CRO-MAGNON by Robert Stimson Read Free Book Online

worry about that,” Mathiessen said. “Zinchenko will operate the camp and Fitrat will oversee your investigation.”
    “ I’m at the critical point of a project,” Blaine said. “How long do you envision this taking?”
    Mathiessen spread his hands. “Depends on what you find.”
    “ What’s Salomon planning to pay us?” Calder said.
    The IHE director shrugged. “Would it matter?”
    “ No.”
    “ You fly to Tajikistan within a week.” The smug look was back on his weathered face, and Calder guessed the man had still been worried about their accepting the assignment.
    He needn’t have been, he thought. No scientist would forego this opportunity. But he wondered if Salomon’s objectives—and by extension, Blaine’s—were sufficiently in line with his own simple desire to investigate and report on the bodies. He knew from his dealings with Hannah Lamb that people reading from different scripts could find themselves at odds.
    “ One final point,” Mathiessen said. “Now that you’re privy to what’s in the cave, I should emphasize that Mr. Salomon has forbidden us to breathe a word to anyone about intact human bodies. Not your team at Salomon Industries, Dr. Blaine. Not your department head, Dr. Calder.”
    “ Why?” Calder said. “Professor Lamb may be a martinet, but she wouldn’t—”
    “ If you knew anything about Salomon, you’d know why,” Blaine said. “He always keeps an edge.”
    Mathiessen nodded. “I’ve only talked to the man once, but I don’t think you want to cross him.”
    “ You think right,” Blaine said. “I’ve even heard rumors about some kind of enforcer.”
    Mathiessen said, “So, mum’s the word until we hear otherwise. Agreed?”
    The two scientists exchanged a glance, and both nodded.
    Calder smiled. “Prehistoric bodies and intrigue, too.”
    Blaine looked at Mathiessen. “I have one demand.”
    “ Name it.”
    “ I know we have to be secretive for now. But I want your word that whatever knowledge we turn up in that cave will ultimately be disseminated, Laszlo Salomon notwithstanding.”
    The IHE director hesitated only a moment before sticking out his big hand. “Deal.”
    Calder felt a little better. But he wondered if Blaine, as a recreational scuba diver, realized that underwater archaeology was often fraught with danger. Did she understand the difficulties inherent in a deep and constricted approach to a water-locked cave? And of course, she couldn’t know about his tendency toward claustrophobia. And at this point, he wasn’t about to tell her.
     
     
     
    Chapter 3
     
    It was late on Monday afternoon when the Tajik Air jetliner from Munich made a hard landing at Istanbul. Calder and Blaine deplaned while their hand baggage was checked and rechecked, Calder feeling glad to get out of the confined passenger cabin. After flying home to sort through his equipment and then crossing seven time zones from Iowa, he felt jet-lagged as the two of them watched security personnel swarm the aging plane.
    “ They don’t look happy,” Blaine said. “Are they searching for bombs, or what?”
    Calder inspected the fading tail logo of a white bird rising from a red and green circle. “After the way the plane shuddered on takeoff, and then that landing, sabotage might be pointless.”
    “ This is not the most civilized area in the world.”
    “ Compared to where we’re going, it is. I just hope we can do the job quickly. I can’t afford to be away right now.”
    “ Me neither. Let’s hope everything goes smoothly.”
    By the time they re-boarded and the plane lumbered into the air to fly the final three time zones to Dushanbe, darkness had fallen. There weren’t many passengers this time, Calder noticed. As before, Blaine took the aisle seat.
    The small window by Calder was almost opaque. He stared at the blurry city lights strung along the narrow strait between Europe and Asia. Here he was, heading for the middle of nowhere to chase a chimera, when he