The car slid to a stop outside of the Harounieh Dome, its colossal, sandstone structure casting deep shadows and looking more like a fortress than a place of worship.

“Where is everyone?” Sam asked.

“They’re here. Keep your eyes open and stay cool,” Alex said, feeling the presence of multiple bodies crowded close by.

The heavy wooden front doors were thirty feet across with ornate metal hinge brackets. Above were teardrop lintels all carved with magnificent Persian stonework.

Sam went to them and tried the ring handle, and then pushed hard with a shoulder. The doors were locked and didn’t budge.

“That was option one.” He stepped back and lifted one huge boot, the MECH suit’s hydraulic assisted leg levering back and then flicking forward in a blur.

The lock exploded inwards, the wood and ancient metal no match for the punch of the titanium-alloyed steel. Alex went in quick, Casey followed next, then Adira, Eli, and lastly, Sam. They had guns up, and moved like hounds on a scent. The dome inside was a huge shell with numerous doors and arches – a labyrinth, and impossible to explore quickly. Alex knew there were people concealed, waiting for the ambush.

He spun, sensing the danger, just as the stun grenades exploded among them, their throwers lobbing the small cylinders from their places of hiding. The detonations were an explosion of light and sound, and then came the thick fog-like smoke to shroud everything.

“Go to thermal,” Alex yelled, not sure if his words were heard following the near deafening grenade explosions. Cutting through the fog came a patter of gunfire, then a grunt of pain.

Alex sprinted now, darting from side to side. He found Casey, who waved him on. Then he located Adira and Sam, standing back to back in the swirling smoke of the bombs that finally started to clear.

Alex could feel the emptiness of the huge sandstone structure – whoever had been here was gone … and so was Eli.

“Eli!” Adira turned about. “Operative Eli Livnat, report.”

Alex closed his eyes, reaching out, trying to locate the Mossad agent’s presence. After a moment he opened his eyes and walked over to Adira. “He’s gone.”

“Gone?” She continued to search, her teeth momentarily bared. “Gone? Then we find him, before they start their work.”

Alex reached out to grab her arm. “We’ll search, but we have a mission priority, and our clock is ticking. We’ll do what we can, okay?”

She grimaced, and Alex could feel the tension and frustration boiling away inside the woman.

“We’ll do what we can,” he repeated, and then turned away. “Sam, Casey, find me a path.”

Adira and Alex joined Casey and Sam, spreading out, searching alcoves and opening doors, until Casey stood back.

“Yo, boss! Got steps here – and recently used.”

They gathered, peering down. The steps were new, barely a decade old, the smooth, gray concrete incongruous just inside the old stone-lintelled doorway.