“How do you find someone who doesn’t want to be found in a place like this?” Sci mused.
An idea that had been forming in my mind suddenly crystalized. “I think I know,” I said.
Chapter 28
Justine’s feet were filthy and bleeding. She was exhausted and breathing heavily as her aching legs carried her across the dusty earth between the trees in the ancient woodland. She headed down the mountain as fast as she could, bounding over rutted, uneven ground, ignoring the tilt and roll of her ankles, praying they wouldn’t sprain or snap. Even beneath the shade of the trees, the air was hot and close, but Justine didn’t care, she was simply glad of the cover they provided, which had kept her safe so far. She had decided to head downhill because there was guaranteed to be a road further down the valley, the one she’d felt the van climb when she was trapped in the tiny compartment. She thought it was her best chance of getting help.
She moved toward a break in the treeline some 600 feet directly beneath her. She had no real idea what lay ahead, but it had to be better than remaining a prisoner of the gang. She couldn’t see them, but she could hear the cries and shouts of the men trying to find her. They were speaking in French, German, Spanish and Italian, but the commands were issued in English, which was probably their common language. They had been ordered to spread out and search the woodland methodically, checking every hiding place. This would force them to move more slowly than her, which made speed her only advantage. She intended to make the most of it and sprinted on.
Her heart skipped at the sound of an explosion, and for a moment she thought someone might have fired a sniper rifle at her. But there was a second explosion and a third, and as their echoes died away, Justine heard shouts of panic coming from further up the mountain.
She ran to the edge of the forest and broke cover to see as much of her surroundings as she could. There was a newly ploughed field directly ahead of her, and further up the slope the farm she’d escaped. The main house was on fire and there were men in the yard, guns raised, shooting into the air.
Justine’s eyes were drawn to the target, a tiny drone, which dropped from the sky and exploded when it hit the farmhouse roof. The blast was disproportionately large compared to the size of the craft, and Justine guessed it had been rigged with explosives. Not something cops would do, which meant...
She cast her eyes over the mountainside, searching for Jack, and knew the moment she saw the flash of a reflection that the attack had been part distraction, part alert to get her to look uphill. Someone was using a mirror to communicate with her, and whoever was sending the signal was about three-quarters of a kilometer uphill, near the summit. She thought about heading back toward the signal but Jack had taught her Morse code one rare, rainy California afternoon. She recalled enough to know the repeated message said, “Go to eagle.”
It didn’t make sense, at least not to Justine, and for a moment she wondered whether she’d read the message wrong. And then she saw it: a rock formation to the east. Emerging from the bare rockface beneath the trees about half a kilometer away was an outcrop that looked like a giant bird. She calculated it would take her four to five minutes to traverse the rough terrain.
Justine heard gunfire and saw her pursuers further up the slope. They’d spotted the mirror signal and were targeting it. The reflected glare disappeared, and Justine prayed whoever had been sending her the message had managed to get away safely, because some of her captors were closing in fast on the position.
She took advantage of the distraction to break cover and cross the open ground before jumping into the cover of a ravine that led to the rock formation where she hoped to find help.
Chapter 29
I was moving at full tilt, covering the ground between our vantage point and the rock formation I’d spotted a few hundred meters east of the farmhouse. I’d dubbed it the eagle because wind and rain had carved it into the shape of the majestic bird of prey. I just hoped it looked the same from Justine’s perspective and that she saw and understood the Morse code message.
One of the benefits of having a leading forensic scientist on the team was his ability to improvise explosive devices from the gear we’d brought with us. Sci had rigged an IED from the spare lithium batteries and electrical gear he’d scavenged from the drones and surveillance electronics we carried with us in backpacks. He had rigged four flying bombs to drones and they caused the distractions that allowed me to break cover and get down into the valley unobserved.
Mo-bot had already gone back to the car with Duval. The moment there was any shooting Sci was under strict instructions to stop sending the Morse code message with the mirror of an SLR camera and to join them.
I could hear shooting directed at the outcrop where I’d left him, and prayed Sci had the good sense to stick to the plan and make a run back for the car.
According to the map, the eagle was almost halfway between the highest farm and the second one further down the valley. My plan was to take Justine to the lower one and wait for Valerie Chevalier and the cops, who, according to Duval, were on their way. He’d told the inspector that we’d located the gang and there was a crime in progress. That information had been the impetus she needed to take immediate action. She’d assured him she would cut through any remaining red tape and arrive imminently with French police in serious numbers.
I sprinted through the trees, heading downhill, taking great care to keep my footing as I gathered momentum. I hoped Justine had seen the message. She would be casting about, looking for a way clear of this situation, and I had to believe the explosions would have caught her attention. The roof of the highest farmhouse was on fire and the flames were visible from some distance away. The sounds of the gang struggling to bring it under control filled the woods.
I ran on, lungs raw, legs aching, and after another few minutes moving at a speed that took me close to tumbling, I broke the treeline and encountered rocky ground around the eagle formation. I slowed to a walk and crouched down to avoid being seen by the men shooting up the mountainside. I surveyed the rocky terrain around the eagle, looking for any sign of Justine.
After a moment, I saw flashes of movement between the rocks to my right and my heart leaped, but joy rapidly turned to horror as I realized it was a man heading in my direction. It was the guy I’d seen in the farmyard issuing commands to the rest of the abductors. He wore a black T-shirt, jeans and heavy boots, but the most notable thing about him was the sub machine gun he carried in his hands. He was about a hundred feet away from me, coming at an angle, but distance and the rock formations separating us didn’t impede him. He spotted me and fired wildly in my direction, bullets rattling out of the gun and zinging against the rocks nearby.
“Stop!” he yelled, but I ignored his command and sprinted downhill.
Justine burst from behind some rocks about twenty yards ahead of me, and my momentary joy turned to dismay as I realized I’d led her into harm’s way. She had a similar realization when she registered me and then saw the man on my tail.
“Run!” I yelled, and she ducked back under cover.
I did likewise, following her into a narrow gully that twisted and turned across the mountainside. I ran fast, closing the gap between us, until I was only a few feet behind her. She stopped and embraced me.