Black Mountain

TWENTY-NINE

The Infiniti G35 coasted to a stop next to the solitary dark blue SUV. Its three occupants stepped out and stood looking up towards the top of the mountain that was now completely obscured by low cloud. The green spikes of the trees were frosted right down to where they stood at the beginning of the track. Each man wore a white padded coverall with the hood up. Beneath the hoods sat ski masks, which gave the men a non-human, featureless appearance. Wisps of steam rose from their torsos.

One of them inspected the interior of the SUV, while another pulled a large duffel bag from the rear of their own car. It sagged under the weight of its contents. He placed it on the car hood, unzipped it and removed several pieces of equipment and handguns with unusually long barrels and large square grips. Each man strapped his weapons around his waist, and slid other items into his coverall’s pockets.

One of them walked a few paces towards the mountain and looked up at it through a small metallic scope. He swivelled it to gain perspective, then, satisfied, slid it back into its pouch. He listened for a moment to some near silent instructions and then spoke quickly as if to the mountain itself. He turned to the other two and motioned flat-handed up the slope.

The three men began to sprint the many miles to the Arcadian’s position.

Sam Reid sat in Hammerson’s darkened office observing the images from the VELA satellite on the wall-sized screen. He was receiving a real-time image feed of the activity on the mountain, and was able to zoom down to the treetops or pull back to the height of the peaks if he so wished. The images were still resolving through the cloud cover, but becoming slightly grainy as the natural light started to fade.

Major Gerry Harris had told him that the dual feed was still occurring and he was pretty sure it was Medical Division that was siphoning off the data. What alarmed the technician even more was that he’d detected another periodic extraction — someone had inserted a data sniffer into his code. Every now and then the tiny bot would wake up, vacuum up information and then go dormant, which made it impossible to find. He didn’t want to call in an alert, he told Sam, because then Hammerson’s own data views would be questioned. As Harris described the intrusion, Sam detected a note of admiration in the man’s voice — whoever was looking over their shoulder was good. Sam had an idea who it could be, but he’d decided to let it run for now, as things on the mountain looked to be coming to a head.

He watched Hammerson’s team hit the ground, and saw the big chopper swoop away into one of the mountain’s valleys. He had been following Alex and Senesh ever since they’d left their car and could see that the boss and Casey Franks had set down well above them. The HAWCs would be waiting for the pair when they arrived.

He zoomed in on Alex again, and his mouth curved into a half-smile. The man moved like a locomotive through the snow, no slowing or deviating, his arms and legs pumping like machines. The Arcadian — perfect warrior, or perfect killing machine? Hammerson would find out soon enough.

Sam remembered the unique soldier’s strength when he and Alex had fought the priest in the jungle — or, rather, the thing that had taken over the body of the priest. It had snapped Sam’s spine, and Alex had carried all two-twenty pounds of his friend on his back through that tangled green hell all the way to the rescue chopper. Sam owed Alex Hunter. He wished he was out there on the mountain; wished he could just speak to the man.

He brought his fist down on one of his useless legs. ‘Fuck it all!’

He exhaled and tried to relax. Turning back to the screen, he pulled the view up to a few miles overhead the slopes, and immediately sat forward. ‘Hello.’

Coming into the frame on Senesh’s trail were four men, large and moving in single file. Still a few miles back from her, but keeping pace. He thought of the bot that had been planted into the data feed, and the expertise that operation had required, and smiled. ‘Welcome to the party, Mossad,’ he said to the screen.

He pulled the wire mic back down over his mouth and opened the secure line. ‘Boss, you got some gatecrashers about to join you on the hill.’

Adira slammed into the tree and hung on, her lungs pumping huge plumes of steam into the frigid air. ‘Alex!’ Her shout was raspy, the dryness making her throat hoarse and painful.

He didn’t answer, and she didn’t bother calling again. By now he was probably too far ahead to hear. The trail he’d left was a furrow through the surface snow, but every step she took was agony to her fatigued muscles. She straightened and put her hands on her hips. What am I doing?

Without Alex present, it was as if some sort of spell had been broken and she could think clearly. She had given up everything — her uncle, who was her sole remaining family; her country; her career — all for someone who probably didn’t even care about her anymore. Adira felt like she was waking from a dream. She looked back down the slope. The thick trees and leaden sky took on a milky texture in the weird hazy twilight. Her breathing slowed. What would happen if I returned home now? Could I make peace with my uncle?

Turning back up the slope, she saw a bird flitter away from a strange shape on a tree trunk. A moment later it returned to peck at the area, then flew off again with something in its beak.

She took a few steps towards the tree, and made out the mess of human remains crushed against the trunk. Adira had seen many dead bodies in her time, and this looked like the unfortunate person had been hit by a truck. Someone had died badly at this spot; not just killed but obliterated. She tensed, her guard up. What kind of forest creature could have done that?

She looked up the hill, sucking in deep breaths again. She remembered Alex’s cryptic words: I’ll know where to find it. And began to feel concerned about what that ‘it’ might turn out to be.

Salamon Eitan held up his hand and his three agents immediately halted as though turned to stone. He walked ahead a few paces and looked at the furrowed trail in the snow. He smirked. The trail indicated one large body moving at speed, and another smaller one, moving slowly, his or her feet occasionally dragging. While he watched, the snow on the edges of the furrows crumbled in on the little valleys. They weren’t far behind, maybe only minutes.

He grunted in satisfaction and waved his compatriots forward. Salamon’s role in Mossad’s Kidon was to hunt down and kill the enemies of Israel. It was his duty, an honour, and one he had never failed at. It wasn’t emotional. There was no other perspective than to obey orders, and win or die. But Adira Senesh was a special case; a prominent and celebrated Mossad agent — brave, skilled and deadly. Perhaps as good as him, perhaps not.

Salamon’s orders were to bring Senesh in alive. Unfortunately for Senesh, he just didn’t want to. He felt no camaraderie for the killer of his men; rather, he believed she deserved to be punished for her betrayal of her country. And Salamon’s punishment for the betrayal of Israel was death.

‘You said it yourself — it could be her. Maybe she got lost and climbed up to find shelter. Kids are smart and resilient. If there’s any chance Emma Wilson is up there, we need to check.’ Sarah jabbed her gloved finger first at Matt and then at Charles. ‘I’ll never be able to look her parents in the face again if I don’t take a look, especially after finding this.’ She held up the small rubber boot.

Matt noticed that Charles avoided her volcanic stare just as much as he did. They both turned to Thomas, who was staring at the ground. Matt spoke first, his voice heavy with resignation. ‘Is there a way up?’

Thomas nodded slowly, then said almost sadly, ‘Have you noticed there is no snow or ice around the cave?’

Matt looked at the cave mouth and raised his eyebrows. Thomas was right. Everywhere else was coated with the sheen of thin ice, except the area immediately outside the cave.

‘What does that mean, exactly?’ Sarah asked.

‘It means it’s warm in there.’ He looked up at the black hole. He didn’t see it as a cave mouth anymore; instead, he thought of it as a doorway. And something had come out of that doorway that should have been extinct.

A ripple of nausea ran through his gut as he remembered another cave from his past. It wasn’t true that deep caves were always dead and sterile places. Some caves were very much alive, and held secrets that were horrifying and deadly.