The Roswell Conspiracy (26 page)

“Grant is the glory hound, not me.”

“So you do it for another reason.”

“After Karen’s death, I thought the world had ended. And it had, for me. But since then I’ve realized that I don’t want to go through the motions in life. I want to make a difference. Not to have my name in the history books, but because it’s what makes me feel worthwhile.”

Jess’s lip curled into a grin. “So you’re being selfish, is what you’re saying.”

“See? You get me. You always—”

Before Tyler could finish, he was interrupted by a honking horn, then the clatter of gunfire.

THIRTY-SIX

Before his private jet had landed on Easter Island an hour earlier, Colchev’s men in Sydney reported that they were leaving the hotel after Kessler no-showed, which meant this path to the xenobium was his only option. He didn’t hear from his men again, so he had to assume that they’d been caught or worse.

With the next flight to Easter Island from Peru not scheduled to arrive until later that evening, the only other jet on the island was a C-17, which must have been sent by the Americans to intercept Colchev. The Gulfstream’s refueling stop in Tahiti had to be the reason the Air Force had beaten him here. The C-17’s range was much farther, so it could fly nonstop, perhaps even refueling in mid-air on the way. Colchev’s jet had to go far out of the way to make the vast distance across the Pacific.

He was sure that the Americans noted his Gulfstream’s arrival, but the tail number would only lead them to the billionaire’s front company based in the Bahamas. Still, seeing a bunch of men step off the plane would raise suspicions, so Colchev had hired two models in Sydney to come along on the trip. When the private jet landed and went through the cursory immigration and customs check, the observers on the C-17 would see two of his men, Kiselow and Chopiak, deplane with the girls and think they were nothing more than extravagant tourists.

Colchev’s late arrival on the island meant that the Americans had a head start. Simply going out to the site mapped out on Dombrovski’s photo of the wood engraving wouldn’t work. And his first order of business was to cover his rear, which meant taking out anyone on the Air Force jet.

Instead of attempting a direct assault, Colchev, who stayed on the plane with Zotkin in case he’d be recognized, decided deception was the better choice. He instructed Kiselow and Chopiak to drop the models at a hotel in Hanga Roa, where they checked into a reserved room. Then his men took their rented vehicle to a remote location along the shore and called the police asking for help. When the lone police car arrived, his men shot the policeman and dumped him into the ocean.

The whole plan had gone smoothly. Kiselow and Chopiak drove the hijacked police car to the C-17 leisurely, as if they were just making a courtesy call. Before the man guarding the plane could tell that they weren’t Easter Island cops, he was shot twice, the action shielded from the tower’s view by the immense plane’s fuselage. With the element of surprise complete, an ambush took out all four men aboard the jet without drawing any attention at the sleepy airport.

Colchev and Zotkin joined the two other men in the police car and set out for the location described on the map. From a distance they saw a Suzuki 4x4 parked near the ocean-side cliff.

Colchev had instructed Zotkin to drive toward the SUV slowly so that the vehicle’s occupants wouldn’t become suspicious. There were three people in view, a woman inside the Suzuki and two men holding assault rifles walking toward the cliff. They had to be security guards protecting Tyler.

The woman honked the SUV’s horn, causing the two guards to whirl around. When they saw that it was a police car, the younger blond man waved and started walking toward them while the older curly-haired one stood near the cliff.

When they got within twenty-five meters, Colchev raised his own AK-47 and shot the blond man, who crumpled to the ground. Chopiak fired at the other man who fell over the edge of the cliff. Neither of Tyler’s guards got a shot off.

Zotkin then sped toward the SUV as the woman, whom Colchev now recognized as Fay Turia, jumped out and ran toward the ocean. They intercepted her just as gunfire rang out from the cliff’s edge. A bullet slammed through the rear driver’s side window, killing Chopiak instantly. Chopiak must have missed or only injured the second man, who had to have landed on a ledge. Kiselow returned fire, and the guard ducked for cover.

“Keep your aim on him,” Colchev said. “If he shows his head again, blow it off.”

Colchev leaped out and grabbed Fay. She kicked and punched him but was no match for Colchev’s bulk. He put her hand in a controlling grip, making sure not to snap it.

“Calm down, Mrs. Turia. There’s nothing you can do now.”

“Screw you!”

“You are a feisty grandmother, aren’t you?”

“Let go!”

“No.” He plucked a video camera from her hand. “What do we have here?”

“Family photos.”

“I don’t think so. I think you found something. Let’s see what.”

Kiselow fired again, but his shot missed. It did, however, keep the guard pinned.

Colchev peered at the LCD display and saw that it was video from inside a cave. He fast-forwarded through it, watching Tyler Locke and Jess McBride occasionally making appearances. Intriguing. It provided everything he had to know to find the xenobium. He slowed the playback when he got to the part showing Tyler waving around a radiation detector. After a look of alarm crossed Tyler’s face, he turned to Fay and the video ended.

“Where is the xenobium fragment?” Colchev asked her.

She remained silent, but her eyes inadvertently flicked to the Suzuki.

“Zotkin,” Colchev said, “search their vehicle.”

Zotkin scuttled over to the 4x4, keeping the police car between him and the guard. In a minute he returned carrying a silver case. He put it down in the grass and opened it.

“No!” Colchev shouted when he saw the pea-sized bit of xenobium. It wasn’t the large specimen in the photo from Dombrovski’s lab. “
Blya!
” He slammed the case shut.

“That isn’t …” Zotkin said, stumbling over his words. “If that’s all there is, our mission is over.”

“I know that!” Colchev yelled before calming himself. “It’s all right. All this does is prove that Dombrovski was right. The photograph we found wasn’t a forgery. The xenobium we need was in fact hidden by the Nazca. Mrs. Turia has given us the information we need to get it.”

“Colchev!” came a man’s shout from the cliff’s edge. “Colchev!”

Colchev peeked around the corner of the police car but couldn’t see anyone. “Who is that?”

“My name’s Tyler Locke.”

“Dr. Locke, you keep popping up in the wrong place. I remember you from the hood of my road train.”

“And I remember you killing Nadia Bedova. Now let Fay go!”

“Why should I?”

“Take me in her place.”

“Again, why should I?”

“Because she’ll slow you down.”

“She seems spry enough to me.”

“What do you want then?”

“Come out with your hands up.”

“No. We know you stole the Killswitch weapons, Colchev.”

Colchev grinned. “So?”

“So Kessler is dead. Your plan went up in smoke in Alice Springs.”

The grin vanished. “You’re the one who forced me into this action, Locke. If you hadn’t interfered with my truck bomb, none of us would be here right now. Don’t make me kill Mrs. Turia.”

A woman’s voice yelled out. “If you hurt her, I’ll cut your nuts off and feed them to you!”

“That must be Ms. McBride. I won’t hurt Mrs. Turia. She’s going to be my guide.”

“The hell I will,” Fay said. “Don’t listen to them, Jessica!”

Colchev took a handkerchief from his pocket and stuffed it in Fay’s mouth.

“Colchev!” Tyler yelled. “Let her go, and I’ll guarantee you safe passage off the island.”

“It’s too late for that, Locke.”

“We can’t stay here,” Zotkin said. “Somebody might have heard their gunshots. We have to kill them now.”

“Their position is too well-defended,” Colchev said. “We don’t have the manpower to outflank them.”

“Keep them distracted. I’ll crawl through the grass and shoot from over there.” He pointed to a rocky outcropping 150 yards away.

“There’s no time. We’re not even sure you’ll have a clean view of them. We’ll take out Locke’s car so he can’t follow us back to the airport. By the time he gets there, we’ll be long gone.”

“But even with his car disabled, it’s only four miles to the town. Locke will be able to call the mainland before we can get there. The police will intercept us as soon as we land in Chile.”

Colchev’s eyes fell on the case. There wasn’t enough xenobium for his ultimate goal, but it would be sufficient to power the Killswitch he had with him. He buried his head in his hands, trying to think of another solution, but he wracked his brain and nothing came. It was either use the Killswitch or risk total mission failure. At least it would give him a chance to test the weapon and verify that it worked.

Colchev glowered at Zotkin. “We’ll make sure he can’t call the mainland when he gets back to town. Put the Suzuki in neutral and then get in the police car.” He turned to Kiselow and pointed at Fay. “Keep her head toward the cliff so they won’t fire. I’ll drive.”

Shielded by the police car, Zotkin ran to the Suzuki and back. He and Kiselow climbed in the car with Colchev taking the wheel. He drove forward until the police car’s front bumper touched the back of the Suzuki’s. Colchev gunned the engine, pushing the vehicle toward the cliff.

When he got within four car-lengths of the drop-off, he wrenched the wheel to the right. The Suzuki’s momentum caused it to go sailing over the edge just as the guard popped up to see what was going on. The SUV smashed into him, taking him down to the rocks below.

Fay screamed through her gag, but the momentary appearance of two heads above the cliff edge meant that Tyler Locke and the granddaughter were still alive. Not that it mattered. Once Colchev’s car was gone, he was sure the Americans would head back to Hanga Roa on foot. At a fast trot the two of them could reach the outskirts of town in a little over thirty minutes.

They would arrive just in time to die.

THIRTY-SEVEN

When Grant climbed down to the bridge’s vehicle deck, only Morgan’s intervention kept twenty police officers from training their weapons on him. He jogged over to her as he eyed the train stopped halfway up the bridge. Officers swarmed over part of the track behind the last car. The suited man she was speaking to got a phone call and retreated to take it.

“Who was that?” Grant asked.

“Roger Abel. Australian federal agent.”

“Are we all playing nicely?”

“Grudgingly on their part. They know this is related to Pine Gap. They’re leading the investigation here, but they’re instructed to share any info they find.”

“Given that you’re not interrogating your runner, I’ll bet he didn’t come quietly.”

Morgan nodded at the rails. “Pulped by the commuter train.”

“Anything useful left over?”

She shook her head. “He’s spread across a hundred feet of track. The Aussies will collect the pieces. They’ll tell us if they come across anything pertinent, but I’m not holding my breath.”

“We might have more luck with my guy.”

“I saw him hit the ground. What happened? I told you not to kill him.”

“Look who’s talking.”

“My guy was an accident.”

“So was mine.”

“I heard that you shot him.”

“Yeah, but only in the leg. It was a good shot, too.”

“Let’s go look.”

“By the way, anyone hurt at the hotel?” Grant asked as they walked toward the center of the bridge.

“No. We got lucky. These guys were just trying to sow confusion so they could escape.”

“It almost worked.”

The agent caught up with them. “That was my director. I don’t know what’s going on here, but I don’t like it.”

“You don’t have to,” Morgan said.

“Nicely handled,” Grant said.

“We’ve got two dead gunmen,” Abel said, “one of whom your partner shot before he fell to his death. I need to know whether we have more of them out there.”

“You don’t. Did your director tell you to cooperate with us?”

They reached the corpse sprawled in the middle of the right lane. Abel crossed his arms. “According to him, I retain custody of anything we find, but you can see it before it goes into evidence. I’m allowed to get your statements, but then you’re free to go.”

“Good. We need to examine anything found on this man.”

Abel scowled and then nodded at a uniformed officer carrying a plastic baggy. He handed the package to Morgan.

The baggy contained a wallet, a US passport, phone, car keys, and a scrap of paper with an address. She opened the wallet to find two hundred Australian dollars and nothing else.

“This is it?” Morgan said.

Abel nodded. “We’re running down the ID on the passport.”

“It’ll be fake, just like the ones on the bodies we found in the warehouse in Alice Springs.”

“Were these men responsible for the explosion there yesterday?”

“That’s what we’re trying to find out.”

The phone was still operational. Since the guy landed on his back, Grant assumed it had been in his front pocket.

Morgan scanned through the recent calls and text messages. They’d been wiped clean. Same for the contact list.

“This guy didn’t make or receive any calls?” Morgan said.

“It must have been erased remotely,” Grant said. “My company worked on similar technology. It’s a common feature on secure phones used by foreign intelligence services in case they’re caught or lose the phone. That’s why this one’s not password protected. The remote erasure took that out, too.”

Abel stared at the body. “He’s with the CIA?”

“We think he may be a Russian,” Morgan said.

She glanced at the piece of paper and then showed it to Grant. It said 22 Lic. Jose Lopez Portillo Ore.

“Does that mean anything to you?” she asked Grant.

He shrugged. “A town in Oregon? Maybe someone he’s planning to meet with?”