False Horizon

by Alex Archer

  Mike climbed and then banked around, continuing on their original northwesterly course. He leveled the plane off and then set a course that would take them farther into the Mustang region.

  Annja wondered what the future held in store for them.

  8

  “The curious thing about Mustang is how the entire region pokes up into Tibet,” Mike said. “It almost looks like a thorn in the side.”

  “Hence, the reason it made such a great staging area for the Khampa guerrillas,” Annja said. “They didn’t have to travel as far or retreat as much to get back to safety. It made sense to stage there.”

  Mike piloted the plane and brought them over a particular vista. Annja looked down and saw green fields. “That looks rather lush for the area.”

  “Concentrated irrigation,” Mike said. “It’s not indicative of the entrance to the garden of Eden.” He smiled. “I know the temptation to call it such, but the farmers up here have adapted quite well to the parameters of their environment.” He pointed ahead of them toward where the mountain called Dhaulagiri rose up like a towering majesty. “I want to fly a little higher. See if maybe we can spot something from up there.”

  Annja looked at the peak. She could see storm clouds clustering around it. “Are you sure that’s such a good idea? That doesn’t look too inviting.”

  Mike nodded. “We’ll be all right as long as we don’t get too close. The most important thing is to get as high as we can in order to observe more than we can see skirting this level. We keep doing this, all we’re accomplishing is burning fuel.”

  “If you say so.” Annja leaned back as Mike brought the stick back toward them and the plane responding by climbing. Annja could see snowfields out of the cockpit window. The wind suddenly buffeted the plane. Annja winced. Turbulence was something she didn’t care for.

  “It’s a little choppy up here,” Mike said.

  “You don’t say.”

  Out of the window, Annja thought she saw something glint across one of the snowfields. She frowned and squinted again. “Did you see that?”

  “What?”

  She shook her head. “I’m not sure. I could have sworn I saw something down there across that last field we buzzed.”

  “Like what?”

  “A glint of something. Maybe metallic. Maybe someone was signaling us?”

  Mike shook his head. “We’re pretty close to the border of Tibet here. I doubt very much there’s a party down there trying to signal us. Doesn’t seem likely.”

  “I saw something.”

  Mike glanced at the instrument panel. “I can take another pass if you want me to check it out.”

  “Might be worth a look.”

  Mike nodded. “Hang on.” He banked the plane and Annja saw the vista shift to the left. Mike kept the heading on course and then leveled off. “Over there?”

  The snowfield loomed in front of them, about halfway up the side of Dhaulagiri.

  “Yeah, just down there,” Annja said, pointing.

  Mike eased the stick forward and the plane descended a little. “All right, here we go.”

  Annja heard the engines whine as the plane dipped and buzzed the snowfield. They were probably a thousand feet over the top of the field when she saw it again. “There!”

  Mike turned his head and frowned. “That looks like—”

  “Mike!”

  But Mike had already seen the sudden flash and jerked the stick hard to the left. Annja looked back and saw the flare as a rocket went streaking past the right wing. “What the hell!”

  “Someone’s shooting at us,” Mike said. He drew the plane back to the right and then angled it so it was in a steep climb. “Hang on!”

  Annja clutched at the armrests on her seat as Mike jerked the plane all over the sky, trying to make it a smaller target. Annja strained to look over the back of her seat and see behind them. But the mass of bags in the rear section made it impossible.

  “I can’t see!” she shouted.

  Mike banked the plane now. They’d climbed in altitude and he swung the plane to the left. “We should have an angle on them in a second,” he said.

  But as they came around again, Annja saw nothing to cause concern. “I don’t see anything.”

  “Neither do I, but someone very obviously shot a missile at us.” Mike keyed the microphone and cleared his throat to speak to air traffic control. Annja listened as he relayed what had happened and notified the tower that they were returning to Jomsom. He switched off and turned to Annja. “It’s too risky for us to be out here. If someone’s got missiles and they’re shooting at us—”

  “But why would they?” she asked.

  Mike shook his head. “Damned if I know. But we can’t risk our lives trying to figure it out. The best thing to do is land and see if we can get some information from somewhere about this. Maybe Tsing can help us.”

  “Tsing? Why would he—?”

  “Because he wants to find this place as badly as we do. And if someone is causing us problems, then they’re causing Tsing problems, too. He won’t tolerate that. And I’m sure he can bring some muscle to bear on it.”

  Annja frowned. “Seems like we’re getting deeper into debt with him if we do that.”

  “You’ve got a better suggestion?”

  Annja sighed. “I guess not.”

  Mike nodded. “I know it’s not ideal. But we’ve got to use what we have. And if Tsing is desperate to find Shangri-La and can figure out who wants to blow us out of the sky, then that’s all the better. Like you said, we can handle Tsing later on. What I don’t want to handle right now is a missile while I’m flying over one of the largest mountains in the world.”

  “I understand,” Annja said. “And you’re right. We should land and get out of danger. I just don’t understand why anyone would want to shoot at us.”

  “It’s worthless trying to figure it out now. We don’t know anything about who it might be. We’re wasting time up here.”

  He banked the plane again and brought them on a course away from Dhaulagiri, back toward Jomsom. “Won’t be long now,” he said.

  In the next moment, Annja heard a sudden explosion off the right side of the plane. The plane jumped from the impact of the rocket as it struck the right wing. Alarms sounded from the cockpit instrumentation. Mike shouted for Annja to hold on.

  They were already rapidly losing altitude. The plane started spinning and plummeting toward the earth. Annja looked at what was left of the right wing and saw it was on fire. Black smoke poured out, swirling about them as they spun and fell through the sky.

  “I can’t control it!” Mike shouted. “We’re going down!”

  Annja grabbed the microphone and switched it on. “Mayday, mayday, mayday, this is—”

  She could barely hear herself talking. The alarms were so loud. Looking out of the cockpit through the dense black smoke she caught brief glimpses of white snow. And then of Dhaulagiri looming in front of them again. The plane almost seemed to be climbing, but that couldn’t be possible. She glanced at Mike and saw him straining to pull the stick this way and that, trying to fight the plane to a softer landing than the one Annja expected them to receive.

  The plane toppled through the sky; the altimeter needle spun like a pinwheel and the numbers shot past. Annja tore her eyes away and braced for impact.

  When it came, the plane slammed into the side of the mountain with a deafening sound of metal being crushed and torn apart. The cockpit window shattered and cold snow and ice filled the plane.

  The plane seemed to keep sliding for a distance and then, at last, it came to a merciful halt.

  Annja heard herself screaming.

  And then saw nothing but blackness.

  WHEN ANNJA CAME TO, daylight had already started to dip below the horizon and night was rushing back to claim its birthright. Annja groaned and twisted in her seat. She was wet from the snow and ice that had surrounded her and melted from her body heat. She fought to release the har
ness around her, scrabbling to dig through the snow to reach the release.

  As she shifted, she felt a sharp punch of pain in her side and took a gasping breath.

  She felt her ribs gingerly. One, maybe two, on her left side felt badly bruised or broken. She ignored the pain and struggled to release the harness.

  She looked at Mike. His head was thrown back against the pilot’s seat. His eyes were closed. Annja reached out for his neck and put her fingers against his throat. She felt a thready pulse there and exhaled in a rush.

  They were alive.

  But they both needed help in a bad way. Annja reached for the microphone, but as soon as she tried to key it, she heard nothing. The plane had lost communications in the impact.

  Annja took stock. She could move her legs and arms. Aside from the ribs, she seemed okay. Her head had a lump near her temple. She’d probably bashed it on the cockpit as the plane hit and that’s what caused her to black out.

  But otherwise, she was fine.

  She brushed some of the snow away from her window and peered out. From what she could see, the plane had hit the side of Dhaulagiri and then slid across and came to rest on a fairly level piece of ground. The right wing, which had been shot off by the second missile, no longer smoked and she saw why. It lay covered in snow and that had helped extinguish any remaining smoldering wires.

  Annja frowned. That also meant that there’d be no smoke trail to help rescuers find them.

  I need to get out of here, she thought. It was the only way she could get an accurate perspective on their situation.

  Annja braced herself for the pain and then grunted as she clambered out of her seat. The pain in her side was tremendous, but she steeled herself and then clawed her way outside of the plane.

  As she took her first step, she fell into waist-deep snow. Instantly, she felt the cold smack her hard. Wind whipped around her and bits of snow and ice stung her skin.

  She remembered that Mike had seemingly put some more altitude on even as the plane sank toward the earth. Annja looked around and reasoned that if Dhaulagiri was eight thousand meters high, then they were at least halfway up the mountain.

  The air was thin and Annja’s lungs struggled to fill themselves with oxygen. Each gasping breath brought more pain in Annja’s side.

  Then her ears caught a sound.

  It was coming from the plane.

  She frowned and started back toward it. Maybe Mike had regained consciousness.

  But as she neared the cockpit, she could see that Mike was still out. She’d need to get a fire going soon if they had any hope of lasting the night.

  She heard another sound. It was a moan. But it didn’t come from Mike.

  Annja steeled herself. Was the person who had shot them out of the sky coming back to finish the job he’d started?

  If so, they were going to meet with a very unpleasant Annja Creed. She summoned the mystical sword she’d inherited from Joan of Arc. The sword gleamed in her hands.

  “Who’s there?” she demanded. “Show yourself!”

  The wind whipped up around her. Annja fought off the icy sting and glared toward the plane.

  She heard another moan. She struggled to get closer to the plane. As she did, the plane seemed to rock. Again, Annja glanced at Mike to make sure it wasn’t him causing the motion.

  It wasn’t.

  Someone else was inside the plane.

  Annja’s vision swam as she drew closer to the plane. How in the world had someone else gotten on it? How was that possible? Did Tsing hide someone in there?

  She swung her sword and cleaved an opening in the back of the wreckage. Like a piñata splitting open under the assault, the metal sheared under the power of the sword and spilled its contents into the snow.

  Annja saw bags tumble out.

  And then she saw a tiny man come falling out, as well. He was bloody and he looked terrified.

  But he was alive.

  Annja took a step toward him, felt another wave of pain wash through her and toppled over.

  Back into darkness.

  9

  The simple fact of his predicament was that Tuk had never ridden on an airplane before. He’d seen plenty of them and he knew what they were and even the basic scientific principles behind them.

  But he had never stepped onto one until he’d had the idea to stow away on the plane with Annja Creed and her friend Mike. Any fear he’d felt at the idea was quickly squelched by the promise of reward from the man on the phone. Tuk would again prove himself to the man and hopefully reap an even better reward.

  He’d made himself as comfortable as possible after he’d crawled into the plane. His first order of business was to make sure that Annja and Mike were, in fact, still alive. He felt for their pulses and then settled down among the bags, cushioning himself and making sure that the cooler of beverages was closer to the pilot and copilot seats. The last thing he needed was one of them rummaging through the bags and discovering him hidden away.

  Once he’d done that, he called the man on the cell phone.

  “You’re with them now?”

  Tuk nodded. “I am in the airplane. They are still unconscious it would appear, but alive.”

  “Your plan is to go with them?”

  Tuk smiled. “You requested I remain with them to make sure the woman stays safe. I intend to fulfill my end of the arrangement as best I am able.”

  “You’re a marvel, my friend. Without a doubt the best I’ve ever worked with. Are you certain they won’t know you’re there?”

  “They will not. I am secreted in the back with more of the baggage that Tsing’s men left for them. I went through the bags. There is a lot of cold weather gear useful for trekking in the mountains. An assortment of other supplies are in the bags, as well.”

  “Mountain trekking? Interesting.”

  “The man known as Mike had a map on him.”

  The man paused. “The logical assumption would be that the map shows the location of Shangri-La on it.”

  “I have examined the map. It does not show anything but rather a series of routes that seem to focus on the middle of the country. Particularly, there are several routes through the Mustang region.”

  “Mustang?”

  “Yes.”

  “What do you know of that area?”

  “Not much. I know there are temples far to the north in Lo Monthang. But otherwise, very little is known about the region. Parts of it are even off-limits to many foreigners.”

  “Do you know why?”

  “I’ve heard tell that the government is very sensitive to the fact that the Tibetan border is close. They don’t want to risk offending the Chinese who occupy that region.”

  “That makes sense,” the man said. “Still, I wonder…” His voice trailed off. Tuk left him to this thoughts and waited.

  Finally, the man seemed to come to a decision. “You will stay with them when they fly up to the region?”

  “I will.”

  “Excellent. I will be in touch. Let me know the moment you have any more information to share. You’ve done an incredible job.”

  Tuk beamed. “Thank you.”

  The line went dead and Tuk looked out of the back window. Dawn was starting to break across the eastern horizon. And from the front of the plane, he caught movement. The woman—Annja—was beginning to stir. The drug was wearing off and, very soon, they would both be awake.

  Tuk tried to quell the sudden fear that stirred in the pit of his stomach. The prospect of flying now reared its head. Tuk did not fear many things in life, even given his diminutive stature.

  But flying?

  He shrank down among the bags and waited for the terror to begin.

  WHEN MIKE BROUGHT the plane down at Jomsom, Tuk had a brief moment to take a breath. The flight up to the northwest had been terribly frightening. And yet, there had been something else that stirred within him—a sense of adventure and excitement. Tuk had labored so long for the spies of the wo
rld, that being on his own operation now thrilled him like nothing else had in his life. No wonder, he supposed, certain people actually flocked to the intelligence world.

  He stretched his legs in the back of the plane and luxuriated in getting some blood flowing back into his limbs. He could overhear Annja and Mike talking outside of the plane and knew they would be back inside soon.

  But he needed a drink.

  Dare he risk it?

  His parched lips begged for mercy and he crept forward in the plane like a shadow. With one hand on the cooler top, he reached in and removed a single bottle of water from within. He scurried back to his hiding place and drank the water. The cold liquid rejuvenated him and helped still his beating heart.

  He let out an involuntary sigh of relief when Mike and Annja jumped back on to the plane. Mike caught the movement.

  Tuk froze as Mike questioned Annja about it.

  If they stopped to look in the back, he would be discovered!

  His heart thundered in his chest. Perhaps there was a better way to make a living. Tuk knew that Annja and Mike wouldn’t do him harm, but the prospect of discovery set his nerves on edge.

  But Mike ignored his instinct and got the plane airborne. In the back of the plane, Tuk felt the water he’d just sucked down loll about his insides. Twice he had to bite back the surge of bile in his throat.

  And the worst was yet to come.

  After they’d climbed to a staggering height, Tuk felt his ears pop. The roar of the engines made his ears hurt and he buried his head down amid the bags. Then, without warning, Mike threw the plane all over the sky, twisting it this way and that. The engines whined in protest, but complied with Mike’s directions.

  Tuk and the bags in back, however, slid and tumbled everywhere. Tuk halfway expected Annja to turn and look back only to see Tuk’s arms and legs akimbo as he sprawled from one side of the plane to the other while Mike engaged in his acrobatics.

  But she didn’t.

  Gradually, Mike leveled the plane and Tuk gathered the bags about him again, trying his best to wedge them in around him so he could be reasonably secure. The last thing he wanted was to have to go through that again.