Norward turned. Sister Angelina was still kneeling, praying. She didn’t even look up as Norward walked past, out the door into the street. A thunderstorm seemed to be forming on the horizon, and a strong gust of wind blew down the empty street, carrying a few leaves and pieces of paper with it. Vilhena was dead.
Norward headed toward the boat he and Turcotte had visited. He remembered the gun that the man had used. It was still there.
“We have another message,” Faulkener said, holding out the message flimsy. Toland put a poncho over his head and used his red lens flashlight to see the letters. Quickly he decoded it.
TO TOLAND
FROM THE MISSION
PAY UPPED TO TWO MILLION A MAN US DOLLARS
ALREADY IN YOUR ACCOUNT
TIME IS OF ESSENCE
DO NOT HALT FOR ANYTHING
CALL FOR AIR EVACUATION WHEN BALDRICK CONFIRMS ARTICLE RECOVERED
AIRCRAFT REQUIRES RUNWAY MINIMUM LENGTH THREE HUNDRED METERS SIDE TO SIDE CLEARANCE FIFTY METERS
MONITOR FM FREQUENCY 32.30
YOUR CALLSIGN GALLANT
AIRCRAFT CALLSIGN SPARROW
END
“Wake up, sleeping beauty,” Toland ordered Faulkener. “We’re moving now.”
A dim red glow appeared twenty meters down the main tunnel. Che Lu put her hand on Lo Fa’s thin shoulder; she knew he was brave but also superstitious.
The red glow changed shape from a circle, stretching and narrowing, touching the floor. The form of a person began to coalesce, but a strangely shaped person. The legs and arms were too long, the body slightly short. The large head was covered with red hair. The skin was pure white. The ears had long lobes that almost touched the shoulders. The eyes were bright red with scarlet, elongated pupils.
The figure was not solid. Che Lu could see through to the corridor behind it. As it had the last time she saw it, the figure raised its right arm, the six-fingered hand spread wide.
A deep, guttural sound echoed up the tunnel. The language was singsong. “Do you understand it?” Che Lu asked.
Elek had watched as silently as the rest. “Why should I tell you?”
Che Lu shrugged. “Because we’re all here together. Because I am curious?”
“No, old woman,” Elek said, “I do not understand the language. It is the language of the Airlia. Only another Airlia could understand what it is saying.” The figure had spoken for almost a minute, before fading.
“What it says is not important,” Elek said. “What is important is this…” She paused and walked forward a few steps, then threw a jacket down the tunnel. There was a flash of light and the jacket settled to the floor in two pieces.
“Damn!” Croteau exclaimed from his position at the rear.
“And there is worse beyond the beam,” Elek said. “What is important,” Elek repeated, “is that all the defenses are still in place. We must have the key!”
Duncan grabbed the phone and pressed the on button before the first ring was finished.
“Duncan.”
“Dr. Duncan, my name is Lexina. I am a member of the organization you know as STAAR.”
Duncan felt her pulse quicken, and she sat up straight in the seat. “What do you want?”
“I am not your enemy,” Lexina said.
Duncan remembered the two STAAR representatives and how they had tried to stop Turcotte from taking off in the mothership. “Why should I believe you?”
“You can believe whatever you wish,” Lexina said. “But your wishes and your beliefs don’t concern me. What is essential is your cooperation.”
“What do you want?”
“How much of the dig at Dulce has been uncovered?”
“You should know better than me,” Duncan said.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lexina said.
There was a pause, and Duncan let the silence ride. She saw no need to confirm that or give up any information.
“I need something,” Lexina finally said.
“Exactly what do you need?”
“Don’t play games,” Lexina said. “We don’t have much time.”
“You’re the one playing,” Duncan said. “Your organization has been playing for a long time. I want to know who exactly you are before this conversation goes any further.”
“We’re The Ones Who Wait.”
“Wait for what?”
“We wait.”
“Oh, that clears everything up.”
“I assure you, our goals are the same.”
“I don’t think so,” Duncan said.
“I need the key.”
Duncan frowned. “What is it the key to?”
“That is why I need it,” Lexina said. “You have no idea what you have. If you have it.”
“This conversation is going nowhere,” Duncan said.
There was a long pause. “You don’t have it, do you?”
Duncan wasn’t sure how to answer that. “We know that you aren’t human.”
“You know nothing. I need the key. It would be in your interest to give it to me if you have it. There are enemies everywhere, and they will want the key too. I will call back.”
The phone went dead. Duncan thought for a few moments, then she placed another call.
Turcotte opened up a footlocker bolted to the floor of the bouncer. There were four MP-5 submachine guns inside. He tossed one to Yakov, then one to Kenyon, who almost dropped it.
“What am I going to do with this?” Kenyon asked.
Turcotte was leaning between the two pilot seats, showing them where he wanted to go. He ignored Kenyon.
The bouncer began moving to the west.
“The objective is a hundred kilometers away,” Turcotte announced. “ETA in six minutes.”
“What do you think is out there?” Kenyon asked. He was holding the gun as if it were as toxic as the samples he’d just finished dealing with.
“Somebody’s out there in the middle of all this death,” Turcotte said. “Using SATCOM and looking for something. I don’t have a clue whether that somebody has anything to do with this disease, but it’s a bit too much of a coincidence.”
“Wait a second,” Baldrick said.
Toland went down to one knee, Sterling at the ready. Baldrick flipped open the lid on the case. He pulled out the GPR into which he had programmed the location of whatever it was he was looking for. “That way,” Baldrick said. “Four hundred meters.”
Toland didn’t have to say a word. He stood, the other men deploying around in a wedge. They were in steep terrain, with small clusters of trees every hundred meters or so rising above the thick undergrowth. By Toland’s pace count they had moved three hundred meters when he saw something silhouetted on the top of a ridge ahead.
Toland twisted the focus on his goggles. A tree, twisted and shattered by some powerful force, was leaning to the right.
Baldrick checked the GPR one more time. “Wait here for me.”
“We should go with you to the top of the ridge,” Toland said. “If there’s someone—”
“I said wait here,” Baldrick said. He picked another case and took it with him.
Toland gestured and the other two men went to earth, facing out, weapons at the ready. Toland watched as Baldrick walked up the ridge and past the broken tree. As soon as the doctor was out of sight, Toland followed.
As he came up to the tree, Toland crouched low. He slowly peeked over a broken bough. The terrain dropped off on the other side, but Toland’s attention was focused on the gouge in the grassy slope. Starting from the tree and going downslope, the dirt was torn as if a large tank had ripped through. Baldrick was at a large piece of crumpled metal at the end of the gouge, opening the third case.