The Kingdom

by Clive Cussler

  “You think I’m after the Golden Man ’cause it meant so much to my dad? You think I’m some kind of duty-bound son? What a joke. When I get my hands on that thing, I’m going to crush it into dust! And if there’s a God in heaven, my dad will be watching!” King paused, and let out a forced chuckle. “Besides, you two have been thorns in my paw since day one. I’ll be damned if you’re gonna take what’s rightfully mine.”

  Sam didn’t respond immediately. One look at Remi told him they were of like minds: for the child Charlie King they felt absolute pity. But King was no longer a child, and his insane mission to exact revenge on his long-dead father had cost people their lives.

  Sam said, “That’s what this is? A tantrum? King, you’ve murdered, kidnapped, and enslaved people. You’re a sociopath.”

  “Fargo, you don’t know what you’re—”

  “I know what you’ve done. And I know what you’re capable of doing before this is all over. I’m going to make you a promise, King: not only are we going to make sure you don’t get the Golden Man but we’re going to make sure you go to prison for what you’ve done.”

  “Fargo, you listen to me! I will kill—”

  Sam reached out and hit the Disconnect button.

  The line went dead.

  There was silence around the worktable.

  Then, softly, from Selma: “Well, he sounds a tad peeved.”

  Her gross understatement broke the tension. They all broke out in laughter. When it died away, Remi said, “The question is, if we follow through on our promise, will King end up in prison or a rubber room?”

  THISULI, NEPAL

  Colonel Zhou had agreed to the late-night meeting partially out of curiosity, partially out of necessity. His arrangement with the strange-faced American zázhŏng—half-breeds—had thus far been lucrative, but now that he knew their true identities, and that of their father, Zhou was anxious to change the terms of their partnership. What Charles King was doing in Nepal didn’t bother Zhou. What annoyed him was how little he had charged them in . . . handling fees, as the Americans say. Getting the fossils to Lhasa and through customs was easy enough, but finding and securing trustworthy distributors for such banned merchandise was far trickier—and, as of tonight, much pricier.

  A few minutes before midnight, Zhou heard the growl of an SUV engine outside. The two soldiers behind the colonel rose from their chairs and brought their assault rifles to the low ready position.

  “I’ve ordered them searched this time,” he told his men. “Still, do not let your guards down.”

  One of the exterior guards stepped across the threshold, gave Zhou a nod, then disappeared. A moment later Marjorie and Russell King stepped out of the darkness into the flickering glow of the kerosene lantern. They were not alone. A third figure, a willowy, grim-faced Chinese woman, stepped into the room. The King children’s body language told Zhou this new woman would be speaking for the trio.

  And then he saw it, the similarities in the eyes and nose and cheekbones. Mother and children, Zhou thought. Interesting. He decided to play out the hand. He rose from his seat at the trestle table and nodded respectfully at the woman. “Shall I call you Mrs. King?”

  “No. Hsu. Zhilan Hsu.”

  “Please, sit down.”

  Zhilan took the bench, her hands folded neatly on the table before her. The King children remained standing, mirroring the at-attention posture of Colonel Zhou’s soldiers. Zhou sat down.

  “To what do I owe the pleasure?” he asked.

  “My husband requires something of you.”

  “Does he?”

  “Yes. First he requires that you understand this: we know that your name is not Zhou, and you are not a colonel in the People’s Liberation Army. Your name is in fact is Feng, and you are a general.”

  General Feng felt like his stomach had turned to a block of ice. It was an act of will to keep the panic from showing on his face. “Is that so?”

  “It is. We know everything about you, including all of your other illicit activities: small-arms dealing, heroin smuggling, and so on. We also know who in your chain of command is an ally of yours and who is an enemy. In fact, my husband is on quite good terms with a certain general named Gou. Do you know the name?”

  Feng swallowed hard. He felt his world crumbling around him. He managed a barely perceptible, “I do.”

  “General Gou is not fond of you, is he?”

  “No.”

  “Have I made my point?” Zhilan Hsu asked.

  “You have.”

  “Let’s talk about our partnership. My husband, in fact, is pleased with the services you have provided and would like to offer you a fifteen percent increase on all transactions.”

  “That’s very generous.”

  “My husband is aware of that. He also asks a favor of you.”

  Even as the words were leaving his mouth, Feng was cursing himself. “A favor suggests no compensation.”

  Zhilan’s hard obsidian eyes stared at Feng for a few moments before answering. “I misspoke. Perhaps ‘task’ is a better word. Of course, he is happy to compensate you in the amount of two hundred thousand U.S. dollars. But only if you succeed.”

  Feng struggled to keep the smile from his face. “Of course. That is only fair. What’s the nature of this task?”

  “There are people—two of them, to be specific—who are threatening our business interests here. We expect that they will be traveling along the border in the coming weeks, perhaps even crossing into the TAR,” Zhilan said, referring to the Tibet Autonomous Region. “We want you to intercept them.”

  “You will need to be more specific.”

  “Captured and held for us or killed. I will give you the order when the time comes.”

  “How close to the border will they be traveling?”

  “In some places, less than a few miles.”

  “The border is many hundreds of miles long. How would one find two individuals in all of that?”

  “Don’t be obtuse,” Zhilan said, her voice taking on a harder edge. “You have under your command fourteen Harbin Z-9 helicopters equipped with infrared radars, night-vision cameras, and missiles, both anti-air and anti-tank.”

  Feng sighed. “You are extraordinarily well informed.”

  “Your command also maintains seventy-nine observation posts along the border. Is this also correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “We suspect the people will have to use a helicopter to transit some of the more remote areas. There are a limited number of charter companies in Nepal that offer such services. In order to make your task easier, we will be monitoring these companies.”

  “Then why not intercept these people before they board?”

  “We will allow them to . . . complete their mission before you take action against them.”

  “What is their mission?”

  “They are looking for something. We want them to succeed.”

  “What are they looking for?”

  “You do not need to know that. General, I have explained what is required of you; I have given you all the information you need to make a decision. So decide, please.”

  “I accept. I will need information on the targets.”

  Zhilan reached into the front pocket of her parka and withdrew an SD card. She slid it across the table to Feng, then stood up. “Make sure you are ready when I call.”

  28

  JOMSOM, NEPAL

  Acutely aware that, in Charles King, they’d enraged a lion that had thus far only been annoyed, Sam and Remi had instructed Selma to find them an alternate route to Mustang.

  Everyone involved knew the Theurang was somewhere in the Himalayas, and King now knew that the Fargos, possessing a significant lead in the race, would have to return to Nepal. Sam and Remi had no doubt that Russell and Marjorie King, along with their mother, Zhilan Hsu, would be on the lookout for them. Only time would tell what other forces King would bring to bear, but they intended to walk very carefully unt
il this odyssey was over.

  A series of marathon flights eventually took them to New Delhi, India, where they drove two hundred fifty miles southeast to the city of Lucknow, where they picked up a single-engine charter flight another two hundred miles northeast to Jomsom. They’d left the trekker’s hub less than a week earlier, and as the plane’s wheels squealed on the airstrip tarmac both Sam and Remi felt a sense of déjà vu. This sensation was only heightened as they headed for the terminal amid throngs of trekkers and guide service reps vying for their business.

  As Jack Karna had promised, they slipped through customs unmolested or questioned. Waiting for them at the curb outside the terminal was another blast from the past: a Nepali man standing beside a white Toyota Land Cruiser and holding a sign bearing their name.

  “I think you’re looking for us,” Sam said, extending his hand.

  The man shook both their hands. “I am Ajay. Mr. Karna asked me to tell you, ‘Selma’s newest fish is called a Apistogramma iniridae.’ Have I pronounced that correctly?”

  “You have,” Remi replied. “And its name is?”

  “Frodo.” In their lengthy discussions, Selma and Jack Karna had discovered they were both avid fans of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. “Yes? Okay?” Ajay asked with a smile.

  “Okay,” Sam replied. “Lead on.”

  Not surprisingly, Ajay was not only a better tour guide than their previous one but he was also a better driver, negotiating the Kali Gandaki’s innumerable twists, turns, and hazards with expertise. A mere eight hours after leaving Jomsom they were standing before Jack Karna’s door in Lo Monthang.

  He greeted them each with a warm hug. Hot tea and scones were ready and waiting in the cushioned seating area. Once they were settled and had warmed themselves, Sam and Remi retrieved the Theurang disks and placed them on the coffee table before Karna.

  For a full minute, he simply stared at them, eyes agog, and a half smile on his face. Finally he picked up each disk in turn, examining it carefully. He seemed only slightly less impressed by the model.

  “Aside from the symbols, it’s almost identical to the genuine article, isn’t it? Your Selma . . . she is quite a woman, I must say.”

  Remi gave Sam a sideways glance and smile. Her woman’s intuition had told her there was a bit of spark growing between Selma and Jack. Sam had dismissed the idea. Now he gave her a nod of recognition.

  “She’s one of a kind,” Sam said. “So, you think these will work?”

  “I have no doubt. To that end, Ajay will be taking us to the caves tomorrow morning. With any luck, by the end of the day we will have found a match. From there, it will simply be a matter of following the map to Shangri-La.”

  “Nothing is ever that simple,” Remi said. “Trust us.”

  Karna shrugged. “As you say.” He poured them more tea and passed around the plate of scones. “Now, tell me more about Selma’s love of tea and tropical fish.”

  They were up before dawn the next morning for a full English breakfast served by Karna’s houseboy: streaky bacon, eggs, black pudding, grilled tomatoes and mushrooms, fried bread, sausages, and seemingly bottomless mugs of tea. When they could take no more, Sam and Remi pushed away their plates.

  “Is this your regular morning fare?” Remi asked Karna.

  “Of course.”

  “How do you stay trim?” Sam said.

  “Lots of hiking. Not to mention the cold and the altitude. You burn calories at a massive rate here. If I don’t consume at least five thousand a day, I start shedding weight.”

  “Perhaps you should start a fitness boot camp,” Remi suggested.

  “There’s a thought,” Karna said, standing up. He clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “Right! Ten minutes until departure. Ajay will meet us at the gate!”

  True to his word, Karna was ushering them out the door a few minutes later, and soon they were in the Land Cruiser heading southeast toward the foothills. Two miles out of the city, as they topped a crest, the landscape began to change dramatically. The rolling hills steepened, and their outline grew more jagged. The soil slowly morphed from grayish to an olive brown, and what little scrub brush dotted the terrain grew even more sparse. The Land Cruiser began jostling from side to side as Ajay navigated the now boulder-strewn tract. Soon Sam and Remi’s ears began popping.

  From the front seat Karna said, “There are two cases of bottled water in the cargo boot. Make sure to stay hydrated. The higher we go, the more fluid you’ll need.”

  Sam grabbed two pairs of bottles, handed one to Remi and two to Karna in the front seat, then asked Karna, “How far from the Tibetan border are we?”

  “Seven miles or so. Try to remember: along with most of the rest of the world, we may think of it as the Tibetan border, but the Chinese do not. It’s a distinction they zealously enforce. The official name may be the Tibet Autonomous Region, but as far as Beijing is concerned it’s all China. In fact, if you keep a sharp eye out, you’ll begin to see outposts on the ridges. We may even encounter a patrol or two.”

  “A patrol?” Sam repeated. “As in, the Chinese Army?”

  “Yes. Both ground units and aircraft routinely wander into Mustang, and not by accident. They know Nepal can do nothing but lodge a formal complaint, which means nothing to the Chinese.”

  “And what happens if someone strays over their side of the border? A lost trekker, for example.”

  “Depends on the place. Between here and the northern tip of Myanmar there are almost two thousand miles of border, much of it over remote and rugged terrain. As for here, on rare occasions the Chinese not so politely shoo wayward souls back across the border, but usually interlopers are arrested. I know of three trekkers in the last year who were snatched up.”

  In the driver’s seat, Ajay silently held up four fingers.

  Karna said, “I stand corrected: four trekkers. All but one of them was eventually released. Have I got that right, Ajay?”

  “Right.”

  “Define ‘eventually,’ ” Remi said.

  “A year or so. The one they kept has been missing for six years. The Chinese are keen on setting examples, you see. Letting an invader go too early would be bad form. Next thing you know, you’ve got hordes of Western agents disguised as trekkers flooding over the border.”

  “Is that how they really see it?” asked Sam.

  “Some in the government do. But I suspect it’s mostly for show. There are swaths along China’s southern border that are impossible to cover from the ground, so China is strict on what areas it can control. I have it on good authority”—Karna gave a comical jerk of his head toward Ajay—“that trekkers in northern India frequently slip across the border; in fact, there are tourism companies that specialize in it. Isn’t that right, Ajay?”

  “Right, Mr. Karna.”

  “Not to worry, Fargos. Ajay and I have been doing this together for years. Our GPS unit is perfectly calibrated, and we know this area intimately. We won’t be stumbling into the clutches of the Chinese Army, I can assure you.”

  Another hour’s drive brought them to a gorge hemmed in by cliffs so deeply eroded they looked like tiered rows of massive anthills. Ahead was a castle-like structure that appeared to be partially embedded in the cliff. The ground floor’s outer walls were painted the same burnt red color they’d seen in Lo Monthang, while the upper two stories, stacked upon jutting horizontal beams, were progressively smaller and seemed hewn from the rock itself. Faded prayer flags strung between two of the conical roofs flapped in the breeze.

  “Tarl Gompa,” Karna announced.

  “We’ve heard that name several times,” Remi said, “but the definition seems . . . indefinable.”

  “An accurate way of putting it. In one sense, gompas are fortifications of a sort—outposts for education and spiritual growth. In another sense, they are monasteries; in yet another, military posts. Much depends on the period of history involved and the people occupying the gompa.”

  “How many o
f these are there?”

  “In Nepal alone, over a hundred that I know of. Probably triple that number remain undiscovered. If you expand the area to Tibet and Bhutan, there are thousands.”

  “Why are we stopping at this one?” asked Sam.

  “Mostly out of respect. Wherever there are sacred caves, a council of elders is formed to watch over them. The caves here are not yet well known, and the elders are very protective of them. If we don’t pay the proper respect, we’ll find ourselves staring down the barrels of about a dozen rifles.”

  They climbed out of the car. In Nepali, Karna called out toward the gompa, and a few moments later an elderly man in khaki pants and a bright blue parka stepped from the darkened doorway. His face was nut brown and deeply lined. From beneath wiry eyebrows he scrutinized his guests for several seconds before breaking into a wide smile.

  “Namaste, Jack!” the man called.

  “Namaste, Pushpa. Tapaai laai kasto chha?”

  Karnauer walked forward, and the two men embraced and then began talking in low tones. Karna gestured toward Sam and Remi, and they instinctively came forward.

  Ajay stopped them: “Better if you wait here. Pushpa is a sgonyer—a doorkeeper. Mr. Karna is well known to these people, but they are suspicious of outsiders.”

  Karna and Pushpa continued to talk for several minutes before the old man nodded and clapped Karna on both arms. Karna walked back to the Land Cruiser.

  “Pushpa has given us permission to proceed. He will inform a local guide to meet us at the first caves.”

  “Inform the guide how?” Remi asked. “I don’t see any—”

  “By word of foot,” Karna replied.

  He pointed to one of the rocky shark’s teeth atop the opposite cliff. There, a figure was standing. As they watched, Pushpa raised his arm and formed a sequence of shapes with his hand. The figure signaled back, then disappeared behind the cliff.

  Karna said, “By the time we get there, all the locals will know to expect us and that we have permission.”