by Alex Archer
"That's where we'll find the Tomb of the Virgins, and, ultimately, where we'll find Genghis Khan's final resting place."
30
The horseman hidden in the trees higher on the ridgeline above the river watched the intruders enter the Chamber of the Winds and felt anger grow in his heart. The chamber was sacred; how dare they defile it with their presence!
He'd been following the group ever since they'd entered the Ikh Khorig, just as he'd been ordered to do, but this was the first time since they'd come into the forbidden territory that they'd done something so unexpected that he wasn't certain how to respond. He'd been told to watch, but not interfere; yet surely that didn't include sitting back and allowing them to do this, did it?
He wasn't certain and it was that uncertainty that stayed his hand. That and the guns the intruders carried openly.
He chose to wait and watch, to see if he could determine what they wanted, so that when he reported back he wouldn't look like a fool.
The watcher was still there when the intruders emerged from the chamber almost an hour later and pointed north, toward the looming peak of Burkhan Khaldun.
That decided it for him.
It was time to tell the Voice of the Wolf.
31
Darkness came early, thanks to the looming cliff face at their backs and the high trees surrounding them, so while there were a few hours of daylight left, it was all but useless as night began to settle in around them. Rather than try and blunder about in the dark, the decision was made to stay right where they were and use the antechamber for that night's camp. This had the added benefit of keeping them under cover should Ransom use that chopper of his to do a night flyover in search of their position, something Mason saw as fairly likely.
The extra meat they'd cooked the previous night was passed around and eaten cold, but no one complained. They were happy to be out of the tents for a change, and the closeness of the rock around them locked in their body heat, creating a comfortable, if cramped, little haven for the evening.
A watch was set up, with Mason, Williams, Jeffries, and Vale taking three-hour shifts, in that order. Each man was to position himself a short distance downriver in the hope that the extra time they would gain with an advance warning might be enough for the others to escape into the nearby woods if it became necessary.
After dinner, Annja wandered over to where Mason was setting up his bedroll, getting everything ready before he went on watch.
"Do you think Ransom is still looking for us?" she asked.
Mason nodded. "Without a doubt. He's like a dog with a bone. The guy never gives up. He either gets what he wants or he destroys it so no one else can have it."
The stench of burning flesh rose in her memory and she shook it off with an effort. Ransom had certainly shown he was willing to destroy things to keep Davenport from finding the tomb before he did. It made her uneasy to think Ransom was out there somewhere, plotting how to get back into the game.
"Do you think we've lost him?"
Mason must have heard something in her voice, for he stopped what he was doing and looked over at her, studying her face as if trying to memorize it. "Do you know something I don't?" he asked.
She shook her head. She didn't know anything; she just had an uneasy feeling that something wasn't right. They'd missed something and she wasn't sure what. The feeling nagged at her, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
"We've lost him for the time being, but I don't expect for it to stay that way for long. He'll find us again eventually. Best I can do at this point is keep us moving at a steady pace and hope we get there before he does."
He looked around at the rest of his charges as they prepared to bed down for the night, and then looked back at Annja. "I think we're okay for tonight. Why don't you get some rest and we can talk about it later?"
"All right." She began to lay out her own bedroll, all the while wondering what it was they were missing.
* * *
T HE INFORMANT WAITED an hour into his turn at watch before deciding the time was right. He moved off into the shadow of a large outcropping of rock and took the satellite phone from the concealed pocket inside his jacket. He dialed Ransom's number and waited for the other man to answer.
He didn't wait long.
"Where the hell have you been?" Ransom nearly shouted after answering the call.
The informant wasn't intimidated in the slightest. "I'm right where I'm supposed to be. Stuck like glue on your target, the one you seem to be having trouble dealing with." He'd worked with Ransom too long to be worried about the man's threats. He knew he was the megalomaniac's only hope of tracking down the tomb before Davenport did, and that was a far more important task than teaching him a lesson. Still, he'd have to watch his back later and he made a mental note to be sure to do so. Once his usefulness ended, he'd become excess baggage, and Ransom would try and get rid of him as expeditiously as possible.
There was a pause and then the other man said, "What do you have for me?"
The informant took out a pocket GPS device and honed in on their exact position. He relayed the coordinates to Ransom and then filled him in on what they had uncovered in the map chamber earlier that afternoon.
Ransom listened patiently, asked a few questions that the informant answered the best he could, and then dropped the bomb the man on-site wasn't expecting. "It's time to use the package."
Tactically, it wasn't the best move, the informant thought, but he wasn't the one calling the shots. If he had been, then things would have gone very differently. If the boss wanted him to use the package, he'd use the package. It would be up to the boss to figure out what to do from there.
"Use the package? If that's what you want," he said.
"You still have it with you, correct?"
The informant didn't grace that comment with an answer. Of course he still had it with him; he hadn't let it out of his sight since the night he'd received it.
Ransom continued. "Use it tonight. Get it in the water, then call us in the morning and we'll bring the chopper in."
"Very well. In the water it is, then."
With that the informant hung up, slipped the phone back in his jacket and returned to his position on the rock overlooking the lower section of the river.
Sitting there, he idly fingered the smooth packet of powder that he carried in the same pocket as his phone. Just a pinch in each water jug would be enough. With everyone carrying their own water supply, now that they had left the trucks behind, actually pulling it off was going to take some planning.
No matter, he'd get it done. After all, that's what they paid him for, wasn't it?
* * *
A NNJA'S HEARING HAD ALWAYS been good and in the silent surroundings it was even better. Hidden as she was among the thick vegetation that surrounded the rocky outcropping they had selected as their watch station, she was able to hear most of the conversation going on above her. Or, at least, this end of the conversation and she could guess at some of the rest of it due to the responses she was hearing. The longer she listened, the more incensed she got. She wanted to eliminate the threat to the group right then and there, had gone so far as to draw her sword and begin to edge her way around the rock, looking for a way up, when the comments about the package and water stopped her.
Something told her to watch and wait, to catch him in the act so that it wouldn't be his word against hers.
Maybe then the others would believe her.
She released her sword and quietly made her way back upriver to their camp.
Along the way, one thought kept playing over and over again in her mind.
Of all people, why did it have to be him?
32
The smell of frying antelope brought her out of her sleep the next morning. Mason, rolling up his bedroll just a few feet away, greeted her with a smile and a cheerful good-morning.
Annja turned away with just a quick nod, not trusting herself to speak, and went to splash
some water on her face and get a plate of food. Antelope strips weren't as good as bacon, but they were a lot better than the powdered eggs she'd been eating for the past few days. She wolfed them down, knowing she'd need the protein for the day's events.
After breakfast, Annja found reasons to avoid Mason as she packed up, but always made sure she was close enough to hear what he had to say. When he ordered Jeffries to help him fill everyone's water carriers from the river outside, she knew that was her call to action. She made sure no one was looking in her direction and then slipped out ahead of them.
She made her way downstream a short distance to the clear pool where they had been gathering their water since they'd arrived. A thick pine tree extended over the spot and its lower branches were easily accessible. She grabbed one and pulled herself up into the tree, finding a spot where she could see what was taking place below her but that was also shielded enough to keep her from being seen.
Satisfied with her position, she settled in to wait.
It didn't take long.
He came down the trail alone, the canteens he was supposed to fill slung on a rope over his shoulder. He squatted down at the edge of the water, removed the containers from the rope, and began to fill them one at a time. He stood them up next to one another in a line behind him, and by the time he was done he had more than a dozen containers lined up on the riverbank.
Annja tensed, knowing that this was it. If something was going to happen, it would happen now.
He straightened and then carefully looked around, no doubt making certain that he was alone.
If the circumstances hadn't been so dire, she might have laughed at the sight. No one ever looks up, she thought with a slim smile of satisfaction.
He reached into the inside of his coat and removed a paper packet, like the kind old-fashioned druggists gave their powdered medication in. Opening it, he moved toward the first bottle in line.
That's my cue, Annja thought.
She let go of the branch that she'd been holding on to and dropped lightly to the ground. Drawing her sword, she came up silently behind him and touched the point of her weapon to the back of his neck.
Before she could say anything, the sound of a gun being chambered came from almost directly behind her.
"Don't move, Annja," Mason said.
She didn't.
He moved into her peripheral vision on her left side, far enough away that she couldn't easily swing the sword and reach him, yet close enough to keep her from rushing for cover and escaping.
In front of her, Jeffries tensed, as if considering making a run for it himself, and she applied a little more pressure down the length of the sword, letting him know that it was a bad idea.
A very bad idea indeed.
"Someone want to tell me what's going on here?" Mason asked in a soft but deadly tone.
Annja kept her sword hand steady and her eyes on Jeffries. If he was going to try something, it would be while Mason's attention was on her.
"He's working for Ransom," she said.
"Jeffries?"
"I don't know what she's talking about, boss," the other man replied. "I came down here to fill the water bottles, just like you said."
Annja resisted the urge to skewer him where he stood. She wouldn't convince Mason of anything by doing so and might end up getting shot herself. That would leave the rest of the group in danger.
"Ask him what the packet in his hand is for," Annja said.
Mason moved out from behind her and around to the side where he could see both Annja and Jeffries. He had his pistol in his hand and he kept it pointed in their general direction.
"Show me," he said to Jeffries.
Jeffries slowly lifted his arms out to his sides and opened his hands.
They were empty.
"He's got it on him somewhere. Search him," Annja said. She could hear the anger leaking into her voice.
Jeffries sensed Mason's hesitation and went on the offensive. "For heaven's sakes, boss. Will you get this crazy bi—"
"I'd watch that mouth if I were you!" Annja shouted. She twisted the sword back and forth in her hand to make sure he got it the point.
Mason lowered his gun slightly. "Look, Annja. I don't know what's going on here, but…"
"I've already told you what's going on. He's working for Ransom and he intended to do something to our water supply."
Mason shook his head. "This expedition is getting to all of us. Ease off, okay?"
"Not a chance. Not until you search him."
Jeffries was quiet, biding his time. Annja knew she had only seconds left to convince Mason that she was telling the truth. He'd worked with Jeffries for years. Considered him a friend. It was his word against hers and right now she wasn't coming out on top. She needed something…
The phone!
Jeffries had made calls with a satellite phone and had put it in his jacket. The same jacket he was wearing right now.
"There's a satellite phone in the inside pocket of his jacket, Mason. If you check the last number dialed you'll see that it goes right to Ransom."
Please don't have deleted your list of calls, she thought.
If Jeffries handed over his phone without a problem, she was dead in the water.
But he didn't. Instead, he started protesting harder, calling her a liar, saying the whole thing was absurd and she'd better let him go or else.
Annja could see the wheels turning in Mason's eyes. Thou dost protest too much…
Mason stepped toward Jeffries. "I'm going to reach inside your jacket. Might as well get this over with so that there aren't any issues later."
"If you must," Jeffries said, the disgust that Mason wasn't taking his word evident in his tone.
As Mason stepped closer, Jeffries made his move.
He lunged forward and to one side, taking him out of easy reach of Annja's sword and directly into Mason, who had made the fatal mistake of not keeping his gun on his former comrade. As Annja watched, Jeffries barreled into Mason, trapping the gun between their bodies. Jeffries' elbow came around in a vicious arc that connected with Mason's jaw, sending him to the ground as Jeffries charged past, headed for the river.
Annja rushed after him.
She scooped up Mason's gun as she went by, then, hearing a splash that told her Jeffries had gone into the river, angled to the left in an effort to cut him off, knowing the current would quickly take him out of reach if she didn't do so in time.
Detouring around a large outcropping of rock that blocked her path to the river, Annja reached the water's edge just in time to see Jeffries rushing past her. He was in the middle of the river, stroking hard, hoping to get away.
Annja wasn't prepared to let him do that.
She raised the gun and fired off several shots in rapid succession.
At least one struck Jeffries, possibly two. The impact drove him under and he stayed down for several long minutes.
Annja ran along the riverbank, gun extended, ready to fire again, when he broke the surface, but as it turned out she didn't need to. When Jeffries popped back up, he was facedown in the water and no longer moving. She watched his body roll in the current and disappear out of sight downriver.
Mason was waiting for her when she returned upstream.
"How did you know?" he asked, as she handed his weapon back to him.
"I've been wondering how Ransom knew where we were going all the time. Bugging our trucks is one thing, but someone had to plant those bugs and that required an inside man."
"Ransom could have hired someone from the rental-car company to do it."
Annja shook her head. "I didn't think so, because he would have to be certain it had been installed by someone who knew what they were doing and not some local yokel."
"But how did you know he was going to try and do something to our water supply?"
"I overheard him making a call last night. It sounded suspicious, so I've been watching him ever since."
Mason shoo
k his head. "I can't believe I didn't see through his act. I must be—"
He was interrupted by the ringing of a telephone.
They looked at each other and then sprang into action, both of them searching around frantically for the source, hoping to find it before it stopped ringing. Mason spotted the black casing of the dropped cell phone first and snatched it up. He answered the call, then hit the speakerphone button so Annja could listen in.
"Is it done?" the caller asked.
The voice was unfamiliar to Annja, but she could guess who it was. Judging by what Mason said next, she was right.