Santos spluttered back into life, coughing frantically, her chest heaving up and down. Jaeger made sure they’d got her stabilised, but she was badly traumatised, and still shaking with terror at the attack. Alonzo and Kamishi agreed to carry her the final stretch to the warplane, leaving Jaeger free to rejoin Narov at the head of the party.
‘Nice shooting,’ he remarked icily, once they were on the move again. ‘But how could you be sure you were going to blow the snake’s head off, and not Leticia’s?’
Narov eyed him coldly. ‘If someone hadn’t taken the shot she would now be dead. Even with your help it was a losing battle. With this,’ she patted the Dragunov, ‘at least I stood chance. A fifty-fifty chance, but still better than none. Sometimes a bullet saves a life. They are not always fired to take one.’
‘So you flipped the coin and pulled the trigger…’ Jaeger lapsed into silence.
It didn’t escape him that Narov’s bullet could just as easily have hit him as Santos, yet she had barely hesitated before taking such a shot – such a gamble. He didn’t know if that made her the ultimate professional or a psychopath.
Narov looked over her shoulder towards where the snake had been killed. ‘It is a pity about the constrictor. It was only doing what comes naturally to it – trying to get a meal. The mbojuhua. Boa constrictor imperator. It is a CITES Appendix II listed species, which means it is in high danger of extinction.’
Jaeger glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. She seemed more concerned for the dead snake than she was for Leticia Santos. He figured if she was an assassin it made it far easier if all she really cared about was animals.
The ground rose as they neared the dead zone.
Ahead, Jaeger could see where the vegetation fell away on all sides. It was replaced by ranks of bare tree trunks bleached white in the sun, like endless rows of gravestones. Above lay a skeletal latticework of dead wood – what remained of the once verdant canopy – and above that again, a bank of low grey cloud.
They gathered on the brink of the zone wherein all life had died.
From ahead of him, Jaeger could hear the rain drumming deafeningly, instead of dripping from the leaf cover high above. It sounded unnatural somehow, the area of the dead zone seeming horribly empty and exposed.
He sensed Puruwehua shiver. ‘The forest – it should never die,’ the Indian remarked simply. ‘When the forest dies, we Amahuaca die with it.’
‘Don’t go dying on us now, Puruwehua,’ Jaeger muttered. ‘You’re our koty’ar, remember? We need you.’
They stared into the dead zone. Far ahead, Jaeger could just make out something dark and massive, half obscured among the bony fingers reaching towards the clouds. His pulse quickened. It was the barely discernible silhouette of a warplane. In spite of the previous night’s vision – or maybe because of it – he longed to get inside it and uncover its secrets.
He eyed Puruwehua. ‘Your people would warn us if the enemy were anywhere close? You’ve got men shadowing that Dark Force, right?’
Puruwehua nodded. ‘We have. And we move faster than they do. Long before they get near we will know.’
‘So how long d’you think we’ve got?’ Jaeger asked.
‘My people will try to give us one day’s warning. One sunrise and one sunset before our work here must be done.’
69
‘Okay, heads-up,’ Jaeger announced, calling his team together.
They’d gathered in the cover of the last few yards of the still living forest. They were on higher ground, and it didn’t look as if the flood waters ever reached this far.
‘First, no one goes any nearer without full NBC gear. We need to ID the threat, at which stage we’ll know the severity of what we’re dealing with. Once we know the toxicity, we can work out a regime to better safeguard against it. We have three full NBC suits. I’d like to be first aboard, to take samples of water and air and whatever else we find. We can then rotate protective kit around the team, but we’ve got to keep the risk of cross-contamination to a minimum.
‘We’ll set a base camp here,’ he continued. ‘Sling hammocks well away from the dead ground. And understand the urgency: Puruwehua reckons we have twenty-four hours before we get a visit from the bad guys. We should get early warning from his people, but I’d like a cordon of security thrown around the site as well. Alonzo – that’s something I’d like you to get sorted.’
‘You got it,’ Alonzo confirmed. He nodded towards the distant warplane. ‘That thing – man, it gives me the creeps. Don’t mind if I’m the last to see inside.’
‘You okay to stand security?’ Jaeger asked Leticia Santos. ‘Or you need us to sling you a poncho and hammock? That was one hell of a snake you picked a fight with back there.’
‘As long as I can keep out of the water,’ Santos replied bravely. She eyed Narov. ‘And as long as the crazy Cossack keeps her sniper rifle pointed in someone else’s direction.’
Narov’s attention was elsewhere. She seemed utterly transfixed; unable to tear her eyes away from the distant silhouette of the warplane.
Jaeger turned to Dale. ‘I presume you want to film this – and make no mistake, I want it filmed. The first opening of this aircraft after seven decades – this needs to be recorded. You take the second NBC suit so you can follow me in.’
Dale shrugged. ‘How bad can it get? Can’t be worse than facing down a shoal of piranhas, or a crotch full of leeches.’
It was the kind of response Jaeger had come to expect from the guy. Dale wore his fear on his sleeve, but it wasn’t about to stop him from doing what was necessary.
Jaeger eyed Narov. ‘I get a sense you know more about this warplane than anyone: you take the third suit. You can help guide us around whatever we find in there.’
Narov nodded, but her gaze was still fixed on the distant plane.
‘Puruwehua, I’d like you to get your guys out deep into the forest, forming an early-warning screen in case of trouble. The rest of you – you’re on Alonzo’s security cordon. And remember, zero use of comms or GPS. Last thing we want is to send a warning signal to whoever’s keeping watch.’
That agreed, Jaeger broke out the nuclear, biological, chemical protective gear. The threat from whatever toxic material was leaking from that aircraft was twofold: one, breathing it in; two, ingesting it via a living porous membrane like the skin.
With the need to carry all their kit on their person, they’d only been able to bring three full NBC suits. They were a lightweight design, made by the British company Avon, and would protect the body from any droplets or vapour that might remain in the air.
With the suit went the Avon C50 mask – which with its single eyepiece, high protection and close-fitting design was a superlative piece of kit. It was the mask – the respirator – that shielded the face and eyes and prevented the lungs from breathing in any toxic material.
Once fully suited up, they’d be shielded from just about any chemical, biological, nuclear or radiological threat, plus toxic industrial chemicals – which should encompass every conceivable hazard lurking on that warplane.
As a bonus, each Avon mask carried an embedded transmitter-receiver, which meant that those wearing them could speak to each other via a short-range radio intercom.
Having fought his way into the cumbersome suit, Jaeger paused. He figured he’d power up the Thuraya and check for any data-burst messages. Once he pulled on the bulky mask and gloves, there would be no easy way to use such equipment.
Jaeger held the satphone in the open, and a message icon appeared on the screen. He stepped back beneath the cover of the jungle to read Raff’s missive.