“Works for me.” Matt said, leaning back. His weariness dragged at his bones, and started to blur his vision. Everyone around the table looked the same.

Abrams motioned to Adira. “One more thing; I need to check in – now.” His expression told her there would no argument.

*

“Sir,” Abrams said, looking over his shoulder. He was in a closed room, but would bet every word he said was being listened to.

“About time, Major.” General Decker’s voice sounded relieved. “Thought we’d lost you. What happened?”

Abrams smiled, imagining the tough stocky general in his office. He bet he’d already had another team ready to go.

“We met with Dr Albadi in Syria, and got a good lead on a source of information that might be the key to the earth-drops and disappearances.” It was easy to keep his briefing short seeing as he didn’t want to divulge too much. “But our ride home took a hit from an IED. Had to hike it across the desert. Luckily we found a friendly…of sorts. Captain Adira Senesh, Israeli army – pretty sure she’s Mossad.”

Abrams heard keys being struck as the general typed the name into the database.

“Jesus Christ, Joshua. This woman is on the extremely dangerous list. She not just Mossad, she’s Metsada. She even had a head-on with some HAWCs last year. If she’s tough enough to mess with those guys, you better watch yourself.”

Abrams exhaled. “Well, we need to get to Egypt, and she can get us there. As for trusting her, not a chance.” He smiled, knowing he wasn’t giving up anything the Metsada agent probably didn’t already know.

There was silence, and he knew Decker was probably looking over her file. He whistled softly, but before he could add anything Abrams cut him off.

“Sir, this line is not secure.” He changed the subject. “Have there been any new developments I need to be aware of?”

There was silence for a few second. “More earth-drops, more people disappearing, on larger and larger scales. We’re getting information breakouts now. Had to happen. But we have a new threat. There are…things, creatures of sorts, coming up from out of the holes, and even out of the freaking drains. Monstrous things we believe are directly responsible for the earlier animal abductions and the more recent disappearances.”

“Yes, happening here too.” Abrams remembered the bodies that vanished in the desert.

“God,” Decker said. “But we also think we now know what’s happening to some of them – the people. Some of them are being…absorbed, for want of a better term…instead of just eaten.”

Abrams grimaced. He didn’t like hearing the tension in the older warrior’s voice.

It sounded like Decker got to his feet. “In fact, I’ve got an appointment in about an hour where we expect to determine how we can deal with these things.”

“How are you able to do that?” Abrams asked.

Decker grunted. “Because we captured one.”

*

Adira talked quietly upstairs with Baruk and Marta until her comms device pinged. She recognized the call signature and walked quickly to a front room, looking out over a small garden. She answered it.