Part 46 (1/2)
No sound but the cras.h.i.+ng of the waves.
”Who are you!” an Africanaccented voice demanded suddenly from behind them.
The twins whirled. Lachlan whipped up his gun.
”Lachlan, no!” Jack leapt forward and pushed the gun down.
The move saved Lachlan's life.
They were surrounded.
Somehow, as they'd stood at the base of the lighthouse, no less than ten Tanzanians-all with deep black skin and all wearing navy blue military fatigues and armed with brand new M16 a.s.sault rifles-had crept up on them. Absolutely soundlessly.
Jack recognized the leader of the group.
”Inigo, is that you? It's me, Jack. Jack West. These are my friends, Lachlan and Julius Adamson, a couple of net jockeys from Scotland.”
The Tanzanian did not acknowledge Jack's introduction at all.
He just glared at the twins.
”Net jockeys?” he said, frowning fiercely. ”Computer persons?”
”Yyes,” Lachlan said, gulping.
The Tanzanian was still frowning darkly. He had a line of raised traditional markings on his forehead.
”You play Warcraft on Internet?” he demanded.
”Er, yeah...” Julius said.
The African pointed at their ”COW LEVEL”Ts.h.i.+rts. ”The cow level. You play computer game, Diablo II?”
”Well...yes...”
Abruptly the leader's dark frown became a broad smile, showing a mouthful of enormous white teeth. He spun to face Jack: ”Huntsman, I have heard of this cow level, but for the life of me, I just cannot get to it!”
He turned to the twins: ”You two will show me how to find it, you...cowboys!”
Jack smiled.
”Nice to see you, too, Inigo. But I'm afraid we're in a bit of a hurry. We need to see the Sea Ranger immediately.”
THEY WERE taken into the lighthouse, where instead of going up, they went down-first through a dusty old cellar and then through a storage bas.e.m.e.nt. In this storage bas.e.m.e.nt was a hidden staircase that went even farther down, delving deep into the headland before emerging in a giant cave at sea level.
Sometime in the distant past-probably by pirates in the 1800s-the cave had been fitted with two wooden docks and some cabins. More recently, the Sea Ranger had installed generators, lights, and some concrete extensions for the docks.
Taking pride of place in the center of it all, tied up to one of the docks with its conning tower soaring high, was a Kilocla.s.s submarine.
Jack had been here before, so he wasn't surprised by the rather impressive sight.
The twins, however, were gobsmacked.
”It's like the Batcave...” Lachlan said.
”No, better...” Julius agreed.
A winding riverlike pa.s.sage led out to the ocean, and halfway along it, a movable breakwater protected the cave from the rough seas outside. Exit from the cave could only be achieved at high tide-at low tide, jagged rocks would be exposed along the winding pa.s.sage.
J. J. Wickham stood waiting on the dock at the base of the stairs: former US Navy XO, brotherinlaw of Jack West Jr., the Sea Ranger.
He and Jack embraced. They hadn't seen each other since that New Year's Eve party in Dubai.
”Jack,” Wickham said, ”what the h.e.l.l's going on? These last few days, half the African continent has gone completely nuts. The Saudis put up half a billion dollars for any country that found two people who sounded a lot like my niece and your mentor.”
”The Saudis...?” Jack said aloud.
Up until now, he'd thought the Saudis had been backinghim -by sending Vulture to be a part of his team.
Vulture,he thought.You scheming little...
It explained the blocked air corridors in the south of the continent-only the Saudis could afford to pay off whole African countries.
”The Saudis are in league with my father...” he said aloud.
It made sense. The Caldwell Group and the Saudis had longstanding links based on oil.
And if the Second Reward-”heat”-was what Wizard suspected it was, an unending energy source, perhaps even perpetual motion, then the Saudis had ahuge interest in acquiring it. All this time, he hadn't just been battling against his father, he'd been fighting atriple threat: the Caldwell Group, Saudi Arabia, and China, all allied together.
He turned to Wickham. ”It's a complicated situation that just got a whole lot more complicated. Right now, I need to get to Cape Town inside of four days, unseen, and I can't go by air. I can tell you more along the way.”
”Your father is involved?”
”Yeah.”
”Say no more,” Wickham said, already moving toward his submarine. ”Fathersinlaw can be tough, but that man was the biggesta.s.shole of a fatherinlaw a guy ever had.”
Jack walked after Wickham. ”Our enemies'll be on the lookout for subs. You got any kind of cover?”
Wickham kept walking. ”As a matter of fact, I do.”
OFF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.
DECEMBER 16, 2007, 1755 HOURS.
THE AFTERNOON BEFORE THE SECOND DEADLINE.
THREE DAYS LATER, Jack and the twins found themselves rounding Cape Agulhas, approaching the point where the Indian Ocean met the Atlantic Ocean.
Cape Town lay to the northwest, over a mountainous peninsula of wilderness, facing out over the Atlantic.