A moment of freefalling fear, not knowing what was hidden below—
Eddie hit the snow with a thump, pain jarring his back as the drift compressed beneath him. He lay still for a moment. The sensation faded. Nothing was broken. He sat up, pushing a hand down through the flattened snow to find hard rock only a few inches beneath him. It had been deep enough to absorb his landing – just.
He stood. ‘I’m okay!’ he yelled. ‘Come down!’
Nina was first to follow. He watched anxiously as she started her descent. She had been a regular – well, semi-regular – visitor to the gym since Macy’s birth, so he was sure she had the strength to make the climb, though her clumsy movements showed how long it had been since she had done anything like this in the real world.
But she passed the halfway mark with little difficulty. Relieved, he moved to get a view back down the valley. The mercenaries were halfway along the line of platforms, moving briskly despite the danger of falling. ‘Come on, faster,’ he muttered, returning to watch his wife continue down the rope.
She reached its foot. ‘What do I do?’
Eddie pointed at fresh snow next to where he had landed. ‘Aim for there.’
‘Okay.’ She hesitantly sidestepped, the rope trembling as her arms strained – then closed her eyes and jumped with a shriek.
A cloud of powder burst from the drift as she vanished into it. No cries of pain came from the hole, however. Eddie yomped across to her. ‘You okay?’
She sat up, blowing snow from her face. ‘Yeah. Macy’d probably love that. If it was a lot lower and there wasn’t a risk of death, I mean.’
He smiled and helped her stand. The rope was already twitching as Amaanat started to descend. Despite his age, the abbot was moving considerably faster than Nina, having clearly had plenty of climbing experience during his years living on the mountain.
‘You should get to the monastery,’ Eddie told her.
‘I’m staying with you,’ she insisted.
He sighed. ‘I’d argue, but we’ve been together ten years now, and I know how well that works out!’
By the time she recovered the Crucible, the abbot had reached the bottom of the line. Without a word, he leapt backwards to land heavily in a drift. ‘Bloody hell!’ cried Eddie, running to him. ‘You all right?’
Amaanat stood painfully. ‘I am fine. How far away are those men?’
‘Not far enough!’ The next monk was already beginning his descent, leaving only one more and Jayesh still on the ledge. ‘You need to warn the monastery that there’s trouble coming. ’
‘Use the satellite phone to call for help,’ Nina added.
‘I . . . Yes, I will go ahead,’ Amaanat said, with deep reluctance. ‘But you must follow quickly.’
‘Don’t worry, we’ll be running after you as fast as we can!’ she promised. The abbot placed his palms together and bowed, then started a trudging jog through the snow.
The descending monk soon reached the end of the rope. Eddie pointed to a patch of virgin snow. ‘Over here.’ The man positioned himself, then launched off the cliff – only to wail on landing. The Englishman hurried to him. ‘What is it?’
‘Hurt . . . arm,’ the monk gasped, clutching his left shoulder. A dark grey rock was exposed in the impression where he had fallen.
Nina joined her husband. ‘Can you move your hand?’ The monk grimaced, but managed to flex his fingers. ‘I don’t think it’s broken, but you need to get to the monastery to check it. Do you want me to come with you?’
‘No, I am okay. I go with Abbot Amaanat.’ A pained bow, then he followed the old man’s path through the snow.
Eddie glared at the rock. ‘That’s what I was worried about. These things could be all over the place like a bloody minefield.’
‘At least they won’t explode.’ Nina watched the last monk’s progress. Above him, Jayesh shouted in Nepalese, getting an alarmed response from the descending man. ‘Oh, he didn’t like that.’
‘Getting the feeling I won’t either,’ said Eddie, before raising his voice. ‘Jayesh! What’re you doing?’
‘Coming down now!’ the Gurkha replied.
‘What, two on one rope?’
‘Can’t wait! Bad guys almost here.’ The Nepali dropped over the edge and scrambled down the knotted line. The monk below him let out a fearful yelp as the rope jerked in his grip.
‘Jayesh!’ Eddie yelled. ‘For Christ’s sake slow down, or you’ll knock him off!’ The Gurkha reduced his pace, but only slightly.
The Englishman could do nothing but clench his teeth and watch the two men clamber towards him. The monk was clearly struggling, but eventually he reached the bottom of the rope. ‘Here,’ said Eddie, indicating a clear patch of snow.
The monk dived from the rock face with a panicked cry. To Eddie’s relief, there were no screams as he landed, just frantic gabbling in Nepalese.
‘I don’t speak the language,’ said Nina, seeing the monk shoot an angry look at Jayesh, ‘but I’m fairly sure that wasn’t complimentary.’
‘What’s the Buddhist line on calling someone a bell-end, anyway?’ Eddie asked the monk, whose only reply was a bemused stare. ‘You don’t speak English? Probably for the best. Amaanat, that way.’ He pointed at the retreating monks. The man hurried after them.
Nina looked up. The Gurkha was moving faster now that the line was free. ‘Aim for a clear patch!’ Eddie called up to him.
Jayesh found a landing spot – and jumped.
He disappeared into a snowdrift. Neither the Yorkshireman nor his wife needed to see him to know that he had been hurt. The dull snap of breaking bone as he hit a buried boulder was more than enough. ‘Shit! Jayesh!’ Eddie cried, finding his friend’s face screwed up in agony. ‘What’s broken?’
‘Leg,’ Jayesh rasped. ‘Left ankle . . .’
Eddie scooped away the snow around his foot. ‘I’m going to check it. Hold on.’
Jayesh braced himself. The Englishman carefully ran his fingertips over the other man’s ankle. The Gurkha flinched, but made no sound. ‘I can feel the break, but I don’t think it’s come through the skin,’ Eddie told him.
‘Leave me,’ said the Nepali, voice strained. ‘You get out of here.’
‘Don’t be a bloody idiot. Nina, help me lift him.’ Jayesh continued to protest, but the couple hoisted him upright and supported him on their shoulders. ‘Okay, try and hold up your foot so it doesn’t drag in the snow.’
The other man made a choked snort that could almost have been a laugh. ‘Yeah. Easy to do that!’ But he lifted his knee as high as he could as the trio set off, following the monks’ trail.
Axelos raised his gun as he reached the ledge and hurried along it. Collins had already reported that the fugitives had descended to the ground below, but he quickly checked in case they had left a rearguard in ambush. Nobody was there.
Their means of escape was obvious. He went to the rope. No one directly below, but tracks had been cut through the snow. His eyes followed them – to see three people about to round the base of a cliff.
One of the twins raised his rifle. ‘Wait!’ Axelos barked. ‘I don’t want to risk damaging the Crucible.’ He faced his men. ‘We’ll go down after them.’
Nina looked back as she and Eddie, carrying Jayesh, made it to cover. Figures watched them from above. ‘Oh crap. They’re on the ledge! Can we get to the monastery ahead of them?’
Eddie didn’t reply, that exact thought already dominating his mind. The great natural bowl opened out before them as they rounded the cliff’s foot. The religious redoubt awaited at the top of the slope, prayer flags fluttering. Ahead, the other monks had caught up with Amaanat. The abbot paused to check on the progress of his visitors; on seeing Nina and Eddie supporting the wounded Jayesh, he gave an urgent command and one of the
monks ran back to meet them, Amaanat and the other continuing on to alert their brothers at the monastery.
‘Careful!’ Eddie warned. ‘He’s got a broken ankle.’ The monk didn’t appear to understand English, so he directed him to hold the Gurkha under his knees. Nina shifted to put her free arm beneath his lower back as Eddie took up position to carry his friend from behind, arms supporting his shoulders. With the load spread between them, their pace up the hill quickened.
A monk appeared on the wall, bewildered by Amaanat’s arrival from an unexpected direction. The abbot called out to him. After a moment, the gates began to open.
‘The mercs’ll have a hard time getting through those,’ said Nina, panting as the slope became steeper.
‘Won’t keep ’em out for ever,’ Eddie countered.
‘Maybe not, but the monks are going to call for help on the satphone.’
‘And how long’ll it take to get here?’
‘You know, sometimes I hate being married to a realist . . .’
A noise rose behind them. Apparently responding to an order from Axelos, the helicopter descended towards the foot of the slope, aiming for a patch of relatively flat ground. The large Crucible still hung beneath it, the pilot slowing to lay it in the snow as gently as possible before sliding his aircraft sideways to land beside it.
As it touched down, the mercenaries emerged from behind the cliff – but by now, Amaanat and his companion had reached the safety of the monastery. The others passed the tethered yaks, which raised their heads in bemusement to watch them. ‘We’re going to make it!’ Nina cried.
Eddie was less exuberant. ‘Split up! They’re going to shoot!’
Nina let go of the Gurkha and darted clear, ducking. The monk was confused, but the flat thud of a bullet smacking into the snow a few feet away was more effective than any translation. The Yorkshireman pulled Jayesh from him to take the other man’s whole weight himself. His friend held in a gasp as his injured foot brushed the snow.
Another round kicked up a little fountain of powder beside them. ‘Nina, run!’ Eddie yelled. ‘Run!’
Nina rushed for the gate. Splinters spat at her face as one of the wooden doors took a bullet impact. She gasped, but then was inside, the monk following. ‘Eddie, come on!’
A Kalashnikov opened up on full auto as her husband struggled towards the entrance. Only the first couple of rounds landed anywhere close to the two men, the others going high and hitting stonework as the rifle’s recoil pushed the muzzle upwards.
But a single shot from Axelos’s P90 passed much closer, searing an inch above Eddie’s head to hit the door. And the mercenary leader would be refining his aim—
Jayesh realised the same thing, both men diving flat as one. The Gurkha let out a screech as his broken ankle hit the ground. A split second later, another round cracked over them. Had Eddie still been standing, it would have struck him squarely in the back of the head.
There was no time to celebrate. The Englishman scrabbled through the snow, staying flat. ‘Come on, crawl!’ he hissed, grabbing Jayesh’s arm. His friend cried out again, but managed to push forward with his uninjured leg.
More bullets struck the ground and walls, the mercs realising they were about to lose their prey – but the two ex-soldiers were now at the gate, hands helping them through. Other robed men pushed the doors shut. They met with a heavy boom, a thick wooden beam being dropped into place to bar them against a fusillade of thudding impacts on the other side.
Nina rushed to Eddie and hugged him as the gunfire stopped. ‘You made it! You’re okay!’
‘Yeah, except for my underpants!’ He spotted Amaanat. ‘Jayesh’s broken his ankle. Get him indoors, somewhere secure – everyone else too. Those tunnels where we ate, can you seal them off?’
‘Yes,’ the abbot replied. ‘The door can be locked. But we will not be able to use the satellite phone underground.’
‘We’ll do it,’ Nina told him. Both men regarded her questioningly. ‘I’ll call Seretse at the UN – he’ll be able to talk to the Nepalese government directly and get them to act a lot faster than by going through regular channels.’
‘But you will be trapped outside!’
She held up the Crucible. ‘This is what they want. If they come after us, they’ll leave you alone.’ There was a large pile of straw near the gate; she shoved the crystal into it.
Eddie gave her a dubious look. ‘Yeah, that’ll keep it safe.’
‘They’ll never think to look for it there, and I’ll be able to move a lot faster if I don’t have to carry the damn thing!’ A monk ran up and presented Amaanat with a chunky and outdated telephone handset with a long, fat antenna. Nina turned back to the abbot. ‘Look, if I call the United Nations, they might get help here before those guys can even break through the gate. Please, let me try.’
Amaanat handed her the phone. ‘Very well. Do you know how to use this?’
‘Yeah, no prob—’
A monk on the tower by the gate shouted in alarm. Ripples of panic spread through his brothers. ‘What was that?’ Eddie asked.
‘They are outside the doors,’ the abbot said. ‘He says they have . . . bombs?’
Nina blinked in surprise. ‘Bombs?’
‘Not bombs,’ Eddie said sharply. ‘Grenades! Everyone take cover, now!’
Amaanat shouted in Nepalese. The monks scattered, some heading for small outbuildings around the courtyard while the majority hurried for the debate house. Nina and Eddie followed the latter group. The Englishman looked back, expecting to see grenades arcing over the gate – but instead he heard several metallic clunks as objects hit its outer side. ‘They’re gonna blast their way in—’
The gate blew apart.
16
Eddie dived on top of Nina to shield her from the explosion. He looked up as the echoes faded to see that a car-sized chunk of the wooden barrier had disintegrated. A monk was screaming, a deep bloody gash in his side where flying debris had speared into him. ‘Get up, go!’ the Yorkshireman yelled, shoving him into the arms of one of his fellows. ‘They’re coming!’
Nina helped another dazed man to his feet. ‘I’ve got to call Seretse!’
‘Do it on the move,’ Eddie told her as they ran to the debate house. Most of the monks had now made it inside, Amaanat and those bearing Jayesh among them. ‘Hope you remember his number.’
Gunfire crackled behind them as they reached the door. Eddie whirled to see a man crouching at the hole in the gate, firing up at the watchtower. Its occupant toppled from the wall. Another mercenary appeared alongside the first, aiming at the stragglers fleeing into the debate house—
The couple flung themselves through the doorway, landing hard on the wooden floor as the injured monk and his helper were cut down on the steps. A shriek came from outside as bullets ripped into a third monk.
More rounds tore through the entrance and smacked off the statue of the Buddha. ‘Get behind it!’ yelled Eddie. He and Nina rolled and jumped up, skirting around the sitting figure as the last monks piled into the tunnels. One waved urgently for them to follow, but Nina signalled for him to retreat. The man slammed the thick door shut as she and Eddie ran across the room.
The Yorkshireman kicked open the other exit. The hall of prayer wheels stretched out before them, countless candles glowing along each wall. Nina ran down the red carpet as Eddie closed the doors, looking for anything he could use to wedge them. Nothing presented itself. He cursed, then followed his wife towards the exit—
The doors behind them burst open.
Nina leapt for cover between the ornate cylinders. Eddie did the same a few paces behind her, thudding against the wall beside one of the racks of miniature prayer wheels. Metal clanged off metal in a discordant cacophony as the attacker hosed a wild spray of gunfire down the hall, sending the damaged
wheels spinning furiously.
The onslaught stopped. Another man shouted in Nepalese – and hurled a grenade.
The olive-green sphere thumped to a stop on the carpet just past Eddie. ‘Oh, fuck!’ he gasped. It was out of his reach, and scrambling from cover to throw it would leave him exposed—
Instead he snatched one of the small prayer wheels from the rack – and swung it by its handle like a golf club, hitting the grenade and sending it flying towards the hall’s far end.
It exploded at the doors. Candles flew in all directions, shrapnel striking the prayer wheels like hailstones on a tin roof. The largest of them was torn from its mounts, toppling sideways and slamming down on the carpet with a deep ringing boom.
Eddie looked back. Their attacker reappeared at the doorway with his gun raised, only to glare at it in frustration as he pulled the trigger to no effect. The Englishman burst from cover and ran, Nina doing the same. ‘Count your shots, dickhead!’ Eddie yelled as the man hurriedly ejected the empty magazine and fumbled for a replacement.
Flames from the scattered candles were already consuming the wall hangings. Nina squeezed past the giant prayer wheel. She was almost at the shrapnel-scarred doors when a burning ceiling beam crashed down in front of her. Smoke and sparks sprayed her face as she jumped back. ‘They’re blocked!’
Eddie braved the rising flames to tug at the handles. The doors opened, but not nearly enough to fit through. He kicked at the obstruction. It barely moved.
He hurriedly retreated – and saw that not only had the mercenary at the other end of the hallway reloaded his AK, but the other man had joined him. ‘Down!’
They dropped behind the prayer wheel as more gunfire spat down the hall. The great drum juddered and rang as bullets from two rifles pounded it. They were powerful enough to pierce the metal, but not to go all the way through to the other side. Even so, Eddie flinched as a smashed round impacted by his head with a clang. ‘Jesus!’
Another length of flaming wood hit the floor. ‘We’ve got to get out of here!’ Nina cried.
The gunfire paused as one of the mercenaries ran down the hallway towards them. ‘How?’ Eddie demanded. ‘If we come out from behind this thing, they’ll shoot—’ An idea came to him. ‘Okay, we don’t come out from behind this thing!’
The Midas Legacy (Wilde/Chase 12) Page 19