"I think," Illya said, "we will be saved the trouble of going back."
The first black nuclear craft suddenly appeared in the sky, roared over, glowing red from the heat of its incredible speed, and was gone.
Six in all screamed over and vanished into the darkening sky.
The pilot looked toward the hills through his binoculars.
"Look!" he cried.
All across the hills tiny figures were fanning out. Through the binoculars they were seen to be unarmed and wearing, now, ordinary clothes. They moved quickly down the hills and out across the desert, going in all directions.
"I have a hunch," Illya said. "Let's get away from here."
The pilot started his motors and the helicopter took off into the purple and orange sunset sky. It turned toward Santa Fe.
Behind the helicopter the sky suddenly turned a glaring white, and the line of low hills exploded with one gigantic roar. The helicopter was buffeted by the force of the wind from the explosion.
"They blew it up," Solo said.
"Yes," Illya said. "And Penny with it."
"Unless they took her in one of the aircraft," Solo said.
"Let's hope they took her," Illya said.
Behind them as they flew on toward Santa Fe, the sky glowed a dull red as the hidden valley burned in the now dark night.
THREE
ALEXANDER WAVERLY filled his pipe and looked for a match. His bony fingers searched in the pockets of his tweed suit. Patched up and with a day of sleep behind them, Illya and Solo sat at the revolving table. Waverly found his matches.
"Ah, there," Waverly said. "Well, the Army reports your camouflaged valley is totally destroyed. No bodies were found, and the radiation count was high. I think it is clear that our friends have shifted operations."
"They knew we would bring help," Illya said.
"Quite," Waverly said. "They realized their game was up in New Mexico, and shifted."
"Which leaves us on a limb," Solo said. "They could have gone anywhere."
"Er, not quite, Mr. Solo," Waverly said.
"You have a lead," Illya said quickly.
Solo leaned. "If Penny is still alive we owe her—"
"Indeed we do," Waverly interrupted. "But let us start with Dr. Ernesto Guerre. We know a great deal of him, although little about his early life. He was born in Costa Rica, we know, but little else until he appeared in Nazi Germany during the war."
Waverly pressed a buzzer on his desk. The wall behind the desk opened, revealing a screen. A picture appeared on the screen. Dr. Ernesto Guerre smiled out at them from a group of men. All the men wore the field grey of the German Army. The cherubic little fat man seemed ridiculous in the military uniform.
"Colonel Ernest Guerre," the voice of May Heatherly intoned. Solo pictured the beautiful redheaded chief of Communications-Research, Section-IV, and sighed. May was so efficient.
"Guerre headed a secret project on nuclear development, but the Germans were too far behind at the time," the pretty girl's voice went on.
Waverly broke in. "Guerre was considered unstable even by the Nazis—a monomaniac, given to daring mental leaps but with a tendency to sloppy groundwork. The Soviet government found the same problems."
The next picture flashed on. It showed the tiny little fat man wearing a typical ill-fitting Russian suit and standing before a rocket on a launching pad.
"Dr. Guerre appeared in the Soviet Union after the war. He again headed up a secret project on nuclear propulsion. This time he supposedly got some results, but two engines exploded and killed many technicians and some high-ranking officials. The project was shelved and Guerre vanished," May Heatherly went on.
"But not quite," Waverly said.
Now a series of pictures flashed on and off the screen. They showed a man, in various disguises and places, who could have been the cherubic little Doctor. None of them was very clear.
"These were all taken in various South American cities over the past few years. None of them prove that Guerre is there, but taken with the rumors, I would say our man had been working somewhere in South America recently," Waverly said.
"Those guards!" Solo said. "They were talking about South American women."
Waverly tapped his pipe and nodded. "Precisely. That is another clue. But we can do better than that." '
Another picture flashed onto the screen. It was hazy and dark, but it showed what both Illya Kuryakin and Napoleon Solo knew was one of the black nuclear- powered aircraft.
"This was just radioed to us from Venezuela," Waverly said. "It was taken last night near the coast. As you can see, the craft is moving more slowly than you reported, and its wheels are down, hence a landing. It was radioed directly to us by our Section-II Chief in Caracas. It is top secret."
Solo was studying the picture. "Most of the background detail is indistinct."
"Yes, the exact location cannot be guessed," Waverly agreed.
"But surely the man who took the picture can tell us where he took it," Illya said.
"I'm sure he can," Waverly said. "But that we will have to learn in Venezuela. Or, rather, you two will have to learn it. You see, General Hoyos, the defense minister, insists that he will give the exact location to no one but our agents. He fears internal troubles if the news leaked out. He has instructed us not to tell even Washington."
Illya narrowed his eyes beneath his lowered brow. "Isn't that a bit unusual?"
"It is, but General Hoyos was adamant. As a matter of fact, he does not wish the Venezuelan government to officially appear in this at all. You will deal with his assistant. Major General Valera."
"I can understand that," Solo said. "It could hurt him at home if it got out that his office had allowed a foreign power to build nuclear-powered aircraft on Venezuelan soil."
"Precisely, Mr. Solo," Waverly said. "At least, that appears to be the general's thinking on the matter. I'm not sure I agree, but he is insistent that we try to handle this as quietly as possible."
"What more does the general know?" Illya asked.
Waverly puffed on his pipe. "Should he know more?"
"I do not think that Project Condor, as Guerre called it, consists only of the nuclear-powered aircraft. That would not be like Thrush. When they develop a weapon, it is for a definite purpose. Nuclear-propulsion alone would not give Thrush world power, as Guerre implied Project Condor would," Illya said.
"Yes, I tend to agree with you," Waverly said. "But General Hoyos has told us nothing more if there is more to tell. If there is more, it seems that you and Mr. Solo will have to find it."
Solo nodded. "Anything else?"
"Yes, you are aware that the Thrush chief for the area is Council Member L. We know that much, although we have never managed to penetrate his cover. He is a clever man, as we have had reason to learn. Our organization in the country has never been strong, largely due to his efforts and constant harassment."
"Do we know anything about him?" Illya asked.
"Only that he is a very ambitious man with strong insistence on running his own show," Waverly said. "We have long suspected that he has hopes of moving to the top in Thrush, and this affair could be his stepping stone."
"And that's it?" Solo said.
"Except that his hobby is growing roses," Waverly said.
"I doubt that he will invite us to his gardens," Illya said.
"You never can tell," Waverly said. "I suggest that you be very careful, gentlemen."