“I take it you’re the one Sevrin wanted me to meet this evening.” He sat down.
“I believe he is, how do you say, ‘setting us up.’”
Jake looked wryly at the beautiful woman sitting across the table from him, her thick black hair flowing around one shoulder. “Is that what this is? And here I thought Israel’s national security was at stake.”
“It is, unfortunately. Which was the only reason I agree to participate in his little scheme.”
A waiter arrived and poured the two of them glasses of fine wine, leaving the expensive bottle on their table.
“Disappointed?” Jake touched his glass to hers.
“Who could be disappointed dining with Mossad?”
“Apparently you’ve read my file.”
“Before you even arrived here at Jericho.” She smiled.
“Efficiency. I like that.” He smiled back.
“I like your sense of—expediency.”
“You look like a goddess, Francesca. Are you?”
“Halfblood, actually.”
“I wouldn’t know the difference at this point.”
“And how are you dealing with all of us?”
“Badly, I’m afraid.”
“I would say that is to be expected,” she sympathized, giving him a reassuring smile.
“It’s just all so surreal. The things all of you can do.”
“There is much more to the Ra than just our knowledge, Jake. We are an ancient people with a culture as old as time.”
“Serena said Rion is over a hundred. Is that true?”
She nodded and a grin broke over her face. “He still acts like he is ten sometimes.”
Jake smirked. “I know some fifty year olds who do the same.”
“It does not get any better with age, trust me. Look at Sevrin.”
“How old is he?”
“Old enough to know how to act his, advanced age.”
“The history that all of you must know. I bet it’s incredible. I think I could spend months just talking with all of you about where you’ve been.”
“You will likely win that bet. I have the suspicion you will be with us for a long time, Jacob Gold.”
“Oh?” he said. “Is this another talent I am not aware of? Clairvoyance?”
“Woman’s intuition,” she replied, not looking at him.
“Hmm,” he smiled politely, taking a drink.
Dinner had been impeccable; one of the best Jake had ever had.
“I think I could get used to being vegetarian if it’s like this all the time,” he enthused.
“It is not difficult,” Francesca agreed.
“So you weren’t always vegetarian?”
“No. I became one after joining the family here.”
“Really. How long have you been with them?” Jake was still probing to see how old the beautiful demigoddess actually was.
“Only a few of centuries.”
Jake let out a incredulous breath. “Centuries? You don’t even look thirty,” he complimented.
“Please, you are flattering. I do look thirty.” Francesca smiled beautifully over her glass.
“I know this is terribly crass to ask, Francesca; but call it a scientific curiosity, how old are you, honestly?”
She looked at him, a smirk crossing her face. “Let us just say I knew some of the prophets, and leave it at that.”
Jake raised an eyebrow. Now she really had his curiosity. But he had already stepped over the line asking such a beautiful woman her age. He dropped the subject.
After dinner, Jake found himself walking off the incredible meal out in the atrium park with Francesca beside him. Tiny lights shown above them on the interior four walls of the complex, looking something like the night stars.
“Incredible,” he offered, taking a deep breath of the cooler fresh air and view as they walked over a bridge to a densely treed part of the park. Other people obviously had the same idea as they mulled about down lighted paths disappearing deeper into the tiny well-groomed forest.
“What is?” she asked.
“Everything. This place, Jericho; the meal, the people, even you,” he sighed, overcome with the sensory feast they were experiencing.
“Even?”
“I’ve never had the pleasure of having dinner with such a beautiful woman. You are very gracious, Francesca.”
“Thank you. But you’ve obviously not spent very much time in the company of Sevrin. He assures everyone I am the ‘dragon queen’.”
“Oh?” Jake asked, folding his arms, leaning against the stone railing of the bridge as he studied the spectacular woman in front of him. “You don’t look so tough,” he mused. “I think you’re more the survivor.”
Francesca gazed out over the bubbling brook below, her eyes focused on a lifetime of distant memories Jake could only being to imagine.
“I am,” she breathed musically.
He continued to look at her, watching her watch the water, her mind somewhere distant for the moment.
“What are you looking at, Jacob Gold?” she said continuing to stare at the water in the distance.
“You, for some reason,” he answered.
“Hmm,” she smiled. “And what do you see, besides a survivor?”
“A soldier,” he said flatly.
Francesca turned and looked him in the eye. She said nothing, then turned back to looking at the brook. “Is that what you see?”
Jake moved closer to her and leaned into her field of view. “What are you hiding?” he asked, his voice low and intense.
“Nothing,” she said guilelessly, her eyes meeting his once again.
“You lie really, really well,” he accused.
“Are you always so rude?” she remarked with the most subtle of smiles.
“Only to beautiful women I’ve just met. Apparently it’s a failing I have.”
Whatever Francesca’s cologne, it was subtle and sophisticated, like Francesca. Jake took a deep breath of her. “Besides, you don’t exactly smell like the dragon queen.” he offered.
“It is my disguise.” she smiled.
Jake chuckled. He leaned in closer to her. “It’s a very nice disguise,” he assured her, bending into her personal space. “It hides your fangs and claws.”
He made her giggle. Her laugh was practically mystical.
Others walked by, mostly ignoring them.
“Francesca,” Jake began, “you really didn’t have to have dinner with me this evening.”
“It was in the best interest of our foreign relations.”
“Foreign relations, huh?”
“Did I misspeak?”
Jake winced at the remark. Either Francesca had just dropped a double-entendre or her mastery of Hebrew was not quite what it appeared to be. Jake moved closer to her, his arms extended over the stone railing while leaning back against it. He had moved completely into her personal space now and could now easily look into her eyes.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Looking.”
“At?”
“I’m not sure yet.” Jake inched closer to the side of her face.
“Your fragrance is nice,” he whispered.
Jake felt her inch closer to the side of his face. “Yours is as well.”
“I’m not wearing any cologne.”
“Hmmm, neither am I.”
Jake moved closer, his lips hovering close enough to hers to feel the warmth of her beautiful lips. He felt her take a breath, then move back softly, elegantly. She exhaled nervously, briefly touched his shirt over his chest with her hand, and then turned shyly away, leaving him standing alone.
* * * * *
Brenda crouched low with Gage at the edge of a tall desert cliff. It looked a lot like the Grand Canyon to Gage, only the canyon walls were thick with sagebrush and trees this far north. The cold night air felt nice.
“How did you find them?” Gage asked.
“I didn’t. Rowan did.”
“What you’re seeing are launch tubes.” Brenda informed him.
Suddenly Gage understood. “This is where those SRF-91’s are coming from.”
She nodded. “Their halfblood pilots can withstand a lot more G’s. They launch out of these tubes like aircraft carrier jets, at high speed, as many as three to four per minute.”
“Per tube?” Gage asked.
She nodded. “Rowan thinks they may have hundreds of those fighters underground. Maybe thousands.”
“With ion torpedoes.” Gage frowned.
“We’ve counted twenty-seven of these bases already, Gage. If even one of these bases launches, their squadrons could destroy anything Humanity has built. The Nephilim will crush anything in their path and take over the whole world.”
“Those planes would be no match against a Kir vessel.”
“They won’t be fighting you,” she assured him.
“The Sentinels?”
“The Humans.”
“Humans?”
“The gods are too strong. They know that. They’ll try to destroy the tree by going after its root—Humanity. Destroy the Humans and the seed of the Ra vanishes with it.”
“You’re not serious?”
“I am, Gage.”
“Billions of people?”
“They don’t care. To their twisted way of thinking, Humanity is something akin to the placenta that bore them. The humans are expendable now.”
“What if we took them out?”
“We don’t know where all of their bases are. We’re just a handful. They have maybe hundreds of thousands of soldiers and pilots by now. Carnage on that scale would not be good for your Karma, trust me on this one.”
Gage frowned, then nodded.
36
J ake appeared in his beach-view apartment with the subtle rush of sifting air. It was just as he had left it the day he had traveled to the States—still an incredible mess and in dire need of some picking-up, dishwashing, laundry, dusting, and vacuuming. If he asked, Mom would send someone over to take care of it.
It felt good stepping foot onto native soil once again. Tel Aviv was Jake’s home town and he was finally coming home to get away from the information overload of the Ra and what had happened to Serena.
With his ring still on his finger the continuum was only just one thought away if he needed it. Not to mention the so-called ‘keys’ had other benefits. He had never mentioned it to Serena, but his snowy drive away from their lake house had almost ended in tragedy. Not one but two RPG’s had struck his slowly moving rig on his way down the mountain road, sending the truck into a fireball of flaming wreckage. But somehow, the heat and fire of the inferno hadn’t touched him. He had been unceremoniously ejected from the truck as it rolled like a ball of fire down the steep snowy mountainside. Completely unhurt by the dual-blast, he had quickly scurried away from the wreck to return to the lake house to warn them. His timing could not have been better.
He showered, dressed in fresh clothes and headed over to his parents’ house. The truth was, although he did have his own place, Jake more or less still lived with his parents in his childhood home. The house was huge, there were servants, and he never had to worry about the shopping.
Jake parked in his space in the garage and took a back door that led into the kitchen. It was bustling with a foursome of chefs, all of whom were hollering back and forth. They all ignored him as he quietly moved through the kitchen, letting his nose appreciate the wonderful aroma of fresh falafel.
He ran into his mom coming down the kitchen hallway.
“Jacob!” she shouted as she hurried up to him with a hug and kisses on both cheeks. “You’re home!”
“Hello Imah.” Jake gave her a big hug, and smooched both cheeks loudly.
“Oh, we were so worried about you!” Mara Gold reached up and patted her boy on the face.
“I’m fine, Imah!” Jake rolled his eyes at the fussing.
“How is Serena?”
“She’s fine too.”
“Everyone is arriving, you’re just in time. Your father will be so glad to see you!”
“I didn’t know there was party?”
“It’s not really a party, Jacob. It was very last minute. Your father is hosting visiting dignitaries from the EU for the peace talks.”
“More peace talks?” Jake frowned. Anytime there were peace talks it always meant bad news for Israel. It didn’t matter what they gave or what concessions they made, the other sides never kept the agreements—but they had to keep theirs. He was glad he wasn’t a politician.
Guests had already gathered in the home’s large stateroom the size of an elegantly adorned gymnasium. There were the usual suspects: friends of dad’s; Shabak agents and some Mossad for added security. Uniformed military brass rubbed elbows with numerous politicians, some that Jake recognized and most he didn’t. Jake surveyed the room and was approached by one of the Shabak agents.
“I’m sorry, sir, this party is by invitation only. We don’t allow Mossad riff-raff in here,” the big man warned. “Especially ones that are—underdressed.” The agent straightened the lapels of Jake’s more hip than formal evening jacket.
“Very funny, Schmuel. Still working for the suits? When are you going to get a real job?” Jake retorted.
“When you do.”
They both chuckled.
“How is Serena?” Schmuel asked. “They said you went looking for her.”
“She’s fine. She got married.”
“Married? Oh, man, that sucks. Eloped without telling anyone, huh?”
“Yea. Basically.”
“So did you leave the guy alive?”
“You know, Sam, she found a really interesting guy.” Jake lifted a drink from a server as he walked past. “A prince, actually.”
“A prince. Really? From what country?”
Jake nodded after taking a small sip from the tall glass. “A really old one. Maybe I can tell you more about it, late—er. Huh?”
“Later?” Sam looked across the room to see what Jake’s eyes had focused on. A strikingly beautiful woman was smiling and chatting within a small group of dignitaries. Sam leaned in closer to Jake’s ear. “That’s the cardinal’s personal assistant,” Sam offered. “Fucking gorgeous.”
“Really—” Jake mused.
“My dick started getting hard the moment she walked in,” Sam only half joked.
“Personal assistant, huh?”
“Leave it alone, Jake. We don’t need you making an idiot of yourself in front of the Cardinal.”
Jake handed his still full glass to Sam and walked toward the small group. He nonchalantly avoided the bombshell’s gaze and walked around the large ballroom keeping himself out of her view. He then walked silently up from behind standing next to her, saying nothing.
She turned casually, elegantly, toward him. “You do know it’s impossible to sneak up on an empath?”
“I do now. What are you doing here!? I thought everyone was supposed to stay home these days,” he interrogated.
“Life is too short to be cooped up in one place.”
“Uh-huh. Too short? This coming from Miss ‘I knew the prophets.’”
“It just shows I have a lot of experience on the matter. Besides, the cardinal is a personal friend and needed an assistant. What is your excuse?”
“I live here; well, my folks do.”
“Small world,” she lifted an eyebrow and took a sip from her glass.
“Apparently,” he smirked rolling his eyes.
“So, I gave you a tour of Jericho’s gardens, when does the grand tour of yours begin?” she questioned.
“Now.” He politely offered her his arm and they both strode out of the room into the cool night air.
“I don’t get it. How does he do that?”
“How the hell should I know? Maybe we need to be Mossad. Get back to work.”
“This is quite unexpected,” Jake began.
“You will find that I can be full of surprises.”
“I can see that.”
“Your family has a lovely home, Jake. You grew up here?”
He nodded. “Yea. Well, when I wasn’t training in some G-d forsaken desert somewhere.”
“Your gardeners are talented. My compliments.”
“It’s a little chilly out here. Are you warm enough?”
“It is perfect. We, prefer cooler weather.”
Jake nodded. “I’m thinking that there are probably a million places you could be right now; but suddenly, by some random act of fate, you’re at a dinner party, at my folks’, on precisely the same day I come home.”
“What a coincidence,” she responded with a little gleam in her eyes.
“You know, I usually don’t mince words. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were following me.”
“I would never be so crass. Carson has officially assigned me to help you. I am on assignment for your government now.”
“To weed out the infiltrators.” Jake nodded, not hiding his sarcasm. “Nice cover. I think, the real reason you’re here is because you like me,” he forwarded with a smile.
“That is a possibility. I have not decided yet.”
“I see. Well, you’re not exactly difficult to look at,” he mused.
“Likewise.” She smiled coyly at him.
“You’re kind of a challenge, actually.”
“Oh?”
“Yea, you—confuse me. You have this ‘I’m all stone cold business’ demeanor on the outside; but then there’s this mysterious, caring warmth all over on the inside.”
Interra (Awakened Series Book 5) Page 33