a name to.
Luckily Laura was one of only a handful of people on the planet who had the full skill-set. As Murphy watched her pore over her papers, he marveled at these unique and powerful skills. Finding the tail of the Serpent at the Horns of the Ox was going to test those skills to the limit.
THIRTEEN
IT WAS THE second punch that Murphy regretted. No one was fighting him; he was hitting a heavy bag in the Preston University gym. The first punch, a sharp right jab, felt good to him, so good that be quickly snapped his left hand with a pop against the bag that sent a jolt from the boxing glove straight up his shoulder. The shoulder he had momentarily forgotten was still throbbing from the clawing by the lion.
When Murphy dropped both arms to let the pain ricochet around his upper body, the burly figure next to him let out a gruff snarl. “Come on, Murphy, no coffee breaks. This isn’t government work, it’s supposed to be a workout.” Levi Abrams pushed Murphy’s shoulder to get him started again. His left shoulder.
Now Murphy had to double over to keep the pain fromshooting around his torso. “Levi! Didn’t you hear me say I had to take it easy today with that shoulder?”
“Suck it up, Murphy. Intensity. Focus. Do you remember nothing of your army time? Tram, tram, tram some more. That’s the only way to keep yourself from decaying like one of your desert mummies.”
Murphy had to laugh as he looked over at the six-foot-five Israeli who was always so serious about their training sessions. Actually, Levi Abrams was serious about everything he did, as far as Murphy could tell. He had been recruited to the United States by the high-tech companies in the Raleigh-Durham area as a very highly paid security expert. So highly paid that he could afford to take an early retirement from the Mossad and relocate his family to Raleigh.
However, Murphy was certain that Levi had not completely retired. He would never ask Levi directly, and Levi was far too serious and closemouthed to say anything, but he remained extremely well connected in the Mideast, in the Arab countries as well as in Israel. So much so that Levi had been able to help Murphy on a number of occasions with expediting papers to get himself and, more important, some objects out of the Mideast.
For his part, though you would never guess it from his always stern expressions and no-nonsense conversations, Levi seemed to respect Murphy. Like Murphy, in his way Levi was a natural instructor, though if Murphy worked his students the way Levi worked him, the university would have him brought up on abuse charges.
They had first met by eyeing each other before sunup on the running track two years earlier, when Levi was overseeingthe security needs for a high-powered computer system being donated to the university by his current tech firm. Eventually, Levi offered to expand Murphy’s martial arts skills, which led to high-intensity training sessions whenever they could fit them in. With Levi, Murphy always pushed himself way beyond the effort he put in on his own, and he normally pushed himself hard. Right now, getting so carried away had brought on the pain that kept him doubled over.
This morning Murphy would have skipped working out altogether to let his shoulder heal, but he had an urgent reason to get together with Levi. He decided to get to it while he was waiting for the pain to subside.
“Levi, my friend, I have a major favor to ask. I’ve gotten a lead on something really huge, an archaeological find that I need to jump on.”
“Another of your dusty knickknacks?” Levi’s respect for Murphy as a fighter did not exactly extend to Murphy’s choice of profession. “Let me guess, you need, as my son has taken to saying, ‘wheels’? Transportation to somewhere dicey in the Mideast?”
“You know me all too well, my friend. Levi, all I need is to get Laura and me into Samaria ASAP, try to find the hiding place for this piece we’re looking for,
Luckily Laura was one of only a handful of people on the planet who had the full skill-set. As Murphy watched her pore over her papers, he marveled at these unique and powerful skills. Finding the tail of the Serpent at the Horns of the Ox was going to test those skills to the limit.
THIRTEEN
IT WAS THE second punch that Murphy regretted. No one was fighting him; he was hitting a heavy bag in the Preston University gym. The first punch, a sharp right jab, felt good to him, so good that be quickly snapped his left hand with a pop against the bag that sent a jolt from the boxing glove straight up his shoulder. The shoulder he had momentarily forgotten was still throbbing from the clawing by the lion.
When Murphy dropped both arms to let the pain ricochet around his upper body, the burly figure next to him let out a gruff snarl. “Come on, Murphy, no coffee breaks. This isn’t government work, it’s supposed to be a workout.” Levi Abrams pushed Murphy’s shoulder to get him started again. His left shoulder.
Now Murphy had to double over to keep the pain fromshooting around his torso. “Levi! Didn’t you hear me say I had to take it easy today with that shoulder?”
“Suck it up, Murphy. Intensity. Focus. Do you remember nothing of your army time? Tram, tram, tram some more. That’s the only way to keep yourself from decaying like one of your desert mummies.”
Murphy had to laugh as he looked over at the six-foot-five Israeli who was always so serious about their training sessions. Actually, Levi Abrams was serious about everything he did, as far as Murphy could tell. He had been recruited to the United States by the high-tech companies in the Raleigh-Durham area as a very highly paid security expert. So highly paid that he could afford to take an early retirement from the Mossad and relocate his family to Raleigh.
However, Murphy was certain that Levi had not completely retired. He would never ask Levi directly, and Levi was far too serious and closemouthed to say anything, but he remained extremely well connected in the Mideast, in the Arab countries as well as in Israel. So much so that Levi had been able to help Murphy on a number of occasions with expediting papers to get himself and, more important, some objects out of the Mideast.
For his part, though you would never guess it from his always stern expressions and no-nonsense conversations, Levi seemed to respect Murphy. Like Murphy, in his way Levi was a natural instructor, though if Murphy worked his students the way Levi worked him, the university would have him brought up on abuse charges.
They had first met by eyeing each other before sunup on the running track two years earlier, when Levi was overseeingthe security needs for a high-powered computer system being donated to the university by his current tech firm. Eventually, Levi offered to expand Murphy’s martial arts skills, which led to high-intensity training sessions whenever they could fit them in. With Levi, Murphy always pushed himself way beyond the effort he put in on his own, and he normally pushed himself hard. Right now, getting so carried away had brought on the pain that kept him doubled over.
This morning Murphy would have skipped working out altogether to let his shoulder heal, but he had an urgent reason to get together with Levi. He decided to get to it while he was waiting for the pain to subside.
“Levi, my friend, I have a major favor to ask. I’ve gotten a lead on something really huge, an archaeological find that I need to jump on.”
“Another of your dusty knickknacks?” Levi’s respect for Murphy as a fighter did not exactly extend to Murphy’s choice of profession. “Let me guess, you need, as my son has taken to saying, ‘wheels’? Transportation to somewhere dicey in the Mideast?”
“You know me all too well, my friend. Levi, all I need is to get Laura and me into Samaria ASAP, try to find the hiding place for this piece we’re looking for,
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