Andy McDermott - The Hunt For Atlantis

“I’ve heard about it,” warned Hafez. “Not an easy place to get into.”

“We’ve gotten into worse,” Castille remarked cheerily. “Like that time in the Congo -”

“Hugo,” Chase said, waving a finger. Castille made an “oh, right” noise and stopped talking.

“Let me guess,” said Nina. “Another country where you’ve never officially been?”

Chase cocked a conspiratorial eyebrow. “Something like that.”

They continued through the woods. The trees eventually thinned out, revealing a dirt road ahead. “Is this it?” asked Nina.

Chase scanned the area. “Should be. We need to look out for a stream running down from…” He pointed up at a nearby hill. “Down from there. That’s where she said she’d meet us.”

“She , huh?” Nina asked.

“What’s the matter, Doc?” Chase replied. “Jealous?”

“Oh, totally,” she replied, clapping a theatrical hand to her heart. Castille and Hafez chuckled. Chase snorted and led them down the road.

After another few minutes, they saw a vehicle ahead, a battered old van. Chase directed everyone back into the cover of the trees. “Wait here,” he said.

Nina watched as he slipped through the woods, moving with a lightness and agility that was almost comically at odds with his stocky build. The closer he got to the van, the lower he crouched, to the point where she practically lost sight of him. He paused ten yards from his target, then rushed over, disappearing behind it.

She realized Castille had drawn his gun, and even Hafez had armed himself with one of the rifles they’d taken from the train. “Just in case,” the Belgian assured her.

No sign of movement. They waited anxiously as the seconds ticked by… then Chase reappeared and waved.

“It’s safe,” Castille said, putting away his gun.

“What if somebody’s got him at gunpoint?” asked Nina.

“He would have held his thumb against his hand.”

“You guys love your little tricks and codes, don’t you?” she said, amused.

“It keeps us alive.” He lifted Hafez, Nina helping to support him as they started towards the van.

When they reached it, Chase was talking to someone inside the cab. “Everyone,” he announced, “I’d like you to meet a very good friend of mine who’s going to help us get our arses out of here. This is Shala Yazid.”

A young woman of about twenty-five stepped down from the van. She was extremely attractive-and also extremely pregnant.

“Oh my,” said Castille, unable to hold in a smirk. “This, I was not expecting. Something you forgot to tell us about your last visit, Edward?”

“You probably remember Hugo Castille,” Chase said, annoyed. “He was that very stupid Belgian with no manners.”

Shala smiled. “Of course I remember him. Although you had a…” She tapped her upper lip. “A mustache?”

“Yeah, and we’re all glad that’s gone.”

“Bonjour,” said Castille, with a half-bow. “And congratulations! I take it you married since I saw you last?”

“To a wonderful man,” she answered, beaming.

To Nina, Chase seemed momentarily put out, before recovering and introducing the others. “This is Hafez,” he said, “who’s been in better nick-”

“It is only a scratch!” Hafez insisted.

“-and the most important woman in my life right now, Dr. Nina Wilde.”

Shala gave Chase a look of delight. “You are married?”

“No!” Nina gasped.

“Bloody hell, could you say that any quicker?” Chase said with mock offense before turning back to Shala. “No, I’m her bodyguard. And God, her body needs a lot of guarding.”

“And you want to take her to Failak Hajjar?” asked Shala. “It will need even more.”

“I don’t want to take her to him, we only just escaped from the bugger’s mates. But he’s kidnapped my boss. We need to rescue her.”

“It will take an hour to get there,” Shala said. “Perhaps longer. I have a radio scanner in the van; there is a lot of police and military activity. Your doing?”

“Uh, yeah.” Chase rubbed his neck. “I sort of… crashed a train. Or two.”

“Oh, Eddie!” She batted a fist against his arm. “You are a wonderful man, and I appreciate everything you have done for my family-but do you have to destroy huge parts of my country every time you come here?”

“Hey, no civvies got hurt!” he protested. “Probably. I’m pretty sure the other driver bailed out okay…”

Shala shook her head in irritation, then looked at Nina. “Everything he touches is destroyed! He is ten years older than me, and he behaves like my little brother with his toys!”

“Mm-hmm,” Nina replied, nodding in agreement. Her tone became mischievous. “So how do you know Eddie? He keeps claiming that he’s never been to Iran. Officially, that is.”

“My family is, shall we say, no friend of the current regime,” Shala answered. “So we have provided help to undercover operations carried out by…” she smiled at Chase and Castille, “certain gentlemen.”

“Such as sabotaging the heavy water plant at Arak,” said Castille, smiling back.

Chase let out a series of loud fake coughs. “Classi fied!” he hacked. Castille’s smile became a sheepish grin. “Anyway,” Chase said impatiently, “we need to get moving. Hugo, you and the doc put Hafez in the back of the van. Did you bring the medical kit?” Shala nodded. “Great. We’ll patch him up on the move. Don’t suppose you’re the medical kind of doc, Doc?”

“No, and please stop calling me that.”

“Whatever you say, Dr. Wilde.”

“Better.”

“If you two are not married… you should be,” Shala said with a smile, stunning them both into silence as Castille and Hafez burst out laughing.

Kari looked up as another guard, armed with an MP-5 submachine gun, arrived. “Hajjar wants them.”

The bearded guard grinned at Kari through the bars. “If you’re lucky, maybe Hajjar will let you go to the toilet. I’m sure he’d love to help you with your clothes!”

She didn’t deign to respond, waiting impassively as they unlocked the door.

Shala pulled the van over at the side of a mountain road. “There,” she said, pointing.

Chase craned his neck to look. “Wow. That’s not what I expected.”

Nina followed his gaze. Up on the top of a steep rocky slope was a very incongruous building. “God, who designed that? Walt Disney?”

“The shah had it built,” said Shala. “It was one of his summer palaces, but he only visited it a few times before the revolution. After that, the mullahs used it as a retreat, until Hajjar bought it from the government.”

“It looks like a cartoon,” Nina observed. The building was practically a parody of a Persian palace, its upper levels crammed with minarets and domes. “I guess the shah didn’t have much taste.”

“I was going to say I thought it looked cool,” Chase remarked, “but I won’t bother now.” He surveyed the fortress through binoculars. “How do you get up to it?”

“From the outside, you can only get there up the access road or by helicopter,” said Shala. Castille let out a muted groan at the last word.

“No cable car?” asked Chase.

“No.”

“Shame. I always wanted to re-create Where Eagles Dare.”

“The access road is guarded, I assume,” Castille said.

Shala nodded. “Yes. There is a gate at the bottom, and there are television cameras along the road with another gate at the top. We have been watching Hajjar for some time; he usually has at least four men on guard. There is also an electric fence.”