field exercise for semi-arid terrain.'
'An excellent job,' added Sandecker, pumping Hollis's hand.
'Let's hope General Chandler buys the good Captain's report,' said Giordino.
'If he bothers to hear it,' Pitt replied. 'The General's most urgent business is to stop half a million aliens from flooding across the border and grabbing the Library's art and knowledge. He doesn't have time to fool with us.'
'What about the Roman sword?' asked Hollis, holding it UP 'That goes back in Sam's museum collection.'
Hollis looked at Pitt. 'You didn't find it in the trench?'
'No.'
'You get a Turn on digging holes?'
Pitt acted as though he hadn't heard Hollis. He walked a short distance to the summit of the hill and looked down the slope into Mexico. The tent city had swelled to twice what it was the previous day. Tomorrow night, he thought. Topiltzin would unleash the stampede tomorrow night.
He turned to his left and stared up at the slightly higher Gongora Hill.
The Army Engineers were digging exactly where Lily had placed her stakes four days ago. They made two separate excavations. One was at the common tunnel, complete with overhead supports. The other was an open mine, a gouged crater in the side of the hill. Work was going slowly since General Chandler had pulled away most of the Engineers to help in the border defense.
Pitt turned and came back down the trench. He walked up to Hollis.
'Who's your best demolition expert?'
'Major Dillenger is one of the best explosive ordinance men in the army.'
'I need about two hundred kilograms of C-six nitroglycerin gel .
Hollis looked at him in genuine surprise. 'Two hundred kilograms of C-six? Ten kilos can take out a battleship. Do you know what you're asking? The nitrogel mix is shock-hazardous.'
'Also a battery of spotlights,' Pitt pressed on. 'We can borrow them from a rock-concert group. Spotlights, strobe lights, and eardrum-blasting audio equipment.' Then he turned to Lily. 'I'll leave it to you to find a carpenter who can knock together a box.'
'Why in God's name do you want all that stuff ?' Lily asked, eyes wide with curiosity.
'You don't want to know,' Giordino moaned.
'I'll explain later,' Pitt hedged.
'Sounds crazy to me,' said Lily, uncomprehending.
The lady was only half right, Pitt thought. His plan was twice as crazy as anything she could conceive. But he kept everyone in the dark. He didn't think now was the right time to tell them he planned to take his act on the stage.
The green Volvo with the taxi markings stopped at the drive of Yazid's villa near Alexandria. The Egyptian army guards, who were posted by the personal order of President Hasan, stiffened into alertness at the gate as the taxi sat there without anyone's getting out.
Ammar sat in the back seat, his eyes and jaw heavily bandaged. He wore a blue silk robe and a small red turban. His Only medical treatment since escaping Santa Inez had come during a two-hour visit to a back-street Buenos Aires surgeon before chartering a private jet to fly him across the ocean to the small airport outside the city.
He no longer felt pain in his empty eye sockets. The drugs took care of that, but it was still agony to speak through his shattered jaw. And although he felt a strange sense of tranquility, his mind functioned as ruthlessly and efficiently as ever.
'We ate here,' said Ibn from the driver's seat.
Ammar visualized Yazid's vffla in his mind-every detail as if he could actually see. 'I know,' he said simply.
'You do not have to do this g, Suleiman Aziz.'
'I have no more hopes or fears. ' Ammar spoke slowly, fighting the pain of each syllable. 'It is the will of Allah.'
Ibn swung from behind the wheel, opened the rear door and helped Ammar to climb out. He led Ammar up the driveway and turned him so he faced the heavily guarded gate.
'The gate is five meters in front of you,' Ibn spoke haltingly in a voice heavy with emotion. He gently embraced Ammar. 'Goodbye, Suleiman Aziz. I will miss you.'
'Do what you promised, my friend, and we will meet in Allah's gar-den.'
Ibn quickly turned and retraced his steps to the car. Ammar stood without moving until he heard the sound of the engine fade in the distance. Then he approached the gate.
'Stop right there, blind man,' ordered a guard.
'I have come to visit my nephew, Akhmad Yazid,' said Ammar.
The guard nodded to another, who disappeared into a small office and came out with a folder containing twenty or so names.
'Uncle, you say. What's your name?'
Ammar enjoyed making his last play as an impostor. He had collected on an old debt from a colonel in Abu Haniid's Defense Ministry and received the list of names of those permitted entry into Yazid's villa. He selected one who couldn't be immediately contacted.
