“I thought about that," answered Donaldson, “but there aren’t any chemical weapons in the country. I also looked into old Soviet facilities that could have held chemical weapons at one time, but the search turned up nothing. It’s a real head-scratcher.”
Sam joined in. “Mike, can you think of any reason why the missing students’ car would have been towed to a secure compound guarded by a lot of heavily armed soldiers?”
“Other than the army found it abandoned and wants it out of the way while they conduct maneuvers, I don’t know why it would have been brought along with all the other vehicles to that location.”
Cardinal said, “Something isn’t sitting well with me. I want to take a closer look at that Rover. Perhaps we could find something that may give us a clue as to what happened to the two students.”
“I’m with Gord on this one,” said Sam firmly. “The police said they found nothing, but their vehicle is sitting out there in the Gobi for all the world to see. Either they outright lied or are incompetent at their job.”
Donaldson scrunched up his face and then said, “Okay, I’ll inform the boss when he gets back from the hospital. Until then, sit tight and don’t go anywhere until I get back to you.”
“Sounds fair,” said Cardinal.
Sam said, “Mike, before you go, could you please send us a couple chemical agent detectors, just in case there is something going on out there?”
“Already way ahead of you,” said Donaldson. “If you check your inbox, you will see a receipt for two handheld chemical agent monitors. I had them shipped out this morning via UPS. They should be arriving in Ulaanbaatar later today. I had a hunch you might need them after seeing the picture of the BRDM-2 driving around in the desert.”
Cardinal grinned. Donaldson was always good at anticipating the needs of the people in the field well before they did. “Thanks, Mike. I guess there’s nothing else to pass on from this end, so we’ll wait to hear from you.” He turned his head to see if Sam wanted to add anything. With a quick shake of her head, Sam ended the conversation and closed her laptop.
Sam walked over to the small wooden table in their room and grabbed the keys for their Land Rover. With a smile on her face, she said, “My turn to drive.”
“I’m not sure there’s enough insurance coverage for you to be behind the wheel,” said Cardinal, thinking back to Africa when Sam stole a two-story truck and proceeded to flatten the better part of an oil refinery during an escape attempt. “Besides, Mike told us to stay put.”
“I’m sure he meant not to go back into the desert. There can’t be any harm in us picking up the chemical agent detectors.”
Checking his watch, Cardinal saw that there was plenty of time to reach the capital. With a smile on his face, he said, “After you, and please try to stay on the road this time.”
“You are too funny. Don’t give up your day job to become a comedian. You’ll starve to death.”
“Ouch,” said Cardinal as he locked their door behind them. A few minutes later, they were on the highway heading north. They passed the ominous sight of several long military convoys all heading south. Whatever had happened had been serious. To Sam and Cardinal, it seemed as if the entire Mongolian Army had been called out to deal with whatever had happened in the desert. Although neither said it, they both began to wonder just what they had stumbled upon, and if it was as bad as it appeared.
14
The room was warm and comfortable. In a corner, a candle flickered as it slowly burnt down.
Jen rolled over in bed and placed her arm around Mitchell, only it wasn’t him; it was his pillow. Slowly raising her head, Jen looked around the dimly lit bedroom. The illuminated digits on her alarm clock told her that it was four-thirty in the morning. Taking a second to look around, she saw a light on in their living room. Jen rolled out of bed and threw on some shorts and one of Mitchell’s old army T-shirts before walking into the living room. Right away, Jen saw Mitchell sitting in one of their black leather chairs with only his shorts on, tossing a Nerf football up into the air and then catching it a second later, only to repeat the maneuver. She knew that something was bothering him. Jen had only seen Mitchell play with his football, a birthday gift from her brother’s kids, when he was deep in thought.
Jen said, “Penny for your thoughts.”
Mitchell grabbed the football out of the air, turned and smiled at Jen. “I hope I didn’t wake you.”
Jen walked over and kissed Mitchell on the lips before taking a seat beside him. “Not at all. I thought I would be the one having trouble sleeping tonight when one factors in the time difference between New York and Tokyo; it’s late in the afternoon for me.”
“I just couldn’t sleep.”
Jen leaned over and took his hand. “I understand you’re worried about Fahimah, as am I. However, her doctor said that she should be up on her feet in a few days, and after that she can go home and recuperate with her parents.”
Mitchell took a deep breath and then looked over at Jen. Her caramel-colored hair was a mess. She looked like she could use a couple more hours of sleep, but at that moment, she was as beautiful as the day he first laid eyes on her.
“You’re right, I am worried about Fahimah, but it’s more than that,” said Mitchell firmly. “We were set up to fail, and I want to know why.”
“I’m sorry, Ryan… I’m not following.”
“Jen, the kidnapping last night was slick and carefully thought out. Someone had been planning this for weeks. The women all dressed to look like Miss Satomi, the selective murder of the bodyguards, the motorbikes, and the helicopter. This was a professional job. ”
“I thought you told me that the assignment came to you only last week.”
“That’s precisely my point. It was all far-too-well organized for some half-assed bunch of enviro-terrorists to plan and pull off in such short order. Plus, cold-blooded murder is not their style; it doesn’t look good in the media. No, this has been in the works for some time, and I plan to find out who kidnapped Miss Satomi and why,” said Mitchell, his voice growing resolute as he spoke.
Mitchell grabbed his cellphone and called Mike Donaldson at home. He knew that Fahimah’s injuries would not endear him to Donaldson, but he had to follow his hunch. After hearing Donaldson loudly complain about being woken up an hour before he had to get out of bed, Mitchell passed on his suspicions and asked Donaldson to look into it the instant he got to work. After mumbling a few choice words under his breath, Donaldson agreed, but only if Mitchell brought in some coffee and a box of freshly baked muffins. It was a small price to pay, but Mitchell knew that Donaldson was probably thinking the same thing about the kidnapping. The man’s mind never seemed to shut off. Once, at a Christmas party, Mitchell watched with a bemused smile on his face as Donaldson started grabbing people’s napkins right out of their hands while he walked around the room, writing out a briefing on the worsening situation in Nicaragua for General O’Reilly, who at the time was trying his best to avoid any shoptalk.
Jen said, “Well, I’ll never get back to sleep now. We might as well stay up and go for an early breakfast.”
Mitchell stretched out his back, nodding. “Yeah, a great big stack of pancakes sounds good about now.”
“Later,” said Jen, offering her hand to Mitchell, her voice turning husky.
With a smile, Mitchell said, “I guess breakfast can wait.” Taking Jen’s hand, they walked back to their bedroom and closed the door behind them. Jen didn’t have to work for a few days, and she intended to ensure that today Mitchell arrived late for work.