"It will rain tonight," Gabrielle said, looking up at the sky when they stopped for a rest.
Her neck was long and lovely. She was a beautiful woman. But Carter found himself wondering about her. There was something about her that was not quite right. Something he could not put his finger on.
"If the wind comes with it, the natives will not attack," he said.
She looked at him, a half smile on her lips. "You do not know these people. They have brought their outrigger canoes across the entire Pacific Ocean. In modern times they regularly go five hundred miles in all kinds of weather. A little local storm will not deter them, Nick. If anything, it will help cover their actions."
There it was again, Carter thought. Almost a pride in what was happening here.
He had been leaning against a tree, smoking a cigarette. He straightened up now.
"Is there another holy ground, other than the volcano, here on the island?"
"I do not know," she said thoughtfully. "There may be. But I do not know of it." She looked into his eyes. "You mean the area around wherever the signal originated from?"
Carter nodded.
"It could very well be. But I doubt if we will ever find it."
"Why do you say that, Gabrielle?" Carter asked. He was becoming more and more uneasy with her.
"If it is nothing more than a little dish antenna, such as the one upon the hill, it would be like looking for a needle in the haystack. Impossible to find."
"You're right."
"We could spend days wandering around this island and never find a thing."
"You're right again, Gabrielle, except for one thing."
Her eyes narrowed. "What is that, Nick?"
"The helicopter was shot down, and the natives chased us up the hill. Now, this evening, their little show in the meeting place was interrupted. Whoever originated the signals knows we're here. They'll be looking for us. We've seen too much."
"So what if it is the Chinese?" she shouted. "This is French territory. We never wanted you or them here!"
"Then you know of the Chinese?"
"That is what I mean," Gabrielle snapped with irritation. "You tell me the equipment on the hill is of Chinese manufacture. It means they are here on this island. Your people are on Hiva Faui. We do not want either of you here. Look at the trouble you have caused for our people."
"But you've deserted your husband, Madame Rondine," Carter said, "or was that all a show just to find out what I was up to?"
She stamped her foot in frustration. "Do you suppose I came into your bed and made love with you just for information? Do you suppose I made up the story about my youth? A story that you could easily check?"
"I don't know, Gabrielle. I hope not, but I don't know."
"Bastard!" she hissed.
Carter looked at her for a long time. "'I 'm here to do a job," he said. "When it is finished you can return to the States with me or remain here. The choice will be yours. And if I am wrong about you, which I sincerely hope I am, then I apologize, Gabrielle. But I am paid to be a suspicious man. Many of my people have been killed. I have come to stop it. And I will."
"I too am sorry, Nick," Gabrielle said just a little too quickly. "I still have loyalties to France despite what has happened to me at the hands of Frenchmen… despite Albert. And I have a feeling for these poor people here."
"Then help me end the killing."
"I do not know if I can, Nick. How?"
"Help me find the Chinese installation here. The transmitting station where the pictures are sent to incite the natives."
"And then what? How can you stop them single-handedly?" Gabrielle asked, but then she stopped herself. "That is not it," she said. "You merely want to find out where the station is located and then you will call for help." She ran her fingers through her lovely dark hair. "My God, you want to start a war here on Natu Faui. Is that it? You crazy American."
"I want to stop a war," Carter said. "A war that began two years ago when the Chinese set up this operation."
"There will be fighting here!"
"Yes, but it will end the killing."
"The killing could end if your people left Hiva Faui!"
"The French would have to leave as well."
Gabrielle just looked at him.
They wouldn't be satisfied merely to get rid of us. They'd want your people to leave as well."
"It is your spy satellite they want stopped…" Gabrielle said, but then she realized she had said too much.
Carter smiled sadly in the dim light. All along he had known something was wrong with her. All along he had suspected she was not telling him the truth.
She worked for the Chinese. Her husband probably did as well. It explained why there were so many Chinese workers on Hiva Faui, and it explained why the natives on this island were kept at barely above the primitive level. The natives acted as an effective buffer between the Chinese Communists and the Americans.
He did not think finding their base here would be very easy after all.
Gabrielle was looking at him, her eyes wide, her mouth pursed in an expression of contempt.
He reached out and grabbed for her arm, but she jumped back and reached for the.45 at her hip.
"Christ!" Carter swore. He dived left and scrambled into the thick undergrowth.
Gabrielle fired a shot well wide of its mark, and Carter lay flat on his stomach, watching her through the thick brush.
She was clearly frustrated and very upset. Evidently her assignment had been to keep tabs on Carter, and if he came too close or discovered too much, she was to kill him. She had failed.
Something made her turn away and cock her head as if she were listening for something. But Carter could not hear a thing.
She turned back and took several steps closer to the edge of the brush Carter had disappeared into, but then she shook her head in frustration.
"Nick," she called.
Carter remained still, watching her.
"If you are still out there and you can hear me, I want you to know that you will not get off this island alive." Again she looked over her shoulder as if she were listening for something.
She turned back.
"I want you to know that I am sorry it has to work out this way. I was not ordered to sleep with you… but I did it because I wanted to. You are a wonderful lover."
Once again she looked over her shoulder.
"I must go now, Nick. They will find you by morning. They never miss," she said.
She holstered her.45, then turned and headed off toward the north.
As soon as she was out of sight, Carter pushed himself up, emerged from the brush, and stopped long enough so that he could hear her up ahead.
Ten
Gabrielle moved quickly through the jungle. It was as if she knew exactly where she was going and had been on this path often. But Carter had no trouble following her in the darkness. Every ten or twenty yards he would stop and listen. He could hear her up ahead, crashing through the brush, making absolutely no effort to conceal herself.
It was several miles across to the north side of the island, and it took them better than an hour to make it.
Just like the north side of Hiva Faui, this island's north side rose up from the sea in high, sheer cliffs.
The jungle ended almost at the cliff's edge. Gabrielle was nowhere to be seen.
Carter hesitated just within the darkness of the trees. She had been just in front of him. He had lost the sounds of her progress because of the noise of the surf far below and the wind out of the northwest that was rising into a very stiff breeze that moaned around the rocks.
He was sure she had not turned parallel to the cliffs in order to keep to the cover of the jungle. He noticed some rocky hills to the east, and the jungle fell into a fairly deep valley a hundred yards to the west.