39
It was only minutes past daybreak when they landed at the nameless spot in the desert. A hill and two ridges made a natural bowl hiding its secrets, except from directly above. The ridges were rocky spines, the hill was no more than a lump in the local topography compared to the Hindu Kush towering to the north. A wide goat trail led through the bowl, perhaps wide enough to drive the truck along. The area had accumulated a fine layer of windblown sand deep enough that few plants managed to secure their roots.
For five minutes they walked back and forth across the area.
“It was right here.” Kee pointed downward.
Archie looked back and forth between the two ridges, clearly rebuilding their profiles in his mind.
“I would have thought it was a forty or fifty feet farther east, but you
