The Moses Legacy - Adam Palmer [51]
But as she drove towards the valley, she saw the jeep that Daniel and the others had been in drive past her in the opposite direction. And it was not Mansoor at the wheel. Indeed, neither Mansoor nor either of the others were in the jeep. It was Goliath – and he was on his own.
In an instant she realized what had happened. She was too late! He must have killed them.
Damn! She had screwed up, big time.
She realized now that she should have gone after him and run him over. Then, instead of worrying about people finding the body and linking it to the rented car of an Irish tourist, she should simply have buried him in the sand. They would never have found him.
Instead, she had given him time – time to do his dirty work. Time to kill three more people and time to get the clothing sample that he had been sent there to find. That was far more serious. Three people dead was bad enough, and that was on top of the other killings: Carmichael, Roksana and the nurse at the hospital. If Goliath was allowed to fulfil Senator Morris’s evil scheme it could be the fate of an entire nation.
So she had to stop him – and stop him now.
But then another thought came to her. What if he hadn’t killed the people in the tomb? What if he had merely locked them inside? What if they were still alive? Shouldn’t she go there to check?
Then she realized why she couldn’t do that. First of all, revealing herself to them would compromise her identity and her mission. Secondly, time was of the essence. They could probably survive in the tomb for several days – possibly even weeks if they had enough water. But if Goliath escaped now she might not get a second chance to catch up with him – at least not while it could make a difference.
Even in a worst-case scenario, they could survive for several hours, and she could always put in an anonymous call alerting the authorities to their whereabouts. But she couldn’t afford to lose Goliath’s trail. He already had a head start, but she was still in contention. Moreover, she had a pretty good idea where he was going.
She swung the car round and headed back along the spur road in pursuit of her quarry.
Chapter 37
‘His neck’s been broken,’ said Mansoor. The sorrow in his voice was genuine; although he did not know the guardian personally, the man had been loyal. And he almost certainly had a family.
‘What are we going to do?’ asked Gabrielle, her fear growing.
‘Let’s not panic just yet,’ said Mansoor.
‘But no one knows we’re here!’ she replied. ‘You never told anybody! You didn’t phone in or anything.’
‘When we don’t make contact tomorrow they’ll know something is up. They’ll know where to look. They’ll see our jeep.’
‘If it’s still there,’ said Gabrielle. ‘I heard a car drive off.’
‘That must have been the car of whoever did this,’ said Daniel. ‘Whoever locked us in must have got here somehow – presumably by car – and whatever you heard, it was probably them driving off.’
‘Not necessarily,’ said Mansoor. ‘It’s possible to walk across from the main valley.’
‘I’ve got an idea,’ said Daniel, taking out his mobile phone.
Almost in unison, the other two whipped out theirs. Daniel pressed the button to illuminate his and noticed that there was no signal. He tried a number, but got nothing. A brief glance at the others confirmed that they had not had better luck. He had hoped that because they were almost at surface level, they would get at least a weak signal – enough to call for help. Then he realized that they were behind an iron door and shielded on all sides by a thick layer of rock. Aside from that, the coverage in this country was none too good at the best of times.
‘We’re gonna die here!’ said Gabrielle, breaking down in tears and gasping for breath. Daniel put a comforting arm round her in the hope of calming her fears. Her sobbing declined in intensity and her breathing became shallower. Meanwhile, Mansoor quietly arranged the guardian’s body into some semblance of a dignified position. And then, quite abruptly, a smile