Drake hurdled a fallen tree. Kinimaka smashed through it with barely a grunt. Splinters exploded in all directions. The terrain began to slope down and then they saw the edge of the forest. Hayden snapped into the comms that they should slow — nobody knew what on earth could be waiting beyond that tree line.
Drake slackened the pace only a little. Alicia flanked him to the right and Dahl pounded up to the left; together the three of them breached the cover and entered a narrow valley protected on both sides by steep brown slopes. Kinimaka and Kenzie were hammering their heels in an effort to provide support and then Hayden broke cover too, now trying to ignore the growing burn in her chest.
They’d been running for longer than she wanted to think about.
And the nearest town was miles away.
CHAPTER TEN
Drake felt Mai start to struggle a little. He gave her a minute, knowing she’d come around fast. In that fleeting moment he spotted something flat, gray and winding that made his pounding heart skip a beat.
“Left!”
The whole group broke to the left, guarding their flanks carefully but unnecessarily as their competitors were still unseen. Drake allowed Mai to struggle a bit but held on. Pretty soon she drove a fist into his ribs.
“Let me down.”
“One sec, love…”
Alicia glared over. “You enjoying it that much?”
Drake hesitated, then grinned. “There’s no safe answer to that one, love.”
“Really?”
“Well, think about it from my point of view.”
Mai solved his dilemma by using his spine to push off and flip to the floor. She landed well but swayed in place, holding her head.
“See,” Drake said. “In my defense, she does seem shaky.”
“Your head will be shaky if we don’t get a move on.” Alicia pushed past and Drake followed, watching Mai a little longer until she straightened and fell into the pace. The group raced up an embankment toward the blacktop.
“First tangle with Mossad.” Dahl stretched. “Nothing spectacular.”
“They were holding back,” Kenzie said. “As you were.”
“Second tangle,” Drake said. “Remember that village in England? Yonks ago.”
“Yonks?”
“Ages.”
“Oh.” Dahl paused for a second then delivered: “BC or AD?”
“I think they’re calling it BCE now.”
“Bollocks to that.”
The road stretched in both directions, deserted, potholed and in need of repair. Drake heard the flak-flak of the chopper coming around and then more gunfire. He turned to see it being fired upon from the forest, wondered if it would simply carpet the area with bullets, and then saw it veer away sharply.
“Can’t take the chance,” Dahl said. “Guess that must be the Chinese and they can’t hear chatter as we can.”
Drake nodded silently. The chatter hadn’t revealed anything new recently. Not since…
Hayden gave out a quiet cheer. “I see a vehicle.”
Drake dropped low and scanned the area. “So what do we have behind us? Mossad and the Russians in the trees, hindering each other. The Swedes somewhere near the Russians? SAS?” He shook his head. “Who knows? Best guess — skirting the forest. They all know if they expose themselves they’re dead. Which is why were still alive.”
“Chinese in the helo,” Smyth said. “Landing there.” He pointed to a series of shallow dips.
“French?” Yorgi asked.
Drake shook his head. Joking aside, the French may even have held back to test the water and allow their opponents to thin themselves out. Shrewdly winning the day at the last minute. He stared at the approaching van.
“Guns up.”
Smyth and Kenzie took point, standing at the side of the road and pointing their weapons at the approaching van. Dahl and Drake had placed a couple of heavy boulders in the road. As the van slowed, the rest of the team came from the rear, carefully covering the vehicle and ordering its occupants out.
Alicia threw open the rear door.
“Whoa, it stinks!”
But it was empty. And Drake heard Kenzie asking a question in Turkish. He shook his head as Dahl smiled triumphantly. Full of surprises that girl. “Is there any language she can’t speak?”
The Swede guffawed. “C’mon man. Don’t leave yourself so wide open.”
“Ah,” Drake nodded. “Yeah. The language of the gods.”
“Ey up, love. Fancy a shag? Yeah, I can just hear your sweet accent rolling off Odin’s tongue.”
Drake ignored it, concentrating on the two Turkish people, who appeared genuinely terrified.
And genuinely Turkish.
Hayden bundled them back into the truck, following close at their heels. Dahl grinned once more and then followed her, gesturing at the rest to jump in the back. Drake saw his reason for mirth an instant later, then stared back at Alicia.
“How bad is it back there?”
The truck bounced and jounced and tried to destroy itself on the decrepit road.
Alicia held on for dear life. “Is he trying to hit the bloody bad bits?”
“Probably,” Smyth said miserably, holding his nose and a filthy strap tied to a strut inside the van. “I smell goats.”
Alicia narrowed her eyes. “Oh yeah? Friend of yours?”
Kinimaka sat at the rear of the truck, desperately gulping lungfuls of fresh air through gaps where the rear doors met. “Must… be… farmers, I guess.”
“Or goat smugglers,” Alicia said. “Never can tell.”
Smyth grunted in anger. “When I said goats, I meant generally.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”
Drake kept out of it, taking shallow breaths and trying to focus on other things. They had to trust Hayden and Dahl up front to keep them safe and find the best place to go. The comms remained silent except for the occasional blast of static. Even Lauren stayed quiet, which also helped in its own way. It told them they were relatively safe.
The team complained loudly around him — their way of coping and taking their minds off the animal stench. Comparisons to Swedish bathhouses, American restaurants and London hotels were proffered in good sport.
Drake let his mind wander from Yorgi’s recent outburst and need to share a terrible secret, to the new understanding between Alicia and Mai, to the other troubles that beset the SPEAR team. Hayden and Kinimaka remained at odds, as did Lauren and Smyth — though the latter were dissected by a little more than disagreement. Dahl was working his socks off with Johanna, but there again the job stood in the way.
Something more urgent and implacable prodded his brain. Secretary Crowe’s irritation that they hadn’t followed orders in Peru and the sure knowledge that a clandestine, top-secret second American team was here. Somewhere.
SEAL Team 7.
The questions were countless and inexplicable. What was the answer? Did Crowe no longer trust the SPEAR team? Were they backup?
He hadn’t forgotten about the large question mark still hanging over Smyth’s head, but couldn’t imagine any other scenario. Crowe had sent Seven to watch over them.
Drake quelled the anger. She had her own job to do. Black and white was a life vision shared only by fools and crazy people. His deep musings were interrupted by Hayden.
“All clear behind and up front. Looks like we’re approaching a place called Çanakkale, on the coast. I’ll wait until we’ve found a place before contacting the helo. Oh, and Dahl’s had chance to pick this box apart.”
The Swede took their minds off their situation for a while as he explained what the sheaves of paper appeared to represent. More than war, it was its very declaration. Hannibal, it seemed, had been chosen merely as a symbol.