Page 102 (1/1)

"Once we cliully at the base of the hill where the cave entrance is We’ll have only scraggly trees and some blackberry bushes for cover, and we’ll use theh up on the hill, they could see us at any tients, and they fore of the rise, waved everyone to stop He went down on his stomach in the snow, pulled out binoculars, and passed slowly froully in front of theully where the entrance was, soly trees and bushes, just as he reuard, but he did see lines of boot prints in the snow, partially covered with the fresh snowfall but still visible, for over it, and coully to the cave entrance Foot traffic, recent and heavy Were they s out, or were they out of tuna fish? He scooted back to where the agents were squatted on their haunches, bunched together

He said, "The entrance is about six feet up the hillside The boot tracks lead right up to it They’ve covered the entrance with tree branches, so they have a limited view out We’ll split up and coully"

Ruth said, "Dix and I will go in first, because it gets hairy real fast inside the cave Ree with a nearly sheer wall of rock below you about two feet to your left I’ve told you about this already, but let o into the cave, hug the wall on the right If we take gunfire, hit the ground and stay away froe on your left"

Mac Brannon looked around "If I had to pick the perfect hidey hole, this’d be it Easy to access frohway and not rinned like a bandit

While the agents crawled down the side of the bowl, fanning out, Dix whispered to Brannon, "You need to stay back, and trust that Ruth and I will take care of things" Dix knew to his boot heels there would be at least one guard, probably right inside

The agents caures clothed in black, now dusted hite There was no movement they could see, no voices they could hear There was no sign of anyone

Dix stood on one side of the entrance, Ruth on the other, his MP-5 in his hand He smiled at her, then lifted the branches out of the way

Winkel’s Cave

Tea passage and listened It was a ghostly sound that echoed to thehtening sound to some of them as it fell and rose and wailed in the silent air To Anna, it sounded familiar and beautiful, and she knew io," she whispered

It was the distorted sound of a guitar being tuned Soon they were listening to a classical guitar being played with incredible technique, the notes frenetic but perfectly controlled Anna recognized it as "Runature pieces

She turned off her headlaht between her palht ai, and made her way to the front of the line She hts and keep back She walked forward ten steps through inky blackness, turned a sharp corner, and nearly walked into a huge stalaght-foot spear She realized she’d seen it because it was illuht So they’d brought in a generator, or batteries There was light ahead She switched off her flashlight, went back and beckoned for the team to follow her They slipped to their knees, flattened, and looked down a path that curved sharply to their right

She motioned for theet a closer look It was the huge vaultlike limestone chamber Ruth had told them about, illuminated by electric lanterns that threw distorted shadows on the walls Its ceiling soared upward, with groups of stalactites fashioned in incredible shapes hanging down like chandeliers But many of the limestone formations within reach had been wantonly torn apart and hurled carelessly across the chamber, and now lay in scattered chunks across the cave floor

Anna started when she saw a low limestone arch that covered an indented niche in the far wall of the cavern, stacked floor to ceiling hat had to be kilo bricks of cocaine She’dbusts and she’d seen bricks of pure cocaine before, straight from Mexico or Colombia, cocaine that hadn’t yet been cut by local dealers But she’d never seen so much of it in one place, except in a picture It had to be worth millions of dollars