The picture flashed brightly once, then twice. The bearded face of a soldier who appeared to be in his mid-thirties filled the screen. His hand reached out, and he plucked up the camera. They briefly saw a flashlight before the screen whited out again. When the flashlight was moved, another face filled the screen, this one older with a thick, graying mustache. As he examined the camera, his expression turned from curiosity to anger. The camera dropped to the ground, then the picture went black.

“He owes the State of Israel 2,400 shekels,” Lahav said.

“Term base, how’s our transport looking?” Nir asked.

“Still a no go. The ramsad is trying to arrange an alternative. Right now, you’re on your own.”

“Keep me posted.” Turning to his team, Nir said, “We’ve got maybe 15 minutes before we have visitors. I don’t think it will be the full force at first, because they’ve got to find us. But they know the direction we’re going. Once we engage, I would expect that within ten minutes we’ll have 50 or more angry dirties on us.”

“We’ve got to get ourselves some cover,” Yaron said. “Or at least some high ground or something.”

“Unfortunately, we’re stuck on this moonscape.”

Suddenly, Imri shushed them. “Listen.”

Nir strained to register what Imri had picked up. Then he heard it. “What is that?”

“Think back to your kibbutz days.”

Imri was right. Nir had heard that sound every day growing up.

“Sheep,” Nir said with a grin.

Lahav rolled his eyes. “I hate to break it to you, but a bunch of sheep aren’t going to do much to stop bullets.”

“No, they aren’t. But if you weren’t such a city boy, you’d know that by this time of night, the sheep aren’t still out grazing. They’re back in their…” He left the sentence hanging for Lahav to finish.

“Pen.”

“Exactly. Due east, Imri?”

“Due east.”

“Lead the way.”

With Imri on point and Dima bringing up the rear, the Kidon agents and the analyst took off at a low jog, searching for the source of the bleating.

Chapter 29

CHAPTER 29

20:05 / 8:05 P.M. IRST

Get out of here if you want to save your lives,” Nir said in Arabic. He had to give some respect to the three young shepherds. Despite the fact they had only one rifle and two long staffs, they were standing their ground against six heavily armed men dressed in military fatigues.

“What about our sheep?” asked the one with the rifle. “We want to take our sheep.”

“There’s no time. You leave without your sheep or you die with them.”

“We want our sheep.”

“Boss, we don’t have time for this,” Yaron said. The other team members were already scouting the best cover among the three small stone buildings that made up the sheep pen and shepherds’ hut.