was silent for a moment, then with uncharacteristic hesitation said, “And … there’s something I want to say sorry for.”
“What?”
“When we were in Peru, and I found out about Nan … I blamed you for me not being able to see her again before she died. I shouldn’t have done that. It wasn’t your fault, and I’m sorry.”
She put her hand on his shoulder. “That’s okay. I know what you were feeling. I was the same when I learned that my parents had died.”
“Even so, I shouldn’t—”
“Eddie.” She stroked his cheek. “It’s okay. Really.”
A small smile of gratitude. “Thanks.”
They drove on, Eddie surveying the parched desert. It was as inhospitable and empty a place as they had ever visited. “So, this feeling of yours,” he said. “Wish I could figure out how it works.”
“Yeah, me too!” Nina regarded the desolation ahead. “I can’t really describe it. I just know somehow that it’s in this direction. If all life on the planet really did originate from the meteorite, then technically everybody is connected to it at a genetic level. The earth energy effect apparently lets me feel that more directly.”
“I thought it only worked when you were holding the statues—and that you had to be somewhere where the energy lines connect.”
“So did I. But this is more like an aftereffect, an echo. It’s like …” She struggled to find the words. “The best I can manage is that I can … feel it tickling my subconscious, I guess. It’s this way. Somewhere.”
“An idea how far would be good.”
“Afraid it’s not as precise as GPS. Sorry.”
They drove on. Another hour passed. Eddie squinted into the distance—then looked sharply around at something in his peripheral vision. “What?” Nina asked.
“There’s a plane over there.” Sunlight glinted off a tiny dot in the sky to the northeast.
Nina’s fatigue was instantly replaced by concern. “The Group?”
He snorted. “How would I know? I don’t have bionic eyes. It’s a long way off, though.”
“Where’s it going?”
Eddie stopped the four-by-four and stared intently into the blue void. “Might be on its way to Djibouti.”
“Or it might be searching for the meteorite.”
“Or us.”
Nina looked into the back of the Land Rover. The rucksack had been secured in the cargo bed, padded as best they could manage against the vehicle’s jolts by other bags. “So long as we have time to blow up the stone before they find us, that’s the most important thing.”
“That, and us getting out alive—I think that’s pretty important too.” He set off again. “Something I’ve been thinking about, though.”
“What?”
“Just how big is this meteorite? If it’s, I dunno, the size of a couch, or a car, we’ve got enough explosives to blow it to bits. But if it’s bigger, we might end up making the Group’s job easier. If all we can do is split it apart, then they can get right at the DNA or whatever’s inside it.”
It was a possibility Nina had also considered. “The best we can do is … the best we can do,” she was forced to concede. “We just try to make it as hard for them as we possibly can. If they realize they’ve lost any chance to carry out their plan, well, like Glas said, they’re businesspeople. Hopefully we can persuade them to free Larry without being vindictive.”
“The Group might do that,” said Eddie, grim-faced. “Stikes and Sophia won’t.”
“Yeah, I was kinda hoping you wouldn’t point out the flaw in my one optimistic thought.”
The Land Rover continued across the empty expanse. Eddie lost sight of the aircraft, not knowing if it had changed course or was simply too far away. The terrain became harder, forcing him to slow down to navigate the rocky surface. Something appeared on the horizon ahead, a mirage rippling through the distorting heat-haze.
Nina peered at it. “Is that a hill?”
“Hills, I think,” said Eddie, as more shimmering peaks slowly rose into view. He noticed a faint column of what looked like steam drifting up from the tallest of them. “Or volcanoes.” Nina’s lack of a reply made him suddenly very uneasy. “Oh, for fuck’s sake. You’re not telling me …”
“I think that’s where it is,” she told him. The light but insistent tugging on her soul felt somehow more intense.
“In a fucking volcano?”
“It ties in with Nantalas’s vision. And it fits with what I felt when I put the statues together in Switzerland. If Nantalas experienced the same thing, she’d interpret it based on her beliefs. Remember what the text said in the Temple