The Pacific Conspiracy (9 page)

Kouri seemed confused. "What does that have to do with me?"

Frank stepped up. "We've traced some of the material back to your company. We'd like to see a list of the people you've sold various supplies to over the last six months or so."

Kouri frowned. "We deal with only the most reputable clients, I assure you."

"We're not trying to imply that you've done anything wrong, Mr. Kouri," Endang said quickly. "We're just looking for a place to start."

Kouri nodded. "I understand." He turned around and started flipping through the papers on his desk. "Ah. Here we are." He pulled out a thick stack of pages that had been stapled together and started riffling through them. "Hmm. Hmm."

He turned back to the three of them. "There are only five projects we are currently supplying where I do not know the builder personally. Two are hotels on Irian Jaya. A high-rise in Djakarta. A guest house here on Bali, near Besakih. And an addition to the sultan's kraton in Yogyakarta."

Frank shook his head. That didn't help them much.

"Do you have a list of what was ordered?" Endang asked.

"Of course," Kouri said. He put the papers back on his desk and turned to the filing cabinets next to them. He flipped through the drawers, pulled out several manila folders, and handed them to Endang.

Frank and Joe peered over her shoulder as she scanned the contents of each folder in turn.

"Most of those pages," Kouri said, "contain site specifications. The list of actual supplies ordered is on the yellow paper stapled to the back of each folder."

Frank nodded. There were also photographs of the proposed sites in each file, he saw as they went through them. The high-rise in Djakarta was going to be built in the middle of a whole block of similar buildings. One of the hotels in Irian Jaya was going to go up in the middle of some of the most spectacular, pristine wilderness Frank had ever seen.

Endang opened the folder for the guest house in Besakih. Frank saw that it wasn't scheduled for completion until later that year. Too bad. With all the activity around there because of that big religious ceremony, they probably needed another guest house now.

Endang flipped another page, and there were a photo of the site.

It looked like a beautiful setting. There was a series of pagodas in the foreground set against lush forests and a towering mountain peak.

Frank suddenly realized he'd seen that view before. For a second he couldn't remember where, though. Then all at once it hit him. That night aboard the Hatta, when he'd surprised Nwali and Bob in the ship's computer room. This was almost the exact image.

He reached over Endang's shoulder, pulled the photo out of the folder, and took a closer look.

"It's a volcano," he said quietly.

His brother and Endang turned around to face him.

"What?" Joe asked.

Endang looked at the picture Frank was holding. "You're right. That's Mount Agung, the highest peak on Bali. Those structures are at Temple Besakih."

She paled as she realized what Frank was suggesting.

"Agung erupted during the last Eka Dasa Rudra ceremony. It's been dormant for almost thirty years."

Frank looked at her. "But not for much longer now."

"This is unbelievable," Joe said. "You're sure we're heading to the right place?"

His brother nodded. Joe really didn't doubt Frank. He knew Frank was right the second he'd identified Agung. A big enough explosion there would trigger worldwide seismic disturbances just like the ones Frank had seen on the professor's computer simulation. An explosion at this place would cause exactly the kind of "change" Nwali had been talking about back in Djakarta. Though he still didn't know why the Assassin leader was so keen on change, Joe liked Indonesia the way it was - not split in half by a hydrogen bomb.

Normally, he wasn't in favor of rewarding terrorists, but Joe really hoped the U.N. could come up with the ten billion dollars.

Kouri had told them the guest house was being "built" by a man named Anton Lee, the name that had been on Butch's passport. Lee was supposedly on site now, in a small village called Selat. After thanking the man, they'd gotten back into their car and started the journey there. The only problem was that Selat was on the way to Besakih. From the jammed roads ahead it seemed as if everyone else was on the way to Besakih as well.

At least Joe was getting a glimpse of an entirely different world. The scenery was spectacular. The road climbed upward toward Mount Agung, passing through lush rain forests and several small villages. At one point there was enough of a break in the forest to see all the way down the mountainside to the ocean, several miles away.

Along the road people were on the way to Besakih. Whole villages were traveling together, Endang said. Joe saw women in colorful sarongs, and men in shorts and shirts and turbans, holding umbrellas and carrying offerings for the Eka Dasa Rudra ceremony.

"Check that out," Joe said. Ahead of them a number of women were walking along with jugs the size of medicine balls balanced on their heads. "Those things must weigh close to twenty pounds each."

"Probably more," Frank said. "And they're getting to move faster than we are."

"Selat. Here we are," Endang said as they passed a large sign. She pointed at a food stand just ahead. "Pull in there. I'll see if they know anything about a construction site."

The stand consisted of a grill and several benches. Endang went up to the man behind the grill and spoke with him.

"We have to take that side road over there," she told Frank and Joe when she returned to the car. "He says there's something going on down a dirt road off the main road, about an hour away. He wasn't sure this car would make it."

"We could do it on those," Frank said, pointing to a pair of motorbikes parked by the food stand. Two young men, about fifteen or sixteen, were leaning against them, wolfing down food.

"It's worth a try," Endang said. "I'll talk to them."

Joe watched as she started talking to one of the boys. He smiled and nodded as Endang pulled something out of her handbag and showed it to him. Then she pointed up the road toward Agung.

He listened to Endang, then shook his head. Endang said something else. He shook his head again. She threw up her hands in exasperation and walked away.

"What happened?" Joe asked.

"I told him I was a government agent and that I needed to requisition his vehicle."

"And?"

"And I don't want to tell you what he said."

"Let me try," Frank said.

"His name is Haji," Endang called after Frank. "For all the good that will do you."

Frank walked over to the boy and pointed to the motorbikes. Haji shook his head. Then Frank reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of bills, which he held out for Haji to take. Haji's eyes widened a little, and he waved his friend over.

"We'll bring these back in a few hours," Frank said. "Do you understand?"

The young men exchanged glances and nodded.

"You got a deal," Haji said in clear, almost unaccented English. He took the money.

"Watch our car, too," Joe said.

"You got it, boss," Haji said, smiling. He walked away with his friend.

"Mission accomplished," Frank said, climbing on one of the bikes. "Let's get going." Endang slid on behind him, and they were off.

The road was unpaved and clearly used infrequently. Rocks and other debris from the forest often blocked their path. They kept having to ride around outcroppings of blackened rock that sometimes stretched for several hundred feet, like hardened streams.

"What are those?" Joe called ahead. He was riding behind Frank and Endang.

"Lava flows," she called back. "From Agung's last eruption."

Joe noticed the forest thinning out as they continued. He realized that they'd probably gone up a thousand feet in elevation. Every few hundred yards or so there would be a break in the forest canopy, and he could see Mount Agung looming above. It was probably just his imagination, he thought, but at one point he thought he saw the top of the volcano actually smoking.

Suddenly he heard a loud noise like a gunshot.

"What was that?" he asked.

Up ahead Frank had pulled off the road.

"Flat tire," he said disgustedly, climbing off the bike. He examined the front tire and shook his head. "And there's no spare. I'm going to have to go back to Selat to get this fixed."

"I could take the tire, get it fixed, and ride back," Joe said.

Frank shook his head. "Then three of us are sitting around waiting. It's already getting late." He looked up at the sun, which was starting to set. "We don't have a lot of time to find this place before dark. You two had better go on ahead."

"All right," Joe said reluctantly. Endang climbed on behind him. "If we don't find anything, we'll meet you back at that roadside stand."

"I'll catch up to you!" Frank called after them as they pulled away.

"Gina! How - " Joe shook his head in confusion.

"Don't move," Endang said, waving her gun in the Assassins' direction. "Joe, who is this?"

He couldn't answer. He was still in shock. Gina was alive. It couldn't be! The Assassins had said she'd died in a hail of gunfire back in Alaska, trying to save his life. They had lied - of course they had lied.

Gina ran to him. Before Joe's mind could register what was happening, she was embracing him.