“That’ll take days,” complained Jackson.
“Almost three by my reckoning,” said Dawn.
“And what makes you think you’re coming with us?”
“Grace is my boss, and I’d like to know why she thinks that part of the country merits a closer look. Besides, I’m the one with the money and the contact in the capital. I’ve no doubt you two would have eventually come up with a plan like this, but time is a factor, so let’s not waste it talking.”
Mitchell looked over at Jackson and nodded.
“Fine, but she’s sitting in the back of any vehicle we rent,” said Jackson.
“Here, you’ll want these,” said Dawn, handing the men a couple of new passports. “We had best get a move on.”
Mitchell checked his passport. “Thomas Halliday. I’ll never remember that.”
“You’ll have to. My car’s outside in the parking lot. I’ll meet you there.” With that, Dawn opened the door a crack and peered outside to make sure no one was around before slipping out into the hallway.
Jackson reached over and took hold of Mitchell’s arm. “Ryan, I don’t trust her. She’s as trustworthy as Grace, and that’s not saying much.”
Mitchell smiled. “I don’t trust her, either. But what choice do we have? We don’t have Yuri with us to deal with the black-market people we’re going to need to see this mission through. Right now, Dawn’s the best person for the job.”
Jackson let go of Mitchell. “Okay, but the second she double-crosses us, I’m going to make her regret ever meeting us.”
“Nate, let’s not forget that a young woman and her father are still somewhere out there, and I want to find them.”
“In Africa?”
“If not there, then someplace else. I don’t know why, but my gut tells me they’re still alive.”
“The only thing my gut is telling me is that it’s lunchtime, and I want something to eat. I hope they serve food on this flight, or it’s going to a really long day.”
22
Oman
Yuri kept his Cessna flying straight and steady. Below the aircraft, the jagged, red-and-tan colored mountains stretched out to the horizon.
“Anything?” Cardinal asked from the backseat.
Sam glanced down at the laptop resting on her lap, and shook her head. “There’s nothing out of the ordinary down there.”
“Comrades, we’re coming up on four hours,” said Yuri. “I’m going to need to return to the airport to refuel, if we’re going to carry on today.”
“We’ve already fueled up once today,” said Sam. “Eight hours in the air is enough. I say we call it a day, and come back tomorrow.”
“I agree,” said Cardinal.
“On our return trip, I’ll fly to the west of Fanja,” said Yuri. “Maybe something will turn up.”
“That would be nice,” said Sam.
Yuri leisurely banked his plane over and selected his route home through a rocky valley. Underneath the aircraft, the LIDAR swept the ground using a pulsed laser light. The reflected pulses returned to the sensor, and were forwarded to Sam’s computer, where they were turned into a 3D representation of what was on the ground.
“I think I’ve got something,” said Sam, suddenly excited.
Cardinal leaned forward, trying to see the computer screen. “What is it?”
“Sorry, I think it’s a false alarm. It looks like an old car wreck buried just under the sand.”
“Damn.”
“Wait, something else is coming up on my screen.”
“Yuri, slow down a little if you can,” said Cardinal.
“Not a problem,” replied Yuri, decreasing their airspeed.
“I think that looks somewhat like landing gear,” said Sam.
Goose bumps rose on Cardinal’s arms. “What else can you see?”
“There’s debris down there, but it’s hard to tell what it’s from. Once we get back to the airport and go over these images in greater detail, we’ll get a better feel for what’s down there.”
“The plane we’re looking for had a wingspan of twenty meters, and a fuselage just over fifteen meters in length,” said Cardinal. “If it’s down there, it should be fairly easy to find.”
“Maybe yes, maybe no,” said Yuri. “If it crashed into the side of a mountain, or came in nose-first, the plane could be spread out for hundreds of meters and be in thousands of pieces. I once saw a Mig-29 smash into the ground. It made a crater about eight meters deep, and about fifteen in circumference. The largest piece they recovered from the wreck was no longer than your arm. The rest disintegrated on impact.”
“Let’s hope our plane is in better shape,” said Sam.
“Still picking up pieces of wreckage?” Cardinal asked Sam.
“Not as much as before,” she replied.
“I guess we have our starting point for tomorrow’s search.”
“Shall I rent us a Land Rover?” asked Yuri.
“Please do,” said Sam. “Also, could you round up some water, rations, and tools for digging?”
“I’ll make sure we have enough to last us three days in the desert.”
“Let’s hope we don’t need to stay out there that long,” said Cardinal.
“How hard would it be for you to get us some insurance?” asked Sam, hinting about black-market weapons.
“I’d already thought of that,” replied Yuri. “Don’t worry, pretty lady, I’ll make sure we’re well taken care of.”
“Yuri, will you be able to join us for supper?” asked Cardinal.
“No, not tonight. It’s going to take me a little while to get everything we need for tomorrow. I can meet you for a drink around nine o’clock.”
“That’s perfect,” said Sam. “That’ll give me plenty of time to go over the data we’ve collected.”
“Okay, I’ll meet you two at the bar for a couple of drinks.”
“A couple is the operative word,” said Sam. “We’ve got a lot of work to do tomorrow, and I want you ready to go at dawn with a clear head.”
“Pretty lady spoils all the fun.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” said Cardinal.
“For that, mister, you can shower alone,” said Sam.
Yuri strolled into the hotel bar at precisely nine o’clock. His usual attire of a rumpled Hawaiian shirt and cargo pants looked as if the pieces had just been picked up off the floor.
Sam saw him enter the bar and waved him over to their booth.
“Sorry about my clothes,” said Yuri. “I thought I had another set of clean clothes to wear.”
“It’s okay,” said Cardinal. “What would you like to drink?”
Yuri canted his head. “You have to ask?”
“He’ll have a vodka on the rocks,” said Sam.
Yuri took a seat, while Cardinal gave their order to a young server who took off to get their drinks.
Sam laid the map on the table. It was folded, only showing the areas where they had scanned debris earlier in the day. There were three circles on the map. “These are the places with the highest density of debris in them.”
“Which one contained the landing gear?” asked Yuri.
“The first one,” she replied.
“When you went over the data, did you find anything else that resembled a part of the plane?”
Sam shook her head. “Lots of debris, but nothing remotely looking like it could have come from our plane.”
“Then the logical spot for us to start tomorrow is where the landing gear is located. The added bonus is that if it does turn out to be a piece of equipment for the plane, it should have a serial number on it. Once we have that, all we need to do is ask our friends back in Albany to check with the British to see if the gear did belong to our plane. If it did, then we’re at least in the right area.”
The server returned and placed the drinks on the table.
Yuri raised his glass. “Nostrovia.”
Sam and Cardinal picked up their drinks and join
ed him.
Yuri shot his vodka back in one smooth move, and motioned for their waiter to return.
“I said the crack of dawn, and I meant it,” said Sam, eyeing Yuri.
“Don’t worry, pretty lady, it’ll be my last. I still have to meet a man about our insurance.”
“Make sure it’s very discreet insurance,” stressed Cardinal.
“It will be,” said Yuri, paying for his drink. He held up his glass once more. “To good fortune.”
“To good fortune,” repeated Sam and Cardinal. Neither said it, but both would be amazed if Yuri showed up on time not smelling of alcohol.
23
The Bay of Bengal
As quietly as she could, Grace slid out from the black silk sheets on Sandesh’s bed and slipped on her red kimono robe. She picked up her rumpled dress and high-heeled shoes, tiptoed to the bedroom door, and slowly pulled down on the door handle, careful not to make a sound. Grace opened the door wide enough to peer outside. The hallway was empty. She slid out into the corridor and hurried to her room. Grace slipped her pass key into the lock, pushed open her door, and rushed inside. She threw her back against the door, closing it.
“You’re not getting paid enough,” she muttered. She ripped off her robe and headed straight for the shower. After she scrubbed every part of her body clean, Grace dried her short black hair with a towel before putting on some dark, loose-fitting clothes. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw herself in a mirror. Grace despised herself for sleeping with Sandesh, but time was running out, and she still had no clear idea what was going on or who was behind it. All she knew was something catastrophic was being planned. Grace took her night with Sandesh and shoved it far back in her mind, along with all the other unsavory things she had done as a mercenary.
Grace opened the door to her room and stepped outside. She made her way up the stairs until she came out on the main deck of Sandesh’s luxury yacht. At over one hundred meters in length, with six decks, Sandesh’s vessel also had a helicopter landing pad and luxurious rooms for twelve guests. Grace made her way out onto the deck and took in a breath of salty air. The moon reflected off the dark waters of the Bay of Bengal. She looked both ways before moving as gracefully as a cat toward the aft of the vessel, where Sandesh’s private office was located. It was nearly two in the morning, and Grace knew only a skeleton crew would be awake to keep the ship running safely. She climbed up a flight of stairs, opened an outside door, and made her way onto the upper deck. At Sandesh’s office, she slipped his passkey into the door lock. She let out her breath when a green light flashed, and the door slid open.
“At least you got something worthwhile from him,” said Grace to herself, slipping inside the room. She left the lights off, and switched on a small flashlight attached to her keychain. Grace took a seat at Sandesh’s desk, and opened his personal laptop. She waited a moment before inserting a small flash drive into a USB port. Programmed to search for Sandesh’s password, the flash drive took less than five seconds to open his system. Grace smiled when she saw his latest password was: Baroness2018. Until then she hadn’t realized just how smitten he had become with her.
“Okay. Let’s see what we can see,” murmured Grace, opening the various files on his hard drive. The deeper she dug, the more she became disillusioned. What she was looking for wasn’t there. If Sandesh was up to something nefarious, it wasn’t in his files. To date, all Grace had been able to discover was an old corrupted file on a company computer regarding South Sudan, and she wasn’t even sure if it was connected to Sandesh or not. As she read his business calendar, the only event planned for the next couple of weeks was a trip to Tokyo to discuss worldwide nuclear disarmament. Doubts crept into her mind. Could the person who hired her have had it all wrong? Or even worse, was she being manipulated into doing something she had yet to comprehend?
She sat back in the chair and chewed on her bottom lip. It was becoming clear that all the time she had put in gaining Sandesh’s trust was for naught. Perhaps he wasn’t the man she was looking for. There was only one other man with the power and access to Sandesh’s corporation who could possibly be at the heart of what was going on. Yet, no matter how hard she’d tried, Grace had been unable to get Dimov to open up to her. She closed the laptop and removed her flash drive. Grace quietly exited the room and crept back to her quarters. With a tired sigh, she flopped down on her bed.
Sleep did not come easy. Grace tossed and turned before falling into a fitful sleep. She woke at dawn, and crawled out of her bed, feeling as if she had run a marathon. She made her way to the bathroom. Grace rubbed the sleep from her eyes and froze in her tracks. Her heart raced as she reached over and picked up a handwritten note left next to her sink. She picked it up and read:
No more games, Baroness. We need to talk.
Krasimir
“Crap,” muttered Grace under her breath. When had Dimov been in her room, and what did he know? Grace crumpled up the paper and threw it in the toilet. A sinking feeling came over her, if she were a fly caught in the spider’s web. Grace had to either find out what was going on, or find a way off the ship before it was too late and she really became trapped.
24
Oman
The eastern horizon had just turned a pinkish hue, when Yuri parked their Rover at the spot they had spotted the landing gear with the LIDAR. Sam and Cardinal opened their doors and began to unload the vehicle. A light coating of frost covered the rocks.
Yuri picked up a metal detector, turned it on, and moved it over a metal water bottle. A loud squeal filled his headset. “Mine’s working,” he announced.
Sam and Cardinal checked theirs. “You got screwed on this one,” said Cardinal, tossing the broken detector back in the Rover.
“Two out of three is not bad,” said Yuri, philosophically.
“We can take turns,” suggested Sam. “Once the sun gets high in the sky, we’re going to want to take the odd break.”
Cardinal grabbed hold of a laptop, and placed it on the hood of the Rover. He opened it and looked at the image of the landing gear. “If our GPS was working properly yesterday, the landing gear Sam spotted should be about twenty meters directly in front of the Rover.”
Yuri and Sam walked to the front of the vehicle and spread ten meters apart. Yuri winked at Sam. “Okay, pretty lady, let’s find us some landing gear.”
Sam had barely gone five paces when the detector began to squeal. She looked over her shoulder at Cardinal. “I think I’ve found something.”
“There’s a bag of red flags in the back of the Rover,” said Yuri.
Cardinal dashed back and retrieved the bag. He walked to Sam’s side, and dropped a flag at her feet.
“You know, a ground-penetrating radar would come in handy right about now,” said Sam.
“Sorry, but this is all I could find last night,” replied Yuri.
“We’ll be fine,” said Cardinal. “A little hard work never hurt anyone. We’ll use the images from the LIDAR to cross-reference these findings on the ground to eliminate anything too small to be worth our time.”
Every couple of steps, Cardinal left a flag at either Yuri’s or Sam’s feet.
“I’ve found something really large!” announced Yuri.
Cardinal looked over Yuri’s shoulder at the display screen on the detector. The needle looked like it wanted to jump off the scale. “Don’t move. I’m going to get us a couple of shovels from the Rover.”
Sam turned to face Yuri and walked closer. Right away, the sensors on her device sprang to life. Sam smiled. “Whatever’s down there is large.”
“Here, take this,” said Cardinal to Yuri, tossing him a shovel. He picked a spot and jammed his shovel’s blade into the ground.
Yuri switched off his detector and laid it down. He picked up his shovel and joined in. Five minutes later, a piece of metal emerged from the ground. Both men dug around the object until they found a rim for the landing gear’s tire. There were small pieces of rubber in t
he dirt. Sam, unable to sit still, took a turn digging in the earth. Before long, the remainder of the landing strut was exposed.
“Look at the metal,” said Yuri, pointing at the end of the strut. “It looks like it snapped off on impact.”
Cardinal wiped the sweat from his brow and got on his knees to inspect the damage. Yuri was right. There was a clean break in the metal. “It must have landed with some force to cause the strut to snap like that.”
Yuri turned around and looked back down the valley. He closed his eyes and imagined the flight’s last moments. He opened his eyes and faced his friends. “The plane must have hit the top of one of the mountains with one of its wings. The pilot knew his plane was doomed and lowered the landing gear, hoping for the best. But something must have happened. Since the LIDAR only detected one strut, the other must not have come down. The plane struck the ground hard, snapping off the landing strut.”
“Makes sense,” said Cardinal. “But where’s the rest of the plane?”
“It could have skidded along the desert surface for a quite some time before coming to rest. I think all those smaller readings we recorded yesterday were parts of the aircraft’s undercarriage being ripped off as it skimmed over the rocks.”
Sam stood on her tiptoes and looked down the length of the valley. “I’m with Gordon. Where did the plane end up? I can’t see a thing that remotely looks like an aircraft’s wing, or its fuselage.”
“Who’s to say it wasn’t here at one time, but was scavenged by the farmers and villagers who lived around here?” said Yuri. “It could have vanished overnight, if enough people were involved.”
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