Page 73 of Clive Cussler Desolation Code

Kurt vaguely remembered Rudi mentioning the drones patrolling in that manner. “It still went over our heads.”

“It would have come back if it saw us,” Joe replied.

Kurt knew that. But he could find no explanation for the drone passing over them and not seeing the body heat of eight people sweating in the cool jungle.

“Up,” the woman snapped, and everyone stood. “Move. Now.”

They continued along the bluff for a thousand yards before turning downslope. As Kurt was wondering how far they’d go, the woman vanished directly in front of Kurt’s eyes.

Kurt stopped in disbelief and was shoved onward by a push in the back. The ground beneath him vanished and he dropped thirty feet onto a tarp that caught him and broke his fall.

Before he could get up, several pairs of hands grabbed him and pulled him off of it. Looking around, Kurt saw a dozen people in a circle holding the tarp, stretching it back out for the next jumper.

One after another they came down until all of them stood in the entrance to a large cave. The tarp was rolled up and hidden. Kurt and Joe were marched through a pair of hanging curtains into the cave.They found themselves in a large open room lit dimly by LED bulbs. They saw boxes and crates and stacks of equipment that were covered in corrosion and rust.

Tunnels led off to the left and right.

A vertical arrangement of pipes, pressure valves, and other gear stood in the middle of the room. It was held in place over the pit, the pipes emanating from it, dropping down into the depths that were unfathomable in the dim light. The bottom could have been a hundred feet below or a thousand miles.

“This must be one of the test wells the geothermal company drilled before going bankrupt,” Joe said.

Kurt had been thinking the same thing. “Looks like they stored a bunch of their equipment down here. Better than out in the tropical rain, I guess.”

As they were brought toward the center of the cavern, additional men began to appear, coming into the room via other tunnels. They formed a small semicircle around Kurt and Joe, as if looking at a prize captured on a hunt.

While the others gawked at the prisoners, the woman who’d lead them through the jungle climbed the steps to a podium at the far end of the room. Plants and fronds from various trees had been arranged there. The platform itself was covered with soil and petals and tree nuts, as if meant to act as some facsimile of nature.

She dropped to one knee in front of a small altar and offered a quiet prayer. When she was finished, she stood. Turning to face the group, she slid the hood of her garment back, revealing her face. Full lips, large eyes, and fierce cheekbones made sharper by the gaunt look of someone who was not eating full meals on a regular basis. Her hair was buzzed to a tight stubble. It bristled in the dark.

Kurt stared as recognition hit him. He stood there baffled and surprised, his mind racing to catch up to events that didn’t seemconnected to reality. From the corner of his eye, he saw recognition hit Joe, too, as he mouthed her name silently, in disbelief.

Priya.

Priya Kashmir was a former colleague and a friend, having worked with them at NUMA for the better part of five years. And while she’d spent most of her time with Hiram Yaeger and Max in the Information Technology Unit, she had ventured into the field with Kurt and Joe on several occasions, most notably accompanying them on a mission to Bermuda.

She’d gone back to MIT after leaving NUMA. To encounter her on a deserted island covered in jungle in the middle of the Indian Ocean was a jarring discovery, like spotting the school librarian leading a motorcycle gang in a bar brawl.

Still, it gave answers to a few questions. To begin with, Priya was familiar with NUMA’s operations and procedures. She’d worked with the satellite network, the computer systems, and most often with Yaeger and Max. If anyone could hack their outer systems, fabricate a tracking beacon to attract their attention, and send the messages Kurt had received, Priya could.

But even if all of that appeared to be logical, one incredibly important detail made no sense at all: Priya Kashmir had been paralyzed from the waist down months before she’d even joined NUMA. Her spine had been crushed, her liver punctured, her right knee shattered so badly the doctors had replaced it, even though she would never walk again.

In all the time Kurt knew her, she hadn’t regained even the slightest amount of feeling in her toes. Yet she’d just led them through the jungle on a grueling hike and now stood proudly at the top of the elevated platform like an Amazonian princess ruling over her loyal tribe.

Chapter 43

Priya stood on the platform above, one hand calling for quiet, the other holding a spear like a warrior queen. As the murmur in the room faded, she addressed the men, who seemed in awe of her.

“These outsiders claim to have come here at the bidding of the Gray Witch,” she announced. “I will speak to this one,” she continued, pointing to Kurt. “You will hold the other. No harm is to come to him unless I deem it to be necessary.”

Joe looked at Kurt. “Wait…I’m the hostage?”

Kurt laughed. “Sorry, amigo.”

“Just don’t make her mad,” Joe urged. “You have a tendency to make women upset.”

Kurt had no intention to do anything of the sort, but he did have questions. Lots of them. He was pulled away from Joe by a pair of the men, and hustled along beside Priya as she crossed the excavated part of the cavern and entered a tunnel.

This corridor seemed to lead to additional storerooms, which had been turned into living quarters that offered a small amount of privacy from unevenly placed sections of canvas acting as curtains and drapes.

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