“Well, this is our meaning. Quite recently, scientists discovered a huge and mysterious anomaly buried beneath the polar icecap. Did you know that? It has vast dimensions—151 miles across and a depth of almost a thousand meters. Spotted by NASA satellites it presented a gravitational anomaly because changes in its vicinity indicated the presence of an enormous object sitting in a crater. Now, discounting the wild theories, this object represents a gravitational anomaly. It doesn’t sit right, doesn’t move like all else around it, and can thus be detected by high-powered radar.”
“You’re talking GPR,” Dahl said. “My old specialty.”
Drake made his eyes widen. “Are you sure? I thought that was male stripping at hen parties. The Dancing Viking, they called you.”
Dahl gave him weary. “Cut it out.”
Alicia leaned over. “He seems grumpy,” she stage-whispered.
“Rebounding off an unsuspecting old lady will do that to you.”
Amazingly, Smyth had tears in his eyes. “I gotta say,” he choked, “I’ve never seen anyone bounce off someone so hard without a trampoline involved.” He hid his face, trying to compose himself.
Kinimaka patted his shoulder. “You okay, brah? I never seen you laugh before, man. It’s weird.”
Lauren cut in, saving the Swede from more ribbing. “GPR, but on an intense scale. I mean, Google Maps have the strange Antarctica object. You can see it from your laptop. But to find something as small as Attila’s tomb? Well, that involves using machines and software that NASA haven’t even admitted to owning yet.”
“They use a satellite?” Yorgi asked.
“Oh yeah, all the cool nations have it.”
“Including China, Britain and France.” Drake pointed out their list of rivals.
“Of course. From space the Chinese could identify a man sitting in his car, check the Internet sites he’s browsing through, and categorize the contents of the sandwich he’s eating. Any man. Almost anywhere.”
“Just men?” Kenzie asked. “Or women too?”
Lauren grinned and whispered, “I have a man in my ear, relaying this. Sounds a tad young, like he hasn’t discovered women yet.”
Drake listened as the chopper split the skies between America and Europe, the third and fourth corners of the earth.
“Right, well, anyway…” Lauren winked. “Piecing together the obscure geography of Piscarus, it is said in one text that Attila’s famous palace was seated between the Danube and the Tisza, in the Carpathian Hills, on the plains of upper Hungary and neighboring Jazberin. In a far more obscure passage it states that Attila’s grave was across from his palace.”
“But buried beneath a river,” Mai stated.
“Yes, the Tisza traverses Hungary from north to south, a huge tributary of the Danube itself. The path of the river will help our scientists. Hopefully, their investigations with geophysical technique will combine satellite, magnetics, MAG and GPR. Magnetic surveys are supplemented by GPR profiles across selected anomalies. They also say they can see if and when a river was ever diverted.” She shrugged. “We’re talking thousands and thousands of images for a computer to crunch, then make a determination.”
“All right, all right, so we’re heading for Hungary.” Alicia faked a headache. “Just say that.”
The team settled back, wondering how their aggressive counterparts were doing.
Hungary, the Danube and the Tisza looked just as black as the rest of Europe at night, but Drake knew right now it was far more volatile. The most powerful of the Four Horsemen lay down there — Death — and those that found it might well shape the future of the world.
The team landed, took off again, landed once more and then jumped in a huge, non-reflective van to complete the last leg of their journey. The number crunchers hadn’t concluded anything yet, the areas were still large and the target small, not to mention old and potentially degraded. It would have been nice to find the Order’s own workings out, but their sudden killings all those decades ago put paid to any backtracking.
They set up a camp on the plains, put a guard around the outside, and settled in. The winds were high, ruffling the tents; the surreal reality of all they had done during the last few days still trying to sink in.
Are we really here now, camping halfway up the side of a Hungarian hill? Drake wondered. Or are we still being pummeled by Olga?
The blooming tent canvas spoke the truth, and so did the wriggling shape at his side. Alicia, wrapped in her sleeping bag so that only her eyes peered out.
“Cold, love?”
“Yeah, get in here and warm me up.”
“Please,” Dahl said, from somewhere south of Drake’s feet, “not tonight.”
“Agreed,” Kenzie stated from the east. “Tell the bitch you have a headache or something. Who knows where she’s been? Number of diseases etcetera, etcetera.”
“A foursome’s out of the question then?”
“It is,” Mai added from near the tent opening. “Especially since there are five us.”
“Nuts, I forgot you were here, Sprite. I still can’t believe they stuck us all in one bloody tent.”
“I for one fancy sleeping out on the plains,” Dahl said, rising. “Then, perhaps I’ll sleep.”
Drake watched the Swede head out, assuming he’d take the chance to call Johanna. Their relationship remained up in the air, but the day would come, and soon, when somebody made an unalterable decision.
The day dawned, and the DC boffins came up with half a dozen sites. The team separated and started to dig, putting the great scenery out of the minds and hearts: the flashing blue snake of the Tisza, wide and then oddly narrow in places, the grassy rolling Carpathian hills, the endless clear skies. The cool breeze, blowing across the wide spaces, was welcome, easing weariness and soothing bruises. Drake and the others constantly wondered where their enemies were. The British, the Chinese and the French. Where? Over the closest hill? Nobody ever saw the faintest hint of surveillance. It was as if the other teams had given up.
“Not your most conventional relic hunt,” Drake said once. “I hardly know where I’m at next.”
“Agreed,” Dahl said. “One moment we’re all at loggerheads and the next it’s plain sailing. Still, it could be worse.”
The first day passed quickly, then a second. They found nothing. The rain came and then the blinding sun. The team took turns resting and then let some hired hands take over for a while. Men and women that spoke no English were appointed from a nearby village. Once, Alicia found a void in the earth, an old tunnel perhaps, but the elation was quickly quashed when her scrabbling came to a dead end.
“Useless,” she said. “We could be a meter away and still not find it.”
“How do you think it’s stayed undetected all these years?”
Dahl continued to scratch his head, sure there was something they were missing. “It’s right on the tip of my tongue,” he repeated more than once.
Drake couldn’t help it. “You mean Olga, don’t you? It was a very brief experience, mate.”
Dahl growled, still perusing.
Another night and another few hours in the tent. The most intense of these nights was when Drake brought the conversation around to Webb’s statement, his legacy and his secret stash of information.
“We have to concentrate on that next. The secrets he gathered could be destructive. Overwhelming.”
“For who?” Dahl said. “The ones directed at us weren’t so bad.”
“Except for the one we don’t know yet,” Mai said.
“Shit, really? I forgot. Which one is that?”
The Japanese woman lowered her voice and spoke softly. “One of you is dying.”