“The terrifying thing is that there is someone who would use such a weapon—and the answer to who is the terrorist group we’re tasked to hunt,” Ben said. “They want to incite a religious war . . .”

“Just like Islamic jihadists,” Bill offered.

“Sort of. But imagine the statement here. Fire literally raining down on the leaders in Washington, DC—God’s wrath against the people who have fallen from His grace.”

“That would sure embolden the jihadists,” Bill agreed.

“And ravage the faith of those who believe God loves us. What kind of God would do—or even allow—such a thing?” Ben looked back over at Jed, their eyes locking and communicating beyond the words. “It’s DC.”

You’re right.

I know.

“Can we work on confirmation?” Jed asked, finding his voice.

“Yes, but even if I’m wrong, we need to intercept that jet.”

Jed thought about that, and it made sense, but could they get to them in time? The Boeing was already headed toward its target. Ben looked over the map, which Bill had zoomed out.

“It seems like their best targeting solution is here,” he said, tapping a finger over the Chesapeake Bay, south and east of DC. “They’ll be correcting northeast coming off the Pax River VOR.” He indicated the red line now on the map, which showed the cleared course for the jet. “This is the best distance and then it only increases from there.”

“If that’s the target,” Jed said.

“It is,” David said, speaking for the first time.

Jed looked at him, and the fire in his eyes told Jed—well, maybe that it was true, but for sure that David believed it to be. That was his job, right? To be in prayer, seek out holy guidance. It wasn’t that Jed didn’t believe in that—he’d seen so much to prove it was true—but could David be sure enough to bet lives on it? Not theirs, but innocent lives?

He nodded to David.

“If we’re sure, why not unleash the F-16s and take them out now?” Johnny asked from the back. “Problem solved.”

“That risks a lot of civilian deaths on the ground,” Ben said.

Jed was about to point out that there was not much else they could do, but Terry called out from the cockpit door, “We’ve got our fighter escort and we’re diverting to intercept.”

“What if we’re too late?” Jed said.

“That old Boeing barely makes 0.77 Mach and that was clean and in her prime. We’re gonna be making nearly Mach 1. I estimate we’ll intercept them around the SVIL intersection on victor one-five-seven just north of Richmond. And we’ll get ATC to slow them down right now.”

“Can you get us behind them without them knowing we’re there?” Ben asked.

“Easily,” Terry said. “Why?”

“I have an idea,” Ben said. “Just get us behind them tight and undetected.”