The Key

61

Badiyat al-Sham

The Ghost followed the convoy across the desert at a safe distance, wary of the M60 and the heavily armed guards in the rear truck. It was easy to track them; the three vehicles kicked up enough dust to give away their position for miles and his horse was as swift over the rough ground as they were. After nearly an hour of driving the dust cloud disappeared, indicating that the convoy had stopped. He followed their tyre tracks until he felt he was getting close, then left his horse in the shade of a berm and covered the rest of the distance on foot. He had almost reached what he thought was their position when he heard the gunshot.

He slid his AK-47 from his back, shouldering it as he hit the ground. Scanning the way ahead, he saw a wisp of dust rising like vapour in the distance. From the sound, it had been a shotgun he’d heard — a close-quarters weapon — so it seemed doubtful that it had been meant for him. Even so, the Ghost kept low as he moved closer.

The trucks were parked in the shade of another spill pile, the byproduct of more hole-digging. One of the men in white overalls was crouched on the ground, de-rigging a broad tube that had been driven into the earth. It was part of a seismic refraction kit that fired a blank cartridge into the ground and measured the echo of the waves. Solid objects would reflect the waves back differently.

The three civilians in charge were hunched over a laptop, studying the findings. They seemed agitated about something. After some discussion, they pointed at a spot close to where the Ghost was hiding and started walking towards him. The white-overalled workmen followed, bringing their picks and shovels with them. The guards remained by their jeep looking bored.

The civilians reached a patch of ground about twenty metres away from the parked jeeps and pointed to the ground. Then they stood and watched as the workmen started hacking away at it. One of the bearded men pulled a bottle of water from a cool box and drank almost half of it in a single draught. Through his field glasses the Ghost could see the condensation on the side of the bottle and licked his own dry lips in response. The sun was only a third of its way up in the sky but was already starting to dry him out like a lizard on a rock. He needed to find better cover and take a drink himself, but the digging party was too close. His only option was to stay where he was until they got tired of digging their latest hole and moved on.

But they didn’t.

After five minutes, a clear sound rang out from the hole drawing everyone’s attention. The civilians rushed forward and the fattest of the three dropped down to clear away more earth with his hand. When he stood up he had a look of near exaltation on his face.

‘Radio base and tell them to get the earth movers here right now,’ he hollered over to the security detail. ‘And tell them we’ll need to set up a compound. We’ve found it!’ He climbed out of the hole, smacking the dust from his hands. ‘Praise God, we’ve found it.’