The old man and I exchanged bows and I went into my room which was small but comfortable, with a wide bed covered by a thick blanket of goat's fur. The bath was in a tiny cubicle adjoining the room, really only large enough to hold the bathtub itself and a towel rack. The water was already in the tub and I let the warmth relax my aching muscles. I'd just dried myself off and was stretched out under the goat's fur blanket when there was a knock at my door and Khaleen entered. I sat up in surprise. She wore a light blue robe of filmy material and her hair hung loose in black cascades down to her shoulders. Her face, freed of the parka, was ivory smooth with high, wide cheekbones set off by the delicately shaped almonds of her eyes. Her lips, wet and moist now, glistened in loveliness. Though small, her breasts thrust out sharply through the robe and she stood before me, a jewel-like, shimmering delicacy radiating from her. She sat down beside me on the wide bed and I could see she wore nothing beneath the robe. The tips of her breasts were pinpoints of provocativeness though she was seemingly unaware of this.
She placed her hands on my shoulders and pushed me back onto the bed. "Please turn over," she said. I did so and she began to massage my back and neck and shoulders with a touch that combined delicacy and strength.
"Is this a custom?" I asked in curiosity.
"To those guests who have journeyed far and long to visit us," she remarked. I lay quietly, relaxing and enjoying the sensuous touch of her hands as she massaged my body. I'd been massaged before but Khaleen's hands caressed as well as massaged, and I wondered if she knew it. I turned my head to watch her and she smiled at me as she kept on with her task. She drew the fur blanket down and her hands smoothed the skin at the base of my spine, pressing soothingly down on the nerve endings clustered there. Then, gently, she turned me over and rubbed my chest while I watched the dancing light from the flickering oil lamp play on her intent face. Finally, finished, she drew the blanket up over my chest. I caught her wrist and she sat quietly, making no movement to pull away.
"You're a very beautiful creature, Khaleen," I said. "Do you know that?" She smiled, a wise, Asiatic smile, and I had my answer. Like all women everywhere, she knew her charms all too well. She drew both hands softly across the top of my chest, up to my neck and then down again.
"You have a beautiful body," she said softly. She got up, smiled, blew a kiss at me and was gone on soft, soundless steps. I fell asleep instantly and slept like a baby.
When morning came I was surprised at how warm the day was in the valley. I needed only a shirt and a light windbreaker as I went for a walk through the streets. The old man had breakfasted with me, and I'd caught glimpses of Khaleen flitting silently through the house. After breakfast I went out to get some local color. I'd walked only a few blocks when I came to the imposing temple and the long, low assembly hall behind it. Ghotak, looking as he had on the films I saw in Hawk's office, came down the steps accompanied by three fairly tall, bare-armed men in royal blue balloon-sleeved shirts, open down to the waist. I had the impression he'd been waiting inside the door for me to come along. His timing was too good. He came directly at me and his imperious face was cold and set. He nodded, disdaining the usual bow.
"The friend of the Leeunghi House has come," he said, a sneer on his lips. "We were expecting you."
"Really?" I said. "Somehow, I got the idea you weren't."
His eyes moved slightly but his face remained impassive.
"You would be well advised not to interfere with affairs that are not your concern," he said. He, too, had obviously learned his English in the British schools that once dotted the land. Peering into his cold, deep eyes, I saw at once that there was no chance of this man being anything but an enemy, so I decided to play it straight.
"You're telling me to mind my own business," I said.
He shrugged. "Put it more crudely, if you wish," he said. "You of the Western world seem obsessed with crudity."
"And you of the Eastern world seem obsessed with power," I replied. "Thanks for the advice. I'll remember to forget it."
He couldn't keep the flash of anger from flaring in his eyes as he turned and walked back into the temple. He spoke to his three aides and they turned to me.
"You will come with us," the tallest one said, his voice low and tense. "If you do not come quietly we will let it be known that you have insulted the lama. In minutes, a crowd will gather to tear you limb from limb."
I weighed the threat and decided there was probably something to it. But I was more interested in finding out what they had in mind. I fell in beside them. One led the way while the other two flanked me. I was led alongside the low meeting house, around the back of it and into a small, tree-shrouded clearing.
"Ghotak has decided that you have come to make trouble," the tallest one said, facing me. "It becomes necessary to make you realize how wrong you will be to do this. Ghotak is sorry he must teach you so severe a lesson."
I smiled inwardly. It was a different approach but I knew the tactics would be the same. They intended to give me a good going-over. Almost as one, they reached inside their loose shirts and each one drew out a narrow length of cured bamboo, about the thickness of a riding quirt. The leader of the trio raised his hand and came down with it. I heard it whistle as it went through the air, turned away and raised my arm in defense. I felt the painful slash as it struck and felt the immediate trickle of blood on my arm. I moved back and smiled. Silent but nasty little weapons, I saw. The tallest one moved in again and now the other two were about to start slashing with their rods.
"Wait a minute " I said. They stopped dutifully. Maybe Ghotak thought his assassin had missed connections with me, but he was about to learn differently. Maybe these three were bully-boys in Nepal but compared to the kind I was used to handling, they were strictly bush-league. I had to smile as I saw them standing there, waiting for what I was going to say.
I sighed and then, with the speed of a cat, I whirled and hit the one on the right with a tremendous solar-plexus blow. I saw his eyes bulge as he grabbed at his stomach and doubled over. Without stopping my motion I whirled, dived and caught the leader of the trio around the knees. I yanked hard and he went over backwards. The third one had recovered enough to slash at me with his bamboo wand. I took the slash on my shoulder, grabbed his arm and twisted. He yelped and half turned around as I applied pressure. I let go long enough to chop him alongside the neck and he collapsed. The tallest one had regained his feet now, minus his little weapon. He came at me and twisted to kick high and out. The blow caught me on the hip as I turned my body. When he got his leg down on the ground he was off balance. I connected with a roundhouse right and felt his jaw crack. He sailed backwards into a tree and shuddered his way to the ground against the trunk. The one I'd gotten in the solar plexus was on his knees, just starting to regain some breath. I grabbed him, yanked him to his feet and gave him a punch that split his cheek open. The blood spurted from the wound as he hit the ground. I dragged the third one over to where the first two lay almost side by side. The tallest one was dazed but conscious. I yanked his head up by the hair.
"Be sure and tell your boss that I'm sorry I had to educate you this way," I said. "He'll understand, I'm sure."
I walked off and returned to the main street, pleased with the way things had gone. Ghotak was no fool. His kind of man understood power and ruthlessness. Though I doubted it, the display of those qualities might just slow him down.
I continued sauntering through the streets, observing the people, pausing at street vendors, and eventually found myself at the edge of the village. I was just about to turn back for the Leeunghi house when, looking toward the mountains towering just beyond the village, I saw three figures coming out of the mountains. The first two were Sherpa guides, I recognized from their dress. The third one wore a bright green nylon ski jacket.