by Matt Rogers
‘What does it matter? You just got us killed, you moron.’
Slater could barely think.
A bullet thudded into the chassis on the other side of the chopper.
‘What’s your name?’ he said.
‘Drew.’
His accent was British.
‘Nice to meet you, Drew,’ Slater said. ‘Can you fly this thing?’
‘I’m the pilot.’
‘I’ll take that as a yes.’ Slater looked to the heavens. ‘Maybe miracles do happen.’
‘Have you lost your fucking mind? You look like you’ve just rolled out of bed.’
Eyes half-closed, Slater mumbled, ‘I feel like it, too.’
‘Where’d you get that gun?’
‘It’s mine,’ Slater said. ‘Get your own.’
‘Are you really making jokes right now?’
‘I think I’m delirious, Drew.’
‘No shit.’
‘How about we get the fuck out of here?’
‘I got called here to airlift an African-American man to a lower altitude,’ Drew said. ‘That wouldn’t happen to be you, would it?’
Slater scrunched up his face. ‘Who the hell called that in?’
‘The owner of the teahouse you’re staying in, you moron.’
Slater felt like he was on the verge of death, but he still managed a smile.
You are a good man, Slater thought. Better than I deserve.
He said, ‘I’m your man, Drew.’
He dropped to a prone position in the snow, aimed underneath the body of the chopper, found a sliver of space available to aim at the windows of the building up the hill, and fired several rounds through the open frame.
More blood sprayed against the windows.
‘Now,’ Slater said.
Drew lurched forward and threw the cockpit door open.
70
King turned to Perry and said, ‘I’ll be honest. I thought it was you all along.’
‘Obviously,’ Perry said, his features forlorn. ‘That’s what they were going for.’
‘You knew?’
‘I knew what they were painting me as. I knew why they were stringing me along when I wasn’t worth shit. I was the scapegoat if it all went to hell. And it did. They felt the need to come all the way up here to lure you out of your comfort zone, so that says it all.’
‘Yeah, well, I didn’t help much…’
King trailed off. He thought about looking at Raya, but decided not to. He’d faked the first wave of emotion, but now the threats were neutralised he had more time to process what had happened.
And they were still very far from safety.
Perry said, ‘They were going to kill her anyway.’
King looked up. ‘They were never going to negotiate?’
‘You and your partner killed dozens of his men. I saw him deteriorating before my eyes. He was losing his shit. That first video — it was his knee-jerk response to the chaos. He thought if he made himself look like a prisoner he’d cause confusion, but it achieved nothing. He was flying off the rails with each failed attempt on your lives. I watched him smash his face into the corner of a table to give himself that eye injury. He was doing anything he thought might work.’
‘If his goal was to kill Raya, then he succeeded.’
‘It wasn’t. He knew you and your friend were dangerous as hell, and he knew if he killed her he’d lose his only chance to manipulate you. His only fucking concern was the laptop.’
‘What happened?’
‘I knew what was on it. That first night … they put a gun to my head and strangled Winston in front of me and made me watch. Then they tied me up and carried me over their shoulders out of the teahouse. But I saw them take the laptop, and I freaked. Because that compromises everything. They didn’t notice at the time. But then Mukta started playing around with it the next night in front of me and I couldn’t help it. I went pale. Tried to act like nothing was wrong, but I’m a terrible actor. I can’t keep it together when I’m under duress.’
‘Great qualities for a—’
‘I know,’ Perry hissed. ‘Let’s not conduct a performance review up here, okay? I have my strengths and my weaknesses. Like we all do.’
Then Perry looked around.
‘Except you, apparently.’
King looked at Raya.
‘We all have weaknesses,’ he said. ‘We all come up short.’
Perry looked from King to Raya. ‘You do this for a living, huh?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Does it affect you?’
King glanced at Perry, and the man noticed the hurt in his eyes.
King said, ‘How could it not?’
Perry said, ‘You’re a warrior, man. A true warrior.’
‘We’re in the same field.’
Perry put his hands behind his head and gazed into space. There was a myriad of emotion in his eyes. He said, ‘Yeah, but I’m up the shallow end with floaties on. You’re way in the deep.’
‘Let’s get ourselves out of the deep,’ King said. ‘Ready for a hike down?’
Perry went pale, and gave his head a slight shake. ‘We’re screwed, man.’
‘Why?’
‘That was the plan all along. Mukta knew how valuable that laptop was, so he organised a bottleneck in case they ran into trouble up here with you.’
‘You mean…?’
‘There’s a twenty-man party of Maoists disguised as guides and porters on their way up to Gokyo Ri right now. Like a pincer trap. There’s nothing but open terrain up here. They’ll kill us. We need to wait it out.’
King swore. He almost punched the cave wall, but stopped himself short of breaking his hand.
Perry said, ‘What?’
‘I can’t wait it out.’
‘Yes you can. We have to.’
‘You know that partner you kept mentioning?’
‘Yeah,’ Perry said, then trailed off. ‘Where is he?’
‘Down in Gokyo. He can barely move. The altitude’s fucking with his system. His heart’s set to burst if he exerts himself too hard. Not enough oxygen.’
‘Christ. They’ll be sweeping the village for him.’
‘I know. So I can’t spend all day here.’
Perry went quiet.
King said, ‘Actually, if I’m being honest, I can’t afford to spend another minute here.’
‘They’ll kill us,’ Perry said. ‘Twenty against two on a wide-open slope with civilians in the crossfire. Tell me what’s tactical about that.’
King thought hard.
There was one way up, and one way down.
No alternatives.
This time, he did punch the cave wall.
71
King’s fist went numb, but he barely felt it.
Panic was doing its best to seize hold of him. He battled it back down.
‘Fuck this place,’ he said. ‘There has to be another way down.’
Perry shook his head. ‘There’s nothing. Trust me.’
‘You’ve swept the whole mountain?’
‘Okay,’ Perry conceded. ‘You can wade through waist-deep snow on either side of the trekkers’ trail if you want. But they’d spot you in seconds. It’s a sheer vertical slope. There’s no covert way down.’
King mulled it over, and surveyed the bodies. ‘We could put their gear on. Use their balaclavas to—’
‘Have you seen the size of these guys?’ Perry said.
King scanned Perry’s six-foot-two frame, and then looked down at himself. ‘Maybe not, then.’
‘They’d realise before we got within a hundred feet of them. How many of these rebels have you seen that are our height and weight?’
‘It was just a suggestion.’
‘We need to stay here,’ Perry said. ‘Or we’re dead. I know you think the noble move is to go try and save your friend, but you’ll just get us all killed. And then your buddy is definitely fucked.’
‘How many more rebels are th
ere?’ King said.
‘He had plenty to work with. They kept me blindfolded for a fair portion of my time in captivity, but I was seeing a fresh face almost every hour. You haven’t made a dent in their forces.’
‘They can’t all be here… can they?’
‘Mukta knew how important that laptop was. He sounded the alarm as soon as he figured it out. If they’re not all here, then they’re on their way.’
A gust of wind ripped through the cave, and King shivered.
He said, ‘How did you all go so long without getting spotted? You were using public trails packed with hikers, and it seemed no one could remember you passing by.’
Perry stared at him. ‘It’s easier to fool our intelligence than I thought, then.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I assume you asked passersby if they’d seen two Americans — a big blond male and a fourteen-year-old girl?’
‘Something like that.’
‘They split us up. Put a beanie on my head to cover up the hair, and put sunglasses on Raya and a cloth over her mouth. Then they flanked us on the trail — a man on either side, and one behind. They looked like guides and porters, but in reality they were a convoy. There were three guns on me at all times, inside pockets. Same as Raya. There wasn’t a hope in hell I could try anything.’
‘Were you going to give it a shot?’
‘I figured when we reached our end destination, I’d try something. I wasn’t able to convince myself it was going to work, though.’
‘How do you feel now?’
Perry almost glanced back at her corpse, but decided not to. Instead he balled up a fist.
‘I’ve been working for Aidan for five years,’ he said, choking back emotion. ‘I watched her grow up.’
King grimaced. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘Nothing we can do about it now.’
‘Maybe if I had just—’
‘Don’t go down that path,’ Perry said. ‘I know where it leads, and you’ll never work your way back out if you spiral down.’
King nodded. ‘I’ve been told the same thing a few times in the past.’
‘We can’t overthink this shit.’
They stood there, hands on hips, bracing themselves against the wind.
Thinking.
Overthinking.
Finally King said, ‘We can’t stay here. We both know it — we just don’t want to think about the alternative.’
Perry thought about it.
And shrugged.
‘You might be right. No food. No water. If we let them bring the fight to this cave, we’ll be trapped. We’ll run out of ammo. They can just shoot it out with us.’
‘This is the worst terrain I can think of for mounting a plan.’
‘There is no good plan.’ Perry scratched his chin. ‘How important is your friend?’
‘He’s practically my brother. And I won’t make it out of here without him.’
‘You know this is a death sentence?’
King fished through one of the corpses’ pockets and came up with a spare magazine for the P320. He reloaded, going through the motions like they were automatic.
Then he said, ‘What else can we do?’
Perry bent down and picked up one of the Kalashnikovs. The AK-47 hadn’t fired a shot — its clip was full. He slung it over one shoulder and froze in place, as if reluctant to continue.
‘We stay here,’ King said, ‘we die.’
‘We leave,’ Perry said, ‘we die.’
‘Then we go for the option that has the best chance.’
‘There’s a small army headed for us. Mukta’s dead, but the wheels are already in motion. You’re not Rambo.’
‘I’ve overcome similar odds in the past.’
‘On a mountainside with no cover?’
King paused. ‘No. Not exactly.’
‘Let me guess — close quarters, claustrophobic, indoors.’
‘Yeah. Usually.’
‘That’s not what this is. We’re out of our depth here. We’re up to our necks in shit.’
King didn’t respond, because there was nothing to say. He knew it was the truth.
The cold harsh world outside the cave meant death.
Staying in here, sheltered from the elements, meant death.
Slater was probably already dead.
He said, ‘I didn’t think this would be where it all came crashing down.’
‘This isn’t the movies,’ Perry said. ‘Killing the big bad guy doesn’t magically solve all our problems.’
‘Where’s the laptop?’
Perry pointed to the body outside the cave. There was something resting in the snow alongside him. It had fallen off his shoulder when he’d gone down.
‘In that duffel,’ he said.
‘Get it.’
‘What’s the point, man…?’
‘Are you giving up on me?’
‘No, but—’
‘Get the laptop,’ King said. ‘We’re not quitting at the final hurdle, for God’s sake.’
He led the way, collecting every spare magazine he could find off the bodies on the way out. The wind assaulted him as he stepped out into the snow, and the sun glare made him squint. He waited for Perry to rummage through the duffel, and saw the man come out with a chunky old-school silver laptop. Like a brick compared to the sleek modern variants.
King said, ‘That’s what all this is about?’
Perry said, ‘Yeah.’
‘Then give it here. I’ll destroy it.’
Perry went pale. ‘Are you out of your mind?’
‘If we smash the magnetic platter inside the hard drive, then nothing’s recoverable. Why wouldn’t we do that?’
Perry chewed his bottom lip. ‘I’m not supposed to tell you this…’
‘You’d better.’
‘It’s not just what he left out of the cloud. Parker has documents he needs on this hard drive. He’s notoriously terrible at backing them up. I’ve been in a war with him about it for most of the five years I’ve worked for him.’
‘What documents?’
‘I don’t know. He doesn’t tell me. But I know they’re vital for what he does for a living, which makes me think we’ll put lives at risk if we wipe them out of existence.’
King stared at the grey brick, cursing its existence, cursing Aidan Parker’s ineptitude.
Frankly, he didn’t have time to consider alternatives.
He said, ‘Fine. Keep it close.’
They started trekking uphill, back to the peak. Neither of them rushed. There was a certain nihilism behind their movements, like they were walking to their deaths. King wasn’t in the mood to get to the peak in a hurry. They’d find civilian trekkers happy to have accomplished the climb and, further down the mountain, a convoy of Maoist insurgents coming for their heads.
In what could very well be his last moments, King thought of Slater. If he died up here, his closest friend would lose his final lifeline. No matter how hard he fought, Slater would succumb to the endless waves of rebels storming Gokyo to find him. They knew he was down there. Maybe he’d already been overwhelmed, which, King had to admit, would give him nothing to live for.
So maybe it was a good thing his plans had come crashing down around him.
Raya was dead.
They’d failed their objective.
Slater was probably dead.
So it was almost poetic they’d go down in unison.
It was fate.
King reached the peak first, and greeted two exhausted Europeans resting on one of the flat rocks, admiring the scenery. He couldn’t comprehend such a carefree existence. Here they were without a worry in the world, savouring their achievement.
The woman said, ‘What were you doing down there?’
King said, ‘Just exploring. There’s nothing to see. Don’t bother.’
He looked around. Noticed Everest, noticed the staggering glacier, noticed the endless mountain ranges.
Not
a bad place to die, he thought.
He stole a glance down the south side of Gokyo Ri. Saw a tight cluster of trekkers, perhaps halfway up the mountain. There were at least twenty of them. Perry had lowballed it. Amidst the scattered pairings and trios hiking upwards, the convoy looked like a small army.
Which it was.
King gripped the P320 under his jacket and turned to Perry. ‘That’s them.’
Perry was pale as he gazed down the mountainside. ‘We’re fucked.’
‘Tell me about it.’
The European woman said, ‘What the hell is that?’
King winced, thinking she’d overheard too many details and put it all together.
He turned to her to try and explain.
But she wasn’t looking at him.
She was staring wide-eyed over his shoulder, as if she couldn’t comprehend what was happening.
King pivoted.
Expecting the worst.
The red-and-silver helicopter lurched through the air like it was being piloted by a drunk. Its bulk had been masked from view by the rock formations on the east side of the peak, but now it roared over the peak and came to hover right over their heads. The din of its rotors drowned out the mountaintop wind, and King and Perry and the Europeans craned their necks in mutual shock.
The chopper wobbled, and started to descend.
King could see the underside of its chassis clearly, and he counted dozens of places where bullets had thudded into the thin material. He thought he saw smoke wafting from the tail rotor.
‘What the fuck are they doing?’ Perry shouted over the din. ‘There’s nowhere to land.’
King didn’t answer.
He ran over to where the Europeans sat on the rock, and said, ‘Sorry,’ before he wrenched the Sig out from under his jacket and pointed it up at the chopper’s windshield.
The man said, ‘Hey,’ and the woman turned pale.
King realised he might have to shoot a few rebels dead in front of these civilians, and wondered what it might do to their mental health.
But then the helicopter jerked and bobbed and weaved and crashed to earth, one of its landing skids crushed as it impacted a flat rock.
It came to a standstill, the rotors still roaring at full speed, barely keeping balance on the peak.
King aimed his weapon right through the windshield and saw Slater half-conscious in the passenger seat.