The tall man raised his hand. “Now, I can say: Good morning, everyone.” He smiled broadly. “Firstly, I’d like to welcome Professor Matthew Kearns and welcome back Chief Geologist Andrew Bennet, and thank both of them for joining us at such short notice. Matt, Andy, my name is Major Joshua Abrams. I am the chief science officer for US STRATCOM, and I’ll be the mission leader on this little trip.”

Andy stuck up his hand, but Abrams shook his head. “Later. You’ve both met Captain Tania Kovitz, our senior archeologist. And these two big guys either side of me here are lieutenants Lester Hartogg and Rick Berry. They will be our support officers.”

On face value, both of the huge men simply looked bored, but their eyes were alert. It’s always the eyes, Matt thought. They were the giveaway of a killer. Berry’s were dark and pitiless. Hartogg’s were ice blue, set in a ruddy face with red hair and stubble – he would have made a good Viking. The men’s flat-eyed stares spoke of the more brutal aspects of combat – receiving and, undoubtedly, delivering.

Matt exhaled slowly. If they needed soldiers of this caliber, then Mercer’s “straight translation work – in and out in a day” talk might not have been the whole truth.

“That’s all we need to do for now. The distance to Aleppo in Syria is five thousand four hundred and seventy miles, and should take us just on fourteen hours. I’m sure that’ll give us plenty of time to get to know each other real good. After we take off and then have leveled out, there will be a formal briefing. Until then…” Abrams gave them a small informal salute before looking over their heads to the cockpit. Matt spun in time to see the pilots close the cabin door. Almost immediately, there was an electronic whine and the huge metal tongue of a rear ramp began to lift. At the same time, the smooth sound of the Pratt & Whitney turbofan engines came to life.

Matt turned back and saw Tania Kovitz looking at him, so he smiled and nodded. She returned the gesture. Maybe the trip might not be so bad after all, he thought. Next he leaned forward and saluted Andy. The geologist gave him a lopsided grin: he seemed to have recovered from being near buried alive. It was the first time he’d gotten a good look at the guy, what with them having spent most of their last encounter in HAZMAT suits. Andy looked only slightly older than he was, and had short sandy hair and a tan line that stopped halfway up his forehead – Matt had seen them before on guys that wore hardhats in the field.

They took their seats, Abrams and Hartogg in the front row, then Tania and Berry, followed by him and Andy in the rear two. Matt gritted his teeth as the huge machine rumbled down the runway and lifted into the air. It seemed no time at all before his ears had popped and Abrams was unbuckling and getting to his feet.