trembling with emotion, fumbled to unlock the container.

When he finally got it right and swung the door open, it was the stench that hit them first. Marcus reached inside and lifted Kailea out. She was unconscious. She was barely breathing. She looked terrible—bloodied, bruised, and covered in filth. Marcus set her down gently and quickly untied her hands, then her feet, then hoisted her up and put her over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. Moving aside, he made way for Geoff, who did the same for Yigal—also alive but unconscious.

Now the question was how to get out of the plane. Marcus’s hearing was beginning to come back. Though it sounded faint, at least to him, he could hear sirens approaching. Yet there was no way to get back to the open cargo bay doors, for before them now was the enormous hole in the bottom of the plane.