As his hands left the asphalt, he heard the Lear's engines whine to life. He scrambled over the gravel, finally coming to the chain link fence. Pressing himself flat under the dark blanket, he hoped he looked like a shadow.
He watched the Mexican enter the jet. Furst gave the man a wave, then returned to the Mercedes.
Lyons put his face in the dust as the car backed in an arc, the headlights sweeping over him. Lyons looked up to see the Mercedes's taillights go through the airfield gate, then accelerate up the road to the hilltop mansion.
Hills blocked Lyons' sight of the mansion, but he saw smoke rising into the night sky. Flashes lit the smoke from beneath. Fire. You could never trust cheap ignition: it had gone off, but too late. Furst would now search for the infiltrator who had killed the sentry.
Waiting until the jet taxied away, Lyons threw the blanket over the security fence's razor wire and managed to climb the chain link, squeezing between the blanket-covered coils of razor wire. In another minute, he was over the second fence. He started the two-mile run back to base.
* * *
Blancanales heard the trucks low-gearing through the base. Boots ran up the steps of other barracks. Then came shouts and the banging of steel on steel. Blancanales went out to the road, saw soldiers stumbling into the trucks. He jogged to the nearest truck. 'What's going on? Why the assembly?' The driver leaned from the truck window. 'You from Platoon One or Two? The ones that went out on last night's op?'
'Platoon One.'
'Then nothing's going on, at least for you. Captain Pardee told us to haul all the other platoons up to the hill. I hear they got the dogs out.'
'What're they looking for?'
''This happened before. Scuttlebutt back then was something about a federal agent. Maybe they got another one.'
'Federals...'
Pushing through the gathering soldiers, Blancanales jogged to the mess hall. He turned at the crossroad and ran to the one office with a lighted window.
'Luther Schwarz!' Blancanales called out, pounding on the door.
'It's open, Mr. Marchardo.'
His eyes bleary with fatigue, Gadgets looked up from his work as Blancanales rushed in. Rows of assembled components covered one end of the table. 'What goes?'
Blancanales went to one knee beside Gadgets, spoke only inches from his ear. 'Lyons went up the hill in Furst's car. Now they're searching the hill and the mansion. Want to go up there?'
'For sure. Ride up with me, Furst is sending a jeep.'
'He is?'
'He wants me to sweep the place for electronics. I guess I know why now.'
'Did he tell you anything about what happened?'
Gadgets shook his head. He left his worktable to find a cardboard box. Then he selected components and tools and filled the box. Outside, brakes squealed. A voice called out: 'Schwarz! Furst needs you up on the...'
'On my way,' Gadgets shouted to the waiting driver. To Blancanales: 'Come with me. Furst and Pardee trust you.'
'On
* * *
Mercury-arc floodlights illuminated every foot of the security fences that surrounded the base. Lyons would not risk climbing those fences. He stayed beyond the glare of the lights and moved silently through the shadows, searching for another way into the base.
He stopped to watch the activity inside. He saw lights in the barracks housing Platoons Three, Four, Five and Six. Soldiers crowded around the tailgate of a truck. Crouch-walking another twenty yards, he saw more trucks.
Search parties. First they would search the mansion and grounds, then the hill, finally this area. Lyons had to get back to his barrack before they searched the perimeter of the base.
How?
Staying beyond the light, he circled the base. He saw no openings in the fence. There was nowhere he could slide under it. Finally completing the circle, he returned to the road.
The one gate to the base stood open, the guards waving the trucks of soldiers through. Could he simply jump in one of the trucks? Join the search? No. The soldiers in the truck would question him.
Lyons lay in the rocks at the side of the road, the dust-caked blanket over him. Only a hundred yards away, the sentries talked. Occasionally he could hear a word or two.
For the next few minutes he considered the situation. Lyons knew he had been lucky. He had gone into the estate, overheard the conference, managed to get out. Also, Furst had made a mistake: he had not ordered a roll call before sending out the four platoons to search for the spy. It had not occurred to the mere commander that the spy might come from the ranks of his soldiers. Perhaps the detection of the two federal agents had lulled him to overconfidence. But Lyons could hardly count on the commander's confidence continuing through the night.
He decided he had two options. Wait until the search shifted to the area near the base, then join it and return with the soldiers to the base. Or hope for an empty truck returning to the base. But how would he know it was empty? He would have to chance that.
Flat in the roadside dust, Lyons looked at his watch. Five hours till dawn.
* * *
The jeep took Gadgets and Blancanales to the mansion's front door. They saw soldiers everywhere, some searching the grounds with flashlights and rifles, others searching with leashed dogs. Gadgets grabbed his box of tools and makeshift equipment, then went to the door with Blancanales one step behind. A soldier wielding an M-16 barred the entry-way.
'At ease,' Furst called, emerging from within the house. 'This man has an assignment. Why are you here, Marchardo?'
'I need a helper,' Gadgets replied.
'Then come in, gentlemen. What's in the box?'
'You had no detectors down in the storeroom, so I put one together.' Gadgets held up a mass of wires and circuitry wrapped in black electrical tape. A nine-volt battery hung from the unit. 'Doesn't look too good, but it'll find anything electronic.'
'Where do we start?' Blancanales butted in.
'Okay, Marchardo, you go around the side,' Furst ordered. 'The men there will show you where the intruder stood under the window. Schwarz will be on the other side.'
Blancanales gave the commander a quick salute and went out the front door.
Furst and Gadgets were alone in the entry hall. Furst lowered his voice to a near whisper: 'I don't want Marchardo or anyone else to know why you're going to El Paso tomorrow.'
'Sure, no problem.'
'And after you put together what I need, you'll be coming up here to install the equipment. No one will need to know about that, either. Do we understand each other?'
'You're the head man, you give the orders.'
'Good. Come on, the study's down here.'
Following Furst, Gadgets scanned the rooms and doorways that they passed, trying to memorize the floor plan. Furst glanced back and saw him studying the house.
'Like what you see?'
'Where do I get mine?'
'Should see his house in Dallas. He only had this place built so he could stay near the action. Here's the study.'
A hand-radio clipped to Furst's belt buzzed. He acknowledged the call, listened for a moment. 'Be there in a minute, over. Schwarz, I want you to start near the windows. The creep could have planted something there. Then cover the entire room. When you come up to install the new equipment, I'll have you look over the rest of the
