Can I trust the Bratva? No, but I do trust Yasmine. Maybe she helped them because of Cross, a way she could make up for the mistakes of her past. He had to believe she wouldn’t betray Cross and that the trust he placed in her was well founded. Bodie was speculating, but couldn’t think of any other reason.
Bodie listened to them speak and assumed they were wondering the same thing about him. The situation they found themselves in was based on mutual faith and hope, and a whole lot of supposition.
“I took one tracker off Eli, and Hakim planted another on your Cassidy.” Yasmine shrugged. “Distraction. Smoke and mirrors. It is Spy Craft 101.”
Bodie winced at that. “Not entirely our fault, love.”
“Maybe. But professionalism is everything in our business.”
She was right, he knew. Cross should have stayed in the game rather than wallow in lifetimes lost. God knows, Bodie himself had a plethora of great memories that would allow him to do just that. Right now, though, those old memories were solidifying his love for this team.
“I’m not sure we can trust you,” Bodie said.
Yasmine smoothed down her midnight-black hair. “Of course. But we have goals that, for now, outweigh HQ’s orders, at least in the minds of Viktor and Lucien, and we have similar numbers.”
“Speaking of goals — what is your ultimate goal?”
“You mean, will we try to steal the discovery from underneath you? I would obviously ask you the same.”
Bodie knew this was going nowhere. “You need us,” he said, “to solve the clues. You lost men saving us. I’m not so sure we need you.”
Yasmine shrugged. “Viktor is the head of an incredible worldwide criminal organization that can call on thousands of members. The best thing you could do is kill him.”
Bodie agreed, and was surprised at the candidness, especially in the light of recent developments concerning Pantera, himself, and the Bratva.
“We should share,” Yasmine said, “in the glory of finding Atlantis.”
“How is that even possible?”
She pushed him hard then, right in the chest. Bodie staggered in shock. It was the last thing he had been expecting. The bald man held him up and laughed raucously. As this was going on Yasmine leaned in and whispered rapidly into Bodie’s ear.
“Because… this beautiful bald man and I are Interpol agents, and with Lucien’s help we intend to bring Viktor to justice, to destroy his businesses and incarcerate his crew. We’re on your side. We’ve been inside for years and are close,” she breathed. “So close.”
It was good the bald man was holding him, for Bodie suddenly felt limp. Shock coursed through his system. Yasmine was… what? Shit, Cross would have a seizure.
Was that why she abandoned him all those years ago? Because she was an Interpol agent? It drew a few parallels to Heidi’s issues with her own family.
He spun away before the others reacted. Just in time, as Cassidy was headed over. “We all good here? Playing nice?”
Bodie nodded. “Yasmine and… umm…”
“Hakim,” the bald man said.
“Hakim… were just convincing me of their sincerity. And wow, they’re pretty good at it.”
Bodie stared at them. Yasmine betrayed the most emotion, no doubt scared he would reveal their secret, but Hakim stayed impassive, watching everything, including his own comrades. Bodie wondered what kind of enduring state of mind it would take for somebody to remain in the lion’s den for so long. Of course, all he had so far was their word, but perhaps Heidi could make some covert inquiries.
He nodded. “We’ll do this together.”
Yasmine looked relieved.
Gunn stood up and tested the weight on his damaged leg. All seemed well. Bodie would never say it aloud, but if Gunn wasn’t complaining about a wound, then it sure as hell couldn’t hurt worse than a scratch.
Only twenty minutes had passed since Zeus had escaped. The Bratva started to file out of the cave, no doubt to secure the perimeter. Yasmine had already told Bodie that they took care of Apollo earlier.
“Jebel Musa,” Jemma said. “Luckily, it’s not far.”
Bodie laughed, buoyed by her quick recovery from Zeus’s shock treatment, but didn’t kid himself. It would be superficial in the short run and she might need a ton of help. He’d keep her busy for a while. Outside, they found a windy, overcast afternoon belied by a lowering sun that glittered across the ocean. Jebel Musa was a short hike, but the large group took their time, some still sore and hurt, others just gauging their new companions. It was an odd group that came once again to the mountain top and stood staring down into the Dead Woman’s mouth.
Bodie shrugged off the sick feeling he harbored for all the men they had lost. Grieving would come later, and the same for the Moroccan Bratva. Drawing in a long breath, he studied the terrain below.
“For an area full of caves,” he said, “I don’t see many, but we have to rule this out first, I guess.”
“Right, well.” Lucie sat down among the rocks and made sure her laptop was connected with a good signal. “I’ve already done all the hard work. As you know, this place is a honeycomb of caves, which means there are always new ones waiting to be found. New passages. Ask any caver. Where there’s no real published literature that helps, there is a little information on caving blogs. Experienced men and women and old-timers have weighed in on a local thread and, if you compare topographical and geographical maps, we can identify a couple of likely areas for unexplored caves. Right there”—she pointed—“is a sinkhole, and over there another, but it is easy to pass a cave entrance — a small pit or brush hole for instance — and not see it. We need as many people as possible to search, but…” She paused. “I don’t think this is it.”
Bodie blinked. “Why?”
“Too easy. Surely somebody would have stumbled across it by now. If you want my opinion, we should locate the cave closest to the GPS coordinates and search for a new passage.”
Bodie agreed, but the consensus was to search the area. They toiled for half an hour, coming up with nothing, knowing with every passing moment that Zeus was a little closer to implementing his plan. In the end, though, the answer was easy. Jemma pointed it out.
“We follow the damn clue,” she said, “that Danel left for us. Instead of second-guessing and backtracking.”
Bodie nodded. “It’s as I thought.”
They found the closest cave network and immediately felt dumb. It left them back at the cave they’d vacated a half hour ago, and when they searched harder, painstakingly probing the tunnel that Zeus had taken, they found one more dark offshoot toward the end. But they weren’t superheroes. They were fallible and therefore needed to cover every eventuality. Bodie found, if he was being honest, that the path they traveled was standard enough. Nothing out of the ordinary. They had no way of knowing if they’d found the right tributary, but the direction followed Danel’s celestial coordinates more closely than any other route appeared to.
And they found spots of blood on the floor. This was the sneakier way of finding Zeus that Bodie had imagined, and was now their last hope of catching the madman. Zeus was intent on derailing all their efforts. Where would he flee to?
They spurred themselves on, ramping up the speed. Tunnel after tunnel and chamber after chamber passed until Jemma voiced the concern that they should be looking at finding some serious caving equipment. A few spots of blood here and there gave them hope that they were following the right track. Bodie smiled when Heidi congratulated him on letting Zeus go.
“It’s how my mind works,” he said. “Slyly.”
“I knew there was a reason we tamed a thief.”