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than Candace had done against bullets. Her vanishing act.
    The best had been saved for last. And the most dangerous. The She-Judas? What did that mean? So many unknown elements were encircling Dixie Lou, and closing in on her.
    Later this morning, despite the risk of detection by satellites, she would send out a search helicopter, to see if Lori and the rest of her party could be located. Dixie Lou’s pilots were checking one of the ’copters now, to make certain its stealth features were fully operational, and had not been damaged in the storm.
    But first, she had some questions to ask of the she-apostles, and she did not intend to be pleasant about it.
    * * *
    Acting Minister Styx Tertullian watched a high-resolution wall screen that showed recorded images of the attack. The top of Monte Konos was erupting like a volcano, and he saw the complete destruction of all buildings in the ancient monastery.
    “Praise God!” he shouted.
    His eyes were open wide, his mouth agape, as he absorbed everything. In fact, the destruction was so beautiful against the night sky that he decided to have the Bureau lab prepare a still photograph for him, to be displayed in his office.
    He remained deeply troubled, though, by the four aircraft that had escaped.

Chapter 5

    There are two basic world views, one male and the other female. They are diametrically opposed to one another, and always will be.
    —Ancient Saying

    Golden sunlight passed through the windshield of the helicopter, filling the cockpit with warmth and hazy illumination. Lori had been awake for a few minutes, heard the cries of birds outside. Having moved to an air mattress that she’d set up inside the cockpit, she pushed aside a thin insul-blanket that bore the green-and-orange sword-cross emblem of the UWW.
    She heard other sounds, and opening the side window more to look outside, she saw Rea Janeg working alongside the fuselage, at an open panel box that contained the controls for the electronic camouflage system. The pilot had been up since dawn working on it, cleaning dust out of everything. Lori had offered to help when she’d first heard her out there, but the woman had declined, saying she could do it faster on her own.
    Looking up at Lori now, the pilot grinned. “Got the camouflage system operational,” she said. “Just needed to clean a few parts.” She closed the panel cover. “First things first, to conceal where we are. The twin engines are next.”
    “That’s great,” Lori said. Then, pulling her head back inside, she looked at her watch, which had automatically set itself to Libyan time: 7:45 AM. She would have liked to have slept longer, recalled lying awake at dawn as the pilot was just beginning her work.
    Now her thoughts drifted to Alex, and she hoped he was safe.
    Having been sleeping in her underclothes, Lori swung out of bed, put on a light green blouse, khaki jeans, and sport shoes. Through the open side window she felt a slight breeze. And, able to see out through the camouflage (like one-way glass, the pilot had explained), she saw a flock of birds winging over the desert, heading out toward the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea, which stretched to the horizon. Some of the birds were white, others black, and of varying sizes. It seemed odd to her that they were all together, in one formation.
    Hearing the unmistakable throb of a helicopter, her heart skipped a beat. She didn’t see the aircraft yet, but shouted out the window, and then into the passenger compartment: “Under cover, everyone! Under cover!” Energy from the camouflage system crackled around her.
    Lori had ordered everyone not to venture out of the camouflaged area, and to wear robes or dark scarves in case they made the mistake of going further. Within seconds, she saw and heard scurrying, and low voices. They had a .50 caliber machine gun on the helicopter and Lori had the access code, but she had no thought of firing at any approaching aircraft, because other