The Mountain

by Richard Turner

  Shaw slowly made his way back. However, instead of heading over to Amrit and Bruce, Shaw made his way over to Choling, who was sitting in the snow with a look of hate burning in his eyes. Shaw dropped to one knee beside Choling.

  He said, “Learn to mask your feelings better. If you don’t, trust me, they’ll be your undoing. Try to look tired and despondent. When the time comes, it’ll work to your advantage.”

  “What did you find?” asked Choling.

  “The last expedition,” replied Shaw.

  Choling turned his head and looked up the icy slope. “We’re close. If the directions my grandfather gave me are accurate, we’ll be at the cavern in less than an hour. We can’t let them violate what’s in there.”

  “I know. Tell Sangdrol to be ready to act when the time comes,” said Shaw.

  “How will I know when that is?”

  “Trust me, you’ll know.” With that, Shaw patted Choling on the shoulder and then trudged through the snow back to his friends.

  With a tired sigh, he sat down in the snow and took a long swig of water from his canteen. The water was ice cold, but his body craved the fluid. He watched while Adler made his way to the front of the column. Shaw knew they would be moving shortly. He quickly filled Bruce and Amrit in on what he had found and about his discussion with Choling.

  After a couple more deep breaths of oxygen, Bruce looked more himself again. “Captain, if we’re gonna be at the cave in an hour’s time, would you happen to have a plan that you’d like to share with us?”

  Shaw smiled. “No, not yet.”

  “No, you don’t have one, or no you don’t want to share with us your genius plan to escape?”

  “Come on, Duncan, you know I’m making this up as I go along. We got out of Norway in one piece, didn’t we?”

  “Aye, but we both nearly died several times over.”

  “Then you have nothing to worry about, do you?”

  Amrit jumped into the conversation. Looking into Shaw’s eyes, she said, “Remember your promise, whatever we find in there, it can never leave.”

  Shaw nodded his head, closed up his rucksack, and pulled it up onto his back. He jumped up and down a couple of times to get the sack to sit comfortably on his back. A second later, Shaw saw Adler wave down to Zaro at the back of the column.

  They were on the move again. Slowly, they pushed their way up the slope towards a cavern that hadn’t been visited by man in almost seven hundred years.

  What they didn’t know was that in a couple of hours most of them would be dead.

  Chapter 24

  Mount Naraka

  Like an ancient wound on the icy slope, the mouth of the cavern yawned open. Adler stopped at the entrance to the cave, brought out his flashlight and shone it down inside. The light reached out into the near-impenetrable darkens. He could see the walls of a narrow tunnel that led at a slight angle down into the mountain. Snow and ice covered the floor of the tunnel like a frozen white river.

  “My God, Herr Adler, we’ve found it,” said Ortega, excitedly as she looked down into the tunnel.

  “Are you ready to make history and win the war all at the same time, Señorita Ortega?” said Adler.

  “Yes,” she replied, her voice quivering with excitement. She pulled her pack from her back, opened it, and pulled out a rugged-looking device with a carrying handle built onto the top of the box. With a flip of a switch, Ortega turned it on. She waited a few seconds for the device to calibrate. Once she was sure that it was working properly, she moved it back and forth at the entrance to the tunnel, searching for any sign of radioactivity. Ortega looked down at a color-coded dial on the top of the box. A second later, she shook her head and said that it was safe for them to proceed.

  With a triumphant look on his face, Adler called everyone up. “We’re here,” he announced loudly. “Everyone dig out your flashlights; you’re going to need them. Also, Mister Shaw, tie off your rope to the nearest rock.”

  Prodded on by Zaro, Shaw tied off one end of the rope to a tall boulder and then threw the rest of the line down into the tunnel. He was really starting to dislike Zaro. The man was a bully and a coward. Without a weapon in his hands, Shaw knew the man would be as meek as a lamb.

  “Well, I guess this is it,” said Bruce as he stared down into the darkened tunnel. It was as welcoming as a freshly dug grave.

  Shaw stepped close to Amrit and then whispered, “When the shooting starts keep close to Bruce and don’t worry about me.”

  A thousand questions instantly flooded her mind; instead, Amrit quickly nodded, placing her life in Shaw’s hands.

  With Adler leading, the group began to descend down the long tunnel into the heart of the mountain. After a few dozen yards, the ice gave way to rock under their boots. One by one, they let go of the safety rope. As soon as they were out of the freezing wind, the temperature began to slowly rise. Before too long, everyone was shedding their hats, scarves, and gloves and undoing their heavy winter coats to cool down. The tunnel at times forced the taller men in the group to bend slightly, but it never slowed Adler’s determined pace.

  After about five minutes, they stepped out into a vast cavern that was barely lit by the many handheld flashlights.

  Shaw shone his light around and saw dozens of gray colored stalagmites reaching up like tall towers from the floor of the cave. He marveled at the long, pointed stalactites that hung down from the roof. An unpleasant odor seemed to hang, listless in the air, like rotten eggs or sulfur. Shaw didn’t think the mountains in this region were volcanic.

  Adler raised a hand and then said, “All right, we’ll take a short rest. Have a drink of water and a quick bite to eat, but don’t get comfortable, I want to get moving again in ten minutes.”

  Bruce wearily sat down on a long tubular rock and removed his pack from his back. He reached inside and pulled out the mask for the bottle of oxygen he had with him. He turned it on and took a couple of deep breaths.

  “You know I could get used to this thing. I may have to buy one when we get home,” said Bruce as he offered the mask to Amrit and Shaw.

  “My God, it stinks to high heaven down here,” said Amrit, waving her hand in front of her nose to clear away the horrid stench.

  “Mister Shaw, come here,” said Adler curtly.

  Shaw dropped his pack and walked over beside Zaro and Adler.

  Off to one side, Ortega slowly moved her machine through the air. She used her flashlight to read the dial on the box. Lowering the machine, she looked over at Adler and shook her head. There still was no indication of radioactivity in the tunnel system.

  Adler said, “Shaw, I want Sergeant Bruce to remain here in this cavern with Zaro.”

  “Why?” asked Shaw.

  “Because Zaro needs help preparing the explosives to seal off this cavern when we leave, that’s why.”

  Shaw shook his head. “You’re asking for the wrong man. He’s not a soldier; he’s a photographer in the RAF. He knows absolutely nothing about explosives.”

  Zaro said, “He doesn’t need to know a thing about explosives; he just needs to do as I say. I don’t trust any of the Afghans to do anything right, and as I can’t speak a single word of Tibetan, that leaves the Scotsman to help me.”

  “I guess offering my services instead of Bruce’s is a non-starter,” said Shaw to Adler.

  “Please, Mister Shaw, I don’t want you out of my sight for even a minute. I have other plans for you,” replied Adler ominously.

  Shaw knew that he was on borrowed time. It would either be him or Adler before too long. He turned head and asked Bruce to join him. After he told him what was going to happen, Bruce looked like he had just been abandoned by his friends to face his fate all alone.

  Bruce knew that there was nothing Shaw could do to help him. He reluctantly nodded his head.

  Together they walked back over to Amrit, who was drinking some tea from her thermos. She had opened a tin of crackers and shared them with her compatriots. Wh
en Shaw told her that Bruce wouldn’t be coming with them, she said nothing, but the pained look in her eyes betrayed her fear for Bruce’s life.

  Shaw took a quick look around, leaned forward as if he was looking for something in his pack, and then, barely above a whisper, he said to Bruce, “If you get the chance, kill Zaro and then make your way out of here. Hopefully, we’ll meet you back at the camp before nightfall.”

  “And if you don’t?”

  “You can either remain here for the night or try to make it back to the camp below the glacier where all of our equipment is. I’ll leave it up to you to decide your best course of action. Whatever happens, don’t trust Zaro. Once the explosives are set, he’s probably going to put a bullet into the back of your skull because he won’t need you anymore.”

  “This is a bloody nightmare,” mumbled Bruce as he despondently shook his head. “I never thought I would miss Norway, but this is starting to make me wish we were there instead of here.”

  “Unstrap your ice axe from your pack and leave it somewhere where it’s easily accessible, just in case you need it,” said Shaw.

  Bruce nodded his head. He pointed over at Ortega and said, “Keep an eye on that woman; she’s carrying a Geiger counter. I saw her waving it about while you were chatting with Adler.”

  “What’s a Geiger counter?”

  “It looks for signs of radioactivity,” explained Bruce.

  “Let’s go,” said Adler loudly.

  “Good luck, Duncan,” said Shaw, offering him his hand.

  “Good luck to you too, Captain,” replied Bruce, shaking his friend’s hand.

  “For luck,” said Amrit as she leaned over and kissed Bruce on the forehead.

  With a smile on his face, he looked over at Shaw and said, “That’s two.”

  Silvas snapped his fingers, pointed at the two Afghans, and then over at Zaro. Both men nodded their heads and then quite happily placed their heavy loads on the floor of the cavern near Zaro. With the weight off their backs, the Afghans tightly clutched their bolt-action rifles in their nervous hands and stared off into the darkness all around them. Both men looked like they were ready to make a run for the surface. With another loud snap of his fingers, Silvas pointed over at the Tibetans. Reluctantly, the two guards shuffled over and stood watch over Choling and Sangdrol.

  Shaw and Amrit reluctantly left Bruce and fell into line with the others.

  “Come on, Scotsman,” called out Zaro. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

  “Go stuff yourself,” muttered Bruce under breath as he walked towards Zaro. His spirits dropped the further away his friends became, the sound of their footsteps echoing through the vast chamber faded by the second. Before long, the lights from their flashlights completely vanished from sight, swallowed up in the dark. A feeling of crushing despair weighed heavily on Bruce. He turned to face Zaro and said, “I hope you know what you’re doing because I’m likely to bring this whole bloody mountain down on our heads.”

  Walking in silence down the long, dark tunnel, Shaw could feel the pressure change in his ears as they gradually descended deeper into the mountain. He placed his hand over his pocket and rubbed his hand over the hidden pistol. Shaw wasn’t sure when he was going to make his move. All he knew was that it would have to be fast and crippling. He didn’t fear the Afghan goons so much as Adler and Silvas, both of whom were professional soldiers. If he didn’t bring both of them down quickly, his chances of succeeding were slim.

  As they turned a sharp bend in the passage, Shaw saw the people in front of him suddenly stop.

  A second later, from behind, Silvas grabbed Shaw by the arm and said menacingly, “I’m going to see what the holdup is. If you try anything stupid, the doctor dies.” With that, Silvas let go of Shaw and took hold of Amrit and pulled her along with him. Gruffly pushing his way passed the Tibetans and Afghans and walked over beside Ortega.

  “What’s going on?” Silvas asked Ortega.

  She raised a hand and pointed at Adler, who had gone on ahead.

  Silvas shone his flashlight on Adler and saw that he was slowly walking across a narrow rock bridge that spanned a deep, black chasm.

  Silvas, quietly said to Ortega, “The sooner we’re out of here the better. This place gives me the creeps.”

  “Soon enough,” replied Ortega. “Once we have what we came for, then we can leave, but not before.”

  “It’s safe,” called out Adler. “It’s not very wide, so you had best come across one at a time.”

  “After you, Doctor,” said Silvas as he pushed her out onto the narrow, rock bridge.

  Amrit felt her stomach drop when she shone her light along the rock formation. She saw that Adler hadn’t been exaggerating; if anything, he had understated the width of the bridge. It looked no more than eighteen inches wide. Amrit looked up at Adler on the far side of the deep gorge and slowly began to shuffle her feet. Her heart beat wildly in her chest as she edged her way over the crevasse. The instant her feet touched the rocky ground on the far side; she exhaled loudly.

  “Next person across, come on, let’s speed this up,” called out Adler, growing more impatient by the second to find the source of the legendary Vril power.

  Ortega was next. She took a deep breath and screwed up her courage as she stepped out onto the thin bridge and began to shuffle her way across. She was almost half-way across when her resolve failed her. Like a statue, Ortega stopped where she was and looked over at Adler. With a terrified expression on her face, she shook her head.

  “Damn it woman, we don’t have time for this,” snarled Adler. “Get over here now!”

  Ortega, her eyes as wide as saucers, once more shook her head.

  “Yelling won’t help,” said Amrit as she edged out onto the rock. Ever so slowly, Amrit made her way over to Ortega.

  “Look into my eyes,” said Amrit to Ortega, her voice calm and reassuring.

  Ortega, shaking like a leaf, looked up at Amrit. When she saw Amrit coolly standing there with a hand outstretched, Ortega slowly reached over until her hand was in Amrit’s.

  “Now, we’re going to do this together. I’m going to take a step back each time you take a step forward,” said Amrit.

  Ortega couldn’t speak. Fear had dried her mouth worse than being lost in the Sahara desert for a week. Meekly nodding her head, Ortega lifted a shaking foot up and then placed it in front of the other.

  Amrit smiled at her and took a step back.

  When Ortega realized that Amrit wasn’t going to let her fall, she found some of her missing courage. A few seconds later, both women stepped of the bridge and onto solid rock.

  “Thank you,” said Ortega, still shaking from head to toe.

  “I didn’t do it for you,” said Amrit. “My friends still are on the other side of the chasm. I didn’t want them to hear you scream as you fell to your death.”

  Ortega stood there with her mouth hanging open, not sure what to say.

  “Send over the Tibetans,” ordered Adler. “If they hesitate, shoot them.”

  Silvas reached over; however, before he could lay a hand on Sangdrol, he was already making his way over the narrow path. As sure-footed as ever, Sangdrol was across in seconds, as was Choling. Both Afghans had to be prodded to cross. Shaw and Silvas were the last to make their way over the crevasse.

  When he arrived on the far side, Shaw found a rock and kicked it down into the pitch-black gorge. He listened intently for the sound of the rock hitting the bottom. Shaw looked over at Amrit and grimaced when he never heard the rock land.

  “My God, it must be thousands of feet deep,” said Amrit.

  “It probably leads to the deepest pits of hell,” added Choling.

  Adler shone his flashlight onto his watch and swore. They were losing time. He hadn’t planned for them to spend the night deep inside the mountain. They could have brought some provisions with them; however, he hadn’t thought it necessary. It was a decision he was beginning to regret.

&nbs
p; Adler pushed on and soon found that the tunnel began to narrow. In places, it was barely wide enough for a man to fit through sideways. Choling had to strip down to his bare chest to make it through most of the narrow passageways. After a few minutes of forcing their way through the tunnels, they came out into a long cavern that stretched further than their lights could penetrate the darkness.

  “Everyone take a drink of water and a two-minute break,” said Adler as he reached for his canteen.

  Ortega swung her Geiger counter back and forth. As before, she found no sign of radioactivity. Puzzled, she double-checked her findings; she had expected to find some sign of radiation in the air by now.

  At the back of the small column, Shaw shook his head. He was certain that Adler had absolutely no idea where he was going. The thought of getting lost and dying of thirst or starvation in the dark after all of their flashlight batteries ran out made Shaw wish that they were already on their way to the surface.

  Shaw edged over beside Choling, and quietly said, “Did your grandfather ever tell you where the sacred objects were hidden inside the mountain?”

  “Not exactly. All he ever said was that the sacred object was hidden in a cave of a million lights,” replied Choling.

  Shaw ran a hand over his chin and said, “I wonder what that means.”

  “I have no idea. My grandfather said many things when I was a young child.”

  “Well, this cave doesn’t fit your grandfather’s description. It’s as black as pitch in here.”

  A second later, Sangdrol tapped Choling on the arm. He was sniffing the air with a worried look in his eyes.

  “Tell him the smell is from a sulfur deposit somewhere in the mountain,” said Shaw to Choling.

  Choling was about to translate what Shaw had said when he got a whiff of something repulsive. The stomach-turning smell of rancid meat was coming from somewhere in the dark.

  They weren’t alone.

  After tying off another fuse to a bundle of dynamite jammed into a crack in the rock face near the tunnel entrance, Bruce wiped the sweat from his brow. He could see his breath in the cold, still air while he worked, yet he was sweating as if he were working outside on a hot summer day. He worked as slow as he could without rousing suspicion. Pausing for a moment, he checked his watch. Bruce was surprised to see that an hour had already gone by since Shaw and Amrit had been led away at gunpoint. He turned his head and looked into the unwelcoming darkness and wondered just how deep into the mountain his friends had gone.