“How long?” he asked as the exasperation and hopelessness of the situation was starting to wear on him.
“Doc says they’re traveling leisurely, but even if they stop at Denny’s we’re lookin’ at no more than twenty-four hours until they amble right over us and the doorway. Over.”
“Master Chief, do you see any indication of where these raptors may be clustering? Maybe they have a nest or something.”
It dawned on Jenks and Charlie at the same moment they heard Jack’s question.
“No, but I see what you’re getting at. Any leadership cast or whatever social, or pecking order”—they heard the master chief laugh if only briefly—“that may be where they stashed our little coupling.”
“My train of thought exactly.”
“Okay, we have our orders, we’ll use both drones and see what we can see. Any luck finding out who the assholes were that started the fires?”
“Negative, there wasn’t that much left to view.”
“I see, Jenks out.”
Jack lowered the radio and looked at Farbeaux, who had recapped the water and then wiped his brow. He looked from Collins toward the setting sun.
“The winds are bound to shift again and bring that damnable ash cloud back. Are you sure you want to use both drones to search for the coupling? Without at least one we’ll have a hard time tracking our new team members, whoever they may be.”
Collins knew not dividing up his two remotes limited his chances of finding Sarah and whoever else was sent through the doorway and into this hellhole of a continent, not to mention the fact that recovering Carl had become a distant part of the mission.
“You know who’s out there, don’t you?”
“Yes, I had my suspicions when you and I both saw the boot size that only one woman we both know wears. So, if you’re asking me if we should continue the search, yes, as a matter of fact, Colonel, I insist.” The Frenchman smiled, irritating Collins to no end.
“You want to take five?” Jack asked as a way of challenging Farbeaux. He returned the smile.
“No, but when I rescue young McIntire I fully expect for you to keep the word your president gave me when I fulfilled his recent, black request. I want to be free of you and your people for all time.” He smiled wider. “Or I’ll accept the offer of dear Sarah in return. Your choice.”
Jack started moving off without comment at Farbeaux’s desires. He then slowed to face the Frenchman. “The odds are that we’ll remain right here, Henri, so if we somehow manage to get out of here, and if I don’t kill you for any more remarks about Sarah, yes, when and if we get back you’re free to go.”
Farbeaux failed to see the humor in the comment as Collins laughed and then continued to follow the tracks in the fallen ash field. Then he realized it was so simple — if they got back.
“I truly despise you, Colonel.”
They were lucky to have only lost the one man. Doshnikov went to his knees after they had stopped running as did most of the others. Jason looked at Mendenhall as both men were not really winded but very much over-oxygenated. He shook his head at the captain.
“We have to ditch these assholes.”
“I agree, but in case you failed to notice, my backward navy friend, they have things they call guns. And we of course do not have said apparatus as per our usual circumstance.”
Before Jason could retort at his friend’s smart-ass observation they were joined by Doshnikov and two of his remaining men.
“If you think you can escape, by all means, I will not try to stop you.” The Russian looked around him nervously. “I don’t know where you fools have sent us, but this is not a very nice place.”
“If you only knew half of the places we’ve been, buster, you would crap yourself.”
Everyone looked at Mendenhall, who was deadly serious.
“Now, I’m sure you have an extra cap gun hidden away somewhere and me and my buddy are feeling a little exposed out here.”
“Listen,” Ryan said as he finally straightened from where he had his hands on his knees. He tilted his head as Will and the others fell silent when they saw he was trying to hear something. He tilted his head in the other direction. Then he froze, and before the Russians or a startled Mendenhall could say or do anything, Ryan started trotting away. The others hurriedly followed.
Doshnikov almost bumped into Ryan before he realized the American had stopped abruptly. He watched as Jason reached out and pulled some screening plants out of his way. The filthy Russian smiled and pushed past Ryan.
The river was fast flowing and blue as the gorgeous waters of the Caribbean. The smell of freshness after the dense jungle and forest was heavenly to Ryan. The others saw what he had smelled and pushed past him.
“Leave it to the navy to accidentally stumble onto water,” Will said as he slapped Jason on the back on his way past. Ryan smiled and followed. At least they wouldn’t die of thirst before some beast had their teeth-savvy way with them.
Ryan could see that the twisting river had worked its way down from the slopes surrounding Mount Erebus. He could even see fish as they jumped in the fast current. His smile vanished as he watched the Russians and Will drinking at the water’s edge. It looked as if they weren’t concerned about how potable this ancient waterway was, but of course he knew that the colonel’s team had all of the purification equipment and chemicals to make assurances of anything.
He started to join them when he saw that the river vanished over the small cliff in front of them. He was looking at a waterfall. He advanced slowly and was still wary of the animal life that he knew also used the waters to drink from. He eased slowly to the edge and then his mouth fell open when he saw where the river vanished to.
“Holy shit.”
When Will finally joined him with Doshnikov close behind, they found the navy man sitting on the ash-covered grass overlooking the falls and the greenest valley they had ever seen not far below. Mendenhall was about to say something when Ryan pointed to the valley and they saw what had stunned Ryan and sent him to the seat of his pants.
“If you have not lied about what time frame this is supposed to be, and if every schoolmaster in my life were not the most wonderful of liars about history, maybe you could tell me what in the hell that is doing here?” Doshnikov asked as his mouth dried up even after the thirst-quenching trip to the river.
Below, entangled in vine and undergrowth, was the remains of a wooden stockade. They could even make out the remains of watch towers at each corner and at the centerline of each fence. The jungle and forest had taken over the wooden structure and they could clearly see that it was deserted from their high vantage point. Inside the rectangle of stockade they saw deteriorating huts and other makeshift buildings. They saw sally ports along the high walls.
“You know what that looks like?” Mendenhall asked as he slowly looked at Ryan.
“Even I know what this is, and I didn’t go to school in America.” The Russian brushed past Will and examined the fort below.
Ryan stood and joined the others. He looked down at a sight they had no right to see in this distant epoch.
The Roman-style encampment was complete with a dried-up moat surrounding it. It looked to have been abandoned for a century at least.
Will laughed aloud and then turned to face the others in their lost band of idiots.
“This is going to throw a major kink into a lot of brilliant minds back home.”
Mount Erebus exploded as an exclamation point to the most bizarre discovery of that very long and trying day.