‘They’re directions,’ Ethan replied. ‘I thought we had that sorted?’
‘They are,’ she agreed, ‘but they’re also…’
Lucy hesitated and looked to one side. On the other side of the aircraft, her boots propped up on the seat in front of her and her hands behind her head, sat Lopez. She regarded them with interest.
‘Don’t mind me,’ she purred.
‘I don’t like her tagging along for the ride,’ Lucy said to Ethan with obvious distaste.
‘We wouldn’t have got out of Cambodia without Lopez,’ Ethan replied. ‘We owed her at least a ride out of the country.’
Lucy looked back and forth between them. ‘Does trouble always follow you two around like this?’
‘Pretty much,’ Ethan and Lopez replied in perfect chorus.
‘Those soldiers, they were American,’ Lucy reminded him. ‘That means that the people who have been shooting at us are not Russians.’
‘That means that the people shooting at us are not just Russians,’ Lopez corrected her. ‘It seems that whatever you’re pursuing is on the shopping list of a lot of dangerous dudes.’
‘That doesn’t surprise me, but the fact that we don’t even know if it exists makes me wonder why on earth so many people are in on the chase?’
Ethan and Lopez exchanged a glance before he finally spoke. ‘The remains that you found in Israel all those years ago were confiscated by the Defense Intelligence Agency, who have probably been studying them ever since. Lopez and I know that there are small units within the government’s intelligence agencies that operate autonomously and who may well be able to send troops after us in an attempt to confiscate whatever information we are carrying at any one time. They are also be unaccountable to Congress, as they were operating in Cambodia without the knowledge of that country’s government.’
‘So we’re not just being chased by Russians, but by our own country.’
‘Pretty much,’ Lopez agreed.
Ethan heard the Catalina’s flaps wind down, the aircraft experiencing increased turbulence as it descended towards the shallow seas off the coast of Egypt. Ethan knew full well that as soon as they landed and passed through customs at Cairo International Airport they would be flagged up by the DIA, and anybody else who had an interest in them would know exactly where they were.
‘Arnie isn’t going to like it,’ Ethan said, ‘but we’re getting off before customs.’
‘Just like that?’ Lucy raised an eyebrow. ‘Egypt borders Israel, so they’re pretty good on ensuring that people don’t get into the country through anything but the proper channels.’
‘Believe me,’ Ethan replied, ‘I know the territory.’
Ethan made his way to the side of the aircraft and looked out of the bulbous viewing port to see the broad blue Mediterranean drifting by beneath them. Arnie was bringing the aircraft in over the water, the distant hustle and bustle of Cairo just visible shimmering with a metallic glitter in the haze far to the south.
Ethan figured that the Catalina probably landed at somewhere around seventy knots. At this distance from Cairo they would be well inside air traffic control radar range, but not yet close enough for Arnie to be talking to approach. In addition, radar was an unusual beast and not as absolute in its performance as many people believed. Heat inversions frequently caused aircraft traces to disappear before reappearing moments later, and Ethan knew that as long as Arnie was maintaining radio contact with local air traffic then if he disappeared from their radars they would not alert the rescue services to a possible downed aircraft provided the aircraft reappeared on their scopes before too long and radio contact was maintained.
‘Get ready to get wet again,’ Ethan said to Lucy.
Lucy looked out of the window in exasperation. ‘You’re not serious?’
Ethan hurried up to the cockpit where Arnie and his wife were preparing the aircraft for landing. ‘You can drop us off here at Lake Bardawil, we’ll find our own way into the city.’
Arnie looked over his shoulder at Ethan as though he’d gone insane. ‘Er, we haven’t landed yet.’
‘Yeah, about that. Do you think you could just drop down for a bit and touch down as slowly as possible. We’ll be gone before you know it.’
‘You’re going to jump?’
‘Get her under twenty knots once we’re down,’ Ethan instructed. ‘As soon as we’re all off, power up and take off again. You’ll only be off their scopes from maybe a minute or so.’
Arnie stared at Ethan incredulously and then looked at his wife.
‘You said you couldn’t wait to be rid of him,’ Yin pointed out.
Ethan grinned. ‘Now’s your chance. Your transponder is set to altitude,’ he said as he observed the cockpit instruments, ‘but this far out and in the early morning, chances are they won’t spot the descent if it’s quick.’
‘This is the last time Warner,’ Arnie grumbled. ‘If I ever see your sorry ass aboard my plane ever again I’ll shoot you myself!’
‘Always a pleasure,’ Ethan replied, ‘twenty knots, remember?’
Arnie scowled and turned concentrate on his instruments. Ethan hurried back down through the aircraft and gestured with a thumb over his shoulder towards the cockpit. ‘The Catalina has a hatch on the cockpit canopy that we can climb out of. We can’t use the main hatch in case the fuselage floods, so we’ll have to jump.’
‘I take it you know that there are great white sharks in the Mediterranean,’ Lucy pointed out.
‘Arnie’s going to take us in close to the shore. We’ll easily be able to swim to the beach and shouldn’t be exposed for too long.’
‘That’s not the kind of reassurance I was hoping for!’ Lucy shot back. ‘How about: maybe this is a really bad idea and we’ll just land on a runway like normal people?’
Ethan smiled as he glanced at Lopez. ‘Sorry, we’re not normal people.’
The Catalina was descending and Ethan could see the ocean rushing up towards them, a thin beach just a few hundred yards away across the water. Ahead, Ethan could see a spit of land that jutted out a fair way into the water and encircled Lake Bardawil.
‘Come on, let’s go.’
Ethan led the way to the cockpit and reached up as he saw Arnie and Yin gently lowering the Catalina towards the water. Ethan reached up and popped the catches on the canopy hatch before pushing it up and over. A rush of warm air touched with sea salt and the unmistakable scent of the African coast wafted into the cockpit just as the aircraft thumped down onto the water. Ethan held on carefully as Arnie guided the aircraft in a straight line as the friction of the water bought its airspeed down.
‘Welcome to Africa and thank you for flying Air Arnie,’ Arnie called over his shoulder. ‘Now get out before I throw you out myself!’
Ethan pulled himself up and out of the hatch, the roar of the two piston engines deafening as he manoeuvred himself carefully to one side of the fuselage and then jumped into the water now flowing sedately past the hull. The Catalina passed him by, her wake bobbing Ethan up and down the water as he saw Lucy jump into the waves, closely followed by Lopez.
The Catalina continued on its way for several seconds, and then Ethan saw Arnie poke his head out of the hatch and with one hand direct an obscene gesture in Ethan’s direction before the hatch slammed shut. Moments later, the Catalina’s engines roared as she thundered away across the waves and took to the air once more.
The clattering engines died away into the distance as the Catalina turned towards the city and Ethan was left in silence on the bobbing waves. Lucy and Lopez swam to join him, Lucy looking increasingly distraught.