"It wasn't hard. The university told me where you were. Getting here was the difficult part. I hired a fishing boat to bring me in.

When I didn't see anyone at your camp, I followed your trail. The next time you go off on an expedition, please make it closer. I'm getting too old for this kind of thing.“ He cocked his ear. ”Hush."

They sat in the silent darkness, listening. They heard muffled voices, and the scrape of boots against rocks and gravel at the mouth of the cave. Then the darkness was leavened by a yellowish light as the bushes blocking the entrance were moved aside.

“Hey in there,” a man's voice called in Russian.

Schroeder squeezed Karla's hand in a signal to be silent. It was an unnecessary gesture, because she was nearly frozen with fear.

“We know you're in there,” the voice said. “We can see where someone cut the bushes. It's not polite not to answer when people are talking to you.”

Schroeder crawled forward a few yards, where he had a view of the cave's mouth.

“It's not polite to kill innocent people, either.”

“You killed my man. My friend was innocent.”

“Your friend was stupid and deserved to die,” Schroeder said.

Hoarse male laughter greeted his answer.

“Hey, tough guy, my name is Grisha. Who the hell are you?”

“I'm your worst nightmare come true.”

“I heard someone say that in an American movie,” the voice said. “You're an old man. What do you want with a young girl? I'll make a deal. I'll let you go if you give us the girl.”

“I heard someone say that in a movie too,” Schroeder said. “Do you think I'm stupid? Let's talk some more. Tell me why you want to kill the girl.”

“We don't want to kill her. She's worth a lot of money to us.”

“Then you won't harm her?”

“No, no. Like I said, she's worth more as a hostage.”

Schroeder paused as if he were seriously considering the offer.

“I have lots of money too. I can give it to you right away and you won't have to wait. How does a million dollars American sound?”

There was a whispered discussion, then the Russian came back. “My men say it's okay, but they want to see the money first.”

“All right. Come closer to the cave and I'll throw it out to you.”

The conversation had been in Russian and Karla had understood only part of it. Schroeder whispered to Karla to move deeper into the cave and to cover her ears. He reached into his pack and pulled out an object that looked like a small metal pineapple. He knew that his offer would draw the attackers in like jackals, and, with any luck, he could take out all of them. He stood up. Shards of pain shot up his right leg. The run and climb while carrying the young woman had aggravated the ankle injury.