She eased over onto her side and struggled with the tangle of emotions pulling her first one way and then another. One moment she was certain she should have told him the truth, the next she was just as convinced otherwise.
Two days, Fran had said.
That meant tomorrow. That’s why Michal had been meeting with his men. Some sort of new mission was happening tomorrow and that’s when the CIA planned to strike.
She turned on the bedside lamp, threw the covers back and climbed out of bed. How could she lie there and sleep knowing what might be in store for him come morning?
But what could she do? How could she stop it? She couldn’t. Fran had said his number was up. That it was going down.
Revelation 19:11.
It wasn’t until that moment that Ami remembered the Bible verse. She hurried over to the table near the bed and opened the top drawer. The black leather-bound Bible that Fran had given her was there where Ami had put it when she’d noticed it in the kitchen after lunch. After Michal’s complete about-face where she was concerned. She shivered at the remembered iciness he’d emanated. Even his posture had been cold and unyielding, brutally so.
She quickly flipped through the pages until she located Revelation, the final book of verses. She slid her finger down the page until she came to Verse 11 of Chapter 19.
And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called “Faithful and True” and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
Ami shivered as she read the words once more. She considered each part alone, then the verse as a whole. What did it mean? Fran Woodard was too smart to drop a clue that meant nothing at all. There had to be some connection to the mission and/or to Michal.
But what?
She read the verse again.
Okay, the white horse. That generally denoted goodness. The rider was called “Faithful and True,” that definitely was good. In righteousness he sat, judged and made war. That was the part that she didn’t fully understand.
Was Fran somehow trying to make her see that what the CIA had in store for Michal was necessary? Did she mean that Jack Tanner judged rightly? Or the CIA in general.
Did it even have anything to do with the CIA?
Ami hugged the Bible to her chest and did the only thing she knew to do.
She prayed.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
DAWN HAD SCARCELYclimbed the treetops when Ami was roused from her bed and told to be ready in fifteen minutes. She pushed off the covers and sat up, struggling to think past the fog in her brain.
Another sleepless night had rendered her sluggish and barely able to form a coherent thought, much less deal with what the day would bring.
Fear shuddered through her.
She had prayed last night until she’d exhausted herself.
Still there was no divine epiphany.
No strike of inspiration.
Just a hollow sense of defeat.
By the time she was ready to go, Michal and his men were already climbing into the Hummer. Only three men accompanied them this morning, Thomas, the Spaniard and Kolin.
Ami tried not to read too much into the fact that the usual number wasn’t on board for this mission.
Michal had done this numerous times before, she reminded herself. He knew what he was doing.
Besides, what good would it do her to suggest otherwise? The few words he had conveyed to her were cold and unfeeling, leaving her to struggle with the hurt as well as the fear for what was about to happen.
After what felt like an eternity on the road, they stopped in a small village and picked up different transportation. This time they loaded into separate vehicles, both Jeeps and more than a little rugged-looking.
