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The explosion knocks me onto my chest and face.
Pieces of metal and human body rain
down around me. Fragments of the scattered wreckage and remains are lit on
fire. It’s a grisly sight. Tears in my eyes, I stand and face the hill. Turning
away from a woman I could have loved for life, I climb, on my way to the da
Vinci cave.
Here’s what I know: The soldiers
who occupied the two pickup trucks will come after me once they realize I didn’t
go up in flames with the Defender. My guess is they are already on my tail.
Their desire to get to me will have little to do with being loyal to the General
or Putin, but it will have everything to do with personal gain. They will want
to locate the cave as much as their previous employers … as much as I do.
I climb the steep hillside, alo
