The Hunt

37

‘GPS. What about his GPS?’ Narov ventured an objection. ‘The pilot would know he was being lured to the wrong strip.’

‘Easy,’ Alonzo interjected. ‘The US military has made sure that pretty much any civilian GPS system can be disabled. Reason being, if a rogue state or terrorist outfit fits a nuclear missile with such a guidance system, we need to be able to stop it. So we disable the aircraft’s GPS.’

‘Any other objections?’ Jaeger queried. ‘And quick, ’cause the helo’s inbound.’

‘What the fuck made you think of it?’ Raff queried. ‘I mean, Jesus – it’s genius.’

‘That’s a question, not a material objection to the plan.’ Jaeger grinned, his teeth shining white from his mud-splattered features.

Raff snorted. ‘All right, what about this. You seem to know an awful lot about that Lebanon gold. If we ever get out of this shit storm, I want to hear how we can get our hands on some of it!’

Jaeger laughed. ‘You got it.’

‘But will Colonel Evandro even agree to the plan?’ Alonzo queried. ‘I mean, that’s one out-there kind of an idea.’

‘Agree?’ Jaeger countered. ‘You don’t know the colonel. He’ll bite our arms off.’ He flashed another of his wolfish smiles. ‘He wants Kammler as badly as anyone. Plus his BSOB lads – they’re good. They’re as capable of pulling this off as anyone.’

‘Who builds the decoy? And gets it in country?’ It was Alonzo again. ‘Plus in the time available? That’s a pile of tungsten, machined into blocks and disguised as uranium, with a freakin’ great Semtex charge at its core…’

‘Daniel Brooks,’ Jaeger answered. ‘He’s the director of the world’s foremost intelligence agency. He’s got the ear of the US president. He sent us in here on the QT. Brooks sorts the decoy and its means of delivery. It’s well within his capabilities.’

‘I guess.’ Alonzo nodded. ‘If anyone can, he can.’ He paused. ‘But what if we’ve got it wrong? What if Kammler is in Dodge and gets wise to the switch?’

‘If Kammler’s in Dodge, I’m a bloody monkey,’ Raff growled. ‘That place is a hellhole. No way is he there building his INDs.’

Everyone was quiet for a moment.

It was Narov who broke the silence. ‘I am no expert, but as I understand it, refined tungsten ore and highly enriched uranium are both extremely heavy grey metals. I doubt if you can tell them apart, not unless you do some serious technical testing. Plus, it would need to be shielded with lead to stop radiation from leaking. Kammler’s people are hardly going to dismantle a lead shield to check on the shipment, and all in the midst of Dodge.’

Silence. Jaeger could hear the faint beat of rotor blades cutting through the air.

A Super Puma, inbound.

‘There’s one other reason no one will check the shipment,’ he volunteered. ‘Because that’s not how it works. No one checked the coca paste and cocaine handover. Why? Because if anyone pulls a fast one, they die. There’s no trust, but there’s bucketloads of fear. With the kind of reach El Padre has, if the uranium’s not uranium, the Moldovan mafiosa leader takes a bullet.’

Nods all around.

‘Guys, trust me, it’s doable,’ he continued. ‘Imagine it: we get Kammler to embrace the engine of his own destruction—’

‘Helo inbound,’ Raff interjected.

As one, the four figures shouldered their bergens and headed for their cab ride out of the jungle…

And into the coming storm.