11:06 / 11:06 A.M. GST
SITREP,” Nir said as he stumbled to a stack of tractor tires. He’d seen this location from his high vantage point and figured it was likely the fallback of the man who’d just killed his M16.
He heard Yaron’s voice. “Assault 2, we have one hostile, but he’s got good cover and sounds like he’s not short on ammo.”
Doron’s was next. “Assault 1, we’re pinned down by at least two. I can’t get Nicole through. Avi is alive, but he’s not in good condition.”
There was no way to get Nicole to the control center without exposing her to gunfire. But without getting her there, hundreds or thousands would die. The decision was painful but easy.
“Nicole, go to the sliding doors now. On my signal, run for the control center. It’s in the middle of the floor. Everybody, lay cover fire but not toward the stacks of cases. I need to take care of a hostile there, and I don’t want you taking me out by accident.”
God, if You’re here, watch over Nicole. She’s one of Yours.
“Nicole, are you in place?”
“Ready.”
“Okay, on my mark. Go!”
11:07 / 11:07 A.M. GST
Nicole sprinted across the floor. The noise was deafening. At any moment she expected to feel the flesh-tearing slam of a bullet.
God, help me! God, help me! God, help me! She prayed as she ran. She saw movement to her right. It was Nir plowing into a stack of black plastic cases.
She turned back toward the control center. It was coming up fast.
The sound of the gunfire changed. The hostiles were firing back. The cover was breaking down.
She kept running.
Finally, she reached the table, dropping into a chair and spinning toward the laptop. Her heart sank. A gaping hole was in the middle of the screen, and what hadn’t been torn away was completely black.
Think, think, think! She felt the underside of the laptop. It was still warm, and she could sense a subtle whirring. The computer isn’t dead. It’s just not functional.
A bullet whizzed by her ear, and she dropped to the floor under the table.
“Lahav, are you on?”
“I’m here.”
“The computer screen is shattered. If I can connect in through my laptop, will I be able to control the drones?”
“I would think so. You see, they both—”
“Dima, tell Nicolae to bring me my laptop! Fast! We’re down to four minutes.”
11:07 / 11:07 A.M. GST
Abbas knew cover fire when he heard it. When everyone shoots on automatic all at once, it’s because they’re trying to distract from something else. What are they doing? Then he saw it—or her. A woman, of all things, sprinting across the floor toward the control center. That’s not a journey you’ll complete. He took aim, but then the cases behind him exploded forward.
Someone careened into him from behind, and Abbas flew into the front wall of his shelter. He landed on a hard plastic corner, and his assailant landed on his back. Air expelled from his lungs. A fist hit him on the side of his head once, then twice. But he’d trained for this scenario. He lurched his hips upward and twisted, throwing his passenger off balance. Spinning underneath his attacker, Abbas connected his fist with the man’s chin. It was a well-placed blow, dazing his opponent. With one more hip bounce, he launched the man from on top of him.
He recognized his enemy from the window. They both got to their feet. The man pulled a pistol from an underarm holster—a Jericho 941.
An Israeli? In the UAE? What is this?
But that thought was just a flash in his mind. Abbas kicked out and swept the Israeli’s feet out from under him. The man landed hard on his back, his head hitting the cement. The gun clattered away. Abbas pounced, but his challenger rolled away. He landed hard on the floor. A fraction of a second later, the man was on his back. An arm wrapped around his neck and squeezed.
It didn’t take long for the corners of his vision to gray. He flopped and twisted, but the man’s hold was too strong. With the last of his strength, he reached into a cargo pocket, his fingers grasping for its contents. Finally, he found what he was looking for. He knew he didn’t have much longer. Pulling his hand from his pocket, he used his thumb to push up on the flip button of the Gerber FAST knife, releasing its serrated-edge. Swinging his arm down, he plunged the weapon into his attacker’s leg.
The man screamed and released his grip. Gasping, Abbas rolled off of him, pulling the knife out as he went. The Israeli tried to get up but dropped back to the floor. Abbas pounced. He landed on top of him, then pushed himself up to straddle him. Lifting the blade, he said in Arabic, “You shouldn’t have interfered, Jew.”
The first bullet struck the man in the temple. The second went through his left cheek. And then he fell to the floor.
11:08 / 11:08 A.M. GST
Nicole slowly lowered her SIG Sauer. She wanted to rush over and check on Nir, but her body seemed rooted to her chair.
It had to be done. It was him or Nir.
She’d fired a gun many times and prided herself on her accuracy. But this? This was not that. This was not a paper target. This was not a training course. A human being was dead, and she’d killed him.
Someone ran up next to her and began speaking. Nicole ignored the voice, staring at the spreading pool of blood around the dead man’s head. Lord, forgive me. If there had been another way…
Hands grabbed her arms and shook her. She recognized Filipescu. He was yelling at her in Russian and pointing at her laptop. Like waking from a bad dream, Nicole snapped from her fog. She pointed to Nir, and Filipescu nodded and went to check on him.
“Lahav, are you with me?”
“Always and forever,” he said.
Normally that would have creeped her out, but now she laughed. That was the stupid battleground humor she needed to focus.
“Lahav, I’m hardwiring in. Give me a minute.”
“How about 30 seconds? We seem to be running short of minutes.”
Yaron’s voice came through the com. “One in custody. Right side cleared. Dima’s coming to give you some help, Doron.”
Nicole typed on her keyboard, busting the complicated firewall.
“Three minutes,” Lahav said.
Images suddenly appeared on Nicole’s laptop. “I’m in.”
“What do you see?”
“Code of some sort on the bottom half of the screen. Two view boxes up top that look like they’re giving real-time video from the drones. I can see the city passing by and the Burj in the distance. We may not have the time we thought.”
“Can you type in the code screen?”
Nicole tried. “No, it’s got me locked out.”
“You need to make yourself administrator. Hurry! Then mirror your screen to me.”
Nicole went into a control prompt and overrode the administrator protocol.
She heard a series of shots from the offices.
“Two down,” Doron said. “Offices cleared.”
“Clear the rest of the warehouse, Dima.” The strain in Nir’s voice belied the pain he had to be in. “Doron, tend to Avi.”
“Root,” they both said.
“I’m in,” Nicole said.
Filipescu appeared at her side. With bloody fingers, he pointed to his RF sensor, then held up one finger.
“Lahav, we have one minute. Talk to me.” The Burj towered into the sky on the video screens.
“Okay, one second. This is… What the… Hold on. Okay, got it.”
Nicole could see details in the building’s windows. Filipescu held up four red-smeared fingers on one hand and five on the other. “Talk to me, Lahav.”
“I can’t explain it. You’ve got to give me control. Make me administrator. Now!”
Nicole typed as fast as she ever had. “Go, Lahav! Go!”
Letters and numbers appeared at the bottom of her screen, line after line at lightning speed. In the view boxes she could see people on the ground looking up, no doubt wondering at the strange buzzing machines racing toward their destination.
Filipescu showed her a two and a zero.
“Twenty seconds, Lahav!”
Still the lines raced across the screen. Nicole could no longer see the top of the building. It was out of screenshot.
“Oh, Lord, save those people,” she whispered.
Suddenly, the view turned toward the ocean. The drones raced ahead, over the freeway, past the Burj Al Arab displaying its great sail, and out to sea. The last thing she saw was water approaching at high speed. Then the feed went dead.