‘I think I may know who,’ Jarvis replied. ‘Donald Wolfe. But there’s not much we can do about it this end unless we can prove Wolfe is setting you up out there. The word here is that USAMRIID suspect that you and Lopez have had something to do with the murder of Tyler Willis, and since you’ve now disappeared into the deserts
‘They’re onto us.’ Ethan finished the sentence, cursing under his breath. ‘Has all support been pulled?’
‘You’ve got a special-ops team at Holloman standing-by, but I can’t give them the green light until I’ve got proof that Donald Wolfe is setting this all up on Oppenheimer’s behalf.’
‘Fine,’ Ethan said, reverting to soldier mode — accept the problem and deal with it. ‘We’re heading for Carlsbad Caverns, specifically a site called Lechuguilla Cave. As soon as you can, send them in to support us.’
‘I’m on my way to Holloman right now and I’ll do what I can, but you should operate as though you’re alone.’
‘We’re getting used to it.’
Ethan shut the phone off and hurried back toward the camp.
51
Lopez finished up talking to Ruby Lily, pocketed her notebook and stood up. The crackling fire was dying, and the rest of Saffron Oppenheimer’s followers had drifted away to their tents. Lopez was about to go looking for Ethan when Saffron appeared beside her.
‘So what’s the deal between you and Ethan?’ Saffron asked.
‘What do you mean?’
Saffron folded her arms and smiled brightly.
‘You know what I mean. I’ve seen the way you two look at each other, there’s obviously something going on.’
Lopez struggled to keep the smile off her face and felt her skin flush hot as she turned and walked away from the fire.
‘There’s nothing going on between us.’
‘Really? Is that why you got in a car with Jeb Oppenheimer?’
Lopez froze mid-pace, then turned slowly. The thought crossed her mind to deny everything, but Saffron’s smile had vanished quicker than a desert mirage and her eyes were as hard as stones.
‘Oppenheimer pulled up alongside me,’ Lopez admitted. ‘The creep wanted to talk, as he put it.’
‘Bet you had a nice chat,’ Saffron said, her arms falling loosely to her sides as she strolled toward Lopez. ‘See, I’ve got a problem here. You guys think Jeb has abducted and killed anyone who stands in his way. Yet you get into his car, have a nice cozy chat and then you get out and just walk away. You know what that says to me?’
Lopez raised a questioning eyebrow as Saffron stopped barely inches from her.
‘That you sold out, and you’re going to betray Ethan. You took Jeb’s money because whatever you promised is of value to him and that’s the only reason he let you go.’
‘Funny,’ Lopez smirked, ‘that every time Ethan’s spoken to you we’ve later ended up being chased by the police or nearly blown sky-high. Trustworthiness doesn’t exactly shine out of your ass, Saffron.’
‘That’s rich,’ Saffron shot back. ‘Thinking of taking your little bounty and hiking over the border?’
Lopez let a cold grin flicker across her features.
‘Sounds like you’re as paranoid as your dear old grandpa, little girl. I don’t need a lecture from a murderer who hasn’t got the guts to stand up to a ninety-year-old.’
Lopez saw Saffron’s Bowie knife flash in the firelight as she swung it toward her face, but Lopez was already moving, stepping outside the arc of the blade and using her right hand to bat it past her face with an inch to spare. Lopez darted in and closed her right hand round Saffron’s knife wrist as she shoved her left hand up inside her elbow, folding the arm on itself and pointing the blade back at Saffron’s face. Saffron, startled by Lopez’s speed, wedged a foot behind her ankle and leaned in, trying to throw her off balance. Lopez went with the movement, but spun on her heel and threw Saffron down into the dust. Saffron leapt to her feet with the Bowie knife still in her hand, circling like a wounded leopard.
‘What’s up, little girl?’ Lopez taunted her, realizing Saffron’s martial-arts skills were not quite up to Lopez’s street-fighting instinct. ‘Not used to playing with the big girls?’
Lopez saw Saffron dart in toward her again, dodging into a quick left feint before stabbing out with a straight right, the blade flashing toward Lopez’s sternum. Lopez twisted aside from the weapon, catching Saffron’s wrist again and this time jabbing her free elbow straight into Saffron’s face with a sharp crack. Saffron yanked her head away as Lopez twisted her blade arm viciously round on itself at the wrist. Saffron spun around and cried out as the blade fell from her grasp, her arm cranked up high at an awkward angle in Lopez’s grasp.
Lopez leaned in behind her and whispered into her ear.
‘I don’t want you here anymore,’ she hissed. ‘Take off, or I’ll finish you for good.’
Lopez lifted her boot and shoved it into Saffron’s ass. Saffron stumbled forward and crashed onto the ground, her arm smashing through the glowing embers of the fire. Lopez winced as Saffron’s shriek of pain wailed out across the desert night like the cry of an injured bird of prey, a shower of embers drifting down around her as she clambered to her feet. Cradling her scorched arm, Saffron ran out into the darkness with a wounded, desperate gait and vanished into the night.
Ethan rushed into view at the edge of the firelight and stared at Lopez in alarm.
‘What the hell’s going on?’
Lopez gestured out into the night.
‘Saffron and I had a difference of opinion,’ she replied. ‘Mine was stronger.’
Ethan looked out into the darkness and Lopez felt an unexpected dismay as she noticed a disappointment in his expression.
‘Damn it, Nicola, we needed her help.’
‘She’s a liability,’ Lopez shot back. ‘We can’t trust her. For all we know she’s reporting everything that we do back to dear old Grandpa.’
Ethan sighed and rested his hands on his hips for a moment before speaking.
‘We need to get out of here and down to Carlsbad by dawn,’ he said. ‘DIA can’t help us right now, until Doug’s done some digging on who’s helping Oppenheimer at USAMRIID.’
‘Can we make it that far by dawn on foot?’ Lopez asked.
‘It’s a fair way,’ Ethan admitted, ‘but we don’t have much choice.’
At that moment Ruby Lily appeared, her wide, dark eyes looking at Ethan as she held something out to him. Lopez watched as Ethan took a set of keys from her.
‘The van,’ Ruby said. ‘It’s an ancient beat-up old GMC Suburban, but it’ll get you there a lot quicker than walking.’
Lopez looked at her. ‘Must be the van they switched to after the attack on the Aspen Center. I thought the van was Saffron’s?’
‘It was,’ Ruby said softly, ‘but I don’t think she’s coming back after what Lopez did.’
Lopez caught Ethan’s questioning gaze.
‘We had a fight,’ she said. ‘She fell and grazed her arm in the fire, then took off. Wasn’t my fault. She’ll be okay. My guess is she’ll head for a hospital, at which point the police will get involved and she’ll be forced to ’fess up.’
She saw Ethan almost laugh. ‘You serious?’
‘She’ll tell them where we are and where we’re going,’ Lopez said. ‘She’ll want revenge, on me. That way we get some support instead of USAMRIID on our ass, but we’ll have to move fast. If they get to us before we reach the caverns it’s all over.’
Lopez watched Ethan weigh up the situation in his mind for a moment.
‘I hope to hell you’re right. Come on, let’s go.’