Entering the wire cage of the lift, he hit the control button. With a lurch, the cage began to climb.
TWENTY-ONE
A s the lift reached the surface, Corbett could hear Sebastian’s voice coming from beyond the water cooler. Although he could not make out the exact words, he managed to catch the phrase: “Hay dos cabezas…”
The cage jolted to a halt. The late afternoon sun filtered through the entrance, creating an aura of light. Stepping out, Corbett moved toward the voices. Sebastian was kneeling beside the shallow pit to the left of the sifting screen as Nestor and Jennet crouched looking over his shoulder. However, where earlier there had been a single petrified skull, now a second cranium had begun to emerge. But unlike the first, this skull showed evidence of splintering as if it had been struck by a blunt object, leaving an irregular shaped cavity just below the temple.
“A second skull…?” Corbett asked, stepping closer.
“Si, si…” Sebastian nodded, openly agitated by the new find. “So close together and apparently from the same period. We will need to carbon date them of course. But what an unbelievable find!”
Corbett studied the petrified remains of the twin skulls for a long moment without speaking.
“Their proximity and the obvious splintering of bone just above the jawline of the second cranium suggests some sort of violent confrontation…” he speculated at last.
“Indeed,” Sebastian replied. “My thoughts precisely.”
Kneeling, Corbett pointed to the shape of the initial cranium. “From the shape and size of the first skull, I would say we are dealing with a Neanderthal, probably a male.” He indicated the shape of the forehead. “You can see where the top of the cranium flattens out then descends to a pronounced brow ridge?”
Sebastian nodded in agreement.
“But from the look of the second, despite the obvious bone trauma, there is no evident brow ridge and the brain space would appear to be measurably larger.”
“Cro-Magnon…?” Sebastian wondered aloud. Corbett nodded. “Both lying in the same spot together… Dios mio, I think you might be right. Perhaps some sort of fight to the death. Who can say? But most intriguing.”
“Keep at it,” Corbett said. “You never know what else will turn up. I’ll let Asurias know what you’ve uncovered so far. I’m sure he’ll be excited.”
“No more than I,” the Spaniard smiled as he crouched once more before the two skulls and carefully resumed his work.
*****
Corbett could see the black Cadillac Escalade with tinted, bulletproof windows and consular plates parked beside his tent as he came down the path from the cave. Lifting the tent flap and stepping inside, he found Reed waiting with a younger man who had evidently driven him out.
“Michael Corbett, meet James Fleckner. He’ll be your new liaison on the Tariq Baker exfiltration,” Reed said stepping forward. The two men shook hands as Corbett sized him up. Bespectacled and balding, Fleckner reminded him of an accountant. Another toady, he thought as Reed continued. “Which is why I wanted you two to meet.”
Seated at the field desk, Reed wore a cream-colored suit and a paisley tie. Fleckner was tie-less and dressed in a black business suit despite the heat. Corbett tried not to smile at the contrasting styles. Fleckner held up a black backpack which he placed on the desk.
“Your last communication mentioned a ‘serious complication’
requiring immediate action,” Fleckner said, cutting straight to it. “Want to tell us about it?”
Corbett found himself taking an instant dislike to the man. He wanted to tell him to go fuck himself but resisted the impulse.
“Tariq showed up yesterday evening unexpectedly. Drove himself up from the village in a van he’d borrowed from the clinic. I showed him the video of the attack on his father and explained that we were prepared to move him as soon as he was ready to travel.”
“So what’s the complication?” Fleckner asked, sounding vaguely annoyed.
“He has a wife and a child. If he returns, he’ll have to leave them behind. He said he needs time.”
“Jesus…” Reed impatiently interjected, shaking his head. “Did you explain that we don’t have an unlimited window here?”
“It’s not that simple.”
“We disagree,” Fleckner said flatly, dismissing Corbett’s assessment out of hand.
“Really? Then you tell him.”
Seeing Corbett bristle, Reed stepped in as he attempted to defuse the situation. “What else?”
“When he left, they were waiting…”
“They…? Who’s they?” Fleckner interrupted.
“You tell me. Some sort of sleeper cell. ISIS… Al Qaeda… Whoever the hell it is, they obviously want him dead.”
“You get a look at them?” Reed asked.
“Not really. A couple of guys in a red Peugeot came out of the woods and took off after him the minute he left. Luckily, I saw it happening and managed to cut them off before they could take him out.”
“A red Peugeot…?”
Corbett nodded. “Pretty sure it’s the same one used at the airport the day I arrived when they tried to boost my computer.”
“Same driver?”
“Couldn’t tell…” Corbett hesitated. “But there’s got to be a plant. Somebody here in camp who must have seen Tariq arrive and let them know. Maybe one of our interns – there’s a kid by the name of Karim Akhtar. Pakistani. Studied at Oxford.”
Reed half-smiled and glanced at Fleckner. “Nice catch… Only he works for MI-6.”
“Bullshit… He’s with the Brits?” Corbett tried to hold his anger in check as Reed nodded. “Son of a bitch. And you trust him?”
“Trust…? I wouldn’t trust my own sister. But Intel’s been picking up mobile intercepts that indicate there’s an assassination cell operating in the neighborhood. A couple of days ago we think they may have hit a gas station 100 clicks south of here. Burned it to the ground. Then there’s the two you killed in town. So far, the Spanish authorities haven’t put all the
