“What is it?” Hicks asked him.

“I got a hit,” Ziggy exclaimed.

“Where?”

“South. The first one was from a tower at the edge of Medellín. Southeast.”

“They took him out that way yesterday,” Chase said.

“And then?” Hicks asked.

“The second and third pings came quickly after that, fast, like he was travelling.”

“By road?”

“Too fast for that. There’s rush-hour traffic. Looks like they’re flying.”

“To where?”

“I lost the signal again at San Antonio de Prado,” Ziggy said.

“Which is where?”

“Western side of the city.”

“So we don’t know where he is?”

“No,” Ziggy said. “But we can be pretty confident that he’s still alive.”

53

They flew for thirty minutes, eventually touching down in a clearing to the west of a small town. They disembarked and made their way across the clearing to an idling Mercedes. Eidur opened the rear door and indicated that Milton should get inside. He did and then shuffled across as the big Scandinavian slid in next to him. Del Pozo sat in the passenger seat next to the waiting driver.

They drove west for three hours, passing through the towns of El Morrillo and Heliconia. They eventually rolled to a stop in Santa Isabel, parking against a whitewashed building that had been identified with a blue-painted legend—ALMACEN EL DESVARE—and then, in red beneath it, ‘Tuercas Y Tornillos.’

“This is it?” Milton asked.

“Not yet,” del Pozo replied.

“So why are we stopping?”

“We need to change cars.”

They didn’t have to wait long. A dusty green Land Rover Defender pulled up. Milton guessed that it was ten years old, with a battered cargo rack on the roof and dents and scratches along the doors and the wing. A young man in his early twenties got out of the passenger seat. He was wearing a green golf shirt and tan shorts. His hair was cut short and a diamond sparkled in the lobe of his left ear. Eidur and del Pozo opened their doors and got out. They spoke with the younger man. Eidur turned to gesture to where Milton was sitting, and the kid looked, then gave a nod and went back to the Land Rover.

Eidur leaned into the cabin. “This way.”

Milton got out; he was aware of locals staring at them as they crossed the street to the Defender. The big Scandinavian with his pale skin and platinum hair would have been an unusual sight in a place like this. Milton, too, with his bright blue eyes. Eidur opened the door and Milton got in, sliding into the seat behind the kid. Eidur climbed in and pulled the door shut. Del Pozo got into the front.

The driver reached down and then handed a piece of fabric back to Eidur.

It was a hood.

Eidur opened the bottom of the hood, pulled it over Milton’s head and then tightened a drawstring to bring it closed.