“What did you find?” he asked, shifting over to Christopher.
Kane came sniffing, too.
Christopher passed over what looked like a thick-barreled ballpoint pen. “Twist it open.”
He did, unscrewing it and pulling the two halves apart. Inside, he discovered a cluster of fine wires, a microcircuit board, and a strip of lithium-ion batteries the size of his pinkie nail.
He smiled. Gotcha.
“What about the Range Rover?” Christopher asked. “Do you want me to help you look for any additional transmitters?”
“In the end, they won’t matter. I just need this one in hand.”
“What next then?”
“You head back to the pond. We need to hide any evidence that we’re still here. That means getting you, Bukolov, and Anya down into that cave.”
Tucker quickly instructed Christopher on how to get everyone lowered through the vortex.
“I should be back around dusk to join you,” Tucker finished. “Call me by radio if there is any trouble.”
With Christopher headed back, Tucker climbed into the driver’s seat of the Range Rover. Kane clambered into the passenger seat.
He engaged the engine and slowly reversed his way back down the ravine. Once at the bottom, he headed west for ten minutes, continuing their group’s original trajectory, pushing the Rover as hard as he dared, hoping Kharzin was actively monitoring his progress.
He eventually found the perfect terrain.
Three-quarters of a mile from where he’d started, Tucker stopped the vehicle at the mouth of a narrow slot-canyon, much like the one back at the coordinates. He hopped out and entered the narrow ravine. Using his flashlight, he studied the rubble-strewn floor until he discovered a deep fissure in the ground. Peering down, he saw no bottom.
Good enough.
Reaching to his pocket, he pulled out Anya’s pen and dropped it down the crack.
Dig for that, General.
He hurried back to the parked Rover. If there were any more transmitters aboard, he didn’t care. He wanted to draw Kharzin here. He left the keys in the ignition and set to work on the second part of his plan: a surprise welcome for the general’s team.
From the cargo pocket of his pants, he pulled out the waxy block of C-4 explosives that he’d been carrying all day.
Working quickly but cautiously, he sidled under the vehicle on his back and stuffed a half block of the explosive between the muffler and the floorboard. Next, he strung a length of detonation cord to the leaf springs behind the front tire and affixed a chemical detonator.
He crawled back out and surveyed his handiwork.
If anyone tried to move or even sit inside the vehicle, the stress on the tire springs would set off the charge. With any luck, the bomb would take out one or two of Kharzin’s Spetsnaz.
And while the ruse wouldn’t stop Kharzin forever, it should buy Tucker and the others some valuable extra time.
He turned to Kane. “Ready for a little run?”
The tail wag was answer enough.
7:18 P.M.
Setting a hard pace, it took only ten minutes to return to the canyon and up to the pond. He found Christopher waiting for him at the pool’s edge. The sun had already disappeared, but the twilight’s gloaming still allowed decent light.
“Are the other two down safely in the cave?” Tucker asked, huffing heavily. “And the supplies?”
“The doctor went first with his pistol. Then Anya, all trussed up and lowered like a Christmas goose. Doctor Bukolov radioed that he has her well in hand.”
“Then we should get below, too.”
“Before we do that,” Christopher said, “I had a thought. If I call my brothers and—”
“No. I’m not going to involve them here.”
“I do not mean to bring them here. I love my brothers too much for that. I simply mean to ask them to wait for us at last night’s campsite. I can pass on the coordinates. If we make it out of this alive, we’ll still need a way back to civilization, especially if our Rover gets blown up.”
It made sense.
Christopher talked with his brother for two minutes on the satellite phone, then disconnected. “They will be there tomorrow night.”
With the matter settled, they set about getting themselves down into the cave. Christopher disappeared first through the vortex. Next, Tucker lowered Kane, cinching the line through a set of loops in his tactical vest. Tucker went last after reconfiguring the rope ties, so he could pull the rope down after him once inside.
A few moments later, soaked to the skin, Tucker stood in the cave with the others. Hauling with his shoulders, he reeled the rope down from above.
“What are you doing?” Christopher asked, watching the last of the line tumble down to the floor.
Bukolov stood up from where he sat atop their supplies next to Anya, his pistol still pointed at her head. She was flat on her belly as before.
Tucker had told no one about this last detail of his plan, or they might have balked at coming down here.
“I don’t want to leave any evidence that we were ever up there. And I certainly don’t want to leave behind any clue about how to get down here.”
“But how are we supposed to get out of here?” Bukolov asked.
“According to De Klerk, this was an old Boer bunker.” He pictured the warren of tunnels and cellars back at the Klipkoppie fort. “So I wager there’s more than one way out of this cavern system.”
“You’re wagering with our lives,” Bukolov warned, but he ended it with an unconcerned shrug. “But you are right, the Boer were a crafty bunch.”
“And even if I’m wrong, I have a contingency plan as backup.”
“Which is what?” Christopher asked.
“Let’s worry about that after we search this place.”
Tucker realized one of their team had remained unusually quiet. He stepped over to Anya and dropped to a knee.
Bukolov shuffled his legs a bit. “She had a lot to say while you were all gone. Very sly, this one. Gets in your head. She kept wheedling, pressing, promising, until finally I had to put a sock in it.”
Tucker smiled. In this case, the doctor was speaking literally. He had stuffed a rolled-up sock in Anya’s mouth, gagging her.
Tucker straightened back up. “That’s why you’re a billionaire, Doctor Bukolov. Always using your head.”
Or in this particular case, his foot.
Tucker pointed to her and renewed an order with Kane. “GUARD.”
The shepherd walked over to Anya and lowered his head until his snout was mere inches away, panting. Anya leaned back, her eyes flashing hatefully, finally showing cracks in that calm professional demeanor.