Quickly she stepped down from the van and up into the plane. Herman followed her. Adin took the dog by the leash. Once inside he gave Bugsy to Sarah. “Hang on to him and don’t let him bark.”
“How do I stop him?”
“Just like this.” Adin took Bugsy’s muzzle with his hand and held it firmly but gently.
“He’ll let me do that?”
“Yeah, if you show him who’s boss,” said Adin. He smiled at her.
She took the dog up the ramp and was immediately confronted with what was in front of her.
It wasn’t until then that Adin noticed the configuration inside the plane. The twin fuel tanks weren’t there. He turned to the other Israeli. “Where are the tanks?”
“It’s all right. We have a single tank up front, centered under the wings. We’ll have enough range. Besides, you’re going to need what’s in those other containers.” There were two large metal boxes balancing the load, one of them the size of a double shipping container but not quite as high. It had a drop-down door facing the open ramp.
Chapter Fifty
Back at the airport in Playa del Carmen, I question the pilot as to exactly what he saw during his single flyover of the facility.
It has been several months, and he can’t recall all the details with precision. From what he remembered seeing, the area was fenced off and there appeared to be some fixed guns, though he can’t recall their precise location. He was scared, trying to maneuver the small ultralight to dodge the bullets.
What he remembers most was the large satellite dish. “I almost flew into it,” he tells me. “It was very big. Bigger than this building.” He is talking about the hangar in which we are standing.
“Excuse me?”
“No, I swear it,” he says.
Harry is looking at him as if it’s a fish story.
“It saved my life.”
“Why do you say that?” says Harry.
“Because when I flew toward it, they stopped firing. I realized they didn’t want to hit it. So I kept going. But sooner or later I had to go around it or over it. That’s when I realized how big it was. It sat on top of its own building,” he says.
“That would have to be a commercial broadcasting dish,” says Harry. “What would they be doing with that?”
“I don’t know.”
We decide to stay the night at a motel on the coast in Playa del Carmen. We now know how far the distance is to the location of the facility. As the crow flies not far, by car perhaps an hour.
“So what do we do?” says Harry. “Let’s assume your man is right, that what he says is up that road is there. I’d say we’re at an end.” Over dinner at a small restaurant overlooking the beach we talk.
“I think we need to know for sure,” I tell him.
“When are you going to know for sure, when they shoot you?” says Harry.
“What if we call Thorpe and try and get him to bring in the Mexican police and all they find is some narco lab, or worse, what if it’s a Mexican government facility? It could be a prison for all we know.”
“With that kind of a dish,” says Harry, “I doubt it.”
“Maybe it’s a defense facility of some kind. What then? They’ll scoop us up and send us home and that’s the end of it. Liquida will be gone until he comes back to hunt us on his own terms. Everything we’ve done to this point will have been for nothing.”
“You heard what the man said,” says Harry. “They fired at him with antiaircraft weapons.”
“The Mexican government might do that if you overfly an area that’s restricted. The pilot has no idea what it was. He was assuming it had to do with one of the cartels. He may be right.”
“I’m sorry, but I think we ought to call Thorpe,” says Harry. “How about you?” He looks to Joselyn for a second.
“I don’t know. I don’t mind admitting I’m scared.”
“There. See?” says Harry.
“But Paul’s right about one thing. We’re only going to get one bite at this. I think we need to be sure of our information before we call Thorpe.”
“How do we do that, walk up and knock on the front door?” says Harry.
“I think if we can get in close enough, we’ll know. How big would you say that hangar was we were standing in?” I ask him.
“I don’t know,” says Harry.
“It had to be at least a hundred feet wide and almost as deep.”
“Bigger than that,” says Joselyn.
“If he’s right, that’s one hell of a satellite dish,” I tell Harry.
“Let’s call Thorpe and tell him about it,” says Harry.
“Not until we see it,” I tell him.
“It would be good if we could send him a picture,” says Joselyn. “Tell him the location. He would have access to satellite intelligence. A good analyst with high-quality photographs might be able to tell what that dish is for.”
“See, women are smarter than men,” I tell Harry.
“Not if survival counts for anything,” he says.
“Have another glass of wine,” she tells him.
“What do you mean, they’re gone?” Thorpe shouted into the phone.
The agent on the other end swallowed hard. “We rang the bell and nobody answered. We got the front desk to let us in and the unit’s empty. They left some of their clothes, but the girl and the one you wanted us to talk to, this Herman Diggs, both gone.”
“You checked the building?” said Thorpe.
“Top to bottom.”
“What about the security cameras?”
“We looked. There’s nothing. They didn’t leave by the front door. We know that. Video of the back door shows no movement. According to our notes, there was supposed to be a dog. It’s gone as well.”
“Where’s the kid?” asked Thorpe.
“Don’t know,” said the agent.
Thorpe cupped his hand over the mouthpiece of the phone and looked at Bill Britain, who was seated across the desk from him. “Where’s Hirst?”
Britain shook his head.
“Find out if he showed up for work today,” said Thorpe.
Britain plucked his cell phone from his belt and headed out into the other room.
“Listen,” Thorpe said as he went back to the agent on the phone. “Get a key and check Hirst’s apartment. Do you have a cell number for him?”
“Yeah.”
“Give it to me,” said Thorpe.
The agent gave it to him, and Thorpe jotted it down on the notepad on his desk. “Call me the minute you get into his apartment.” Thorpe hung up. He immediately dialed the cell phone number written on the pad. It rang three times and the insipid voice came over the phone. “This is Adin. I’m away from my phone. Leave a message and I’ll get back to you.” Thorpe slammed the receiver down on the phone.
Two seconds later Britain came back in the room. He was shaking his head. “Hirst was supposed to be in a meeting at ten this morning. He never showed up,” said Britain.
