The lead man of the search team cautiously entered the tunnel, a long flashlight tucked under his armpit, lighting his path. He stepped slowly from the tunnel into the first chamber, crouched in a firing position, and pivoted his body from right to left, swinging his flashlight as he moved. All he saw was the skeleton of the old sailor, the rotting furniture, and the seal hides that hung from one wall.
He relaxed, lowered his gun, and spoke into a radio set that was clamped around his head. "This is Number One. There is nobody in the tunnel and cave except the bones of an old seaman who must have been a castaway on the island. Do you read me?"
"I read you, Number One," came the voice of the helicopter pilot, accented by the roar of the engines above and behind him. "You're certain there is no sign of the NUMA agents?"
"Believe me. They're not in here."
"Soon as Numbers Four, Five, and Six reach you, I'll conduct a search of the sea cliffs."
Number One switched off his radio. It was the last act of his life. Giordino sprang from behind the sealskins and rammed one of the ancient obsidian-tipped spears into the man's throat. There was a ghastly coughing, gurgling sound, and then silence, as the searcher crumpled to the floor of the chamber, dead.
Giordino snatched away the assault rifle almost before the man struck the ground. Quickly, he pulled the body off to the side of the tunnel portal and removed the headset radio, placing it on his own head.
Next he wadded up his foul-weather gear into a ball and pressed it against the muzzle of the rifle.
"Number One," shouted a voice from the archway tunnel entrance, "what have you found?"
Giordino cupped his mouth with one hand and shouted toward the rear of the chamber. "Only an old skeleton."
"Nothing else?" The second searcher seemed reluctant to enter the cave.
"Nothing." Giordino decided to take a risk. "Come on in a
nd see for yourself, Number Two."
As if he were a buck sniffing the air, Number Two warily entered the chamber. Giordino switched on a flashlight with the beam aimed at the intruder's eyes and shot him once in the head between the eyes, the foul-weather gear muffling the gunfire. Gunn came rushing into the chamber, assault rifle at the ready, not knowing what he would find.
"Now it's two against three," Giordino triumphantly greeted him.
"Don't get cocky," Gunn warned him. "Once the helicopter returns, we're trapped in here."
"If they buy my act as Number One Eke Number Two did, maybe I can play P T Barnum again and sucker them inside."
The next batch of searchers were not nearly as guileless as the first. They approached on the road leading to the cave with the same degree of wariness as a postal inspector examining a possible letter bomb. While the helicopter hovered overhead, they advanced one by one, two covering their comrade, who dropped flat before covering them in a leapfrog tactic that moved them ever closer to the archway at the tunnel entrance. They were on their guard because Giordino was staying off the radio as much as possible and not responding to their calls, for fear of their wising up to a strange voice.
Gunn and Giordino stripped one of the bodies that closely matched Giordino's shoulder and waist size.
After slipping into the black coveralls that were two inches longer in the sleeves and three inches in the pants length, he simply folded them back, slung the assault rifle over one shoulder, and boldly stepped outside. He spoke out of one corner of his mouth into the headset's microphone, trying to use the same pitch as had the man he'd killed.
"What's taking you so long, Number Four?" he asked, unruffled, without looking up at the helicopter.
"You're acting like old women. I told you, there is nothing inside the tunnel and cave but the rotting bones of a seaman who was a castaway on the island."
"You do not sound yourself, Number One."
Giordino knew he couldn't fool them any longer. "I've got a cold coming on. Not surprising in this intolerable weather."
"Your cold must have cost you four inches in height."
"Make jokes if you will," mumbled Giordino. "I'm getting out of the rain. I suggest you do the same."
He turned and reentered the cave, certain he would not receive a bullet in the back, not until the searchers were positive they would not be shooting one of their own men.
"They're wise," said Gunn. "I heard your exchange over the radio."
"What's plan Two-A?" Giordino asked laconically.
"We crawl back through the roof collapse in the next tunnel, and ambush them from there."