The Nemesis Program

Chapter Forty-Six

At 6.33 p.m. local time, a little more than twelve hours since they’d left Germany, Ben touched down at a small commercial air base a few miles inland of the port city of Muscat. The heat slammed into them like a breath of fire as they stepped down from the air-conditioned plane. Within minutes Ben could feel his shirt sticking to him. The sleek white fuselage of the ST-1 was caked with sand and looked as travel-weary as pilot and co-pilot did.

The only one who appeared fresh and rested was Daniel. ‘How’s it going?’ Ben asked him. ‘Hope the journey’s not too tiring for you.’

‘There’s not a lot of sandwiches left.’

‘Fancy that,’ Ben said.

The air base was filled with activity, with a variety of aircraft from small propeller planes to big Lear jets constantly arriving and departing. In a corner near the refuelling dock, a low shady building offered a lounge where pilots, crew and passengers could get out of the still-blazing evening sun and cool themselves with iced coffee. It was an inviting prospect. The asphalt felt like it was burning holes in Ben’s shoes as he saw to the refuelling, and he ached for the chance to relax and close his eyes for a couple of hours.

But as the last few gallons of 100LL avgas were being pumped on board, he caught sight of a Royal Oman Police Jeep speeding through a gate in the distance. Perched up front with an imperious air, in dark glasses and peaked cap, was an officer, most likely a captain. There were four heavily-armed khaki-shirted goons riding in the back, and they looked like they meant business. Ben watched as they screeched up a hundred yards away and all piled out of the Jeep to collar the pilot of a private Cessna that had come in to land within the last twenty minutes, checking papers and acting tough while two of the goons went aboard clutching their rifles as if they expected to flush out a nest of terrorists.

The last thing Ben needed was a bunch of overzealous storm-troopers combing through the inside of the ST-1 and start barking unanswerable questions about the little cargo of weaponry he was carrying. ‘I think we’ve outstayed our welcome here,’ he said to Roberta.

After less than a hour on the ground, Ben was back in the pilot’s seat and pointing the aircraft south-eastwards for the 1,250-nautical-mile journey across the Arabian Sea to India. The Oman coastline shrunk away, the last land they would see for some time as the aircraft roared over the water. The giant fireball of the sun gradually sank into the western horizon, scorching the darkening ocean with shimmering reds and golds.

Darkness fell, and the cockpit was dimly illuminated by the glow of the instruments and the navigation lights that twinkled with the moonlight on the waves. Now and then they overflew a ship. Time passed. They were too tired to say much to one another. Ben felt Roberta’s hand on his shoulder, and realised with a start that his chin had been sinking to his chest. He ground his teeth and willed himself to stay alert. Another hour ticked by, then another. Nothing seemed to exist but the infinity of dark ocean stretching out ahead, a surreal impression as if all the world’s land masses had sunk without a trace while they’d been in the air.

‘I’m sorry, I’m not very good company,’ Roberta murmured, turning towards him so he could see her smile in the glow of the instrument panels. ‘I can hardly keep my eyes open either.’

‘Go and get some sleep in the back,’ he told her gently, but she shook her head and replied, ‘I’d rather stay here with you. If you want me, that is.’

‘I do want you,’ he said, and took a hand off the controls to reach out and softly touch her arm.

It wasn’t until a few minutes later, in the long silence that followed, that he suddenly realised how his words to her had sounded like a lover’s — a thought that cut through the mist of fatigue and made him feel strangely unsettled.

He had loved her, once. It had taken him a long time to get over her, and now here she was again. The warmth of her presence brought back a lot of old memories. Perhaps too many.

Don’t get confused, said a stern voice deep inside his head. Ben let out a long breath to clear his mind.

‘What is it?’ she asked in the darkness.

‘Nothing,’ he replied.

‘You always say that.’

The first they saw of India was a glow on the flat, black horizon. At long last, the illuminated sprawl of Mumbai rose above the sea. They skirted the southern edge of the city and stayed on course until, sometime before 1 a.m., Ben’s navigational instruments told him that they were approaching the city of Bangalore and their nearby destination, an airstrip near Ramanagaram. Tall trees all around the strip made for a sharp descent and a tricky landing. Ben was so exhausted that he could hardly see the runway lights, but managed to get the plane down safely on the second pass with Roberta gripping his arm.

At last, Ben could tear himself away from the controls and rest his weary muscles. He more or less ignored Daniel as he gulped down the last of their German sandwiches. Then, completely spent, he fell back into one of the reclining passenger seats, felt the tension ooze out of him and was tumbling into a dreamless void the moment he closed his eyes.

The first thing he saw when he opened them again was Roberta sitting next to him. The first light of dawn was creeping in through the plane’s oval porthole windows.

She smiled. ‘It’s beautiful here. I was going to go for a walk. You want to stretch your legs a little?’

The stars were fading, chased off by the crimson glow of the rising sun. They filled their lungs with the fresh, crisp morning air as they walked through the trees. That strange, unsettling feeling that Ben had experienced the night before returned as it struck him that they might have been a romantic couple strolling peacefully along together.

The feeling became stronger still when she suddenly stopped and took his hand. Hers was warm and soft, like the sound of her voice. ‘I like being here with you, Ben. Even with everything that’s happened, everything that could still happen, I feel happy. Please don’t be angry with me for telling you.’

‘I don’t know what to say,’ he muttered.

‘You don’t have to say anything. But I do.’ She paused, glancing down at her feet. ‘You know, I lived a long time without you. It was really hard for me, never knowing how you were, never hearing a word from you.’ She looked up again, directly into his eyes. ‘I don’t want to relive that time again.’

‘I’m sorry I hurt you,’ he said. ‘All I can do is keep saying it.’

‘If we make it through this, you’ll stay in touch with me, won’t you?’ she asked earnestly. Her face looked pale in the dawn light and her eyes were shining.

‘Don’t talk like that,’ Ben said. ‘Of course we’re going to make it through this.’

‘You didn’t answer my question.’

‘You’re a good friend, Roberta.’

‘I know that’s all I can ever be to you,’ she said. ‘But friends keep in contact. Don’t they?’

He nodded. Sighed. ‘It’s not as if I didn’t think about you,’ he said. ‘I did, a lot.’

‘I wish you’d called. Even just one single time.’

‘You don’t know me. There are a lot of things I’m not good at. Keeping in touch with people is just one of them.’

‘I know you better than you realise, Ben Hope.’ She gave his hand a gentle squeeze. ‘Tell me I don’t have to lose you again. That’s all I want to know.’

‘We should be getting back to the plane,’ he said after a long pause. He delicately let go of her hand and they started slowly retracing their steps through the trees glowing in the morning light.