Sheba's Gambit

by Kristine Frost

  “What is it?” Breckenridge demanded.

  “I just remembered something that I had read about King Solomon.” I wanted to picture it out in my mind.”

  “And?” He demanded.

  “I’m not sure.”

  Breckenridge rubbed his forehead, then said, “You are the most irritating woman in the world.”

  She smiled. “Give me a minute to think this through.”

  “Tell me,” he demanded.

  “The western half of Turkey was never conquered by the Assyrians. Why? Very little is known about the western half of Turkey during King Solomon’s time. None of the big empires conquered that part of Turkey. Not the Assyrians, the Babylonians or the Persians, again why?

  If you move forward in time, the only Kingdom that we know about in western Turkey is the Kingdom of Lydia which existed from 670 to 545 B.C. which was over 300 years later than when King Solomon reigned over Israel. What if the Kingdom of Sheba was in this area?

  He looked at the map. “But the region you are looking at is outside of both areas you’ve marked.”

  “I know, but only by a few miles. Aschler said Sheba could have been bigger than what he showed on his map. The Taurus Mountains run though this area and they are high and rough. They would have protected the Kingdom of Sheba from the other kingdoms.”

  Breckenridge looked at her. “Neither Aschler nor Seacliff show the Sheba you are proposing on their maps. Where would we look?”

  She closed her eyes, picturing the map. Then the vision rose before her eyes. She’d seen it before when her dad died and again when she’d seen the e-mail from Mrs. Seacliff.

  When Breckenridge started to speak, she held up her hands, her eyes still closed.

  When Breckenridge’s face got red, Braden touched his wrist. “She’s seeing something in her mind. I don’t know how it works, but it’s how she decodes. If you’ll give her a few minutes, she’ll have your answer.”

  When she opened her eyes, she touched the map. “It’s in this area here. There’s an old volcano in the background, but I can see the valley.”

  “How can you know that?” Breckenridge demanded angrily.

  She shrugged. “I just know it. Maybe your geologist can help me figure it out once he’s sober.”

  Slater rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything.

  Finally, Breckenridge said, “I’m going down to the communication center. I have some calls to make.” He looked at Slater” You’d better come with me. We should have enough guards around to protect these people.”

  Chapter 23

  Back in Welford, Tony, Dean and Marshall headed toward the Stealth plane. They were joined by Jason Peters. “Hey Marshall, I’m sorry you’re not going.”

  Marshall shrugged touching his head. “Luck of the draw, I guess.” He looked at Tony, “Remember what I said. If anyone gets hurt or killed because of you--”

  “I know,” Tony said.

  The pilot, Andy Jones, met them at the door. “So you’re the crazy guys,” he said, holding out his hand.

  “We’re not crazy,” Tony declared. “We’re certifiably insane.”

  Andy said, “Have you thought about what it’s like jumping out of a Stealth plane at 30,000 feet. If your air freezes you die. If your chute doesn’t work, you die. The g forces will be murder.”

  Marshall looked at Dean who said, “We’re under orders.”

  Marshall added, “Both Dean and Jason have jumped from 30,000 feet over Antarctica”

  Dean grabbed his shoulder. “We’re after terrorists, true but, its gotten personal. We’re going in to rescue two people, one an eight year old boy—friends of Marshal’s. Both of them were kidnapped by the terrorists. Since he can’t go, we’re going to try to do what he can’t.”

  Andy looked at them for a few moments. “Okay. If it’s personal and a little kid is involved, then we’ll move heaven and earth to get you there safely.” He turned as they were joined by another man who was somewhat shorter than Nick but heavier through the body. “Murray, these are our passengers.”

  “I heard what they said as I came down the aisle.” He looked from Dean to Tony. “Since you too are going to be hooked together, I think I’ve come up with a plan that will make it easier for you all. If we cut our speed to stall speed, it will make it less dangerous. You’ll only have an extra ten to fifteen seconds to jump but it should help.”

  Jason said, “Ten or fifteen seconds was more than we were counting on. We were figuring four to five seconds and had about decided to jump holding on to each other.”

  “That might not be a bad idea, anyway. As fast as this baby goes, you could be thirty miles away from each other in that few seconds, even at stall speed.”

  “Marshall, are your men ready to go?” Nagle said through his radio.

  “The Apache team is scheduled to leave as soon as I brief them. Dean, Jason, and Tony are planning strategy with our pilots. They are scheduled to leave in forty-five minutes.”

  “I just want to update you on what’s been going on with Sheba.”

  Marshall stiffened. “What’s been happening?”

  “It sounds like Breckenridge’s security has holes in it. Assid’s men managed to pin Sheba, Braden and Helen on the lawn this afternoon. Assid’s men hid from Slater’s men by climbing the trees.”

  Marshall frowned. “That doesn’t sound like Slater. I’ve seen him in action. He’s a pro.”

  “Maybe his men aren’t.”

  “Which makes it more dangerous for Sheba and Braden,” Tony said.

  “True. It should make it easier for your men, however.” She paused then added, “Sheba seems to think that Assid might make another attack tonight. Breckenridge hired additional mercenaries. He even has men guarding the doors.”

  “That could make things harder.” Dean said, “If Assid is attacking when we’re ready to go in, things could get a lot more dangerous for the civilians.”

  “Or we could arrive in the nick of time and rescue everyone. If Breckenridge goes down, we’re clean, whether or not, we fired the bullet.” Tony added.

  “One last thing. If it comes down to saving Sheba or Braden, Sheba wants you to take Braden. Since we can track her, she’d rather stay with Breckenridge until they find Sheba, then she’ll try to work things so that we can take him out.”

  Marshall said, “We’ll get them both out.”

  Nagle snapped. “You aren’t going. Your team needs to remember their orders. If your team can’t take out Breckenridge, Sheba has to stay with him so that we can track him. She can move better if you get Braden to safety if you can’t get Breckenridge.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Marshall said slowly, his shoulders bowed in defeat.

  Dean gripped Marshall’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. We’ll get them out.”

  Marshall managed a grin. “I know you will. Just make sure that you get yourselves out too. I don’t want to lose anyone.” As he walked toward his team, he looked as defeated as he felt.

  Tony watched him. “In some ways, I’m glad he’s not going. He’s so emotionally involved that he could get himself killed trying to save Sheba. That wouldn’t help anyone.”

  Andy looked at his watch, then turned to Murray. “I want to double check all systems. You men ought to recheck your gear. A jump from a Stealth at 30,000 feet is no picnic. Let’s make sure that we’re as prepared as we can be.” He started up the ramp, but when the three men didn’t follow him, he said more forcefully, “Let’s get moving so we can make a success of this mission.”

  Marshall walked across the hanger to where his Teams 1 and 2 were loading gear. “Harry, have you got what I asked for?” Marshall said as he approached one of the men who was standing checking things off on a clip board.

  “Sure do, but Marshall are you sure that you want to disobey orders? It will mean a court martial.”

  “I know, but I can’t just--”

  Harry gripped his shoulder. “I know. Every one of us knows how you feel. We
’d all feel the same if it was our wife or girlfriend in trouble. We’ll back you all the way.”

  As the helicopters began to warm up, Marshall walked away from them to look over at the Stealth plane. Dean, Tony and Jason were standing at the end of the ramp.

  Marshall raised his hands in a thumbs up signal then walked through the hanger doors.

  Dean looked at Jason. “I honestly didn’t think he’d follow orders.”

  “Well, it looks like he’s admitted that he’s not up to the job,” Tony said, as he started up the ramp.

  The other two men followed him into the plane. Jason leaned close to Dean. “I’ll bet you fifty bucks that Marshall’s in one of those Apache’s.”

  “I’m not stupid enough to bet against a sure thing,” he responded as he began checking his breathing apparatus.”

  As soon as the three men disappeared inside the airplane, Harry gave a shrill whistle. Marshall dodged back into the hanger, using the Apache and his men as cover. No one appeared to notice as he climbed into the unused gunner’s box, sliding back behind a pile of rope, a rocket launcher, and a box of grenades.

  Harry said loudly. “Everything’s on board. We’re ready to go.”

  His team began climbing into the Apache. Harry closed the door. Team 1 lifted off, closely followed by Team 2.

  They were over France when Harry’s radio buzzed. “Jericho, here.”

  “Jericho, this is Shechem. Is Marshall with you?”

  “Negative, Shechem. I haven’t seen him since he left the hanger before we took off. Did you check with Jerusalem or Gilgal? ”

  “Yes. No one has seen him since you said you saw him leave the hanger.”

  “Well, ma’am,” Harry said, “I suspect that he will turn up when we need him the most.” He added, “Ma’am, did you happen to have the base searched just in case he passed out somewhere?”

  “No. I’ll have that done. But the doctor didn’t think he was that bad.”

  “You just don’t know with head injuries,” Harry drawled, a smile on his face.

  Chapter 24

  Once the plane reached altitude, they began putting on their cold weather gear.

  Andy said over the intercom. “I’m ready to depressurize the cabin.”

  They could feel the change in temperature as the pressure lowered to match the outside pressure.

  “Twenty minute warning.”

  “Let’s get into position,” Dean said. He and Jason walked to either side of the hatch. Tony walked over to Dean. “Do you want to secure now?” He asked.

  “No. I want to check our gear one more time. I hate to give Mr. Murphy any chance to cause our mission to fail.”

  Tony looked perplexed. “Mr. Murphy?”

  Dean laughed. “Surely, you’ve heard of Murphy’s Law. We’ve had way too many missions that have been plagued by Mr. Murphy so we just count him as a member of the team and try to avoid giving him any chance to mess things up.”

  Tony smiled grimly. “I’ve heard of Murphy’s Law but never counted him as a member of my team before.”

  Dean checked their gear. Jason checked his.

  Jason looked at his watch. “We’re about thirty minutes early.”

  Dean keyed his radio. “It’s okay. Our men got there early, too. Evidently we all had a good stiff tail wind.”

  Dean nodded, “Let’s do it.”

  Andy said. “Five minutes.” The green light went on. “I’m opening the hatch.”

  Jason reached up and grabbed the steel anchor line. Tony attached his line to Dean’s harness. Jason tugged on their jump line making sure that it was snug.

  The light turned green. Andy said, “Jump.”

  Without hesitation, all three men jumped from the plane that had slowed to a hundred and thirty five knots or stall speed.

  Tony’s heart jumped into his throat, just as it always did when he had to jump from an airplane, but this jump was much worse. He could feel the cold through his helmet and thermals. He shivered.

  “If you’re cold, turn up your suit. It’s the dial on the left of your harness,” Dean said.

  Tony felt for the dial and turned it to the right. The cold receded and he could feel his toes. “Thanks,” he said.

  As they dropped lower, they could see the lights of small towns and large cities in the distance. As they got closer to the earth, the lights dropped over the horizon. Jason checked his GPS. “We’re right on target,” he announced over a closed frequency radio.

  Suddenly they were hit with a gust of wind coming from the southeast. Dean adjusted his parachute cords.

  “Are we still on?” He asked.

  Jason looked at his GPS. “We’re a little to the left of where we need to be. Over compensate by 3 degrees. Then if we get hit again it won’t be so hard to get back on track.”

  At Jason’s signal, they pulled hard on one side of their chute cords.

  “I’m turning on my Infrared locater. Keep yours on GPS.”

  While both men were watching their sleeve monitors, Tony looked down. “I can see the house.”

  Jason said, “There are a lot of men scattered around. There seem to be more outside the electric fence than inside.” He looked down. “You’d better notify our team that they have hostiles on their six.”

  Tony put his sleeve monitor on Infrared. “I’ll watch our dots. You had better start watching the roof. We’re getting close.”

  Tony could feel Dean nod his head. “Tony, you’ll have to stay really still. You can rest your arm on my shoulder so you can see the monitor.”

  Tony put his hand on Dean’s shoulder. “It looks like the some of the dots are moving toward the fence.” He watched closely. “That’s odd. They seem to be flying through the air. Now they are on the other side of the fence.”

  Dean said, “Contact Gilgal 1. Have him try to find how they got over the fence. It may help our guys.”

  “Will do,” Tony said, keying his mike with his chin.

  Jason said, “Roof coming up in 5, 4, 3, 2, touch down.” He landed lightly right in the middle of the roof. He hastily grabbed the chute, stuffing it under some guy wires strengthening the chimney.

  A second later, Dean touched down almost silently. As Tony unhooked himself, Dean grabbed his chute. Following Jason’s lead, he stuffed his chute under the guy wire making sure that it wouldn’t flap in the breeze that had sprung up.

  Dean ducked low and walked toward the back of the house that overlooked the stables. “From Sheba’s description, I think this was the door that Assid through came this morning.”

  Tony pointed over his shoulder toward a large group of men moving across the lawn. “We’ve got problems.” He said quietly. “We’re outnumbered about seven to one.”

  He could barely see Dean nod his head. Dean flattened himself on the roof. “I think Assid has commenced his attack. They are either using a silencer or some kind of dart gun.”

  Tony said, “Breckenridge’s guards are no match for them.”

  Jason looked up and the guard near the stable dropped to his knees.

  Before they could move, they heard the click of a rifle behind them. “Raise your arms,” a man said. “I don’t know who you are, but you aren’t one of ours.”

  Dean rolled over, slowly raising his arms. He felt something fly by his head, just inches from his ear. He felt rather than heard something strike the guard pointing the machine pistol at them. His knees buckled and he collapsed, landing between the men, his pistol skittering across the roof and flying through the air to land on the grass.

  Tony looked at Jason. “You lead a charmed life.” He whispered.

  Dean said, “What do we do now?”

  Tony looked from Dean to Jason. “I’d say that we wait and watch.”

  They inched their way toward the edge of the roof.

  Assid was standing in the doorway just below the three men. His laugh was ugly. “Nathan Breckenridge, I have made fools of your men. Your Michael Slater, a hired killer, h
asn’t been able to stop my men. Even that woman over there has done better than he has.”

  He snorted. “A woman, a woman,” his voice rose higher and higher. “A woman who is only fit for cooking and having children killed one of my men.” He paused, “It was probably an accident.” He looked over at Sheba who was holding Braden’s hand. “She killed one of my men. Of course, I must revenge him. I will kill the child.”

  Sheba snarled sarcastically. “Assid, you are so brave. You take your anger out on women and children. Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?”

  “Perhaps, I should pick on that man. The guard who failed to stop me. Is he more my size?” He motioned for one of his men to stand by Sheba. “Mosud, she is a djinn, that one. Do not let her raise her arms.”

  The man strode over to her, but was careful not to touch her, nor did he raise his gun at her.

  I’ve been called a lot of things but never a djinn. I wonder just what that is. But it seems to be someone who is scary judging by the way that man is looking at me.

  She looked over at Slater, her eyebrows raised. He shrugged.

  “But Assid, how can she be a djinn. She is not tattooed.”

  “I saw her work this morning. She can read minds. I saw her do it.”

  Sheba almost laughed out loud, but said solemnly. “I am a good djinn. The Prophet Muhammad said everyone has a djinn appointed to be his constant companion.” At least, I hope he said that, she thought. This making things up as I go, is going to get me into trouble. Oh I wish Marshall would get here. I am so in over my head.

  Assid protested. “Allah sends seraphim to the righteous.” He pointed at Slater and Breckenridge. “They are not righteous. They are not even Muslim.”

  Assid’s smile was repulsive. “Who is righteous? No one else is Muslim.”