Black Rain

Her mind was reeling. Hawker dead, Moore dead. What about Gibbs, why hadn’t the man mentioned Gibbs? Perhaps there was still hope. She bit her lip and kept quiet.

Taking note of her silence, he waved one of his men over. “You’ll change your mind in time.”

Across from her the NOTAR began to power up, generators first, and then the engine. Slowly the blades began to turn. She watched it with anger, until two of the armed men helped her up and led her across the clearing to a large tree at the edge of the forest. The tree was burned in places by the Chollokwan fire. A heavy chain, secured by a padlock, encircled it, and the other survivors were there, sitting with their backs to the trunk and their arms pi

As the NOTAR lifted off and buzzed out over the forest, Kaufman’s men forced her to sit with her back to the tree, laced a pair of handcuffs through the i

She counted heads; McCarter and Susan were there, along with Verhoven, one of his men and Brazos, the lead porter—everyone who’d been inside the temple, including her, the lucky six. There was no sign of the others. Verhoven’s lieutenant, whose name was Roemer, bled from a bandaged wound on one arm, while Susan sobbed quietly and McCarter tried to comfort her.

As the guards walked away, McCarter glared at Danielle, the look of a man who knew he’d been misled.

“Who are these people?” he asked. “What is this all about?”

“I don’t know,” she said.

“They’re mercenaries,” Verhoven explained. “Eastern European, from the sounds of their accents. I’ve heard some Croatian dialect, but mostly German. The leader is older, probably an Ex–Stasi crew chief, who had to flee when the wall came down.”

“Stasi?” McCarter asked.

“Old East German secret police. Like the KGB. Only worse.”

“What the hell are they doing out here?” McCarter demanded. He turned back to Danielle. “What the hell is going on?”

Danielle stared at him, her worst fears now realized, her mind willing him not to ask her anything else. They didn’t need that. “We need to be calm,” she told him. “We’ll find a way to get out of this.”

Whether McCarter believed her or simply sensed that this would be a bad time for a discussion, she didn’t know. But he said nothing more.

She looked around at the group. “Anyone else?”

“Only Devers,” Verhoven replied.

“Where is he?”

“With them.”

Danielle sca

“Getting paid, would be my guess,” Verhoven said.

So Devers had sold them out. The why was easy, the how more difficult. Devers was a low-level employee from Research Division. He had little access to the technical side of things and couldn’t possibly understand what they were after. In fact, it made little sense at all, until she began to realize that Devers must have been involved with the project from a distance ever since the word go. Gibbs and Moore had consulted with him regarding the Chollokwan and other tribes as soon as they’d decided to come down to Brazil. And he’d had several extensive consultations with Dixon and his team. She doubted that Devers knew what they were after, but it didn’t take much to realize it was important. Just as Hawker had said, the presence of her and Moore working the case on the ground level was enough.

“That greedy son of a bitch,” she said.

Verhoven nodded. “He is. No doubt. And when I get my hands on him, I’ll make him bleed for every pe

Danielle sat back, trying to figure out a way to give Verhoven that chance, watching as the man who’d slapped her and two of his men walked toward them.

“My name is Kaufman,” he said. “I’d like to give you my apologies for what happened here this morning. It wasn’t supposed to occur like this. But from here on out, you have my word that you’ll be treated well.”

“You’d be wise to let us go,” Danielle insisted, her cheek still burning from his slap.

“Wise?” he repeated. “No, I don’t think that would be the word. But eventually, you’ll be released unharmed—as long as you cooperate. In the meantime, I need the freedom to operate unhindered. And some help from Ms. Briggs.”

As Kaufman’s soldiers moved to release Susan, McCarter became alarmed. “What do you want with her?”

The soldiers unlocked her cuffs and pulled her to her feet.

“What do you want?” she said, meekly echoing McCarter.

“You have nothing to be afraid of,” Kaufman insisted. “We just want to borrow your expertise for a moment.”

One of the soldiers took Susan by the arm and dragged her off. She looked desperately back toward McCarter, but there was nothing he could do.

Kaufman led Susan to a makeshift table in the form of an overturned crate. He offered her some food, which she refused, and then some water. She hesitated.

“It’s okay,” he insisted, taking a sip of the water himself. “It’s not Pellegrino, but it’s drinkable.”

Susan pulled back at first but then accepted. Her throat was very dry.

“I’m not here to hurt you,” he said, his tone calm and soothing. “The events of this morning were an aberration, a mistake.” He pointed to the soldiers. “These men reacted somewhat overzealously and I wasn’t here to stop it. But now that I am, I can promise you it won’t happen again.”

She wasn’t sure what to make of this. “They killed people.”

“I know,” Kaufman acknowledged. “That’s what they do. But with the situation secure, they won’t have to make that choice again.”

“Why are you doing this?” she asked.

“I wish I could tell you,” he said. “But that would make things worse for you.”

She spoke honestly. “I don’t want to help you.”

“I can understand that,” he replied. “But I need your help. If you cooperate with me, I’ll give your friends food and water and a chance to live out the remainder of their lives. If you don’t, then I have no choice but to force you. They’ll go thirsty and hungry until you change your mind.”

She looked down at the table, reeling and dizzy from everything that she’d witnessed and strangely finding comfort in Kaufman’s reassuring voice. She was smart enough to realize that he wanted just that, but she couldn’t stop the feeling. She didn’t want to make him angry, didn’t want to hear any more gunfire or see any more blood.

“Ready to listen?” he asked.

She looked up at him and nodded reluctantly.

“Good,” he said. “There are some very important items on the grounds here somewhere, probably inside the temple. I want you to help us locate them.”

She nodded.

“You’ve been in the temple?”

“No.”

“Your friends, then, they’ve been in there?”

“Professor McCarter and Danielle.”

He nodded. “Did they remove any items from inside? Anything metallic?”

“Metallic?” she said. “No, nothing metallic.”

He paused for a moment, as if he wanted her to be sure of her answer. “I want you to go in there with us, show us around.”

Now she had a reason to protest. “I can’t go in there. I can’t breathe in there because of the fumes.”

“Yes, I know,” he said. “I’ve heard all about the fumes. A terrible smell, but I think we can remedy that for you.” He reached into a box beside them and produced a military-style gas mask. “Will this help?”

Susan stared blankly at the mask. What else could she say—of course it would help.

From his spot at the prison tree, McCarter tried desperately to keep an eye on Susan. “What do you think they want with her?”