Ripple (Breakthrough Book 4)

by Michael C. Grumley

  DeeAnn cleared her throat. “I think it’s in Rwanda.”

  “That’s not what we mean.”

  When she didn’t answer, Caesare continued, “Borger thinks he found fragments of the markers we were looking for pretty close to where you had him scanning. How did you know where to look?”

  “I wasn’t sure. Exactly.”

  “Well, then that was one hell of a guess.”

  DeeAnn finally took a deep breath and reached down to turn off her vest, causing Dulce to twist her head curiously from Caesare’s shoulder.

  “It was a hunch,” she sighed. “One that I actually hoped would be wrong.”

  “And why is that?” Clay asked.

  “Because it was not a place I wanted to go. Any of us.”

  “Rwanda?”

  She nodded. “It’s a bad place––a country run by thugs and warlords, claiming to be militia. Ruthless men that have no compassion for anyone or anything. Where people are kidnapped or killed on a regular basis.”

  Both men’s expressions grew serious.

  “There are a lot of places like that in Africa.”

  DeeAnn shook her head. “Rwanda is worse. Years ago, a colleague of mine was murdered, and I swore I’d never set foot in that place.”

  “What happened?”

  “She was a well-known researcher, world-renowned actually, studying gorillas in their natural environment. She was one of the Trimates.”

  “What’s a Trimate?”

  “It’s a term for the three researchers originally sent by Louis Leakey to Africa, to expand upon his original work into primates and their biological history. DeeAnn paused, grimly. “My friend was one of them, and she was killed as a result.”

  Clay’s brows furrowed. “What was her name?”

  “Someone you’ve probably heard of. Dian Fossey.”

  Clay recognized the name. “I remember reading about her.”

  “You should. They made a movie based on her work.”

  “Dian Fossey, the anthropologist.”

  “And primatologist. Dian studied gorillas, Jane Goodall studied chimpanzees, and Birute Galdikas researched orangutans. All three of whom continued the work originally started by Leakey and his wife in Olduvai, where they uncovered the first true origins of human evolution.”

  “You mean the actual place from where we all originated?”

  She nodded. “Evolved. Yes.”

  “And she was murdered?”

  DeeAnn continued. “Some of us at the Gorilla Foundation had followed Dian and her work for years. It all started when Leakey helped secure the funding for a long-term study of gorillas in the Congo and hired Dian. She traveled to meet Jane Goodall and observe her work before heading to the Congo. But not before she was caught in a country-wide revolution, causing her to move to the other side of the Virungas Mountains. That was where she spent the next twenty years doing research in the rain forests of Rwanda. Studying gorillas, who until then, knew humans only as predators.”

  DeeAnn reached up and gently stroked the fur atop Dulce’s head.

  “It took her a long time to gain the trust of the native gorillas. And when she finally did, she fell in love with them.” A faint smile appeared briefly on DeeAnn’s face. “The locals called her ‘the woman who lives alone on the mountain.’ And it was there that she died trying to protect them.”

  “From what, poachers?”

  “Yes,” she nodded. “It was a grizzly scene when they found her. And there were a lot of unanswered questions. But it was clear who had done it and why. She had exposed them with the help of others who were trying to fight back. Dian was creating havoc for the poachers, and they had to shut her up for good.”

  DeeAnn’s voice trailed off leaving only silence behind. The men looked at each other.

  “We’re sorry, DeeAnn. Truly. But how is Dian Fossey’s death related to us?”

  “Because I think there may have been more to her death than we know. Than anyone knows. She lived in the most densely populated area in the world for gorillas. An area that we know was integral in the journey of human evolution. With gorillas, who are also one of the tri-brain animals.” She let those words sink in before continuing. “What if Dian wasn’t killed just for harassing the poachers? What if during her time in the mountains, she discovered more than just anthropological secrets of those gorillas? What if she discovered clues to what we’re looking for?”

  Caesare’s eyes opened wide with surprise. “Whoa.”

  “Exactly. Which could also explain why she was murdered so suddenly after being up there for so many years.”

  Clay listened quietly, pondering. “If that’s true, then it also means that others knew too. About whatever she found.”

  “Probably. And then killed her to keep it quiet. Like I said, they’re ruthless. Rwanda is an extremely dangerous place, with no regard for the law or their fellow man. Everything around them is nothing more than a means.” DeeAnn stared at the two men. “It’s a country that’s as corrupt as any I’ve ever seen.”

  Caesare folded his arms across his chest and looked at Clay. “Well, that sounds lovely.”

  Clay frowned. “And we thought Brazil was bad.”

  DeeAnn shrugged. “You can see why I never wanted to go.”

  “Now that makes three of us.”

  57

  Sheng Lam was still fuming. In China, he stood silently, visually constraining his anger, studying the ground at his feet. The Jaguar kept idling behind them until one of Peng’s men leaned in and switched off the ignition. The sudden disappearance of the running engine plunged them into silence for several seconds. Then the more subtle sounds of the forest gradually filled the void.

  A soft swaying of the trees overhead and scampering of an animal in the bushes could be heard as Lam bent down to examine the tracks in the dirt.

  A few prints left behind included a partial design from what appeared to be a sneaker or athletic shoe. He touched one of the prints gently, testing the firmness of the soil.

  Lam then stood and walked back toward the car, studying the ground. The “shinings” from the bent grass and leaf depressions were clear, displaying more partials of the forefoot flipped in opposite directions.

  She had run back to the car for something.

  Behind Lam, their squad leader held a compact two-way radio to his ear. Peng then spoke into it, in a lowered tone. She couldn’t be far.

  One of Peng’s men stood nearby, staring up at the chopper as he watched it slowly spin through a full 360-degree turn, scanning thoroughly without changing its position.

  Hiding on the ground from helicopters was easier than most people thought. Anything from logs to small holes or caves could keep you hidden long enough for eyes above to pass over your location. It was why most helicopters hunted in packs and used thermal imaging to detect body heat.

  Lam returned, and in one smooth motion, jumped over the fallen tree trunk, landing on the other side. He squatted down and examined the ground again, looking for small broken twigs or matted grass.

  He continued forward, methodically sweeping the area back and forth until he found a pattern. The indentations were more than a meter from each other and heading further into the trees.

  “Well?” asked the leader.

  Lam turned to find Peng’s eyes nearly boring through him, waiting for an answer. He spoke reluctantly. “That way.”

  “How fast?”

  “She’s running.”

  ***

  Running was an understatement. Li Na was sprinting.

  Her heart and legs felt stronger than ever. Hitting the ground like coiled springs, they sent her bounding over rocks and scattered tree limbs. But while her body felt strong, her mind was continuing to falter. Her thoughts, increasingly scattered, barely pushed through as she ran between the tree trunks that towered over her.

  She had to make it to Shenyang, the largest city in the province. According to the car’s GPS, it was not more than thirty kilo
meters away. But she also had to eat. And who was following her? They had to be the same men who caught her before, when she was in the hospital. Although her legs felt strong, she didn’t know how long they would hold up. Without food, they had to run out of fuel eventually. In school, she’d learned about the muscles and their use of carbohydrates and proteins. When those ran out, her energy would be gone. Then they would have her.

  The teenager noticed something and came to a sudden stop. Her lungs were still heaving and her legs pounding. It was still there. The weird feeling.

  It was different…not a smell and not a sound. It was more of an awareness of the trees and foliage around her. As though it was buzzing––not just in her head but throughout her entire body.

  Li Na turned back and held her breath, listening. She became still and closed her eyes, trying to concentrate. She could hear the faint sound of the helicopter easily as it moved in a wide arc, now passing somewhere in front of her.

  But more than the thumping of the distant blades…was a stream of unfamiliar noise all around her––like background noise that was only growing louder.

  And yet there, in the middle of all that noise, was something else. Something deeper. A sound or a feeling that seemed to resonate much further down. A reverberation that felt oddly like an echo.

  ***

  Lam, along with Peng and another of his men, jumped down from the chopper. Their boots hit the ground firmly with a thud while the blur of the aircraft’s blades still whirled overhead. The downdraft plastered their straight, black hair against their heads and they marched forward. The men eventually stopped to watch the aircraft lift back into the air.

  They were now in front of Li Na, while Peng’s other three men remained behind as the beaters, spreading out and making noise to drive her forward.

  Humans, just like animals, used patterns in their line of travel. Even without realizing it. Instinctively following the easier path, they sought out the flattest land with the least amount of vegetation to obstruct or slow them. Subtle differences that often guided the animal as much as the animal guided itself.

  Providing Li Na made no sharp turns, her path was easy to predict. And given the maximum speed of a human through this terrain, Lam estimated there couldn’t be more than a kilometer between them.

  Now they just had to wait.

  58

  Lam was more right than he knew. It was less than a kilometer. And in only a few minutes, Li Na heard Peng’s three beaters behind her.

  They were moving louder than she expected. Detectable in three different directions, sounding as though they had spread out. The men were clearly unaware of how much of their noise was carrying through the trees, or even the thumping of their feet upon the damp soil. They were either unaware or much closer than she thought.

  Li Na rose to her feet and continued forward for a few steps before she stopped again in her tracks. The breeze, flowing gently from the front…smelled. Traces of an odor not belonging to the plants or wildlife around her.

  It was very subtle and more akin to body odor. Human body odor.

  Li Na suddenly stiffened. They were in front of her too!

  Her body flushed with a fresh dose of adrenaline, and she instinctively cowered lower to the ground. Turning her head and ears told her the men in front of her had also spread out, leaving few options.

  She could hear them clearly now. They were so close! The adrenaline surged powerfully through her veins and heightened her senses even more.

  And there it was.

  Listening carefully to the sounds both in front and behind her, an opening between two of the outermost men revealed itself. A sliver of space just big enough that would take them too long to close in. A sliver that Li Na could use if she moved quickly.

  Her movement was almost instantaneous. She leaped, with her head still down, and moved through the tall grass as quickly as she could, scrambling down a small embankment and through a grouping of large granite rocks.

  59

  Cruising at three hundred feet below the ocean, the large Russian submarine pushed slowly and silently through the dark water. Deep enough to remain immune from surface currents, the sub’s gentle rocking was virtually undetectable to all but the most sensitive of its crew.

  In front of the control room in the sub’s forward hatch, the ten-man Russian team surveyed and inventoried their equipment one final time. Like U.S. forces, the Russian Special Forces, referred to as Spetsnaz, were meticulous to the point of obsession. Everything had been planned. Every essential system and piece of equipment checked and rechecked. Repeatedly.

  They had rehearsed the plan dozens of times, looking for anything that might go wrong and building contingencies. Every variable the men could think to eliminate from chance, they had.

  The Western nations first became aware of the Russian Spetsnaz group in the 1970s, at the height of the Cold War. Also known as troops of “special purpose,” the teams numbered nearly 30,000 men, providing one regiment for each Soviet theater of operation.

  However, with individual companies numbering at just over a hundred, most teams operated on a smaller scale consisting of eight to ten specialists. The teams were trained and used for a variety of covert missions, some of which included seeking out and killing enemy political or military leaders. Spetsnaz soldiers, whose existence was a closely guarded secret under the Warsaw Pact, were forbidden to even admit their membership, even conducting operations while wearing standard army and naval uniforms to avoid detection.

  Most Spetsnaz missions were designed and carried out as reconnaissance and sabotage actions. This was including the destruction of foreign command posts and communications systems for foreign nuclear guidance programs. And much like the U.S. Special Forces, the Spetsnaz underwent exhaustive psychological and physical training, eventually being left to operate autonomously for days or weeks at a time. As they were now.

  Sergeant Alexander Popov, the mission lead and a man who couldn’t fit the Russian stereotype any better, stared pensively ahead. His bald head, dour expression, and wide frame stood before the hatch as if made of stone.

  Due to the nature of their designs, research ships were easier to board than most others. Low sterns for their equipment and instruments left them vulnerable to attack––the reason why those that were deemed important were usually escorted by warships.

  The oil platform was a different story. It would be harder. Much more defensible, although not by intention. It was merely a fortunate benefit of having the bottom platform designed to be much higher off the surface of the water. Getting to that first level without detection would be tough and would need to be carefully timed with the team that would overtake the Pathfinder ship. The element of surprise was the greatest advantage in any fight, and this time Popov’s men would need as much as they could get.

  Fortunately, the submarine would provide most of it.

  But it was still a big boat, meaning they could only get so close while submerged. The final hour would be spent gliding in slowly with only a wisp of propulsion until the men were ready to exit the sub, still submerged––something that every sub crewmember in the Navy was trained to do.

  Once they broke the surface, both Spetsnaz teams would have to move quickly. Because even at a thousand meters, detection prior to reaching the vessels was a huge risk.

  If they were spotted in the water, the advantage would be lost and the attack would quickly turn into a firefight on the water. And that meant shooting to kill every person they saw, as quickly as possible.

  It was the worst scenario for both Popov’s team as well as the unsuspecting Americans.

  60

  DeeAnn awoke to the bounce on the runway and sudden reversal of jet engines outside, followed immediately by intense shuddering as the plane’s brakes began to slow the powerful aircraft.

  The shaking subsided, and she cleared her eyes to find Dulce at one of the small windows, peering out excitedly. Twisting around on the padded ben
ch seat, she turned as far as her five-point seatbelt would allow her.

  The small gorilla was talking and moving her hands quickly, leaving DeeAnn scrambling to turn her vest on.

  -bird. Home now. We home. Down.

  DeeAnn glanced at the smaller Dexter, wearing his own makeshift harness, then to Clay and Caesare. Both men were sitting directly across from her. “How long was I out?”

  “Just through the scary part,” Caesare grinned.

  “Very funny.” She looked to Clay for a serious answer.

  “A couple hours.”

  “Wow.” She straightened up and adjusted her own belt. “Doesn’t feel like it.”

  We fly mommy. We fly.

  “Yes, we did,” she replied, simultaneously ruffling the tuft of fur on Dulce’s dark head. She gave Caesare a sidelong glance and covered the vest’s microphone with one hand. “And this time, we didn’t almost die. Or have to jump out of it.”

  “The day’s still young, Dee.”

  “All right, that’s not funny.”

  DeeAnn turned back and studied Dexter, who was once again watching them all carefully. It had taken hours, and a lot of back and forth with Dulce, before the monkey allowed her to put him into the harness. And only after Dulce was already in hers. But that was the hardest part of the flight, which was to say the whole thing went much smoother than she’d feared. Traveling with Clay, and especially Caesare, tended to introduce surprises, and the trend had left her constantly on guard.

  Across from her, Steve Caesare was enjoying the playful exchange. The truth was he cared a great deal for DeeAnn, and like it or not, they were becoming fast friends. Not the least of which was due to the turmoil they’d been through together. But while it had obviously been a harrowing experience for her and the others, to Clay and Caesare it was just another day at the office.