“Have the men come inside and gather around the table.”
The teams of terrorists slid into chairs at the long ornate table. The gathering was a confederacy of killers, a party of thugs. They stared up at Al-Khalifa and waited.
“Allah has blessed us again,” Al-Khalifa began. “As you witnessed, I captured the pro-Western emir that rules my country and have taken him prisoner. Soon I will ascend to the throne. On the second matter, a Western traitor has alerted me to the location of an orb of iridium we can use in conjunction with the bomb that is destined for London. If I can retrieve this iridium, it will magnify the destruction in London at least a hundredfold.”
“Praise be to Allah,” the group shouted spontaneously.
“Right now the Akbar is heading for the east coast of Greenland,” Al-Khalifa said grandly. “In a few hours, when we arrive, I’ll fly the helicopter over and recover the iridium. As soon as I return, we’ll set a course for England and the conclusion of the mission.”
“There is but one, and that one is Allah,” the group shouted.
“For those of you that have your duties finished, I want you to rest up,” Al-Khalifa said. “We will need everyone on their toes once we reach England. Soon those that oppose Allah will feel our wrath.”
“Allah is great,” the group shouted.
The meeting broke up and Al-Khalifa walked from the room and down to his cabin. He would grab a few hours’ sleep. He had no way of knowing that this sleep would be his last until the big one.
15
AT HOTEL KANGERLUSSUAQ, thirteen hundred miles away, Clay Hughes was finishing a breakfast of bacon, eggs, hash browns and toast washed down with a pot of steaming coffee. Michael Neilsen approached his table.
“You ready to go?” Hughes asked, standing up.
“The weather has not improved much,” Neilsen said, “but I’m willing to try if you want. What’s your verdict?”
“We go,” Hughes said.
“If I were you,” Neilsen said, “I’d have the hotel pack some food for the trip—if we go down out there, it’ll be some time before help can arrive.”
“I’ll order a platter of sandwiches and a couple thermoses of coffee,” Hughes said. “Anything else you can think of we might need?”
“Just some luck,” Neilsen said, glancing outside.
“I’ll get the food and meet you at the helicopter.”
“I’ll be ready,” Neilsen said, walking away.
Fifteen minutes later the EC-130B4 lifted from the snow-packed runway and started flying east. A slight tinge of yellow infused the clouds as the scant sunlight tried to penetrate the gloom. Mostly it was dark and dreary, like an omen carried on an evil wind.
The hours passed as the Eurocopter flew high above the snowy terrain.
THE THIOKOL STOPPED and Cabrillo stared at the map. He estimated that he was within an hour of reaching the cave on Mount Forel. Once he had started away from the glacier, he noticed his satellite telephone was receiving signals again. He hit the speed dial and called the Oregon.
“We’ve been trying to reach you,” Hanley said as soon as he answered. “The emir was kidnapped last night.”
“Kidnapped,” Cabrillo said quickly. “I thought we were on top of that situation.”
“They grabbed our guy,” Hanley said, “and we have had no communication with either party since.”
“Do you have an idea where they’ve taken him?”
“We’re working on it.”
“You get our man back,” Cabrillo said.
“Will do.”
“I’m almost at the site,” Cabrillo said. “I’ll wrap this up and get out of here. Meanwhile, you locate me some faster mode of transportation home.”
“Yes, sir,” Hanley said.
Cabrillo disconnected and tossed the telephone on the passenger seat.
AT THE SAME time Cabrillo started up Mount Forel, an attendant at Reykjavik International Airport was sweeping snow from the bottom of a ramp leading up to a privately owned 737. Auxiliary power units were supplying the plane with heat and electricity from both sides. The inside of the jet was lit up like a billboard and it spilled out of the windows into the dim light outside.
Peering from the cockpit window, the pilot watched as a black limousine wheeled onto the runway and pulled up alongside the ramp. He watched as four people filed out from the rear. Two of them quickly climbed the steps as the other two scanned the airport grounds to see if anyone was watching. Finding it clear, they quickly climbed up the ramp and closed the door to the jet.
The attendant unhooked the APUs, then backed the ramp away and stood quietly while the pilot started the engines. After calling the tower for clearance, he taxied out to the runway and lined up for takeoff. With a refueling stop in Spain, they’d reach their destination fourteen hours from now.
As soon as the 737 left the runway, the attendant bent down and spoke into a microphone clipped onto his parka near the hood.
“They’re away,” was all he said.
“Acknowledged,” Hanley answered.
SINCE HIS CONVERSATION with Hanley, Cabrillo had been steering the Thiokol uphill for nearly an hour. He stopped, fastened his parka tight, and climbed out. Adjusting the lights so he could scan the mountain, he walked around to the front to knock ice from the grille. He was just about ready to climb back inside when he heard a thumping sound in the distance. Reaching into the cab, he twisted the key and shut the Thiokol’s engine off. Then he listened again.
The noise floated on the wind, ebbing and flowing like the tide. Finally, Cabrillo identified the sound, and he climbed back inside the snowcat and reached for the telephone.
“Max,” he said quickly, “I hear a helicopter approaching. Did you send someone out?”
“No, boss,” Hanley said. “We’re still working on that.”
“Can you find out what’s going on?”
“I’ll try to link onto a DOD satellite and figure out who it is, but it might take fifteen to twenty minutes.”
“I’d like to know who’s crashing my party,” Cabrillo said.
“One thing we found out is that there’s an unmanned U.S. Air Force radar site nearby,” Hanley said. “Maybe the antennas are still being used and the Air Force is flying someone there for repairs or whatever.”
“You find out for me,” Cabrillo said as he twisted the key and started the engine. “I think I’m almost at the cave.”
“Will do,” Hanley said.
USING A SLED to pack down the snow and a dozen packets of Kool-Aid, Ackerman had managed to create a nice landing spot marked with an X on a small mesa only seventy yards from the lower opening of the cave. He stared at the spot with pride. The helicopter should be able to land without the rotor blade striking the mountain. It was precarious, but it was the best he could do on the side of a mountain.
He retreated back into the mouth of the cave and waited as the helicopter approached the landing pad then hovered and set down. The rotor blade slowed, then stopped, and a man climbed from the passenger side.
CABRILLO HEARD THE helicopter land through his open window, but through the snow and darkness he had not been able to see it touch down. He was close—he could sense that. He attached nylon gaiters around his down-filled pants and removed a pair of snowshoes from the rear bed. Sliding his boots into the bindings, he fastened them tight. Then he reached in back and removed the cardboard box holding the decoy that Nixon had made.
Now all he had to do was slip into the cave undetected and make the switch.
“THE BOSS SENT me,” Hughes said to Ackerman after climbing up the hill to the mouth of the cave, “to check out your find.”
Ackerman smiled proudly. “She’s a peach,” he said, “possibly the most important archaeological find of this century.”
“So I hear,” Hughes said, edging farther into the cave. “And he sent me to make sure you get what you deserve.”
Ackerman grabbed an already lit lantern and started to lead Hughes down the passage.
“So you’re in public relations?”
“That and other duties,” Hughes said, stopping at the opening in the ceiling. A few days ago Ackerman had brought a wooden ladder from inside the upper cave and dropped it down the hole. It made going between the two shafts a lot easier.
“We’ll climb up and I’ll give you the grand tour,” Ackerman said.
The two men climbed the ladder into the upper cave.
Hughes played along as Ackerman rattled off what he had found, but truly there was only one thing he’d come for. And as soon as he had that, he was leaving.