“What’s he hiding?” Cornett asked.
“Don’t know. But you picked that up too?”
“Of course. He’s good, mind you, but not that good.”
“Well, he is a politician, so all he does is lie all day.”
“True. Something’s rotten, though.”
“Can you speak with the director, off the record, and see if there’s another layer to this request we’re unaware of?” Collins asked.
“I’ll give it the old college try, but don’t expect much. If the chief wants to run an op for reasons only he’s privy to, that’s his call.”
“Right. But I don’t like being the pawns in this game. What we don’t know could come back to bite us. Hard.”
Cornett put the transmission into gear and nodded. “We don’t need any more disasters.”
“Coffee?”
“I’m way ahead of you.”
Chapter 38
Reggie shook his head as he hung up the sat phone. He understood the logic, but his control officer clearly had no understanding of the logistics involved in putting the word out that he was on the hunt for the plane passengers. For one, he was in the middle of nowhere, and it would take him all day to make it anywhere close to civilization. For another, it wasn’t like you posted an inquiry on the web and waited for an email. The villages where members of the drug gangs might have contacts were remote, and any direct interaction with their representatives could be fatal.
But he had his marching orders. His trek into the jungle had been for nothing. He’d pushed himself to the limits of his endurance to reach the camp, only to fail to make it in time to join the foray to the plane. It had been midnight by the time he’d had the tents in sight, and he’d been surprised when he’d turned on his phone to discover that he had a missed call from HQ. When he returned it, he’d been told that the girl and her companion hadn’t been on the plane, and to stand by for further orders.
That had been in the wee hours of the morning. Now it was light, and he’d been handed another virtually impossible task.
Welcome to government work, he thought, as he eyed his stolen bike with a sour expression. His ass hurt from the seat, and every rut in the trail felt like a proctology exam gone horribly awry. Now he’d be pedaling all the way back to the nearest real town, which was… Tachileik. A good thirty miles on the world’s worst bicycle. Assuming he didn’t get gunned down for sport.
He looked back over his shoulder at the peak of the nearest karst formation and groaned quietly. Maybe a desk job wouldn’t be so terrible after all.
An idea occurred to him. He powered on the phone and called his control again. “Do we have anyone in Bangkok who could handle the urban part of this? I’m in position, in deep cover.”
“Not really. I mean, yes, of course we have people on the ground there, but this is a delicate situation. We were hoping to rely on your expertise. Can you not make it?”
“It’ll be this evening, more than likely, at the earliest.” He gave the man his coordinates and suggested he look at a map.
“Stand by.”
Reggie waited for five minutes while his precious battery power drained. He was about to hang up and hope for a return call when his control came back on the line.
“Negative. We want to keep this a closed circle. Do the best you can.”
“Roger that.”
Reggie disconnected and swore under his breath. Closed circle indeed. Easy for some faceless wonk to wave his hand and send Reggie into perdition. It wasn’t he who was trying to make it cross-country in Injun country.
He trudged over to the bike and, after pulling on his backpack, began wheeling the ungainly conveyance down the game trail, the nearest dirt road that he could safely ride it on many miles away.
Drake poked his head out of the tent as the sun climbed into the sky and spotted Joe chatting with Dick and Harry, whose green complexions spoke volumes about the aftereffects of inhaling a drug cocktail. The pair moved far slower than they had the prior day, whereas Joe’s gestures and voice were animated and crisp. In spite of being at least double their age, Joe couldn’t have looked better if he’d just gotten a massage and a facial.
Joe saw him and gave a cheery wave. “Yo! Youngblood. Time’s a-wasting.”
“Yeah. I see that,” Drake said as he stepped into the open. “You take another taste of the magic potion this morning?”
“See, that’s the kind of question that makes you seem like a small thinker. I was up before anyone, did my yoga, and ate. You’re mistaking being in touch with the world’s energy for something drugs can bring.”
“So you ate the roach?”
Joe offered an impish grin. “Waste not…”
“That’s what I thought.”
“How did it go?”
Drake eyed the two Shans. “You positive they don’t speak any English?”
“Look around, boy. Your secrets are safe.”
“We found the plane. Nobody was in it. Which is somewhat of a mystery.”
Joe nodded as though he’d expected the news. “Now what?”
“We continue in our search for the Emerald Buddha.”
“The what?” Joe finally registered surprise.
Drake ground his teeth — that was a stupid slip. “The ruins.”
“That’s not what you said.”
“I only got an hour or two of sleep. I don’t know what I’m saying,” Drake deflected.
“I heard you. First you mentioned anything about emeralds. Or a Buddha.”
“Can we just drop it? We’ll find the place and see what’s in it. End of story.”
“Little testy, aren’t we? You need a big shot of mellow-the-hell-out. So agro. Unbecoming in a youngster.”
“I really appreciate the life lessons, but maybe some other time? I feel like crap.”
Joe gave him a sly look. “I might have something that could pick you up.”
Drake gave him an incredulous stare.
Joe shrugged. “Hey. No biggie. Let me know if you need anything.”
“Regular corner drugstore, aren’t you?”
Joe smiled and moved back to Harry and Dick. Harry looked like he was about to vomit. Drake suddenly didn’t feel quite as bad, the Schadenfreude helping somewhat. He ducked back into the tent and almost collided with Allie.
“Oh. Sorry. Good morning,” Drake said.
“If you say so.”
“Ready to pack up and hit the road?”
“I suppose.”
Half an hour later they were filing through the jungle. Uncle Pete cleared the way with his machete, their good fortune in finding trails having fled when they’d left the camp. The way toward the valley was thick with vegetation, and the morning passed with slim progress as they hacked a path through the rain forest.
Lunch was a hushed affair while a cloudburst drizzled on them, offering a welcome cooling from the humid swelter. Joe and Uncle Pete consulted with Spencer on the best way to proceed, and by the time the rain abated, they’d agreed that Joe and Spencer would trade off leading the way for the afternoon, giving the little Thai’s tired arms a rest from wielding the machete.
After two hours, they arrived at a small clearing.
Allie pointed north. “There they are.”
In the near distance, two towering karst peaks, their rocky sides sheer as cliffs, rose into the azure sky from the surrounding jungle.
“The two sisters,” Drake said.
“And the valley between them.”
“My hunch is there isn’t going to be a Holiday Inn at the base, so let’s search for a spot to make camp once we’re in their shadow,” Spencer said, noting their position on his compass. “If we can find another game trail, we’ll be there in a few hours. Maybe even early enough to root around and locate our cave.”