There was some kind of argument between them and Ayeem’s friends, and then the guards started to give him a beating. I managed to film it and then drew their attention away. They chased us out here, shooting all the way.”
Safiya glanced at Aaron, and then back at Ethan.
“We’ll get you back to Jerusalem and get you cleaned up before we figure out a way of explaining all this.”
Beside her, Aaron shook his head. “This isn’t over yet. They’ve got backup.”
Ethan looked in the direction that Aaron indicated with a severe nod.
Far out to the north against the darkening skies, the flashing navigation lights of a helicopter blinked toward them on an intercept course.
Can we outrun them?”
Safiya’s voice was pinched with anxiety as she stared at the distant lights blinking an ominous red against the deep-blue evening sky.
“I don’t know,” Aaron said. “But whatever happens, they’ll be able to land wherever we do.”
Ethan moved across to the starboard side of the aircraft and looked at the lights that seemed to come closer with every passing second.
“They want the film I shot,” he said quickly. “Footage of atrocities against the Bedouin will see MACE in a Jerusalem court, and a successful conviction could open up a whole legal precedent for Israel.” Ethan turned to Aaron. “Ayeem’s son disappeared in the Negev and he thinks that MACE has something to do with it.”
“Where is Ayeem?” Safiya demanded.
“I left him there,” Ethan said. “As long as we’ve got this footage, there’s nothing that they can do to him without further implicating themselves. We have to get it back to Ambassador Cutler in Jerusalem. MACE is in possession of the remains that Lucy discovered and that implicates them in whatever’s happened to her.”
Safiya looked to her husband, who gripped the controls of the aircraft tighter in his chunky fists.
“We can’t land back at Herzliya. They’ll be onto us the moment we set down.”
Ethan ran a hand through his tousled hair, watching desert sand spill onto the floor of the fuselage.
“How close can you get us to Gaza?”
Both Aaron and Safiya stared at him in disbelief.
“Are you insane?” Aaron uttered. “Gazan airspace is restricted. If we deviate from our flight plan, the IDF will intercept us within moments.”
“That’s right,” Ethan replied. “You’ll be forced to land under armed escort and arrested either by the Israeli police or the army.” He jabbed a thumb in the direction of the helicopter. “Better that than have MACE’s goons waiting for you on the ground.”
Aaron shook his head, muttering something under his breath before glancing at Rachel.
“Are you okay?”
Rachel’s vacant gaze drifted across to meet the pilot’s, and for a moment she did not respond, as though she were a thousand miles away and had only just heard the question.
“I’m fine,” she whispered, her voice almost inaudible through their headphones.
Over the engine noise, the rhythmic thunder of the helicopter’s blades reverberated through the fuselage. A blinding white light suddenly pierced the interior, sweeping back and forth. Ethan shielded his eyes and looked away. A rush of static hissed and crackled, followed by a commanding voice.
“X-Ray Uniform Delta Seven One, reverse your course immediately and return to Bar Yehuda. That is an order, over.”
Aaron glanced over his shoulder at Ethan, who shook his head.
“They beat Ayeem and they shot at us. You don’t want to go back there.”
Aaron looked across at the helicopter, before reaching down and changing the radio’s frequency. “They’re speaking in English, so Israeli air traffic isn’t on their channel. Hold on.”
Ethan barely had time to grip his seat before Aaron yanked back on the control column. The de Havilland surged upward, sweeping up and over the helicopter while falling back as it lost airspeed. The helicopter jerked away, the pilot clearly surprised by the maneuver. Aaron dropped down behind the helicopter, the Beaver’s wings waggling in the slipstream. The helicopter pilot swerved left in an attempt to clear the de Havilland from his tail, but Aaron hung on grimly as Safiya deftly adjusted the throttles to compensate.
“Since when are you the Red Baron?” she snapped. “You can hardly shoot them down.”
“No, but they can’t shoot at us either.”
Ethan listened as Aaron began trying to contact Israeli air traffic control, but after several attempts he shook his head, cursing in Yiddish and turning to look at Ethan over the back of his seat.
“They’re blocking our radios, some kind of electronic countermeasures.”
Ethan felt a sluice of despair flood his guts. Ahead the sun had completely vanished, setting swiftly