The Mountain
Page 12
“They’re evil all right,” said Bruce, “just not spirits.”
“Well, for the first time since crossing the border, we have a chance to catch up with them. It’s too bad that we didn’t know where they were heading, so we could try to get around them and get there first,” said Shaw.
“Unfortunately, we won’t get that kind of information from our hungry friend,” said Amrit.
“After he finishes his meal, please let him know that we deeply appreciate what he passed on to us and that regrettably, we must leave him as we need to move on to our next rest stop,” said Shaw.
“I’ll get the horses ready,” said Bruce.
Shaw nodded his head, raising a hand to block out the blazing sun he looked into the distance. To the east stood the tall, jagged, white-peaked mountain range that ran along the border while to the west, the rocky land opened up. He no longer had any doubt where Adler was going; it was just a question of when he would turn towards the mountains to begin his ascent. Shaw wasn’t sure how, but he had to stop Adler. Even if he had to climb the highest mountain in the world to stop him, Shaw knew that he wouldn’t stop until either he or Adler was dead.
A cold, biting wind whipped the snow up in front of Shaw, blinding him. Turning his head slightly, he struggled through the waist-deep snow. He wrapped his scarf around his face to block out the frigid storm. Stopping in place for a couple of seconds, he faintly heard his name being called on the wind.
It was Amrit’s voice calling to him. She sounded lost and afraid.
Shaw called back. His heart began to race in his chest. He had to find her before she froze to death all alone on the side of the cursed mountain. He dug deep inside for what little strength he still had left.
Shaw began to push his way through the snow.
Amrit called out again, begging, pleading Shaw to hurry.
“I’m coming. Hold on,” Shaw hollered, hoping to be heard over the raging snowstorm.
A couple of seconds later, Shaw saw a dark shape huddled beside a large ice-covered rock, trying to keep warm. As he got closer, he could see that it was Amrit. Her dark hair was plastered to her face by the snow.
He couldn’t believe his luck. He wasn’t sure how long she had been missing, but he had found her, and she was alive. Shaw reached over to her. He was about to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder when she suddenly stood up and looked down on Shaw, her eyes turned cold and unfeeling. Surprised, he stepped back. Amrit stood a good two feet taller than he did. Surely, it was the lack of oxygen playing tricks on his mind.
“What’s wrong, Amrit?” asked Shaw.
Amrit didn’t reply. She tilted her head to the side as if studying Shaw for a moment.
Suddenly, alarm bells went off in Shaw’s mind; something was wrong. Amrit wasn’t what she appeared to be. He was about to turn and run when Amrit lunged forward and grabbed Shaw by the arms, pinning them to his sides. With a smile on her face, Amrit leaned down, and then opened her mouth. Row upon row of sharp teeth dripped with blood.
“Goodbye, James,” said Amrit, just before she bit down on his face.
With his heart racing wildly, Shaw jumped up onto his feet. He threw the warm blanket off his body. He could feel rivers of sweat running down his face. He staggered forward, looked down at his feet and saw, by the light of the dying fire, rocks and dirt, not snow, covering the ground. Hesitantly, he reached up with his hands and felt his face. It hadn’t been torn to shreds.
It had only been a dream. No, a horrible and all too real nightmare, Shaw corrected himself. He took a deep breath to calm his beating heart. Shaw shivered and looked out into the dark. Although there was nothing out there except rocks, something in the back of his mind told him to be wary.
A strong gust of wind swept through the makeshift camp. On a nearby stone cairn, dozens of multi-colored prayer flags beside the road fluttered noisily. Shaw reached behind his back and checked that his pistol was still there. He ran his hand over the pistol grip, and was about to go check on their animals sheltering from the wind behind the wall of a house that had long ago fallen down, when he heard a sound behind him. Shaw instantly spun about, drew his pistol, and took aim at a darkened shape moving towards him.
“James, it’s me,” said Amrit, instantly raising her hands.
Shaw released his finger from the trigger and slowly lowered his pistol. “Jesus, Amrit, don’t ever sneak up on me,” said Shaw firmly. “I could have killed you.”
“I’m sorry,” replied Amrit. “I heard you get up in a hurry and wanted to check on you.”
“I’m ok. I had a bad dream, that’s all.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” asked Amrit as she walked over and placed a hand on Shaw’s arm.
“There’s really nothing to discuss. I get nightmares from time to time.”
“James, if something is troubling you, you know that you can talk to me about it.”
Shaw smiled at her and then said, “I appreciate your concern, but it was nothing.”
“I don’t think you’re being totally honest with me or yourself. However, I will respect your decision.”
“Come on,” said Shaw, leading Amrit back over by the fire. “I don’t think I could get back to sleep even if I wanted to, so I’m going to make a pot of tea. Would you like some?”
“I’d love some,” replied Amrit.
With a loud snort, Bruce rolled over and continued sleeping, unaware that anything had happened in their camp. It was a trait that Shaw wished he had; he didn’t know it yet, but none of them would be getting much rest for the next few days.
Chapter 16
Tibet- Bhutan border
A black plume of smoke climbed ever higher into the sky, starkly contrasted against the white snow on the mountains behind it.
Shaw lowered his binoculars; a feeling of foreboding deep in the pit of his stomach warned him that if they weren’t careful things were about to take a turn for the worse. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Bruce guarding their horses while Amrit made her way up beside him. A few hundred yards away a ravenous fire was consuming an old wooden temple.
“What can you see?” asked Amrit as she crawled over beside Shaw.
Shaw handed her the binoculars while he tried to fathom why someone would destroy a holy site.
They had been on the move since dawn, trying to catch up with Adler’s people. Foregoing their usual break for lunch, they had pushed on well into the afternoon when they saw a black pall of smoke creeping up from behind a hill in the distance.
“My God, there’re people lying on the ground outside the temple,” said Amrit.
“Yeah, it looks like whoever set the temple alight butchered all the monks before leaving,” said Shaw.
“Who could do such a thing? Monks only care about peace and enlightenment. They wouldn’t harm anyone.”
“I’m certain Adler is behind this massacre. The SS aren’t known for their subtlety. In Russia, whole villages, men, women, and children are lined up and mercilessly gunned down. Their corpses are left to rot in the open, all in the name of the Greater German Reich. I suspect Adler wanted something from the temple and when the monks wouldn’t allow him to take it, he had them all killed. The question is, what was he after?”
“What do you want to do?” asked Amrit as she handed back the binoculars, unable to look at the scene of death and devastation anymore.
“I don’t see any sign of Adler and his people, so I say we make our way over to the temple to see if we can determine what Adler was looking for and where he may have gone.”
Shaw and Amrit crawled back off the hill, rejoined Bruce and told him what had happened. After mounting their horses, they carefully made their way around the rock-strewn mound and then headed towards the still burning temple. Shaw cradled his rifle in his arms, while Amrit and Bruce held onto their shotguns, their eyes searching the nearby hills for any sign that they were being watched.
Tension built inside each person as they ne
ared the temple. Amrit was no stranger to death, but unlike Shaw and Bruce, she found herself unable to mask her feelings, tears welled up in her eyes the more she thought about the monks killed for absolutely no good reason. Amrit turned her head to block out the sight and looked up into the sky. Already large black vultures were circling the temple in anticipation of a meal. She shook her head; she knew that the Tibetans customarily left their dead for the vultures, but not like this. The monks deserved better. She hoped that the smoke would get noticed and that a holy man would come to perform the Sky Burial ritual for the dead.
“You two stay with the animals,” said Shaw as he climbed down off his horse. “I’m going to take a look around. I want you two to keep a sharp eye out for any sign of intruders, so we don’t end up like these poor buggers.”
“Aye, you can count on us,” said Bruce.
With his rifle held tightly in his hands, Shaw stepped carefully as he made his way over to the bodies of the dead monks lying face down in front of the smoldering temple. He counted fourteen bullet-riddled corpses. Anger burned in Shaw’s heart. Adler was going to pay for what he had done here, if the Tibetans didn’t get to him first. Shaw moved past the bodies and walked up the stone stairs leading up into the burned down church. The strong smell of charcoal filled the air. Shaw looked inside and saw that everything made of wood or paper had been consumed in the fire. He began to wonder if the temple had also been doused in gasoline as it had burned to the ground so quickly. Shaw was about to leave when he noticed three small golden statues of Buddha sitting inside the ruins covered in soot. Where a wall once stood, several brass prayer wheels now lay on the floor, a reminder that the place had once been one of peace.
“See anything, Captain?” called out Bruce.
Shaw turned and shook his head.
He decided to take a quick look around inside two small stone hovels behind the temple. Shaw climbed down the blackened stairs and made his way around back. What he found turned his stomach. Lying face down on the ground was a woman and child, both shot in the back of the head, their paltry few animals also butchered. Shaw cursed Adler and his men. They were murderers. Soldiers did not kill innocent women and children. He had seen enough; Shaw knew that they weren’t going to learn anything here. He wanted to get back on the trail. As quickly as he could, Shaw headed back towards his friends. When he arrived at the front of the burned temple, Shaw stopped in his tracks. Bruce and Amrit were both on their knees with their hands on top of their heads; behind them stood half a dozen well-armed men. Shaw instantly knew from their peasant clothing that they weren’t Adler’s men. On pure instinct, he went to raise his rifle up to his shoulder. In the blink of an eye, a man silently stepped out behind Shaw. As hard as he could, the man hit Shaw in the head with the butt of his rifle. Instantly, Shaw blacked out and tumbled to the ground.
“No!” screamed Amrit as she watched Shaw fall.
“Shut up, woman,” snapped the man who had hit Shaw. “Be thankful I didn’t slit his throat for desecrating this temple.”
“I told you already,” said Amrit, struggling to control her fear, “we had nothing to do with what happened here. We came across the temple after it had been destroyed, and the monks murdered.”
“So you say,” said the man. With a snap of his fingers, two men stepped forward and quickly placed hoods over the top of Amrit’s and Bruce’s heads. Roughly grabbing both prisoners, the men tied their hands behind their backs.
“Place them and this one,” said the man pointing at Shaw’s prostrate body, “on to their horses and tie them securely to their saddles. I don’t want to lose them before I’ve had a chance to find out what has happened here.”
In less than a minute, Bruce and Amrit were secured to their saddles while Shaw was draped over and then lashed down to his.
Without saying another word, the man leapt up onto his horse and then led the column of riders away from the temple and up into the rocky hills. In minutes, like ghosts, they vanished from sight, as if they had never ever existed.
The horrible sharp pounding in Shaw’s skull told him that he wasn’t dead, at least not yet. Slowly opening his eyes, he realized that he was lying on his back when he saw the night sky filled with millions of stars. Shaw took a deep breath in through his nostrils and instantly felt his stomach turn. Quickly rolling over on his side, he painfully retched up everything in his stomach until all he had left to throw up was bile.
“Easy does it,” said a comforting voice. “You’ve got a nasty bump on the side of your head.”
Shaw turned his head and found himself looking straight into Amrit’s comforting eyes. For a moment, he forgot where he was and what had happened to him.
“Here, take this and place it on your forehead,” said Amrit as she handed Shaw a wet handkerchief.
As he placed the cool rag on his forehead, Shaw could feel his woozy stomach begin to settle. He sat up and looked around, and saw that they were in an old house whose roof had gone missing years ago. Just outside were two men armed with large curved swords. On their belts were a couple of pistols. By the distrustful look on their faces, Shaw knew that the men would not hesitate to gut them with their swords if they tried to escape.
“How long was I out?” asked Shaw.
“Close to four hours,” replied Amrit as she leaned forward to take another look at the bump on Shaw’s head.
“Say, where’s Duncan?” said Shaw when he couldn’t see Bruce in the room with them.
“They took him for interrogation nearly an hour ago,” said Amrit. “He’ll be ok. They questioned me first. When I told them, we had nothing to do with the massacre, they didn’t believe me, so they took Duncan. I suspect they’ll ask him the same questions, and after he gives them the same answers that I did, they’ll undoubtedly come for you.”
“Who are these people?”
“From what I have been able to observe, I think they are Tibetan warrior monks. Their leader is a man called Tempa Choling. He is highly educated and speaks English very well. By his accent, I suspect that he studied in India.”
“Well, whoever they are, I don’t like the fact that we’re their prisoners. We had nothing to do with the deaths of all those people. I for one don’t relish the idea of being held responsible for something that we didn’t do.”
Suddenly, the two guards outside the home stepped apart and Bruce was pushed inside; tripping over his own feet in the dark, he fell face first onto the dirt floor.
“Steady on,” said Shaw as he helped Bruce up onto his feet.
With his usual smile on his face, Bruce brushed the dirt from his clothing. When he saw it was Shaw helping him stand, he said, “Glad to see that you’re back in the land of the living, Captain. How are you feeling?”
“I’ve had better days,” replied Shaw. “Amrit said that you were taken away for questioning.”
“Yeah, they kept asking me about the attack on the temple. No matter how many times that I told them that we had nothing to do with it, they kept calling me a liar.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” said Shaw.
“Sir, that’s not the worst of it. These fellas are from the same crew that tried to kill you on the train and attacked the palace back in India.”
Shaw stomach instantly tied in a knot. “How do you know? They could be pulling your leg just to see what you’d say.”
“No, sir, their leader told me that they were behind the attacks, and I believe him. He knew too much to have made it up. Besides, how the hell would he know about such things all the way out here in the middle of nowhere?”
“Good point,” said Shaw, looking around the decrepit room. Lowering his voice, he said, “We need to get the hell out of here before they decide to finish us off for good.”
“Captain, aside from the goon squad blocking the doorway, there are another dozen or so men camped around this building. We’d never get ten yards before being cut down. I hate to say it, but we’re really screwed this time.”
“Miss York, we don’t have very much gold on us,” said Bruce.
“No, but I could arrange for Hector to bring gold to us,” replied Amrit.
“You come with us,” said a gruff voice at the doorway.
Shaw turned his head and saw a bull-necked guard with a long moustache pointing at him.
“I take it it’s my turn to be questioned,” said Shaw.
Amrit placed a hand on Shaw’s arm and said, “Be careful, I’ve got a really bad feeling in my stomach about this.”
“It’s just nerves,” said Shaw with a smile on his face. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
Outside, two men, both of whom looked like they could wrestle a grizzly bear into submission, instantly took up positions covering Shaw.
“Lead on,” said Shaw cheerfully.
As they walked through the warrior’s camp, Shaw noted that there were at least forty men, all of whom seemed to eye him suspiciously, as he walked by. When they came to a tent with a fire burning outside of it, Shaw’s guards grabbed hold of his arms and held him in their vice-like grip while they waited. A couple of seconds later, a young man stepped outside of the tent. He was just over five feet tall, with short black hair and a clean-shaven face. He looked fit, but not as powerful as the men he commanded. His dark brown, almost black eyes gleamed in the light of the fire while he studied Shaw’s dirt-covered face.
“Let him go.”
The instant his arms were released, Shaw grimaced and then shook them by his sides, trying to get the blood circulating in them.
“My name is Tempa Choling. Please take a seat, Captain Shaw,” said Choling in perfect English as he pointed to a wooden barrel near the fire.
“Thank you,” said Shaw as he sat down.
“I shan’t waste your time asking you the same questions I asked your friends,” said Choling as he sat down across from Shaw. “What I would like to know is why you are here in Tibet. What is your mission and who sent you?”