was about more than diamonds. He was not the only one who thought so. The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs thought so as well.
'Were the Spanish soldiers at the site?' Hood asked.
'They were there,' Kline said. 'At a discreet distance.'
'Were the soldiers able to give you any insight into what happened?' Hood asked.
'Nothing,' Kline replied. 'They did not see very much. They had positioned themselves well away from the tarmac. They didn't want to seem like bodyguards. They weren't supposed to be there.'
Which possibly cost the bishop his life, Hood thought. He wondered if the Spanish soldiers might somehow have been involved with the assassination. Or at least been aware of it.
'Where are the soldiers now?' Hood asked.
'The ones who were at the airport are still there,' Kline replied.
'Incognito?' Hood asked.
'No,' Kline said. 'We wanted to be able to recover the body. Get a look at the bullet. See if it can give us any leads. The soldiers have identified themselves as special Vatican envoys and are talking with police. They are trying to get some background on the dead guard. Also, there is some confusion about the identity of the deacons who were waiting at the airport. Apparently, they were black men. The only black men who worked with Father Bradbury had already left Botswana and are in Cape Town now. What about your people?' Kline went on. 'Were any of them there?'
'Yes,' Hood told him. 'Maria Corneja.'
'Where was she?' Kline asked.
'Close enough to have made a tentative identification of one of those 'deacons,' ' Hood said. 'She believes that the man she saw was the leader of the Brush Vipers.'
'Leon Seronga?'
'Yes,' Hood said.
'What else did she tell you?' Kline demanded. 'Does she know where he went?'
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'She's following him in a cab,' Hood said. 'I was hoping we could get some of your people to watch out for her. She's alone over there.'
'I'll get right on it,' Kline said. 'Are you in touch with her?'
'Yes,' Hood said.
'What is her present location?' Kline asked.
'She's headed back into Maun,' Hood said.
'In a taxi, you say?' Kline said.
'Right.'
'Maybe the soldiers can rent a helicopter at the airfield and track her,' Kline said. 'Or the local police must have a small plane they can use.'
'I do not want you to do that,' Hood said.
'Why?'
'If the deacons are Brush Vipers, or operatives of any ability, they'll notice a spotter,' Hood said.
'Does that matter?' Kline asked.
'It does if you want to recover Father Bradbury,' Hood said.
'Assuming he's still alive,' Kline said.
'He's alive,' Hood said confidently. 'If the Brush Vipers were behind this killing, they knew they would need a hostage. If they weren't, they have no reason to kill him.'
Kline was silent. Hood began to wonder if they had been disconnected.
'All right,' Kline said at last. 'I'll buy that.'
'If the Brush Vipers think they're being tailed, my guess is they'll try to get their hands on the plane or chopper and its pilot.' Hood accessed the topographical map on his computer. 'If they manage to do that, we'll have a tough time picking them up again. We can tap into South African radar, but it may not be able to find them if they fly low in the Okavango Basin.'
'That may be true, Paul, but how the Brush Vipers are tracked is out of my hands,' Kline told him. 'Now they've killed a man. According to the leader of the Spanish team, both the local police and the national police wilMpe moving against the assassins.'
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Hood swore.
'Based on their conversations with the local authorities,' Kline went on, 'the Botswana National Police have taken over the case from the police in Maun. Apparently, attacking a local individual remains a local matter. Once
