“No worries,” Remi said, speaking loud enough to be heard. “We’re late, too. Is she okay? Your wife?”
He nodded. When everyone was inside, buckled in and headsets on, he lifted off. “Discover anything?”
“Lot of bodies,” Sam said.
That was enough to temper any excitement over the find, and the rest of the trip was made in silence. Dietrich, Remi noticed, was staring off into the distance, even as they landed. She reached out, put her hand on his, and he looked over and smiled at her.
Sam helped Remi out, then waved at the pilot. “Same time tomorrow?”
“Same time.” Julio waited for them to clear, snow whipping around like a mini blizzard.
Remi waved as he lifted off, then linked her arm through Sam’s. As the three walked back to the tent, her gaze lingered on Dietrich, wondering how he was taking this. Once in the tent, he sat off to one side, looking deep in thought. Before she had a chance to see if he was okay, Nando told Sam that Selma had called a couple of hours earlier. “She tried reaching you on your satellite phone, but couldn’t get through. Something about your Russian friends. The cell phone signal up here isn’t very good, so I didn’t hear everything.”
“I’ll give her a call,” Sam said.
The satellite phone was notoriously unreliable if there wasn’t direct line of sight to the sky, and so he stepped outside the tent. While Nando served up their dinner, Remi tried to engage Dietrich in conversation. But he was clearly distracted, and so she was glad when Sam returned a few minutes later. “Anything important?” she asked him.
“Tatiana and Viktor followed Leopold and Rolfe to Mendoza but lost them somewhere in the city. They think the Guard is hiding them but have a lead on where they might be.”
“I hope they’re not out there alone.”
“The Argentine Federal Police are helping. Even so, don’t go wandering out without a gun. I wouldn’t want any surprises before they meet us here, once we finish up.”
“Let’s hope they’re successful,” she said, glancing at Dietrich, who barely touched the stew, pushing it around on his plate. He seemed uninterested in the news and, after several minutes, excused himself, saying that he was turning in early. “I’m worried about Dietrich,” she said later as she and Sam climbed into the sleeping bags in their tent.
“Give him time to process the reality of it,” Sam said, “he’ll be okay. You’ll see.”
“I hope so.”
As usual, Sam was right. By breakfast the next morning, Dietrich seemed perfectly fine, eager to get back to the plane. “No baby yet?” Dietrich asked Julio as they climbed onto the helicopter.
“Not yet. My brother’s on standby if I have to leave.”
“Swing around the back,” Sam said when they neared the crash site. “I’d like to see if there’s anywhere that tail might have ended up.”
Julio nodded. A moment later, they were circling the area at the rear of the site. “A lot of ice down there,” Julio said. “Used to be one glacier, separated over the years.”
“If that tail’s there,” Sam said, “it’s buried where we can’t see it. Take us down. Time to get a more thorough look at what’s in that plane.”
81
Julio brought the helicopter around the peak, bringing it down to their makeshift landing pad. “Don’t forget,” he told Sam. “The storm is coming in, so we’ll need to get an earlier start back.”
“What time?”
“Say, two-thirty, three at the latest.”
“See you then.”
Considering that the day had begun with a crystal clear sky, not a cloud to be seen as they climbed the hill, it was hard to believe the storm would arrive on time. Glistening droplets of water dripped from the plane’s propellers in the warmth of the sun, and the three wore sunglasses against the glare on the snow.
Once inside the plane, they spent the next several hours meticulously documenting everything they found, starting at the front and working their way back. Out of respect, they left the search of the cockpit to Dietrich. By the time he finished, Sam and Remi had worked their way to the ice wall on the right side near the missing wing.
“Find anything?” Sam asked Dietrich as he climbed down the ladder.
“I’m not sure, but it looks like the pilot was shot in the head. I don’t see any other reason for the hole in his skull.”
“It certainly explains why the plane crashed,” Sam replied.
“Have you found anything down here?”
“We’ve identified three of the men.” Two were intertwined on the floor at the front of the plane against a third man, who had no ID. The other three passengers, two men and a woman, were draped over the seats. “That man there,” he said, pointing to one of the three on the floor, “is your Great-uncle Ludwig Strassmair. I expect the woman has a purse somewhere. We just haven’t found it yet.”
Dietrich stared at what he could see of Strassmair for a few moments, then turned away. “What about the treasure? You think it’s here? You think that’s why he was on this plane?”
“So far, it’s not looking good. We only found one suitcase. Nothing but clothes.”
He nodded, looking around. “Only one?”
Sam shined the light on the rear of the plane, revealing the wall of ice where the tail used to be. “My guess is, the cargo was in the tail of the plane and that it’s located between here and wherever the tail landed. It might be close.”
“Or not,” Remi said. “Look how far that propeller was.”
“Where’s that positive thinking, Remi?”
“Back at base camp. Nando mentioned something about fresh-made empanadas for dinner.”
“Speaking of,” Sam said, looking at his watch, “we should start heading down the hill. Julio’s due anytime now.”
“So we return tomorrow?” Dietrich asked.
“If the storm blows through quickly,” he said, picking up his backpack and strapping it on, then helping Remi with hers. “If the weather report’s accurate, it’ll be the day after.”
They left the plane, heading down the mountainside. The wind gusted through the pass, the frigid air having dropped several degrees from earlier that morning. By the time they reached the rendezvous point, it was even colder. Sharp winds began to attack, quickly changing direction, and never in a repeating pattern.
The minutes ticked by. As the clouds grew thicker and darker, Remi leaned in close to Sam. “Let’s hope he gets here soon.”
“I’m sure he will,” Dietrich said.
Thunder rumbled in the distance. Sam glanced up the sky, searching.
Remi, apparently, noticed his concern. “What’s wrong?”
“Hate to say it, but Julio should have been here by now. He’s way too experienced to try to get out here this late, in this weather.”
“Wouldn’t he call?” Dietrich asked.
“Assuming he could get through, it’s possible he did.” Sam took out his satellite phone and tried to call Julio. When there was no answer, he nodded at the plane. “Lucky for us, we’ve got shelter and food.”
“Protein bars,” Remi said as the three trudged through the snow back to the plane. “Hardly a consolation.”
“They’re gourmet protein bars. The label says so.”
“Keep telling yourself that, Fargo.”
“I’ll phone Nando and let him know we’re probably not making it to dinner.” They stopped at the nose of the aircraft. When he tried to make the call, nothing happened. “You two wait in the plane. I’ve got to move out farther. Something’s blocking the line of sight.” What, he wasn’t sure. Possibly the two mountain peaks they were standing between or interference from the storm.
Remi hesitated. Sam reassured her he wasn’t about to wander that far from the plane. Not in this weather.