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"None of this would have happened if not for you. It took a woman's foresight to recognize the danger."
"What looked obvious to me, seemed absurd to others," she said quietly.
"I feel
better now that the debate and controversy are over and we can concentrate our efforts to stop this thing."
"The next problem we face is keeping it a secret. The story will most certainly go public within forty-eight hours."
"An invasion by an army of reporters is almost inevitable," Sandecker nodded. "Scientists aren't exactly noted for keeping a tight lip."
Hala stared out over the now empty auditorium. The spirit of cooperation was far above anything she'd seen in the General Assembly. Maybe there was hope after all for a world divided by so many ethnic cultures and languages.
"What are your plans now?" she asked.
Sandecker shrugged. "Get Pitt and Giordino out of Mali."
"How long has it been since they were arrested at the solar waste project?"
"Four days."
"Any word of their fate?"
"None I'm afraid. Our intelligence is weak in that part of the world, and we have no idea where they were taken."
"If they've fallen into Kazim's hands I fear the worst."
Sandecker could not bring himself to accept Pitt and Giordino's loss. He changed the subject. "Have investigators found any sign of foul play in the deaths of your World Health inspection team?"
For a moment she did not answer. "They're still probing through the wreckage of the plane," she finally said. "But preliminary reports say there is no evidence the crash was caused by a bomb. So far it's a mystery."
"There were no survivors?"
"No, Dr. Hopper and his entire team were killed along with the flight crew."
"Hard to believe Kazim wasn't behind it."
"He is an evil man," Hala said, her face somber and thoughtful. "I too think he was responsible. Dr. Hopper must have discovered something about the plague that is sweeping Mali, something Kazim could not allow to be revealed, especially among foreign governments that provide him with aid."
"Hopefully, Pitt and Giordino will have the answers."
She looked at Sandecker, an expression of sympathy in her eyes. "You must face the very real possibility that they are already dead, executed on Kazim's orders."
The weariness seemed to fall off Sandecker like a discarded overcoat as a grim smile touched his lips. "No," he said slowly, "I'll never accept Pitt's death, not until I make a positive identification myself. He's come back from the dead on any number of occasions with uncanny regularity."
Hala took Sandecker's hand in hers. "Let us pray that he can do it again."
Felix Verenne was waiting at the Gao airport when Ismail Yerli came down the boarding stairs. "Welcome back to Mali," he said, extending a hand. "I hear you spent time here some years ago."
Yerli did not smile as he took the offered hand. "Sorry for arriving late, but the Massarde Enterprises plane you sent to pick me up in Paris had mechanical problems."
"So I heard. I would have ordered another plane, but you had already departed on an Air Afrique Bight."
"I was under the impression Mr. Massarde wanted me here as soon as possible."
Verenne nodded. "You were informed by Bordeaux as to your assignment?"
"I'm well aware, of course, of the unfortunate investigations by the United Nations and the National Underwater and Marine Agency, but Bordeaux only insinuated that my job was to become chummy with General Kazim and prevent him from interfering with Mr. Massarde's operations."
