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“Apparently it’s rush hour,” Kurt replied “Let’s hope they’re not here on our account”

As the vehicles pulled up in front of the bluff, the quiet desert filled with cohts blazed and the dust swirled and voices rose through it, not arguing but discussing so tersely in Arabic Arreet the newcomers

On the bluff above, the helicopter was shutting doo men climbed out andinto what looked like a hole cut out of the rock Kurt guessed it was some kind of tunnel or hidden entrance

“Come on,” he said, “while the valet’s busy with all those cars”

Kurt backed down the sand dune for a few paces and began to sca to catch up

“What are we going to do?” Joe asked “Walk right in and pretend we’re with the band?”

“No,” Kurt said “Wepad I saw the passengers fro down Somewhere on top there must be a way in All we have to do is find it”

CHAPTER 19

OUT OVER THE INDIAN OCEAN, MARCHETTI HAD PUT THE airship into a slight cliht it up to an altitude of a hundred feet and slowed it considerably To n as sleek as it was required some comproh buoyancy to float without so lift

As the engine cut out and they started drifting, the passengers grew nervous

“We’re still sinking,” Gamay said Seventy feet below the sea was calht and that darkness was related to thebeneath the surface, she had no desire to land on it

“Just a second,” Marchetti said

He threw a lever, and co open like he’d popped the trunk and hood of his car at the saas followed, and two additional balloons sprang forth fro to capacity with heliu their tether lines taut As they inflated, the sinking slowed and then stopped

“I call them air anchors,” Marchetti said proudly “We’ll deflate theain But in theup in the drink”

Gamay was relieved to hear that Around her, Leilani and Paul both exhaled