Less than a minute later, they were on the upper deck.

“Go, K3!” Cohen yelled.

The picture on Dima’s monitor started moving rapidly. It looked very much like a First Person Shooter game with a Galil as the primary weapon. It passed through the garage and out into the hallway. Nicole could remember seeing all this when she’d visited Salim’s boat with Alicia. It was surreal viewing it this way now, as the lair of the enemy.

Doors passed on either side. Then Dima came to a “T.” To the left, Nicole remembered, was the elevator. Dima turned right. At the end of the hall was a door. A double click sounded, and she saw Dima’s hand motioning toward it.

Her leg bounced nervously, and her hands were sweaty. What would they find inside? Was Nir really there? How bad was he? Was he even still alive?

Dima’s hand reached for the knob, and he eased the door open. It was dark inside. K3 and S6 stepped in and scanned the surroundings. Two more clicks sounded, and Dima began moving rapidly forward. Suddenly, his monitor was filled with Nir’s green, glowing body.

“Shut it down!” cried Cohen. “Shut it down!”

Nicole pulled her eyes away from the K3 monitor and saw a gunfight taking place on the upper deck. I don’t even know if he’s alive or dead! Dima, quick, please tell me how he is.

But she couldn’t wait for his report. Her fingers were flying across the keyboard. On her monitor, every system turned from yellow to black. The yacht was dead in the water.

Then the monitors went black.

Lahav called, “Scrambler is deployed. We have three hours until the battery dies and everyone’s phone is back online.”

Nicole stared at the blank monitors.

Please, Lord, bring him back to me. Protect them all, and bring Nir back.

CAFALA BAHR, ARABIAN SEA, OFF MUMBAI, INDIA–22:25 / 10:25 P.M. IST

“I will never allow that moron on my boat again. I’m sorry for introducing you to him to begin with,” Saad said to Mousavi as they lounged in the salon.

“I have no doubt that Israel has all sorts of plans to try to stop our nuclear aspirations, but I’m also becoming sure of one more thing.” The general pointed to the floor. “That agent down there knows nothing about any of them. No one can endure what he has suffered without telling everything he knows.”

“I agree with you.” I was such a fool letting Ali bring him aboard. This can only end badly. “Will you take the Jew with you?”