and wanted to know how to get to San Bartolo.’ She thought for a moment. ‘No, not San Bartolo; somewhere near it, a pumping station on some gas pipeline. Station fourteen.’
‘What’s it got to do with Kit?’
‘I don’t know. But it seemed like he was comparing what I told him with what Kit told him, and then he said something about the statues – and that’s when he got angry. He took a cab.’
The statues. Nina made the connection. ‘Oh God.’
Eddie had somehow realised what Kit had been trying to keep from him: that Interpol was making a deal with Stikes to recover the statues. But Eddie would only be interested in revenge – for her torture, for Mac’s death. And he would be going after Stikes.
And if his anger was because he believed Kit had betrayed him by dealing with the mercenary – or worse, that he was somehow in league with him . . .
‘When did he leave?’ she asked Macy urgently.
‘I don’t know – a half-hour ago? What is it?’
‘I think Eddie’s about to do something he’ll regret. How do we get to this pumping station?’
‘That is it,’ said the taxi driver, pointing.
Eddie saw a handful of lights in the darkness off the Panamerica Highway. Gas tanks and pipes behind a fence, a small cliff beyond the facility. A car was parked outside the gate.
Except for the burning coal of his fury, his mind was completely analytical, assessing the scene from a tactical perspective. The car had to be Kit’s, and if he was there, Stikes would be too. But it was unlikely he would have come alone. So where would the other mercenaries be?
Elevated positions, where they could both cover their boss and watch the road. On top of the tanks, on the cliff. No way to know how many – but Stikes’s forces had been winnowed down at El Dorado, and it was unlikely he would have been able to drum up more at such short notice. He had left the cavern with only the Hind’s pilot and one other man . . .
The driver started to slow for the turning on to the dirt road. ‘No, keep going,’ Eddie told him. He looked down the highway, seeing taillights disappear round a curve in the distance. ‘Stop once we get round the next corner.’
He turned his attention to the rugged landscape. Scrubby bushes, small trees. Adequate cover. It would take him ten to fifteen minutes to make a stealthy crossing.
The taxi passed the pumping station. Eddie looked back, seeing movement. Two figures on an elevated walkway. Even at this distance, he recognised them both.
Stikes. And Kit.
His fears had been confirmed. They were working together.
The coal inside him burned hotter.
Stikes’s satellite phone warbled. The mercenary answered it, then gave Kit a crooked smile. ‘It’s for you.’
Kit took the phone, listened to the brief message, then disconnected. ‘The helicopter is on its way,’ he reported. ‘It should be here in about twenty minutes.’
Stikes checked his watch, then nodded. He noticed Kit looking towards the gate. ‘Something wrong?’
‘The security cameras. It could be hard for me to explain to Interpol what was going on if this is recorded – and the Group’s representative certainly won’t want to be seen.’
Stikes tutted. ‘Do you think I’m an amateur? The camera at the gate is sending a looped recording – and as long as we stay away from the pumps,’ he gestured at the machinery behind Kit, ‘none of the others can see us. I don’t particularly want to appear on Candid Camera either.’
‘I suppose not.’ He turned his gaze back to the gate and the road beyond, seeing a lone car pass out of sight round a bend.
‘You want me to wait?’ asked the taxi driver.
‘No, that’s fine,’ said Eddie, paying him and providing a generous tip before getting out. The driver shrugged, then drove away.
Eddie started uphill through the undergrowth towards the escarpment.
With no time to go through the rigmarole of obtaining a car through government or United Nations channels, Nina and Macy had followed Eddie’s example and got the maid to summon a taxi. It was now heading through Lima’s southern outskirts for the Panamerica Highway. ‘How long before we get to this station?’ Nina asked.
Macy put the question to the driver in Spanish. ‘About twenty-five minutes,’ she said after getting an answer. ‘And yes, I already told him that we’re in a rush.’
Nina tapped her foot in impatience – and worry. Would they get there in time