Korgan shook his head. “No you won’t. That would be entirely too noisy, and you want this to work as much as I do.” He smiled crookedly. “Though judging from your dossier, you’re very deadly at karate and several other martial skills and you might break his neck. But I’ll leave Gilroy to worry about that.” He turned away. “And then you can judge whether he’ll be of any value for yourself.”

“Korgan.” She took an impulsive step toward him. “All this firepower. And those weird drones…I’ve never seen anything like them. I’d guess that this was the experimental model you were using at the palace? And Vogel didn’t set this team up overnight. You’ve been preparing for a long time. Gilroy said two years?”

“A little longer. That’s why I know how elusive the son of a bitch can be. This is the closest I’ve ever gotten.” His lips twisted. “Isn’t it lucky for you that I was already prepared to go in after Masenak when your director had a crisis of conscience about those students?”

“There’s no luck involved in this. All I have to know is that those men you’ve brought here are the best you have to offer and that they won’t make the mistake of killing those students because you’ve made the wrong choice.”

“It won’t happen. I’ll promise you that, too. You give me Baldwin and I’ll get your show on the road. What time are you leaving tonight?”

“Eleven. That will give us time to grab Baldwin and get everything in place before the camp starts rousing at dawn.”

He nodded. “I’ll tell Gilroy.”

“You do that,” she said dryly as she turned away. “I don’t know how we’d cope without Indiana Jones.”

*  *  *

Szarnar Jungle
12:05 A.M.

“How close?” Gilroy whispered as he glided suddenly out of the trees beside Alisa. “I’d judge we should be within fifteen minutes of the camp. Am I right?”

“You might be.” She shrugged. “If you’d stayed nearby instead of disappearing every few miles, you might not have to ask.”

“But that would have been boring and no challenge at all.” His white teeth gleamed in the darkness. “I wanted to keep an eye on Juno, and she’s moving very fast. It’s even hard for your friend Margaret to keep up with her.”

She stiffened. “And why do you want to keep up with Juno?”

“Because she’s leading the pack. You and Margaret are wonderful trackers and obviously familiar with where you’re going, but you’re ignoring me. It’s that exceptionally beautiful dog who’s going to tell me what I need to know.”

“Why do you say that?” she asked warily. She jumped to a conclusion. “Korgan?”