then scrambled over the opening.
The tunnel, its sides lined with closely fitted stones, was empty. Karr ran down about halfway and stopped. He took a video bug from his pocket and slapped it onto the tunnel ceiling, barely six inches above his head. Then he trotted back up the steps. The woman lay in a heap on the floor, still dazed.
“Jeez, I’m sorry, ma‘am,” he said, raising her head and trying to revive her.
The woman opened her eyes, then jerked back in fright.
“Oh man, I’m really sorry. It’s OK,” he said. He slung the gun over his shoulder and pulled her up. “Chafetz, get those translators online here. Help me out. This poor old lady looks like she saw a ghost.”
78
“You should have stopped him,” Rubens told Telach as they stood under the large screen at the front of the Art Room.
“I don’t have a magic wand,” snapped Telach. “Frankly, he’ll be of considerable help scouting the camp.”
“I don’t wish to argue that point, Ms. Telach. It’s the principle of who is running the mission.”
“Which is more important? Principle or results?”
Rubens took a step back. “Well put. But we must be mindful of both.”
“Mr. Rubens, Marie — you want to listen in to Tommy Karr,” interrupted Sandy Chafetz. “He found a housekeeper at the site where the Russian phone was used. She’s telling him about large crates she saw, and mechanical equipment.”
“Switch it on,” said Rubens.
A brittle voice filled the room, its words a mixture of Spanish and another tongue Rubens wasn’t familiar with. Rubens heard her describe large crates that had once been stacked at the side of the barn. One of the Art Room translators repeated what the woman had said in English. He was interrupted by Tommy Karr, asking for another piece of “whatever this great stuff is I’m eating.”
“She works for a general,” Chafetz said.
“Tucume?” asked Rubens. The area here was under his command.
“Tommy hasn’t had a chance to ask her specifically, but it has to be. She thinks he works for him.”
“So what happened to these crates?” Karr asked in English. The translator gave him the words in Spanish, and Karr repeated them.
“Perhaps Senor Stephan took them with him. He left a note saying the general sent a car for him Thursday night.”
“Senor Stephan?” asked Karr.
“Did he have a last name?”
The woman began explaining that he didn’t use one.
“Tell Mr. Karr a last name isn’t crucial,” Rubens told Chafetz, guessing this
79
Lia stood near the door of the house, straining to hear what was going on outside. The guerrilla leader was saying something to two men about the military patrols in the area. As she leaned close to the door to hear, the floor squeaked slightly and one of the guards turned around. He angrily shooed her back toward the center of the room.
“I just wanted to know if I could get some food,” she told him. “I’m hungry.”
The man replied in Spanish that she would do as she was told or she would have a diet of lead. Lia went back and sat at the table.
“Could you make anything out?” she whispered to Rockman.
“They were talking about the military unit by the crash site. Your friend the commander is sending more men to reinforce the people tracking the soldiers. The guards don’t seem to understand why the army doesn’t surrender and join the revolution,” said Rockman. “They killed most of the small unit that rescued you near the helicopter because they wouldn’t give up. The commander used a lot of Maoist rant Called each other ‘comrade’ and all that crap. I thought I was in a time warp.”
“They say anything about me?”
“Not that we could pick up. They don’t seem to think you’re important.”
“Story of my life.”
“We’ll take you tonight. Ought to be pretty easy. Charlie’s headed in your direction.”
“Charlie?”
“He’s going to scout for the paramilitary team. He’ll be on the ground any minute now. We’re going to set up the paramilitary team so they can come in quickly if there’s a problem, but like I said, we’ll wait until nightfall, when things will be easier to pull off.”
“I thought he was way up north with Tommy?”
“Charlie heard what happened and was worried about you, so he decided to help out,” said Rockman. “Tommy said he didn’t need him.”
“I don’t need him, either.”
I should never have told him I was scared, she thought. The panic in the bank vault was a freak thing. She didn’t need to be rescued or looked after.
Especially by Charlie Dean. She could take care of herself.
“Lia? You sound like you’re mad at him.”
“I’m all right.”
She could get out of here herself, whenever she wanted. She still had her pistol. It would not be difficult to shoot the two guards at the door, grab one of their rifles, and then run into the woods nearby.
The gunshots would alert the others. And she didn’t have the voter cards, which were still hidden in the briefcase.
As she pondered a way of retrieving them, a man she hadn’t seen before came into the hut carrying a basket. He set the basket at the edge of the table and pushed it toward her. Then he quickly retreated, as if he might catch germs from being in the same room with her.
“Wait!” said Lia in Spanish.
The man froze.
“What is this?”
“Food.” The man was large, nearly as big as Tommy Karr, but he seemed puzzled, as if he didn’t quite understand her simple question.
“I want to speak to Paolo,” Lia told him. “The commander. You understand?”
He nodded hesitantly.
“Go ahead; you can go,” Lia said.
The basket contained two small loaves of bread. Though she was hungry, Lia didn’t trust the guerrillas enough to eat it. Five minutes later, the guerrilla leader appeared in the doorway.
“There’s a problem?” he asked.
“My computer. I would like to work.”
“We can’t spare the electricity. We have to generate our own.”
“It has a battery.”
