Devil's Eye (42 page)

“
You can’t get too philosophical, my man. It’s dangerous in our line of work. Causes hesitation.”

“
I’m not the one hesitating.”

“
You mean General Bradley?”

Caine did not answer.

“
You have to admit, we’ve encountered some bizarre events,” Jones observed. “The General’s used to Standard Operating Procedures. And what can we prove?”

“
We’ve got to see that Hammad fellow again,” Caine answered. “We didn’t get enough out of him on those cults in the desert. Where his men don’t tread at night.”

“
As I remember, we were rudely interrupted,” Jones replied sarcastically.

“
More reason to let him finish what he was telling us.”

“
That was part of our original mission to Beirut,” Colonel Jones noted.

“
To get information from Mustafa Ali Hammad.”

“
Right.”

“
Some pieces are missing.”

“
I like your kind of thinking, my good brother,” Colonel Jones said with a broad smile.

They drifted into silence and eventually sleep as the plane flew over the Atlantic, heading towards the Egyptian military airbase outside Cairo.

***

The early morning sun was already heating the tan fuselage of the Egyptian version of a Sea King helicopter on the tarmac when the two officers arrived. They climbed out a side hatch of the giant transport, wearing camouflage fatigues and their military issue Berettas. The two Colonels quickly transferred to the helicopter for a 450 mile flight along the Nile River to Aswan where they would refuel and rendezvous at the site of the discovery in the desert somewhere to the east of the famous dam.

“
Welcome, sirs!” Colonel Mohamed Abdel Mahmoud shouted as Colonels Caine and Jones climbed out upon arrival with sand swirling around them from the decelerating rotors. Mahmoud was accompanied by Major Michael Lee, who had initially surveyed the helicopter.

The terrain around them was relatively flat from tread marks of the armored column, which had moved on, except for a few support vehicles. Behind Colonel Mahmoud the two officers glimpsed the broken helicopter resting on a plateau of sand with a large circular depression cleared around it. A makeshift pontoon footbridge spanned the depression. Several electrical wires extended from a generator nearby, spanned the depression and disappeared into the hatch. The helicopter looked like an isolated castle surrounded by a sand moat. Soldiers stood casual watch in the area.

“
Looks like some serious work was done around here,” Colonel Jones commented.

“
The men were anxious to see what they found,” Colonel Mahmoud responded in a distinct British accent. “It always amazes me what a stimulus curiosity can be.”

The three officers smiled in agreement and introduced each other. “I am Colonel Mohamed Abdel Mahmoud, of the Egyptian Air Force, co
‐
commander with your Colonel Vandergaard in Operation Bright Star. This is Major Michael Lee. Perhaps you know each other?”

“
We have met, sir,” Colonel Jones replied.

“
Shall we see what we have?” Colonel Caine offered.

“
Certainly,” Colonel Mahmoud said. “We are just as anxious to know more, since this helicopter has no tie whatsoever with the Egyptian Air Force.”

“
What brought it down?” asked Colonel Jones.

“
That is a mystery, gentlemen,” Colonel Mahmoud replied. “All the systems are in working order. It could fly today, if not for the damage on impact.”

“
The helicopter’s been cleared,” Major Lee said as the officers approached the pontoon footbridge.

“
My teammate, Major Billingsly, he was bit by a viper inside. He’s doing all right, but we had to be sure the interior was clear. We found four bodies. They were removed for further examination.”

The officers crossed single file across the narrow bridge and gathered next to the cargo door, which was open to the sky. A metal ladder was propped alongside. They climbed single file up the ladder and down another one inside, stepping onto the starboard bulkhead of the prone helicopter. The interior was lit by several lamps hung by the digging party, although the light of the bright day washed out their affect.

The officers looked forward and saw the cockpit at a ninety degree angle.

“
Any documents?” Colonel Caine asked.

“
Scant,” Major Lee replied. “Some maps and a piece of paper with coordinates.”

“
Are they here?” Colonel Jones asked.

“
Yes, sir. We left them as we found them. They’re up there in the cockpit. There was also something scratched on the interior bulkhead, here.”

“
Scratched?”

“
You can see it right here, sir,” Major Lee said pointing in front of his feet. “It’s in Cyrillic, though.”

“
Well, it proves, they’re Russian,” Colonel Caine asserted as he crouched in the direction the Major pointed.

“
Yes, sir. It looks like one of the flyers—the one wearing a shoulder holster—was etching words before he died.”

Caine peered closely at the crudely etched words, barely visible on the metal.

“
Curse...on…Ame…,” he read aloud slowly as he made out the words.

“
Curse on America,” Major Lee concluded. “Curse on America! That must have been some Cold War,” he observed. “They swore at us even in their dying breath.”

Colonel Caine straightened from his crouch.

“
Maybe they weren’t swearing, Major. Maybe they were warning us,” Colonel Caine replied.

Colonel Jones exchanged a knowing glance with Caine.

Major Lee shrugged off the cryptic reply, while Colonel Mahmoud looked tellingly at Caine.

“
Any idea so far who they were?” Colonel Jones asked.

“
No,” Colonel Mahmoud replied. “We have a joint team examining everything we found inside.”

He paused then noted. “It’s curious. We made inquiry with the Russian government, which is obsessed with information and received only shrugs from official sources.”

“
That’s odd, isn’t it?” Caine observed.

“
Indeed. Our government had cordial relations with Moscow at the time—as it does now. After all, they were helping us build the Aswan Dam. Maybe there is some connection here.”

The four officers nodded in agreement.

“
There’s a map up here in the cockpit,” Major Lee said as he worked his way forward and retrieved it. “We found it lying on the bulkhead between the pilot and co
‐
pilot. And this paper with coordinates on it.”

He handed the items to Colonel Caine.

“
It’s obviously a navigation map,” Caine said with the other officers huddling around him.

“
Looks like the area around Aswan,” Colonel Jones said. “With handwritten notations in the margins.”

“
Thirty, eleven, fifty
‐
eight,” Colonel Caine read in Cyrillic. “November thirtieth, nineteen
‐
fifty eight.”

The year suddenly gripped him. “Nineteen fifty
‐
eight,” he enunciated while trying to connect its significance. “Nineteen fifty
‐
eight.”

“
Colonel?” the Egyptian officer spoke. “What about nineteen
‐
fifty eight?”

“
Nothing. Sorry. I was just thinking.”

“
The helicopter was probably involved with the Aswan Dam project,” Colonel Mahmoud offered.

“
Possibly,” Colonel Caine replied. “But what’s it doing here far from Aswan in the middle of nowhere?”

No one answered.

“
And from what you describe”—he said to Major Lee—“project engineers don’t dress with khaki flight suits and wear shoulder holsters.”

“
Did anyone check the location of these coordinates?” Caine continued.

“
No, sir. Not specifically. But from the general location, it’s likely they were flying to or from Aswan and Ras Banas
‐
the airbase.”

“
With all due respect, Major,” Caine said matter of factly. “Ras Banas was only built in the nineteen
‐
sixties, almost ten years after the flight of this ‘copter.”

The officers standing in the sun baked, stifling cargo hold glanced curiously at the Egyptian.

“
Colonel. What’s out there, between here and the Red Sea?” Caine asked.

“
Nothing.”

Chapter 42

As they clambered out of the helicopter Colonel Caine requested Colonel Mohamed Abdel Mahmoud to fly them over the coordinates.

“
Our orders from Bright Star Command were to transport you back and forth from this site to Cairo,” replied Colonel Mahmoud.

The four officers alighted next to the overturned helicopter.

“
You understand,” Mahmoud said solicitously as he straightened his uniform, “foreign officers reconnoitering Egyptian land without specific permission would be…you understand. This is outside the scope of our joint maneuvers.”

“
We understand, Colonel,” Caine replied politely. “But, it doesn’t have to be outside the scope. I’m sure you can see, we were not sent all this way just to look at an old helicopter. We know every bolt in this machine. What we need to find out—and I’m sure you share that curiosity—is what the hell it’s doing here in the middle of nowhere.”

“
Ahh, you see gentlemen,” Mahmoud said with a smile. “It is a question of cultural perspective. We are people of the desert. Curiosity about ‘nowhere’ is not a major preoccupation with us.”

Colonel Mahmoud, casually rubbed his hands together to shake off some sand. “The flyers got lost—perhaps in a sandstorm, the Soviet Union no longer exists, and the Mi 8, the successor to this craft”—he raised his hand and grasped a twisted leg of the landing gear for emphasis—“is the most widely produced helicopter in the world today. We have a large fleet in our Air Force, as we do other craft of older vintage,” Mahmoud said emphasizing “older vintage.”

Caine sensed the Egyptian officer would not let his request for a reconnaissance flight go unreciprocated. “We understand, Colonel, and we sympathize with the position of the Egyptian Air Force.”

Colonel Mahmoud saw an opening. “As you know, Colonel. We have a longstanding order from your government for a fleet of F
‐
15 Strike Eagles,” he said off handedly. “Do you think, perhaps, you can do anything to help with our order? You know our deal has been blocked for some years now.”

“
So, I understand,” Colonel Caine replied. “There were some protests from Israel, if I remember.”

“
Too effective, I’m afraid,” Colonel Mahmoud said. “A pity. We are now having to deal with the former Soviets for some of their most sophisticated equipment.”

“
We are not politicians, Colonel, but I believe Egyptian war games with the F
‐
15’s targeted Israel as the enemy.”

“
Well…” Colonel Mahmoud left the thought unsaid.

“
If that were changed,” Colonel Caine said spontaneously. “If, for example, you targeted some other neighboring country theoretically taken over by Al Quaida in your war games, perhaps some obstacles could be overcome.”

“
Perhaps,” Mahmoud replied thoughtfully. “Perhaps a word to your relevant superiors that we are addressing that issue?”

“
We will certainly pass it along,” Colonel Caine said as Colonel Jones and Major Lee nonchalantly looked on.

The Americans surmised that reporting this initiative to his superiors might mean a promotion or added prestige for the Egyptian Colonel.

“
Besides”—Colonel Caine emphasized—“There could be some ancient tomb out there. That might be of supreme cultural interest to you. And you would be the discoverer.”