The Ascent

'We did what we could do.'

'You know that's not so,' Daniel said.

'It's done now.'

'I keep thinking, what if we'd just got him over the mountain?'

'Daniel, it was too late.'

'I mean before it got too late. I mean instead of working the summit. We could have

got this one poor bastard out of hell. We could have, you know.'

Abe covered the boy's face. 'He got close. As close as we did.'

With Daniel's help, Abe carried the boy outside. The stars were glittering, no clouds.

The North Face of Everest was milky with the quarter moon's light. They set the

body in a small, tattered equipment tent, and gave it a moment's vigil.

'We can bury him in the morning,' Abe said.

'There won't be any burial,' Daniel said.

'But we can't just leave him.'

'He won't be left, don't worry. He's a reactionary and traitor, remember? The

Chinese still have uses for him. They still need to complete their records. They'll

photograph him. Then they'll sell him back to his family, if he has one.'

'No,' Abe said. 'We'll bury him.'

The world rushed in at dawn. Abe opened his eyes to the distant sound of engines. It

was six o'clock. Daniel was already gone. Abe paused to check on Gus before charging

outside to confirm their rescue.

At the north throat of the valley, five military trucks were crawling out onto the

floor. Slowly they lurched across the ice and frozen mud. The climbers crawled from

their tents. They waved and shouted hysterically like castaways upon a sinking raft.

Li's soldiers were more dignified, emerging from the Tomb to button their uniform

jackets and arrange themselves.

'Let's system it, people,' Jorgens yelled to the climbers. 'I guarantee they will want

to load and leave inside the hour. Let's see some system.'

The climbers and Sherpas began rushing around the camp, packing the few items

worth salvaging. Abe took the opportunity to root through the folds of his collapsed

hospital to see what was left. That was where Li found him.

'Now I will take custody of the prisoner.' The sun had not yet reached into the

valley, and Li's words appeared as blue smoke.

Abe let go of the torn tentage. He'd meant to avenge the boy by condemning Li and

his government's abuses, or perhaps demanding some paperwork, before revealing

the death. Instead, Abe just told him.

'He died,' Abe said.

'What? What you say?'

'Last night.'

'Impossible,' Li said. 'I give him to you. Now you give him to me.'

'He died,' Abe repeated very softly.

'No.' Li's voice rose. 'He is alive when you take him from official custody. He is alive.'

It occurred to Abe that Li needed a prisoner to justify himself. He had disobeyed

orders from martial authorities to close down the climb. Toward apprehending an

escapee, he had, on his own, permitted the expedition to continue. He had then given

a group of Westerners custody of the prisoner. Without a living, breathing fugitive to

show for his insubordination, there was no telling what the personal consequences

might be. Abe felt sorry for him.

'We should bury him here,' Abe said.

'Impossible.' Daniel had been right. There would be no burial after all. In the

distance, the officer was watching Li's upset. 'You show me. Now.'

Abe led him to the little equipment tent behind the mess tent. They passed people

furiously jamming gear into packs and burlap bags.

The first truck was almost upon them. Abe could hear its big tires crackling over the

icy tundra. Standing in the bed of the truck, Carlos and Thomas and Stump were

hooting and punching their fists into the sky.

Abe unzipped the door to the equipment tent. At least the boy had died in the

middle of the night. He would not have gotten his moment of silence otherwise, not

from the celebrants swarming through the camp. He was already forgotten.

That was when he found the body was gone.

The cherry red sleeping bag that Abe had zipped closed around his head was empty.

'He was there,' Abe pointed.

Li's eyes were furious. 'You make him escape,' he said, and bolted from the tent.

It took another hour for them to determine that Daniel was missing from camp. Not

without good reason, the Chinese refused to believe Abe's story. The climbers didn't

buy it either. It made no sense that Daniel would lead a corpse to freedom.

Ten o'clock came, with no resolution.

Abe's concern was for Gus. She needed medical attention as quickly as possible, but

the Chinese showed no hurry to depart. Already half the morning was gone. They

could have been partway up the Pang La by now, that much closer to Kathmandu and

home.

Jorgens and Thomas were almost as outraged as the Chinese by the escape attempt.

They had suffered Daniel's conduct for months on end, and this latest stunt was going

to cost them. Li threatened to haul them all off to Lhasa for an inquiry. He had

declared that Jorgens's permit for another attempt at the Kore Wall next year was

already a dead issue.

'Screw Corder,' Thomas growled. 'He ditched us.'

'The man deserted,' Jorgens agreed. 'You don't save deserters. You arrest them. Or

shoot them.'

'We have to find him,' Abe argued. 'He'll die out there.'

'He laid a death sentence on himself a long time ago,' Thomas said. 'And now he's

taken that kid down with him.'

'The boy died last night,' Abe said. He'd already told them. Only Kelly believed it,

though.

'He's made it over the passes before,' Stump said, but that was just to counter the

harshness.

Even the climbers who at first cheered Daniel's bid to free the boy grew disgruntled.

Earthquakes and slides had closed the Pang La once, they could close it again. Daniel

had gambled with their well-being.

At noon Li summoned Abe to the Tomb. The stone hut was circled by trucks and

look formidable. Li was sitting inside the hut with the officer plus several men who

had arrived with the convoy. Five of the six wore military uniforms.

Abe knew what they would want.

'Mr. Corder is taking the prisoner to cross our international border.' Li was almost

too angry to speak. 'We have found footprints. You must lead our soldiers to find him.'

'I have a very sick patient,' Abe said. 'She needs to go to a hospital.'

'The Chinese government is humanitarian,' Li reminded Abe.

'Then send Gus out.'

'This is a serious matter,' Li said. 'Internal affairs of the Chinese people, you see.'

'Help Gus,' Abe said. 'And I will help you.'

Li reversed the proposal. 'Help us,' he said. 'Then we will help you.'

Abe said, 'All right.' To save Gus, he had to risk sacrificing Daniel. That seemed to be

how it was written.

Though Thomas volunteered to track Daniel all the way to hell for them, the

Chinese would only take Abe to guide the patrol. They trusted him because he had

proved himself untrustworthy. They preferred to use the enemy they knew.

Abe set out at the head of the soldiers. There were six of them, including Li. Two

had rifles.

The footprints – amorphous in the sunny slush – led south up the trail to Everest.

At the giant stone arrow where the expedition had gone right, Abe turned left. He had

never been this way but knew where the tracks would lead, toward the Chengri La,

out from this Utopia.

The high altitude punished the soldiers and Li. Abe watched their gasping and