The Minoan Cipher

CHAPTER SEVENTY

A couple of seconds after Hawkins dove into the helicopter, it had lifted off the parking lot and flown over the harbor, leaving behind angry lovers whose romantic strolls along the seawall had been spoiled by the noisy intrusion.

Calvin’s voice crackled over the headset Hawkins had slipped on after his dive into the helicopter.

“Sorry about that messy extraction, Hawk. We were in a hurry. You okay?”

Hawkins wiped the dust from his lips. “I’m fine. What’s going on?”

Abby’s voice came through his earphones. “That ditzy blonde bombshell Lily Porter, or whatever her name is, works for Auroch Industries. She was setting you up.”

“Hold on! How’d you know that?”

“Molly discovered that Auroch owns the Hidden History media company. Lily has been playing a game the whole time.”

“It all fits,” Hawkins said. “She was the one who contacted Kalliste with the offer to finance the dive. She knew the position of the shipwreck. She worked with Salazar to scuttle the project. Kalliste was kidnapped after she called Lily from Santorini.”

“I don’t want to think about the plans she had for you,” Abby said.

“Neither do I. Thanks for yanking me out of her clutches.”

“Thank Molly. She tried to warn you. When you didn’t answer she called us.”

“The phone was on airplane mode. How did you find me?”

“The positioning app we put on our phones,” Calvin said. “We used it to track you down.”

Hawkins shook his head in disgust. “Can’t believe I bought Lily’s phony story about the professor.”

“The professor is real enough, but he’s nowhere near Cadiz,” Abby said. “Molly found out that he’s on an archeological dig in the Middle East.”

“Ouch. I should have done the same thing. Lily used the photo of Kalliste like a bullfighter waving a red cape. That’s all I could think about, especially after she embellished it with the info on the gang of crazies holding Kalliste.”

“She told you about her gang of crazies because it didn’t matter what you knew.”

“Right again, Abby. Dead men tell no tales,” Hawkins said. “Especially gullible dead men. Lily’s been keeping Kalliste alive to lure me in with the scroll and translator. But with me out of reach, she’s got no reason to keep Kalliste alive. We’ve got to get to her.”

“Way ahead of you, Hawk. I’ve set a course for the castle. Chopper’s loaded with all our gear. I’ll kick it up a notch and maybe we can shave off a few minutes.”

“Put the pedal through the floor if you have to. With Lily on the warpath, there’s no margin for error.”

“We’ve got to go over the mission schedule to reduce the possibility of error to zero,” Abby said, switching on the iPad that seemed to be an extension of her body. “I’ll start with the landing procedure.”

The helicopter flew beyond the city, which curved along the harbor like a sparkling diamond tiara, and passed over the suburbs, then over open farmland, following the track of the earlier reconnaissance visit. As the helicopter reached the wind-swept plain Castilla La Mancha the lights of villages and houses became more scattered with each passing mile until they disappeared almost completely.

Abby ticked off the mission’s time markers. When she finished the briefing, she said, “That’s the best I can do with limited intel. How does it sound?”

The plan sounded good on paper, but Hawkins knew that even the best-planned SEAL operations ran into trouble. “Not bad. It might even work except for the exit plan.”

“You haven’t filled me in on an exit plan,” Abby said.

“That’s because we don’t have one. The best course will be to use an extraction route that’s different from the insertion. Everything depends on what we find once we get inside.”

Hawkins knew that Abby didn’t like uncertainty, which was why they were not still married, so he wasn’t surprised when she said, “I know SEALs are adept at improvisation, but the lack of an escape plan worries me.”

“We’ll be fine, Abby. Isn’t that right, Calvin?”

“Hawk’s cool, Abby. This is nothing compared to Afghanland. Hoo-yah!” he said, giving the SEAL war cry.

Abby shook her head and switched her iPad onto its GPS function. After a glance at the screen, she said, “Coming up on the river, Calvin.”

Calvin cut speed and brought the helicopter down in a long shallow angle toward a river that looked like a silver ribbon lying on black velvet. He leveled off about ten yards above the water and followed the winding path of the river. It was a wild and exhilarating experience, like a ride in a futuristic amusement park.

Three miles from the castle, Calvin warned his passengers to prepare for a landing.

“We’ll be on the ground in five minutes. I’ll try for a soft landing but it could get bumpy, so hold tight.”

He brought the helicopter to a hover and made an angled descent to one side of the river. Hawkins leaned out a window. The landing lights illuminated what looked like a green carpet.

“All clear for landing, Cal.”

The helicopter settled onto the ground. Hawkins was out the door. He did a quick perimeter patrol through the waving grass then swept the river bank with the beam from a powerful electric torch. The chopper was solidly in place around twenty feet back from the river. He walked around in front of the helicopter and slashed his hand across his throat in a signal to cut power.

The engine died and the rotors slowly spun to a halt. Abby and Calvin stepped out onto the knee-high grass. The helicopter had silenced the normal insect chorus and there was only the chuckle of river water. The air was heavy with the scent of muck.

Hawkins led the way to the river bank. Calvin pulled up a handful of grass, tied it into a knot and tossed it into the water. Within seconds, the clump was swept beyond the range of the flashlight.

“Strong current,” Calvin said. “That’s good news. Should push us right along going down. Not so good coming back against the current.”

Abby had slung a CAR-15 over her shoulder and walked a short distance from the helicopter to peer through a pair of binoculars in the general direction of the castle. There was no sign that their landing had been detected.

While Abby kept watch, Calvin and Hawkins unloaded the helicopter and placed the cases in a row. They used a foot pump to inflate the three-person polyurethane raft. Weighing thirty-three pounds, the nine-foot long Wing IBXS was similar to the model they had used in the SEALs. The raft had a payload of more than five hundred pounds and easily accommodated the weapons and other gear.

They stripped down to their underwear and slipped on camouflage uniforms streaked with a pattern of black and dark green. Calvin tied a bandanna known as a “drive-on rag” around his bald scalp. Hawkins favored a floppy hat with a wide brim pinned up in front. Abby came over and said there was no sign of activity from the castle. She went over the inventory on her iPad and matched it with the gear.

When she got to Calvin’s golf bag, she said, “Gator repellant.”

“What did you say?” Hawkins said.

“That’s what Calvin called it.”

Calvin tapped his nose. “I’ve been smelling gators ever since I signed onto this gig. Figured they’d need special treatment.”

Hawkins simply shrugged. His friend’s preparedness for unknown threats had saved their butts more than one time. If Calvin smelled gators, sure as hell there were gators. They loaded the gear into the inflatable. Hawkins glanced around at their remote surroundings and turned to Abby.

“Ready to go. I don’t like leaving you alone out here.”

“I’ll be fine,” Abby said. “Don’t forget, I volunteered for this mission.”

“You never bargained for something as crazy as this, Abby.”

“I never bargained for a lot of crazy things that have happened since I met you, Hawkins. Concentrate on getting Kalliste out safely. I know your schedule, so I’ll have a rough idea of your progress. One hour to the castle. One hour insertion. One hour extraction.”

“If you don’t hear from us within an hour of our estimated exit time I want you to leave,” Hawkins said. “Call the number I gave you and talk to my Navy friend. He’s my old commanding officer. He’ll know what to do. When’s the last time you flew a chopper?”

“Been a while. I’m rusty, but I can keep it in the air. Now get lost.”

Abby gave Hawkins a hug and did the same with Calvin. They dragged the loaded inflatable and its cargo down to the water and got in. Hawkins pushed off with a paddle until the current grabbed the inflatable. Calvin started the electric outboard motor and the little raft picked up speed.

“See you in three hours,” Hawkins called out.

As he and Calvin got into the raft and pushed off, Abby said, “Forgot to tell you something.”

“What’s that, Ab?”

The current had caught the raft and was pulling into the stream when Abby cupped her hands to her mouth and called out.

“Hoo-yah!”