by Tony Lavely
“No evidence that we just set off an alarm somewhere?”
“No. We spent a couple of hours the first time searching for sensors and the like. Not even any batteries.”
She nodded as she glanced at the seal the door would make when closed. Thought it’d never be found, I guess.
He handed flashlights around. “Take care, there’s not much room.”
“That’s for sure,” Gillian said. “How big is it, about one meter by two?”
Tarquin nodded and stepped into the opening.
Before Beckie ducked her head to enter, she looked up to spot Fabien. It took her a moment; he’d moved along the ridge to cover their backs.
Inside, the coolness felt nice after the sun outside and the scramble on the hillside, until it worked through the cotton tee shirt she’d chosen. As her eyes adjusted, she shivered, and noticed Gillian doing the same.
“Next time we’ll bring sweats,” she said, and Gillian nodded with a chuckle.
Tarquin had stepped out of their sight; but his light flashed on the wall.
“Com’on,” he called. “Interesting stuff all the way.”
They shared another glance, then looked around. While small, the extent of the cave still impressed her. She caught her breath and held it; starting from the entryway, the tunnel extended slightly downhill into the dark fifteen feet or so ahead. Tool marks evidenced work to square corners and smooth the floor, but little else. Cases had been piled to the natural ceiling along one side, leaving about three feet as an aisle.
Beckie stood, stunned, for a second, then caught Tarquin’s arm. “Have you told Chouj or any other scientists about this?”
Both Gillian and Tarquin gaped at her. “Of course not! Why… why do you ask?” His expression explained the hesitation in his question.
“That’s good, don’t worry,” Beckie said with a grin. “But this seems to be pretty much natural; it’s an argument for their having found a cave on the other side.”
Tarquin had relaxed as she spoke. “That’s true. But if I understand, they’d prefer a mine be their explanation.”
“Yeah, could be. We’ll see.” He nodded. “When we figure out what to do with this stuff, you can invite them over to survey it.” She patted one of the cases. “What’s this?”
He dragged one of the cases off the pile and opened it. “M16A4’s,” Gillian said.
“That’s these first stacks. At two dozen rifles per crate… two-hundred forty. Further down—”
“What are these?” Beckie had wandered ahead, into a chamber more than double the width of the entry hall. While the cases continued to line the left side wall, two aluminum cases placed against the right side attracted her attention. She stepped carefully to them and touched the one on top. Her expression drooped. I’ve seen one of these before.
“Yeah. Our surprise. Similar to the one you saw in the US,” Tarquin said. “We’re sure as we can be that these are functional. And they don’t have to be fired to arm them.”
“Fuck.”
“As you say. I should mention that I added a sat tracker to them.” He pointed to something that Beckie didn’t recognize; she hadn’t even noticed it until he pointed. “You know, in case they get loose and start to wander about on their own.”
“Good job, Tark! Hopefully we can keep them on the leash, but…”
Tarquin led them perhaps another thirty meters along the tunnel. While the cases changed size and construction, they still lined the wall, narrowing and widening the aisle as the cave changed shape. “Some of these were likely nicked from the Pakistani stores or military. The M16’s are probably from the Iraq withdrawal. That lot,” pointing to the last batch of cases, “likely from Afghanistan. Russian.”
“So,” Gillian said, “close on a thousand weapons, not counting the RPGs.” Tarquin nodded. “Where’s the ammo, then?”
He pointed back toward the opening. “Go to the branch off to your left. Lots of ammo. 5.56 and 7.62 both, to fit the weapons here. There are some handguns scattered, and a couple thousand rounds of ammo for them as well.”
Beckie followed Gillian up the grade to the opening. She’d flashed her light in as they went by going down, but it’d just looked like more cases. Now, she could discern the ammo cases and plain boxes marked 1000 rounds 5.56 NATO and similar.
Gillian was puzzling through something, by the expression on her face. Finally she straightened and then leaned against the stone wall. “Oops!” She returned to the cases and opened one. “Okay.” Again, she leaned back and grinned in Beckie’s direction. “Wow. Not counting the RPGs…” She waved at the end of the room away from them. “… there’s probably a hundred thousand rounds in here. Find enough food for the troops and…”
“And they can fight for a hellish long time,” Beckie finished.
“Until they wear the barrels out,” Tarquin said. “Though their fingers’ll be sore, reloading mags every night.”
Beckie snorted her agreement along with Gillian, then returned to the main passage. “So we think that with the US and Russian weapons, it means this isn’t an official Pakistan military supply cache?” He dipped his head in agreement. Beckie pointed to the US gear. “And these were from Iraq? A long time ago, now. Afghanistan, even longer.”
Gillian picked up an M16A4 from the box and checked it. “Preservation seems ok. And the cartridges looked pretty good for what, ten years old?”
Beckie nodded. “So. Whose supplies are these? Do we have any idea at all? Especially our favorite toys.” She patted the aluminum container.
“Except we think it’s neither the military—the Pakistan military—nor the rebels, no, no idea at all. Been looking for anything here that would point us in the right direction. Or, to be honest, in any direction.”
“How’s Leonid feel about taking all this and shipping it… elsewhere?”
“It was an idea we toyed with. It’ll take days to do it, though. Our guess is it was brought in by helicopter, since the nearest thing you could call a road that’s not the N25 is fifteen or twenty klicks to the east… If you discount the access to the site. Which is closer, but not really suited to heavy lorries.”
Beckie sat down on the case. We can get the nukes out of here, at least, but that still leaves more than enough ammo and rifles to arm this end of Pakistan. Who can pull all the tribal leaders and religious zealots together to make a concerted effort to rebel? Besides the BLA? She voiced the question, but there was no answer.
“Tonight… Damn it all! We have to pick up Elena tonight, but I want to get the nukes out of here. They’re the equal of everything else in here, by themselves. But it’s gonna take at least two of us to go to the airport, and Sam’s got a bad leg, so…”
“Let me see if I can pull some strings,” Tarquin said. “Maybe a helicopter could detour on a routine flight? Let me see.”
Beckie agreed, then pointed down the slope. “What about the tunnel past where we went?”
“Went clear to the end. Nothing there, just ends.”
“Okay, let’s get back, then.”
Before they left, however, Gillian wanted to check more of the stores, but found nothing of particular interest—more than the nukes, at least. Beckie sat on the case of destruction while she waited and considered what she knew, and how it might play together. Finally, Gillian had seen enough and Tarquin led them back out and up over the ridge.
“Try not to follow exactly where I step,” he said. “Make less of a trail that way.”
Beckie nodded, then waved to Fabien, who acknowledged her before moving back toward the site.
The trip back was no worse than the trip out; Beckie’s breath came hard, but her ribs didn’t hurt as much. Too soon to have healed much; I must be getting used to it. And the altitude.
Back at the site, she and Gillian accompanied Tarquin to brace Sam and Ben about their discussions with Fedor and Anatoly; Sam’s good mood reflected his pleasure with Leonid’s arrangements. Beckie tried to hi
de most of her relief; she viewed it as validation of the choice she’d made—but don’t make this about you like you’ve done those other things!
“There’s nothing I’d do differently,” Sam was saying. “Looks fine, given we aren’t sure what the opposition has in mind.” He looked around. “If it were me, I’d choose the way we came in, but there’s a good chance of being spotted too soon—”
“That would mean a nighttime attack, then,” Beckie said, “when we’re not looking for it so much?”
He and Ben nodded, and Anatoly smiled. She continued, “And if you were to act during the day?”
Sam turned and pointed up the hill that Beckie’d climbed a week ago. “Right where you told Leonid they grabbed you from. Easy access… Well, viable access from the road, and almost a usable trail coming down from that little notch.”
“And it ends there by Chouj’s tent,” she agreed. “Okay. Sounds like there’s little to do here. Sam, you guys want to dig in here? I think I’ll ask Tark to take me back to the base. But first, I’d like to have a little confab with you, Leonid, Chouj and Tark.”
“Topic, Mrs. Jamse?”
“The contents of the cache we just looked at.”
Anatoly nodded his agreement and left, taking Ben with him. Chouj appeared a couple of minutes later, saying Anatoly’d asked him to come by. When Beckie explained her desire to meet, he invited them all into his large tent.
“Thanks, Doctor Chouj. We…” She indicated Gillian and Tarquin. “… have been investigating a cave on the far side of the north slope. No, it has no artifacts of interest to you,” she said to calm Chouj’s excitement. “The contents are strictly modern, I fear. Weapons. Not enough for a full army, but more than adequate for a guerrilla force. Way more than adequate for that.
“I recall Doctor Sher, in his meeting with us at the Nest, telling us that an attack on Quetta had been threatened. He attributed that information to you; I wondered if you’d heard anything to confirm or deny that rumor?”
Chouj appeared paler than he had a minute ago. I wonder why. “No, neither. In fact, since that report, in January, I think…” She nodded. “… there has been no chatter on that topic. What have you discovered?”
“Not the so-called smoking gun, unfortunately, but…” She stood and walked around the small grouping of chairs. “I’m almost too late, but I need everyone’s promise this goes no further without my approval.”
Chouj’s color had returned; as he looked around the table, his grin widened. “Which really means my promise, doesn’t it? Very well. You have it.”
Beckie shared his humor as she said, “Thanks,” but then turned serious. “Less than a kilometer that way…” She pointed approximately toward the cache. “… two nukes have been stored. Tark tells me they are old but still eminently functional suitcase bombs—surplussed Russian munitions, we guess.”
Chouj’s face had again blanched.
Beckie nodded. “So my question is prompted by that discovery; that the means for an immense suicide bomber attack on Quetta… Or Gwadar, I suppose, depending on the message…”
“I think Quetta more likely,” Leonid said. “At least as a first target. Too much paying traffic through Gwadar.”
“Yeah, that seems reasonable. Okay. You have no information to add to this, Doctor Chouj?”
He shook his head. “Nothing. May I express concern over this?”
“Sure, I guess. Anything more than what I might expect?”
“Not really, I suppose. But Quetta is not that far away…”
“Yeah. What did you say, Lyeka, a couple hundred klicks up the road?” He nodded his agreement. “Not far at all. Not that any distance is enough when you’re talking about a fucking nuclear weapon exploding!” She released the top fastener on her vest and pulled her ponytail out and around to play with. “So, for now, while I think about how to deal with this, let’s continue as we were. I see no reason to go off half-cocked. Having said that… Lyeka, I would like a watch on the north ridge, within view of the cache, just to make sure it stays quiet.” When Leonid agreed, she said, “I’m ready for the base, I think. Tark?”
Tarquin nodded his agreement as Sam said, “That’ll work fine. We’ll take turns getting a little more sleep… The meeting tonight’s still on, right?”
“Yeah. And I don’t think I want any of you guys, including Gillian and Ben, around while Rezaei and whoever he’s bringing are there.”
“Good! We’ll be ready.”
Rezaei’s meeting went about as Beckie expected. He shouted at Leonid and did his best to pretend Beckie wasn’t present. For her part, Beckie played her best adult, speaking directly to the man, not showing her anger at being so completely dismissed. Worse than the guy in Egypt!
While Rezaei wouldn’t speak to her, his responses to Leonid proved he did hear her; furthermore, her message was no more pleasing than her presence.
“We must have the site untouched! Preserved! No… no false idols to… confuse the faithful!”
Well, those demands haven’t changed. Beckie looked to Chouj, sitting beside her.
“As I have said,” Chouj said for probably the third time, “the authorities in Islamabad have agreed to our work and in fact, plan to announce our preliminary findings in the next weeks.”
“I do not care for the ‘authorities’ in far-off cities.” Rezaei’s face passed through red and ended at purple. “They are not here to see the will of the people!”
Beckie leaned forward, her hands pressed to the table top. “The authorities in Islamabad, whether you accept them or not, have seen fit to authorize my group to protect the work being done by these scientists. Work that will eventually benefit you and the people here.” She sat straight. “I have charged Captain Danilin with that responsibility. We have no interest in bringing conflict here to this peaceful region but be certain, we will not permit others’ violence to affect the operations here. Or the scientists.”
Rezaei spluttered while his face tightened even more. Finally, though he needed two minutes, he calmed himself to speak. Even the color on his face faded, slightly. He turned to Leonid and said, “I understand that you choose to suffer our displeasure. Allāhu Akbar. I leave, now.” He did, using the old Mercedes that Beckie’d last seen delivering her executioner.
After a gourmet dinner of goat stew, according to Beth—Beckie found nothing recognizable beyond two lumps of carrot—she said to Leonid, “I think Rezaei’s last words mean he’s coming for us, sooner rather than later. If you agree?”
“I do. I already told Fedor to button the site up tight.”
“Excellent! Now I’ll ask you for a good GPS; I’ll head out to collect Elena…” She checked her phone. “Yeah, should about make it on time. You get some rest, unless you and Sam think Rezaei will come early.”
“All indications have been that he enjoys his comforts too much. And he thinks himself invincible, so there’s that. However, I would not have you alone. But…”
“Hard for me to judge,” Beckie said after a moment of consideration. “Wearing camo can’t be all that unusual here… or at the airport, if I’m remembering last night.” She grinned her making-a-mischief grin at him. As he winced, she said, “I’ll bet you don’t consider Beth to be viable company either.”
“She is certainly ’viable’ if I felt a confrontation useful. However, in the interest of having you travel there and back with as little interference as possible—”
“Tark, then. He’s here, so we don’t have to wait—”
“I don’t want to have anyone missing if Rezaei moves, but… Yes, Tark is here.”
“Since he’s likely to be more useful than I in the worst case, I’ll get him to sleep. With ten hours of… boredom ahead—”
“Interrupted by moments of terror…”
“Yeah, I’ve heard that before.”
“Don’t forget; they drive on the wrong side of the road… when there are two lanes, anyway.”
&
nbsp; “Oh, yeah. Right hand drive. I thought it looked funny.” She grinned as she rose and headed for the door “Tark, you up for a pleasant nighttime drive?”
Leonid tossed her the GPS as Tarquin hollered back, “Sure. Clubbing, or big party, or…”
They met in the entry as Tarquin left his workstation. “Hopefully,” she said, “none of that. Collect a new asset. Elena Rios, if you’ve met her?”
“Brilliant! She did some of my training. But I thought—”
“Tell you in the truck.”
The drive to Karachi Airport had more traffic than Beckie remembered from the night before. But it’s not yet midnight. “I guess the drivers here are no worse than the ones in Peru,” she offered as a bespangled truck weaved its way by them, using all the road it could.
“Hmm.” Tarquin leaned back and appeared to ignore events.
Their arrival at the airport missed Elena’s scheduled arrival by about twenty minutes. “Good job she’s late,” Tarquin said as they waited.
However, they waited another hour while, she assumed, Smythe’s greasing of the skids worked.
“Just a reminder,” Tarquin said as the door opened, “no public affection. Especially with another woman.”
She grimaced—she’d been about to race to hug Elena—but then snarked, “Of course. How could I forget?”
She kept her pace steady but quick, then took Elena’s hand and reminded her of Tarquin’s name.
“It has been a couple years, hasn’t it?” Elena said. “As for you, Mistress Rebecca, I apologize from the bottom of my heart for… for anything I did to you. Thanks for permitting me to come back.”
“Damn. And until we’re out from under the eye of the police and all…” She waved to indicate the security forces standing, watching the people moving from the Customs doorway to the outside. “… I can’t even give you a hug! Don’t worry about telling me what I needed to hear, even if I didn’t listen very well. Tell me if I need to hear it again, okay?”
