Nelson Demille - The Quest

“You can write it, Frank, but it will not run. And if it does, you will be lucky if you only get expelled.”

“The truth will set us free, Henry.”

“Not in Ethiopia. Save it for when we are out of here.”

“What is worse-me not demonstrating the proper guilt about eating during the famine, or you not letting me write the truth about it?”

Mercado stayed silent awhile, then replied, “Your point is made, and well taken.” He smiled, “Someday you will make a good journalist.”

Vivian asked, “Is the pissing match over?”

Purcell said, “Pass the bread.”

The wine came and they drank as they flipped through the photographs.

Purcell looked around the restaurant, which, if it could talk, would have some stories to tell. The clientele was mostly Western European embassy staff, though he spotted four Russians in bad suits at a table. Vesuvio, unlike the Hilton and other hotels, was not in a position to demand only hard currency, but the proprietor and staff did not go out of their way to welcome the Russians or Cubans who paid in birr.

This country was in bad shape, Purcell thought, and the worst was yet to come. The old Ethiopia was dead, and the new Ethiopia should never have been born.

Vivian said, “I assume there was no message from Colonel Gann at the hotel.”

Mercado replied, “None.”

“Do you think something has happened to him?”

Mercado replied, “If he’s been arrested, and being held in Addis, someone in the press community would have heard through sources.” He added, “But if he’s been killed in the hinterlands, we may never know.”

Purcell said, “We will hear from him.”

Vivian reminded Purcell, “You were going to tell us what a glint is.”

“It is what you see in my eyes when you walk into a room.”

Purcell thought that was funny, but Vivian did not, though she might have if Henry was not at the table. Clearly she was still uncomfortable with the situation, but no more so than he was. Henry, too, was not amused, though he smiled for the record.

Purcell said, “A glint is what it sounds like-a quick reflection of light off a shiny surface. Pilots in combat look for the glint of an enemy aircraft, or the glint of a metal target on the ground.” He picked up his wineglass. “Glass, too, can give off a type of glint. Glass roofs, even if opaque, may give off a glint.” He drank his wine.

Mercado was nodding, and Vivian was flipping through the photographs again, looking for a glint.

Purcell continued, “Obviously, the sun has to strike the object, and the object has to be reflective enough to produce a glint.”

Mercado nodded again, and Purcell continued, “Father Armano said he thought the roof could have been alabaster, and he said it let in the sunlight and bathed the church in a glow that made his head swim and hurt his eyes.” He speculated, “It could also have been quartz, or, despite what the priest thought, it could have been a type of stained glass that was rippled and mostly clear, and that might account for the strange light.” He concluded, “In any case, this substance did not let all the sunlight in, and that means it had to reflect some sunlight back.”

Mercado asked, “So do we now believe in palm trees and glints?”

Purcell replied, “I can make a stronger case for that than I can for the existence of the Holy Grail.”

Mercado did not respond to that, but said, “If we see a glint coming through palm trees, then I think we’ve found the black monastery.”

Vivian said, “I see palm trees, but I’m not seeing any glints.”

Purcell said, “We’ll have the photographs done again in a high-gloss finish, and we’ll go over them inch by inch in our rooms.”

Vivian informed them, “The Reuters photo lab guy is very taken with me, but if I ask him to reprint ninety-two photographs in a different finish, I’ll have to have a drink with him.”

“Have several,” Purcell suggested.

She smiled, then said, “He also asked me why I was taking aerial photos of jungle.”

Mercado said, “He is not supposed to ask questions. What did you tell him?”

“I told him I was trying to find the right green for my drapes.”

Mercado asked, “Is Father Armano’s mention of this roof the unintended clue he gave us as to the location of the monastery?”

Purcell replied, “It is an unintended clue, but there is something else. Something keeps nagging at my mind, and it will come to me.”

Vivian poured him more wine. “This might help.”

“Can’t hurt.”

Their lunch came and Purcell said, “Buon appetito.”

They laid the photos out on the bed in Mercado’s room. Each photograph was now in matte and gloss finish, and Vivian had also borrowed two lighted magnifiers from the smitten lab tech.

The drapes were open and they knelt around the bed, studying the photographs. Purcell was at the foot of the bed, and Vivian and Mercado on opposite sides. Vivian looked up to say something to Mercado and saw him looking at her across the bed that they’d shared a few days before. She met his gaze for a second, then looked down at the photograph in front of her.

They each had a grease marker that they used to circle palm clusters. Next, they looked closely for a glint, or a reflection of light, or anything that could be an anomalous source of light.

Purcell advised them, “Consider the position of the sun when looking for a glint or sparkle, and consider the direction we are looking at.”

They also had the terrain maps spread out so they could match the photos with the maps, but this turned out to be difficult unless there was an identifying feature in the photo that was represented on the map. Real aerial photographers, Purcell knew, had methods of printing grid coordinates on their photos, but he, Vivian, and Mercado were trying to match the photo to the maps, then mark the maps, which they would use on the ground.

Mercado said, “This is more difficult than I thought it would be.”

“It was never going to be easy or fun.”

Vivian found what she thought was a glint close to the destroyed fortress, and they all took a look at it.

Mercado said, “It is definitely a reflection of some sort, but there are no palms around it.”

Purcell added, “It’s also too close to the fortress-maybe five hundred meters.”

Vivian agreed that the monastery would not be that close to the fortress.

Mercado said, “It could be a pond, or one of the streams that run through the area. We will check it out when we get there.”

Vivian pointed out the sulphur pool of the spa and said, “That is what a body of water looks like in these photographs. It is more reflective than… glinting.”

Purcell agreed. “We are looking for something that… if we saw it from the air, we’d say something sparkled down there. Or maybe flashed. The problem with still photography is that you need to capture the glint at the moment it happens. And even then, it might not register on the film.”

Vivian said, “I used both high- and low-speed film, but I’m not sure which would be better for capturing a quick glint of light.” She added, “The matte finish actually seems better for showing a light anomaly.”

Purcell also pointed out, “It was a mostly sunny day, but there are a few cloud shadows on these photographs, and when the sun is blocked, you won’t get reflected or refracted sunlight.”

Mercado said, “We will pray for clear skies on our next flight.”

Purcell replied, “Remind God that we are chosen.”

“We are being tested.”

“Right. But tell him clouds are not fair.”

They continued to study the photographs.