"You mind if we have a minute, Yuri?" Sean asked.
"Certainly. I will wait."
Sean pulled his friend aside, standing near the airplane as they talked. "You think he's telling the truth?"
Tommy glanced over at the Russian, who was standing with his hands folded behind his back, doing his best not to pay attention to the two friends. He looked off toward the pale glow in the sky that perpetually hovered over the nation's capital at night.
"I was going to ask you the same thing," Tommy said.
"Honestly, my first instinct is always not to trust someone, especially if they're Russian special forces. But he did save us from those guys." Sean pointed a thumb at the destroyed vehicle with the dead gunmen inside. "His story seems to add up. I don't see the harm in it. Besides, we can always use another gun on our side. There is one thing….”
Sean turned back to the Russian and crossed his arms, eyeing the young man with an analytical glare. “Yuri?”
“Yes.”
“You said you work for the Spetsnaz.”
“That is correct.”
“You must know Ustin Zegrev.”
“Yes. He is my commander.”
“Good guy, Ustin. Great sense of humor. I spent some time drinking vodka with him a few years ago when I was in Moscow.”
Yuri’s head titled slightly to the side and his expression changed to one of puzzlement. “No offense, but you must be thinking of someone else. Ustin doesn’t drink and he’s certainly not a person given to humor. Many of us have wondered if he’s ever cracked a smile in his entire life.”
Sean grinned and lowered his hands. “Yes, I know. He’s kind of a tough pill. Just had to make sure you were telling the truth.”
Ustin’s lips parted. He could appreciate the American’s caution.
Sean turned around and put his hands up. "All aboard," he said. "Grab whatever you need. It's going to be a long flight."
Sean watched as his friend and their new Russian ally climbed the steps onto the plane. He'd have to keep an eye on Yuri. Then he glanced over at the wreckage. No doubt he'd saved their necks. Sean just hoped that wasn't for show.
Chapter 34
"You're sure you can get us there?" Tommy asked.
The gray-haired pilot at the charter desk stared at the map for another second and nodded. "Yeah, I can get you there. It'll cost a little extra since we have to do a snow landing and all, but sure, I've been to that spot a few times." He looked up from the map and eyed the three men standing on the other side of the counter. "You boys looking to do some mountain climbing?"
Sean chuckled and shook his head. "No, sir. Nothing like that. We're looking to do some exploring around the area. Probably be there for a few hours while we walk around."
"That's fine," the pilot said. "I doubt I'll have any other flights for the day, so you fellas can take as long as you like. Just remember that we'll only have a small window of daylight. That's not a problem if you don't mind flying in the dark, but I'd hate for you to get lost out there. Even though this winter hasn't been as cold as most, it's still pretty darn chilly out there. We got reports of temps in the low teens the last few nights. In the day, it warms to a tepid twenty-seven or so." He laughed at his own joke.
"Sounds good," Tommy said.
"Aside from the money, you guys have enough cold weather gear? I know some visitors come out here thinking they have everything they need and then when they get to the wilderness, they experience a cold unlike anything they ever saw back home."
The three had picked up new gear just that morning — heavier coats, snow pants, gloves, boots, and face masks. Sean nodded. "Yes, sir. We've picked up everything we think we'll need."
"Okay," the pilot said. "My name is Rusty. I'll run through my checklist and make sure everything's ready to go. We should be good to take off in the next twenty minutes or so."
"Thanks, Rusty," the three said as the pilot disappeared into an office back and to the left.
After they paid the charter company's manager for the flight, the visitors retired to a side room with chairs and a leather couch. They'd left their bags of cold weather gear in the room so as not to take up space at the counter. They started putting on the equipment even though they figured the plane would have some kind of heat. The reasoning was that they could save time by doing it now instead of later.
Every one of the men was exhausted from their cross-country trip. It had taken them all night to reach the city of Anchorage. That had included one stopover in Seattle to get fuel and something to eat. Sleeping on the plane had been difficult at first — until fatigue took hold.
A little over twenty minutes passed before Rusty reappeared in the doorway wearing a thick overcoat and a cap covering his head and ears. "Ready when you are," he said.
The three stood up, grabbed their things, and followed the pilot out to the red-and-white ski plane.
"You gonna be okay on this thing?" Tommy asked Sean. His eyes gleamed with mischief.
"You know I'll be fine," Sean said.
Yuri looked puzzled. His head went from Sean to Tommy and back. "What does he mean? Are you afraid of flying?"
"No," Sean said as he trudged toward the plane. "I'm afraid of heights, stationary heights like buildings or high cliffs."
"But flying doesn't bother you?"
"No."
"I'm sorry, but that doesn't make much sense."
Tommy's guffaws echoed across the tarmac. "That's what I've been saying for nearly thirty years!"
Sean shook his head and picked up his speed to walk ahead of the other two.
The twin turboprop plane groaned as it climbed into the cold winter sky just outside of Anchorage. The pilot leveled out the aircraft at around three thousand feet, keeping it relatively low over the forests, lakes, streams, and hills as they flew toward the majestic peaks of Denali in the distance.
The sun sat low on the horizon to the west. It hadn't gone much higher during the entire day. Now it was late morning, and in a few hours it would begin its short descent that would once more plunge the frigid land into darkness.
Rusty spoke through the headsets as he flew the plane toward the mountains, talking about the various points of interest along the way and occasionally mentioning historical events that coincided with different landmarks.
"Where'd you boys get that map, anyway?" Rusty asked after a few minutes of radio silence.
Sean and Tommy looked at each other.
Sean answered. "We found it in Maryland," he said, going with straight honesty.
"Looks pretty old."
"We think it is. Probably over a hundred years if we didn't miss our guess."
"Interesting stuff. Is it a miner's map or something?"
Sean wasn't sure why he asked the question in that way. "Miner's map? You mean, did it belong to a miner?"
"Yeah. I've seen a few maps like that from the late 1800s when gold mining really took off up here. Miners always carried maps to make sure they didn't trespass on someone else's claims."
"We actually don't know who it belonged to," Tommy said.
"Well, that area you pointed out is right in the thick of a bunch of abandoned gold mines from the late 1800s. You three best be careful while you're out looking around. And if you get the wise idea to go into one of those old mines, you should think again. They're not safe, especially after being out of use for so long. Most of them are blocked off."
"We'll be careful," Sean said.
He and Tommy were both thinking the same thing: the anomaly they were searching for might be in one of the abandoned mines.
The next forty minutes literally flew by, with Rusty continuing his informative aerial tour of the land.
He banked the plane through treacherous mountain slopes and cut through a narrow passage between two peaks that hiked the blood pressure of the three passengers up significantly.