Gregg Loomis - The Sinai Secret

"Hardly," Lang agreed.

He thought a moment. "Sara, would you please get the number for the FBI's Atlanta special agent in charge? I seem to remember his name as Murphy or something like that."

A few minutes later she buzzed him with the number. "And his name is O'Neil."

Lang shrugged and punched in the number.

It took a minimum of chitchat with O'Neil's gatekeeper before O'Neil came on the line. "If you're calling about the prosecution of the mayor, Mr. Reilly, you need to go through the U.S. Attorney's office."

"I'm not, but thanks," Lang hastened to say. "I'm calling about one of your agents, a Charles Witherspoon. Guy seems to be investigating a murder, and I see no federal connection. I don't mind cooperating but-"

"Who?"

"Witherspoon, Charles Witherspoon."

There was such a long pause, Lang feared the connection had been severed.

"Mr. Reilly, you sure this Charles Witherspoon is with the Atlanta office of the bureau?"

"I'm sure he said he was."

"You asked for ID?"

Lang was getting a weird feeling somewhere around the bottom of his stomach, like maybe something he'd eaten was about to seek revenge. "He showed it. Looked okay to me, and I've seen a lot of 'em."

"I'm sure you have."

Another pause.

"Mr. Reilly, I'll come straight to the point. No Charles Witherspoon works out of this office."

Lang barely heard the other man ask for a description and request an immediate call if the mysterious Mr. Witherspoon reappeared.

He spent a full minute staring at the phone after he had hung up.

Book of Jereb

Chapter One

1. And after the death of Amenhotep III the son of the king became pharaoh until Moses was cast out of the house of pharaoh and sent into Sinai, where he remained for seven years. And on behalf of the Israelites, he pleaded with the new pharaoh to free the Israelites.

2. But Pharaoh's heart was hardened against Moses, and he said unto him, "Why do you seek to take from me my people, who are the makers of brick and harvesters of wheat?" And Moses answered, "It is the will of the one God." Whereupon Pharaoh became angry and would not permit Moses to look upon him again until great misfortune had befallen all of Egypt.

3. Then Pharaoh called Moses unto him and said, "Give me proof your single god can lift from us these afflictions which our gods will not." Whereupon the priests of Pharaoh cried, "Lord, the god of the Israelites is but one while ours are legion. Tell us, how can one god defeat all others, for are they not all gods?"

4. Moses said unto them, "Show me that power your gods hath given you and the one God shall be mightier than all of them." Whereupon Pharaoh's priests threw down their staffs, which became serpents of great size so that Pharaoh cried out, "Have you brought vipers unto me so that I might perish?"

5. But Moses feared not but threw down his staff also and it became a serpent smaller than the others, but it devoured each of them in turn until none was left before Pharaoh.

6. And Pharaoh had seen what had happened and said to his priests, "Is not the god of Moses more powerful than your gods? Are not those of our people who worship this god made powerful thereby? Should we not do as Moses asks?" And the priests had no answer.

7. And so Moses said to the Israelites,"Gather your children and your wives. Take with you your asses, sheep, and other animals, for God has granted us Pharaoh's mercy and we shall leave Egypt."

8. But when Pharaoh saw how many Israelites were to depart Egypt and saw the labors that thereby would be undone, his heart became as a stone and he sent soldiers to stop the Israelites from going forth. And Moses came to him, saying, "You have decreed that the Israelites may go forth from Egypt but now you say not. "And Pharaoh answered, I do as does a god, for is not Pharaoh a god also?" And Moses went away angry but there was naught he could do.

9. And Moses went forth into the desert for forty days, during which time he spoke with the one God. And the one God directed him to a mountain where the Egyptians and their slaves labored both day and night to make great wonders with gold, some of which Moses took with him and returned to Egypt to again plead with Pharaoh.

10. And Pharaoh heard Moses and let the Israelites go forth into the desert before he again hardened his heart against the Israelites.

Peachtree Center

227 Peachtree Street

Atlanta, Georgia

11:40 EST

Lang had a lunch date.

Since Gurt's departure he had resisted the overtures of the predatory single women in his condo building. Divorced, they uniformly decried the size of their alimony checks and the injustice of their prenups while refusing to seek gainful employment. Instead they prowled Buckhead's better spas, restaurants, and social events like coyotes at the edge of a campfire. They searched endlessly for lifestyle support systems in the form of eligible men. No wealthy male was exempt. Age or infirmity of the prey was no detriment, as both potentially shortened the wait before inheritance. Many of these ladies had been trade- ins on newer models, another cruel twist of fate, but one that had paid dividends in increased settlements.

Lang was that most desirable game: wealthy, and without the inconvenience of greedy heirs.

Lang had withstood the siege like a well-fortified castle.

A week ago he had met Alicia Warner, and cracks had appeared in the wall of the keep.

A recent addition to the U.S. Attorney's staff, she had moved to Atlanta from Denver and what she minimized as an "unpleasant" divorce.

Were there pleasant ones?

A person was more likely to enjoy a root canal.

Lang pressed for no details and she did not reveal any. They had started with sharing a coffee break at the federal courthouse and met for drinks after work.

She was refreshingly cautious; he was in no hurry.

He was busy; she was more interested in her career than in a second husband.

They were circling each other like two animals claiming the same turf.

Lang was going to make his move today: He would ask her for a real, no-kidding, adult-type date, like going to a real restaurant, where, perhaps, they would discuss something other than the criminal justice system.

Lang was not timid by nature, but the possibility of facing rejection from this woman filled him with more dread than did the several attempts that had been made on his life in the last few years. Of course, in the past he hadn't had time to brood before an assassin appeared with a knife, or a shadow government's bomb destroyed his car.

He checked his watch and pushed back from his desk. He went down the hall to the men's restroom, where he combed hair that was already in place, ran a hand over cheeks still smooth from the morning's shave, and grimaced for the mirror, checking teeth that had touched nothing since being brushed.

Although he had never served as a regular in ops, the Agency had preached to its agents to check their equipment, recheck it, and then check it again.

Training or nerves?

He straightened an already perfectly centered tie, shrugged on his tailored suit jacket, and headed for the elevators.

Other than fast-food chains and hotels, downtown Atlanta could boast of few places to have lunch. Once the office workers fled to the suburbs, the streets became the domain of druggies and beggars, the first unsightly and the second overly aggressive. Other pedestrian traffic consisted of hotel guests with great courage or greater ignorance of the city and the few hardy urban pioneers who insisted on going about their nocturnal business even if they had to step over sleeping bodies in doorways and ignore loud and accusatory panhandling.