The former officer nodded. “Considering that there’s absolutely nothing in this part of the desert that would be of value to man or beast, they’re the only people I can think of who would have a reason for coming out here.”
“But we don’t know they’re in the country,” Brannigan said from behind Meerkrieger.
“And we don’t know they’re not. Chase has proved very adept at getting around the world unnoticed.”
“Good for him,” said Larry loudly. Eddie’s father was seated toward the back of the cabin with the mercenaries, under guard. The man next to him had standing orders from Stikes if the prisoner made a nuisance of himself, and he carried them out by driving an elbow hard into Larry’s stomach. The older man curled up in pain, gasping for breath.
“We know they left Switzerland,” Stikes continued, dismissing the interruption, “and they didn’t return to the States, so it’s highly probable that they’re here. Wilde apparently has some sort of in-built direction finder, after all. And they have a very strong incentive to find the meteorite before we do.”
“You’d better hope they haven’t,” Warden said, with an undercurrent of threat.
Stikes concealed his look of derision until he had turned away to check the view ahead. The volcano was rapidly growing. His cold eyes scanned it, searching for anything standing out against the barren rock …
“There,” he said. “There they are!” He pointed, indicating his find to the pilot, who turned the helicopter toward it.
Warden leaned forward to look. A small block of color was visible on the mountainside: a vehicle. “Land as close to it as you can,” he ordered, then addressed Stikes. “Will you be able to find them?”
“Tracking is one of my specialties,” the Englishman told him smugly.
The pilot brought the helicopter into a hover over the small plateau, its downwash whipping up a storm of dust and grit that buffeted the parked four-by-four. He brought the aircraft down with a bump. “Right,” said Stikes, addressing the members of the Group, “I think it will be best if you all wait in the chopper until my men and I find Chase and Wilde and locate the meteorite. It should—”
“We’re not going to sit here baking in this thing,” said Warden firmly. The pilot was in the process of shutting down the engines; once the cabin’s air-conditioning was switched off, the temperature in the enclosed space would quickly become intolerable. “I want to be there to see the stone the moment it’s found.”
“So do we,” said both the Bull brothers simultaneously. The others agreed, even the elderly Meerkrieger undeterred by the prospect of negotiating the rough terrain.
“As you wish,” Stikes said. “In that case, if you’ll follow me …” As Warden picked up the case holding the statues, the mercenary leader made his way down the narrow central aisle to his eight men at the rear. “Everyone arm up and move out. Remember that in no circumstances is Dr. Wilde to be killed. Anyone else who might be there is fair game—except Chase. He’s mine.” He reached past several parachutes on a rack to push a button, and the broad rear ramp lowered to the ground. “All right, let’s go.”
He strode down the ramp, the Group members—looking obviously out of place in the raw natural environment despite their newly bought expedition clothing—and Sophia following. The mercenaries pulled back tarps and collected their weapons and survival gear from behind the ranks of seats, then marched after their leader, two of them pushing Larry between them.
Gleaming Jericho drawn, Stikes checked that the Land Rover was empty, then surveyed the steep and barren landscape. There was nobody in sight.
But he spotted a small depression in the blanket of stones covering the ground. On its own it would have meant nothing, but near it was another, and another …
A trail of footfalls, leading away from the four-by-four up the volcano’s side. Two trails, in fact, one lighter than the other.
Sophia recognized his curling smile of triumph. “You’ve found them?”
“I have,” he replied. He called out to the others, “This way!”
They set off up the slope, Stikes leading the pack like a foxhound.
Eddie had eventually found two promising spots on the meteorite to plant his charges, and was now carefully traversing the top of the great rock, looking for a third. If the explosives shattered it along its natural fault lines, the combined blasts might have more chance of pulverizing the separate pieces.