"Ready! Ready!" Sam called her to attention.
"Smile!" she said and clicked the silver button. This one must have been a personal camera of Sam's because usually she could not tell where to push the button on his gear when he had slapped it all together. Lenses and zoom adjusters, tripod clips and myriad switches always confused her. Sam allowed her to take a few pictures of the children playing in the dirt and had the women waving with smiles. Nina regretted not being able to capture the magnitude of the beautiful gigantic mountain ranges in one frame. Even their height was astonishing, too tall to fit into frame.
"Time to go, everyone!" they heard Purdue call, and with jovial courtesy they said goodbye to the villagers, having no clue what was captured on the picture of Sam and the village elder.
☼
Chapter 17
"You're awfully quiet," Nina told Calisto, as they panted their way up a steep narrow trail over a 500-meter high ridge. It was getting colder and the light was slowly fading from the shade of the mountain.
"Just don't feel well. I'll perk up soon, I promise," Calisto forced a smile. Nina knew there was more to it and she was fishing more to learn the strange behavior of the day than the current discomfort from the bodyguard.
"What is the matter, sergeant?" Purdue asked from the front of the line, without stopping.
"Nothing, sir. Dr. Gould is just being maternal, but there is no reason to worry," Calisto smiled and patted Nina's arm.
By eight o'clock in the evening the expedition party had set up three tents. One for Calisto and Nina, another for Sam and Jodh and the third for Purdue and Gary. Jodh had pointed them to a hub in the mountainside where pilgrims and tourists who dared take this wild trail pitched their tents against the assault of the wind chill and possible rain. In the center of their ring of tents they had a hearty fire going. Roti and boiled grain formed the base of a good meal of dal-bhat-tarkari, the preparation of which was child's play to a master such as Jodh. The lentil soup smelled divine, evoking a ravenous craving from the party while they waited. It reminded them just how famished they had become while concentrating on their trek.
"Fortunately the mountain face manages to block most of the direct wind. This is a good place," Gary said, as he surveyed their surroundings from his place near the fire.
Nina leaned closer to Calisto, accepting the bodyguard's offer of jelly beans. She seemed to have an endless supply and the sweets served to keep Nina's stomach occupied until the meal was served.
"Tomorrow we can pick some mangoes when we walk," Jodh told Nina and Calisto, as they wolfed down the candy. "They grow at the higher altitudes here."
The food was plain, but exquisite. It was extremely filling and tasty, made up mostly of a porridge of grains and lentils, which warmed their bodies sufficiently to brave the coming night's cold.
"We have a few more days ahead. I am keeping to the salt route as much as I can, Dr. Gould, but if we follow the well-known pathway, we will spend more days at it," Jodh said.
"As long as Mr. Purdue is fine with it, I don't see why it should be a problem," Nina replied, with a mouthful of roti.
"I am in a hurry," Purdue reminded them. "The sooner we get to this shrine, the better. Call me impatient, but I don't like wasting time on sightseeing when I am pursuing an exciting discovery," he bellowed with a wide grin and a gleam in his eye.
"Jodh, for interest's sake, what do you do for a living when you aren't dragging spoiled tourists around the Himalayas?" Sam asked, sating the unspoken curiosity of a few of the others on the subject.
"Oh, I am a postdoc at Durham University and I have a masters in communication," the guide smiled.
"What do you do at Durham?" Nina asked.
"Anthropology and languages," he replied.
Nina felt some concern for her expendability all of a sudden. She had no idea the guide was this educated and it only reminded her of her struggle to find her own place in the cruel world of academics. Matlock and his vindictive ways came to mind and she felt bile rise in her throat, gnashing her teeth inadvertently at the reminiscence of their confrontations. Suddenly she was as hasty as Purdue to find the Spear of Destiny, not for its power, but for the unquestionable ascension her achievement would bring in the ranks of academia. Her reputation would be redeemed and above all, her superior would be reduced to a whimpering heap of failure and forgotten in the wake of her success. Yes, they were taking far too much time, she decided, and the sooner they got to tomorrow the sooner they would find the shrine.
"I'm going to turn in. I am exhauster," Nina announced, and rose to her feet, gathering her scarf and tucking it into her jacket.
"That is a good idea. The trail is only getting tougher in the next days and we need to rest up properly," Purdue agreed. And so they dispersed one by one to their tents until only Calisto and Sam were left at the fire.
"You have not flirted with me all day. What the hell is wrong with you?" Sam teased. Calisto managed a smile.
"First off, you and Dr. Gould are . . ." she shrugged, ". . . and I have been doing my job today. I wish I was paid exuberant amounts to take pretty pictures."
"That's not nice, sergeant," Sam replied, picking up on her mild hostility.
"Did I hurt your feelings?" she asked with the same measure of indifference.
"Dr. Gould and I are colleagues and friends, at last. She spends a lot of time pissed off at me, I'll have you know, but finally we have managed to bury the hatchet," he explained.
"That's wonderful for you."
"What is the matter, Calisto?" he just came out and asked. One thing Sam Cleave had learned from Nina is that most women want you to ask. Just come out and ask. In the shadow of her hood she looked ravishingly beautiful. It was not Nina's kind of beauty, but a rugged and dangerous appeal. The fire reflected its blaze in her eyes and he could not discern if it was her own or that of the flames keeping them warm. The wind was slamming the shorter ends of her dark hair into her face and lips. Sam waited patiently for a reply, which he could see she was formulating in her mind.
"I think we are being followed, Mr. Cleave," she said evenly, as if she ordered a drink.
"Wait. What?"
"I think there are two men on our trail and I don't think they are interested in taking selfies with us to post on a Facebook page," she added.
"Do you think they are after the Spear too?" he asked. "All right, that was the dumbest question. Of course they are, but how would they know what we are up to?"
She cocked her head, taken aback that he could not figure that one out.
"Why, because we have a leak in our cauldron, Mr. Cleave. A big and greedy leak that is in on a big jackpot to deliver us. The good news is that I have not seen them since we left Yalbang, but I have not had time for pleasantries while keeping an eye out, see?" she told Sam.
"Why don't you tell Purdue?" Sam asked in urgency.
"Because then the rat will know that we know, Sam. Come now, use your head. Think with a little more paranoia and all will be revealed. Besides, Mr. Purdue is better off knowing nothing. Let him simmer in his expedition. Without distractions he functions better and we can get our shit done quickly. I will make sure they don't catch up too soon," Calisto reassured him and Sam believed her without question.
"If they get too close?" Sam asked, suddenly feeling a bout of fear-ridden insomnia take hold of him.
"Then we waste them."
"You can't just go around shooting people, Calisto," he whispered loudly, gasping with worry. Her large black eyes pinned his, hard, and she kept him in a dead stare. It did not frighten him, but Sam felt uncertain how far she would go before shooting someone.
"Mr. Cleave, you are aware that this expedition is not some celebrity outing or a call for wedding pictures, right? We are on the hunt for an item that is priceless, all-powerful and worth killing for without an ounce of reluctance by all those who seek it. This is Nazi business, Napoleonic, Czarist, da Vinci Code shit. This is a life-and-death game
and we are better for it to have no reservations toward our survival. Do you understand?" she whispered, with precise meaning he could not dismiss. She was right. This was a dangerous sport, but he still hoped that she was wrong.
"I trust you will keep this to yourself? For now," she finally said, as she adjusted her hood.
"Of course," Sam replied, "but I will not be sleeping too well from now on."
"Good," she said, as she rose to her feet and dusted her pants off. "While Samson slept he lost his power and was utterly defeated. Sleep is for babes, Mr. Cleave."
"Samson was defeated because he trusted a woman," Sam retorted, as she disappeared into the faint light where the fire could not reach.
"That is also true. Good night, Mr. Cleave."
The storm was not too aggressive and lasted fewer than two hours, but the Purdue party slept through it all. They were exhausted. Walking the steep and rocky trails of the Himalayan cliffs were proving some challenge and, after getting accustomed to the sharp tugging at the tent fabric under the force of the angry winds switching direction around the corners of the protruding rocks, they dozed off in the din.
Nina woke in the dead of night, suffering an unrelenting bladder. She tried her best not to drink too much, as she felt uncomfortable with the call of nature out here with all the men and goats traversing the mountain, but now she found that she could no longer postpone it.
"Shit," she whispered in her frustration. She was terribly cold and her back hurt from the hardness of her stretcher, a cradle too tight for her to move freely. Calisto was fast asleep in her sleeping bag and Nina wondered what she and Sam had been discussing at the fire. Nina was not sure what to make of the bodyguard, who did not wish to share much with her, but somehow found Sam a better confidant. Then again, she shared her sweets with her and brought her food in the hotel, so maybe she was more considerate than Nina wanted to admit.
Nina unzipped the tent, gathering her strength for the sudden freezing gusts about to pelt her. She elected not to switch on her flashlight yet, because she did not want to unnecessarily rouse her colleagues. The cold impaired the movement of her fingers as she closed the tent behind her, light in one hand and clutching the toilet paper under her arm.
Nina looked up at the solemn and brooding mountain lurching over her in the darkness as the overcast sky lightened the area enough for her to discern the pathway into a near clump of trees. Her skin crawled from the sinister loneliness of the ancient rock faces and silent trees, but she had to pee. Creeping stealthily along the small path next to their campsite she found a shallow natural ditch just behind the first line of trees. Feeling awfully vulnerable, she dropped her pants and looked around continuously as she relieved herself.
"Oh, God, I hope this wind does not get me spraying all over my shoes," she spoke under her breath, conversing with herself to alleviate the feeling of impending danger one only felt when alone in a strange and dark place.
Sam woke up from the crunching of twigs and shifting of gravel under someone's weight and immediately he perked up to listen. After what Calisto had told him about the two suspicious men he hardly managed to sleep as it was, his ears alert for any intrusion or threat. The wind wailed wildly over the campsite, but he could distinctly hear someone walking to the fringe of trees not ten meters from them. He quietly grasped his new walking stick and progressed on his knees toward the exit of his tent to investigate the source of the sound. As Sam opened the tent, wincing with every sound it made, his heart raced insanely at the prospect of the stalking hikers. Because Calisto urged him to keep her theory to himself, he dared not wake Jodh, for fear that he could be the one working with them.
Outside he felt free, even in his wariness. He breathed deeply and looked around the area before emerging from the safety of his tent. In the violent gale he tightened his grip on the cane, piquing his ears. From the trees came another rustle, dipping the branches as something emerged from the darkness. Sam sucked in his breath, his numb legs refusing to move until he knew what he was dealing with.
A yak appeared from the huddle of trees, clomping about slowly across the pathway. It was enormous and gave Sam quite the fright, but he was relieved that it was not human, branding a pistol or something. Sam sighed with relief and chuckled quietly at his ridiculous terror. The fire was now reduced to embers and flitting ash, but the ground in close proximity of where it had burned was still warm where he sat down to take a moment.
"What the fuck are you looking at?" he said to the animal that stared at him in the dark with its empty expression and shaggy hair. Sam realized how badly he needed a cigarette, but patting his chest pocket out of habit, yielded no rewards and he quickly regretted giving them to the village elder.
Calisto's head jutted out from the tent and looked around. She looked at Sam with the same perplexity as the yak did, which provoked him to shrug. He had no explanation for his sitting by the side of an extinguished fire in the middle of the stormy night. Calisto seemed to search for something as she approached him with a hunched-over frame, trying to escape the brunt of the wind as she moved.
"Hey. Where is Nina?" she asked him in a loud whisper.
"I don't know. Isn't she supposed to be sharing your tent?" Sam asked. He was astonished, a streak of forbidding tearing through his unwilling mind. How could she not know where Nina was?
"Yes, she went outside to take a leak, but then I noticed that she had not returned. And I heard the heavy steps outside. Was that you?" she asked. Sam pointed to the large herbivore tearing off some leaves in the underbrush to their right.
"Okay, so . . . Nina has not made an appearance?" she mouthed her words slowly as if she was afraid of his answer. Sam shook his head and immediately Calisto jumped up, "Well, then, let us go find her, damn it!"
Sam agreed. In this environment, dealing with a coveted artifact chased by countless generations, there was no place for reckless assumptions that steered toward ignorance. The two stepped into the dark bending tree line, away from the chewing yak, to look for their colleague. Behind them the unguarded campsite rattled in the onslaught of the wind, its occupants blissfully unaware of the missing historian.
Suddenly a cold barrel pressed against Sam's temple from the oblivion of the dark, stopping him in his tracks.
"Don't move," a man said, in a heavy accent. Sam flicked his eyes to find Calisto, but she was no longer behind him. He was alone, held up by a stranger with what felt like a rather large firearm.
"Oh, shit," Sam snapped. He could not ascertain the gravity of his situation and it frustrated him no end. "What do you want?" He spoke unusually loud, hoping to draw attention from his sleeping colleagues.
"Keep quiet or I will shoot you," the man said bluntly, cocking his gun. The eye of the barrel dug into the journalist's skin and drove his mind to retrieve the worst day of his life when his prying nature cost the love of his life hers. Not again, he thought. He swung his right arm violently and quickly to knock the man's arm away. Sam lunged to grab the gun from his extended arm, but a blinding blow fell against his cheek from the other side, knocking him to the ground with such force that he passed out.
His fading thoughts dwelled on the betrayal of Calisto, how she led him into the bushes to be ambushed while she went after Nina. The limp body of the journalist was tied and gagged while the older man with the ponytail pushed Nina's body back onto the rock where he had placed her. She looked at Sam through burning wet eyes, trying to see if he was still alive. Her only solace was his gagging, which implied that he would again wake up. She kicked at the old man who kept giving the tall blond man orders in what she construed as Norwegian. He ignored her efforts until he had Sam subdued and then turned to Nina with a brutal facial expression she had only seen in bloodthirsty hounds behind the fences of dog-fighting rings.
She knew there would be no negotiating with them.
☼
Chapter 18
"Where is the grimoire?" he asked Nina. The old man's grey locks thrash
ed about on his collar, his sunken eyes inquisitive and harboring an ancient strength. She shook her head, playing dumb so that he would think her just a tourist. He dealt her a devastating clout for her attempted deceit and repeated, "Where is the grimoire . . . Dr. Gould?"
Nina felt her heart jump and panic filled her, a fear for her very life. In her skull her brain burned and her ears hissed, but she maintained her composure. They knew who she was, probably who they all were. There was no margin for games and subterfuge.
"Gr-grimoire?" she stuttered.
"My associate is on his way to your campsite, doctor, and I cannot tell you what is in store for your friends if you do not cooperate. Now, please, for the last time, tell me where the book of secrets is or we will dispatch each and every one of you duly," he rasped. His breath smelled like pipe tobacco and brandy and his grasp on her wrist was immensely powerful, so that she felt her hand numbing.
"Purdue, Mr. Purdue has it with him. He has charted the entire route. I only served as his translator, I swear!" Nina sobbed. Most of what she said was untrue, but her fear was very real. Her hands shook in their restraints as the old man looked up over her head and nodded, as if giving a signal to his accomplice. For a few minutes, which felt like infinity, they waited in the restless weather. Nina was silently thankful that she had taken a piss, or else she was certain she would have wet herself. Suddenly the older man grabbed a fistful of Nina's hair and hissed, "Purdue is not there, bitch. Where is he?"
"I don't know! I swear! I swear to God I thought he was sleeping in his tent!" her voice shivered through tears and snot drying in the cold. She wished Sam would wake up. If Purdue was gone, he planned all this. He used them to get this far and then would have them killed.
"Oh, my God, what a fool I was!" she sobbed with her head hung, but her captor jerked her head back.
"Now you're a dead fool," he grunted in her face. "Björn! Look in her tent. Kill all the others!"
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