Jason and Molly prepare the ground-penetrating radar that would give them, and hopefully Matt, some insight into what lay beneath the surface of the sands here. Although a small worry niggled her; with the shifting sands, they may not get the results they hoped for.
* * *
Just being in the desert brought back memories, good and bad. He tried to concentrate on the job at hand. If this was the scene of an air crash, or at least a crash landing, it was going to be hard to find evidence on the surface. Especially after all this time.
There was an excellent chance that this was nothing but a piece of errant metal, transported here accidentally by who knows what. There’d been so few downed aircraft in Iraq, he was still mystified as to why his commander saw fit to send him here in the first place.
What he needed was to go home. He needed this to be a bust. He just wanted to be out of the sandbox and back on the friendly beaches of Hawaii. He didn’t want to get involved with Harry any more than he already had. He blew out a puff of air. In all honesty, Danny would probably piss himself laughing at this scrape he’d gotten himself into. The EOD unit had always had some weird stories of hookups gone bad to entertain each other with. Danny used to say he lived vicariously through their misadventures with women. This was a story for the ages.
He crested the dune and looked around. He saw other people working about half a klick away to the west, and made a mental note to ask Harry about them. There were some old-looking bricks or mortar poking out, the same color as the sand, ruining the otherwise smooth surface of the desert. He checked the compass on his wristwatch and went to the far eastern side of the site. He definitely saw some movement over to the east, too. Busy time of year for archaeology maybe.
When he got back to the trailer he asked about the other teams.
Jason and Molly looked up from what they were doing on a small laptop encased in a steel bounce-proof case. “There are others here?” Molly asked.
Harry squinted at them in the sun. “I ran into Malcolm Rapson at breakfast. He has a team surveying to the west of us. I didn’t know about anyone to the east, but knowing Malcolm’s here, it wouldn’t surprise me. I guess the foundation is just trying to find the best and most archaeologically rich area for the students to dig.”
Interesting. Maybe he’d have to check their sites, too. Depending on the velocity a plane was traveling on impact, wreckage could cover more than half a mile. More paperwork. If he found any more evidence, any other metal shards, he’d have to call in a proper team. He couldn’t do this alone, and neither should he. They had plenty of experts who would make quick work of this. Not to mention those who liaised with the local government to actually allow them access.
“Fancy private university students. Some of us had to work sites that were absolutely barren of things to learn from,” Molly grumbled. “Lucky bastards.” She looked around. “Now I really want to plant stuff here to completely confuse them.”
“Don’t even joke about that. A, I will kill you, and B, karma is a bitch,” Harry said. She stood with her hands on her hips, looking like a tiny chief master sergeant. He tried not to smile.
“Don’t worry. I wouldn’t. I just enjoy fantasizing about it.” Molly went back to the machine that looked like a short lawn mower but with probes instead of blades.
“All right, people. Let’s get going. You two move on out, and I’ll check the feed on the computer as you pass it over the area. Do you have your walkie-talkies?”
“Yes, boss,” Jason said, patting his hip.
“I’ll call you if I need you to go over anything again. Set up along the western flags, and I’ll give you the go ahead when I’ve had a quick check of the site.” She turned to Matt. “Did you see anything interesting out there?”
Nothing as interesting as what is standing in
* * *
Just being in the desert brought back memories, good and bad. He tried to concentrate on the job at hand. If this was the scene of an air crash, or at least a crash landing, it was going to be hard to find evidence on the surface. Especially after all this time.
There was an excellent chance that this was nothing but a piece of errant metal, transported here accidentally by who knows what. There’d been so few downed aircraft in Iraq, he was still mystified as to why his commander saw fit to send him here in the first place.
What he needed was to go home. He needed this to be a bust. He just wanted to be out of the sandbox and back on the friendly beaches of Hawaii. He didn’t want to get involved with Harry any more than he already had. He blew out a puff of air. In all honesty, Danny would probably piss himself laughing at this scrape he’d gotten himself into. The EOD unit had always had some weird stories of hookups gone bad to entertain each other with. Danny used to say he lived vicariously through their misadventures with women. This was a story for the ages.
He crested the dune and looked around. He saw other people working about half a klick away to the west, and made a mental note to ask Harry about them. There were some old-looking bricks or mortar poking out, the same color as the sand, ruining the otherwise smooth surface of the desert. He checked the compass on his wristwatch and went to the far eastern side of the site. He definitely saw some movement over to the east, too. Busy time of year for archaeology maybe.
When he got back to the trailer he asked about the other teams.
Jason and Molly looked up from what they were doing on a small laptop encased in a steel bounce-proof case. “There are others here?” Molly asked.
Harry squinted at them in the sun. “I ran into Malcolm Rapson at breakfast. He has a team surveying to the west of us. I didn’t know about anyone to the east, but knowing Malcolm’s here, it wouldn’t surprise me. I guess the foundation is just trying to find the best and most archaeologically rich area for the students to dig.”
Interesting. Maybe he’d have to check their sites, too. Depending on the velocity a plane was traveling on impact, wreckage could cover more than half a mile. More paperwork. If he found any more evidence, any other metal shards, he’d have to call in a proper team. He couldn’t do this alone, and neither should he. They had plenty of experts who would make quick work of this. Not to mention those who liaised with the local government to actually allow them access.
“Fancy private university students. Some of us had to work sites that were absolutely barren of things to learn from,” Molly grumbled. “Lucky bastards.” She looked around. “Now I really want to plant stuff here to completely confuse them.”
“Don’t even joke about that. A, I will kill you, and B, karma is a bitch,” Harry said. She stood with her hands on her hips, looking like a tiny chief master sergeant. He tried not to smile.
“Don’t worry. I wouldn’t. I just enjoy fantasizing about it.” Molly went back to the machine that looked like a short lawn mower but with probes instead of blades.
“All right, people. Let’s get going. You two move on out, and I’ll check the feed on the computer as you pass it over the area. Do you have your walkie-talkies?”
“Yes, boss,” Jason said, patting his hip.
“I’ll call you if I need you to go over anything again. Set up along the western flags, and I’ll give you the go ahead when I’ve had a quick check of the site.” She turned to Matt. “Did you see anything interesting out there?”
Nothing as interesting as what is standing in
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