Burning Angels

‘As for top cover, we have some. Originally the Secret Hunters were formed under the Ministry for Economic Warfare. Churchill established the ministry to run his most secret wartime operations. At the end of the war it was supposedly shut down. In fact, there’s a small executive branch still in existence, operating out of an unremarkable Georgian town house in London’s Eaton Square. They are our benefactors. They oversee and support our activities.’

‘I thought you said it was the German government who loaned you this place?’

‘The Eaton Square people are very good networkers. At the highest levels only, of course.’

‘So who are you specifically?’ Jaeger pressed. ‘Who are the Secret Hunters? Numbers? Staff? Operators?’

‘We are all volunteers. We are called on only when needed. Even this place is only operational when we are. Otherwise, it’s in mothballs.’

‘Okay, let’s say we’re in,’ Jaeger declared. ‘What next?’

Click. Flash. Miles pulled up a slide showing an aerial view of Burning Angels mountain.

‘Choma Malaika, photographed from the air. It’s part of Kammler’s game reserve, but it’s totally off limits. It’s designated as an elephant and rhino breeding sanctuary, one closed to all but the senior reserve staff. There’s a shoot-to-kill policy for anyone else who tries to enter.

‘Of chief concern to us is what lies beneath the mountain. There are a series of massive caves — originally water-worn, but enlarged in more recent times by the action of animals. Apparently, all large mammals need salt. Elephants enter the caves in search of it, and use their tusks to gouge it out. They’ve extended the caves to mammoth proportions — if you’ll forgive the pun.

‘You’ll notice the main geological structure is a caldera — a collapsed former volcano. It’s left a ragged ring of walls around a massive central crater, where the former cone of the volcano blew itself apart. Mostly the bowl of the crater is awash with seasonal water, so forming a shallow lake. The caves lie off the water, and crucially all are within Kammler’s shoot-to-kill zone.’

Miles ran his gaze around the room. ‘We have no proof that anything sinister is hidden in those caves. We need to go in and find that proof. And that’s where you guys come in. After all, you’re the professionals.’

Jaeger eyed the aerial photo for a good few seconds. ‘Crater walls look around eight hundred metres high. We could HALO into the crater itself, pulling our chutes within the cover of the walls. Drift to ground unseen and head into the caves… The problem is remaining undetected once we’re there. They’re sure to have motion sensors positioned in the cave entrances. If it was me, I’d have video surveillance, infrared cameras, security lighting, trip flares — the works. That’s the problem with caves: there’s only one route in, which means it can be easily covered.’

‘So it is simple,’ a voice volunteered. ‘We go in knowing we will be detected. We allow ourselves to get drawn into the spider’s web. If nothing else, it will very likely reveal to us what they are doing there.’

Jaeger eyed the speaker: Narov. ‘Great. One problem. How do we get out again?’

Narov gave a dismissive toss of the head. ‘We fight. We go in heavily armed. When we have found what we are looking for, we shoot our way out.’

‘Or die trying.’ Jaeger shook his head. ‘No, there’s got to be a better way…’

For a moment he glanced at Narov, and the corners of his mouth twitched into a mischievous half-smile.

‘You know what, I may just have thought of one. And you know something else? You’re going to love it.’

31

‘This is a fully fledged game reserve, right?’ Jaeger queried. ‘I mean, it comes complete with safari drives, game lodges, the works?’

Peter Miles nodded. ‘It does. The Katavi Lodge. It’s a five-star facility.’

‘Right, let’s say you were a visitor to the lodge, but let’s say you weren’t exactly thinking straight. En route to the lodge you decide to climb Burning Angels Peak, just ’cause it’s there. The high point of the crater rim lies outside the borders of the sanctuary — the shoot-to-kill zone — right?’

‘It does,’ Miles confirmed.

‘So you’re driving to the lodge and you spy this awesome peak. You’ve got time to spare and you figure, what the hell? It’s a steep scramble, but when you reach the summit you see a sheer rock face dropping to the crater below. You see the mouth of a cave: dark, mysterious, compelling. You won’t know its forbidden territory. Why would you? You decide to abseil down to explore. That’s our route into the caves, and at least there’s a good cover story.’

‘So what’s not to like?’ Narov demanded.

‘You’re not thinking straight, remember. That’s the key. What kind of people don’t think straight? Not a bunch of hardened operators like us.’ Jaeger shook his head. ‘Newly-weds, that’s who. A rich, wealthy newly-wed couple — the kind of people who honeymoon at five-star game ranches.’