Besides, he’d kept running up against the wall that told him Nicole’s being a part of their team made perfect sense. She wasn’t an Israeli, and her tech skills were essential for the success of the plan. But she was in Iran, the den filled with the most vicious of lions. There were so many what-ifs, and each one led to an even nastier conclusion than the last. As it turned out, though, his fears had been unfounded—so far.

Realizing his only caloric intake since last night had been a cup of sweetened coffee now and then, Nir reached into one of his cargo pants pockets and pulled out a PowerBar. Although it was 11 degrees Celsius and rainy outside—and not all that warm in the safe house either—the bar was soft from his body heat. He took a bite, closed his eyes, and breathed deeply.

Twenty minutes later, any serenity he’d achieved disappeared in an instant. Life had indeed swung its fist and delivered a direct hit.

Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

EIGHT HOURS EARLIER

TEHRAN, IRAN—JANUARY 31, 2018—22:15 / 10:15 P.M. IRST

Nicole shivered as she slipped the gloves off her hands. It was below freezing outside, and the van’s metal shell wasn’t doing much to keep out the cold. Unfortunately, running the engine for the heater would draw undue attention, so she had to depend on layers of clothing and body fat to keep her core temperature up. She was wearing plenty of the former, but she was sorely lacking in the latter.

Holding her bare hands against the bay of computers in front of her, she soaked in the meager warmth they emitted.

Three others sat in the van—the driver and two techs, all men. One tech oversaw communications. The second, the only other English-speaker in the vehicle, monitored the picture from a small camera placed across the street from the target warehouse. A fifth member of their team in this secluded location was standing in the shadows outside, making sure no one happened to stumble over the thin wires that connected the van to the security system of the building next to them.

Their target’s alarm system wouldn’t be difficult for her to hack, but because it was connected into a closed system, it couldn’t be accessed from the outside. The internet was no use, nor were phone lines. The only way to get control was to go to the building itself or to one of the four other government-owned structures that were part of the same security loop. And it was for this reason that Nicole found herself in an Iran Khodro Diesel van icebox with these three Azerbaijani Mossad agents in the suburbs of Tehran.

“Okay, Julia, roll the dice.”