“And I’m especially concerned now that comms are down at the expedition.”
Corrie’s surprise jumped exponentially. “When did that happen?”
“I tried to call just after you left my office. They have multiple sat phones—why would they suddenly all go down at the same time? Something’s wrong, perhaps very wrong, and we need to get there right away. I’m also concerned about Watts. Could you give him a call—see if his phone is still working? Tell him to stay where he is and we’ll pick him up. On no account should he go back to the base—we’ve no idea what might be going on there.”
Corrie dialed. To her relief, Watts answered.
“Homer? It’s Corrie.”
“Listen,” said Watts, “we just got back to the jeep. We didn’t dare approach Pershing, and we’re about to head back to—”
“Hold on,” Corrie interrupted. “We think the base camp might be in danger. Agent Lime and I are about to chopper out there ourselves. Their comms are down.”
“I know—I just tried to reach them. Any idea what’s going on?”
“None. But you need to stay where you are, and we’ll pick you up on the way.” She glanced at Lime, who nodded. “What are your coordinates?”
Watts read them off his GPS.
“We’ll be there in about an hour.”
They left the freeway and headed southeast, through a checkpoint and onto Kirtland AFB, then down an access road behind the base that ran across empty desert toward the Manzano Mountains. They took a branching road to the base of the Manzanos. At a second, higher-security checkpoint, they passed through a gate in a chain-link fence, manned with guard towers, then into a complex that consisted of Quonset huts, hangars, and a low metal building. Bypassing these, they arrived at an airfield. A helicopter was on the tarmac. As she watched the rotors warm up, it began to dawn on her that Lime couldn’t just be FBI: he must hold some classified rank in the military. She’d heard rumors of agents who also had high-level positions in the CIA, the DIA, or some other branch of U.S. intelligence.
Lime pulled up on the airstrip and stopped a hundred yards from the chopper. Two soldiers came over and helped them out, escorting them to the bird, one joining them on board. Corrie and Lime were given headsets and seated in the webbing. Even as Corrie was buckling in and adjusting her headset, the rotors spun up and the chopper lifted off. The sun was just touching the horizon as they rose into the clear desert air and accelerated southeast, over the Manzano Mountains toward the desert beyond. As Corrie watched the fir-clad slopes give way to desert, it occurred to her that everything had begun to move so fast, that the crush of urgency had swept her up so quickly, she’d had no time to think—only react. For reasons she couldn’t quite identify, a sense of unease took possession of her. Something felt wrong—but she wasn’t sure why.
50
LET’S NOT MESS this up at the last minute,” Nora said as Tappan pushed the dead magnetometer aside and began shoveling sand willy-nilly into a wheelbarrow. “This is archaeology, not treasure hunting.”
Tappan paused, leaning on the shovel, breathing hard. He nodded, wiping off the sweat. “Sorry. You’re right.”
“I believe the right thing to do,” Nora said, “is to pause and take stock, figure out what’s going on.”
“Absolutely not,” said Tappan. “We’re almost there. I mean, Columbus didn’t pause his voyage just before reaching the New World, did he?”
Nora felt conflicted. She looked around and could see, clearly on everyone’s face, an eagerness to continue.
The strange magnetic activity that had wreaked havoc with their instruments and tools had vanished as quickly as it came—and not returned.
“All right. But let’s please proceed by the book.”
“Fair enough.”
“We’re going to need lights. Emilio, could you fire up the generator and get the floods in place? And let’s get the magnetometer out of the hole so we can work.”
Tappan leaned his shovel against the dig wall and helped Toth wheel the machine up the ramp and out. He came up next to Nora and watched as Vigil erected the lights around the sides of the hole. Tappan didn’t say anything more, but Nora could feel the excitement radiating from him like an electrical aura. She felt a turmoil of emotions herself—intense curiosity, apprehension, anticipation. Rushing headlong to uncover what was in the hole went against her better judgment, but she understood that nothing would stop Tappan now…and she herself felt the tug of discovery.