“No,” Argento said. “The traffic systems outside the cities are not so sophisticated. Yet.”
“What about dwellings, as ridiculous as that sounds?” Dahl spoke up. “Maybe they hiked through the park to some private area—”
“Dwellings?” Drake laughed. “You mean like a tree house?”
“You know what I mean. Don’t be a knob.”
Alicia found a wide grin stretching across her face as the camaraderie the two men shared lifted the tension in the room. Dahl, of course, pretended nothing had happened and rushed on.
“Houses. Estates. Everything from mansions to caves.”
Caitlyn clicked around the Internet. “Officially no mention of large caves has ever been made, which does not rule them out,” she said. “And sounds somewhat suspicious.”
“The twelve Greek gods lived in the ‘folds of Olympus’,” Crouch said. “Its many fog-shrouded ravines. According to Homer they have their places there and prehistoric man chose to build dwellings at the foot of this wondrous peak. Pantheon, which today is called Mytikas, was their meeting place.” He stopped, thinking. “But surely not…”
“While I can see Dudley and his friends making it up there,” Drake said. “I can hardly see Miranda Le Brun and half a dozen mad scientists completing the journey.”
“Still,” Crouch said, “Olympus itself is the ‘meeting place’. Even in 1941 the Greek resistance found a hiding place there whilst battling the Germans.”
“Trouble is,” Caitlyn said, “the whole of Olympus has been made an archaeological and historical place to preserve its general topography.”
“Still, towns surround it. Litochoro. Katerini. Dion. My hope is that these towns are more communities. Outsiders would be noticed immediately. That sends me back to the idea of a covert place where this factory could have been outfitted. Let’s face it, a factory like that, once you know the components you need, can be retrofitted in one trip. Scientists can be installed quickly too. Once invested, they would stay until the job was done…” he tailed off.
Alicia stared at him. If it ever could be said a light bulb suddenly lit up someone’s eyes this was that moment.
Crouch spun around, excitement surrounding him. “We have to go to Greece,” he said. “All of us. My God, of course, Mount Olympus is Pandora’s birthplace! It’s a given that they would base the factory there!”
Silence followed in which everyone digested his deductions. Karin was the first to speak up. “But that doesn’t work inside a national park. I highly doubt you could supply even a small factory without somebody noticing. At the very least, the risk of being spotted would prevent you trying in the first place.”
“Corruption,” the more experienced Crouch said with a bitter expression. “It’s hard to think of a worse sin that flew out of Pandora’s Box. I think we’re looking for an underground cave somewhere in the vicinity of Mount Olympus. Maybe just outside the national park,” he added as a consent to Karin.
“And how would we find such a thing?” Healey asked.
“Oh, I can think of several ways,” Dahl said. “It used to be one of my specialties.”
Argento cleared his throat. “And I also have ideas. Let me implement those whilst you all get on your flights. Let me handle this. Time is the factor, my friends. Time. Get going. Now.”
Alicia rose quickly, spurred on by the prospect of meeting up with the old team as much as finding the secret factory. “Move it, Russo. Healey.”
The rugged man heaved his bulk upright. “Ain’t you gonna miss the Frenchy?” His eyes narrowed knowingly.
“Beauregard? Ah, don’t worry that rock you call a head. I can always… grab him later.”
Russo groaned as Alicia let out a bawdy laugh.
CHAPTER THIRTY
By the time Drake and the team boarded a fast jet, Armand Argento was almost ready to offer a theory. Karin took her time ensuring the communications were sound and secure, but before the jet hit thirty thousand feet they were ready. Alicia’s crew were waiting for a “very important person” to whisk them from Paris to Greece, but wouldn’t elaborate beyond that.
Drake completed a weapons’ check with Dahl. This was the first mission he could remember where the majority of the world’s governments were behind them, supporting them, and their cooperation made a huge difference. The jet was already skimming across the airways, a priority status; Hayden kept the many interested parties apprised whilst Argento mapped out his plan.
“If we imagine this cave as a subterranean bunker, which is essentially what it is, contained, self-sufficient, then it will have no open or easily accessible doors. No windows. But it must have air vents, do you see? Exhaust vents. More — it must have power cables and even more topside connections. Otherwise the mad scientists — they would die.”
Dahl smiled and caught Drake’s eye. Kinimaka grinned at them. “This guy’s a real riot, eh?”
Drake ignored them, watching Mai. Seated beside Yorgi for the trip and behind Smyth and Lauren, the Japanese woman was barely in the game, no doubt ruminating on her situation and the welfare of Grace, whom they had left behind in London. The gulf between them had only widened since the Pythians upped the stakes, and now he could see no easy way across until Mai faced and destroyed her newly risen demons. The rest of the team was buoyant, reinvigorated by the emergence of the fresh lead, but anxious as ever that it may have come too late.
Argento went on, “So we have all these telltale indicators, yes? Through satellite navigation we can scan the detail of the area and find them. We are using the satellites as we speak. As you say, Olympus is a large area and we’re having to double up because of the surrounding sites, but we will have success. I’m sure of it.”
Dahl leaned over to Drake. “Satellites,” he said. “We have them now.”
“How far out from Greece are we?”
“From landing? Two hours. Alicia’s team should get there about the same time if their mystery guest ever turns up. Karin is trying to find a nearby landing strip.” He gestured at the blond girl working away on a laptop. “Or at least a long patch of flat ground we can land on.” The Swede chortled.
Argento came back on line. “We’re searching for suspicious shadows, mesh, imaginary borders. Camouflage netting. Pipes. Trails. Even brief heat signatures if we’re lucky, as from a man slipping out for a cigarette. They cannot escape us.”
Drake’s face turned grim. He was more than ready to bring war to the place where these bastards lived.
Alicia experienced her second utterly surreal moment in as many weeks at the sight of the famous movie star, Reece Carrera, standing at the top of the steps that led to his private plane. The man’s smile shone like a stadium floodlight and his warm, welcoming voice melted away all her concerns. This really was the best way to travel.
“Unfortunately,” Crouch commented as they mounted the steps. “We now owe Mr. Carrera, as his last favor was the only one he owed. Still, I can think of no faster or more clandestine way to travel at short notice.”
“Lucky he was in the area,” Healey said, cinching his jacket tighter.
“Yeah, he has homes in Paris, London, Vegas and LA,” Crouch said. “All the trouble hotspots. When I first learned of the targeted cities I put him on standby.”
Alicia shook her head at their boss. “Man, you’re fuckin’ awesome. I’d love to be able to put a movie star on standby.”
As they reached the top of the stairs Carrera backed away and allowed them access to the luxurious cabin. The first time she had met this man even Alicia experienced a passable sense of awe. This second time however, she was past all that.