Burning Angels

30

Jaeger figured he’d tackle Miles on the human testing issue later. ‘Right, let’s cut to the chase,’ he announced. ‘Whatever Kammler’s planning to do with his Gottvirus, this Katavi ranch is the most likely location to nail it down, right?’

‘That’s our understanding,’ Miles confirmed.

‘So what’s the plan?’

Miles glanced at Uncle Joe. ‘Let’s just say we’re open to all suggestions.’

‘Why not simply go to the authorities?’ volunteered Alonzo. ‘Send in SEAL Team Six to bust Kammler’s ass?’

Miles spread his hands. ‘We have tantalising clues, but we don’t have anything like proof. Plus there is no one we can absolutely trust. Power has been infiltrated at the highest echelons. Certainly the present director of the CIA, Dan Brooks, has reached out to us, and he is a good man. But he has concerns, even up to the level of his own President. In short, we can only rely on ourselves; on our network.’

‘Just who is that network?’ Jaeger queried. ‘Who exactly is this we you keep referring to?’

‘The Secret Hunters,’ Miles replied. ‘As formed after the Second World War and kept alive until today.’ He gestured in Uncle Joe’s direction. ‘Sadly, the only one of the originals left is Joe Jaeger. We are blessed that he is still with us. Others have taken up the reins. Irina Narov is one.’ He smiled. ‘And we are hoping for six new recruits in this room today.’

‘What about funding? Backup? Top cover?’ Jaeger pressed.

Peter Miles grimaced. ‘Good questions… You’ll all have heard about this Nazi gold train that’s recently been discovered by a bunch of treasure hunters, hidden beneath a Polish mountain. Well, there were a lot more such trains, most from the looting of the Berlin Reichsbank.’

‘Hitler’s treasury?’ Jaeger prompted.

‘The treasury for his Thousand-Year Reich. At war’s end, its wealth was staggering. As Berlin descended into chaos, the gold was loaded on to trains and dispersed into hiding. One such train came to the attention of the Secret Hunters. Much of its cargo was ill-gotten loot, but once melted down, gold is untraceable. We figured it was best if we kept hold of it, as working capital.’ He shrugged. ‘Beggars can’t be choosers.

‘As for top cover, we have some. Originally the Secret Hunters were formed under the Ministry for Economic Warfare. Churchill established the ministry to run his most secret wartime operations. At the end of the war it was supposedly shut down. In fact, there’s a small executive branch still in existence, operating out of an unremarkable Georgian town house in London’s Eaton Square. They are our benefactors. They oversee and support our activities.’

‘I thought you said it was the German government who loaned you this place?’

‘The Eaton Square people are very good networkers. At the highest levels only, of course.’

‘So who are you specifically?’ Jaeger pressed. ‘Who are the Secret Hunters? Numbers? Staff? Operators?’

‘We are all volunteers. We are called on only when needed. Even this place is only operational when we are. Otherwise, it’s in mothballs.’

‘Okay, let’s say we’re in,’ Jaeger declared. ‘What next?’

Click. Flash. Miles pulled up a slide showing an aerial view of Burning Angels mountain.

‘Choma Malaika, photographed from the air. It’s part of Kammler’s game reserve, but it’s totally off limits. It’s designated as an elephant and rhino breeding sanctuary, one closed to all but the senior reserve staff. There’s a shoot-to-kill policy for anyone else who tries to enter.

‘Of chief concern to us is what lies beneath the mountain. There are a series of massive caves – originally water-worn, but enlarged in more recent times by the action of animals. Apparently, all large mammals need salt. Elephants enter the caves in search of it, and use their tusks to gouge it out. They’ve extended the caves to mammoth proportions – if you’ll forgive the pun.

‘You’ll notice the main geological structure is a caldera – a collapsed former volcano. It’s left a ragged ring of walls around a massive central crater, where the former cone of the volcano blew itself apart. Mostly the bowl of the crater is awash with seasonal water, so forming a shallow lake. The caves lie off the water, and crucially all are within Kammler’s shoot-to-kill zone.’

Miles ran his gaze around the room. ‘We have no proof that anything sinister is hidden in those caves. We need to go in and find that proof. And that’s where you guys come in. After all, you’re the professionals.’

Jaeger eyed the aerial photo for a good few seconds. ‘Crater walls look around eight hundred metres high. We could HALO into the crater itself, pulling our chutes within the cover of the walls. Drift to ground unseen and head into the caves… The problem is remaining undetected once we’re there. They’re sure to have motion sensors positioned in the cave entrances. If it was me, I’d have video surveillance, infrared cameras, security lighting, trip flares – the works. That’s the problem with caves: there’s only one route in, which means it can be easily covered.’

‘So it is simple,’ a voice volunteered. ‘We go in knowing we will be detected. We allow ourselves to get drawn into the spider’s web. If nothing else, it will very likely reveal to us what they are doing there.’

Jaeger eyed the speaker: Narov. ‘Great. One problem. How do we get out again?’

Narov gave a dismissive toss of the head. ‘We fight. We go in heavily armed. When we have found what we are looking for, we shoot our way out.’

‘Or die trying.’ Jaeger shook his head. ‘No, there’s got to be a better way…’

For a moment he glanced at Narov, and the corners of his mouth twitched into a mischievous half-smile.

‘You know what, I may just have thought of one. And you know something else? You’re going to love it.’