CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
10:03 a.m. West Africa Time (4:03 a.m. Eastern Standard Time)
The Skies over Southeastern Niger
“Stone!” Ed Newsam said from somewhere. “Pick up the telephone.”
Luke had been asleep. He still might be.
He had been dreaming of… something. A woman in flowing white robes had beckoned to him on an empty beach. He had followed her, but then she was in the water, standing on the waves, still beckoning. He began to swim toward her, but the water was so rough. She kept moving further away. His arms were tired. The waves were hitting his face. He gulped down saltwater. He gasped for air.
“Stone!”
Luke sat up.
He was inside the narrow cabin of the SRT jet. It was daytime, but all the window shades were down. He could see tiny cracks of bright white light at the bottoms of
