Sahara (Dirk Pitt 11)

"What brought you to that descriptive conclusion?" asked Massarde sarcastically.

"We know now there were three men on the boat that blew up on the river. I suspect they set the explosives as a diversion. Two came aboard your houseboat while the third, who must have been the man called Gunn, swam to shore and made his way to the airport."

"The raid and evacuation seem incredibly well conceived and timed to coincide with the pickup of this Gunn fellow."

"It developed quickly because it was planned and carried out by first-rate professionals," Kazim replied slowly. "The assault force was alerted to the time and place of Gunn's location, most certainly by the agent who called himself Dirk Pitt."

"How can you know that?"

Kazim shrugged. "A calculated guess." He looked at Massarde. "Are you forgetting that Pitt used your satellite communications system to contact his superior, Admiral James Sandecker? That's why he and Giordino came on board your boat."

"But that doesn't explain why Pitt and Giordino didn't make any attempt to escape with Gunn."

"Obviously you caught them before they could swim across the river and join him at the airport."

"Then why didn't they flee after stealing my helicopter? The Nigerian border is only 150 kilometers away. They could have almost made it with the fuel remaining in the helicopter's tanks. Makes little sense to fly deeper into the interior of the country, then ditch the craft and steal an old car. There are no bridges across the river in the area so they can't drive south to the border. Where can they possibly go?"

Kazim's ferret eyes looked at him steadily. "Perhaps where no one expected."

Massarde's brows pinched together. "North, into the desert?"

"Where else?"

"Absurd."

"I'm open to a better theory."

Massarde shook his head skeptically. "For what possible reason would two men steal a sixty-year-old car and strike out across the most desolate desert in the world? They'd be committing suicide."

"Until now their actions have defied explanation," Kazim admitted. "They were on some sort of covert mission. That much is certain. We still aren't certain what it is they were after."

"Secrets?" Massarde offered simply.

Kazim shook his head. "Any classified material on my military program is no doubt on file at the CIA. Mali has no secret projects that would interest a foreign nation, even those of our bordering nations."

"There are two you've forgotten."

Kazim looked at Massarde curiously. "What are you suggesting?"

"Fort Foureau and Tebezza."

Was it possible, Kazim thought, that the waste disposal project and the gold mines might be connected to the intruders? His mind tried to sift for answers, but there were none. "If those were their objectives, why are they mucking around over 300 kilometers to the south?"

"I can't answer you. But as my agent at the United Nations insisted, they were searching for a source of chemical contamination that originated in the Niger and caused an expansive growth of red tides after entering the sea."

"I find that utter rot. Most likely a red herring to hide their real mission."

"Which might well be the penetration of Fort Foureau and a human rights expose of Tebezza," Massarde threw out seriously.

Kazim was silent, his expression reflecting doubt.

Massarde continued. "Suppose Gunn already had vital information on him when he was evacuated. Why else would such a complex operation be mounted to rescue him while Pitt and Giordino headed north toward our joint projects?"

"We'll find the answers when I capture them," said Kazim, his voice becoming tense with anger. "Every available military and police unit has already closed all roads and camel trails leading out of the country. I've also ordered my air force to conduct aerial reconnaissance over the northern desert. I intend to cover every option."

"A wise decision," said Massarde.

"Without supplies they won't last two days in the heat of the desert."