The Four Corners of the Earth

CHAPTER FIVE

Drake helped pull the sable-colored speedboat out of the water, mooring it to a nearby cluster of old roots and stowing the outboard. Mai, Alicia and Smyth rushed off to establish an outpost. Kinimaka hefted the heavy rucksacks with Dahl’s help. Drake felt sand under his boots. The air smelled earthy. Waves lapped hard at the shore to his left, given momentum by the boats. No other sound broke the stillness as the SPEAR team took stock.

Hayden held a portable GPS unit. “All right. I have the coordinates programmed in. We good to go?”

“Ready,” several voices breathed back.

Hayden moved out and Drake fell in behind, working against the shifting sands beneath his feet. They scanned the area constantly, but no other lights were in evidence. Maybe they’d gotten here first after all. Maybe the other teams were holding off, letting somebody else do all the hard work. Maybe, even now, they were being watched.

The possibilities were infinite. Drake nodded at Alicia as they passed and the Englishwoman fell into line. “Mai’s ranging from side to side.”

“And Smyth?”

“I’m out here. Coast is clear.”

Oh aye, but we’re heading inland, Drake thought but said nothing. The soft sand gave way to hard-packed earth and then they were climbing an embankment. Just a few feet high and with a rolling top, they soon crossed over to find the edge of the desert and a stretch of flat ground. Hayden pointed the way and they traversed the barren wasteland. No need to post sentries now. They could see for miles, but Mai and Smyth stayed further afield, adding range to their sight.

The GPS screen blinked silently, guiding them ever closer to their goal, and the dark arch of the night stretched imposingly above. With this much space the sky was vast; stars barely visible and the moon but a tiny sliver. Ten minutes became twenty and then thirty, and still they walked alone. Hayden kept in touch through the comms, both with the team and Alexandria. Drake let the environment sink inside him, drawing breath with the unsteady beat of nature. Animal sounds, breezes, rustling earth — it was all there but nothing untoward. He realized the teams they were up against may be every bit as good as them but trusted his own abilities and those of his friends.

“Up ahead,” Hayden whispered. “The GPS shows the topography rising about forty feet. That could be the hill we’re looking for. Eyes up.”

The hill appeared slowly out of the gloom, a steadily rising mound of earth with tangled roots and boulders dotting the dry ground, and they made a steady path through the obstacles. Drake and Alicia took a moment to pause and look back, noting the smooth blackness stretching all the way to the undulating sea. And way beyond that, twinkling harbor lights, a whole different existence.

“One day?” Alicia asked wonderingly.

Drake hoped so. “We’ll get there,” he said.

“It should be easy.”

“Aye love. Like riding a bike. But you fall and you get cuts and bruises and scrapes long before you find your balance.”

“Half way there then.” She touched him briefly and then continued up the hill.

Drake followed her in silence. The future really did hold a new wealth of possibilities now that Alicia Myles had broken away from a cycle of self-annihilation. All they had to do was overcome the next set of madmen and megalomaniacs hellbent on making the people of the world suffer.

And that right there was why soldiers like himself put everything on the line. For Adrian next door and Graeme across the road. For Chloe who struggled to get her two kids to school on time every single day. For the couples that bitched and moaned their way around the supermarket. For the good of those that sat good-naturedly in ring-road traffic jams and those that jumped the queues. Not for the gutter-trash that stole into your van or garage after dark, making off with whatever they could. Not for the bullies, the power-hungry and the back-stabbers. Let those that struggled hard to respect and love and care, be cared for. Let those that fought for their children’s future be assured a safe one. Let those that helped others, be helped.

Hayden caught his attention with a low grunt. “This could be the place. GPS says it is and I see a derelict structure ahead.”

He saw the overlapping colored dots. This was ground zero then. This was now no longer a time for subtlety. They may as well set off fireworks in their quest to locate Hannibal’s grave if, now that they were here, they could find it faster. Because Drake was certain — if they could find it, all the other teams could.

Hayden marked the approximate area. Kinimaka and Dahl swung their heavy packs down. Mai and Smyth took up the best surveillance positions. Drake and Alicia moved close to Hayden to help. Only Yorgi hung back, lack of confidence showing as he waited to be told what to do.

Kinimaka and Dahl broke out the good flashlights, setting a trio up on carbon-fiber cradles and handing more out. These were not simply bright bulbs, they were manufactured to imitate sunlight as close as possible. Admittedly, even the CIA’s vast reach was limited in Egypt but Drake thought the apparatus didn’t look half bad. Kinimaka used the cradle-mounted light to illuminate a general large area and then Hayden and Dahl roamed to check the earth.

“Now be aware,” Hayden told them. “The Order of the Last Judgment states a weapon was buried here long after Hannibal’s death. This is an unmarked grave, not a tomb. So we’re looking for disturbed earth, not bones or blocks or pillars. We’re looking for items more recently interred, not ancient relics. It shouldn’t be too hard to—”

“Don’t say it!” Dahl barked. “You’ll jinx bloody everything.”

“I’m just saying we don’t have to find Hannibal. Just the weapon.”

“Good point.” Kinimaka adjusted the perimeter lights a little.

Hayden marked three places in the earth. All looked as if they’d been tampered with and none recently. Yorgi walked up carefully, shovel in hand. Drake and Alicia joined him and then Kinimaka.

“Just dig,” Hayden said. “Hurry.”

“What if it’s booby-trapped?” Alicia asked.

Drake looked over at the dilapidated building. Walls hung sadly, drooping as if holding the weight of the world. One side had been chopped in half as if by a giant cleaver, blocks now exposed to both sides like ragged teeth. The roof had long since collapsed, doors and windows gone. “Well, it’s not like we can take shelter in there.”

“Thanks.”

“No worries, love. Chin up.”

Drake ignored the vehement glare and got to work. “So what’s the significance of the Four Horsemen anyway?” he asked Hayden through the comms.

“Think tank’s best guess? They fit the historical figures we’re searching for and the weapons we hope to find. So Hannibal, raised to hate Romans, brought an almost endless war to Rome, yes? This is where we’ll find a weapon of war.”

“Could also be that they’re horsemen,” Kinimaka put in. “I mean, Hannibal was.”

“Yeah, bit too vague, Mano.”

“So nothing to do with the Bible?” Drake dug out another mound of earth. “ ’Cause we don’t want none of those silly codes.”

“Well, they appeared in Revelation and—”

“Whoa!” Alicia suddenly cried out. “I think I hit something!”

“And heads up,” Mai’s voice rustled over the comms. “There are new lights on the water, coming fast.”